Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Snike]

"On the other hand, you have to wonder how many people will actually take up that offer," Blake said, as he got up and moved over near to Reign, Veronika's, and Zachary's table. He had caught the tail-end of the conversation and felt the need to say something. Besides, it would be a good way to see how much damage was done by that outburst. "I mean, these are personal issues you're talking about. I can't imagine many people are willing to talk about them in general, even with a trusted member like you, Veronika."

***

"Don't mention it," Pete mumbled, as he sat back down. The Rexian woman then handed over her sword for Hoshi to inspect. As it turned out, she could tell the exact quality and type of metal used in making the weapon, as well as its' sharpness and its' durability, from what seemed like mere touch. Incredible.

***

Alright, thank you. Let me know if anything comes up. You can contact me by thinking my title. I'll usually respond immediately, but if not, it will be within a minute or two. Take care, Cassandra.

[roymbrog]

Well, that seemed the end of the meeting for the moment. Valter nodded at Glen, before turning his attention to Weyland again. “Rest assured, I won’t be trying anything unless it has a reasonable chance of success. Thank you for your help,” he said before turning to leave the room. He wasn’t quite sure where Amon was, but he could always ask someone else from the group or one of the maids if they’d seen him.

---

Katrina’s eyes went wide as the dagger went golden and flew into Raquel’s hands. “Woah! I wonder what the range limit is on that? Could you pull something from across the room?!” There were so many practical applications to this! A lot of them illegal though, Kat thought and her excitement waned a bit.

---

Synthia donned a rather genuine smile and nodded to express that no, she didn’t mind. Giving a wave of farewell to Gytha, she continued down the hall towards the staircase and first floor.

[scorri]

Lumi

Holding back a giggle, Lumi nodded very seriously to Gwyn for a second. "Well... I never said he wasn't my lover..." She held the straight face for a few more seconds before bursting out laughing. "Ahh, no. He likes to flirt with other pegasi. You should see him around Hannah. That's one of the female pegasi in the group. He'll strut up to her and headbutt her and flare his wings and it's all adorable. And it's true that most pegasi are white or cream. That's why a pure black one is so rare. And they're not for shows, they're for, well, the military and such. Star was... well... He was supposed to be going to a higher ranked pegasus rider apparently. But... I couldn't stand the thought of him being shoved into a war so I stole him." She shrugged. "My parents can do whatever they want, it's not a big deal. I don't mind being on my own."

Erion

"Well then, that worked perfectly. Do you want to try with more moving things, maybe faster moving things, or would you prefer to try and warp multiple people?" He walked over to where Raquel was, a held out a hand. "If you don't mind? I could untie more daggers but it makes more sense to just keep reusing the old one."

Edited June 3, 2014 by scorri

[-Cynthia-]

Dining Hall

"True, people may not want to disclose personal matters and I have no intention of prying. Some find it useful to discuss their problems with others however, and I do not want them to feel ignored," Veronika explained to Blake. It is good that some members of this group think of me as trusted at least- perhaps it's not as bad as I thought.

[Sakusa]

"Spousal abuse, dear," Gwyn corrected, rolling her eyes a bit. "No father should treat their child like a beast of burden and send him off to battle before he's even matured, so of course some coddling is in order!" she chided and exhaled grumpily. When Lumi alluded to Star being her lover, she was about to interject in protest, but once that blew over she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Goodness Lumi, I was about to have a heart attack! It's quite alright to love your pegasus dearly, but I wasn't sure what to think of you if you were in a strange relationship with an equus. Star seems like quite the flamboyant character, but I'm sure he's very charming. Fortunately you saved him from military use, correct? You seem to have plenty of allies, so loneliness won't be an issue. You have Star, after all." She smiled reassuringly. Being lonely is never fun and there are just too many things you can't do alone.

[Phoenix]

Dining Hall

Malik's scowl evolved over the course of the discussion, becoming more and more tinged with irritation over time. This was over his head from the start and it wasn't getting any easier to figure out. An impatient grunt was all that escaped him, though. Amon meanwhile did some more thinking. "That's what has me confused. The only word for this ... 'origin magic'?" he forwarded the best descriptor he could think of, "that I know is 'spirit' ... but that's just confusing. Spirits ... that's usually referring to a dead person," he finished with a deep frown.

"Maybe it's in another language," Malik listlessly offered, raising and dropping his hand as he did. He was getting exhausted listening to this.

"Umm," Erica looked around, her cheerfulness fading all too quickly. "I thought someone out here needed this ...."

Blake soon noted that some people might not be willing to come out with their personal issues just because Veronika set herself up to be a slender red target for them. "I can think of a few," Reign quietly mused whilst glancing off randomly. "Well," he spoke up loud enough to at least be heard clearly this time, "now that the offer's on the table, they've got no one to blame but themselves for feeling ignored." I'm going to need another drink soon, because that's about the only way I can ignore some of the stuff that goes on around here.

Study

"Well that's relatively good news, at least," Weyland shrugged. "Whatever you two decide in the end, keep in mind that it's probably not what Joanna wants, even if wrathites are the only ones harmed in the process."

"Yeah well I'm sure she didn't want hundreds of people killed by an army monsters either. I'll make sure it's the last time something undesirable happens," Glen spat back as he stood up from the chair, tossing Steinn a parting dirty look.

Weyland waited for them both to leave the room before letting out another sigh veiled in smoke. "Held that one in a little long, didn't you?" Steinn remarked, lightening the mood a little.

"Heh, I suppose," Weyland cracked the faintest of smiles. "I suppose it's time for the next meeting. Arietta, could you go and bring them here? They were probably left in the dining hall."

Training Room

"Heh, thanks," Raquel replied to Jericho. Katrina wondered what the range on this emblem power were. Raquel suspected that since her ability to warp things was almost entirely dependent on her eyesight, her 'range' was also limited to what she could clearly make out in the distance. Her eyesight wasn't particularly bad, so she supposed she could warp things a fair distance away, but she didn't see herself doing it very often. She'd be vulnerable while focusing on something that wasn't close to her. That aside, "I need to see if it's any tougher to catch the harmonica and the coin, first. After that, I guess back to back without stopping and then if that goes well we'll move on."

Hallway

"Oh ..." the maid, curled up slightly, avoiding eye contact for a moment. "I'm really sorry." Finally, after risking a glance, she recognized the offended guest. "Aren't you--" No that could wait at least until she answered the initial question, Til realized. "I'm sorry, I don't know who that is and I'm not sure I've seen anyone with black hair around in awhile--no one outside of the staff, that is. Umm ... by the way. Do you remember me by any chance? I'm Tilly. We've made some progress on the repairs to your clothes but we're not quite finished, yet." Maybe some relatively good news would smooth things over or something.

Stables

Most of the equines were more interested in staying put or fleeing than actually fighting, if only because the invader looked too big to go down easily. Luca was used to wyverns and was more interested in seeing Nadya.

<"Come on, Isis, it's time to go,"> Haythem nudged, causing Isis to slowly begin to back out into the rain. <"If you want, we can go find some shelter now or something. Just wanted to make sure Nadya got here alright.">

"Whew," Vivian said, looking back to see the massive wyvern leaving their humble stables in peace. "Please tell me he's not a new mercenary Mister Weyland hired. I don't think it'll be safe to come here anymore if that's the case ... oh!" Vivian suddenly realized that she was likely talking to a guest. Nadya didn't look like a maid or cook, at least. "Do you know what happened here last night?"

Complex

You too ... I guess. Cassandra shook her head several times rapidly; that last part really didn't need to be reflexively tacked on like that. No, I'm sorry. I mean it. I was starting to think I was all on my own out here, so I mean it. I really do ....

The Archives

"Think whatever you want," Nyx replied with a scowl, "A great many people have the common sense to let a matter be when properly warned. Those who can't control their curiosity don't usually have to die, either, but it's certainly an option if all else fails. If you can't handle something that simple, however, then be on your way. There's no shortage of wounded out there; someone with more resolve is bound to show their face here sooner or later and sate our curiosity."

Grrr. "You can't just give us what we came here for in the first place?" Shadrak chimed in. "I didn't expect you to even offer to make the arm, yourself." Or rather I really didn't want you to ... "If you give me the information on how to make a functional arm, I can teach someone with synthesizing experience how to make it. That's a lot simpler than making her do a test run of some prototype for you."

"And what makes you think I have any intention on exchanging anything more with you, Shadrak?"

"Tsssst, here we go," Shadrak pinched the top of his nose in dreadful anticipation.

[Eail]

"Don't come complaining to me when Robin hears you're offering an ear for those that need it." Zach muttered

_______

Cyrus sighed and rolled his eyes as Gwyn corrected him, so what if he hadn't used exactly the right term, the point had still been made! "What say we call Glen our test subject so that we could work out all the kinks before the real deal? He might like being a big brother for all we know." He finished with a shrug... was he talking about Wyverns or not? At the moment there was no telling what was going on in his head.

[Sakusa]

"Excuse me, come again?" Gwyn stared at the impudent brat with a look of sheer disgust, knowing he left the question open-ended to incite a reaction from her. "First of all, Glen is not a test subject, he is a wyvern and a very dear friend. Second of all, I refuse to have any more so-called 'children' with you, if you can even remotely call it that. If you didn't remember, Glen does have plenty of siblings already back home and abroad, so there's no issue with him not being a big brother."

"Gods, why did I even concern myself with making an excuse to run away with him? He's... insufferable, to say the least."

[Eail]

He couldn't help but grin "Isn't everything in life a test of some kind? We're both a test for Glen to see how many snacks he can get after all. Besides, you really think I wanna replace that fat sack of scales? Without him I'd have to deal with you alone all the time, so Glen is here to stay...forever." The smirk widened a bit "I also never specifically mentioned Wyvern siblings either, oh wife of mine."

She was going to hit him later

Hard

And it was going to be worth it

[scorri]

Lumi watched the two and then smirked slightly. "Well, Gwyn, if he's such a boor, you and I could always run off for a second time. You take Glen since he seems to like you more, I'll take Star, we'll go off and have adventures together. No need to worry about family or... fake husbands." She winked at Gwyn, clearly joking and simply hoping to get a decent reaction out of the two. "Seems like it'd be more fun that way, don't you think?"

[Mercakete]

Norbert nodded. Yes, he remembered her. "I was just surprised. That's good news, I guess, but someone's hurt and I was looking for Synthia so she could heal her."

Norbert frowned as he heard his words aloud, then explained, "She's kind of delusional right now, and I trust Synthia not to spread any rumors about what she's saying, so that's why I was looking for her specifically. You sure you haven't seen her?" He tried to think more about what Synthia actually looked like, but gave that up when he figured if Tilly hadn't noticed anyone with black hair from the group, it was pointless to try describing further. Looks like I'll have to just keep looking myself.

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

Rizen snorted. She wasn't only talking about the big one, and she fixed that mistranslation with the simple statement. This place was to be a safe haven for equines of all sorts...but not for those who would eat them!

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

Gytha gave Synthia a friendly wave before continuing on toward her own room.

[Sakusa]

Wife? To Cyrus? She couldn't believe her ears; his brother used to insist on something similar back in the day, so his comment struck a nerve. "Yes, that option is sounding quite lovely right now, Lumi." Gwyn shot Cyrus a dirty glance and then looked away, crossing her arms. "It would certainly mean freedom from obligation and overprotective childhood friends and would pave way for all sorts of licentious behavior I would otherwise be unable to indulge in," she declared offhandedly, not really noticing how childish she sounded at the moment. "Yes, I can see it now... the world would be our oyster and we could have our pick of escorts and not give a damn."

[scorri]

Her grin widening even more, Lumi placed her arm around the other girl's shoulders and made a wide sweeping gesture with her other arm. "Oh yes, I can see it now. We'll take the world by storm. See the sights, meet the people, enjoy our time with said people, and then leave with no regrets. Travel all sorts of places we've never gotten the chance to go... We won't be bound by anything, can travel just about anywhere thanks to Glen and Star... Yes, that would be the life. I'll defend you if needed and you'll heal me when I need it... Yes, sounds perfect to me. And we'll spoil our mounts rotten since they deserve it."

[Eail]

Cyrus rested his arm on the table then plopped his chin onto his hand "Have fun, see ya never." He casually replied to the ideas the girls were throwing around. "Nice to know our years of toughing it out together meant literally nothing to you. Glen sure will be sad to see you go... you didn't actually expect him to abandon me did you? You might be his "Mama" but he's my partner." Even if they were joking, it still disgusted him a bit Gwyn would even humor the idea

[Sakusa]

Gwyn burst out laughing, clutching her stomach and doubling over. "Imagine the shopping trips and all of the bakery hopping we could do! Sampling local delicacies and trying on all sorts of different garb... Watching the mounts get into all sorts of trouble... Haha!" she clapped her hands in glee, only to have the mood significantly soured by Cyrus' outburst.

"You know, we were clearly joking," she remarked pointedly and frowned. "If I wanted to leave you, I would've just let you go without a thought three years ago," she sighed. "It's not every day that I can laugh and joke around with a girl my age without her screaming at me about stealing her boyfriend. A little escape from reality never hurt anyone. A serious trip would cost us countless amounts of gold and an investment you know I can't afford. You know that I would never leave you alone, and I know better than anyone else that Glen won't ever leave your side, because believe me, I tried it once. It wasn't pleasant. But sometimes having someone new to talk to instead of just each other all the time is a good change of pace, so lighten up a bit, won't you?"

[scorri]

Rolling her eyes at Cyrus, Lumi mentally classified him as yet another 'Mr Grumpypants.' She had obviously been joking, and if he couldn't take a joke then he needed to lighten up majorly. "Geeze, like she said, lighten up. We're just having fun and you're being the sour one. Besides, you're the one who was talking about her being your wife and implying that you two would have children. It was pretty obvious that you were needling her, so you should have expected some needling in return. But nope, as soon as you're the one getting teased, all the fun and games is over." She shook her head and turned back to Gwyn. "Well it seems like I've overstayed my welcome, at least with him. If you're looking to get hired for the group going to Kigen, I'd suggest talking either to Weyland himself or to Amon. Those are the two who are as in charge of things for that trip as you can get I guess. I should probably go check on Star anyways. He gets antsy if he gets locked up in a stable for too long."

[Eail]

"It'd probably help in my already fragile self confidence if your first conversation with a person you've just met didn't include a plan to abandon me and steal my partner, leaving me with literally nothing. Just something to think about." He was about to go back to Glen, but evidently this woman was heading to the stables. "Is there any place I can get a nap around here?"

[ReformBlade]

"I can't help but feel you're just dancing around my question, or maybe I'm just not getting what you're saying but at this point I'd feel nothing but discomfort accepting this, in my eyes, extremely loaded deal. I guess... I'm sorry for wasting your time." Mushirah got out, hoping to just sort of leave it at that. She couldn't keep eye contact for very long, letting it wander about in a hopefully casual manner. Truth be told, she was incredibly anxious and just wanted as fa away from this place as she could get, not wanting to deal with a person she felt was extremely petty and vindictive from her brief excursion.

"Well..." He played with the harmonica in his hand for a moment before nodding at Raquel. "If this thing breaks during this experimentation, you owe me a new one, okay?" he said, waiting on an answer before actually tossing something fairly fragile.

[Sakusa]

This spat was going nowhere quickly, so she decided to do something productive. "Sorry for the trouble, Lumi. So which one is Amon? I'll see if I can secure something with him and hopefully this will be for the best." Gwyn sighed and turned back to Cyrus. "And once again, you know I would never do that to you. I'm sorry, okay?" she pinched the bridge of her nose. No matter how you sliced it, there was no way she would dare leave him, and stealing a wyvern of Glen's size is impossible for a girl of her stature. As much as she wanted a lighthearted conversation with a girl her age and enjoyed her lighthearted conversation with Lumi, who was a girl around her age and whom she had a surprising amount of synergy with, there just had to be some sort of catch. Arguing with Cyrus had always been one of the most draining things about their relationship, and Gwyn decided it was just not worth trying to fortify her position. "If you really need a nap, try asking one of the maids, you should be able to find at least someone in the hallway." She slumped into her seat and rested her head on the table, feeling completely drained.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Sakusa

[scorri]

Lumi glanced around before spotting the man she was looking for. "That's him over there, the Rexian with the blond hair talking to the blonde mage. Hopefully he'll be able to help you. I'm headed off to the stables. Once you're done, if you want to meet Star, I'll probably still be out there. If not, I understand. Good luck." She glanced at Cyrus and then walked away, headed towards the stables. I mean... she's clearly friends with the guy, so she must see something there. I must just not know him well enough to see it or something.

[-Cynthia-]

Dining Hall

"Robin and I have already had some discussions regarding her problems. She's...troubled," Veronika noted to Zach. She declined to mention that Zach played a significant part in Robin's personal issues- that felt like a breach of trust even if Robin hasn't sworn her to anything.

Estate Grounds

"Nah, he's just a guest, he'll be gone soon. Last night this estate got attacked by the Fallen- big bloody mess that was," Nadya informed the unfamiliar woman. She decided not to mention that it was because of Weyland's odd choice of houseguests- she figured the Professor didn't want that sort of thing getting out.

[Script]

A Man Named Gar

"Oh they certainly do I just feel like delivering it myself," Gar explained.

[Cevian]

Cherish's food was rather good. It better be, being free and all. They say a mean you work for is more satisfying, but Cherish always saw it the other way around. Going days without a meal and not knowing if each day would be your last if you couldn't get just a bite of something made being able to sit back and relax and not worry about having to get a meal much more relaxing.

Still this food was missing something: A drink. Looking around the room Cherish saw someone holding a tray with a pot of something, probably tea, looking around for someone that needed it. Standing up Cherish walked over towards Erica, trying to stay in her blind spot up until the right moment. Moving past her she just grabbed the pot of tea and a cup off the tray and then made her way back to her table without a word. Could she have asked for it? Sure, but for her just taking it was easier, and the thing she had more skill in doing.

[Snike]

"Fair enough, though I wasn't really aware that was an issue," Blake said, as Robin was brought up by Zach. He wasn't about to step into that particular individuals' problems, though. "Mind you I'm not the most sociable of people, so that might be why."

***

Thank you. Again, let me know if anything comes up. Or if you need someone to talk to, in that case. Good luck.

[Phoenix]

Dining Hall

"You're not the boy from earlier," Erica noted. Well, it wasn't like the tea was exclusive. She'd made it on a whim, and she'd do it again. She'd also foreseen the possibility that her coming out with tea might attract a few others so she'd brought a few more cups with the tray just in case. Pay off seemed imminent, but just as she was about to set the tray down, someone snatched the teapot and one of the cups away.

"I ... I don't even ..." She sat the tray down anyway, so nothing would fall over ... because she was about to do a bit of justifiable flailing. "Hey, you! What do you think you're doing?!"

Reign glanced over at Erica wondering what was going on and saw a woman in black heading away from the scene and Gar nearby. He almost smirked at Blake's comment about not being sociable, but not quite. "I've got a pretty small circle, myself, but no telling how long that's gonna last." Well ... "Anyway, I'm at my limit. I'm gonna go grab a bottle. I'll be right back," he said, rising from the table.

Training Room

"I won't let it get broken," Raquel shook her head. "Let's go."

Hallway

"Delusional?" Tilly echoed, not really certain a traditional healer could fix something like that. It could have been anything from sheer exhaustion to dehydration. Maybe something psychological too, now that she thought about it. The more she thought about it, the longer the list of suspects became. "I'm not certain what she requires is a healer, actually. Something healthy to eat, or some bed rest will probably go a lot further right now."

Stables

One of the horses further in the back agreed to Rizen's call to arms ... hooves? Whatever. He wanted to wait for his rider to return, however, so he would be fully prepared to challenge the fleeing giant and anymore of its ilk.

"Big? Bloody?" Vivian's worried expression only got worse with Nadya's news. She hoped those who'd gone inside ahead of her weren't just tripping over the bodies of their own allies by this point. "Alright, give it to me straight, please. Who all is left? Is Mister Weyland still alive, at least?" I hope Connor is still away on that trip or he might be ....

Complex

Cassandra nodded, but quickly realized that that might not have reached Uniter. Oh well. She picked up her pace, hoping to get back inside so she could begin to dry off. The rain clouds told a tale of sorts, and she doubted the rain would continue into the evening, or at least not long into it, so staying dry for as long as possible would make things easier, especially given what was now coming down the line. She didn't just have to cleverly herd Jethro and Hayato around, but she also had to avoid looking suspicious for doing that, and not give away that she knew about an imminent attack. For a moment she jokingly entertained the idea of Samael forgiving her for that 'blunder' simply because she was technically like him, an artificial human. Oddly, enough, though, the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed, if only because none of Samael's own subordinates were here right now and he didn't have much love for those working under Sardis. On top of that, Sardis had been losing people left and right, lately. A few more dying in an attack he could blame on Sardis wouldn't faze him that much, would it? Probably not, she felt, the more she thought about it. A tinge of pity for Sardis, but that would be all until she got a look at him. She wasn't sure what to expect other than a couple of missing legs, but planned on finding out.

The Archives

"An apology isn't going to accomplish much with me, Mushirah," Nyx said, looking neutral, again. "Now go. Find someone who will give you what you want, at a price more to your liking."

Shadrak sighed. "So the whole thing was a farce, then ... Mushirah can't get any help from you without strings attached and I can't even get basic information on ... well, anything? I mean can you really blame her for not wanting to take up your offer when she might have to kill someone to honor it? Sure, maybe I could take care of that part, but ..." Shadrak trailed off and quieted down, not really liking to admit that he didn't have many qualms left about cutting at least certain kinds of people down.

"You had no intention of contributing to the archives if you could manage it. It's as if you stand here and see nothing but a whimsical keeper surrounded by treasures and all that concerns you is getting past her and plundering the place. You may not like my way of handling entitled bandits like yourself, but I will not allow you or anyone else to just take whatever they please without contributing something we find equally valuable in return. The Shastaks would have you jailed for an eternity. Yamato would have you tortured far longer than that. Loginov would have you killed on the spot. Even the avian ruler would see you die for what you would attempt here. I'm simply pointing you toward the door this time ... because I know you, Shadrak. I know you don't fully understand yourself just yet, and while I don't fault you for your natural, self deceiving ways, I do fault you for your arrogance. Now go. Find a public library or at least bring an offering of your own."

Shadrak winced, emotionally wounded, if only minorly. He didn't think he was trying to steal from the archives but Nyx definitely knew how to put a spin on things. "Look, I didn't mean to- ... no, I was hoping it wouldn't cost us that much. I figured you'd name your price if an exchange was that important. I don't have any memories to offer so I was hoping you'd want something else and tell me what it is. I can't leave, yet, though."

"... ugh."

Edited June 4, 2014 by Phoenix