Return of the Emblem Chapter Eight: Affairs of the World

[Mercakete]

"Right, right," Norbert disinterestedly responded as he began following Robin away from the Dauntless. She doesn't have to sound so bossy... he mentally muttered. He'd taken along some of his money just to have some on-hand and, as he predicted, Riz followed along as he walked. He was tired of riding and a good walk was just what his legs needed. "We're going to go take a look around. We'll be back later," he called over his shoulder to John, who seemed to be content to stay where he was for the time being at least. He could pass along the message to Raquel whenever she returned from the bar.

[Acacia Sgt]

Hm? John opened an eye again, and turned. <Ah, well, good for them I guess. I'll just tell Raquel then. Speaking of...> He now turned towards the direction of the tavern, opening his remaining eye. <They're sure taking awhile in there. I suppose they could've found some options already... or decided to drink. Or both.> He shrugged. <Well, might as well...> And so he kept his gaze towards it.

[Ether]

Before following Robin and Norbert, Faatina saw the troubadour from yesterday, the one who had raised her. She seemed without much of anything to do, and like a friendly enough sort.

"Your name was Sophia, right?" Faatina said, beckoning to the Troubadour.

"You should come with us. You don't look like you've anything else to do, and it would be nice to have a chance to talk, no?"

[GoD]

When Faatina directed her attention towards Chelsea, the troubadour replied in an angry tone.

"My name is not Sophia, it is Chelsea! Sophia-" Chelsea gestured to the cleric who was standing next to her "is this little lady you see right here. Understand!? Don't get names mixed up like that?"- she was a little miffed.

"As for your offer, your right we have nothing to do so I guess it's okay. That okay with you Sophie?"- Chelsea asked the cleric.

[Acacia Sgt]

Name mix-up aside, she had a point. Truly, it sounds better than just waiting around. Sophia thought. ''Yes.'' She answered. ''I would like to go with you all.'' Hopefully nothing bad happens...

[Ether]

"Ah... sorry about that, Chelsea... I was doing to well with names too..." Faatina replied, the final part mumbled behind a pout.

"I'll try not to let it happen again, but, we should probably go catch up before they get too far ahead of us, right?"

[Snowy_One]

Robin looked over at Bert as the pair started to walk towards the merchants of the town, a curious look in her eye. It wasn't just her unusual degree of niceness to him, but... honest interest? A desire to hear his responses? She didn't quite understand it to be sure. "So, Bert, what do you think I should be looking for in a good knife?" she asked before immediately biting her tongue. They were about to spend a while talking about that sort of stuff and he would likely be bored to death by it. "I am sorry, but I cannot think of anything else to ask you, but I want to talk. Why do you fly a Pegasus? Why do Pegasus riders not use bows, or fly up high and drop stones on their enemies?"

[Mercakete]

"I don't know much about knives, so I'm not the best person to ask anyway. You don't have to apologize for picking a topic that interests you, though," Norbert replied regarding Robin's first question and withdrawal of it before moving on to address her questions regarding pegasi, "I'll answer your last question first: I don't know. They seem to like to stick with swords and lances, mostly. It could be because those are what they're taught to use in the military, I guess. They don't carry around rocks, though, because that'd be rough on the pegasus. It'd have to carry all that weight and remain airborne, you know. As for bows, I can't imagine it'd be easy to aim, especially being in the wind currents in the sky. I guess that could be why but people have probably tried it before."

"Now, why do I ride a pegasus?" he continued, "Well... There are a lot of answers to that, actually. I grew up in an orphanage where most of the orphans join the military as pegasus knights when they grow up. There's a herd of pegasi that coexist with us, so in addition to combat training, the orphans pick out a pegasus as their own from the herd and learn how to ride them. Flying is the only reliable way to and from the orphanage, too. So, one reason I ride a pegasus is because Riz became my pegasus and I taught myself to ride her by watching my sisters. I wanted to leave the orphanage one day, after all, and this way I could do it myself. That's just a practical reason, though. I guess the real reason I chose to learn to ride a pegasus was because my sisters kept saying that boys couldn't ride pegasi and I wanted to prove them that I could do it. I also learned a bit about fighting from watching them practice and taught myself how to use a hatchet pretty well as well as weaponless combat, though I usually lost when I got into fights with my sisters. They also said boys couldn't fight, but we were kids then and now that most of the ones I fought with the most are in the military, they probably learned otherwise by now."

Edited March 26, 2012 by Mercakete

[Ether]

"That sounds similar to Sanctuary, actually." Faatina commented to Norbert, after catching up to him and Robin.

"Well, reversed of course, but similar besides. And now I know why we seem to get along so well, we seem to have had the same introduction to combat." Faatina continued, before looking wistfully at the sky.

"What's it feel like to fly?"

[Acacia Sgt]

And so they were on their way, catching up with those who had left first. They seemed to be in deep conversation about the past apparently.

''You were told boys couldn't fight?'' Sophia said, a bit confused. ''That's something unusual to be coming from within Ursium. Where are you from exactly? Or at least, that orphanage.''

[Snowy_One]

"You have sisters?" asked Robin, intrigued by the notion of Bert having family despite being a orphan. "What are they like? You said they entered into the military, so are they strong and tough? They probably were if they had to grow up as orphans and told you men can not fight. My brother always told me a woman should not fight when we were little, but he could not survive on his own out in the wilderness while I could. Dad said he was stupid and said my mom always... wrestled..."

A sudden shade of pink flushed over Robin's cheeks as she suddenly realized what had happened.

"<DAMNIT!> I did not understand what he meant until right now. Still, if you had strong family, you must be proud of them and they of you. You are a strong fighter Bert."

[Mercakete]

It was odd being the topic of conversation again, especially as the three women caught up to him and Robin. They'd overheard him talking about what life was like for him growing up -- or at least a part of it since he'd only explained a general part of it -- and though the information wasn't something he generally hid, it wasn't like he'd been talking to anyone besides Robin either. Suppressing the unusual feeling, Norbert took note of what Faatina had to say and mentally worked out what she meant by it. I guess she means being told we can't do something just because of our genders. he decided before answering her question to the best of his abilities, "Flying on a pegasus' back is a lot like riding it aground, except you have to balance your weight differently. You use different commands for different angles of flight, like diving and ascending, too. Being in the air there are wind currents the pegasus uses to fly, so it's windy sometimes. You can see pretty far, though, unless there are clouds in the way or things like that."

Faatina's question answered, the pegasus rider turned his attention to Sophia and her question about the peculiarity. This one was probably going to cause him grief in the near future, but there was no reason to run from answering it. It wasn't like this was going to be documented like before. "Well, I come from Ursium Pegasus Orphanage for Girls. Beforeyoulaugh! I was born there. Father Nigel -- the guy in charge of the orphanage -- decided to raise me along with the other orphans. It was probably dangerous to send me off somewhere else since I was a newborn and like I said, the most reliable way to get to and from there is to fly. Father Nigel had raised my mother at that orphanage so he recognized her when she made it there, not that she lasted long after arriving and her pegasus died from exhaustion and the cold since a blizzard struck on their way to the orphanage. So, that's why I grew up in a girls' orphanage. Like I said, most of the girls who grow up there are trained to become pegasus knights so they'll have jobs when they leave the orphanage. I wasn't trained with them. I'm not sure why, exactly. I was given an education like everyone else, but maybe Nigel just thought it would be strange to train a boy to become a pegasus knight. I never wanted to join the military anyway, so..." Norbert shrugged before continuing, "No loss for me. I taught myself how to fight. But since I wasn't part of the fighting lessons, it makes sense that Cecelia and the others would pick on me for it and say that boys couldn't fight. The only men there are Father Nigel and whatever assistant priests Nigel has with him at the time and they're all Mercites, so that probably only added to it."

To Robin, he replied, "My sisters are the orphans I grew up with. We refer to each other as brother and sisters, anyway, even though very few of us are blood related to anyone else there. Everyone has their own personality, of course, and I didn't get to know everyone there so I can't really summarize what everyone was like. Not everyone chooses to go into the military, but because of where we grew up, everyone has the option to. Some are tough, some aren't. Hah -- and I can't think of any who are proud of me. I'm the trouble-making brother with the quick temper: nothing to be proud of."

He wasn't entirely sure how to take the compliment, but it wasn't as out-of-the-blue as the last one. "Thanks. I do my best to keep in shape and get stronger. I'm not as strong as I'd like to be yet, though. I'm just going to have to keep working on that." Well, that was handled and the awkward, uneasy feeling in his belly was leaving. "That's...a lot about me, though... What about you? Did you have any siblings?" he asked the women in general. He was a bit uncomfortable being the center of this inquiry.

[ReformBlade]

"No way." He took one look over at Raquel, the girl who was crying moments ago and complaining, and then back to Gabbie. "Can't... judge a book by its cover I guess? Also uh, aren't you going, like, with her or something? Or are you all just kinda... Doing your own thing for the moment? She seems busy is why I'm asking, I figure it'd be rather rude to just get in her face right now and ask... do what I just did yeah I'm a hypocrite I guess. Sue me! Haha." He took a swig of his mug and felt a little more at ease as he took a seat. "So you know a little bit about me, care to tell me about yourself?"

[Snowy_One]

"I have one. A younger brother named Willheim. Last time we saw each other he was a bard who hated living in Ohka and wanted to make money singing across the nations. That was three years ago by my count and I have not heard from him since. We were not the best of siblings either. I wanted to hunt, he called me a murderer. He would sing and I would tell him he was attracting the wolves to the house. We have not shared a nice word in five years that I can recall. My father was worse. At times I think the reason he cared so much for me was because of how disappointed he was in Willheim. Instead of a son who wanted to learn from him, he got a son who would claim it was his fault that we did not live the life he wanted us to live. Truth be told, I would rather punch Gytha in the face and imply she slept with the fish than see my brother again." said Robin with a depressed sigh.

As the small group walked and talked they slowly made their way to the main market the buildings on either side of them that formed the streets began to grow up higher than before, casting tall shadows down upon the group below, cutting off any direct line of sight with the sun. Arches overhead filled the air as cords and wires, filled with clothes, plants, and many other items that could be hung and dangled from them filled the sky above so thick it would be hard for a bird to fly. The already present smell of sea-water and fish became mixed with the various scents of a marketplace as the clutter of people started to rise up to a sluggish crowd that had to be pushed through. Stalls of various sorts lined the walls of the streets with wares of the ocean and many other ports lining them. Exotic clothes, dates, deer from Skotia, wines from ports far to the north, oysters, swords, it seemed that finding something seemed less a matter of 'if they have it' and more a matter of 'where they have it'. Robin found herself unconciously moving closer to Bert, not out of fear, but rather difficulty in moving through the crowd. She looked back to make sure Sophia and Tina could still be seen.

"Take each others hands." she said, grabbing Bert's and reaching back for Sophia's hand.

[-Cynthia-]

Wagon

"Try not to be gone too long or ya might get left behind," Nadya advised the knife purchasing group. She didn't see the point in coming along- she already had a knife that worked just fine. Besides, somebody had to guard the wagon.

Nadya noticed John looking towards the tavern entrance and decided to approach him. "So do y'all have some kind of signal for when Raquel is in trouble? Does she send up sparks or hoot like a barn owl or somethin'? Though with Gytha around we might not need a specific signal- we'd probably hear a gunshot from here," she added casually.

Bar

Veronika walked over to Aneda, who still seemed rather out of it- Gabriella seemed to be handling herself well enough with the stranger. "Aneda- maybe it's best that you go back to the wagon. Our business is almost done here and we'll need people to be guarding it," she said, attempting not to offend the pegasus knight.

Estate

After relaxing the previous night, Clara woke up bright and early to report back to duty. Surprising even herself, she arrived outside of Layla's office before Cecily or Simon. Maybe my sense of timing is off? she pondered to herself.

Out of the other hallway came a young redheaded woman wearing white armor, a wickedly sharp lance at her side. Seeing her from afar, Clara jogged towards her and gave her a swift embrace.

"Cloe! You're back!" she said happily.

Cloe returned the hug in a somewhat awkward manner. "Uh, yeah I got the deserter. I guess your mission with Cecily went all right?" Cloe asked genuinely.

"No problems at all, didn't even need to fight anything. We even picked up a new comrade- his name's Simon, or Darksider as he likes to be called more I guess. He has to meet with Layla too- we might as well go in together," Clara suggested hopefully.

"All right," Cloe conceded. Darksider huh? Hope Clara didn't pick up some loser we'll be saddled with...

[Ether]

<"That... wasn't quite what I meant..."> Faatina muttered, forgetting to voice it in common due to her dismay. Giving her head a shake, she opted to simply follow along for the time being, picking up bits and pieces of the back and forth. It seemed she and Norbert had more in common than she would have ever thought by looking at him.

Then the question came, siblings. With the line of talk going to Norbert's companions at the orphanage, it was not a surprising turn for the conversation to take, though it was far from appreciated.

"My brother was a guardsman... it was the only work he could keep, and he did it well... my parent's hope laid with me... though born as a woman, I was not to fight, I was their second chance to gain standing in life..." Faatina mumbled, wringing her wrists with her hands as she spoke.

"Mother and father fell ill after a dry spell, they did not get the chance to return to health before they perished... so brother took their place and took care of me... he taught me what he could of the spear... he knew that the teachings allowed by Lady Aisha would not be enough for me... so he took it upon himself to teach me in secret." Faatina continued, still fidgeting, hoping for a distraction of some sort which never came.

"Brother was felled flushing out a group of bandits... after that I wanted nothing to do with Sanctuary... what attachment should I have to the city where all of my family found their deaths? I was also not allowed to pursue the passion he left burning in me... brother's death... was my last straw I suppose..."

Looking up, she noticed the market coming into view. It seemed her distraction was a tad too late.

[Acacia Sgt]

''I wouldn't be surprised if it's really a gunshot.'' John said. ''But seriously, usually if trouble is near we're all together. Well, there are exceptions like back when the Manor was attacked, but back then she wasn't in a position to try to alert us. And I think that's been the only one so far. Unless she gets into trouble in her dreams or something, heh.''

-----

Well, that made sense. I see, it was just the circumstances of the place. Sophia noted.

Now it seemed it was their turn in answering questions. ''Well, I have an older brother.'' She answered, but frowned a little while saying it. But before she could say more, they had arrived to the marketplace.

[Phoenix]

Bar

"Our roide is roight outsoide." Gabbie replied with a blank stare and a shrug. "She's lookin' for ships. I'm lookin' for some toime eoighter alone or in the company of interestin' individuals." She added, explaining the situation in a vague manner. He had other questions though, so she decided to focus on those. "Well, my name's Gabbie. Don't call me that though, or I'll hurt ya~ I'm an employee at Weyland Enterproizes when I'm not stuck with them." she said, pointing her thumb at the others. Don't have much of a past, really."

With Veronika heading over to check on Aneda, Raquel was forced to balance herself. She did okay, but the swaying was barely beginning to wear off. At this point, the bartender was keeping a close eye on her. She quickly steadied herself, held still, and tried to ignore the shifts in the room so she would stop leaning from side to side.

Estate

Morning came, and Cecily was completely refreshed. She felt good enough to not give Simon such a hard time if he was doing anything stupid when she found him. Unfortunately he would not make it easy on her. He found excuse after excuse not to go in to report to Layla and eventually she just ended up pulling him down the hall by his arm. How she managed such a feat is beyond the scope of man, but they arrived in short order. "Good morning ... that's what I want to say but to hell with it. Simooooon, give up already. You're not stronger than me by any measure."

"Help me! Your sister has overwhelming strength! I can't escape!" Simon pleaded.

"Just man up. This is pathetic. It's just a debriefing. Do you want to work with us or don't you?" he finally stopped struggling and stood there, though Cecily didn't release his right arm.

"May I wear my hood up, at least?"

[Mercakete]

Well, that was interesting. It seemed that at least three of them had exactly one brother at some point or other in their lives. Robin apparently did not get along well wither her brother and felt her father's affections toward her were the result of her father's disappointment in her brother. As it turned out, Faatina was an orphan, too, though she didn't seem to have quite come to terms with it yet. He found that a bit curious, but there wasn't any use dwelling on it since they'd arrived at the market. Robin made the practical suggestion of holding hands so they wouldn't get separated. It'd be hard to miss Faatina since she was on her horse and Riz was following closely behind Norbert, so it'd be easy to spot him. Chelsea was likewise on her horse. So, Robin took Norbert's and Sophia's hands.

"Since the others are on their horses, we could just go on like this," Norbert suggested before idly scanning the area for a knife stand or something. Amid the hustle and bustle, his eyes caught sight of one. "There's one," he noted before beginning to head off toward it.

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

Gytha considered helping to steady Raquel when Veronika left, but she seemed to be doing a good enough job of doing it herself, so she just waited there unhelpfully.

[Acacia Sgt]

The market was crowded, as expected. At the archer's suggestion, Sophia quickly took her hand, though it turns out it wasn't her who would be guiding them around, the pegasus rider already had a destination in mind.

Well, since we're here and all, she thought. Maybe I could find something to buy for myself. Well, that would have to wait for now either way.

[Snowy_One]

As Bert pointed out the stall, an eager shudder went through Robin's body as she quickly pulled the small chain of people closer to the shop, passing up Norbert in her haste to get there sooner. Her desire to get there was strong enough that she was almost dragging the rest along as if they weren't moving fast enough. Stepping in close to the wares, Robin eagerly started to look about the various tools. Butcher knives, skinning knives, weapons, knives for cutting meat, eating, and every other possible use that a knife could be used for. Letting go of Sophia's hand she quickly reached out to grab one before drawing her own knife to compare the two side by side. The new knife, made from iron, was a simple knife in a long wedge-shape, thick, and meant for parting the joins of meat. Not quite a butchers knife, more meant for kitchen-use.

"What do you think about this knife? It is not as thin or sharp as mine and the shape is very different, but it will be good for cooking, right?" she asked the group as a whole, though looking at Sophia mainly.

[spoiler=for Merc]Yea, I know I didn't talk to you or Phee. I couldn't log onto mibbit to even see if you were on. I'll fix it when you're on and I can get on. I just want to clear the field for replies.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Snowy_One

[Acacia Sgt]

''Um... I guess?'' Sophia said. ''Sorry, but that's not something I'd know much about.''

[ReformBlade]

"Yeah yeah..." Aneda mumbled. The worst of the drink was more than over with, so she stood up, stretched, and then payed for her drink. "Not a bad drink, sir~." Aneda complimented the barkeep, just to be courteous. As for Veronika's suggestion, "I guess I could. I've... had my fun I guess, time to work! Or something to that effect, right? Anyway, I'll be outside if anyone needs me. Oh and Gabbie... play nice with him, ok~?" Without waiting for an answer, Aneda walked out of the bar and decided to keep Hannah company near the Dauntless.

Hanging his head low for a moment, Davod sighed and tried to continue his conversation with Gabbie, smiling at her. "Aha... I'm probably not the 'interesting' you're looking for, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained as they say. And if I can't call you that, what can I call you? Miss? Lady? Ma'am? Then again if you'd rather be by yourself I can just shuffle on away or something, I'd hate to make you mad before I even potentially work with ya."

[Ether]

It seemed that her confession had fallen on deaf ears. Part of Faatina was relieved, while another was livid. Together they formed an impasse that prevented dire action on one way or the other. Following Robin over towards her chosen stall, Faatina looked the numerous knives over. Taking a bit longer to admire quite an ornate stiletto, Faatina eventually found more multi-purpose blades, and found herself picking out a sturdy, steel combat knife with a decent heft behind it, and a sharp, but not narrow edge. Satisfied with her find, Faatina began fishing through her cloak to find her coinpurse.

"This seems like quite the nice blade. How much?" Faatina asked, holding the blade to the shopkeep so that he may get a better look at it.

[Phoenix]

Le Bar

With Aneda deciding to head out, Gabbie noted that she would be on her own if anything happened. Group numbers were always something she kept in mind when doing anything, no matter how insignificant. "You can call me anything else that's not utterly stupid until I start to loike you." Gabbie replied with a slight smile. "So you mentioned you wanting to work with us? Be honest with me, here, do we actually look loike we don't get into the worst situations imaginable?"

Le Cabin

When the nomad was dropped off at the captain's cabin, the door shut behind him and he stood there looking out of place for a moment. The captain was at his seat behind a needlessly large desk with a map in front of him, as well as ten pistols, and a bottle of alcohol. He looked up at the 'guest' and raised an eyebrow. "You again? What is it you want now? We are not setting out, yet. I told you ... come back tomorrow."

"And as much as I like doing what I'm told by potential employers, it was expedient to let you know that people you talk to are getting hassled by brutes." the nomad explained.

"Hmm?"

"Some guys--dunno who they work for--told me not to join the Leverager. That's all they wanted, or they probably would have kept trying to dust the walls with me. How could they possibly know I was even thinking about signing on with you if they didn't know about us talking, earlier? I doubt they're just threatening random people on the street."

"Bastards are trying to slow me down, are they ..." the captain muttered bitterly.

"Bastards you say?" the nomad inquired, tilting his head slightly.

"Alright, Reign. I will hire you, but you had better be good."

"Ummm, about that ..."

Le Store

There were voices, always with the voices. Of course some louder and closer ones tipped the drifting rexian off that there were customers. He didn't care at first as long as they didn't try to steal anything. He had to open his eyes and stop resting when a sale seemed imminent. A rexian woman seemed to want to make a purchase. "One sun coin." he answered Faatina in a lazy voice. He glanced over at the other potential customers and sighed. Next, he looked over his shoulder and found himself alone tending the shop. That was just fantastic. More work and a certain someone was nowhere to be seen.