2023-03-22: Arrested! Again!
- Log: Imprisoned! Again!
- Cast: Seraph Lanval, Marivel Armitage, Loren Voss
- Where: Pentagulia - Goddess Square
- Date: March 22, 2023
- Summary: A trio, arrested, have the opportunity to consider each other's company... and the predicament they now face.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
The events that have followed the emergence of the Goddess Althena - and the passionately made declarations that this Goddess Althena is neither Goddess or Althena by Lucia - have been a bit of a blur. It all ends in roughly the same fashion, regardless of the person or manner of person they are.
One can make out the character of stone brick lining the walls and ground, but not so much the color... nor the light of day outside. A circular field of energy in a dome shape seems bright enough to steal away one's sense of color, contrast, and saturation to try and look outside of it. (Or to even look at the ground, for that matter.)
Their entire world, and almost certainly the remainder of their time within it, remains securely entrenched within this dome-shaped space. It's large enough to comfortably(?) house all the rabble-rousers and ne'er-do-wells that dared to step into Pentagulia and defy the will of Althena. (The narration seems to be taking the Guard's side on the descriptors of the captives here...)
...
Curiously enough, the strange sense of sensory deprivation seems to make it a little too easy to lose track of whoever else is within the cell, but towards the... hm, southwestern-ish part of the boundary, and the direction is remaining something of a guess, a thinned-out Seraph Lanval is face down on his knees, tongue out against the dry, dry stone underneath him.
Yes, it's completely dry underneath him - he expended so much strength within the Abyss it's left him spiritually parched. As a Water Seraph, that's... a troubling thing. A Seraph, by nature, basically does not run out of MP. The last while has sorely tested this theory and then some.
"...M." Not enough for a 'mmm' or an accompanying 'mph.' Just 'M.' (Do not fall for the English dub's 'meh!!')
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage is still in her bat form. It is possible that, right now, she can't really transform to her usual self though considering the Goddess Althena apparently didn't know what she even was...it's hard to say how permanent a prison this is going to be for her.
...Though of course, if they are planning to EXECUTE her--it might not need to be a permanent prison for her... To say nothing of the possibility of mystical wards. Hard to say!
But for right now, Marivel is 100 percent stuck here. Her paws have been cuffed together and she is lying on a stone floor, looking over to Lanval who seems...
....Well, in bad straights. If imprisonment is having that much effect on him so far, she can only imagine how bad it will get with more time.
'...M.'
"You can just call me Mavrivel if you want." Marivel says, wiggling around to face him. "But boy, she didn't even care you saved the city! Gosh...!"
She twists so she's on her feet and plays the part of a hopping vampire by bouncing over to Lanval.
"But that said, you okay buddy?" Marivel asks. "How long can you handle it in a place this dry?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It should have been fine. It was a little fact-finding expedition, nothing perilous or strange. He'd been skeptical from the outset.
He'd been right to have been wary, not that it had done him any good. It, of course, hadn't been fine, which is the entire reason why Loren Voss is hanging around in a jail cell.
And what a cell it is! He had extended a bit of etherically-produced rock towards the barrier only to watch it get destroyed. ...Theoretically, it should be possible to put enough power into a barrier and use that to get himself out -- himself, because a larger-scale projection is functionally not possible for him without certain tools and enhancements -- but he's already ruled out forcing the barrier for one very simple reason:
He'll get caught, and then they'll just kill him. Without a sword, or and ARM, or -- and this is important -- the Rosesols in his kit which they took away even though he kept saying he was a doctor, he'd be left to a luck-based mission whether or not he could find anything to defend himself in time.
He's pretty sure they'd kill him, anyway. It's what he thinks he'd do if the roles were reversed.
Actually, though, no. Being stuck in a cell walled in with a weird energy barrier that's going to be a pain in the ass to deal with isn't the worst part of this. It's not even the part where they took away his deck of playing cards.
It's because he's stuck in here with other people. Specific other people at that.
And a bat.
"This is all your fault, isn't it," he says, and there's no particular 'you' towards which that sentence is directed.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mr." There is an 'r' sound. This is, marginally, an improvement in enunciation but not so much any sort of clarity in terms of word or spirit as to what the vocalization means, but there's no aggressive hand-batting or anything of the sort, with Marivel's invitation.
"drrrryyyyy"
He turns his head sideways where he lays. "'n'verbnnnn~" Than he's ever been. (this is a freebie)
"shtone too... shmoooth," he murmurs only somewhat more coherently. "'m gonna... gonna shaaaaaay... ifany'vya... got... thoushand yearsh, jusht... pace here," he slurrs, "over'n overrrrr.... 'till it... ain't."
'This is all your fault, isn't it,' comes Loren, and Seraph Lanval finds that Loren still being Loren is a tiny piece of normalcy to cling onto. A dry, arid piece of normalcy.
Dry, heaving laugh. "Mmmmkindauhh." Lanval rolls onto his back, keeping one hand atop the drinking gourd. They can't separate that from him, but it's not like he has the strength to really draw on that right now, as he looks up to bat-Marivel.
"'sh that whya did the thiiiiiiing~" Is that why she did the thing, he asks. (this is also a freebie)
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Mmmm..." Marivel says. "I'll take 40-60 percent credit. Can hardly be responsible for what that Pretender does." But she can, apparently, be up to 60 percent responsible.
She hops on over to LAnval and then she quirks her head. "Well, I did it for many reasons. This is one of them. If you recall, the beginning of the end of the Yevon Church is when they decided to arrest a bunch of Drifters."
"Buuut..." Marivel admits. "Regardless of my goals, I have to admit Kaguya was right--I did make a serious mistake and for that I do very much apologize. I shouldn't have involved the people of Pentagulia in my schemes."
She turns to look back to Loren. "Though admittedly--I wasn't expecting our mutual friend Loren to be arrested too! Don't worry too much, I'm sure we'll find a way to break out eventually!"
She quirks her head. "It's been a while hasn't it? Have you seen my bat form before? I don't recall."
She waddles up to Lanval a bit more and adds, "Mm unfortunately they took my magical bag of wonders and I can't Aport them back to me yet. But if you can be patient..."
CAn she Aport through the barrier? She actually doesn't know, but she can't even try right now. A lot of Mariel's treatment of her was undone by Althena's death ray so she needs time to just recover.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
What other response could Loren have to that except to squint at Lanval and Marivel before overdramatically throwing his hands in the air? If there had been a wall he could have leaned against, he would have done that.
But there isn't, as the indignities don't stop coming. Ugh, he's even going to have to figure out how he's supposed to sleep in here with everyone else's... everyone else. He bets some of them snore.
"You're the..." he starts when Marivel asks if he's seen this form of hers before he grimaces and ultimately shrugs. "How should I know? All of you people are weird." Some of them can even turn into owls. He thinks. Or maybe he dreamt that part.
"So, don't tell me. You don't have a plan," Loren, ever lovely, says to them both. "You're going to stick around in here until you rot, or they execute... mm," he settles for, the logic of that phrase catching up to him vis a vis his current conversation partners. "...You're going to stick around in here," Loren corrects. There, better, he thinks.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval absolutely snores. Breathing is one of his favorite hobbies, because only someone who doesn't actually need to do so could ever find it a source of endless entertainment. He's had hundreds of years of practice at it! He can probably do it better than the obligate breathers! (this is not a compliment, irt: snoring)
...But as regards the present, and not the present that is the gift of the morning after Lanval demonstrates snoring prowess since that time isn't there yet, Lanval lifts his head up a little as Marivel expresses an apology for involving the people of Pentagulia in that mess.
"Mmr. Clevrnethat," clever one that, okay, infinite freebies, as Lanval echoes Marivel's hopes for him, as Marivel further mentions the complications. "don't gotta beee... all shauced up t'tella," to tell you, or ya, whatever, "the Artesherertuff," the Artes here are tough. As in he probably couldn't punch through that barrier even if he were completely blasted, high on life, and uncaring about what sorts of nonsense happens in the throes of merriment and frivolous pursuits.
Loren breaks down to the nitty gritty about how long they're going to stick around here.
"Allm'besht plansh... 're 'bout gettin'... drinksh." Lanval doesn't have a brain, so having any sort of plan - at all - would be exemplary.
Beat.
"Shod'yahaaaaaveone," he asks of Loren as to whether he has one, holding up a hand. "'mall... everythiiiiiing," more than ears.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Oh right, now that you mention it..."
Marivel spins on a paw to look back to Loren. "Technically speaking, I know you a little longer than most of everyone else, don't I? I believe Lan mentioned you got the little care package you asked for after.....the fall of your outpost if I recall correctly?"
She quirks her head at Loren for a long moment, considering.
"Well don't say that I don't have a plan. I do have a plan! My plan is to wait until the kind people outside of the cells hatch a plan to rescue us." SHe smiles. "Tis a foolproof plan, so don't you worry. I have a great deal of faith in those outside."
She mulls on it, backtracking a bit. "Well now I do I suppose."
She isn't talking about how her Time Medium is cracked and so she is less powerful than she was when she was attacking the plaza like some kind of Boxman but Marivel is actually in a pretty great mood all told--she feels like a great weight has been lifted off her and so she doesn't really mind being in prison this time compared to the last time.
"Mm... Of course, we are so close to the Day of Promise that my ability to anticipate events is already pretty shot--particularly with that world wide memory wipe we found out about in Yggdrasill--but I am pretty confident in their inherent goodness."
She mulls a bit. An Aport might be too tough but she can at least...
"Alright, Lanval, I am going to try to do you a solid. Or rather, a wet."
She channels her power and a small geyser erupts underneath Lanval. It lasts barely a couple seconds before sputtering out--either due to local defenses or Marivel's low power.
"Ah, well... I hope that helps a little."
She rapidly flaps her wings and is going to try to land on Loren's shoulder as if she were lazing around in a Dig.
"You're the weird one to me," Marivel says. "A ball of contradictions. I'm surprised you haven't Hellionized yet. Though--I don't really mind myself."
Her tone is, unfortunately, quite fond of Loren here.
"Sadly my drinks are also with my bag." Marivel admits.
Then she bat-frowns at Lanval.
"To be honest... I was expecting you to say something about my true form. I was actually quite curious--how you'd deal with that."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I did," he says, when she mentions the care package.
There is a long, long pause. He looks away.
"...Thanks," he says, in the most begrudging way possible. Because he knows, if he doesn't say it, Lan will somehow hear about it. And then he'll regret it!!
(Slowly, she is civilizing this boy.)
All of his best plans are about getting drinks, Loren translates, after a few moments of frowning and furrowing his brow so hard he's going to get premature wrinkles. "...Why am I not surprised," he sighs aloud, shaking his head at Lanval's... whole entire Lanval.
Does he have one? Meaning, in context, a drink.
"Of course not!" Loren erupts, like a small mud volcano that has had it. "They took all of my things! How can you even think about, about--"
Marivel has a plan, though.
"Oh yes? And is it, 'distract the guards while I'--" he starts to snipe, only for her to explain what her plan is.
"...You're serious."
She says she's pretty sure about it.
He gazes at her for a long, long moment.
And then he buries his face in his hands.
Then she alights on his shoulder. "What are you--" She may well determindedly hang on, even when he initially recoils at her sudden proximity. "What do you mean, 'contradiction'? I'm not gonna-- and yes, I know how that works!"
To be a walking contradiction may perhaps be his essential nature, and to be anything else would... put him in contradiction with his nature? Or something like that.
"...And, so? What did you want from me," he continues to crab, pulling a face that if he's lucky won't stick that way, "to yell or point? That guy," and here he jabs an accusing finger at Lanval, "that guy has been in a bottle!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Y'doooon't?" He seems surprised of Loren not having one, but now Marivel has one at least. Wait for the kindness of those outside of the cells hatching a plan. "shooo... 'm gonna runthrough naaaaaaamesh, then," and these names will not be printed, for they are all wrong, and also horribly mispronounced.
They are also all uniquely wrong. Gallows Carradine will not be coming to save them. How this specific name has come to mind, or whether he is just making up names that sound suspiciously close to that, we'll never know.
He doesn't speak over the talk about the Day of Promise and that whole deal about Yggdrasil Island and what it did to the memories of the people of Filgaia. It has quietly gotten him self-conscious about whether something like that might've happened on Lunar in the last five-hundred-and-seventy years.
Marivel does him a soli-- liquid.
He ragdolls limply with the small geyser of water. (He ragdolls limply through a lot of things in better times, because that is a privilege you have when there's no bones to break.) It is kind of the nature of water itself to simply flow in whatever direction it's compelled to until it's at rest. It is shaped, picked apart, and infiltrated by largely every force there is...
But it is also essential. Lanval looks a little less sickly after the ride, with a little smile, and a medium-sized thumb-up, and...
"Thanksh," Lanval says, "but, but what'd... reeeeeeaally hit the shpot... ish a... whoooooooole gallon o' lamp oil'rshomethiiiin'-" He slurs off. Lamp oil? Why lamp oil? It's not booze!
Beat.
"n-nah, what ya got ish fiiiine, 'm... grateful'nuffff," Lanval makes a weird cough-sputter noise. Okay, his breathing enthusiasm game isn't a hundred percent right now either, as Marivel weighs in on the idea of Loren Hellionizing.
"N-Not everyone doesh," Lanval remarks with a raised hand, "'d shee quite a few mortalsh who collectabuncha... Malevolence, 'nnot... not go over." He turns his head to Loren. "not shayin'yagottabunch, buuuuut, 'sh fiiiiine. Yer fiiiiine." He waves a hand.
Loren points an accusing finger towards him, and Lanval's able to work up something like a laugh. "'ve been in shooooo many bottlesh shince... shince'a Guard burnedownda... place I wassssh... lookin' over," he slurs through all of it, again, "'n'm gonna get in'nother one... 'n... other one," a promise that for poor Loren, Lanval will indeed be in many, many bottles to come, as his arm slaps against the ground.
Around the time he is bat-frowned at, same bat-relative place, same bat-complaint sorcerous energy channel.
"It wash shomethinnnn'," Lanval says, "t-to be reeeeal, thaaaaaaaa'sh why 'm in thish cornerrrr," spheres. don't. have. corners. "Givin'yashpaaaaaaace."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel's feet tighten their grip as she is shaked about by Loren's recoiling. She looks pretty dizzy by the end of it, groaning by the end of it.
Marivel's batfrown kind of deepens a bit. "I thought you'd have questions. Don't you want to know the terrible secret reason for why I'm like that?"
She thinks for a moment and then admits, "I wouldn't be surprised if Gallows Carradine showed up. That does sound like a good name for breaking people out of jail before they face the..."
She pauses. "..."
"...The Gallows."
Lanval seems to be doing better, which is good. Marivel is still stuck like this but unleashing that spell, at least, probably isn't delaying things TOO much.
She listens to Lanval's explanation that plenty of mortals collect plenty of malevolence but don't turn into hellions. In other words, plenty of humans are contradictions (all humans are, to some extent, conradictory except for the truly mad). "Mm.... It is possible the Hellionization only occurs if the contradictions reach a point that cannot be handled by the human with those contradictions. Perhaps Loren's grumbling is actually neccessary--It prevents him from turning by serving as a kind of release valve..."
She shifts to sitting down on Loren's shoulder rather than standing on it.
"Well if I leaked the poison, I imagine there would have been an outbreak on Filgaia well before Lunar's connection to it. But if you feel unsafe to be near me, I will let it be. But I'll answer whatever questions you have."
She looks back to Loren. "I am serious though. Take it from someone who has been thrown into a jail a looot of times. Not only can you tell a lot about your captors by visiting their prisons--in this age, they are only as secure as the people outside it will let them be."
She mulls for a moment, considering Loren some more. "Well, Solaris not wtihstanding. And no problem. Any friend of Lan's..." She hesitates. "Well, perhaps we aren't friends, but I do wish you well. More or less."
She looks to Lanval who has been in a bottle. She bobs her head. Yep. Lanval's been in a bottle.
"Well, right now, just your company? Perhaps later, when tis time to escape, we can help each other out. Right now, we simply have each other to pass the while. This prison is definitely not ethical in its treatment of prisoners. I don't even see a bathroom!"
She frowns. "...Or a toilet for that matter."
She frowns more. "....Well, if you aim it... Lanval and I can turn our backs?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"...Who's Gallows Carradine?"
No one Loren's met, that's for sure. Marivel earns a particularly nonplussed expression.
Lanval confirms that it's, quite probably, just the way Loren is and not a matter of him being at risk of monstering out or the like. He just stares at Lanval. "Uh... thanks?" he hazards.
Though it should be noted that he does do a quick once-over of himself, as if he were checking for motes of Malevolence. As if he could see the everyday sort of stuff of it, even.
Marivel speculates further, causing Loren's shoulders to droop. "Can we... stop talking about me turning into a monster, please," he says, burying his face in his hands again. He's come close enough (if not in the Hellion sense) already.
In fact, some would say he's already a monster!
If she leaked the poison? "I don't think it works like that," he tells Marivel. Granted, he's not entirely sure about how Hellionization works outside a vague 'get in the bad stuff too long and you become a literal rather than figurative monster' but he's... reasonably sure you can't catch it. Reasonably sure.
But she says it's probably going to be fine. "I'm aware," he says, bristling because he's just like that to non-accusatory sorts of questions. "I've been arrested before!" This is the third time! ...And by the Guard once again, at that. One time he got busted out by Tabitha. Another time, he broke himself out--
Well, that is to say, it was all an elaborate troll from Kaguya and he could have probably walked at any point.
But the point still stands!
So Marivel counts Lan as a friend, too--? "How is she friends with everyone," he grumbles, dragging his hands down the sides of his face.
As Lanval confirms that he's going to get in more bottles to come, Loren just pulls a world-weary sort of expression. "Great. Great. Great. Hope that works out for you," he says, a touch weakly.
But the conditions here are quite inhumane, Marivel says. There isn't even a toilet.
Indeed. There is not.
At which she then tells him that if he aims it, they can turn their backs.
Loren, who is a medical officer, it should be noted, just looks appalled. "For one thing, you-- you're not the only ones here!" he hisses. "And for another, it's highly unsanitary. Surely, there..."
He pauses, thinking this one over a second time.
"...So they're not going to keep us here long," he says. "They haven't given us food or water, either." Either the plan is that they'll get to die here slowly of thirst (since that will happen long before they manage to starve -- he's familiar with it!) or they're meant to only stay here temporarily.
"...Well, then that's the plan," Loren, says, finishing his train of thought aloud. "They'll come here to take us away eventually. When they do..."
Ugh, he'll have to play hero. He didn't fight back when they grabbed him, so he probably has enough to either push through the barrier or to handle -- if not incapacitate or kill -- the guards come to do it. Which means he'll have to wait until the time comes.
Unless the alleged rescue happens first. Or if the guards never come at all. In which case, he'll just have to chance it, after all...
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"unnoooooo, jushhhht makinamesh uuuup," Lanval verbally shrugs. "Beennnabout centurieeeesh, hear a lot 'm shuremosht're reeeeaal," this doesn't help anything! He's not moving around very much, but he's also deeply exhausted (meta?)physically and emotionally too. He might be drunk on an entirely lack of drunk, somehow.
But he is doing marginally better post-dousing.
"Thaaa'sh fair, 'll ashk ya," Lanval says, "in a shec, gotta make it... makiitt feel like a... presshin' queshtion, ya desherve it~" He reassures that much, and then Marivel confirms a 'Gallows Carradine' is very real, leading into a joke.
He laughs some.
Still, the reassurance is there - Loren's not about to go Hellion, also he's already Loren. It is a state of being.
"will'nce I caaan," he 'reassures' about the bottle thing, rocking back and forth to sit up, but not quite getting there. Lying down is more comfortable. This stone floor is not comfortable. Less uncomfortable? Some mathematical relationship to comfort that is not linear, or even anything that makes sense.
Right.
"Heyheyhey," Lanval throws both hands up. "already know aaaaaall'a shtuff that'd come outta'mortal, not judgin' that." He lowers an arm down as Loren points out what it might mean when there's nothing like a latrine available for the lot of them.
"Huh. Y'might b'riiiight," the Water Seraph concedes from the analysis. He looks over in the vague direction of the others that are here, who may or may not be grappling with their own issues of the lack of amenities available.
"...F-firsht'ingsh fiirrrsht," Lanval rolls back and forth again, and at last, manages to sit up. "If Loren'sh right, 'n he pro'lly iiiish 'caushe he'shSHMART," unusual emphasis on this, probably not even mocking, he brings an arm up to his scragglier beard - less flowing like a waterfall, more like hanging, drippy faucet the way it's all kind of bunched up into a narrower tangle-braid, working his drinking gourd to his lap.
"We... we ain't gotmuch time theeen," he clears his throat, and makes good on what Marivel deserves.
"Shoooo... why... why wereya like that, Marivel, that... that bigol' sherpent... 'n everything."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "Oh, er, sure." to Loren. "...Though I'm sure you'd make a splendid one."
Marivel listens to how Loren has been arrested before. Fortunately for Loren, he doesn't say that he's been arrested three times before because that is one more time than Marivel has been arrested in recent history and she'd probably hold it over him! Not that, really, it is in Marivel's opinion a bad remark on Loren's character that he got arrested by the Guard.
How is she friends with everyone? "Well," Marivel says. "I guess she's just nice to everyone, is empathic, and doesn't flirt with supervillainy?"
It is true that they aren't the only ones here (maybe they could ALL turn their backs) but the more chilling determination of what it means that there is no toilet isn't lost on Loren.
Namely, they aren't going to be here long enough for it to be a problem.
"Hm... I guess you've got a point there," Marivel admits. "Maybe we have less time than I hoped."
She cups her chin, thoughtfully, thinking about it.
"Will you save us, Mr. Voss?" Marivel asks, fluttering her bat eyes at him. "Unfortunately I'm preeetty low on magical power right now. I can't even be my charming humanoid self right now."
"But honestly, I think you and I aren't the only ones who have trouble matching Lan because most people don't have what Lan has. Surprisingly, a lot of people can be nice actually--but usually it's a bit of a performance you see. A mask for society to function. I'm sure you've met many nice people who are nice in that manner! And there isn't anything wrong with that. Some degree of 'niceness' is neccessary for society to function!"
"But Lan is nice...because she's Nice. And that is why she has so many friends, you see. Because for those of us who have learned 'niceness'...We can't just beat the real deal." She smiles a little sadly at that. "Genuine, I suppose."
She laughs a bit as Lanval outright informing her he'll make it a pressing question--just for her. Well, act like it is anyway. Speaking of performance.
"Yeah," Marivel bobs her head to Lanval. "We don't have much time, so every second is precious and we shouldn't waste it!"
Shoooo.... why... why wereya like that, Marivel, that... that bigol' sherpent...
Marivel takes a breath (another performance).
"...I have no idea." Marivel tells him. "I was always like that. Born that way."
"All I know is... that the people in the Seed Cities have a famous story about a Crimson Noble named Dracula." Marivel says. "It means 'Son of the Dragon' or something like that but I have no idea how those people even know of Crimson Nobles in the first place, what with them arriving after our extinction."
She flops over on Lanval's shoulder, sighing.
"Honestly, one of the reasons I've come to Lunar in the first place... was hoping for an Answer to that question... But it doesn't seem like I will ever find the Answers I seek. I just have to get used to...not knowing the truth."
Well maybe it wasn't an entire waste of time since Marivel gets to get that off her chest at least.
"Well, strange mysteries aside, I'm glad we got to talk. I'm sorry for hurting you Lanval."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Probably because Lan is just nice and empathetic...? He just looks at Marivel with what can be said to be 'an amount' of side-eye. "I... guess?"
Who's a supervillain, him??
Yes, yes, there are basic biological needs but this -- and perhaps it is generally shared with other mortals -- is not a matter Loren enjoys considering overmuch.
Even if it gives him some insight into how long they're likely to be in here, which, spoilers: probably not very long at all. Perhaps the Church is still arguing how it's going to do the execution, or perhaps they'll move them into another deeper, darker cell where they can really enjoy the rest of their natural lives.
Will he save them, if it comes to that?
"I think... if they take down the barrier, I could take them out," he says, frowning as he gazes off into the distance. "After that, you're on your own."
He'd be on his own at that point, too. Some basic self defense -- along with force of sheer numbers and weapons taken from the guards -- could see them out. But it's 'maybes' all the way down.
"Guess we'll have to wait for their move." Or their absence of a move, or whatever it takes to force his hand. He's still got most of his Ether left.
Better make it count.
He gets a moment, however fleeting, to feel very cool and mature.
Marivel, though, is not done talking and circles back on an earlier topic, that of Lan.
"...Who said I wanted to match her," he does mumble, gazing up towards the distant ceiling as if pleading for the intervention of a caring god. "She's so weird."
...So much for that brief moment of feeling a little bit cool.