Return of the Emblem Chapter Three: The Show

[Phoenix]

The Bedroom

Olga stuffed everything but the staves and the vulneraries she'd given to Robin in a bag, but then put the vulneraries in there as well. Then she looked around while thinking about Robin's question. It was a bit of a story but it wouldn't slow her search for essentials. "Hmm, well awhil back, my uncle and I were visitin' with some old friend of his up north. Can't go into too many details about that but Niko ended up with me. Man, all that over sheep wool. Whaaat a bloody mess." she said as she grabbed a sharp object from a shelf and put it in the bag as well. Lastly she grabbed a leash out of the closet and put it around the sheep's neck.

"I'd leave'em behind but Uncle's not gonna feed'em and I don't want to come back to find a rotting animal in my room, you know?"

Outside Bron stood around casually with the twins. "So ... how much you wanna bet she brings the sheep again?" Liza chirped up wryly.

"Ten gold says she doesn't bring little Niko this time. I mean the last time the sheep actually came in handy but this is an actual heist so I doubt she will. Too risky, it's obvious." Bron shot back confidently.

"Sis?"

"Um ... I bet she'll take it. She probably doesn't trust her uncle to feed it. I heard her say something like that once. She could also tie her stuff to him again too. She's got more reasons to bring him than not to." Liliya answered her sister.

"Seriously what do we need a sheep for?" Bron said mostly to himself.

[Rothene]

Ranyin noted how the man on the wagon roof kept eyeing him and all around the wagon warily and decided that he did not want to be approached as he did not even respond to Ranyin. Hence Ranyin turned to a person he was more familar with.

"So John lead the way, I believe I have gathered the ones who are interested in watching the show," said Ranyin gesturing at Nanahm and Chelsea who just arrived with him. He was not sure who else would leave for the show, but let out a sighed of relief at the lack of sight of Gytha among the small crowd around the wagon.

[-Cynthia-]

Selene

"That will not be necessary, I will just meet him in his office. Thank you for your time," Selene said to Io with a polite nod, noting her lack of piety but not being particularly surprised. Best to discuss such matters in privste where we will not be easily overheard. she thought to herself.

The Major General made her way through the winding hallways, eventually reaching the office of the Bishop of Wrath. Selene presumed Bishop Bradford was still very ill and Disciple Desmond was still filling in, as he had for the last few months. She gave the door a few firm knocks and awaited a response.

Veronika

There seemed to be a lull in the coversation, and Veronika decided to fill it. She had little to do after all, she found the idea of going to an Ursian show somewhat repugnant.

"So Domovoi, how long have you been traveling here in Ursium? How do you like it compared to Neviskotia?" she asked him.

[Acacia Sgt]

John nodded. ''Fine, let's go then.''

As he walked back towards the city streets, a thought came to him.

''Wait,'' he stopped walking. ''Just where is the show being held anyway?''

[Rothene]

Ranyin's eyes widened at John's question. He did not know whether to laugh, cry or even scream in rage. He had the impression things were proceeding relatively smoothly. He swore in his native tongue and then started chanting to himself in Kigen,"Calm as the water, free as the wind."

After a minute or two, it finally occured to him that such events tend to attract the attention of the townsfolk, like how his entire town would be knowledgeble whenever a travelling storyteller came by.

Sighing, Ranyin went to the nearest random person he could find and asked him, while also correcting himself in advance from using the term 'flaming duck',"Where can I find the show of the Phoenix?"

[Phoenix]

The Office

A knock sounded at the door causing Desmond to look up from the book he was reading. It was just another history book, and it could wait. There was a chance it may have been someone or something important, so he stood up and went to answer the door. "Hm? Selene? What brings you here?" suddenly not waiting for her answer, he opened the door wide enough for her to step through. "Come inside." he said.

Random Person

"Hm?" the man uttered in response to the short Kigenese person. "It's in central near those shorter buildings. It's only about seven blocks from here. Just keep walking ... or running, they'll be starting soon. Just keep going east til you see the crowds gathering. Should be no trouble finding your way from there. Oh, by the way, might not want to bring any weapons or things like that. The guards take people's stuff from them before they let people watch."

Amon sighed and took off his knife sheath. He stuffed it into a hidden pocket in the back underside of his coat and made sure nothing was sticking out. He wasn't taking any chances over a show. If the guards bothered checking that thoroughly, he would just head back to the wagon or hang out and watch the show from a rooftop. Rodrigo had informed him about the guards, but he knew how to deal with that sort of issue at night and would be fine if it came to that.

[Rothene]

Guards eh, thought Ranyin. It would be wise to turn in his tome to the guards then claim it later, but it was a very expensive tome that was hard to come by, definately not something he could easily let out of his sight. He flipped through the tome and wondered about how good are the guards at identifying magical tomes from mundane ones. Let alone know how to read Kigenese.

Maybe I could pass this off as a diary since those guards should not understand what is written anyway, thought Ranyin as he returned to the group to continue on their way to the show.

[-Cynthia-]

Selene

Selene walked in the open door into the office. "I have news regarding...certain religious artifacts, Disciple Desmond," she said, deliberately keeping things vague as the door was still open.

Connor

Connor tiptoed down the hallway near the library. He saw a maid down the hall which could interfere with his plans, but she appeared to be busy leading a pink-haired woman somewhere. He went over to the suit of armor and tried to take the lance from it...the suit did not seem to want to let go. "A little help here?" he asked Gabbie behind him in a very loud whisper.

[Acacia Sgt]

'No weapons or anything, huh'. John thought. 'Well, not like I'm bringing my lance with me or anything. What could possibly go wrong in there...?'

[Rothene]

"You guys and girls all ready?" asked Ranyin. He had no intention of missing the show. Determined that he would first try to pass the tome off as a Kigenese diary, then back down if the guards refused to relent, all without admitting it was a wind tome Ranyin continued heading to the show.

It did not take much to convince Ranyin that he was on the right path. There were huge crowds of people making their way there and the noises of excited children further confirmed the show's location. Before entering the area, Ranyin turned back to survey what the rest of the group was up to.

[Phoenix]

Behind Closed Doors

As Selene stepped inside, Desmond peeked out into the hall to make sure no one was close by and then shut the door. From there he walked over to the desk and stood by it. "Artifacts, you said? What kind of artifacts?" he asked with a curious tone most others would never have heard before.

Shenanigans

Gabbie followed Connor around until they came up to a suit of armor that had a decent looking lance in hand. When asked, Gabbie tried to free the lance but wasn't able to. "What gives? Does he glue these in place? It's not like he ..." she complained as she pulled harder. "... needs'em ... for ... anything, gauh!" she finally let go. "Okay wanna do this the hard way, pal?" she said to the suit. "Hold on a sec, Connor, I'll get the damn thing outta there."

She ran down the hall a short ways to another suit that had an identical lance. "Just need something to pry it out with." she said to herself as she tugged on the identical lance. She hadn't noticed but it came free easily and she ran back to Connor and the first suit with it. "Alright, let's get to crackin!" As soon as she pulled up the lance to pry the other one out, she realized how silly that was. "Uh ... oh roight. I already got a lance roight here. Heheh, silly me." she said scratching the back of her head and giggling it off.

Show Chasers

Amon followed along with the others keeping his hands in his pockets and just taking in the sights ... what sights? They were walking through the streets like regular folks. Amon wouldn't admit it up front but he absolutely hated walking in streets or on sidewalks. The view down where they were was lousy, nothing like the amazing views from atop the high city towers. Amon wanted as high a view as he could get without having a path finding issue, like not having another rooftop to move to from being too high up. This was more than just settling for mediocre traveling methods. At a normal altitude and pace, Amon knew he could have been at the show by now and not have to worry about bumping into people or making turns, but he had to disregard that and just focus on reality. He was grounded for the time being.

[Mercakete]

The wind filled the galleon's sails as the ship slid across the yellow-white sand. The waves of sand crashed against the hull and the ship swayed gently. At the mast, Captain Gytha looked out over the vast sea of sand. Today would being a promising venture. In the sky flew a wyvern, which promptly landed on the deck. "Ahoy, captain!" greeted the rider as he dismounted.

"Ahoy, John! How was yer flight? Did ye spot any nonsandland?" she asked in reply as the man sauntered over, hastily regaining his sealegs.

"Aye, captain, but th' natives seem hostile. And ye did it again. I told ye, me name's Jim," John replied, huffign a small sigh of tired annoyance.

"Ah, right, sorry," Gytha corrected, "So, in which direction should we sail to meet these natives?"

"Yer plannen' on fighten' them?"

"Either that or suffer scurvey. Synthia can't take many more, especially with Chelsea down," the captain replied, a concerned frown clear on her face.

"Aye... Well, it's right ahead: true west from where we be," John replied.

"Thank ye, John."

"I've said it time after time, capt'n, I'm Jeorge," the wyvern rider corrected again.

"Right ye are. Again, sorry."

"In this situation, it really isn't such a big deal. Have those sand-sharks stopped followin' th' ship?" he questioned further.

"Not yet. Been followin' since Nanahm died and we gave'im a proper sand burrial," the captain sighed, "How many does that make now?"

"I wouldn't know. I'm goin' t' go feed me wyvern now."

"Aye, ye shoudl do that, John."

As he was leading Gil away, John called back, "It's Jeraldine!"

After a moment to herself, Gytha strode over to the mast and climbed the netrope until she was in the crow's nest. "Thought I'd find ye here," she mentioned to the man resting there.

"Aye, captain. Ye need anythin?" asked Amon as he looked up from his nap.

"Aye. There's some nonsandland up ahead," Gytha started before the man leaped to his feet in exhillaration, interrupting her unintentionally. "Lady Aisha and Leviathan be praised! We can get the desert fruit and end the pleague of scurvey we've been facen'!"

"Aye, aye, but John said there be unfriendly natives there. I'll need ye t' talk to 'em and convince'em t' let us have some o their fruit."

"I don't know if they'll listen. I did leave'em after all. I may be one o' them, but some think I'm a traitor," Amon sighed, sitting back down.

"Ye have t' try. We might not be able t' fight'em with how many o' us're down," Gytha replied.

"Aye, aye, captain," Amon replied, not at all sounding sure of himself. It was hard for Gytha to see her first mate like this. He was always in the crows' nest, feeling like he'd done something horribly wrong. This usually happened after he won something. It seemed that good things created an opposite effect in him... Sometimes it made her wonder if their friendship was making him miserable. Other times she wondered if it was the exception to his odd depression.

"One thing, though," Amon added as Gytha began descending.

"Aye?"

"Ye called'im 'John' again," Amon smiled as he mentioned it, "Ye should know his name is Jebidiah by now, captain."

"Aye, aye," Gytha laughed, "I'll learn someday."

[-Cynthia-]

Selene

"If my information is correct, the Fire Emblem should be here in Europa in the possession of a merchant woman named Raquel. I do not know how she obtained an item of such significance, but she has already drawn the attention of some of the...shadowy contacts I have. Given how significant the Emblem seems to be to our history I thought it was worth mentioning, though I suspect do not know as much about it as you do," she said

Connor

"This should work. It's the right shape, too old to be a proper weapon, but the transmutation should fix that. You said you were going to pry one of iron bars off the Tank Lift right? Now where did Uncle put that..." Connor pondered, putting his hand on his chin.

[Mercakete]

They sailed long westward, as Jamie had directed Captain Gytha to. When they got there, Gytha had the crewmen lower a skiff so she could row ashore with Amon. The natives glared up from what they'd been doing. Some had been fishing in the shallows, some had been making forts out of stone, others were gathing desert fruit... That was what they'd come for.

"Ahoy, there, seafarers," greeted one of the natives, "What brings ye t' Sand Town?"

"We need fresh supplies, especially desert fruit t' ward off the scurvey," Gytha replied, "I'm Captain Gytha an' this here's Amon: me first mate." When she indicated Amon, he waved a little in greeting.

"He looks like he's from the desert," mentioned the native.

"He is."

"What's he doin' with ye?" the native asked suspiciously.

"Wait!"

The three looked over to where the cry came from. A little girl ran towards the trio carrying a great deal of desert fruit. "We should help them, captain! If we don't, then they might go hungry!" she pleaded with the native. She, herself, however, didn't quite look like the others.

"Ye don't know what yer talkn' about, Ranyin. They might be pirates come t' raid us!" the native's captain answered the girl.

"We're not pirates," Amon assured.

"Well, I suppose we can trust ye," the captain decided, "Have as much as ye'd like! But only if ye ward off the pirates that've been raidn' us."

"Pirates have been raidin' ye?" Gytha echoed, feeling her temper rise somewhat.

"Aye," sighed the native captain, "Every night just after sunset..."

"We'll protect ye! Don't worry; we're mariners!" Gytha enthusiastically proclaimed.

"Mariners? Bless Aishiathan! We're saved! Oh, but whose ship are ye sailn' on, then? Don't mariners sail with merchants, not merchants sailn' with mariners?"

"Aye, usually. We're transportin' a very important merchant on a mission," Gytha replied, "I'll introduce ye later. Fer now, our ship's doctor needs the fruit and medical supplies. Fresh water would be appreciated too."

"Aye, aye!"

With that, Gytha's ship began to be resupplied and Synthia finally had what she needed to begin healing the vast portion of the crew which had been crippled with scurvey.

[Phoenix]

Information

"The Fire Emblem you said?" he asked giving an even more curious look than before. "Hmm."

The man crossed his arms and placed a hand on his chin in thought for a moment. "The Emblem is important, surely, but of and by itself it doesn't seem to be capable of much. You remember the old stories about the rebellion and how the avian Lilith, and the shadow dragon Obelisk challenged the gods? We don't have much more than simple stories to go on, but some things just don't have any other logical explanation to them. A few speculate that the only viable means to challenge the gods is the Fire Emblem, and so it's possible that the two of them were after it at some point."

Then he leaned up against the desk grimacing a bit. "But that's not enough. It doesn't explain why things are the way they are today. If the Emblem is so important, how can an ordinary girl happen upon it? Not all of those old legends are dead, so why have none of them stepped forward from the shadows to claim it for themselves? If the Emblem can challenge the gods, then why leave it be, and with this Raquel of all people? If this is indeed the real Emblem, then we're missing a piece of an ancient puzzle here. I may know only a little more than you, Selene, but Worthington knows far more than any of us in the church. His tongue is not so easily loosened however, and frankly I don't trust the man. Each serving archbishop seems to be enthusiastic about keeping certain things secret." he ended with a sigh. (I'd like to have a look at this artifact for myself. If it is the Emblem, then it should be kept here with us. Naturally.[/i]

More Shenanigans

"Let's see ... the show just ended awhile ago soooo ... yep, they're definitely movin' the equipment back into the storage areas. Err." Gabbie stopped herself short of dashing off to steal one of the lift supports recalling that the storage area had a pretty well paid guard there, one Gabbie wasn't on good terms with. What could she do though. He had a rifle, and Gabbie didn't even have a melee weapon at this point. That was the whole point of this after all. "Uh, unless you can think ova way to deal with Weyland's snoiper, maybe we should try somethin' else. Loike ... can you maybe take a bunch of these lances and fuse'em into a ... thicker one or ... somethin'? ... Idon'tknowjackaboutphysicsbackoff." she said defensively.

[Snowy_One]

"But... it's a sheep!" exclaimed Robin, her voice jumping up high in surprise at the surprise companion. "Oops... Ummm... Sorry. It's a sheep though. I have a pet of my own, so I understand, but isn't there anyone you can trust to take care of him? The wool might be nice, but it's a sheep! We're not going to sneak across the border by pretending we're.. shep... bring the sheep."

Edited April 29, 2011 by Snowy_One

[Phoenix]

Sheep Go Baaah

Olga gave Robin an inquisitive look, wondering why she suddenly changed her mind. Well either way she had what she needed to feel comfortable on the trip, save for some reserves, but they could get some on the way, she felt. She put the bag over her shoulder, handed all the staves over to Robin to carry for the time being, and picked Niko up off the ground. He was fine walking but she didn't want him detouring on their way out and decided to carry him out. He made a slightly loud "Ba-a-ah!" sound before they left though. "Quiet, you." Olga said glaring as they reached the front door. Once they were outside, Olga shut the door and walked over to Bron and the twins.

"Y-you brought Niko?" Bron said, surprised.

"Hah! Pay up!" Liza blurted out.

"There goes ten gold." Bron mumbled.

"Kinda have to. If I leave'em outside he may be able to eat but they'll think he's homeless and come to claim him ... probably cut his wool off too. If I leave'em inside, he'll starve to death." Olga explained putting the sheep down and holding onto the leash.

[Mercakete]

Many of the crew made a quick recovery but Chelsea was still out cold. That was to be expected. The mariners' ship circled around the little nonsandland, waiting for the pirates to arrive as the sun set. They kept circling, waiting. Finally, from the crow's nest, Amon let out the cry, "Sail ho to port!"

Immediately the mariners rushes to the left side of the ship, facing the vast desert. A smaller ship was sailing directly towards them, flying their unique skull and crossbones. Gytha's eyes narrowed as Maw hurried below deck as she always did just before a fight. "Keep sharp, me hearties! If I'm right, this is where those lilly-livered sap-sucking scum-filled swine disappeared to!" she called to her crew as their opponents drew closer. Amon was just joining them from the crow's nest.

"Ren Malkatar's crew?!" "We'll gut'em once an' fer all!" "Let those yellow-bellied pirates bleed!" "Aye!" The cheers went up and Gytha reinforced them by drawing her sword and pistol and shouting, "Let Malkaten sink into the sandy depths along with the hand of its wielder!" The cheer went up, the mariners' fervor heightened. They were so loud that those closest to the rail could barely hear the calls from the now-closeby enemy ship. "Touch the wind!" "Ready the cannons!" "Aim fer th' wyverns!"

In responce, Gytha rallied, "Readyyyyy!" Her crew immediately set its self, all weapons drawn and thirsty. "John, keep the hull!" Gytha ordered as she realized the pirates were threatening to ram their ship into Gytha's.

There was no time for correcting the name. "Aye, cap'n!" he acknowledged before flying off directly at the charching ship Immediately cannons started firing. "Fire!" commanded Gytha. The cannons from her own ship collided with the cannonballs John was dodging, stopping their momentum and forcing them to fall into the desert. The wyvern gripped the keel of the pirate ship, pushing against it to slow it so ramming was no longer an option. "Wyvern abeam!"

The opposing captain commanded from his pirate ship, "Starboard to lee side! Give them no berth; give them no mercy! Beat to quarters! We're boarding that ship!" The pirates' reply was a resounding cheer. "YARRR!"

"Send 'em to the briney depths!" Gytha commanded, garnering a cheer from her own crew as the ships' sides practically rubbed against each other and the crews collided in a ruthless brawl.

[-Cynthia-]

Selene

Selene gave a worried look at the mentioning of the Emblem."The Emblem having the power to challenge the gods...who could even create such a thing? The gods themselves, the Vasili? It is...troubling to think that such power exists on this plane,"

"If Worthington knows more about the Emblem, we should probably atempt to get as much information from him as possible...without arousing suspicion of course. For one who communes with the gods, his goals are either non-existent or very well hidden. I do not know that he sees the world the same way that we do," she said, putting her hand on her chin.

"But regardless of what the Emblem is necessarily, I think it would be best to keep it out of the hands of random merchants. Most people cannot be trusted with objects of such power," Selene said, leaning against a bookshelf.

Connor

"Err, I don't think fusing them together will do any good. You'd still have a lance made more for decoration than combat, it might just end up being thicker than normal," Connor said to Gabbie, scratching his head. "I might be able to distract the sniper long enough for you to get an iron bar...depends on who it is. If talking doesn't work as a distraction I could probably make some sort of small explosion instead," he said, grinning a little.

[ReformBlade]

Synthia

Slightly overwhelmed by everything happening, she silently watched Rodrigo's exchange with Alice, wondering just what was going on and who she was. Never seen her before, but Rodrigo seems to know her ooooh no she's talking to me now! "U-Uh, yeah.... Yeah, I can sing. What were we gonna sing again?" She asked almost shyly. This woman really gave Synthia the heebie-jeebies, especially with her bipolarness.

Nanahm

Hearing the warning on weapons he... did nothing. His weapons were already away! Good thing no one can take Righteous Righty and Luxurious Lefty away from him. They'd have to kill him first, which admittedly isn't as hard as it sounds, but damn is it going to be violent and hilarious when it happens. Stealing a person's hands? Now THAT'S entertainment. But only if it happened to not him. Because he still needed his hands in order to cut down ne'er do wells.

[Phoenix]

Wrathy Office

"It's a disturbing thought, that. Something that powerful existing in this world. Worthington might know why that is as well. As the archbishop and representative of all four gods, he likes to play the voice of reason and the fulcrum of our order. He carries a difficult charge, because as much as people ignore it, there is descension, an irreparable schism between the gods. An eternal contradiction of intent and purpose. He can pretend all he likes, but he cannot support all of our ideals. I'm honestly not sure how far a subtle approach will get us with a man in the position of a politician. Though ... I suppose there are ways around that." he said glancing in a direction that would seem random to anyone else, but knowing the layout of the cathedral by heart, Desmond knew he was glancing at the sleeping quarters of a particular person.

"But right, as you said. Regardless of how she acquired it, there is no reason to leave it in her possession. Do you feel you could negotiate for it or will force be necessary?" he asked, his thoughts dwelling on how that might play out once executed.

Schemes

"Hmm, well alroight. If you can keep'em busy long enough for me to swoipe ona those things, we should be good." she replied, cracking her knuckles.

On the Stage

"Why, let's sing The Concept of Love!" Alice suggested cheerfully.

"Nooooooo-" Rodrigo shot back dragging his rebuttal out into silence.

"DON'TBESOPICKY!!!"

Put into a defensive freeze yet again, Rodrigo couldn't move or say anything until Alice calmed down again. I told her nothing mushy or romantic, there's two women up here. he thought to himself.

"What abooooout ... Hero?" she suggested. "You like that song."

"It's a single with like one or two backup singers, and I know you don't wanna do back up." he said glaring a bit.

"We'll turn it into a trio performance!" she cheered throwing her arms up into the air.

"Uuuuuuugh, fiiiine." the hero conceded. He then took out a parchment and began scribbling down lyrics for Synthia as fast as he could. The song was pretty famous and popular but singing would require knowing every single word of the song, and that was crucial.

[Mercakete]

Swords clashed, lances broke, blood flowed... It was a greusome battle and the sand sharks were getting a feast of carnage. Amid the chaos, each captain was making his or her way towards the other. Finally, the pirate captain lunged at Gytha, who parried his attack. "Avast, Damian," Gytha growled to the pirate, "Ye won't be raidn' this'ere nonsandland anymore!"

"I'll feed ye t' the sand sharks, mariner wench!" Damian replied, a wicked smile on his face. Then he struck again, using rapid swordstrokes to try to cut Gytha down. The mariner blocked his lightning-quick attacks, shuffling backwards every now and again.

"Yer as good as I recall, mariner!" he laughed as their fight ranged across the deck.

"And yer a quick devil," Gytha grunted in reply.

"Why're ye protectn' these natives?" the pirate captain asked as steel met steel once again.

"They've been kind t' us. Besides," she knocked his sword from his hand, causing his expression to shift from glee to alarm, "ye should know I always oppose pirate scum like ye." Looking up and locating Amon -- who'd just finished shanking several more pirates -- Gytha called, "Hail the pirates' first mate!"

"He's already dead!" Amon called back, raising his arms somewhat in helplessness of the fact.

"Hail the second mate, then! Tell'em their captain's been bested and they'd best surrender or he gets keel-hauled with the sand sharks a-feastn'!"

"Aye, aye, captain!"

"Ye...wouldn't truly be so cruel, would ye?" Damian asked, fear evident in his voice. Gytha looked down at him coldly. A slow smile began to spread across her lips.

Damian's face paled. "Fer the love of Leviathan, surrender!" Damain called to his crew.

"C-Captain..?" the second mate stuttered, seeing now what his enemy's first mate was telling him was true. He also had Amon's knife to his throat.

"I said surrender, ye scallywags!" Damian called out to his crew again. The fighting quickly faded and the pirates raised their weapons above their heads in surrender.

"HAHAHAHAHAHARR!! VICTORY!!" Gytha cried out. Her crew echoed the cry and cheered. Amon just smirked then looked to the pirate he still had his knife to the throat of. His expression was plain as day, reading nothing other than "I told you so."

[-Cynthia-]

Selene

"Politics seems to be a necessary evil of sorts in this day and age, unfortunately. I long for the day that we no longer have to pander to the masses and can simply act righteously and as needed," Selene said wistfully. "But I suppose I will leave Worthington to you. As for this merchant, Raquel, she has already hired mercenaries to fight off those seeking the Emblem. If she has been willing to fight for it before, I doubt she can be convinced to give it up in the future," she replied to Desmond.

Connor

Connor moved towards the storage area, eventually encountering a sharp-eyed guard with a rifle.

"Hey there!" Connor greeted the guard cheerfully. "Quite a show tonight huh?" he asked him.

[Phoenix]

Desmond

"Hmm, I was afraid of that. Perhaps she aims to sell it to the highest bidder and try to make some grand profit off of it. Very will, if you cannot get her to part with it on peaceful terms, then there won't be any peace involved. Do whatever is necessary to get the emblem into our hands. I'll see what I can learn from Worthington in the meantime." Desmond said immediately going into thoughts about how he would address the archbishop on the matter.

Sneaking Around

It was going to be a long and most likely boring and uneventful evening at the manor now that the show was over. All the sniper guarding the storage area got to watch was the outdoor bits of the show, mainly the two explosive events, but now things were winding down and the only excitement around was back in Europa at the concert. He was surprised to see Connor come up and start a conversation with him of all people, but at this point, it was a welcome relief to an otherwise listless night shift.

"Oh, hey there, Connor. Yeah the show seemed like it was pretty good. I only saw the Visceral and Recusant segments though. I was way too far away to make out anything more than the demonstrations though."

Not too far away, Gabbie was on the ground crawling from one hiding place to the next to avoid being seen. The fact that her outfit was getting dirt and grass all over it didn't even register with her. She wanted a lance to replace Gemini so she could fight. Once she made it out of the sniper's area of view, she hauled herself up onto the roof of the storage building. There was a side door but she knew it was locked and kicking it down was out of the question. Instead she got in through one of the higher windows and softly landed in the midst of the warehouse. Inside was impressive. The Recusant was sitting right by the lift. She went over to awe at the thing and realized that the gun barrel was still pretty hot. The crew hadn't cooled the gun afterwards.

"Eh, guess it's not that important. After all, it was just a demo. Not loike they can't just let the thing cool naturally ova noight." she said to herself as she turned to face the lift. Just then she spotted something she hadn't noticed a moment ago. There were other large vehicles in the warehouse. The previous tank models wouldn't have been in the same storehouse as the Recusant since it was a model up for sale to the military and the last thing they needed was a mix up between viable and defunct models. This was the storehouse exclusively for things Weyland was planning to supply the military with so ...

She stepped a bit closer to the vehicles wondering what they looked like. The covers over them certainly weren't helping things much. After a minute of resisting the urge to uncover them, she stepped back over to the lift and tried to figure out how to remove one of the bars from it. "Err, how's this work?" she muttered.

[Mercakete]

Though Gytha's supplies had been replenished by the grateful natives, she and her crew didn't leave the nonsandland right away. Many of her crew and the pirates who'd surrendered were injurried so they decided harbor at the nonsandland for a while longer. This, of course, was after Gytha's crew had stored the pirates somewhere for the remainder of the night and everyone had got some sleep. After informing the natives of their victory and going through all the procedings, Gytha returned to her ship, knowing full well that the shore-leave only applied to the majority of her crew. Most of the senior staff still had work to do, herself included. The sun was setting once more by the time Gytha set foot back on deck, though she was only expecting the "post-battle war" as she called it. ... And here came the war right now...

"Well, I hope yer happy!" the ship's medic clearly wasn't as she stormed up to Gytha in as big a huff as a doctor could be.

Gytha sighed. "I'm glad th' battle's done and the pirates were stopped. I'm exhausted, though," the captain heaved, just wanting to return to her cabin. Why did this have to happen after every battle?

"I keep sayn' it, Gytha, yer tactics're far too reckless! Ye should fight more defensively!"

"We were defending..."

"Ha! Hardly! Ever'one was runnin' around each fer their own!"

"Just letn' th' pirates come t' us puts us at a disadvantage, Synthia."

"Well, it'd save lives and send less o' our own down t' me! I'm filled t' th' gills with men and women with all sorts of injurry, not t' mention th' ones still with scurvey! An' Chelsea's still asleep! She'll likely be asleep fer th' next few days -- maybe a week. I can't keep up with all this!"

"I've never let a pirate scathe ye, Synthia."

"Well, that's true, ye do defend th' sick bay... No one's ever even damaged th' door," Synthia admitted, "Still, though, ye should act more responsibly! One day ye'll be one o me patients with yer head lopped off and Amon'll be captain cause there'll be nothing I can do about it!"

Gytha sighed again as Synthia vigorously walked back to her section of the ship, unable to leave it for long, which was Gytha's only saving grace from the woman's chastizing. Amon being captain, though... That was something else she had to do: decide who would become captain of the pirate ship they'd captured. The spoils would be have to be divided, of course, and so that was yet another thing she had to do. The ship's treasurer was over there right now, taking a count of what they'd just gained. He'd present it to Gytha soon enough and she'd have to oversee the chaos as the crew mentioned who wanted what. Preventing brawls passified Synthia and that was enough reason to watch over it when not taking into account that it was good for the ship as a whole. The pirate ship its self, though... That was left to Gytha who to promote to the same rank as herself.