Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Snowy_One]

"Indeed. It is nice to see her fighting alongside us now. Though I cannot help but feel that she is still the dainty flower of a merchant and not a warrior like you or I. Then again, maybe she is and I am just too stupid to realize it. We live in a complex world after all, full of politics and gods and the like. I miss when things were simpler. I miss being home in the woods. I miss, well, everything that used to seem simple. Even eating now seems to be difficult as it is making me feel... hot and a bit woozy." she said before gulping. "Maybe there is something wrong with the fish?"

In truth she knew exactly what it was. She was no stranger to the feeling and not that sheltered by a long-shot, yet the chance to blame poorly cooked fish, to have an easy out instead of admitting that... something... about Bert was nice seemed so much more pleasant. "I mean, I am talking, rambling even. Maybe your first hunting lesson should be tracking a healer down?"

---

As the doors to the archives opened, Tia's eyes started to glimmer and sparkle. The thought of all those musty, old, tomes that likely few people had even the chance to read was outright thrilling! Even to the point of making her body feel all tingly... And then she realized that there was someone inside the archives. Someone who didn't belong at all.

"Ummm... Who is that? Nyx? That can't be someone strong enough to do that. She looks like one of those night-merchants who ask for a lot of gold after dark that my teacher said I should avoid. Why is she in the archives?"

Edited May 31, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Mercakete]

"That's not the kind of hunting I need to learn," he corrected, but she definitely looked unwell. "That's not a bad idea, though. I'll see if I can find someone."

So, Bert stood, taking a couple vegetables off his plate to snack on while he tried to find a healer or something. Can staves heal stomachaches? Well, if it was food that got her, maybe food can help her feel better. So far as he could tell, there weren't any staff-users in the immediate vicinity. Well, there was a woman he didn't recognize with a staff, and... Oh. Yeah, there was that pink-haired woman with a staff, too, actually. He hadn't seen that right away. Nonetheless, the more he thought about it, the better the alternative option was looking. So, he headed back into the kitchen and addressed the cooks in there. "Hey, someone out here's complaining about the food. She thinks the fish upset her stomach or something like that."

Edited June 2, 2014 by Mercakete

[ReformBlade]

It was quite the sight to behold since the one armed gal had never been to a library or archive handled quite like this before. The most obvious thing sticking out to her was the massive pileup in the center with a woman on top who Mushirah guessed was Nyx given the previous conversation. The one good thing that Mushirah was thankful for from her tiredness was that she didn't have to try to hide her nervousness, it would simply be too much energy to worry right now unless properly prompted. Following right behind Shadrak, she glanced inside the room more to keep herself busy than out of interest though interest was still there. It was like a 51/49 split. This place holds the answer to whatever Shadrak's thinking of, and I can see why now... Still, it'd be nice to know exactly what he's thinking on this.

Aneda was much more excited compared to Mushirah's lackluster display, an audible gasp as she looked inside for the first time. Sure, it's a pile of books but with who she assumed was sitting on top of them on that bench, she could only feel those books were somehow intrinsically better after that. Unfortunately, she had the sinking feeling that Hannah wouldn't be exactly super welcome in there and was more or less resigned to leaving her be. Hannah didn't particularly care, not irritated at the moment since she was at least dryer than she was before.

Jericho nodded at Raquel, tapping his tome reflexively when she mentioned items being left behind. To the man, it sounded like an extremely simple task but far be it from him to comprehend the complexities of an artifact of the gods granting ridiculous powers. "Need us to move on down to get this started?" He realized she said she wasn't doing any range testing but to him that was way too vague for him to even bother registering. Some might say it's ignorant, and it is!

[roymbrog]

It was taking a bit longer to write this out than Synthia expected, and she could tell Gytha was a bit confused. Hopefully things would make sense once she read the explanation and saw the bruising round her throat. When finished writing, the mage turned her tome around and held it out for her friend to read. "Hello, Gytha. I hurt my neck and can't talk but it should only be temporary. The trip to the archives was bust."

----

So there was no diplomatic way to get Joanna out today, and the Wrathites were likely to torture her. Valter bristled at that information, and Weyland's 'consolation' that it wouldn't be permanent. That didn't give much comfort, and in fact just made things worse. She was also an avian, so anything short of death would fall under 'not permanent'.

Valter was attemping not to say anything while anything he could think to say was entirely unhelpful in the worst way, but Glen wasn't showing the same restraint. He couldn't blame the man, all things considered. Arietta tried to shut him up, but it probably hurt more than helped. Apparently the 'genius plan' Weyland came up with was to wait things out and negotiate Joanna away from the Wrathites after the damage had already been done. It made sense from a rational perspective, but wasn't something Valter could agree with. The whole reason he was here was to prevent Joanna from being harmed, after all. "While I don't want Joanna held indefinitely, I also can't sit around idly as they torture her," was his response to Weyland. "But if it does come to that, can I trust you to have her freed?"

The horseman was not expecting Steinn to speak up at this point, and especially was not expecting him to reveal his identity to Glen. "...And what was the purpose of that?" He asked the fallen

[Phoenix]

Kitchen

"What?!" Johnny cringed in offense as he turned to face Norbert. "There's no way the tuna we so painstakingly prepared could possibly be ... hmm ... actually now that I think about it, I guess I should ask first. Does she have any allergies or do any specific ingredients not sit well with her? There's not a lot we can do if we don't know what's causing the problem, and I refuse to throw together a cocktail to throw at an 'unknown'. Too risky."

"How about tea, then? It's harmless, so if it doesn't work, we can just try something else," Erica cheerfully chimed in, more energetic than ever.

"Errrrgh-ask your friend those questions first, would ya? We'll worry about the ... about the tea," Johnny decided, turning around to get started.

Dining Hall

"The soup's great. You can even try some if you want," Suzume offered. "Haven't gotten around to anything else just yet, though."

"That won't happen," Reign shook his head slightly, "not with a war on. There's also not much of a case for it just yet." Reign paused a moment and then pointed a thumb at himself. "You're looking at one of the mages trained using these techniques they're refining. We made out alright but I know it's going to be worse and keep on getting worse for everyone who follows until they get their priorities straight."

Study

"Well, he did ask who I was," Steinn truthfully answered, his smirk gone, but some hint of amusement still on his face.

"It will complicate matters if I'm implicated in some botched attempt at a rescue, but I will find a way to have her freed, soon. I can promise you that much," Weyland explained to Valter, and to Glen too, hoping it would at the very least take his mind off of the whole Fallen Prince thing. It didn't.

"Yeah, right," Glen snapped. "You're the one," he pointed past Arietta and at Weyland. "It was all your fault, wasn't it? The attack, our friends and neighbors dying like animals at a slaughter house. It was all you two bastards, wasn't it?! Why the hell-" Glen began to break down bit by bit, "why the hell ... should we ... trust someone like you to help us free Joanna? How can we trust you when you can shrug off the deaths of hundreds?!"

Well, since his promise hadn't gotten through to at least one of them, he opted for another approach. "Steinn and I did not organize this attack, however Steinn was one of the intended targets. Our goal is to put a stop to this war before it begins, not allow innocent people to come to harm. Now, if you'd like to help us do that, you're more than welcome to join us; it might give you a chance at returning to a normal life at some point. Otherwise, I don't think there's anything more to discuss, here. I promised I would do what I could for Joanna and I will, but she'll have to be strong for now if the wrathites see fit to interrogate her."

"Oh they will," Steinn said, stoking the fires again, "of this I'm certain."

Would you stop doing that? Don't try to send them off to get themselves killed just so we can get back to work, Weyland mentally scolded the Fallen Prince.

Training Room

"Yeah that's a good idea. I'll probably be trying to actually grab my father from much further away than this, but for now opposite sides of this room should do. I just need to test things individually and then try to string them all together and see how well that works," Raquel explained. She motioned for Erion to go too though he wouldn't be getting warped the first couple of times, and then headed over to the western end of the training area, the back half.

Estate Grounds

<"Hey, wait,"> Haythem frowned, realizing Nadya was about to head back out into the rain. Just the same he accepted his cloak back. <"At least let me- ... let us come with you. Isis can help keep you dry and I'll provide the steering. No need to get completely soaked, right?">

The Archives

Shadrak quickly went over the various reasons for coming, trying to prioritize it all. Mushirah's arm and learning of a way to build a working prosthetic was the top priority; he couldn't let anything interfere with or slow him down in obtaining that information. Next up were his own curiosities, with the nature of Io being somewhere in the mix now that his theory was in danger of being completely invalidated. Just as he'd thought to get the ball rolling, Tia made a comparison he fully expected her to fry for.

"Don't judge a book by its cover ...?" Nadine suggested, wondering if she should even bother. After all, Shadrak had gone up in smoke for something comparable.

"As much as that irritates me, I'll forgive your loose tongue and ignorance just this once," Nyx said to Tia. "Besides," her fiery gaze shifted to Shadrak and a light smirk appeared, "you would have gotten in my way. It would have been a little entertaining, but it would have also ruined my point."

She was right, Shadrak couldn't stand the idea of being blamed for Tia's actions, though he was beginning to question whether or not it was really worth putting himself in the line of fire for that as well. Well, obviously not, but he was going to do it anyway, he knew. "Heh," he chuckled a bit, realizing he had one more question to add to the list. "I'm not sure if I have enough left to negotiate with, but I've got to try, I guess ..."

"Go right ahead and try," she said, replacing her smirk with a scowl.

[spoiler=Complex]Cassandra froze in place, wondering if she'd just been imagining things. Is that the Dragon Head, again? No, it can't be, he doesn't sound anything like that. Who are you? She eyed her surroundings suspiciously, suspecting another disciple was nearby. She didn't see anyone around, though.

Not terribly far away, about a twenty-five meters or so, Gabbie carefully approached Anna from around a corner. "Anna," Gabbie whispered as loudly as she could, "Anna, it's me ..."

When she finally rounded the corner, she was staring down a fully loaded astra bow. Anna was holding it and had the most unamused look on her face. "Who's still alive? You know, other than the Raquel we deserve?"

"Damn, even I wouldn't go that far," Gabbie winced. "Yeah, I've got some bad news for you. Sardis and that one guy are still aloive, but something definitely changed with the former. I think he's hurt, bad. It's loike his spirits loose or somethin' ... hard to descroibe, honestly."

"It's not as inexplicable as you, at least," Anna lowered the crossbow but gave Gabbie the same look. "Why didn't you tell us you could do things like this, anyway? Why hide that?"

Gabbie sighed, realizing they were going to be chatting instead of fleeing and took a seat beside Anna, rain be damned. "I wasn't hoiding it. I just got my memories back recently ... and I'm paying for it. If you'd pointed a real gun at me instead of that thing I probably would have had an episode," Gabbie explained, eyeing the ground bitterly. "That's not to say I'm glad this is all out in the open, now. I miss the good old days, when people came to me because they had things to talk about or complaints I could ignore. Now that it's all out in the open, even Raquel can't keep her fucking distance and it's getting on my nerves. It's just a painful remoinder that my real allies are mostly roight here at the estate, not in that group of misfits."

"I used to feel that way about my gifts," Anna frowned at the ground as well. "I can do pretty much anything I set my mind to ... and it's not just some positive outlook, either; you've seen what happens when I experiment or pick up a new hobby. I really can do anything I want in life. So could my mother and her mother, but people always want to take advantage of that sort of thing. That's why I like being with Weyland and the others so much. He needs strength, talent, and determination, but he's not going to abuse us over some self centered crap ... and neither is Connor. I'm sure you figured that out, already."

Gabbie nodded. "Yeah. I know how awful it'd be to lose him, now. I'm trying to keep that from happening but I'm not the bodyguard type."

"You could use some more help, yeah. I guess I'll have a word with Weyland about it when we get back. Make sure you're not the only one keeping our little heir safe. Anyway ..." Anna paused, her frown returning when she heard Gabbie gasp, "looks like we're out of time. You'll have to explain this seeking thing in full detail later. I also want to know about your life before all of those killings out west too ... if we've got the time."

"Sure, I guess," Gabbie shrugged, counting up the enemies approaching them from behind. "Six," she gave Anna the total as soon as she was certain.

"Okay," the other nodded. "Where's Ringo?"

"Just follow me and keep them off us," Gabbie said, ready to cut loose. Once Anna nodded, the two sprang into action, leaping over the low wall they were taking refuge behind, and kicking down two of the men who'd come to investigate the area. Anna fired a bolt right into one's chest and then knocked a third down with sheer force before taking off after Gabbie, who had slipped past her second attacker, tackled the third to the ground, and then took off running. Anna took out Gabbie's second attacker with another shot, this one striking in the neck. One of them stayed behind to help the injured while the others gave chase.

[Nanami Touko]

Eva nearly froze as Tia managed to immediately insult a Goddess. Expecting her death shortly after, she was quite surprised (and only a little thankful) that it didn't happen. She could already hear Gar shouting "I told you so!"s when they returned if even one person bit it, even Tia. "You want I should remove her while you talk? I don't think we need a repeat of earlier, starring Tia." Shadrak's questions were more important, and Eva didn't mind waiting outside the room with Tia if it meant less chances of death.

[scorri]

Erion

Quietly following after Raquel, Erion shook his head. He didn't think she was in the right mental state to be doing this right now, but it was also clear she wasn't going to be changing her mind any time soon. He sighed quietly and decided to just try and help her however he good.

Hoshi

Shaking her head, Hoshi took a few seconds to try and get herself under control. "I... I just am bad at, uhm, this sort of thing. I can barely hold a conversation unless it's about my work and then, uhm, I just end up talking the person's ear off about things they are not interested in. I am sorry for that." She half-bowed to him and then went back to staring at the table in silence.

[Mercakete]

Norbert gave the cook a little glare. Do they think I'm a messenger or something? There wasn't really much to be done about it besides oblige, though. At least they were trying to help...not that it wasn't their responsibility in the first place, being the ones who made Robin sick. Well, it wasn't like it was a long walk anyway, so, soon, Norbert had returned to the table. He didn't bother sitting down, though.

"Hey," he asked Robin, "the cooks are sure the fish can't be the problem. You have anything that normally upsets your stomach when you eat it? They're doing what they can to help."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh," Gytha replied with a concerned frown after reading Synthia's message, "Sorra t' hear that. Think ye'll get better soon?"

[Ether]

"Aye, that's enough. If you don't keep your head in the game you won't be any help to anyone." Arietta stated, as she reinstated her position in between Weyland and Glen, and swatted Glen's pointing finger away.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"No thanks," he declined her offer. "I'm picky about where I get my food." Damn poison paranoia.

[Snowy_One]

"I... I do not know of any foods that make my stomach upset." replied Robin, simply, as she continued to look down. She knew full-on it was not the food, but... But should she lie? After all, not only could it end up making her look silly, but it could end up costing the cook his job. But then, admitting that she had a crush on Bert...

Well, best to bite the arrow now. "I know it is not the food, Bert. It is you. I think I have a crush on you."

[Mercakete]

When Robin said that she didn't know of any foods that upset her stomach, that was a little annoying. It'd be a lot harder to figure out exactly what the problem was. Soon, she said that she knew, flat-out, that it wasn't the food. That was also annoying. She lied to me? And I got the cooks involved, too! Her next sentence was somewhat surprising. She saying I make her sick? Robin was confusing, but that was about as much as he decided on, rather than taking offense, before the real confession struck.

For a split second, Norbert was completely taken aback. But then his logic kicked in. Wait, she said she thinks she has a crush on me. Clearly, that couldn't be the case, so he started scrutinizing Robin's face. After a moment or two of study, he said, "Maybe I should find a healer after all. I must've hit you too hard back in the training hall. Did you fall on your head?"

[Snike]

"I'll let them know, Connor," Axel said simply.

Then, without another word, he was off.

***

"Hey, I didn't say that I wasn't interested, Hoshi," Pete said, as he put a hand on the woman's shoulder to get her attention. "I'm just not as bright as you are. If you want to talk about your work, then talk about your work. I might just have to ask you to slow down sometimes.There's no need to say sorry."

***

Oh, good, this does work. Cassandra, I am Uniter, another one of the disciples. Your junior in that respect, though we have met before under different circumstances.

[Snowy_One]

"I hope I did. Imagine how my father would look if he found out. You may have punched me into a wall, but if I was not his daughter, he might punch me through the wall. But no, you did not hit me too hard back when we were training. Just... Uggg... I am sorry Bert. I am stupid for bringing it up."

---

"Why? I'll be just fine." said Tia, almost completely unphased by what had just happened. "Besides, this is a huge archive. I am not going to leave that easily at all. If you need me to be quiet, I will be quiet, but I am not afraid of that person."

Edited June 1, 2014 by Snowy_One

[scorri]

Hoshi involuntarily flinched as the man rested his hand on her shoulder and continued to stare down at the table. "I... uhm... I just... It's not that I'm smarter than you. I just... uhm... This is all I do. I do alchemy. Last night was the first time I used offensive dark magic as anything but a test. I just..." She shook her head. "I do this because it is all I'm good at. I barely made it through the fight, I was so scared. I uhm... I almost didn't even come to the fight in the first place. And I just... uhm... All I do is alchemy. That's all I am. I'm not smart or special, I'm just... one track. That's all."

[ReformBlade]

Almost immediately the person Mushirah came to see, or really who shadrak brought her to see, was insulted in a rather carefree and awkward manner. Why would you ever say that right to the person? Especially right in front of everyone else... Mushirah thought, feeling a sense of unease, no wait feeling almost a full on dread. If the person they all came for was able to help them but only got insults thrown at her from the get-go, it meant that they'd really have to plead or do something drastic just to get things rolling again. After the dread, panic set in, the poor girl feeling a lump in her throat and her temperature rising from the tension, admittedly a lot of it in her head.

Aneda's first thought was that this Nyx character was scary... Well, imposing at the least. She didn't know why, but deep down she couldn't help but think and compare this woman to Lilith no matter what. So that immediately made her ok with whatever Nyx did unfortunately, but it was a mixed feeling on the whole. On one hand, killing kids wasn't cool. On the other, the kid did immediately insult what some would consider a goddess. Aneda wouldn't consider her one on principle, but she'd completely cede that the woman was powerful, or at least Aneda supposed that she was. So far, no display aside from aggressive posturing had been made.

Jericho had gone where he was indicated, "Well if you're looking to disarm, I'd say just practice on my tome since it's my weapon in this instance." And with that he held onto the tome by his side. Not guarding it so much as just holding onto it casually, merely waiting to see if she could do what she sought out to do. He'd try to be more protective if trials proved too easy, but he didn't feel like it'd be that much of an exercise all things considered.

[Mercakete]

How am I supposed to picture what her father would look like angry, if I don't know what he looks like...at all? Norbert was still not convinced Robin didn't have head trauma of some sort. "I'll be back with a healer."

That stated, he headed off to find one. He didn't want to involve a total stranger, though, if only because he didn't need any nasty rumors getting around. No, what he needed was a healer he felt he could trust. Well, with those criteria in mind, that narrowed the field down well and good. I wonder where Synthia is... She was the first to come to mind, anyway.

[spoiler=OoC]Note: Norbert is walking calmly and a little slowly, not rushing, since he's contemplating things. Not sure if this was clear, but I don't want the wrong impression out there.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Outside the Stables

Worry. Worry was about the only feeling Vivian felt throughout the trip from the capital to the very outskirts of Europa after news of the attack had reached them. Initially, they hadn't even had permission to go and check on Weyland and the rest of the estate staff, but thanks to some help from Raphael, resistance didn't last long, and they took off within a few hours, taking anyone who was free enough to come with them ... and finally the trip was over.

The pegasi began touching down shortly after flying over the estate grounds, the rain only now beginning to weigh them down. Strange timing, that, a thunderstorm right after a gruesome attack. Vivian pushed the thoughts out of mind as they landed and the others began hurriedly leading the pegasi into the stables. "I'm glad that's over," she said to her passenger, "but now I'm really worried. There were a few people around ... and that huge ... whatever that was over there, but this place still feels deserted. Maybe they're all just inside." They couldn't have been wiped out or had too many casualties, she thought, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough people--or anyone really--to clean up the mess.

Dining Hall

"Picky, huh?" Suzume cocked her head slightly at Gar. She didn't stop thinking about it even after she went back to eating, though. Maybe it's just a bad selection for him? Well probably not; they have apples too and maybe even fresher. Maybe it's a training thing ... only eat food when you know where it came from and how it was made. I guess he probably wouldn't appreciate me pretending to be poisoned to mess with him. Yeah that might actually cause a scene. I'm not going to do tha- Suzume coughed a couple of times when just a little bit of her soup went down the wrong tube. Too much thinking and maybe a little bit of bad luck. "I'm not-" another cough, "poisoned, promise," she assured him as she tried to recover. "Jokes on me, I guess," she mumbled.

Study

"If I really thought just the two of us could rescue her on our own, I never would have agreed to asking for your help," Glen said, to Arietta and Weyland, both. He still wasn't quite convinced that Weyland wasn't secretly in league with the Fallen, but focusing on it would just be a waste of time, he knew. "There has to be something we can do, now," he said, in a low but forced tone.

Training Room

Raquel tried to center herself and concentrate on the moment. The emblem, or rather its lingering energy seemed to be able to work through some of the confusion of her thoughts when she willed her warping spells to happen, but she didn't want to rely on this, not when precision was more important than ever. Jericho comes back here with me, and the tome stays where it is. Jericho comes back here with me, and the tome stays where it is. After a few more repetitions, Raquel braced herself, taking a posture more suited to sudden movement.

Her body began to give off a strong golden glow and then she was engulfed by the light. Her golden silhouette shrunk down like before and then came racing at Jericho at high speed. Just as she reached him, the light engulfed Jericho as well, and his tome fell to the ground. The two golden orbs that contained both Raquel and Jericho quickly returned to where Raquel had started, and the light released both of them before fading away into nothing. When Raquel saw the tome lying on the other side of the room, she smiled, on the verge of celebration. Who wouldn't celebrate knowing they could disarm others harmlessly in a crisis? "I did it," Raquel cheered, sending a fist skyward.

Complex

We've met before? When? Cassandra wasn't sure she'd get an answer to that question but asked anyway. It was much harder to hold her thought than it was to hold her tongue, after all. If you don't mind my asking, how--why actually ... why are you contacting me? Burke just left and I thought ... he'd tell me anything I needed to know ....

The Archives

Shadrak considered Eva's offer, feeling more and more like it might be necessary. Not only was Tia pushing their luck to its utter limits, but despite promising to be quiet, she just couldn't seem to help but follow it up with yet another easily insulting remark. Before answering Eva, he had to shut Tia up. "Seriously, knock it off," he hissed. "You have no idea what she's capable of!"

"Neither do you," Nyx noted casually before pushing off of her makeshift throne. She began an incredibly slow descent toward the ground, and it looked like she would be touching down a short distance in front of Nadine before long. After that, she approached Shadrak. "I know you don't want to take responsibility for this child, but you made a mistake bringing along a mouth you can't even control," she explained, easily beating any of his past malicious glares.

"Aaand that's within five meters," Nadine quietly noted, not sure whether to go back to reading or just watch and give occasional commentary. She was nervous, despite not being in danger, but knowing at least allowed her to hide it.

Next, Nyx turned her fierce gaze on Tia. "Those who set foot in the archives bring both knowledge and experience ... and for that, I offer both knowledge and experience. What have you brought here? Overwhelming ignorance? Stupidity? All I offer in exchange for that is unimaginable suffering. If you're so bold as to speak again ... choose your words wisely, or I will destroy you."

Edited June 1, 2014 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

Eva couldn't help but stare at Tia, dumbfounded. First she calls her a prostitute, and then this? Are you trying to get yourself, and potentially some of us, killed!? She had to struggle between grabbing her and dragging her out of the room right away, and waiting to see if Nyx would actually do something about this. The latter happened swiftly enough, and Eva stiffened up, taking more than a few steps away from the water mage. If she kept running her mouth, Eva didn't want to be near the blast zone. "You, uh... You have fun talking to Shaddy. I think I can wait." Perhaps her choice to avoid direct confrontation with Nyx on their first visit was a good one. She was rather intimidating.

[Cevian]

Worry. It was a bit of a dull ride to the estate with everyone worrying all the time, especially since people were expecting her to be worried too. It was hard for Cherish to really muster worry for people she knew, let alone strangers, but thinking of anything valuable being destroyed let her feign it good enough to be dragged along. That and helping out would look good and might get her a little more pay on the long run. Better than sitting around and doing nothing while everyone else around her worried.

As soon as she could after the pegasus landed, the thief replied to the one that flew her there. "I know if I got through whatever happened here, I'd like to be inside. Walls, shelter, comfort. All things I'd want in this situation. I'll go off and do the thing I'm here for: looking for those people inside the building. Odds are some of them are trying to get some food. It's what I'd do. Like I said: comfort." Walking away and waving at Vivian with her back turned she stopped for a moment she realized there was something she should probably do.

"Oh yeah. And thanks for the ride," She said, looking back for a moment to enforce the gratitude. It was a tiny bit sincere, despite Cherish's general attitude towards other people. A free ride was worth something to her. After that she turned back and walked towards the building to find her way to the Dining Hall. It was a good place to start, but she had alternative motives for heading that way. A free meal was worth more than a free ride.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Cevian

[Snike]

And so, the real problem came to light: Hoshi didn't actually do anything outside of alchemy, apparently. That explained why she wasn't taking a day off, or anything else. She also had a confidence issue, given that she didn't think she was good at anything else.

"You did amazingly last night. I haven't seen magic like that in a long time, and I used to be in the army until a couple of months ago," Pete said, taking his hand back - the alchemist hadn't reacted well to that. "And if that was your first time fighting, of course you'd be scared. You did really well all the same, no matter what you think. And I still think you're smarter than me. There's no way I could even grasp alchemy theory, let alone perform it. I think - no, I know you're more than just an alchemist, Hoshi. You just need to get out there, and expand your horizons. Everyone is worth more than just what they're good at. Trust me, otherwise I wouldn't be worth much."

***

... Hold on, I'll show you an image. That'll make things a bit easier to clarify. Do not be alarmed.

As those thoughts came through, an image appeared in Cassandra's head.

That should do it. To answer your other questions, I can contact you, as well as any other one of us, using my ability. There's a bit more to it but that's not important right now. As for why, well there are a couple of reasons. I'll start with the major one. Your other self and her mercenaries are going to launch a raid on that complex tonight. They are going to try and rescue your father and capture Hayato. You will need to know a few things in order to survive the night relatively intact, and I will ask for your assistance with pinpointing the two of them. Would you be able to help me with that?

Edited June 1, 2014 by Snike

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Not keen on ingesting poison was definitely a way to use picky! Or so Gar claimed in his mind. Or turnips. Suddenly Suzzy Q coughed bringing Gar's not really worst fears(kind of lower-mid echelon at best) to the forefront! But she dutifully tried to wave it off as joke. "Yeah, it sounds like a joke until one of Weyland's servants say they poison the food to build up tolerances." He joked. Or not. Sometimes it was hard even for him to tell.

[ReformBlade]

Well that happened. Before Jericho could comprehend exactly what happened, Raquel clarified it for him. It happened, and she did it. "Well... hot damn. That seemed easy enough for a first try, and really I'd offer up a way to make it harder but I've got absolutely zero clues as to how your thing works so..." The mage shrugged, quickly running over to pick up his tome again, and as he did that a weird thought crossed his mind. "I know it isn't in the parameters of this job here, and I'm probably gonna sound dumb here, but would you be able to hand someone a weapon lickity-split using those shenanigans, or even go further than just 'handing'? I mean, at the risk of sounding extremely macabre and dark, you could do some extremely sick stuff in a moment's notice if that's the case, and have virtually no chance of a rebuttal." Hopefully she would get what he was implying, what with the serious look on his face.

Aneda held her breath for longer than she cared to admit when it came to what Nyx might do to Tia, the rider really wanting to talk to this lady but also wanting to do well by her as well due to association and wanting to ask her own questions. She wanted to yell at Tia, but that'd be piling on more stress and saying the exact same thing to her yet again. Having a few scenarios playing out in her head, Aneda wasn't about to do anything that'd ruin her chances to talk to this woman, and yet she felt completely responsible for bringing Tia here. "Ma'am, I was the one who brought her here, flew her over despite her getting multiple warnings on not doing what she just did. I doubt it'll smooth it all over, but I apologize for causing this." She ended with a sincere head bowing. If that wouldn't help at least get the ball moving, she'd consider physically dragging Tia out, if there was anything left to drag out anyway. Aneda couldn't help but feel what she was doing was stupid, but she was at least being sincere and trying to own up to things happening.

Mushirah hadn't said a word yet, and as things progressed, she was a bit terrified of speaking up at this rate, fearing the worst. She didn't think she would be rude or insincere, but it seemed a lot og the misgivings about Nyx were fairly well founded, but she would give the benefit of the doubt given their introductory statements.

[Eail]

"Mages might be quite a bit more useful than your average grunt soldier, but at the end of the day you're still just a soldier to be used by your country. I suppose at the end of the day that lets them mold you into the best killing machine possible." Zach paused to take a bite and swallow. "I'd rather stay out of military conflicts, at this point I'm pretty much just in it to save the world like I talked about with Veronika earlier."

_____

Well, he was here now, but still alone... and hungry. Both of these things Cyrus figured could be solved by heading to the dining hall... wherever that happened to be in this estate. Luckily there seemed to be an army of maids around, ones that were kind enough to give him directions when he asked. So after a few wrong turns here and there the Wyvern Rider finally found his way to the dining hall, and a familiar head of pink hair that just so happened to have it's back turned to him, how perfect~

Walking to where Gwyn was, he saw that she was talking to a blue haired woman, but that didn't deter him, it wasn't often he got a chance to prank Gwyn back even if it was something simple. It'd get her rilled up if nothing else.

"Guess who?" He said, quickly placing his hands over her eyes.

[Snowy_One]

Robin slumped down as Bert rushed off, a heavy sigh coming forth. "<Great. Finally work up the muster to say something like that, to an Ursian no less, and he thinks I'm crazy. Well, Robin, that seems to be your lot in life.>"

---

Tia said nothing, but no hint of fear crossed her eyes either. But then, as Aneda apologized and bowed a hint of remorse crossed her eyes. She was not afraid of Nyx, but Aneda getting hurt because of her? That was not something she was afraid of and she more than respected the deed. So, slowly, her own head bowed in a similar gesture of submission.