2020-08-27: Your Impetuous Friend

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=====================<* Valeria Chateau - Ground Floor *>=====================

The grand, beautiful estate that is the Valeria Chateau rests at the top of a high cliff overlooking much of Meria Boule's central region, full of red rock into which the white walls of the Chateau seem to fit perfectly. It is ornate, lovely stone with much embellishment, and if anything is perhaps larger than one would expect of the seemingly middling noble rank of the Valeria family, and the lack of significant holdings around the Estate itself.

There's no sense of lack within, however; it holds ancient statuary, extraordinary tapestries, and as of more recently is known as the very home base of ARMS, Lord Irving Valeria's personal project and, it's said, private army. There is a great deal of history here; the knowledgeable suggest that this may well be the oldest structure in all Meria Boule. The staff welcome travellers warmly... but visitors are kept strictly out of more sensitive areas. This, apparently, includes the main courtyard...

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxWlVGd9zE
<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

The Filgaia Summit has drawn in dignitaries from across the world. Not all of them, mind - but big movers from all three continents have made themselves available at the call of ARMS, and they've brought their entourages with them. Valeria Manor buzzes with people of greater or lesser importance, from kings and princes to courtiers and bureaucrats to members of ARMS to Drifters there for security.

It's a summit of politics. Perhaps it was inevitable that religion would crop up.

Down on the main floor, there's a stir. A few conversations trail off into surprise and confusion at the sight of a small group of robed figures beginning to move through the Chateau. They're in white and red overcloaks over priestly vestments - four men and two women of indeterminate age, each of them carrying a sheaf of pamphlets they're beginning to place on tabletops or stick to conspicuous walls.

It's the seventh who draws the most attention. It's clearly a woman, draped in a white cloak with red bounding over a modest underdress, her face partially in shadow. With a pamphlet in hand, she makes her way down the first floor's central corridor with a slow, stately grace.

Many of those at the summit haven't been following Merian religious politics. But the local delegates know what's up. Those hanging around the area can hear snippets of conversation.

"--that's the Impetuous Friend! It has to be--"
        "--I'd heard she was going to be here--"
                "--never come out during the day before--"

The talk around Meria has been at a growing buzz since the Night the Stars Went Out: A woman called the Impetuous Friend had been circulating petitions predicting the coming of the Day of Darkness and highlighting the failings of the Church of Granas as an institution. Few had seen her more than in passing.

From the conversation in the corridor, it seems she's made her presence felt - and she's making her way towards the most prominent door in the place, pamphlet in hand.

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet glances up from her plate of sausage roll, coleslaw, and a cup of apple cider. She's on her meal break, so no drinking on the job. She watches the stately procession of priests and priestesses, and especially the one she calculates must be Your Impetuous Friend. The Friend had been making waves in Meria of late.

Not that her activities disturbed Violet very much. No deity -- not the Warrior of Light, or Granas, or the god of Nisan, or the Guardians, or Althena, or even the Spirans' Aeons -- had ever paid attention to her prayers.

Even when they were to save dying women and babies. No, humans and their ilk were better off depending on themselves. Not that she would, she admitted, turn down the gods' aid in the middle of a pitched battle or something. But it looked like it would have to be their Chosen to do the asking. It was so unfair!

She watches the priests and priestesses calmly, ready to unpack her ARM if need be, but otherwise waiting to see what happens.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        Seraph Lanval's been having an all right time of things. For someone whose job it is to speak for the water of Filgaia and know of all it entails, he's not completely up to spec on the ins and outs of innumerable delegates across countless cultures coming together - as if an overall grasp of the situation is too vast to really 'get it.'
        There's one thing he does get, though!
        There is so much booze from everywhere, and there's a baseline growing optimism full of tiny little laughs that it feels intoxicating and empowering - and it is sort of his own innate Seraphim nature to amplify small joys. So far, it's been great, even if he probably shouldn't linger and get back in touch with Talise and Layna soon en route to the next Fox Company job or what have you.
        "Ha ha ha!" Lanval laughs along with a joke being told not far from where he is, while lying underneath a table with a kind of punch he has taken a real shine too. "Ha... haaa... hmmmm...."
        It grows quieter. It's sort of an unnatural, unsettling quieting from near that corridor the Impetuous Friend is appearing from. The Oracle blinks his eyes blearily half-open and starts to sit up. There's a feeling and pressure in the air that he doesn't like. He wobbles and struggles a lot less than he usually does to right himself up, beyond laying his manifestation's hand on a table for something resembling balance.
        (Seraphim seem to only respect corporeal boundaries when convenient, cherry-picking what laws of physics they play ball with. It's not fair!)

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Among the Drifters present at the Filgaia Summit is one Jacqueline Barber. She and the Caravan Kinship are here as staff, making deliveries of required goods and helping with preparations where they can. She has elected to dress up nicely for the occasion, with a modest emerald-green dress with a white sash and matching shawl.

It is right as she finishes restocking a table with refreshments that a commotion begins. Jacqueline turns to look, observing with a frown as a group of robed figures begin to move through the rooms.

She recognizes the outfit - the robes, and the color schemes... there's only one group that she knows of that could be responsible.

"...You're getting quite bold, Neriah." Jacqueline mutters with a frown, her arms folded in front of her. Should she do something about this?

...No, not yet. The last thing she wanted to do would be to cause a commotion that might end up getting other people drawn into it.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        For various reasons that Loren Voss, Gebler Captain, does not precisely want to talk about--

        He has ended up attending the Filgaia Summit as support personnel to one Minister Shakhan of Aveh.
        It has been an incredibly tedious, mind-meltingly dull assignment. Yet, his orders were clear: he was to attend and grant his assistance to the minster, and do these things to the best of his ability. Or Else.

        His only saving grace is that the meeting won't last forever.

        He'd been given the uniform of an Aveh official to wear for the proceedings, which, if it weren't for his skin (and recognizable face, perhaps, for some of those present) would have him set as a member of the minister's staff.

        The minister is at this particular event taking place on the main floor, so of course, here too is Loren. He's supposed to be watching for anything unusual, which means that no, he can't eat or drink anything. He's suffering for this, Sadalbari.

        He's been tuning out the half-dozen conversations about religion taking place far too loudly with aplomb, but it's when some lady in white comes walking in and the conversations more or less patter to a dull murmur that...

        ...it looks like something interesting is actually happening.

        "Who's the Impetuous Friend?" he asks, turning to the person closest to him.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

'Impetuous' could also mean careless or hasty and it might be a bit hasty. ARMS should really be removing them from the premises. The tricky part is, of course, the how to remove them in a subtle enough manner so as to not disrupt the conference...

...Though disrupting the conference is not a mission fail here compared to allowing a cult that ATE THE STARS for an evening to use the summit as a recruiting ground. For pretty obvious reasons hopefully??

Marivel Armitage is an old fixture of Meria by this point. She is dressed in her white and blue dress with the black cape with the bag in front. It's highly canon.

A shadow rises up out of the floor, an arm extending out to wrap arounnd the white cloaked woman's upper body, almost akin to a hug.

"Well well well! Is it the Day of Darkness already? Because I'm pretty sure we didn't invite a cult of sun-eaters!"

Marivel forms out of the ground, following the arm, head turning close th The Impetuous Friend's neck.

"This is a political summit, not the open marketplace of ideas, my friend."

She makes a flourish with a hand, materializing a margarita underneath the Impetuous Friend's nose. It even has a tiny umbrella in the straw.

"To be honest, though, a Day of Darkness? It's tempting, tempting. I wouldn't have to worry about sunburns."

"Anyway we can have the old conversation. You don't know what you're meddling with blah blah blah yes i do valmar's real cool guys but tell you what... Let's flip the script a bit."

She leans in and murmurs, "What does your little cult think of Odessa?"

MEANWHILE

Rachiel Medry is the closest person to Loren.

"I thought I was...!" Rachiel tells Loren. "I'm pretty impetuous, heh heh...!" When'd she get there!?

She offers Loren a tiny sausage on a skewer with a bit of mustard on it.

"These are great." She tells him.

She has like foour more in her other hand.

She might not have realized that they're not allowed to eat.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Come to think of it, who did invite the Church? Who invited the Impetuous Friend, even? Does she even count as a member of the Church?

About five feet from the door, the woman in the hooded cloak draws herself to a halt when Marivel forms behind her and puts an arm around her. For a few moments, she doesn't say anything, nor even more. Her body language is simple and calm.

"I think," she says quietly in an unfamiliar and subtly accented voice, "that you have mistaken me for someone else."

The woman brings her free hand up to push her hood back, shaking out lustrous jet-black curls - but the face revealed beneath the hood isn't immediately recognizable. There are some vague similarities - mainly in the sense that this woman also has curly black hair down past her shoulders and a fair complexion. But the Impetuous Friend's cheekbones are sharply higher, her face is more elongated and mature, her nose is sharper, her lips a little thinner.

One difference stands out: Her eyes are a washed-out shade of white, with no pupils to speak of.

"I will leave if you would like me to," she says, her voice quiet as she continues to look forward. "Nothing in this tract are the words of praise you claim. I have served the Church for many years, and I make my predictions and my theses from the standpoint of the faithful."

The woman tilts her head in Marivel's general direction, but her eyes don't focus on her. They can't.

"My name is Aria," she says. "I am sorry for coming uninvited. But what I have seen is too important not to share, if we are to save the world. And as to Odessa...."

She looks forward again, raising her shoulders, then lowering them. "...Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus is not as great a danger as what is to come. But he is a danger. If you will come together to stop him, then I wish you the best."

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet watches from a distance as Marivel MATERIALIZES OUT OF THE GROUND and almost-hugs the white-robed stranger. Well, well. Maybe that one actually is a Crimson Noble. The two women converse, but she can't make out what they say.

She spots Loren from across the room -- evidently he's an Aveh medic -- and sidles over to him, still balancing her plate. "It's you! The girl you were with at the Star Festival, how is she?" Not the most elegant phrasing, perhaps, but it gets the point across. She also waves at Jacqueline, who seems occupied with her own project. The sausages on skewers really DO look good -- too bad staff aren't supposed to raid the dignitaries' tables!

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        "Mmmmph." Lanval makes one last grunt of exertion as he decides that he is done with using the table for balance. (He even gives it a little friendly thank-you wave.) Aside from the first three steps, his way of walking veers a lot closer to how ordinary corporeal folks manage it, compared to how he usually manages it. He moves past a sausage-enjoying Rachiel and a more tense, miserable Loren as he comes to join the re-emerged Marivel from her right side so he can better have a look at this individual head-on.
        '...you have mistaken me for someone else.'
        "...mmm?" Lanval leans forward - there is still respectable distance between him and the hooded stranger - as they reveal their features and speak a bit more. The Water Seraph rubs his fingers about his chin.
        "...Hi there. 'm Lanval." He says, eyes remaining half-open. If it's not her that brought on this kind of awful feeling, who or what? ...He'll look into that in a bit. "...If ya can hear me... anyway... don't worry, 'm lishtenin'..."
        Even if he doesn't outwardly sound like the sort of folk that would be reliable enough to speak important things to.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        "--Medry," he says, surprised and unsurprised in the same heartbeat to see her here. He just squints at her when she says she thought it was she. "...Some kind of Granas... thing? Ugh, I can't believe I'm wishing deVriese were here."

        He then glances down at the sausage.

        Technically speaking, he's supposed to be watching the minister.
        Technically speaking, they should have actually made sure he had a sandwich or something between meetings. He takes the sausage without comment and consumes it with potentially impressive speed. He hasn't met much in the way of food he'll say 'no' to.
        (This may change if Lan ever introduces him to 'Gaia's Bacon'.)

        There is a pause.

        "Did that lady just..."

        He sighs, shoulders slouching, then sweeps the room in search of Shakhan. "Where's the minister-- oh, there he is. Medry, just in case--"

        This is when Violet approaches them -- or rather, him.

        "Uh?" Loren starts, eloquently. Then the pieces click into place. "Oh-- she's fine. It happens sometimes?"
        It does not, in fact, happen sometimes, but this old lady doesn't need to know the details, he figures.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Does Jacqueline notice Loren? ...Well, even if she does, she doesn't call him out directly. It's probably for the best, though. She does catch Violet's wave, however, and offers her a polite smile of greeting back, but her attention is clearly focused on the Impetuous Friend and her entourage.

...Who, apparently, isn't who they thought she was? A slight frown crosses Jacqueline's face, at that. Looking at her with the hood down... there are certainly similarities, but she looks different, too. But at the same time, it wouldn't be the first time Neriah disguised herself as another - and she had plenty of experience already infiltrating churches.

"The Church of Valmar has been making a lot of dangerous movements lately - I'm sure you remember the explosion at the Arastell Catacombs. I hope you'll forgive us for being suspicious of someone who's built a reputation for discussing the very thing they're after." Jacqueline comments, stepping closer to Marivel, Lanval, and the Impetuous Friend - Aria, according to her.

She doesn't have any authority here, she has to remind herself - ultimately it's Marivel's say what happens here.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Do I? Perhaps I was being...impetuous." Marivel clearly doesn't believe anything of the sort but she seems to have weighed between chucking Aria out of here or letting her hang about and keep spreading who knows what and has decided she isn't too keen on either for a variety of reasons.

"Well well... We certainly can't have you linger. So how about this, you share the dire truth you wish to share, you offer up the truth...and then you leave. That seems fair? I forget what fair is for some people sometimes, but you know... Tis true that Vinsfeld is surely not the worst to come..."

She taps her index finger lightly against her lips. "But then... Perhaps we are underestimating him a bit? He has always been underestimated and so far, for everyone who has underestimated him--includding myself--it has led to naught but tragic circumstances and pain. So I think we shouldn't understate it. So."

She doesn't step away. "What is this important thing you've seen? Heresy is fine but hearsay? I should hope not!"

MEANWHILE
"Do I? Perhaps I was being...impetuous." Marivel clearly doesn't believe anything of the sort but she seems to have weighed between chucking Aria out of here or letting her hang about and keep spreading who knows what and has decided she isn't too keen on either for a variety of reasons.

"Well well... We certainly can't have you linger. So how about this, you share the dire truth you wish to share, you offer up the truth...and then you leave. That seems fair? I forget what fair is for some people sometimes, but you know... Tis true that Vinsfeld is surely not the worst to come..."

She taps her index finger lightly against her lips. "But then... Perhaps we are underestimating him a bit? He has always been underestimated and so far, for everyone who has underestimated him--includding myself--it has led to naught but tragic circumstances and pain. So I think we shouldn't understate it. So."

She doesn't step away. "What is this important thing you've seen? Heresy is fine but hearsay? I should hope not!"

MEANWHILE

Rachiel Medry smiles up at Loren. "Oh she'd definitely have fun with this." She looks back towards Loren and see that particular sausage is gone. She grins cheekily for a moment and then kind of seems to relax a bit, looking towards the disturbance. "I don't see familiar faces just yet but...It would be stranger if there wasn't some kind of attempt on someone's life today, isn't it? I don't know if they'd neccessarily go for Shakhhan though--The Kaiser could be just as easily a target--even from outside our circles."

She looks to Violet and waves a hand to her.

"Don't underestimate Commander Lan, okay?" She jokes.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

If there is something odd expected about this woman, the stranger thing still is that it seems not to be there overtly. There's no sense of magic hovering around her - no perceptible aura, no sense of another power lurking behind her. Aria tilts her head in the general direction of Lanval's voice nevertheless - she can hear him, at least.

"Thank you for listening," she says, her voice quiet. "More must be said of what has brought us to this point...." Jay steps into the conversation, then, and she pauses for just a moment before bowing her head shallowly.

"I have seen this," she explains. "In my prayers, I beheld a blade upon the altar of the great Cathedral of the high church, corroded and shattered. Then the sky became red, and a great shadow descended upon the church, and the angels of sin threw open the doors and welcomed it in. The agents of the Dark One do move, yes.

"But they move because the shepherds of the faithful have abandoned the moral authority to guide the flock."

The other priests who came in with Aria have fanned out while attention has been on the blind priestess. It's unclear how many pamphlets have circulated. But Aria seems content to parry Marivel's efforts, canting her head with a jounce of curls and bringing a hand up to her collar. "The calculations are laid out in these 66 Theses," she says, giving her pamphlet a little shake. "There can be no denying that the Day of Darkness will come in our lifetimes. My belief is that the Church must reform itself and withdraw its heavy hand from the lives of the faithful if it is to survive. Stagnation leads to death and darkness, Marivel Armitage... and it has led us there.

"The dimming of the stars is proof that my words are true."

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

"I'm so glad she's all right," Violet murmurs to Loren, unaware he's dissembling a bit, and waves back to Rachiel. "Don't underestimate Commander Lan, okay?" she hears. Alas, she doesn't realize it's a joke. She smiles anyway, in what she hopes is a friendly manner, and returns to scanning the room for signs of trouble -- and finishing her meal. Even if the white-robed clerics stayed peaceful, she'd heard rumors about the Impetuous Friend's posters -- and these religious differences tended to get out of hand.

     All the more reason why people should eschew religion altogether.

          Not that they were likely to do it.

                    It gave some folks far too much power!

                         She had seen that for herself often enough...

"The dimming of the stars is proof that my words are true," the Impetuous Friend intones, and, while it's true the stars went out at the Star Festival, this isn't the only possible explanation. How could she be sure these acolytes weren't exploiting an unusual occurence for their own ends? Violet scowls and crosses her arms. Any fool can see she's not exactly a receptive audience. At least the seemingly-blind spokeswoman shouldn't be able to see her...

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline offers a polite nod toward Aria, and listens to what she has to say. She listens curiously to what she foresaw.

"...As someone who follows the Guardians, I'm not really sure I have any place to comment on the state of the Church of Granas. It's not exactly something I'm knowledgeable about." She admits with a shrug. "If they're as heavy-handed and as in need of reform as you say... the only thing I advise is that you make sure not to become worse."

She shakes her head, then.

"...So, in your mind... what exactly does the Day of Darkness entail? I've been interested in getting the perspective of someone learned on the subject." She asks.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        "Maybe," he says to Rachiel, dipping his shoulders in a lazy shrug. "But there's only one person in this room where it matters if I'm not watching his back." Specifically, he's likely to get court-martialed, even outside whatever the Major would do to him. Like it or not, he's got to keep an eye on Shakhan, even if someone else ends up being the target.

        Even if there is a target. Paranoia! It hasn't led him wrong yet.

        He would be en route to the minister's side if it weren't for Violet's sudden interruption.

        "Yeah. I'll let her know people were asking about her," he says, fully intending to say no such thing.

        Commander Lan.

        He's not sure if that's some sort of bad dream (wait, isn't this essentially Seraphita?) or the kind of joke he's not sure whether it's appropriate to laugh at, or...

        Stagnation...

        Death and darkness. Involuntarily he shivers. --It's just some stupid... stupid coincidence, he tells himself, before pulling away from Violet with no more than an, "Excuse me."

        He beelines for the minister, who may be watching the proceedings with mild interest.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        Lanval doesn't have a lot of direct contact with the Church of Granas, beyond a good friend in Rosaline who has been off on her own thing for some time. He did promise her a while back that he'd go looking for Granas and put in good word for her even after the whole Hellion episode that happened, though... he can't say he's had much luck reaching out. Nonetheless...
        The Oracle of Schturdark listens - listens to the visions she claims to have had. Describing the 'angels of sin' who throw open the doors to let in what brings the terrible red sky that announces the shadow that breathes it. The reason for it being how the shepherds of the faithful having banadoned the moral authority to guide the flock.
        Lanval goes quiet. He knows full well about lack of faith and what can compel people to throw it aside - and the consequences it has in certain contexts, even if the way the faith of Granas is expressed is far different than the faiths he knows and is versed in. (He was an object of worship for a time himself, after all, so long ago.)
        He doesn't offer any words on the matter as of yet. He'd like a look at the pamphlet, but there's a very good reason he doesn't directly take it.
        (water spirits and paper don't mix)

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel sighs wistfully. "Ah an eye witness account, is it? Well... Regardless of your talk of visions and dimming stars--something I think we're putting a little too much credence in since it's not like any magician worth their salt couldn't conjure such an illusion--you may have a point about the Church. Tis a young religion and it is already so large--and they aren't known to be gentle with competitors. A little too eager to cry heresy themselves, wouldn't you say?"

She sits on the air, crossing one leg over the other. "But it sounds like you're saying the church isn't just traditionally corrupt. You're saying it's in league with Valmar...!" She frowns a little. Could 'Aria' here...be telling the truth? Is her goal here not to grow her cult so much as eliminate competition?

She thinks of the Althena Church, and the creature that sprang forth from its sealing rod...

...And that eye that looked right into her.

"...That's a pretty serious accusation." Marivel says eventually. "We'd need more than visions and treatises...Even ones that seal the stars. Even if the stars blinked out forever, t'would not be enough."

She rubs her indexfinger and thumb together, "Tangible. Irrefutable. Surely, if Granas has fallen to its antithesis, t'would be easy to find proof, no?"

Despite her desire to throw Neriah out, that little reminder of what Zophar had managed to accomplish SOMEHOW...stalls her. She certainly can't allow a religion like Granas be coopted in such a manner. But she needs something MORE than this to move.

...Officially anyway.

MEANWHILE

"Hahahaha! Well I'm his backup so...!" Rachiel tells Violet before kind of pausing awkwardly and then just as awkwardly patting her on the head. She is well intentioned but she isn't exactly free of micro-aggressions here.

She follows after Lan because, well--she isn't so keen on getting courtmartialed either. "You've got a point about that." She agrees. "I'm honestly surprised she hasn't been thrown out yet but--" Her eyes slant. "The priests seem to be heading to the people, not him."

Seraphita...

Selanphita...

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"The end of one world," Aria answers Jacqueline, her tone slightly distant. "And the beginning of another. An upheaval Filgaia has never seen the likes of before."

With the Water Seraph quiet, it's left to the priestess to engage Marivel, primarily. The little vampire takes a seat. The blind priestess does no such thing.

"You would know the answers to these questions had you taken the time to *read* what I have been posting on church doors for the better part of a month," is her first, dry answer.

"I cannot speculate as to why what has happened has happened. It need not be that the Church has willingly sinned - only that its actions have done so. The actions of the Ethos Society against the innocent. The predominance of dogma over all else. A faith that serves the common good cannot be so rigid and unwilling to change."

A thin, sad smile touches her face. "It's your right not to believe what I say, of course. And if you wish for me to leave, then I will leave, and not bother you and those at your summit. But if you are truly defenders of Filgaia, then you should consider whether the pillars upon which Filgaia stands can hold - or if they hold it too firmly in this downward spiral of stagnation and rot. I know that there are those here who believe in the Guardians...."

Here, the woman's seemingly sightless eyes move to Jay, as if reading her without seeing her. "...but one wonders if questioning what we believe," she murmurs, "is not better, if we are to change this world."

Beginning to move forward, Aria holds her empty hand out in front of her as if to try and get a sense of where Marivel is - but she manages to step adeptly around her nevertheless. Unless impeded, she will proceed to stick her pamphlet to the door just a couple of feet from her.

<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.

Violet is in no mood for be-patting, no. She can't help but glare a bit at Rachiel as she takes her leave. Awkwardly. Kids these days!

She returns her gaze to the blind priestess -- who moves surprisingly adroitly for someone who can't see, and is approaching the nearest door with a pamphlet. Violet isn't sure how she's going to attach the pamphlet to the door, but she hopes it's non-damaging. Lord Valeria -- and his twin, Lady Altaecia -- surely wouldnt like property damage! And it just might be Violet's duty to report it, if it happened.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

The end of one world and the beginning of another. A great upheaval. Jacqueline considers this for a moment. It's something important to keep in mind.

"And how do you intend to change things?" Jacqueline asks. "Do you have a plan already, or are you gathering followers first?"

As for the Guardians... Jacqueline shakes her head.

"I can't deny that it's important to consider one's beliefs now and then. But... the Guardians are already doing the best they can with the resources available to them. They aren't gods who desire worship and tribute by mortals - their sole interest is in Filgaia's survival." She replies.

As for whether or not Aria is allowed to place the pamphlet, Jacqueline looks toward Marivel. She'll leave it up to her to make the decision.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

        "Probably not," Loren does admit to Rachiel. "But I'm not taking any chances. Maybe it's time we suggest to the minster that he take a break."

        Assuming that is that Minister Shakhan decides to listen.

        Though perhaps, as the argument continues, maybe he'll decide to take his leave nonetheless.

        He notices a few familiar faces as he crosses the room. That's Barber, huh... He didn't think she had the 'pull' to be here, but then again, she's not on the existential threat list for nothing. Hmm.

        Is Croze nearby, then, he wonders.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

        "The only thing I can promishe," Lanval remarks as he finds his voice again, navigating the complex possibilities of cause and effect, mortal beliefs, and seemingly inevitable ruin to come from a church whose actions have been choking - something he could uniquely discuss on a few fronts given his own experiences.
        "Whatever kinda day we have... Darkness, or what have ya. Ya got my word I'll be helpin' keep up the burden of the water of Filgaia." That is his responsibility and his lot, which somehow involves giving him plenty of existential time to get drunk, laugh, and soak up and amplify all the little joys that often seem ever more fleeting under the weight of knowledge of imminent or all-encompassing peril.
        What those of Filgaia do with said water - and there's been plenty of things it's been subject to that's not been terribly nice - well...
        The watery wastrel of greater station than he lets on steadies himself, keeping that ever-heavy drinking gourd firmly held between his hands. "Ain't much at face value ta shay... but whatever ya believe around it, or do around it... that pillar, or part of it, however ya wanna call it, I'll make shure that can hold."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Rachiel nods. "Yeah, I'm with you." Pause. "And Baphomet's on call should we need extra firepower. Between us and ARMS... But that just means they'll be coming in with a plan..." But for now she just sticks with Loren. This will probably not mean anything tommorow.

MEANWHILE

"And entertain your tantrum? I'm already doing enough of that as it is, aren't I?" Marivel asks rhetorically. "If we are to meet each other in the center of the bridge, you must step apace with those on the other side."

Aria steps past her and Marivel looks back to the group. Marivel looks towards Jay, an inscrutable expression on her face.

Aria raises her hand stick the pamphlet to the door--

"Oh right! No solicitors." Marivel says suddenly, snapping her fingers as her eyes flash red. "APORT."

And Aria BWIPS away in a flash of light, her pamphlet fluttering, ever so gradually to the floor. Anybody can pick it up. Anybody can look at it.

But that door belongs to House Valeria, and Marivel has vowed to protect it from all harm.

Even so much as an unapproved nail in the door.

But despite the whimsy in her tone, her expression is anything but whimsical. Somehow, these priests have gotten into the House Valeria despite the guard watch outside and if SHE got through, she has to imagine what subtler agents might be after.

"Well I suppose I better get back to work." She says, looking back to Jay for a long moment again.

"You will clean this up, won't you?"

And with that Marivel herself ALSO vanishes away, leaving it ambiguous as to what she expects Jacqueline Barber to 'clean'.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Aria lowers her eyelids ever so slightly across her pale eyes and lets out a slow breath. "You have a singular way of not actually hearing what other people are saying," she murmurs. "But I can hardly change who you are. All I can do is shine a light."

Before she can stick the pamphlet, Marivel takes her action. There's a blip, and just like that, Aria's gone.

So are the priests who came with her. There's no trace of them if a search is mounted. There are a few signs of pamphlets thrown in the garbage here and there.

But how many of them were handed out is unclear - and even less clear is how many people will take them and carry them around the world once the Summit is over.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline meets Loren's gaze as he spots her. In fact, she offers him a polite nod of greeting, and another to Rachiel. She doesn't say anything further, though, instead turning her attention back to Marivel and Aria.

There's a disagreement... and then, in the end, Aria is 'bwip'd away. Jacqueline blinks, and looks toward Marivel, who leaves her with a task. Jacqueline opens her mouth to ask for specifics...

...but then, Marivel also 'bwip's away, leaving Jacqueline to handle the situation.

"'Clean this up', she says..." Jacqueline repeats with a dejected sigh. She assumes by 'clean this up' she means removing the pamphlets that have been posted about the room... and so, she goes to do just that.