2024-02-15: Our (Fifth) Vanguard

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<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    And just like that, she's been there and back again.

    Avril's trip to New Arctica had been twofold: she had gone as part of the Wayside Outreach to lend aid, but it had also been to assess the status of Elru in general. In so doing, she had learned a few things about the north of the continent, but less about its more southerly reaches.

    It's here after all that the bulk of the lands under Veruni control lie. Regardless of her trepidation, she does not doubt that it is here that she will ultimately need to venture.

    As promised, she meets with them in the upstairs room of a local inn in Port Timney upon her return. Someone else has done the honors of renting the space, naturally.

    "I have returned," she says, though her messages have announced her coming. "We have much to discuss."

    Possibly, they have dinner first. It would be time enough for Avril and the others to speak about what they've encountered after their return to Filgaia. For Avril, she's heard that there is a Fell Dragon in the ruins of Eluria, but also that New Arctica continues to thrive. She speaks of the 'paladin' that she met, newly returned from Eluria and the people from that nation who had been cleansed of Malevolence.

    She does not speak of the Veruni. She did not dare travel that far south alone, even in disguise.

    "I meant what I said to Captain Bartholomew," she says at length. "I intend still to join with the Moderates." 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya was quiet at dinner. She had the vegetarian options, of course--there's not a ton of those, in old inns, but Kaguya managed nonetheless. She listened, though. She frowns at the Fell Dragon talk, tilts her head at the paladin, and there, Malevolence cleansed...

Hm.

For her part, Kaguya could mention the new safehouses she's established--though not details--and the labs she's working on. The materials she's gathering. And of course, the trap that was set by the Veruni for Redi.

But now...

"That's... basically an endorsement of their position," Kaguya says. "It puts you on a clear side, in Veruni politics. That's a big deal, considering who and what you are."

A pause.

"I mean, I support it. Being clear. But it's a huge deal, and I figure it's my job to make sure we all know that." 

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Dean is all for dinner first! You can't plan on an empty stomach, after all. Rebecca took care of that, while Dean handled getting the actual rental accommodations. As they eat, he chows down as he usually does--he's no longer a growing boy, but a man who nonetheless is very active on the day-to-day. This short king needs a lot of fuel.
    
    He frowns around his mouthfuls of food at the talk of a Fell Dragon, but nods, particularly at the thriving New Arctica and the 'paladin' from Eluria. If there are more folks out there who can cleanse Malevolence, so much the better!
    
    Eventually he takes a deep drink of water and bursts out a satisfied sigh as he sets his glass down. "Of course you meant it," he replies. "Why would you say something you didn't mean?"
    
    Kaguya explains why, though. Dean is briefly thoughtful, but only gives a decisive nod. "Being clear's a good thing! That way everyone knows what's what!" 

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

They did have dinner first.
 
In this case, it was Rebecca ordering it downstairs and bringing it up, balancing a tray on each hand. She could have gone out on the town first, sure, but while she's not exactly paranoid, the less of them that was seen out and about, the better.
 
In this case it was inn comfort food of parmesan fried fish in a lemon butter sauce, some Okra stew (With an extra portion for Kaguya), and a side of biscuits - along with some iced tea.
 
Rebecca perhaps was thinking about the gravity of what was likely to happen next throughout dinner while Dean was wolfing it down. The news is something she tries to dwell on TOO much compared to what's likely about to happen.
 
As Avril gives her position, Rebecca states quietly, "Well, if you're committing to that, then I support it." Dean says it makes their position clear, and Rebecca nods, before looking Kaguya's way, and after a moment answers her in a different way than Dean.
 
"Yeah sure, it's a huge deal but her lack of endorsement of the Radicals previously wasn't exactly staying Volsung's hand either. If there's any chance her endorsing the Moderates wins us more allies and weakens his position in Veruni society - then it's worth chancing it."
 
Rebecca says after a moment, "Worst that could happen is he might be a little more aggressive, but given how ambitious Veruni are, 'paranoia' feels more likely."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    It's the sort of paranoia that (a part of) Avril approves of, to be fair. While she had taken care with her disguise and is certain that it wouldn't be easily seen through, it's also the case that... well. She can dress up and do her best to act the part of a normal young woman, but there are elements of her self that are not so easily hidden. Even Avril, who has a somewhat disjointed approach to the normal rhythms of life (for extremely valid reasons, to be certain) had wondered if her guise was seen through by some of the people at New Arctica.

    Sometimes it is best not to tempt fate. ...Too much, that is.

    After all, some things will happen whether she wants them to or not.

    "Yes. It is," she answers Kaguya, perched carefull on the edge of the bed. "Yet, I do not believe we can permit things to continue as they have been. ...That having been said," she continues, closing her eyes as she begins to frown, "it may be wise to stay my formal endorsement until such a time as we are prepared for the reaction. There is much we must learn of the circumstances within Veruni territory. Even in New Arctica, there was little they were able to tell me."

    She turns her attention towards Kaguya, as if she might have the answers.

    "That, and there is what Bartholomew had said to me. First, I must reconcile with myself..." She shakes her head. "I understand. It is under my name that the Radicals persist in their plans. I do not down that my former self was of like mind with them. If I were to become 'her' once more..."

    Her attention falls on her oldest and finest friends (sorry, Kaguya, but she did meet them first) and she smiles.

    "Yet, I do not think I will accomplish that by running away or hiding. Do you not agree?" 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"True," Kaguya answers Rebecca. "Maybe yeah, the formal endorsement should wait, but... People hearing that Avril is siding with the Moderates could convince some fence-sitters. Not that there's a lot of those who are willing to make it public--the rumors go that the Radicals are actively hunting Moderate sympathizers."

She grimaces. It's not just rumors.

"...I'm with you," she says. "We can't let things go on as they have."

A pause. The circumstances in Veruni territory... "I haven't been back in a while," Kaguya admits. "But I can tell you what I knew from when i was there. It's not a lot, though--I spent most of my time in the hospital, and then on the road. Humans aren't generally... welcome, though, if they're not making themselves 'useful'."

To reconcile with herself...

Kaguya is a new friend--an older enemy. She doesn't begrudge that. She's the newcomer here, and that's...

That's actually fine.

"...if you become 'her', and we can't get you back... Then I'll do everything in my power to stop you, Avril. Everything."

"So rely on that, OK? Do what you have to do. And so will I. Between us, we'll see this world saved. And if we're lucky, our people too." 

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Fried fish is delicious!! The soup and sides are great too. Dean may wolf it all down, but it's the kind of wolfing where the food tastes so good you just have to get it inside you as fast as possible. At the end, he's very satisfied.%T
    He sobers when Rebecca explicitly brings up Volsung. He was already thinking it, but, well... "He's been aggressive all along. Though I guess we haven't seen him in a while," Dean admits. Certainly not since he tried to send him a present of tea and other things. He's still not actually sure if he received it. It's sad to realize that maybe he did and he just threw it out.
    
    "But anyway! Rebecca's right!" he starts to say--but then Avril is saying they ought to be cautious and wait to make a formal announcement. First she has to reconcile with herself...
    
    "I agree," he says, smiling back at her. "And of course, we'll all have your back all the way." He blinks wide. "How do you 'reconcile with yourself,' though?"
    
    He grimaces with Kaguya. Those are some nasty rumors--especially since they *aren't* just rumors. "Then we ought to make sure we protect those folks. And make sure they know we will!" 

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

To some degree, it's still anxiety inducing, the thought that they're challenging the Veruni. Can this group called the Moderates really give them what it takes to surmount that challenge?
 
Rebecca didn't know. And not knowing how this road would end is terrifying to all of them.
 
She could say it's part of becoming an adult, but it's equally valid to say that one can't learn from those lessons if one ends up dead.
 
Dean really DID want to befriend Volsung didn't he? Rebecca is still always shocked at how hard he takes it, whenever this happens, "Might be that he's had... bigger problems. He hasn't sent out the four sentinels after us much either lately." She looks at Kaguya out of the corner of her eye, "Could be that he can't spare them just to chase us around."
 
As Kaguya says it might encourage fence sitters, Rebecca eyes her and nods, "And we can't underestimate the hit to the Radicals' morale. For Avril to come out against them- it's like, creating a crisis of identity for Veruni society."
 
Rebecca turns to Avril as she says she must reconcile with herself. There's a look of concern, wishing in this moment she understood everything she might be thinking, feeling about 'reconciliation'. When Avril smiles at them, she smiles back, "Nope. 'sides... I have faith in the person you are. It's like Dean says. We've got your back."
 
Perhaps it's blind optimism, but she wants to think that there's no way Avril could just submit to her old self. Which then leads to her glancing at Kaguya, who says she'll put everything in her power to stop her. "There's no way it'd come to that." She insists, and for the long time, there's a certain resolve to the statement- but then...
 
"... bet you five thousand gella it won't." A beat, as a hand goes up to her head, rubbing her forehead. She's never been the type to gamble or bet, especially big ones. She's the responsible party member who doesn't MAKE big ticket wagers like this on a whim.
 
"Wait no. That's stupid and irresponsible of me... this is Avril's future we're talking about."
 
A moment later, she shifts and stares at Kaguya again.
 
"Fifty Thousand Gella."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "I do not disagree," Avril says to Kaguya. "Yet, I feel it may be... rash to announce it so soon. Or at least, to announce it and then appear within the Veruni territories as myself. ...I wonder," she muses, folding her hands in her lap as she furrows her forehead, her lips pursed in a shallow frown. "Do our people know what I look like?"

    It's not as if she can vouch for whatever statues or paintings or recordings might still exist that... display what their fearsome Ice Queen of yore looked like.

    Some among the Radicals do, however, know what she looks like, a fact that Avril is not ignorant of, having encountered several of their number... Volsung most notably among them.

    So it hardly obviates the need for some form of disguise! Or, at the very least, some means to make her less... assailable than she might otherwise be.

    First and foremost, though--

    "...I do not know," says Avril, of the elephant in the room. "No, that is not quite correct... I know that I must cease running. There is one place where I might find the answers I seek, and I will not find it avoiding Elru out of fear." It had only been a threat in Meria, but that does not -- did not -- mean that the threat couldn't come about. Yet, running away... running isn't the answer.

    "If they wish to come and claim me, should I not come to them first?"

    Just, perhaps with a little tact right out the gate, because there's bold, and then there's foolish.

    Just as she had thought, Rebecca and Dean both have her back, as it were. "Thank you, both of you. I will do my best to reclaim my past, on my own terms."

    Yet she isn't ignorant of the chance that all could go entirely awry. If it happens that Avril becomes the Lolithia once again, then Kaguya, should it become impossible to return her to the person she is now, will do whatever is necessary to stop her.

    Avril smiles, her gaze apologetic even as she glances Rebecca's way. "If that happens... then, I shall be counting on you, Kaguya," she assures their once enemy, now friend.

    She can feel her silence in the depths of her mind. Does she disagree to this proposal? Or does she find the terms acceptable? There's a part of her that...

    There's a part of Avril that doesn't know what to make of it, likely because the pieces necessary to comprehend that part of herself remain entombed in the brilliance within.

    But even so, she giggles, amused and pleased by Rebecca's bet on her overcoming her past. 

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

It was all delicious! Kaguya has found she likes okra pretty well. ...But Volsung, well...

"We haven't," Kaguya says to Dean. "But I think Rebecca's right--he's up to something, we just don't know what."

She looks back at Rebecca, and nods. "...True. Morale is a thing. But the Radicals already feel backed into a corner. We can't underestimate that, either."

It's sad, the way Dean wanted to make friends so badly. Not because it's pathetic of Dean--but because Kaguya is still sure it's doomed.

They have her back. That's true. And, well... Dean is right. "...Yeah. We can't leave the humans there to die. It's not right."

"But..." Avril has a question, and Kaguya thinks about it. "No, I don't think so. I didn't recognize you when I first saw you, anyway. We didn't know what you looked like on the ship, so unless that's changed since I was away..."

Avril knows... something. "Mm." Not to run.

"Heh. Walking into the trap with open eyes is better than stumbling into a different one," she agrees.

But with what happens... yes. Kaguya inclines her head. "Do that. ...and if it doesn't happen, count on me to help."

Then she grins at Rebecca. "I thought you were going small potatoes, but fifty thousand... not bad."

"For Avril's future..." She grins like a pirate at Rebecca. She knows something. But she doesn't say it. Instead--

"You're on."

She extends her hand to shake. "Heheheh."

"But don't go making it easy for me to collect, Avril. That's no fun."

She smiles... but there's something serious in her eyes, when she does, looking right at Avril.

This is a bet she hopes to lose. 

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    It's true; Dean *did* want to befriend Volsung. At times like this, the advice of Id, none other than the Demon of Elru, comes to mind: that you can try to be there and help someone all you like, but sometimes they're just too mean and nasty to be helped, and in those cases, that's not your fault and all you can do is move on. Anything is possible as long as you don't give up--but people aren't things.
    
    Dean can hold out his hand, but it's up to Volsung to take it. Thus, all Dean can say about him and any plots he might be cooking up is a neutral, "Mm."
    
    He laughs along with Avril, though, as Rebecca stakes money on Avril's future. "A hundred thousand gella!" he offers. "But seriously, she's right, it won't come to that, Kaguya. It'll be all right as long as we all stick together like we have until now." Technically Kaguya's only recently become a part of that, but Dean includes her all the same. He gives all his friends a bright smile and a nod in turn. Avril suggests they go to the Radicals first, and he nods again. "Yeah! Do it the way *you* want to do, Avril!"
    
    Both that, and reclaiming her past self both. Even if they don't know how to do it, they'll keep moving forward until they find the way--together.
    
    "So to Ell, then?" he asks. Even if they don't know what to do, they do at least know where to go. 

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

"Well." Rebecca gives Kaguya an almost sheepish chuckle, "Little chance of that. Underestimating them. There's a reason why even Dean over there didn't suggest rolling up to Volsung's place and ringing the bell in the past few years we've traveled together."
 
...
...
...
...
...
 
At least Rebecca HOPES there's a reason, if Dean in fact goes 'Why didn't I think of that???' then Rebecca will be fit to be tied.

There's bold, and there's a little foolish. Rebecca isn't certain she agrees that Avril's been running. But, it's how Avril feels, and that's what is important.
 
"Well - if you think we can find those answers here, then we'll get to it." Despite the danger, "Going to them first... there's nothing wrong with standing up for yourself."
 
Rebecca just hopes they're all ready, because she has no intention of letting Avril 'be claimed'. Avril's apologetic look to Kaguya, is met head on by Rebecca, as if she were trying to be understanding of Avril's feelings - in entrusting that possibility to Kaguya.
 
But all the same, challenging that that possibility can happen at all. As Avril giggles, she manages a smile even as Kaguya grins like that. Rebecca's eyebrow arches as if to challenge 'What!?' but doesn't say it out loud, instead just extending a hand to shake it firmly.
 
"No chance of that." Rebecca says, of Avril making it easy. But then Dean yells 'a hundred thousand Gella' and Rebecca looks his way as if wondering if he was challenging the BID with one of his own.
 
But fortunately, Rebecca has the power of common sense and context clues for working out that Dean doesn't think she's serious, "Oh I'm dead serious Dean."
 
She doesn't challenge his bid though, since Kaguya and her already shook on it. "Can bet her too, if you want. But I'm putting all I've got on the line." That's just how much she believes in Avril facing herself.
 
The question of 'To Ell, then?' is met by a firm nod, "Yep. If that's where we've gotta go for her to figure this out, then we're going. Simple as that."
 
No matter what anxiety she might feel about it, going where one needs to go - where one has a responsibility to go, to do what one has to do... that's another part of being an adult in her eyes.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "I agree," Avril says, looking in Kaguya's direction. "That man should not be underestimated." She had known that for fact the first time she had met him... since her awakening atop Celestial Peak, that is.

    Or, no, that isn't right. There is one small and fragmented memory that Avril possesses prior to meeting Dean and Rebecca, and that is of the moment she awoke in this era. She remembers his eyes. The man who awoke her from her long sleep had such terribly cold eyes.

    Most likely, most Veruni still alive do not know what Avril looks like. "Truly... I see. Then, that may be in our favor, if also to our disadvantage. They will have no reason to believe that I am their queen without a demonstration, but it means that we will be able to find the right moment to do so. ...Of course, I haven't forgotten that he knows what I look like," she adds, lifting her gaze to meet Rebecca's own. "I shall need a convincing disguise."

    Of course, the wildcard in all of this may just be Yue, and what she'll do if she uncovers Avril entering Veruni territory, but that's a matter that falls well outside anyone's ability to predict.

    She can't help but giggle as Kaguya takes that bet... and Dean ups the ante.

    "Oh, I have no intention to let Rebecca lose," Avril remarks, smiling in a manner that might be called gentle, assuming one doesn't look her in the eye. "Or Dean, for that matter."

    To Ell, then?

    "Yes. We should prepare ourselves... and let Captain Bartholomew know what we have decided. Then, after that..."

    No more running. No more backing away. No more stalling. This is her destiny, and she must shoulder it. But not alone.

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