Return of the Emblem Chapter Four: The Human Condition

[Phoenix]

Raquel and Co.

"Well most of the hotels around here are like this. I guess we could stay at an inn or something out in the suburbs but they probably won't have enough rooms for all of us. The only way to remedy that problem is to share rooms." Raquel explained.

Gabbie

When Gabbie realized Connor had followed her, she spoke up saying "Oh, hey there. Well that certainly makes things easier for me I guess. I need to see if we'll actually have to pay in advance. If we do, then we've got another stop to make first, so don't relax just yet."

Once they were inside and made it to the front desk, they were greeted by a man dressed quite formally. "Good afternoon to you, Miss."

"Goodday. Say, I've got a quick question for ya before we get down to room arrangements." she said somewhat cutting off what the man had intended to say next.

"Oh, what might that be, Miss?"

"Payment, in advance or during checkout?"

"Normally it would be in advance, Miss, but for privileged or otherwise trusted guests, we allow for payment during checkout." he explained, wondering why she was asking.

Hmm, now which card should I play ... the Weyland card, or the Craig card? "How long would it take for you to confirm someone's identity who lives in Europa?"

"About a day, Miss. Tis usually handled in advance for that very reason." he answered.

Craig card it is. "Kay, thanks for the information. We'll be back to rent our rooms in a bit. Come on, Connor." she said turning to leave.

"Hmm ..." he muttered to himself. Frankly, he suspected the woman didn't have enough money, but when she said she would be back, he became thoroughly intrigued. She either had the money somewhere else or was going to bum it off of someone else, he figured. As long as she could afford whatever rooms she would be renting and wouldn't cause any trouble there though, he didn't much mind or care.

Outside, Gabbie explained the situation to Connor as they took a longer route to avoid running into Raquel and the others. She didn't want them getting the wrong idea after all. "Okay, I don't have that much money on me at the moment, but I know someone who does, and we're goin' to go pay him a visit really quick. I'm sure as hell not leavin' you alone in a lobby so you're just gonna have to come with. He's one of us so don't let the shadiness botha you." she explained.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Sharin' rooms is fine by me," Gytha mentioned before turning towards Synthia and asking, "Would ye room with me? We're on th' same team so it'd prolly be better than rommin' alone anyway."

"If we'll be in the suberbs I'll just stay out and around town," the pegasus rider voiced, "Don't worry about paying for me. I'll be content with whenever you decide to give me my maces back."

[Rothene]

Sharing rooms, pondered Ranyin with fear as he started looking at Gytha's direction. A huge wave of relief washed over him when he saw her approach Synthia. It was extremely unlikely for him to ever share a room with her for too many reasons, but he knew that luck and chances are always fickle, and extremely unpredictable. He wondered who would he rather spend the night with. He ruled out all the females in the group as it would be inappropriate, the young archer and definately the newcomer thief. He did not want to play babysitter to a headstrong person, and the thief was new and thus not fully trustworthy.

Probably either Nanahm or John, thought Ranyin as he gazed at John. Yeah, maybe I can also ask about wyverns from him and such.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Either way I'm fine with.'' John said. ''As long as we get a decent-enough place to stay.''

'Though honestly, I would prefer the suburbs.' He thought.

[roymbrog]

Well, Gabbie was gone, and good riddance. Synthia didn’t like her much anyway. “We could find a few inns near each other…” she said, thinking out loud. Or, like Raquel just suggested, they could just share rooms. “Uh, sure, Gytha,” she replied to the mariner. It was better than staying with Veronika, and she didn’t think Raquel needed to deal with Gytha right now considering how stressed she already was. The only problem currently would be finding an inn.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Oh, someone who works for Weyland Industries you mean? I thought they would just be in the headquarters here. Can't think of anyone shady who works for the compnay though," he said, shrugging.

Veronika

"I've never shared a room personally, I've always had the luxury of my own space. Still, it's probably worth saving some money until we get paid in full," Veronika said, still keeping her eye on Saken.

[Phoenix]

Gabbie

"This guy's in the information network. See I'm not authorized to get any advances on our payment roight now, but Craig as one of the field agents, has access to any needed reserve funds for information or resources we might need to buy. He usually just buys extra grenades though. Since you're here this'll be a piece of cake. We just convince him to give us enough money to cover our stay. Since we're goin' through Craig, it doesn't even need to get deducted from our pay for the mission, hahahahah, everybody wins." she explained cockily as they power walked toward the Weyland Enterprises building, a large tower in the distance with a needlessly large sign on the front of the building. By that time, Ringo was tailing them.

"I'll be honest here, I should probably be lettin' them know that Weyland's people are more than willin' to help out people workin' for'em, even with somethin' as simple as hotel fees, but I'm in no mood for Pinky's conservative crap roight now. If she wants to drag all of them to some second rate place and make a fuss over five percent of the budget, that's her business, but hell if I'm goin' along with it. You're his friggin nephew too. Why should you be stayin' in an inn or some other place if you don't have to?"

Party

Raquel thought and thought about what the others were saying and eventually spoke up herself. "Okay well we've got two options, either a hotel, which can likely accommodate all of us but is in the big city, or an inn, which may or may not be able to hold all of us and is out in the suburbs."

Luca

Luca ate the apple quickly and nickered happily. He didn't know where they were going next, but now that he had been fed, he was happy.

Sabina

She flew over the streets and through the city until she reached the roof of a building that was somewhat dwarfed by the other buildings around. Well shaded due to its location, she was able to land without drawing too much attention. Dismounting from her wyvern and patting it on the head, her way of telling him to stay put, she made her way for the door only for someone else to step out through it first. "Sabinaaaa? What on earth are yOUUUuu doin' back 'ere?"

"Get out of my way, you corpse!" she shot back.

"Oh no, no no no, love. Listen, we've lost too many people already. We've got to strike back this toime. Where you need to be, is with one of our scientists and waiting for your chance to bag the body. Tonoight, he'll come. We can count on that, now can't we? ... and when he does, we'll put an end to this." the man dressed strangely explained to Sabina.

"I don't need your help, or the help of any lousy security."

"Heheh, 'course ya-do. You can't even find him in between murders. What use are you to us if not some extra muscle and a gun, hm?"

Sabina immediately pulled out her rifle and aimed it at the man. "Say that again. Say that to me one more time, you pathetic counterfeit!"

"Goodness, are you gonna shoot me? Knowing what I am, and how valuable I am, you're gonna shoot me?"

"He can take the cost for your parts out of my pay. It'd be worth it to shut you up."

"Heheh, Sabina, please, please, put the gun down. You don't want to get on the master's bad side. There's work to be done, and gold to be earned. Let's focus on that." he said with an innocent smile.

"... ugh, I hate you." she said putting the rifle back over her shoulder.

"Be of good cheer ... for tonight, we'll have him." he replied raising up his arms as if making a grand statement to an audience.

[Snowy_One]

"There is not much to say. We arrived here only recently ourselves miss." said Robin, being truthful as best she could. Things were turning out right-rotten though, and she knew it. Her mind was racing, terrified that she was going to be caught for being not a citizen of Ursium and, in fact, loyal to its enemies. Thoughts of her being bound before being dragged before an unjust court eager to condemn her before sentencing her to life in prison before being executed raced through her mind as panic started to well up inside of her.

"We didn't do anything wrong. Wejust got here ourselves." she said, repeating herself in a vain attempt to calm her nerve.

[Phoenix]

Lyra's Observations

Let's see ... the archer girl and the blue one are pretty nervous. I guess they were seriously considering it after all. The man is trying to think about anything but the muse- ... hey! Lyra's gaze suddenly shot to Bron, who had tried to think about something else, by eying Lyra's chest. He hadn't look directly at them but that wasn't enough to fool her.

Uh oh. Look, Miss, if you can hear this ... please don't take that the wrong way, I ... REALLY didn't mean any harm. I mean you have nice figure and that's something to be proud of, right? he thought. She gave him a look that hinted at begrudging forgiveness and went back to listening to Robin.

This is really annoying. They think I'm looking for reasons to lock them up, but that's not why I'm here at all. I just want to get a blasted testimony. "Alright, you don't need to vindicate yourselves. I'm not here to arrest anyone. I just wanted to know what happened here is all. We already heard from Sabina that she shot the broker. We just wanted some context and confirmation on that." she explained in a neutral tone.

"Yeah, we arrived here and then after some arguing ... uh ... she just shot him." Bron explained, accidentally letting his thoughts wander to the specifics of the argument.

"... hm? Wait, why are you looking for the serial killer?" she asked suddenly.

FUCK!!! She heard that too?! Bron raged to himself quietly which prompted a small snrk from Lyra. She had still been focusing mainly on him and Robin, going back and forth between the two. This is ridiculous. She heard that, she's pobably hearing this too, what the hell are we suppose to do?

"Just tell me the truth, Bron, that's what you're supposed to do, here, teehee."

"Uuuuuugh."

[Mercakete]

"I'd rather it be in the suberbs so I can stay near you without having to stay in an inn. Besides, I hate cities," Bert voiced. The question was a no-brainer for him. Maybe I can earn a little gold while we're there, too...

"Whatever works best fer ye," Gytha replied with a shrug, "Though savin' fer later's always a good idea. If th' suberbs're cheaper without bein' run-down, I'd say it's worth th' trip."

[ReformBlade]

Feeling he should have something to say in the matter, Nanahm spoke up, "Honestly, I'm ok wherever we need to be. If I had to choose, Inn. Never been to a hotel, don't particularly care to go to one since we're not exactly here to dick around with luxuries last I checked. Wouldn't know what to do with myself, to be quite honest. Anyway, that's my say anyway, do what you think is best or what you want."

Sammy almost felt the same way, but the last time he went to a hotel with his family, it had been one of the best weeks of his life. However, to avoid confrontation here being a new guy under a contract, he didn't say anything. Those toes will NOT be stepped on right now.

[CT075]

Tyrsal was not what one would call relaxed. In fact, he was quite the opposite, very high-strung. Of course, he never really relaxed, but very few people knew that. In fact, most people would expect him to be... happier. His reason for being in the city was to visit his father, which was true enough. What actually worried him was the note he'd found in his room at the inn, telling him to be at a certain spot in Ursentium with his weapons and armor at the ready.

The first thing that he'd suspected was some kind of attempt to make a fool out of him. He'd had a lot of these pranks, mostly from the group he'd traveled here with. Apparently, it was amusing to watch him dishonor himself repeatedly. But upon extracting an explanation from his father, Tyrs realized that it would be even worse to refuse.

"There's a serial killer on the loose, son. The government asked for able-bodied men, people with a good sword arm to go after him. Me, I can't do it anymore, I'm too old. So I sent in your name instead."

Tyrs had wanted to protest, but it would do nothing but sully his own (and his father's) reputation by refusing a direct request for aid.

((Feels really clunky, but whatever.))

Edited June 2, 2011 by Camtech075

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Well I guess that makes sense," Connor said to Gabbie. He sure wasn't going to argue about spending the night somewhere nice after having to spend a night in the wagon. "Still, you could try and get along with Raquel a little more. If we're going to keep traveling with her, you two bickering all the time is going to get really annoying," he said, continuing to power walk towards the Weyland Enterprises building.

[Snowy_One]

Robin glanced at Bron, her mind in a full-out panic. If Bron told the truth about any of what the group had been there for, it was prison for sure. She wished there was something that she could do, but short of shooting the avian woman, there was naught for her to do. She couldn't even run away seeing as this woman was a officer of the law and doing so would ensure that the group would become hunted.

[Phoenix]

Raquel's Decision

"Okay, I think I've heard enough to make a decision. We'll look for an inn, a quality one though, so we know we aren't sleeping with the rats. Everyone happy with that? If so, let's get going."

Weyland Enterprises

"I don't know how long Weyland's gonna make me work with that girl to get my lance back, but the sooner it ends the better." Gabbie replied. "I'd get along with Pinky much better if she was payin' me to sit there and follow orders off the battlefield. Alas, she's not, so she can piss off at all other toimes. Eh, sorry Connor. No point complaining about this to you. You already know why this bugs me."

And there they were, standing at the entrance to the main building, the top of it no longer in sight. Squinting her eyes a bit as she looked up, Gabbie said "Sheesh, looks loike it's gonna lean forward and fall roight on us or somethin'." Heading inside, the two arrived at the front desk. A woman was sitting there with a wide smile on her face waiting for them.

"Hello there, and welcome to Weyland Enterprises; where dreams become reality, teehee." she said greeting them.

"Ugh." Gabbie muttered. "Question for ya, sweetheart; would you happen to know where a given field agent is at any particular moment in toime, or do I need to search common places?"

"Oh, are you an employee?" she asked curiously.

"I'm Gabriella, and this is Connor. I'm a security officer at his estate, and he's the nephew."

"Oh my! That Connor?! I never thought I would get to meet you! I'm Anna!"

I swear to Truth, if she gets any perkier I'm gonna die of a brain hemorrhage. she thought to herself. "Save it, do you know about the field agents or don't you?"

"Which agent are you looking for, I wonder?"

"Craig." Gabbie replied quietly.

"Oh, wow. Excellent timing, then. He just got back to add some more information to the archive, but if I know him, he'll be gone again inside of a few minutes." she explained.

"Roight, toime to hustle! Thanks for the info!" Gabbie said before beginning a power walk down the hall. She would have ran but didn't want to get too much attention, nor did she want to leave Connor in the dust.

Indenturing Servants 101

Stepping in to try and provide a wild card of an explanation, Olga cleared her throat and face Lyra. "So it's like this. We crossed the northern border to get here, and came to try and swipe that big ass sword in that museum, but it's looking to be impossible without some kind of decoy so we came here to talk the broker here to find out who the killer's next target is so we can get that target close enough to the museum so that when the killer came to take him out, it would draw off all the security, and then we'd only have to worry about any booby traps waiting for us inside." Olga explained. Liza hearing all of this paused for a moment, and then held out her hands in surrender, as if ready to be cuffed. Liliya held onto her somewhat scared herself.

"Why would you try and steal that one, of all swords?"

"Gotta get paid. Need the moneys. Billz ta pay, mouths to feed, ... and Robin wants a super weapon fa home, nahmean?" Olga said switching to strange dialog.

I guess it's true what they say; reality is stranger than fiction. Lyra mused. About that time, Patricia came casually down the stairs and into the office with them and had a look around for herself, but not before asking "Did you find out what happened yet, Peggie?"

"Please don't call me that? And um ... about what happened .... There's another issue, ma'am." she tried to explain.

"What issue?"

"These people here aren't just witnesses. They're illegals, thieves from ... Neviskotia, I think. They just came here to try and steal that ancient light brand from the museum."

"*snrk* w-w-h-at?" Patricia uttered trying not to laugh.

"Is there something funny about that?" Bron asked, clearly offended.

"Hah! Yes it's absolutely hilarious. Tell me, how experienced in theft are you people? No wait, you probably shouldn't since you're already in hot water. I'll give you some credit for trying, but our security is top notch thanks to Weyland's overpowered products."

"Olga ... you idiot. Why did you do that?" Liza barely managed to get out in her grief.

"Weeeell, none of you would calm down so Peggie-" "Even she's calling me that?!" Lyra interrupted with a sad look on her face. "-here was going to find out all of this anyway. Also for once I wanted to be straight with the feds and see what happens."

"We go to jail, Olga. That's what happens." Bron said glaring at her.

"I've got a better idea." Patricia cut in with a very sinister grin on her face.

Bron raised an eyebrow. "A better idea?"

"You people are foreigners, illegal aliens. What we should do is deport you back to Neviskotia informing them of your intentions here as well as advising them to launch an investigation into your past crimes. Maybe they'd solve some old cases. Then you people would probably end up in jail or executed. Since we're currently at war with Neviskotia, you're just POWs now. Had you tried to rob the museum, you would have either been captured and executed or killed in a scuffle with security. Now we really don't have any use for civilian POWs so you're almost no good to us, and normally my only recourse would be to lock you up for the time being." she explained.

Liza and Liliya both put their hands up ready to be cuffed this time, which got an odd look from Lyra. She already knew how and for what purpose Patricia was taking advantage of the situation for.

"Locking you up though at a time like this is a waste of my time. Right now we're looking for some able bodied individuals to assist with a matter that needs handling."

"Are we being volunteered?" Bron asked.

"Well, you could turn a lady down and spend the entirety of this war in a jail cell. It's up to you. Frankly I think it's a good deal, even though your only real crime up to this point is illegally crossing the border. You'll be added to the units that are planning to ambush the serial killer, and if you survive the fighting, you'll be pardoned for your illegal border crossing and given temporary residence here under military supervision until the war ends. You'll also be on call for anytime we need some extra muscle. In between now and then, you're free to apply for citizenship, which would give you some more rights than you currently have as well. Obtain citizenship before the war ends and you'll be free and clear that much sooner." she explained.

"<Well ... damn.>" Bron muttered in Neviskotian.

"You ... conniving ... bitch! You're making us your little slaves until the war ends?!" Liza snapped at the woman.

"I prefer the term 'indentured servant'." she explained holding up a finger and smiling victoriously at the thief. Then she quickly unsheathed her sword and held it up to Liza's neck causing the girl to freeze! "Had you been noticed out in the wilderness while crossing the border, they might have killed you, they might have jailed you. Who knows what those border guards are like? They might have even done some unspeakable things to cute little girls like you. After all, it's just them out there, and who would know or care about a handful of border hopping Neviskotians in the middle of a war? You've got it easy, girlie, now decide! Become my bitch for the time being, or rot in a jail cell. Your choice." she said to Liza sounding maliciously.

"So she like ... owns us and stuff?" Olga asked.

"I guess ..." Lyra answered, both women standing around casually.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Phoenix

[Snowy_One]

"WHAT?! You... You... Ursium... Whore!" hissed Robin, her body shaking with rage as she turned to Olga. "<You were going to sell the sword for money? Greed? You whore of a woman! You care more about gold and your dumb sheep than your homeland? Was money your only motivation? All of you?>" She took a step away from the gathered thieves, wishing she could unsling her bow without likely being killed on the spot by the Ursium soldiers. She then looked to Lyra. To serve under the thumb of a Ursium woman, or become locked away within a jailcell. Sell out her homeland, everything she believed in, or rot away within the confines of prison.

"I do not wish to serve under the thumb of a Ursium commander. To do so is to betray my homeland." she said, defiance strong within her tone of voice.

[Phoenix]

"Hey hey! Don't call little Niko dumb." Olga protested.

And you'd think she'd care more about being called a whore ... Liza mused.

"Shut up, both of you." Patricia ordered calmly sheathing her sword. Then facing Robin she crossed her arms and gave the girl a condescending grin. "A patriot, huh? Tell me, what kind of service do you think you're doing your country by stealing a sword that no one can use. Think about this for a moment; you were after Ascension, right? The sword wielded in battle by the minor goddess Lilith. She was the only one to ever be able to lift that sword with her hands yet alone use it to cut down legions of foes. Do you honestly think the real Ascension would be sitting in that museum and not a replica if we could make any use of it against our foes? Put simply; we can't wield that blade against the Neviskotians, so they sure as hell can't use it against us, plain and simple. I suppose it could sell over there for a ridiculous price though."

"Are you absolutely positive about that?" Bron asked, a bit distressed.

"Listen to me as hard as you can, Neviskotians. If there's anything in Ursian possession with the capacity to be used against you on the battlefield, it is being implemented, not left up on display in a museum for the curious."

"So much for that idea ..." he said hanging his head.

"What ... you had the same idea as this girl? Pathetic."

"Not quite. See, it's nice to want to help your country, but it's risky business all the same. An individual person means nothing to the government as a whole, and Neviskotia protects its secret projects and investments the same ways Ursium does, by killing people they don't trust with the information. Sometimes it's even the people who contributed to the project. I wanted to get the sword out of Ursian hands and sell it on the black market. The military always gets its hands on things that powerful eventually, it just has to be in their territory. I love my country but not enough to die for it just by being involved. The safest way to handle it is get as much money out of the sell as I can, then disappear and let the military do what it does best. Buy and kill its way into more power. I was going to explain that to you on the way back, Robin." Bron explained in a despairing voice.

"Smart man, up until the part where you thought to steal from us that is. As for you, girl."

"Her name is Robin." Lyra cut in.

"Robin, so you'll take jail time over helping with domestic nuisances, then? Think carefully on that, would you? You've got until the other guards arrive to decide." she said to the archer before exiting through the door. "Make sure they don't leave, Lyra."

"Understood, ma'am." she replied saluting the exiting officer. Turning back to the rest of them, she crossed her arms and leaned up against the door carefully.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"H-Hi Anna," Connor said to the woman at the desk before Gabbie seemed to be moving off to somewhere else. I forget that I'm famous sometimes...Weyland Enterprises is all over Ursium. Gabbie sure does move quickly he thought to himself, waving a quick goodbye, gathering his things, and hustling off to somewhere else.

Veronika

"If we're sharing rooms, I have something I would like to discuss with you. It can wait until we find an inn though," Veronika said to Raquel, ready to go.

Edited June 3, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Zsword]

"Hey Raquel!" Shadrak said, popping out from the back of the carriage, carrying a smallish box. "How long have you had these Dark To-" He was cut off by a rather furious monkey assaulting him, forcing him to drop the box as he tried to pry the creature off his face. "By Truth, calm your Monkey Raquel! I only wanted to ask a simple question you silly thing!"

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"I've-Gah!" Raquel was cut off as Chip latched onto Shadrak. She quickly grabbed Chip and pried him off before putting him in her lap. "You've got to be more careful. Chip knows you're allies but he also knows you're not on staff." she explained sighing. "Anyway I got those back in Europa during a big sale."

Gabbie

As Gabbie made her way down the hallway, she occasionally glanced back to see if Connor was still following. Once she reached the end of the hall, she found a door that was thoroughly sealed leading to a room full of records. Gabbie couldn't help but grin in surprise at how well locked the door actually was. "Heh, well how bout that? A lock on the handle, a lock above the handle, a lock on the lock above the handle, and three different sets of runes. Yeeeeah, you're not gettin' in this bitch without a key ... or six .... Welp, toime to wait here for a minute."

[Zsword]

Shadrak stopped for a second clamping his face in his hands, he was saying words, but due to his hands it only came out as mumbles, and something about it said that it was better off not to know the true meaning of what he said. When he removed his hands he, well, looked like he had an unfortunate run in with a monkey.

"Riiight... sorry about that, yeah... I was wondering if I could possibly train in this old Flux Tome from one of these more advanced tomes." He offerred, procurring the little black book from his robe as he rubbed one of his eyes.

[Phoenix]

"Sure, that's no problem at all." she replied.

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded as he handed her his old book and looked through the box... it was amazing, their was Tomes with spells focused on Defence, tomes based around extreme long distance combat, but what intrigued him, which is what he decided to stick with, was a Worm Tome, capable of just more raw damage. "Thanks..." He said as he stood up and returned to his typical spot in the carriage, flipping through pages of his new tome as he held his hurt eye, even though in pain the expression of amazement very plain on his face.

[Phoenix]

"Um, one second there, Shadrak. You still owe me the difference for that tome. It's more expensive." she said holding out her hand. Chip seemed to be holding out his hand too mimicking Raquel almost perfectly while sitting in her lap.

[Zsword]

Shadrak sighed as he turned around, reaching into his robe for his money pouch as he did so. "Sorry, got a little ahead of myself there... it's just so..." he trailed off as he counted out the excess and handing it to Raquel. "I really didn't intend to try to cheat you out, Truth forbids such deception."