Blue

Feeling a bit more refreshed, now, Aubri was more confident in her ability to continue channeling her magic. Draining surveyed the battlefield, happening to catch an eyeful of Alphonse's whirling attack on one of their ambushers. She turned to Rhoul, briefly, shaking her head, and mainly watched her target for an opening as she spoke to him. "No way! Unlike you, I know exactly whose side I'm on, here." Done with her quip, she leaped forward after him, launching a follow-up attack at the woman by lashing out with her whip from a distance; her blow struck true against the woman's leg, staggering her a bit; by anyone's estimation she didn't look good, but she wasn't quite out of the picture yet.

"Careful, careful!" Aubri shouted to nobody in particular as she fell back, out of range. She channeled her magic to come to her allies' defenses, making them tougher to hit and more resilient. Rushing back toward the wagon, she held her staff aloft, channeling its healing magic to the other side of the wagon, shouting over it. "Al! Be careful! You're supposed to protect us, not the other way around!

Aubri continued to rush into battle, to meet the enemy and their reinforcements, channeling her magic and adding a flourish to her step as she rushed just behind the front lines. Her speedy spell prepared her allies for the upcoming combat, strengthening their attacks and dampening any blows they might take. "The big guy's right!" She called out, gesturing at Wilhelm with the staff in her left hand. "We've seen as much blood as they have, and if they're deserters, that doesn't speak well of their courage! Come on!" She stepped forward with a chuckle, keeping just out of the enemy's reach, and lashed out with her whip, twice before her chosen opponent, the axeman flanking the apparent leader who'd just spoken. The first hit glanced across his arm and chest, causing some serious pain, but it was the second strike, the tip of the whip lashing across the fighter's neck with enough force to slice it, sending the fighter to the ground. "Come on, everyone! They're not getting a thing!" She shouted as she jumped backwards, back into the small crowd of mercenaries protecting the wagon.

"Hey, hey, I don't take orders from you! ...Um, I mean, fine. I'll hang back for now and reinforce you in a minute." Aubri's knee-jerk reaction proved wrong and she agreed to stay... Until Jam and Erion signaled the ambush was more extensive than they thought. Figuring their group should probably meet enemy reinforcements with their own, she jumped to her feet, unhooking her whip and taking it in her right hand, her staff in her left. "Right!" She nodded as Alphonse continued to lead the strategy; it seemed for the time being that the two were thinking alike, so she ducked out of her wagon and quickly took her place.

"Well, sure, if you like blondes that much!" Aubri playfully jabbed at Alphonse with a shrug. "But if you come crying to me across the battlefield because you jumped in front of an axe for someone, I won't be able to help as well as if you'd kept me close." She nodded, trying to wear her best wise look without looking overly smug. Truthfully, she looked quite silly, until she turned to Jam and the other blonde, tilting her head with a wink. "'Course, I can dodge a blade, too, but it doesn't look like any of us ladies are going to have a problem with that, hm~?"

Aubri shrugged, barely managing a response of "That would be really cool! But it sounds pretty difficult, without practicing...", before the idea of copycat dances was forced out of her head as the group discussed battle strategies. She wasn't exactly a strategist herself, but she did well in a group, spending a lot of her time healing or channeling magic to her team. "I'll just go wherever you'll put me. I can heal, so if someone's going to be doing some kind of heroic protecting, I might want to help them out, yeah?"

It sounded like some kind of argument had ensued within the wagon, just after Alphonse entered; Aubri waited to enter the wagon herself until she figured she wasn't going to get pulled into anything; it was just before the wagon started moving that she finally slipped in, and whatever the argument was seemed to be ending. She took a seat off to the side somewhere, holding her hands in front of her and practicing... some kind of neatly-coordinated finger motion, probably for some sort of choreography. She could overhear Jam and Angelica's discussion easily, and could tell from words and silences that nicknames seemed to be a particularly quick way onto the latter's bad side. Noting that she wasn't going to charm her calling her "Angel", she decided to avoid the begrudgingly-accepted "Gelly" as well. "Angelica" had kind of a nice cadence to it, anyway. She zoned out shortly after, though, after hearing something about looking for a gem, and, admittedly tired from days of exploring town and nights of working, nearly dozed off when the other dancer approached her. She leapt to her feet, dusting her skirt off. "Jam! The ride's fine, I've just been so busy lately that I'm really tired." She smiled to the other dancer and nodded. "How about you? Any partiuclar ideas for our dance?"

"Ah, hey!!" Aubri yelled after the white-haired man as he walked away from her. "Stupid little... It's like nobody can even see I'm armed and expecting trouble." She sighed and wandered off to a tree not far from the wagon, going to rest against it and waving to Greta on the way, calling out to her, "Just lemme know about payment, I'm not too picky. I'll do what I can in exchange for whatever I can get." She watched as Jam headed into the cart with the merchant, hoping that just maybe she'd make it clear to her that the two of them were equally capable of helping out if the wagon got into trouble. She didn't wait long before Jam came out of the cart, watching as she made a beeline for Alphonse and dragged him off somewhere. Aubri's brow furrowed a little; she'd be lying if she said she wasn't at least a little worried about the girl, not really being sure what to think of Alphonse. She was a lot more sure what to think of the new girl who approached soon after; probably one of the group Aubri hadn't met yet, she thought. She wondered, though, since she'd definitely noted this girl around the tavern, why noboy pointed her out. Oh well... Either way, you don't just bend over in front of a guy like that on accident, do you? It didn't take Aubri much thought to decide that, no, you really don't. She had to admit, though, that the girl was pretty, and especially if she couldn't fight had to rely on something to get around. It wasn't anywhere Aubri hadn't been before herself. Aubri didn't wait long to approach the blonde and the merchant after the dancer and the white (now much more literal!) knight returned to the wagon. Soon after she approached, Aubri having just caught the tail end of the new girl's introduction, the man from the bar along with a girl and a dog approached. Looks like everyone's coming in at once! Maybe we can leave soon. Aubri waved to her former darts opponent as his group approached. "Hey!" She called. "Didn't know you were heading out with 'em, too!" She turned to address the others, most of her attention on the new blonde, but also glancing at the other two. "Hi there! My name's Aubrianna, but just call me Aubri, really~!" Cheerfully turning to the merchant, she counted the group in her head. "So, is that everyone, or are we still waiting on someone?"

Wagon "Hmm..." Money, huh? "I'll just accept whatever the trip pays. You know, beggars can't be choosers, and all. I'll ask for a bit more if we run into danger along the way, but that ought to be standard, yeah?" The coral-haired dancer answered the merchant's question agreeably and cheerfully, doing her best to ignore the old man. Wishing only to get out of town and get a few coins, she had no interest in pandering to the man, especially if it might get her on the merchant woman's bad side. Word spread fast among merchants, after all. "Oh, hey!" Aubri waved to Jam as she approached, seeming bright and cheerful again. Huh, she must really be the type to bounce back fast. She was so upset, I thought... "I've met..." She paused briefly, taking a brief look around. "Well, everyone here, I guess, I just don't know their names yet! But I don't think that's everyone, is it?" Alphonse said eleven... So me, him, Jam, Shaun, the creepy old man, the merchant, and he said something about one being a dog... "I think there are still four people I haven't met... And a dog! I'm all for leaving as soon as we can, but we've gotta wait for them, right~?"

Streets "Alright! Can't be too far, now!" Aubri walked beside Shaun through the rest of town, keeping to the main roads now. "At least nothing happened in that alley! Not like any street tough ever got me down, hahaha!" She filled the walk out of town with occasional idle chatter, and soon enough they reached the wagon. Wagon "Aubrianna is the name, actually!" The dancer took over for Shaun's failing speech. "The others had a, um, little bit of a delay, so they sent Shaun ahead with me... As for me, I'm just lookin' to get out of town, and this guy Alphonsse told me I might be able to help you out. I'm not half bad with a staff or a whip."

Step Up 2: The Streets "I'm pretty sure it's this way..." Aubri continued, leading just in front of Shaun as the two headed north through town. "I mean, I've seen pretty much all of the town in the past week, I should probably kno--oh!" She stepped to the side, looking ahead of the two of them to see the blonde dancer and the man with the flames on his jacket, the former seeming quite upset. "Here, follow me. We'll just go around 'em. Stay close, though, there might be some... less than favorable types in the alley. Keep an eye on your money if you've got it." Beckoning for Shaun, she headed down a small side road in front of a restaurant, turning around behind it into a completely empty alley. "Seems safe enough, though. Lucky~ Better not to waste our time here, though." She walked quickly down past a few buildings, looking behind her to make sure Shaun was still following. "Here we go, we'll head out here~!" She ducked to the side of a bakery several buildings down, emerging back on the same road, past the others. "You know where we are yet? I don't know where your wagon is, exactly...