Return of the Emblem Chapter Three: The Show

[Rothene]

After retracing his steps, which took a while, Ranyin started having doubts about the possibility of Nanahm actually staying in one place, but he decided to take his chances. The bucket of paint prevented him from actually running. The minor wind spell he casted to lighten the weight of the bucket was just enough to prevent his arms from breaking under the strain of the bucket weight.

Finally, he reached the hallway where Nanahm was. To Ranyin's astonishment, Nanahm happened to be there, waiting patiently or so it seems. Cautiously, Ranyin slowed his pace and waved one hand to call out to Nanahm,"Lookie here! I have paint."

[Phoenix]

It was both us being aggressive and self defense now that I think about it. I remember giving the attack order ... "Well," she started. She tapped Chip on the shoulder and he climbed around to the other side of her shoulder, still looking up at Selene. "those guys had pretty much destroyed Rodrigo's carriage and had him and the others tied up. When we got there, the whole situation just kind of ... exploded ... and then fighting broke out. Rodrigo didn't even wait to be untied before he started fighting too, and once he was free, we had enough manpower to finish them off. Only one survived, but he's in prison now I guess." I'm not sure I should say anything about the first time they came after us. It's not like the military can help us anyway, right? I mean they're fighting a war, and dealing with actual bandit uprisings.

[ReformBlade]

(OOC: Sorry for being absent, I guess? Real life coldcocked me it seems.)

Indeed, the man was waiting there patiently, but for what? He had been thinking, mulling multiples of thoughts over at a time, unable to focus on any given one for more than a brief moment. Life seemed to be passing him by quicker than usual these days, and he wondered if he'd even be of any help to the group as he was right now. He'd suffered more wounds than he could bother to count, only to be saved by another each time. Did he have a use? Did he have a purpose with this group in particular? "Hmm..." he let out absentmindedly as the wind mage approached, his arm straining to hold the bucket of paint. "Thanks, but uh... where'd you find that? And weren't we gonna go to some show thingamabob soon or something?" He questioned. "Oh, lemme get that for ya." he added, motioning to the paint bucket as he neared Ranyin.

Edited April 22, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[GoD]

"Actually, I was the one who found the can of paint."- Chelsea said, entering the art room.

She waved at Nanahm. "Long time no see. A few hours right?"

[-Cynthia-]

She's claiming that they got involved because the 'bandits' were attacking Vasquez...which somewhat contradicts what Boris was saying about the attack being more about her. I am inclined to believe Boris given his likely employers. Raquel appears to want to conceal the Emblem, which makes things more difficult. "So you and your group rescued Vasquez from these bandits? That is very commendable of you, rescuing a national hero like that. I suspect your father would have been very proud of you," Selene said to Raquel.

[Phoenix]

Uh oh. Raquel thought to herself. My father got kidnapped by those people way before we helped out Rodrigo. Pleeease don't let me get caught withholding information from a military officer? "Yeah, I think he would too." No no, not "would". "WILL". I need to play this like there's nothing wrong and my father isn't actually missing. On the other hand, what would she think if she knew these guys have been hounding us for days now?

Chip continued staring at Selene wondering what she wanted. Raquel didn't have any food on her, he had already checked for himself. So what did she want?

[roymbrog]

Crossbows, explosions, and tanks, oh my! After being somewhat amused at the first demonstration Synthia was completely blown away by the Visceral thing, or whatever he had called it. Were Weyland’s conferences always this exciting? She might have to find a way into more of them… That would be impossible; she berated herself at the thought. The tank paled in comparison to the fiery destruction of the previous event, but it was impressive nonetheless. She didn’t really understand the significance of the demonstration given by Weyland’s nephew, but she figured it just meant more the more military minded people here.

As Synthia followed Rodrigo off their row Weyland walked over to retrieve them, she supposed. “What fun,” she said after Rodrigo’s spiel, but she really was more excited than she let on and her face showed it.

Then Selene walked over, mistaking Synthia for Raquel. “Eeeeh..?” she said. “You must be mistaken, I’m not…” She trailed off as Rodrigo started answering first. Over her previous confusion, Synthia greeted Selene in return, then subtly raised an eyebrow at her choice of words. Frivolity…? Perhaps, but that wasn’t how she saw it. Just as she was thinking they really should be going Weyland busted out the figures for failure and her face paled a bit. “Sixteen percent?” That was almost a one in six chance. What the hell? Hadn’t Rodrigo said those suits were safe?

[Rothene]

Relieved at the prospect of having the heavy load taken from him, Ranyin eagerly let Nanahm take the bucket from him. Nanahm's words reminded him about the show they were planning to go to with John. To Nanahm, he said,"Right, the show. I guess we should go there. Oh, and where is John? I thought he'd come back here to meet up?"

[GoD]

"What show? What on earth are you guys talking about?"- Chelsea asked.

[Rothene]

"The show about the 'flaming duck' Rodrigo, he's supposed to perform a stunt of some sort. Should be good to watch. Anyway,"said Ranyin to Nanahm who was holding the paint,"you don't suppose we could just leave the paint here and look for John to go watch the show. I rather not be late."

[Phoenix]

Preparing for the Show

Synthia had some concerns but Rodrigo reassured her that everything about go just fine. He did this while Weyland shook his head with his arms crossed, refusing to overlook a few variables that could easily turn sixteen percent into ninety-nine percent. Once they made it down the halls and to a room that had been locked until Weyland opened it for them, he showed them two fireproof suits. "You're obviously familiar with these, Phoenix." he said giving the man the same unamused look.

"Yep. Okay, Synthia, you get this one." he said pointing to the one on the left. "Let me know if you need any help, but we need to hurry." he added before beginning to put on his. The suits were rather bulky, but soft where they needed to be to allow for movement. They weren't armored but their thickness was enough to double for it if archers were the danger. Once they were both finished, Weyland led them to the roof of the mansion and the three of them made their way across the railed walkways passing mostly snipers and pegasus knights along the way.

When they reached the end of the walkway, they found a rather large winged structure at the edge of the rooftop. It was the glider. "Well then. Here we are." Weyland muttered. "Everything is set up based on what you requested for earlier."

"Great! Synthia, you ready?" Rodrigo said, clearly excited.

"Let's go over a few things first." Weyland said crossing his arms.

"Hurry up." Rodrigo shot back helping Synthia into her place on the glider.

"First, what I meant by saying there was only a sixteen percent chance of you going up in flames, was that the fire could spread too quickly if the wind conditions are unfavorable or become thus. If that happens you won't have ten seconds to land before the glider's wing canvases burn away and you plummet to either grievous injury or death, but you'll only have about two seconds. Big difference."

"Unfavorable wind conditions are us flying into the wind since the fire will be set from the front, right?" he asked looking up at the igniter.

"That's correct. So don't just fly straight to the concert. If you must circle around until you're flying with the wind. That will keep the fire spread to a minimum and you'll have time to get down to the stage and not crash this time."

"Kay. Anything else?"

"May Mercy forgive this stupidity once again and bless you with a safe arrival." Weyland said almost in a concerned tone of voice.

Not waiting around any longer, Rodrigo stood up and the glider lifted up a bit. "Hang on, Synthia!" he called to her as he leaned forward causing them and the glider to fall from the building! They weren't in free fall for long however; the glider immediately pulled up and flew high over the mansion. Weyland watched them until they were too small for him to make out any of the glider's details and then turned to return back into his mansion. In Europa, things were already set up and waiting for them. The audience was just starting to arrive and Rodrigo's crews were frantically getting ready.

Bron and Co.

"You've got a bow and arrows. Makes you an archer in my book. Or a fighter ..." she said in response to Robin's breakdown of her class. She was surprised that Robin questioned her about her offensive staff use though and even tilted her head a bit. "Gotta do what you've gotta do, you know? Sometimes there isn't a partner around to eat swords for you. I'm a mercenary after all. To be honest I'd invest in a pistol if those things weren't so blasted loud." she explained.

Edited April 24, 2011 by Phoenix

[roymbrog]

The doubts Synthia had Rodrigo quickly tried to dispel, and had succeeded enough to convince her to continue on with the stunt. She borrowed some pants and left her things with Raquel (cloak, tome, staff) and hurried to catch up with Rodrigo and Weyland. After putting on the suit, and complaining about how heavy it was, she walked with the others to the rooftop and looked over the glider somewhat skeptically. This thing could really hold their weight?

Well, the Phoenix seemed pretty excited about this. Synthia was just hoping they wouldn’t burn to a crisp. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, glancing over the edge of the roof. What if they fell? With some help from Rodrigo she found where she needed to be, then listened to Weyland. She really wished she had better control of wind magic right now.

As the glider lifted and started leaning a look of pure terror crossed her face and she clung to the glider as tight as she could, as if that would stop its movement. “W-wait, you gotta give me more warning than that! This is-“ And then the glider went over the edge, and Synthia was still screaming a good two seconds after they’d stopped falling and started gliding. When she finally opened her eyes they were flying over the mansion and out across the estate. Floating on the breeze was much better than the horrible feeling of falling, and as exhilarating as it was, it reminded her enough of when she’d ridden Pegasi that it calmed her a bit.

[ReformBlade]

"I think John went outside, I just kinda waited for you to come back here" Nanahm admitted. He turned his attention to Chelsea, "Yeah, it's been a bit. And the show we're referring to would be The Phoenix's. I'm personally not super interested, but other people seem to be, so I figured I'd try to go anyway..."

[GoD]

"We go NOW. This is so exciting! I can't wait~"- Chelsea said as she hopped all over the art room, obviously excited at the show. "I haven't seen one in like......Never! So we should totally go, like right now!!"

[Rothene]

Ranyin could not help but chuckle at Chelsea's excitement. It was quite...refreshing to see a girl literally hop around the artroom, he had expected her to be much more reserved than that. She had completely taken Ranyin by surprise, but he supposed that was what one gets for judging a book by its cover.

Now knowing where to find John, he said,"Right, lets go find John and be on our way to the show." With that, he started walking to the University entrance.

[ReformBlade]

The fighter was seriously surprised at the girl's sudden burst of energy. After being out of it for so long, he figured she'd be dead tired, but he was proven wrong, yet again. "Alright alright already, we'll go!" He said to her, motioning for her to follow as he walked out of the room to go find John.

[Snowy_One]

Robin hates the NRA. Who knew? (Or cared?)

"Pistols are garbage anyways." said Robin, sticking her tongue out before making a loud noise similar to that of a drunkard whom had gone well over his limits. "Inaccurate, can not be used in rain, and too long to reload. Until those problems are solved, they are rookie weapons." Robin then took a step back before taking a deep, cleansing breath. "I am sorry for that outburst. I... I do not like guns. If you would like a gun though, that would not be a bad idea."

Edited April 27, 2011 by Snowy_One

[Rothene]

It did not take long for Ranyin to reach the entrance of the University. There he spotted the wagon and most importantly, John. As he walked towards the wagon, he noted a student or staff member running off from the wagon. Probably a mage by the looks of his attire, thought Ranyin. He also spotted a dark skinned man with an interesting tome in hand, made even more interesting considering he did not look anything like a mage.

When he reached the wagon a peculiar sight that Ranyin failed to notice earlier caught his attention, distracting him from greeting John. The distraction was a man with extremely long hair sitting on top of the wagon. His interest piqued Ranyin waved his hand at Damian and called out,"Hey there! How's the view on top of the wagon?"

[Phoenix]

The Arrival

Rodrigo continued to steer the glider over the tall buildings steadily making his way toward the stage, which was conveniently lit up in the city. Another pass by a tower and the stage came into view. Rodrigo tried to get a feel for where the wind was blowing, finding it just slightly difficult to tell the difference between the natural wind resistance, and the prevailing winds. At first he was quite certain they were flying directly into the wind, but when the glider began to lean slightly to the left without any guidance from him, he knew the winds were coming at them from their current two o'clock. That meant they had to fly around the concert until they were traveling with the wind, and then activate the igniter. That was another five minutes of flight time, he thought.

That five minutes passed with a bit of trick flying and some explanation to Synthia. Down on the stage, there were some hands around getting things set up for them. Also on the stage was a heavy woman holding a resonating stone to her chest. She seemed rather excited and nervous. Everyone else seemed to be doing actual work or preparation of some kind. "Where hell is he? Most of the crowd's already here." one of the crew complained.

"He's probably circling around up there. It's way too dark for us to see him before he lights up the glider so just be patient and keep your eyes open. We've got to get the rail ready." another replied.

Back up in the sky, the two had finally reached their point of descent. "Hang on, Synthia, this is going to be a little rough!" Rodrigo called back as he lifted up his right hand to fire up the igniter. As the flames shot up and set the front of the glider ablaze, those on the ground caught sight of them.

"Holy crap, here they come!" the impatient crew member called out pointing up in the sky.

"... aren't they coming in a bit steep? ... and way too damn fast? ... and from the wrong direction-oh curse this wind!" another man said before dashing over to the rail they were going to use for something involving the glider.

"Alright Synthia, listen up. I'm going to hook the glider to that big scaffold they're all huddling around down there. What I need you to do is detach yourself from the glider on my mark. You're still attached to me to you'll be fine, but it's a safety precaution, and kind of flashy." he explained, his words losing a bit of fluidity with each new statement. It was tense and they were close to either a very impressive entrance, or making a flaming crater in the stage. Also an impressive entrance, but not what he was going for.

As the glider came down, the flames began to trail back and over the canvas leaving a trail of embers and smoke that the crowd could easily see and gawk at. The glider was coming down far too fast to possibly land without smashing into the stage, coming apart, and then exploding for all they knew. Just as they fell below a hundred feet, Rodrigo reached up to grab another device that was sitting rather close to the igniter. The thing had a hook on the end of it with a short rope tucked safely away. As they came down to the stage, Rodrigo released the hook and it caught onto the railing as they flew under it, the glider almost completely ablaze now. The rope was so short that the glider was immediately tugged and as it flew between the bars, it was hoisted up and looped around the railing at high speed! The craft flipped around the rail three times before Rodrigo called out to Synthia to cut herself loose. She did, and then he did, and the both of them went sailing from the glider and toward a group of stage hands holding out a cloth to catch them both in as the glider completed its fourth and finally flip. It couldn't make a fifth and fell back into a series of back and forth swings as the flames burned away the rest of the canvas and left nothing but the reinforced skeleton.

Rodrigo and Synthia were safely caught by the stage hands and quickly helped out of the suits. From there Rodrigo escorted her up to the front of the stage and threw both his hands and hers up as the crowd cheered. Suddenly a voice came over the entire concert. "And here he is, ladies and gentlemen, THHHHHHEEEEEE PHOEEEEEEENIIIIIIIIIX!!!"

The crowd began roaring as expected, but the stage hands were just plain exhausted and barely getting the wreck of a glider off the stage. Rodrigo was wondering what the heavy woman was doing standing so close by and with a resonating stone no less. Maybe it was his?

OOC:

The time this all happens does not have to be before party members arrive. Just take a note of that.

Yas

"Well we've all got our preferences I guess." Bron interjected. "So then, shall we head on over to your place so you can get your things, Olga?"

"Sure, I guess."

The walk to the place she lived wasn't long at all. "You live a little too close to that bar, don't you think, Olga?" Bron commented.

"That's the only thing I can tolerate about the place." she said easing up to the door and gesturing for them to be quiet. "Don't want to wake my uncle. They say people are a certain kind of drunk, but he's too many to list."

Edited April 27, 2011 by Phoenix

[Snowy_One]

Robin gave a quick nod before looking back to her three other companions. "I'm a hunter, so I should be safe; stalking animals and all. Thief girls should be okay as well. Bron, I promise I will be back as soon as I help her get her stuff." she said in a hushed whisper. Then, turning back to Olga, she gave a silent nod before heading in. With careful steps, each designed to try and minimize her noise, she tried to move into the house, her breath caught within her chest and heart pounding wildly as she desperately tried to not make any noise at all.

[Phoenix]

Before the Concert

Boris, the swordsman who had battled Raquel's group twice now, was sitting alone quietly in his cell. It had been hours and he was beginning to wonder what was going on outside, aside from the two big events of the evening. He could tell there were at least three guards on duty though he had only caught sight of one. Eventually during a shift change, one of the guards came up to the cell and looked Boris dead in the eye, much to the man's surprise. Ursian grunts didn't tend to do that to lowly prisoners. The two stared at each other for almost five seconds before the soldier finally addressed him.

"Number sixty-six, correct?" He asked firmly as he crossed his arms.

That number ... "Y-yes ..." he replied.

"... well this is certainly pathetic. Why didn't you just get yourself killed?" the soldier asked, his voice becoming casual and loose all of a sudden.

"I was captured by Rodrigo Vasquez. I figured they would execute me anyway, so what was the point of suicide? Speaking of which, isn't that what you're here for?"

"Not quite. It's Silvia's decision. Once she's done with you, we can make a decision on that." he said stepping to the side a bit to let Silvia walk into view of the cell.

As she approached she knelt down to get on Boris' level. "Hi." she said in a low, poorly disguised cheerful tone. He could tell she was sadder than she was letting on.

"Hi." he said managing to at least smile a bit. He wasn't expecting to see her in person when he had that letter sent off.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. I was just waiting around. Waiting to die I guess."

"But you know we can get you out of here, right?"

"Why would you? I'm just a grunt." he said hanging his head.

"You don't know what's going on around here, because you're not a field agent like me, but ... things are getting bad." she began. Boris looked back up at her as she began to visualize some of the issues she was beginning to go into. "Our master is always in the shadows. Almost no one currently working with us today has ever seen his or her face. Heh, we don't even know the gender. But that's a problem because the entire effort is led directly through the agents. Without Sardis and the others we wouldn't know how best to guide the various sectors. We may all have similar goals here but without a unifying leader present, the groups are branching off from their intended purposes and some of their leaders are becoming self serving idiots."

"Now that you mention it, Caine was becoming obsessed for awhile there. Once he got command of the unit, it was all about glory and passing up Sardis. One of the pieces of the emblem is likely with Raquel and our sector's leader didn't want to get involved. He seemed to have made the right call, but it was still a decision made just to protect his position, not to further our cause by being obedient and staying where he and his men were assigned. If he was making the decision based on that, he wouldn't have let Caine one of his own men go through with it. People in positions of power are more concerned about their place in the organization than about its ultimate goals." Boris speculated. He stood up and approached the front of the cell. His voice carried well enough, but he preferred to speak like this, standing up, and face to face.

"Exactly. There's nothing we can do about the master's secrecy, but we need to handle the upcoming months wisely. You say you're just a grunt, but the people who held command over you were worthless in the end. Urquium's director isn't even thinking about the new world. Neither was Caine. If you still are, then you're more valuable to us than the both of them. What we need right now are people loyal to the cause, not the position, not the privileges, and certainly not vain glory. If you're willing to die for this, good, but do it on the battlefield, with your sword in your hand, and visions of the new world in your heart." she said taking up his hand through the bars. "Caine was an idiot to go astray like that and he paid for it, but people who still share the master's vision are worth saving."

"I ... I guess. I would definitely still like to see it. To live it. To be there ... but I resigned myself to my fate awhile ago. There's nothing more I can do ..." he replied lowering his head to look away.

"Give it up, Silvia, he's obviously lost it." the guard said turning away, a bit bothered by Boris' attitude.

Silvia ignored him and turned back to Boris. "There's something I want you to do, Boris."

"What is it?"

"I want you to go to Urquium. The director there is still Bernard, right?" she asked. Boris simply nodded, wondering what she was going to have him do. "I have a simple assignment for you. Everything you need to know is in here." she explained as she placed a soft but worn parchment in his hand before gently pushing his hand back through the bars. The guard turned back to face them knowing full well it was time for him to get out the keys. He opened up the cell after Silvia stepped back. Rather than waiting for Boris to get the point, he grabbed the swordsman by the arm and hauled him out of the cell before shutting it back.

"You may be fine with dying here and now, but I want you to do this instead." she said pointing at the parchment he still had in his hand. He looked at it for just a moment, but opted not to read it all the way through just yet, there was a lot written down there. When he looked back up, Silvia was gone and only the guard was still there. The window was open so she may have gone out through there.

"Where is she off to in such a hurry?" he asked the guard.

"Probably Vasquez's concert. She wouldn't shut up about it." he replied before going to sit down at the table. "By the way, take the window on your way out like she did. You go out the front door and there'll be two guards there, one wondering why you were stupid enough to use the front door instead of following Silvia, and the other wondering how you got out in the first place."

So only one of the other guards is with us ... "What about you? This doesn't exactly look like a breakout. Someone's going to ask questions" he said.

"You committed suicide in your cell. Simple. It's not as uncommon as you might think. I heard one guy offed himself so he wouldn't wet his pants in front of the girls after they hung him." he explained before shrugging. "You look depressed enough to actually do it too, and the way you've been talking ... sheeesh. Incidentally I've got to keep your sword but other than that, we have this handled."

"I ... see."

"Silvia's working pretty hard lately, going from one sector to the next trying to pick out as many loyal operatives as she can find. You're on her list, so don't think strings aren't going to get pulled for you. Now would you hurry up and get out of here? You're on assignment."

"Right." he said nodding. He turned and headed for the window and headed straight out of it. The guard closed it behind him since Boris forgot to, and cursed having to get up to do so. Only a guard would notice that you never find the same comfort zone in a chair twice in one shift ... and he had already found his before having to get up. Oh the looks that will don their faces ... he thought to himself.

As Boris made his way across a few balconies, he thought to himself on what had just happened. From what I read, I'm supposed to investigate Bernard ... but there was something else there that I didn't quite get to. Either way, thank you, Silvia.

Yasnygrad

The twins stayed outside with Bron, both knowing Olga didn't have so much stuff that she would need more than two people to carry it.

Inside the house, things looked rather ordinary, aside from the empty bottles placed in what seemed to be convenient locations at the time, but they were in small clusters, and everywhere. Once they made it past Olga's uncle, a man with a beer belly sleeping in a chair with a bottle in his hand, he Olga stopped in her tracks. She looked back and noticed the bottle her uncle had was only half empty. She tiptoed back over and carefully worked the bottle out of his hand. As soon as the bottle was free she whispered "Scoooore~" and drunk some of it as they continued on their mission.

Arriving at her room, she carefully opened the door and entered. There was a sheep standing in the center of the room, not doing much of anything when she came in. She didn't pay the animal any attention and began grabbing about five staves off of some wall stands next to a portrait on the wall. Next she grabbed a few vulneraries and handed those off to Robin. Once that was done she began taking mental notes, wondering if there was anything else she needed. A change of clothes came to mind ....

The Concert

The crowd was cheering pretty loudly, but Rodrigo couldn't focus on that anymore. This woman on stage with him and Synthia seemed like someone who was about to perform, not someone who was about to give him the resonating stone and be on their way. She had that look on her face. Was she an opening act? Why hadn't he heard anything about this beforehand? "Uh, Miss ...?" he began before she came up and grabbed him!

"Mister Vasquez it's so nice to see you again!" the woman said practically lifting the man off his feet with her hug.

"Ah shi-I mean hi!" Mercy, that hurts! She's a bear! Wait, this is that singer, Alice Grace. Ah hell, I know her, she's a damn show thief! A bear AND a show thief! he thought as he was being crushed in front of his fans.

"You and I are going to do a duet together tonight. Are you ready? Did you bring a stone?" she asked showing some concern all of a sudden as she let him down.

"A duet? Why wasn't I told about this earlier? What are we singing? Also I told Synthia she could stay on stage with me for the first number and I keep my promises so ... no mushy stuff. Something positive but not romantic, kay?" he explained after his questions.

"Let's sing 'Always and Forever', then. I love that one. It's only as romantic as you try to imply." she said cheerfully.

"... Uh yeah, we're not doing that one. Can't you just introduce me and then like ... leave?"

"I WILL HAVE MY SHINING MOMENT, TONIGHT, GOOD SIR!!!" she shot back at him in a psychotic manner.

Rodrigo froze defensively for a second. Somebodyyyy heeeeelp meeeeee!

"Little girl, can you sing? If so, then you can join us." she said, her old cheerful act returning instantly.

Down in the audience Silvia had been cheering with the rest of the crowd for the most part, but her thoughts were a bit more accurate than some of theirs. Hmm, what's Rodrigo going to do about the other girl on the stage? From the looks of things he's trying to keep her around, or she wouldn't be right up front with him like that. I can't hear what they're saying. I guess that's for the best, since Alice looks like she's a got Rodrigo on the run up there. To be honest I was kind of looking forward to one of his solo performances. Oh well ...

[-Cynthia-]

Selene excused herself from Raquel, claiming she had business to attend to. This was indeed the truth, as she walked out of the now less crowded meeting room and outside towards where the pegasi were stabled. She located Gorgotha easily and flew off towards the eastern suburbs of Europa. Locating the inn named Fluyt with relative ease, she deposited Boris's letter into the mailbox before heading off to the Grand Cathedral.

Mostly empty...people prefer vapid entertainment to prayer it would seem. Selene thought to herself, leaving the grey pegasus by her usual spot near the front of the cathedral before walking inside. Casting disdainful looks at the idols of Mercy, Nature, and Truth, she closed her eyes and knelt before the representation of Wrath, unsheathing her sword and holding the hilt of the runesword in her hand, the blade resting in her palm.

"Oh Lord Wrath, guide my sword to strike down the blasphemers. Make sure that my anger is not causeless, my persecution just. I offer the sacrifice of righteousness and trust you with all my heart, not heeding the vanity and lies of my fellow man. Do not let the sun set on my wrath, give me the strength to protect those who deserve it," she said quietly, her eyes still closed. She then opened them, sheathed her sword, and stood up, noticing that there was one other person nearby.

"Io, was it?" Selene asked, recognizing the sister from her previous trips to cathedral. "I would like to meet with Disciple Desmond, is he in?" she asked her.

[Phoenix]

Grand Cathedral

The people who were around inside the cathedral seemed to be praying, all except for Priestess Io. She was sitting in front row leaning back with her legs crossed, and one arm resting on the seat. Her eyes dwelt on the idol of Truth. The idol seemed like a majestic floating sphere with crystal like structures fanning out from its sides. Her thoughts were many and varied but the look on her face didn't hint at anything pleasant.

As Selene came before the statue of Lord Wrath, she watched curiously for a moment. The prayer she had made to Wrath was sure to be heard, and with that, Io held her head down and sighed softly. Devotees ... she thought to herself. She wasn't expecting to be addressed directly though ... not unless she was going to be called out for her casual behavior in a holy place. "Desmond?" Of course. Military Wrathite wants to see the church Wrathite. I should have guessed. "He hasn't gone anywhere as far as I know. Would you like me to summon him for you?" she asked the woman.

Estate

Raquel still hadn't gotten around to speaking with Weyland, and he was still in talks with the generals that had attended the meeting. She decided to go to the kitchen to relax for awhile since that was the area she had found herself the most comfortable in. She didn't make it there however as one of the wandering maids pretty much intercepted before she made it halfway down the hall.

"Are you one of the guests?" she asked.

"Yes." Raquel shot back not knowing what else to say.

"If you're staying for the night, I should probably show you to your room now. It's getting pretty late after all."

"Well I was going to get a snack in the kitchen before looking for a place to sleep-" she said before being cut off. "Oh it's no trouble, just tell us what you'd like and we'll have it brought to you. No need to exert yourself." she reassured. But I need the exercise ... Raquel protested in thought before being led off.

[Mercakete]

The alchemy demonstration had left the captain thinking, but she had dismissed it to be something to let those of greater rank to think about, just as she had mentally dismissed the other weapons that had been displayed. Whatever keeps our borders safe, I'm glad for it. Well, I have some time off. I don't really know what I should do, though. Perhaps I should see if anyone I know from home are around. Or maybe I should speak with some of the others about what they thought of the demonstration. Miguel is right out. I don't want to speak with him on my time off. Colonel Langley is probably busy doing somethign else. Hmm... Maybe I should check on some of those under my command first. With that in mind, Cecelia continued her short trip to the stables. She'd already been walking while she was thinking, so there wasn't much further to go. And there was her pegasus. Either way she would want to be sitting in his saddle. And sheathed in the saddle was her sword. It was a familliar sight. Smiling, the Ursian captain greeted the pegasus, tacked him, and led him out of the stables into the cool air.

"You like it better out here, don't you, Snowshard?" she gently asked her pegasus, stroking his long face. A light bray was Snowshard's reply. He was glad for Cecelia's company again. It meant he could stretch his wings and legs and the familliarity was also welcome. After mounting the winged stallion, Cecelia had him walk back towards the hall where her subordinants would undoubtedly be. Either that or they are attending that show The Phoenix is putting on.

[Snowy_One]

As the pair of girls made it up to Olga's room, Robin was almost instantly taken aback by the sight of the sheep standing within the corner. As Olga piled the clothes into her hand, naught but a confused look was upon her face. In as low a tone of voice as she could muster, she asked a question she knew she would regret the answer for. "Why is there a sheep in your room?"