melodiesoflife | Event || The Imperial Parade

[ Reply here for any threads not occurring within the imperial city, back in Aqures Ixen or on the airship on its way to the city. ]

Doctor. Am I doing the right thing?

Jack is lost in thought on the airship over. He is looking over notes, copies of letters, all combining into any information he could get from Ashe or Zelda or anyone who would sit still and talk to him for five minutes. It still doesn't feel like enough. So many people were quick to jump to an attack. And for a moment, Jack was almost one of them. But that's not what's needed. If there's any chance of stopping a war before it starts, it comes down to this. A lot of the other heroes were treating this like a distraction, they already thought it was doomed to fail.

And if you were here, you'd be doing this. The one guy standing and giving the enemy a chance to stop all this madness before people get hurt.

Well, luckily for Jack, he's not the one guy. He knows very little about his partner here, but the man seems more at home in this world than Jack does.

For his part, Jack is making a spectacle of himself. He's dressed in his outfit from home, Captain's coat and all. Both his vortex manipulator and his job crystal were left at home with Mogwen. No weapons, no armor. If he's going in under a white flag, he's going to make this genuine.

Because, again. That's exactly how He would do it.

Jack finally pulls himself out of his self-reflection, sighs and leans back, looking over to Ramza uncertainly. His mouth opens, but he stops, not sure of what to even say at a time like this.

Ramza hears his partner sigh. He has been restraining his own since he boarded the airship. Part of him still wants to march upon the city, sword drawn, to rescue his friends. But Lady Ashelia had asked this of him, and he knows his father would want this as well. If they can resolve this matter without bloodshed, they must do everything in their power.

And if they could not, there will be plenty of opportunity to raise his sword against the Empire.

Ramza feels naked without weapons or armor, but he left both behind for this mission of peace. He has his blue tunic and tan cape on, with a few items tucked into the belt that usually holds his sword: his crystal, moogle flute, the elixir he received after the Esdham attack; the things he thought might be useful to carry with him.

He looks up at his partner, whose handsome face displays uncertainty.

"None of that once we get to the city," Ramza scolds, but lightly. They both feel the same doubts about this mission, but neither can afford to let the Imperials know that. "If they are anything like the nobles of Ivalice, the Imperial nobles will devour you the moment you show weakness."

He pauses, looks Jack over. His garb is not from any world Ramza recognizes. "Have you treated with royalty before?" he asks. They will accomplish little if they make some breach of etiquette and offend the Empire before they even get to present their suit.

"Literally or figuratively on the devouring part?" Jack feels the need to ask. "Been in both situations before." Okay, so maybe an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Oh, I've handled a couple of queens before." That was not the question Ramza was asking you. But Jack legitimately means the answer in both ways. "Group I worked for, before I came here, answered to the Crown. Joined up at the end of the reign of Queen Victoria, up through," Jack waves a hand vaguely, "a few successors into the rule of Queen Elizabeth the second. I'm not completely unfamiliar with dealing with royalty, but the British throne's always been backed up by Parliament and the entire mess of the civil service system." Jack frowns and rolls his eyes. As if he didn't have a problem with civil servants before, he found a new reason to hate it all just before he left home. "I don't know how much of that we're going to have to wade through in this situation?"

Ramza's lips turn up in a slight smile. "Figuratively, unless we have been vastly misinformed." It was a very thin silver lining in a vast storm cloud, but it was something, at least.

The smile turns back into a neutral expression. "I hope there will not be too many bureaucrats to navigate, but we must be prepared for the possibility. In any case, we must be polite, but firm. If we are able to speak before the Emperor himself, we must be careful not to offend. Never sit if he stands, refer to him as 'Your Imperial Majesty', bow, but not too deeply. I can lead if we make it to him. More likely, though, we will speak to some adviser of his.

We will make our introductions, offer up a gift, and then, hopefully, we will be allowed to speak to someone with a high enough position that they will secure an audience with the Emperor or some proxy if we make a compelling case for ourselves."

Dealing with royals was always time consuming, but in this case, that is what they want. If they cannot achieve peace, they can at least distract the Empire long enough for their companions to act.

"They said the Emperor would be here for the festivities, yeah, but odds of making it all the way to him are slim." Jack shakes his head again. "Might be the best if you take the lead, yeah." Jack gets the feeling his experience with rulers might not match up with what they're about to walk into here.

"We should've brought that moogle prisoner with us, now that I think about it. One way or another, he's probably our best bargaining chip, if we want our own prisoners back. Our main priority is preventing hostilities. Determine a reason for the attack on Esdham. Is an actual war going to be declared? Was it actually the Empire, or is Kalki a splinter group, like I thought? We have to test the waters to see if they're going to throw her out as a scapegoat, and if they want to, I'd be glad to accept that. If it's the best way to keep an actual war breaking out, fine. I don't know how true it is that she wasn't acting with an Imperial mandate, but what matters is what's going to get said in that meeting."

"If we want to focus on the prisoners, at the very least, asking to see proof that they are unharmed shouldn't be unreasonable." Jack folds his arms. "Again, this is why we should'a brought the moogle. We're shooting our own negotiations in the foot with that, so I hope you have ideas for how to get around that."

Ramza shakes his head. "The moogle is exactly where he needs be if we plan to use him. He would make a poor bargaining chip if we brought him out where the Empire could seize him so easily." The blond is not sure that he would offer up the moogle, anyways. It sounded like the creature believed he would be tortured if he was returned to Kalki's custody, and Ramza dislikes the idea of delivering a prisoner of war to such a fate.

"And I agree, we must determine how much power and Imperial support Kalki commands here. If we can drive a wedge between the Empire and Kalki, that will give us a great advantage."

He pauses, wondering if Jack truly believed the negotiations would hold, or if he sought to parley merely to distract their enemy. "If we truly wish to bargain, there are other things we might offer. We could offer a cease-fire, even propose an alliance with the Empire. We were called here to support Crystallis, not just Aqures Ixen." It is not what Ramza wants, really, but if it preserves peace and brings his friends back to safety, he is willing to do it.

"A cease-fire would be my top priority," Jack is nodding along. "And you're right there. If it were possible to assure the Heroes' safety, then an exchange could be made, kind of. Been done multiple times in British history, it's not exactly a hostage situation...but it is." Let's be honest, here. "A couple of your dignitaries go to their palace, a couple of theirs come to stay at yours, it all looks on the surface like 'international negotiations.' Testy as that is, history says that it works. People are still people, don't care about time or space or magic."

Jack folds his arms and frowns. "Don't know any of the heroes who would go for it, aside from the diplomats, people who understand how the game is played, but are too important to leave: the Lady Ashe and Zelda. And, again, we'd need a better guarantee that people would be safe, which we don't have at the moment, or everybody else wouldn't have a Plan B."

Jack shakes his head and looks out the window. "Is it bad that I'm wanting to stop the people that are on our own side from doing something stupid just as much as I want to stop the people we're supposedly against?"

Transport from Aqures Ixen

Parley Team - On the way to the Empire

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Transport from Aqures Ixen - OPEN

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