Étoile has not mastered the subtle art of "gasping for air, but quietly", but even still she tries her best. The problem is that when you force your voice out of a cough you also make it much less good at doing the things a cough is supposed to accomplish. She hangs on the fence for several minutes, sputtering uselessly with her throat feeling scratchier and more awful until she [i]finally[/i] manages to get the last bits of lake water out of her system so she can start filling it with air again.

What a mess. Marianne would be through this fence before you could blink, and [i]oh[/i], what fun she'd have after that, but Étoile doesn't dare call on her. They had both worked too hard to keep their connection a secret, and she couldn't ruin that over one of Jezcha's pranks. Not to say those weren't dangerous, but... so far out from anything important? Nothing to steal but veils and hearts? No. It would damage the Cause too much. 

Still, though! Maybe just a little? Just a teeny flash of power, then back to the shadows with her? Just enough to, oof, say maybe, eep! Make it so she, oof, ugh! Doesn't have to climb this fence with her wrists and ankles bound? It's chainlink, thank goodness, but she... [i]oof![/i] Has to shimmy up it like a worm. Which makes much more noise than even ducks can quite cover over, and is very painful besides. 

Cresting over the top, she saws her wrist cuffs apart on the chicken wire looped around the links to discourage children from doing exactly what she's doing now, and then drags herself unglamorously across it to flop down to the other side with a squeak and a thud. She winces as she rubs her butt before bending forward to untie her ankles. Her outfit is completely ruined, to say nothing of her poor skin, which is covered from stomach to thigh with angry red scratches that sting fiercely as the air kisses them. Just because Marianne took worse blows with regularity doesn't mean this didn't hurt! 

Stupid Jezcha! Stupid, rotten bully! Maybe she'd like a dart in [i]her[/i] butt, hmm? [i]Pour qui tu te prends?[/i] Étoile stands up, and then immediately flops back onto her veiled face again. Oh, right. That whole... almost drowning thing. Fine. It's fine. [i]c'est bon, vraiment![/i] This is just... the strategy portion of her comeback. She sucks in fresh breaths of air greedily but as quietly as she knows how, and squeezes her eyes shut to help her think. 

This whole thing is a game, which she wins if she can get to Lady before anything too embarrassing can happen to her. But how's a little [i]lamassie[/i] to fight back when the board is so stacked against her? With a weapon, is how. Where did she leave Lady's rifle? Oooh, get ready Jezcha and friends. There's a sacred oath laid over these grounds, that no one under any circumstances shall be allowed to ruin a magical afternoon at Disneyland. And woe betide those who break taboo...

[Assess the Situation: [b]7[/b] What here can I use to fight back without switching personas (or more accurately, how do I get to it?)]