Jotari

Do you like the sound of your own voice (both literally and metaphorically speaking)?

Emmet entered the vendor. As he'd hoped, Niko was indeed there. Talking to lady Claire of all people. Our path just keeps crossing he reflected. Though it's not so odd the two of them are together. The day I met him we ran into her. He walked over to them. "Commander Niko, Lady Claire, it is good to see you."

"Thank you very much, good sir." The butler still neglected to tell Emmet his name but he hardly cared. "I'll go see if I can find him at once. If I happen to fail, please inform him that I called round." Eurus huh? Didn't even know Niko had a surname. Seems he's not completely common born at least. Since he's a mage, I assume he'll be at the vendor in the shopping district. I'll head there next. Even if I can't fight him they might have something I can buy to assist with my stave studies. Emmet heads towards the vendor.

Greatest achievement in your life thus far?

How awesome are manaketes?

They had a guy holding a big green screen pole indicating his approximate height and, more importantly, a clear area we couldn't closely approach. Some times it was accompanied by a model of his head.

"Yes...I'm afraid I never caught your name. I wish to see mister Niko. Do you have any idea where he might be?"

I don't disclose a whole lot about my personal life on Serenes but this is like super brag worthy material that I feel like showing off. I was actually employed as an extra in Game of Thrones last year and the scene with me in it has finally been aired so I can talk about it a bit more openly. Tried embedding the photos but Serenes wouldn't let me. So here's the links. http://imgur.com/yrJBpDg That's the line up photo they took of me when I first went to my fitting. Or rather it's a photo of the photo they used. They weren't kind enough to give me a digital copy so I just took the one that was attached to my costume, for the memories. http://imgur.com/EaOBbSZ This is the big battle scene towards the end of the season. This shot from the trailer was one of the instances where I was certain I was on camera, which I am, it's just borderline impossible to make me out. I highly doubt there'll be a better shot of me in the episode even though I was there for two weeks! http://imgur.com/M80xKPT This scene where the wildlings storm Castle Black was the scene I was in. Took two nights to film it. Must have heard the dialogue in it over a hundred times. The sweeping shot here is a pretty good look at my back. http://imgur.com/qIp6ltW This might be a look at my side. I'm not sure. Mainly because it looks like I'm holding a bow when I wasn't. The girl standing on my right was though so maybe it's just poking out in front of me. It was the place I was standing for the majority of takes however. http://imgur.com/aEJIYtC This guy here actually has a name, Bowen Marsh. He plays a somewhat important role in the book but I don't think he even got a single line in the show. He is considered an actor though while we were just considered extras. My job was to grab him and drag him away. http://imgur.com/o9aGnbV This guy here isn't actually the actor who plays Olly. At least it isn't for the majority of the scene including when he charges. Its a stand in wearing a wig. It looks really good too. I didn't even realise it wasn't him until he brought it up in conversation. The reason they have a stand in is because it was a night shoot and Olly's real actor is under 18 so they can't have him working certain hours. http://imgur.com/3Vp984w This is the best shot of me there'll probably be in the entire season. I was actually wearing a fake beard for the scene because they recorded just after my graduation which I shaved for. Of course I didn't mention that to them until I turned up on set! I also did a third scene set in a camp but I'm pretty sure it'll be cut. It didn't really seem all that important. It was still a really cool experience though. The whole thing was a lot of fun to do and I met some really interesting people. It was also really difficult and could be very repetitive. Each day was at least fifteen working hours long. One day went as far as seventeen hours. It's mainly because they need to get all our costume on and hair done before the camera men are ready to start filming so since we were starting before everyone else we were guaranteed to be working over time every day. Which is good since overtime means extra pay! Though at some points the extra pay didn't seem nearly as desirable as the concept of sleep.

Emmet reached the Herman residence and knocked on the door. I really should have just visited Niko when I was here the other day he thought to himself.

Emmet had seen nicer mercenary guilds but he had also seen a lot worse. It seemed rather empty though which he found surprising for a city the size of Hull. Inspecting the board he saw that Serge was quite right. Most of the jobs involved escorting merchants. There was one job regarding Magonsaete but it sounded far too dangerous for him alone. Perhaps he might mention it to Niko though. Emmet didn't really know what the full capabilities of the group were. He was quite sure he'd yet to even meet every member. He needed a small bounty job, only one wanted poster caught his eye however. It was highly priced but came with few details. However there was something familiar with it. He took it off the wall and spent some time looking at it before he realised why. The man on the poster was almost definitely the one who had shown them to the criminal hideout the night the princess was taken. He was a friend of Serge's. Emmet glanced at the door. The boy had been somewhat evasive in their brief conversation. Could this be the reason why? What kind of man was Serge? He seemed harmless enough. Nice even. Not the kind of person who would betray a friend for something has fleeting as money. Then again he'd only spoken to the boy a handful of times. Emmet shrugged his shoulders. Well if he wants to go catching a bounty all to himself at the expense of a friend then that's his business. He briefly considered throwing the poster away instead of pinning it back on the wall but decided against it. He was thankful the rat faced man had helped them but he didn't really feel he owed him anything. Especially after Emmet had stuck an arrow in Stan's heart to save him. With no apropriate jobs Emmet left the mercenary guild. Where to next then? He was honestly rather sick of the library and researching a vague myth but thinking about it made him think about Niko. He had only actually seen his current employer on one occasion. I should really get more acquainted. In fact I should have reported the events of a few days ago to him immediately but instead I spoke to Lady Adele. I think he said he was living at the Herman residence. I'll go look for him there.

"Is that so" Emmet said. "Well I think I'll head inside anyway and scout out the place. I've been here nearly two weeks now and haven't had a chance yet. If you do need any help with something don't be afraid to seek me out." Emmet enters the mercenary's guild.

It turned out working for Adeltrudis left Emmet with a lot of free time, at least currently. Something he was thankful of. Any information he could find about the strange vial had dried up so he decided to get some extra work on the side. He headed towards the mercenaries guild and found one of his companions already there. "Hey Sergent. Looking for some extra cash too? Need some help on a job?" Emmet didn't particularly want to split the profits but this would be a good opportunity to get to know his fellow mercenaries.

"Emmet, of house Dun. If you haven't heard of my brother then you certainly wouldn't have heard of me. My family are scarcely better off than the farmers they govern. Duhamel is among the larger houses from what I can recall. Though it's been several years since I've been to the homeland and even longer since I've had interest in their politics. Anyway it was nice meeting you Sir Alain. If you're treating with prince Owen then I'm sure we'll cross paths again in the future. Somehow I've been wrapped up in the local politics here too." The all too recent memory of the princess attacking him flashed through his mind once more. "Seems this party is over-" And I didn't have nearly enough to drink. "Goodbye prince Owen, lady Charlotte. If you need to question me about tonight's events you can find me at the mage guild." He merely glanced at the lady Claire without saying good bye. With that one you're better left with your mouth shut.

Asking if they're legal first seems prudent to me.

I'm pretty sure the whole point of Meg x Zihark is that it wasn't a thing. Zihark doesn't even know her at all. Having Meg get over her hero crush to go on to lead a normal life like her father is better suited than indiscriminate pairings all over the place. Plus she's not Zihark's type. By which I mean she's not a laguz. Zihark should have been paired off with Nailah. He was hardly fighting out in that desert for the sake of Daein.

Rising tensions Emmet thought to himself. Could we be on the verge of war? Surely the military would take me back if there was actual fighting happening. But do I really want to go back? "Do you know anything about a Colonel Dun? Vincent Dun. Though I suppose he's probably a general by now. An elder brother of mine." Emmet regarded his compatriot again. "Actually what's you're name?" He seems a little young to be a diplomat. Probably the son of some major lord.

Hahaha. The US is far from having the worst crime rate of any country. Pretty much anywhere in East Africa or South and Central America are guaranteed to be worse in any given year.

Emmet turned his attention to Alain. "You're from Raewald? That's my homeland. What news do you have from there?"

It's precisely that reason I'm going to China. I could have got a job in France or Italy which is much closer to home (comparatively) but I personally want to go and see a culture that is completely different to the one I've grown up in. You might think alcohol in a vending machine is a horrible idea but that's only because it just wouldn't work over here. But over in Asia I guess people just follow the rules more. Almost strict and rigidly. Which in turn leads to all sorts of other things westerns might consider problems. Either way I'll make my own mind up by seeing it all first hand. BTW the alcohol in vending machines might be something I heard regarding Japan so don't quote me on that.

On the plus side I hear you can get alcohol from vending machines which just wouldn't happen over here.

Yeah I heard that people steal toilet paper there...for some reason.

Some of these cities in east Asia are also much more populated than New York. Like over twice (or in the case of Shanghai, thrice) the number of people. Though I got my cities mixed up. Suzhou only has a population of 4 million so it hopefully it won't be that bad.

I doubt anyone particularly wants to live in the polluted environment. It's just a natural byproduct of having such a massive number of people living in the same industrialized area. Just to give an example, the city I'm moving to has twenty times as many people as the largest city in my home country. Or to put it another way, almost two and a half times the population of my entire country. People can complain all they want but the measures to actually fix such pollution aren't straight forward or easy. One hilarious attempt I heard of was a walk to work policy they enforced in Mexico City. They wanted everyone to walk to work one day a week so they made it illegal to drive you car on one random day. Unfortunately they did it by car instead of people so everyone just bought a second really cheap car rather than walking. As result of having so many bangers actively driving around the city it actually increased pollution levels dramatically.

Are you aware of the Serenes Write Your Butt Off Competition?

Single greatest achievement in life thus far.