Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[Zsword]

Shadrak smiled at Raquel,gently patting her on the shoulder as he walked towards the back of the Carriage and sat next to Siv. He gently rubbed her back between her wings. "<I'm sorry about the box, they didn't give me any say so on the matter...>" he said to her kinda down. "<though... Atsuko does raise a good point... why do you trust me so much? There's only so much I can do to help you, but you've put so much faith in me...>"

Zel yawned a little as he led Sliep on foot, giving the stead some form of rest.... he glanced around the party... and with nothing better to do he wandered his way over to one of the party member, Wolfy. "Morning Miss Wolf, how do you fair on this fine day?" He asked her, his tone polite and caring.

Kryst sat on the edge of the top of the carriage, one of her wings wrapped in front of her as she gently combed it, humming to herself softly as she did so. I kinda wonder what the others think of me... they've been kinda distant so far... then again so have I... but still... it'd be kinda nice if SOMEONE came over and atleast said hi...

[Snowy_One]

Throughout the journey Robin, as one of the people without a mount, did her best to ride in the back of Raquel's machine capable of traveling through time and being larger on the inside than out,Tardis, wagon. Sadly, little happened during that time to her, which was more than fine for the archer. Dreams of the flying stones had filled her head for the past few nights providing a lot of wonder for the girl. On the last day, however, as the group rode along she heard someone mention hunting from outside the cart.

"I could hunt you know." she said, hoping the person could hear her, but not really caring. "But it is not as easy as you think, and any amount of meat large enough to feed everyone I would not be able to drag back on my own."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"People will fight to defend one's family- I guess this applies for Atsuko and Siv's sisters really. Still, considering Siv's family is alive and Atsuko's is dead, it's not difficult for me to decide who I pity more," Veronika responded to Raquel shrugging.

Nadya

"It's not all that hard either, I know what huntin' is. And I'm not sayin' they'd have to feed everyone- just the folks that could use some decent grub," Nadya said to the mysterious voice inside the wagon

Connor

Connor continued to search through the wagon for the weapons and eventually encountered a strange box. Opening it he found...grenades. Finally, some explosives! he thought to himself. Maybe if you put a grenade on a bow, hmm no then it'd go off either before you shot it or not at all. Some day I'll think of a great invention...

[Snowy_One]

"Taking down a deer takes usually a hour just to locate one, then you need to get in close enough for the shot, and if it is not a kill shot you need to follow it until it dies from bleeding out." replied Robin from inside the cart. She was somewhat excited that the person had responded though. Getting up she headed to the front of the cart and quickly sprung out, looking for the source of the voice. "That is hunting in a woodland area though. I assume you are thinking of plains on a horse?"

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Atsuko does have it pretty bad right now, but once we hand Siv over to Weyland, that'll probably be the end for her. I don't think she's ever going to return home again if he's using her for what he said he was. Atsuko still has a life. Siv's is probably coming to an end. At the very least she could get some kind of humane treatment before then. I kind of regret getting involved in this whole thing. Axel nearly died for it and he's practically dead anyway. We could barely help but watch the other mercenaries die too, and we even managed to enrage a couple of powerful fallen by the end of it."

Siv

<"You're different from the other wild humans. You can't do much for me now, but once Lord Valdimarr rescues me, I can take you with me back home. I think, I think ... you could still learn about whatever you're trying to ... maybe ..."> she said with her head low and uncertain.

Wolfriella

"Hm? Oh hey there, White One." Gabbie replied to Zel. Ringo was taking the time to lie down and relax while staring up at the fluffy blue thing on the roof of the wagon. "I'm feelin' pretty good, all things considered. We're makin' damn good time headin' back to Europa and we've got a huge payout on the way."

[Acacia Sgt]

Hm? John watched Atsuko leaving the area. <Doesn't she always stays close to Siv?> He decided to approach the wagon. ''Did something happened? Atsuko is going somewhere, and doesn't she usually stays near Siv?'' He asked.

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"I think I upset her." Raquel said to John. "She said she'll be back and just needed to go think. I'd leave her alone for now, besides Shadrak's still watching Siv so it should be alright."

[Zsword]

Shadrak shook his head. "<Well, what I"d learn would be pointless if I couldn't leave and spread my teachings to the world.>" He said to Siv with a gentle, almost half pleading smile. "<and stop talking about humans like we're mere animals, it should be quite clear by now we're just as capable as you are at a fair number of things...>"

Zel chuckled. "That's good. Where do you hail from Miss? I don't recognize your tone from anywhere in particular..." Zel asked Wolf just as politely as before.

Krystal glanced down and noticed that one of the Wyverns was staring at her... she glanced around nervously, gave it a friendlt wave, and tried to go back to her wing-care... but she couldn't help but glance back at the creature everyonce in awhile... kinda nervous what it was thinking, but to scared to try to read the thoughts of an animal... she didn't know a lot about them... ESPECIALLY a wyvern.

[Acacia Sgt]

''I see.'' John said. ''So, something I've been thinking, after we get to Europa, what are we doing after? We've spent quite some time doing these jobs, and now that we're finally going back to the professor, I was wondering about it.''

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Well I can't you haven't all gotten stronger. I mean the battle with those demons went well enough ... things just went downhill afterward ..." Raquel trailed off with a frown. "We might want to see what Weyland thinks. If we're ready, we should probably take the fight to the real enemy this time." she explained, and not a second later she saw a vivid but brief flashing memory. A man with glowing eyes standing right in front of her. She quickly shook it off and came back.

Siv

<"But ... but humans aren't as strong as my kind, they're not as fast, and they're so short lived. They can't even use magic on their own. I heard that wild females are also hard to breed. If my kind had come along first, then all the humans would be domesticated by now."> she tried to explain. It was hard for her conveying a cultural viewpoint without being incredibly offensive, but she tried anyway.

Gabbie

"Eh, couldn't tell ya. I honestly don't have a clue. My memories ... they aren't all there, if you know what I mean ..." she answered a little vaguely.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"I agree, we've spent enough time fighting monsters I think, and we didn't really get stronger for it either," she said, thinking of Axel. "If we can't take on the organization to some extent now, when are we ever going to be able to?" she mused aloud.

Nadya

"Looks like plains here to me. Could probably charge a whole lotta horses through here if ya wanted to. Still, I suppose you're right that it's hard to spend time huntin' when we're busy tryin' to get somewhere," Nadya responded to the girl who got out of the cart.

???

The lone cavalier scout headed north up the road, looking for signs of trouble. He saw an odd group of people apparently resting and chatting with one another, there were pegasi and even...wyverns with them? There was a creature sitting on back of the wagon, with wings and a tail? Is that....one of the Fallen? And they're just talking to it like it's perfectly normal...I think Commander Callisto will want to hear about this. he thought to himself, urging his horse to head southwards back to the bulk of the calvary unit.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Not to mention, we can't just spent too much time on getting stronger.'' John added. ''Otherwise, we're basically giving them more time for their own plans, whichever may be, that's another problem.''

[Mercakete]

Once the group had left the town, Norbert met them on the road and proceded to travel with them again. There was some light conversation as they travelled and when they stopped in the last city, Bert knew he had a delivery to make.

"Ha! I never thought I'd see you again!" cheerily yet somewhat condesendingly greeted a woman at the guardhouse.

"... I can never tell how you're trying to speak with me," Bert half-grumbled.

"Well, you're actually near a city. Never thought that'd happen. Just visiting? I didn't know you could be so sweet, Crusher," she sounded almost like she was making fun of him, but there was some sincerity in her voice...somehow...

"No, I'm not just visiting," he was getting a bit irritated, but was too confused to be too upset.

"Well, what's up?" she casually asked, leaning on the guardhouse wall, "Looking for something?"

"I have some information you military people might find interesting about a couple bandit groups," he answered as he dismounted Rizen and took the map out of her saddlebags.

"Are you actually thinking with your brain instead of your ego?" the woman sounded impressed...and yet she still also sounded like she was making fun of him.

"Yes, even I'm capable of that," Bert's irritation was rising, but he kept it in as much check as he could so it was only evident in his tone and the fact that he was getting tenser.

"Hmm are you sure you're alright? You don't look yourself," she continued to pester him.

"DO YOU WANT THE INFORMATION OR NOT?!!"

"Yep, you're healthy alright. Glad to see it," for some reason, that sounded genuine. "Well, what've you got that's so important anyway?"

"Grr... I know a place where you can probably find the Farsiders and the base location of Rusko's Gang, led by the pegasus knight Kelly," he replied, opening the map and showing it to the woman, pointing out the locations marked on it as he explained, "This is where the Farsiders show up every few days. Well, nights, actually, since they only go there at night. And this is where Rusko's Gang holes up: on the edge of this forest here. Their leader, Kelly, weilds a sword and they're a varied group so don't expect them all to be using the same weapon. It shouldn't be too hard to take them out since there's only ten of them left. They raid durring the early eavnings."

The woman examined the map as she listened to the information Norbert had gathered. "You sure got a lot of information."

"I do this for a living. Of course I got a lot of information."

"How'd you learn all this?"

"Interrogation and making deals. I let the last guy go unharmed from an attack on a group of bandits returning from a raid, he tells me everything I want to know. Made sure he wouldn't rat me out to his old friends, either," Norbert replied.

"Wait, you killed him after he told you all this?!"

"Nope. I kept my end of the deal. I just threatened that the deal would be off if he told anyone. He told me I had nothing to worry about and he was going to try to get an honest job. I belive him."

"Huh. I'm surprised you're giving me this information."

"Why?"

"Seems like the jackpot for you. Besides, this is all you do: go off, be reckless and steal from those who steal."

"Well..." Norbert wasn't really sure how to explain it to this particular woman without her being irritating again...but he'd been asked, so an answer was due, "I'm thinking about taking a break from that. I'll fly north again if I go back to it but for now I know other people who could use my help."

"You have a girlfriend?!" she seemed ecctatic.

"Hey! I never said--!"

"Oh man, I can't imagine what sort of woman would fall for a guy like you! No one could ever see this coming! Haha! Oh man oh man I have to tell EVERYONE!" she enthusiastically rambled, "Grats, lil' bro!"

"I DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND! MERZ!"

"What's her name? Did you meet her at the festival? What's she like?" she continued to ignore Norbert.

"I SAID I DON'T HAVE ONE!!!!"

"Aww, poor little brother of mine... I hope you do find one someday. Maybe then your temper will cool down," she sympathetically replied, continuing before Bert could respond, "Well! Thanks for the information! I'll relay it. Bye!"

And with that, she was gone, having slipped into the guardhouse, carefree as ever. And so, due to lack of person he was just talking to, he shouted at the door, "YOU ANNOYING, GOSSYP-LOVING, IGNORANT SORRY-EXCUSE FOR A SOLDIER!!! AUGHH!!"

Faintly, through the door, in a sing-song voice, the woman replied, "I can't hear you!~"

"WHATEVER! JUST DO YOUR JOB YOU WORTHLESS LAYABOUT!" he yelled back before mounting Rizen and flying back to catch up with Raquel's wagon.

When he landed, he wasn't in a very good mood, still irritated from the talk he'd had with his sister. He'd mostly cooled off by the time they stopped to rest. Something came up having to do with the Fallen, someone mentioned hunting and-- wait a minute. "You two can hunt?" he asked, only the slightest bit of irritation remaining from before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gytha had been one of the ones to help Raquel with the new items and had since been just kind of going along with the group, riding the wagon. Now that they had a break, though, she felt the need to satisfy her curiosity and stare at the Fallen girl for a little bit. So, she did that, then decided to listen to the various conversations going on. She didn't much feel like talking herself at the moment, though.

[-Cynthia-]

"Well I don't hunt myself, I'm a terrible shot. Clumsy fingers," Nadya said, shrugging. "I can cook somethin' if you give me deer, or rabbit, or raccoon...or squirrel," Nadya said, remembering some of her less tasty meals.

[Mercakete]

"That's great! I can't hunt or cook at all and I don't usually have very much money, so I'm hungry a lot of the time. I can kill things pretty well, but...they're not usually salvagable when I kill them... At least I don't think they are," Norbert mused, not exactly sure what would be considered cook about or uncookable, "So, maybe I could learn a bit from you two. Being able to hunt and cook would really be beneficial to me."

[-Cynthia-]

"Maybe you should go for cleaner kills or somethin'? You really just have to do enough damage to kill the animal, ya don't have to...pound it into bloody pulpy puddin' or whatever it is you do that makes them uncookable," Nadya said to Bert, feeling a bit less hungry after imagining an animal smashed into inedible bits.

[Mercakete]

"That's probably the problem. It's not like I try to destroy the animal, though. I guess maces are just bad hunting weapons or something. One well-aimed swing and the bones are shattered into the rest of the meat. ... And the organs are crushed so anything that was in them gets into the rest of the innards... Well, with small animals anyway. They're so hard to hit, too," he half-explained, grumbling a little.

[Zsword]

Shadrak giggled a little and rolled his eyes. "<yes, we may be physically inferior to you, but, do you honostly think we're wild? If you haven't noticed, we are quite capable of making towns and villages, of trading. We have government systems, ways to deal with trouble makers and law breakers. Do you honostly think that that is wild? Simply because it's different?>"

Zel tilted his head a little. "You've got some amnesia?" He asked her.

[Phoenix]

Are We Ready?!

"Oh right, that reminds me. We still need to follow up a few leads. If Weyland can't give us anything, then there's still a few names left on that list we can check out. If they aren't all informants like Rodrigo was, then we should still have a way to get at them." Raquel commented.

Fallen and Wild Ones

<"I didn't say humans were dumb animals, but what else could you be? You're not like us, so ... you must be some kind of really smart ... animals."> she tried to explain. The concept of more than one truly sapient race seemed somewhat lost on her.

Gabbie's Memories

"If that's what you'd call it, then yeah. I don't remember much of anything from before a few years ago. Weyland ... helped 'reeducate' me, so I mostly just work for him now." she explained with a little bit of reservation in her voice.

[Snowy_One]

"How do you manage to hit a animal with a mace anyways? Most animals that are good prey run away and only the real hungry ones go after man-meat. Magic would be the best hunting weapon, but mages are too interested in books to care about food. Shade-drake might even make a good hunter... but he might sacrifice the meat or something." added in Robin, mentioning Shadrak simply because he was the only person she knew to be a mage off the top of her head. "I would be glad to go hunting with you though, and maybe stop that brute from turning it into deer soup. I am Robin, so you know." she pointed to Norbert.

[Mercakete]

"Hey," Norbert was somewhat offended at the implication, "I'd have to be actively trying to mangle something that big to mess it up that badly. But since we're giving names, I'm Norbert and my pegasus is Rizen."

[Acacia Sgt]

''If they'd be willing to cooperate anyway.'' John said. ''Even with Rodrigo we had the chance that the organization attacked him on the same path we were and saved him, and then that led us to Weyland. Who knows if next time we may be as easy, unless we go in a chain or something.''

[Zsword]

"<How are we not like you? Other than the physical inferiority, and lack of wings or tail.>" Shadrak asked with a smile...

Zel shook his head a little. "Is something wrong?" He asked her...

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"If they don't cooperate, we'll have to resort to some...aggressive negotiations," Veronika said plainly, crossing her arms.

Nadya

"Nadya. Luca," Nadya said plainly, pointing to herself then her horse. She didn't care much for long introductions, if people wanted her life story they'd have to ask.

[Rothene]

Ranyin had spent most of the trip painting on top of the wagon as well as the occasional patching up for those who had approached him. He had forgotten to charge others for his services as Nadya had 'taught' him to.

After a long time of pointless paintings to fill up an emptiness he felt in him, he finally understood what gnawed at his very soul. It was not the lack of people accepting his good will of offering his sweets, it was not his general inability to cook.

It was the lack of flying. The experience, once felt, became a drug to him, for it had provided him the barest trickle of his greatest desire. For days he had not been riding on Riz, and thus was suffering from a withdrawal of sorts. Noticing Bert flying down astride Riz as he realised his dilema, Ranyin called out happily, "Yohoo...Bert! Does Riz like sweets?"