Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[Zsword]

Zel nodded. "Indeed, as well as sharing some of my provisions in return, and we tried to make sure that they had as pleasant as an experiance as possible." He said, wrapping up his little story. "So, You've studied magic?" He asked her... he had followed her all the way to the juggling man after all... it shouldn't her to delve into the story a little.

Krystal was curious herself... she though that Ursium was a very Martial land, hearing of nobility that were using magic seemed... off to her... she didn't inquire further than Zel did though, no need to say what has already been said.

[Rothene]

"Oh, that," said Mireille coyly looking away from both Zel and Krystal while one of her hands reached up to her head to prod at her bun, "Well, there was no time to learn magic with my knightly training, so I'm doing self studies in magic now that my training is over. Shoddy work I'm sure but I need to start somewhere..."

[Phoenix]

Carriage Ride

Raquel wasn't moving at all but found that she couldn't stay asleep with all the commotion outside, as well as the occasional bump in the road. So instead of trying to sleep, she tried to think about things that would make her current troubles go away for a short while. The first thing that came to mind was a recent memory.

[spoiler=That Which Is Overdue]

That Which Is Overdue

Raquel and Jethro were alone on the highroad heading toward Ursentius. While Jethro drove, Raquel was reading a novel aloud to try and pass the time. "-and Richard arrived just in time to parry the plummeting blade and save his friend. Algos stepped away from the new challenger and readied his weapon. This would not be easy after he had nearly exhausted himself trying to put down Jeffrey.-" "Whoa, wait." Jethro interrupted. "Are you seriously telling me that Richard just magically showed up right as Jeffrey's about to bite it? What the hell happened to the vanguards that were guarding the tower?"

"I guess he beat them." she assumed with a shrug. "The author's done that a few times, where he doesn't let you know what happened. It's a convenient way to let characters show up later on and have it be a nice surprise. Besides, Algos is really overdue and needs to have his butt handed to him as soon as possible." Raquel replied.

"I'll tell you what's overdue, Honey. An action adventure novel that does not rely on stupidly well timed suspense to be entertaining."

"Hahah-stop criticizing every book I read. Do you want to just travel in bored silence?"

"We could talk or something." he suggested before giving a light shrug.

"Yeah, someone doesn't remember why I started reading these in the first place. I thought we'd already established that we've each heard every possible thing the other has to say about ... well pretty much everything."

"Eh. Let me see that book, who's the author again?" he asked reaching over to accept it and read the cover for himself.

As soon as he took it from Raquel, she realized that he wasn't paying attention to the road and said "Hey, keep your eyes on the road, Dad!"

"Relax." he said simply as he read the author's name. "Luis Copperworth? Never heard of him."

"Dad. Eyes. Road."

"Honey, I haven't had a single accident, or anything remotely similar to a close call, and we're in the middle of nowhere. You on the other hand have managed to crash this thing three times while I was teaching you ... somehow. Frankly I'd be more worried about you not keeping your eyes on the road at all times. I've got it down to a method that works for me, and it's safe enough."

"Dad."

"Raquel, it's not difficult to spot danger on these roads, and don't forget the horses. They know not to run straight into a ditch, and I could spot it long ahead of time either way. We're fine."

"Just because you're good at driving doesn't mean you're infallible. If anything you're overdue for a crash." she admonished.

"My 'death' has been overdue for awhile having been in the military and actually seen front line combat. That sure hasn't happened yet. If you're so concerned about it, you drive, and I'll look at this while you do." he said handing her the reigns.

"Err ... uh ... okay, fine."

"Richard and Algos began rapidly exchanging blows, never losing sight of the other's movements. Jeffrey looked up in shock to see the figure of the last person he expected to appear at his side. Lying there on the stone cold floor, unable to continue the battle left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, and he fought against his condition, trying desperately to reach his claymore with his bloodstained hand. He would not let Richard fight alone, not after all of this, not after how far they had both come." he began reading.

"You're reading?" she asked looking over.

"Well your reading gets a little boring after awhile so I figure we can just trade off every once in awhile. I read while you drive."

"Oh, okay then. Heh, please continue~"

"Sure thing ... oh and Honey?"

"Yeah?"

"Eyes on the road. You're overdue for your fourth crash." he said with a light grin before returning to the book."

A light giggle came and Cat looked over before asking. "Are you awake?"

"Yyyeah, it's hard to sleep in here." she answered as she sat normally again.

Amon

"I don't really know for sure. I was already kind of turned around by the time she showed up." he replied. My impending demise. That can't be good. I'd better not get separated again. At least if she or any others show up, we can defend ourselves until the guards show up. Wait ... would they really even attack us here? Last time Silvia lured me to a rooftop before we fought so no one was around to interfere. So they aren't completely overconfident then ... ... this festival is probably a blessing, then. he thought to himself trying to figure out how Silvia would go about attacking him or the group.

Bunny

Runa eventually brought Norn to a merchant who was indeed selling animals. It was also true that a rabbit was sitting in a cage almost as if being displayed for those passing by. "Ah, can I help you ladies?" the man greeted. Norn immediately walked over to the rabbit cage and leaned in closely at the animal.

"Ah! Yes, but common not Runa's language. Runa is ... Kigen." she said, hoping to get that issue dealt with right away.

Huh. Well she looks Kigenese. Not so sure about the other one. Runa's doesn't sound like a Kigenese name though. Oh well, I don't really know a thing about the bird culture so I'll just stick to what I DO know, and that's tending to customers~ "Well you certainly speak well for it not being your first, Miss ... oh--uh <I will help you."> He switched over trying to speak what little Kigenese he thought he knew.

<"You will help?"> she asked tilting her head a bit.

"Uhh ..." Wait, what did I say? Maybe I worded it poorly. "I'm sorry you'll have to forgive me, my Kigenese is a bit rusty." Understatement ... gods this is embarrassing.

"No, help is good! Runa and Norn want help. Buy rabbit."

"The rabbit?"

"Yes, rabbit." she said pointing to Norn and the caged rabbit she was gazing at.

Either that Norn girl is really hungry, or she wants a pet. This isn't actually a pet store but I guess it's not really my place to question what people do with the animals I sell them, as long as it's legal. "The rabbit'll cost you twelve gold." he explained.

"Gooold ... twelve gooold? Good, Runa has gold." she replied.

Does she understand common or doesn't she? She's not a good speaker but she always seems to know what I'm getting at-oh wait ... probably that mind reading thing or whatever it is. Wait ... does that mean she's listening to me right now? Or was she when I was looking at-oh damn! WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo-think about something totally random. Um ... seagulls.

Stop thinking about those obnoxious sea animals! How am I supposed to figure out your gigantic language if you don't give me some visual meanings?! Runa fumed mentally. "Tweeelve gold." she said after getting out the coins and handed them over to the merchant.

"She's all yours." he said with a nervous smile, to which Runa responded with a smile as well.

<"Princess, I've purchased the rabbit for you."> she said to Norn, who then took the rabbit out of the cage and held it in her arms.

"Err ... you don't want to take the cage too?" he asked, thinking it was a bit odd to carry the rabbit like that, despite how adorable the two looked together. Norn replied to him by looking over and shaking her head lightly. Runa waved goodbye as she left with Norn. The man was left a bit vexed but decided to just put away the gold and do something with the cage.

As the two walked along, Norn kept the rabbit safely secure in her arms and occasionally nuzzled its back. <"So what do you like about those things anyway?"> Runa asked.

<"... fluffy.">

<"So you're not going to eat it?"> Norn shot Runa a glare and her eyes shifted to black emphasizing her anger. Runa leaned away defensively saying <"Just kidding, just kidding. Relax, Princess."> There was a long pause in the conversation as they walked along, but eventually Runa asked another question. <"Can I try holding it sometime?">

<"You ate the last one. I don't want you touching her.">

<"Isn't this rabbit carrying thing going to affect the mission?">

<"No. I'm still following Siv's trail. She can stay with Gunnar when I rescue Siv.">

<"You don't trust me, but you trust Gunnar? Ouch.">

<"I trust that he knows what I'll do to him if he does anything to her.">

<"Oh right. He's kind of weak. I could just trap you in a net like I did that one time and stay away until you cool off~">

Something that sounded like mumbling came from Norn as they continued walking along.

Edited October 7, 2011 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Just point in th' direction she went," Gytha advised, already gripping the hilt of her sword as he looked around. Her other hand was resting on her pistol.

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

"If you're that tired, then we should go back to Weylands so you can take a nap. I don't think we should take any more jobs from him though," Norbert suggested, his glare intensifying slightly with his last sentense, though he wasn't looking at anything in particular. His gaze was simply set foreward.

[Zsword]

Zel nodded, content on the answer he received, Krystal spoke up though. "Why?" She asked with a slight tilt of her head.

[Dark Sage]

"<Basically yeah. Regardless of your personal feelings, you do not attack somebody. If there is one thing that was hammered into me by my father, it's that your personal opinion and feelings are second to the mission. And that's true. If you let your emotions get the best of you, you do extremely stupid things and get hurt in return. Like with what happened between you and Gytha. I'll be betting Gytha never learned this either and she won't listen if I did tell her, but you should at least.>"

[Snowy_One]

"<I can't just shut off my own personal feelings though. I can't just remove myself from my honor and life and everything that makes me, me.>"

[Dark Sage]

"<Who said anything about removing yourself from honor? Honor is of course important but if it directly hinders the mission, than one should not follow it. Of course there are some exceptions to this. One should never hurt innocent people regardless of how much it would help the mission for example. It's finding what the exceptions are and balancing between your honor and your mission that is the hard part of being a soldier but it is a necessary task," Domovoi explained.

[Snowy_One]

That was a lot for Robin to take in. Ten minutes ago she probably would have been outraged, but with her fury vented on Veronika and the... at least attempt for a peaceful talk with Domo, she was far more receptive. "<I... See... That is a lot to take in for sure. Please tell me though that you plan to at least talk to Gytha as well, or someone else about what she did. To see her seemingly go without reprimand for what she did is... insulting. If she can show at least some degree of apology for what she did... I will apologize to her.>"

[Dark Sage]

"<Well I'll give it a shot I guess. Gytha's difficult to keep track of and I doubt she'll listen to a word I say anyway, but I'll try anyway.>"

[Snowy_One]

Robin smiled slightly. It was good to hear that at least someone was on her side. "<Am I still a military recruit? Or am I a civilian once again for how I acted?>"

[Phoenix]

Amon

"I honestly don't know. I didn't figure out where I was again until after I found you. Shouldn't we be sticking together right now, anyway?" he replied, scanning the area again.

Raquel and Cat

"You really don't trust Professor Weyland now, do you?" Raquel asked.

"It's still odd that he would ally himself with a fallen even temporarily." Cat commented.

OOC:

Cat's nickname and Maw's name almost seem like they were swapped. Maw->Ma

Gabbie's Odd Conversation Continues

"So she's a princess ... man, you royals sure loike to take matters into your own hands." Gabbie remarked.

"That isn't always the case, but it does happen. Norn is an assassin and even in a straight fight, she is quite dangerous."

"And she's coming here? I assume you've got a plan ..."

"... maybe." he hinted with a grin.

"Heh. I'll just leave that to you then, oh connoiving prince. There is one other thing I'm curious about, though. Why Weyland? I know he's got the resources but when did you meet him, and how did all of this get worked out?"

"Oh I simply searched him out after learning much about him in my travels. We spoke, and he learned of things the Kigenese empire would pay a fortune to learn. I learned much about the human race and those living up here in the north as well. It only cemented my decision to go through with my plan. I was able to sell him on it as well."

"Roiiight, that plan of yours I've only gotten a piece of ..." she commented almost sounding entitled.

"Hm perhaps another time, Miss Gabbie. It's a bit much to take in all at once."

"Hey-hey-hey, don't call me Gabbie." she corrected.

He frowned innocently at the lancer saying "No exceptions for a prince?" Gabbie wasn't certain how to respond to that at first.

"Well ... how do I know you're really a prince and not just some guy sent in his stead, huh?" she asked crossing her arms. She didn't seem too serious despite her body language. "Heck, you don't even have a tail, so how do I even tell you're really a fallen at all, huh? Where's the big feather piece you fallen have over your butts?" she asked referencing the twice.

Steinn raised an eyebrow trying to decide whether or not he was going to humor her. Soon it became apparent that he decided to show her since his eyes made a gradual shift from white to black as he looked at her. His tail was finally revealed as it came out from under his dark attire and floated near his feet. It drifted randomly much like Siv's tail, never directly touching the ground. It was different from Siv's tail in that it had no feathers growing from it. Gabbie kind of gawked at first.

Shit, that thing is long. It kinda reminds me of a ... rat.

"I'm afraid it wouldn't be worth the effort proving I'm a prince. Hopefully you can simply take my word for it." he said as she knelt down to poke at his tail. "What are you doing?"

Gods, if I could only take this guy and combine him with Zel, then I'd have a giant six foot somethin' rat man, hahahah. she thought as she poked his tail once again with a single finger.

"Is it that intriguing?"

"Of course! I mean look at this thing!" she said poking it again.

"It's only a naked tail. The royal family has had them for generations." he explained. I used to think that I was unnaturally fascinated with humans. What a humorous 'vice versa' she is.

"Well it's not really naked. I can see some hairs growin' on it. Koinda loike wrist hair. None of those feathers that Siv has, though." She then took hold of the tail in both hands and stood back up with it.

She is ... certainly a bold one. "And what are you planning to do with that?"

"I couldn't possibly list all the stuff you could do with this thing. Loike you could wrap it around a child's waist and keep them from getting separated. Hold your groceries with it. You could beat the crap out of people with it. Open and shut doors. Tattoo it up so it looks like a ruler and take measurements. Tease cats with it. Wear it loike a belt." she listed, and the last one she actually demonstrated by curling around the tail and using it just like a belt. Steinn couldn't help but chuckle.

[Mercakete]

"Aye, yer right... We'll just have t' look for 'er together. Safer that way anyway," Gytha responded before grabbing Amon's hand and beginning to pull him along in a random direction.

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

"My point exactly," the pegasus rider responded, referring to what Cat had just mentioned, "He's too shady and he has questionable friends. Associating with him is just a bad idea. It'd be one thing if he was allied with a normal Fallen, but a Fallen prince? He doesn't care about what happens to us humans. He's just worried about his fellow feathered friends. Just what sort of agreement does Weyland have with him? If the Fallen somehow make it to Ursium, will Weyland turn on this prince friend of his to help defend his own countrymen? I don't think so. Not if he's as good of friends with one of their princes as he seems to be especially since that would make him a target no matter how you look at it. I don't know about you two but I don't want my home ravaged by a tyranical race who think of humans on the same level as cattle."

Though his voice was even -- though his tone was a bit cutting -- his body language showed he was angry with Weyland for any deals he could be making with the Fallen. His arms were crossed, but the real indicator was the intensity of his forward glare and how tense he was, sitting there.

[Phoenix]

Off We Go

And without realizing that his attempt to dissuade her had failed until it was too late, Amon was dragged off to who knows where in search of Silvia. I seriously hope we're not walking into a trap or something. Though this might not even be the direction she left in .... Oh no, are we going to be searching right and left until sundown?

Reluctance

"Well, Weyland's obviously not trustworthy, but there must be something behind this fallen business. I'll reserve judgment until we know why he's really dealing with this Devlinos fellow. For now we need his resources though." Cat explained.

"You could just ask him ..." Raquel replied to her mother.

Cat shrugged and then opened the front window to speak to the driver. "Okay, we're ready to head back to Weyland's." she instructed.

"Alrighty. I'll have you there in no time." he said before she closed the window and sat back down normally.

"... and I suppose you can get some sleep." she said to Raquel.

[Mercakete]

"I guess... Though keep in mind that if he's willing to work with Fallen for whatever reason, he's probably willing to work with other questionable groups," Norbert warned, relaxing only a small bit.

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

Gytha made sure to keep a constant vicegip on Amon's wrist as she wandered around the performances' section of the festival. They were passing all kinds of acts. Some were little stage plays or puppet shows for the younger festival-goers. Others were various kinds of demonstrations or lectures. There were a couple musical performances, too. They weren't what Gytha was looking for, though. She was looking for one person and one person only, keeping a sharp eye out for the woman matching Amon's earlier discription.

Edit: Added Gytha segment.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Mercakete

[GoD]

"I honestly haven't been avoiding you. I've just been... stressed out about a lot of things. But enough of those things. We completed our mission, we got payed, and we're at the festival. This time I'll be sure to participate, and you as well. So come along then, we have games to play and time to waste~"- Chelsea told Shadrak as she walked around the festival grounds, eagerly looking at so much that fascinated her.

[Zsword]

Shadrak smiled, and followed after her. "Well then, why don't we find a game to play? I know I don't know what else to do with all this excess cash..." He chuckled out, glancing around the grounds himself.

[-Cynthia-]

Clara

"Right, white hair and purple eyes aren't exactly common, also the big sword and the gun should be dead giveaways. If there's only one of him, he should be easy enough to find. Let's avoid the military for now, since what we're doing...isn't exactly legal. We should make enough on this mission to cover the cost of a broker," she suggested to Cecily.

[GoD]

"Yes, a splendid idea, I think we should try games that test our magic skills, since you know we're pretty good, no, I mean awesome at that."- Chelsea grinned as she walked alongside her best friend. "But anyways I've seen, you get friendly with Robin and Siv. Are you putting the moves on them?"

As the duo of light and dark mages walked around the festival, they stumbled on a performing juggler offering a game of sorts. Chelsea approached the juggler. "Hello sir, may my friend and I participate in this game?"

Edited October 9, 2011 by GoD

[Mercakete]

"Hello, hello! Welcome, sir and miss! If it's the game you wish, you are quite welcome to play! Three gold a piece per attempt at Rune Squawk! But will the runes concieled within these toys squawk or twitter? They might even roar! Who knows? I might, but I might not. You never know in times of revelry such as these! Haha!~ Now, now is the time for understanding, isn't it? You can't play if you don't know how after all! It is simple, really. I'll toss you a ball containing a rune which makes a sound when enough magic is applied. But how much, how much? That varies! The price is the same, no matter the rune, but you can choose how difficult it is to make them sqawk, low or garggle! Who knows, who knows with my fun little game of Rune Squawk?~ The harder the rune, the better the reward! So, would you still like to play?~" The juggler asked, keeping in with shifting his juggling techniques as he spoke and dancing around like a giddy fool.

[Phoenix]

The Carriage

Once the driver had gotten them back to the estate, he stopped the carriage and gracefully hopped down to open the door and let them out. "We've arrived." he said with a bit of bow and a gesture pointing out the large building.

"Back to 'The Lair', ey, Bert?" Cat commented jokingly.

The Darksider

Having decided to cough up whatever gold they needed to to get a decent lead, they headed off to the first broker on the short list of contacts Cecily had with her. They soon arrived at a large house on the eastern outskirts of Ursentius. Cecily was already a bit annoyed that the broker's location was so far from where they had arrived, but the city itself was far in the distance.

She knocked on the door while her pegasus waited patiently and sniffed at the grass. The door opened slowly and a woman well into her years peeked out. "Oh gods ..."

"Uh ... Ma'am?" Cecily replied, not sure what she'd done to get that kind of response.

"Are you the military? Has my boy been up to no good again?" she asked with some rage in her expression.

We're not going to play the military card on the military, but what about these people? Mmmm ... no, we've got the gold to cover this silly exchange. Let's just get it over with and not play any games. "No, we're just here to see ..." she paused to look at the contact's name. "Darksider ...?"

"Simon, dear; his name is Simon. You must be customers. Come on in. I'll make some tea." she said in a slightly nicer tone than before. Cecily looked back at Clara with complete uncertainty.

[Rothene]

"I see. Well, I'll catch up with you some time in the future. I've got some comrades to follow, rather than let them worry about me getting lost in the crowd," said Ranyin noting the crowd getting thicker. He waved to Tim as he pushed himself through the crowd to follow the disappearing Amon and Gytha. Due to Gytha's blunt method of thrusting herself through the crowd, it was not difficult for the small frmaed kigenese mage to weave through the crowd and catch up to them, with a few distance between.

***

"Why what?," Mireille asked Krystal.

Edited October 9, 2011 by Rothene

[Mercakete]

"Yeah. I'm not too concerned right now. It's just something to watch out for," Norbert responded to Cat as his feet met the ground once more. He decided to wait for Raquel and her mother before actually heading inside, though, since he still didn't think they were safe. Weyland wasn't the root of his concern, though...it was that Fallen.

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

"Alright. It was good seeing you again! Bye!" Tim called after Ranyin, waving his farewell.

[Zsword]

"Why are you studying magic?" Krystal asked Mireille.

Shadrak nodded, "I see..." He set down three coins on the counter. "Give me a hard one... I want to test my mettle..."

[GoD]

"Alrighty then, I'll have the medium difficulty for this challenge, and you can have three pieces of gold sir."- Chelsea said handing over the three pieces of gold required to play the game. "Now may I please have my challenge. mister fool?"

Edited October 9, 2011 by GoD