Return of the Emblem Chapter Eight: Affairs of the World

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Oh, I'm very fine with it Bert, I think this is an excellent idea. I want to be in a position where I can keep a close eye on you," she said wryly to the pegasus knight, keeping her gaze fixed on him.

Nadya

"Eh, put me with whoever," Nadya said, worrying a little bit. What if we chose the wrong side...maybe these smugglers are stronger. No place to run out on the open sea.

Edited April 13, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

Ahhh blast... Norbert internally groaned at Veronika's reply, suddenly not so alright with the arrangements. Good thing she can fight... "Fine, whatever. I don't mind you keeping an eye on me as long as you don't do anything stupid like trying to control me," he replied somewhat sourly.

[-Cynthia-]

"I won't try to control you- but I'm going to make sure you don't do anything you might regret later. As long as you do your part to complete the mission, we shouldn't have any problems," Veronika said casually to Bert, crossing her arms.

[GoD]

Satisfied with the answer the captain have her, the troubadour bowed in appreciation and afterwards made her way to where the group was gathered, right next to Shadrak. When the teams were announced, she was rather surprised that she would be working with Gytha, not that she minded of course, and once again with Sophia.

"Wait are you sure that we should have two healers in the same group?"- she asked Raquel.

[Snowy_One]

"I am fine fighting alongside anyone, even Gytha, but I do have a request of my own. I end up face down in the dirt far too often, so if possible I would like to be grouped with a healer and someone to keep me safe. I doubt that will be though, but it would help a lot.

[Mercakete]

"Make sure?" Good luck trying to "make sure" I do anything, snob. Norbert thought in response to Veronika.

"Err... Raquel? Blake? Is there a reason ye don't want me around on yer team anymore?" Gytha finally spoke up. Her voice was smaller and more uncertain than usual and though her grimace still remained, there was also legitimate confusion on her face as she looked between the two.

[Ether]

"Ah... that makes sense... I got injured far more than I would have liked in the last fight... perhaps it was because I was working on my own..." Faatina replied, hearing Raquel mention a decent set of teams, with most accounted for, though she noticed that she herself was not.

"Err... Miss Valcyn, who did you want me to work with?" Faatina asked, remembering the feeling of that axe ripping into her torso... she definitely wanted to meet with whoever she would be paired with, to avoid having it happen again.

[Phoenix]

Input

"The teams aren't finished, yet. That's why we're having this meeting. I want to get everyone accounted for. There might not be two healers on any one team after this." Raquel clarified for Chelsea as she wrote down Davod and Faatina's names away from the main cluster on the parchment. She now planned to just get everyone's names down, and then draw lines connecting them to others within their respective teams until they finalized it. Then she would write an actual draft on one of the spare sheets that was more neat.

Gabbie had stepped away from the Dauntless and she was the one to comment on Robin's request. Raquel didn't get the chance. "What do you expect to happen when you can't take care of yourself?" she chimed in. "No armor, no self defense techniques, and not even a vulnerary ..." she listed off while shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips. Of course then she noticed that the task of tying Zel up was complete. Some of the captain's men were already hauling him off. "Where's he goin'?"

"The brig ... we'll ... have a chair or two there when you're ready to question him." one of the sailors replied. The Ursian knight was hauled away after that, and Gabbie shook her head again.

"Sooo yeah, you probably do need protection and a healer nearby, but don't forget that it's only because you're leaving your ass out for the enemy."

Raquel meanwhile responded to Gytha saying "The teams aren't permanent, Gytha. As time goes on and our abilities grow, there's no telling who might be best guarding me." she explained. She went on to add "If these were more long term arrangements, I think I'd just let people handle it themselves, but this is something we need to improve and configure as often as their are changes within the group, and as often as we're expecting a fight. We have some new additions and we're getting ready to chase down smugglers, so now's as good a time as any."

[Mercakete]

So...they don't think I'm capable o' protectin' Raquel. Guess Mirielle's better at defendin', though... What about Blake? Guess Raquel appreciates him bein' around. ... "A'right. If ye think it's best," she was still uncertain, but she'd let Raquel keep whoever she wanted around her.

[ReformBlade]

Aneda smiled at Filat, not quite sure what to make of the compliment. "Well yeah, armor should be hard, silly~. Anyway, if you're good enough then I've got to go take care of a few things, sir. Sorry to injure you all the same." She said as she tended to Hannah for a moment before hearing a ruckus elsewhere. A ruckus that simply would not stop it seemed. "The fuck is going on...?" A fight, or at least a few blows were traded between Zel and Blake, but it ended so fast Aneda couldn't qualify it as a fight. Either way, she wandered herself and Hannah over to the now calm discussion. Teams, it seems, were being discussed! "If it's any help, I can fill in any offensive role we need..."

Davod, however, missed the one-sided fight altogether but caught sound of Raquel asking about teams. "Yeah, I kinda need placement as well. I'll see what you do with me first, though I'll say I'm very fast and a good morale booster at times. I guess you'll just have to see the latter for yourself later..."

[Phoenix]

Outside Input

Raquel wasn't sure her explanation really cut it, and she wasn't set on any particular team arrangement for herself, either, so that was a lingering bit of guilt she wouldn't be able to shake until it was battle tested. In the meantime, she still had people to consider. Everyone's name was written down, so she began playing around with combinations in her head, silently standing there with her hand and the pen hovering just a few inches off the parchment.

The captain soon stepped over and looked over her shoulder at the mess of names. "Strong team," he commented. He got her attention right quick, since she didn't know he was that close. "You want a strong team. I am surprised someone like you would take to the front. Are you a mage?"

"Sort of. Not a very strong one. I use support magic." she clarified, trying not to let her nervousness show. Next, she saw his hand come over from the right, his finger stopping right on a name on the list; hers.

"You have many things to consider. If you fall in battle, it could send your entire force into chaos. Someone with a large shield should guard you. You also need someone who could do either ... attack or defend." The captain soon convinced Raquel(though without actually asking) to put weapon drawings next to the names to show what that particular person was capable of. People like Veronika and Bert got drawings of their own weapons, while people like John and Mirielle got both their weapons and shields drawn next to their names. She drew the symbols for various types of magic for the corresponding magicians. This made things much easier for Captain Bogdan as he continued to judge various members. He didn't pay much mind to people around the Dauntless just yet. They couldn't all be identified by the things Raquel drew for them. Only the ones that could be easily identified got anything more than a glance. "The pegasus girl wants an offensive role. I hope she can handle it." he commented, pointing his finger at her name once he realized who she was. Another team was forming quickly.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Phoenix

[Snike]

Well, the teams had been suggested publicly now, so all that there was to do now is observe reactions. Immediately, it appeared that Gytha was confused about the new teams. Blake made a note to explain to her his reasoning later. For now, he would just wait and see how the final teams turned out.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Snike

[Phoenix]

Arrangements

Raquel and Captain Bogdan continued to exchange input, questions, and answers while Raquel drew new lines to indicate new arrangements. There weren't that many overall, but after a few minutes of low volume exchange and jotting, she took a blank sheet from the nearby sailor and wrote up the final arrangements. Instead of putting up a flier and hoping everyone would get around to reading it, she just read the thing off like a town crier while various reactions came in. "Here are the new arrangements: I will be teaming up with John and Blake. Veronika, you'll take Bert and Ranyin, just like before. Ga-bbie, you Aneda and Faatina are forming a team together."

"Heheheh lance central." Gabbie teased.

"Robin, Mireille, and Davod will be working together. Gytha, Sophia, and Chelsea are on a team. We can't rely on Zel at the moment, so Shadrak and Nadya will be a duo." she concluded.

Shadrak turned his head away spitefully. "We're safer without him. No one is going to be able to focus on the battle if they're expecting a stab in the back, so it's a good call." he replied, praising the decision a little. "I can take care of myself ... and the nomad if need be."

[Acacia Sgt]

The talk about team management went on, some of the members of the group voicing their own suggestions or reactions. And finally a decision had been reached, that is, if it met no opposition.

Both John and Sophia just listened away.

<Reassigned again huh. Not that surprising.> John thought. <Not that it changes much, I'm gonna end up all over the place anyway. Though, we'll be fighting on limited space, or at least everyone who can't fly. Well, we'll soon find out how it goes.>

So it's with them? Sophia thought. Hopefully due to being on a ship it means we can stay mostly together. Though if the fliers get injured while being away from us... That certainly wasn't a good scenario.

[Ether]

Seeing that she was placed with Gabbie and Aneda, Faatina tried recalling who they were. Gabbie was the lancer she had talked to earlier, Aneda was... that pegasus knight, if she recalled correctly. They had not yet spoken, Faatina noted to rectify that soon enough. As for Gabbie...

"It looks like it might be an even better idea for us to try and get a spar in then, huh?" She said, addressing the lancer.

[Phoenix]

Leverager: Ready

"Well that's it, I guess." Raquel said with a shrug. Something then crossed her mind that got her to look the captain right in the eyes with some concern. "Do you know where Reign is? Maybe we should add him to the teams."

"He might not have made it back in time. He left the ship some time before you people started loading your things. I don't know if he ever came back or not."

"So you just left without him?" Raquel asked immediately. That was somewhat alarming since she thought the more mercenaries the captain had under his command the better.

"If you did not notice already, the Dark Utka has gotten a good headstart, and we are not going to sit around waiting over one man. Our forces coupled together should suffice." Bogdan explained somewhat coldly. Raquel lowered her head a bit, saddened by the possibility of not ever getting to catch up with her old friend.

Meanwhile, other things were said by other people, for example, Faatina mentioned the importance of her lancing practice with Gabbie, to which the woman replied "Maybe after I see what's gotten into Zel, sure, I guess." She glanced in the direction they had hauled the knight off in and then shrugged.

<"FULL SAIL!!! WE NEED TO INTERCEPT THE UTKA BEFORE SHE REACHES TREMERE!!!"> the captain yelled in Neviskotian to his crew. Afterward he turned Raquel's group. "From here on out, you people are on call. When we catch up to the Utka, we will assess the situation and plan our attack. Until then, stay out of the crew's way. If you have questions, direct them to Filat. Do not waste too much of his time, though. He helps coordinate the work on the main deck."

[Mercakete]

Well, that was that. Gytha would be fighting alongside Sophia and Chelsea. She didn't know either all that well and among the three of them, Gytha was the only dedicated fighter. The other two used staffs, as she recalled. If they both get in trouble, I don't know what I'll do. Can't protect both at th' same time. Don't know their tendencies either. The mariner sighed as she worked out the problems in her head. Wish I was workin' with someone I was familiar with... N' s'far as I know, I'm th' onla one who can attack anythin' among us. I'm used t' havin' backup... Well, guess there's nothin' t' be done about it...

She'd been just getting used to her new team of Raquel and Blake, so shifting to another team so soon was hard on the mariner. As she thought about it, her sadness over the situation slowly began to turn into guardedness and even a small fragment of resentment. Is Raquel like Captain Grater after all? she wondered somewhat bitterly.

The listed teams weren't much of a surprise as far as Norbert was concerned, seeing as he was only really interested in who he was supposed to be fighting with. It'd already been discussed, after all. He didn't much feel like talking to Veronika, but he noted to talk to Ranyin soon. It'd been a while, after all. Raquel adjourned the meeting and talked with the captain a little before said captain began barking out orders in some foreign language. Then he addressed their group.

The captain's talk to the group got Gytha's attention, pulling her mind from irritating memories. As soon as the captain was done speaking, she spoke up. "Hoy, Captain, none o' us have t' stay out o' th' crew's way. We signed aboard, so it's onla fair we do more than just fight. Ye set th' r'quirements o' yer crew, us included, aye, n' I won't speak fer everyone, but I, fer one, won't shirk me r'sponsabilitas as a sailor on this ship. I'll take orders involvin' th' ship too, sir," she dutifully informed before pointedly glancing at the others as a whole, "N' I hope me colleagues have as much integrity t' do th' same."

Norbert sent a small glare Gytha's way at her last statement. Hey... He sure didn't know how to run a ship and he was supposed to keep an eye on Riz anyway. They'd probably just have him do simple jobs if they did have him work with them for more than just fighting since he really wouldn't know what he'd be doing without instruction, but that was only if he volunteered, it seemed. Still, he didn't like the way Gytha phrased it.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

Well that was amusing. "Heheheh, nooooo thanks." Gabbie commented before waving her hand dismissively and walking off. Shadrak was equally put off and crossed his arms in a bit of silent protest. He didn't much like Gytha's mention of integrity. There seemed to be more than enough men tending to the ship's heavy duty work already.

"I only wanted the extra manpower for the fighting, but if you or anyone else are volunteering for even more work, speak with Filat; he knows where we're lacking. I have a few more things to take care of while there's still time." the Captain replied to Gytha with a small nod.

Around that time, a group of three tome carriers appeared at the edge of the poop deck at the back of the ship. They were dressed like everyone else, not being obvious mages without their tomes on hand. They all drew as much power as they could and thrust their hands out toward the front of the ship. A very strong gust kicked up and filled the sails, giving the Leverager a small boost. It wasn't much, but this had gone from an ambushing mission to an intercept mission in the space of an hour, so they needed every edge they could get and couldn't count on the wind carrying them faithfully to the Utka. There was no telling how long those mages would try to keep that up, but it did give Shadrak an idea. If he ever caught sight of the party's own wind magic user, he planned to point him in their direction. He still didn't like Gytha playing at integrity to involve people in the shipwork, but for Shadrak this was more about catching up to the Utka than actual duty. He would have been up there right then and there if he could summon up enough energy to provide a boost to the sails without eating massive holes into them. He wasn't good for everything, he affirmed begrudgingly to himself. He would make up for it in the actual battle, though.

OOC: [spoiler=For Snike]I'm hoping to start the battle tonight but anything anyone says to Zel would just get caught up in chaos or stall everything. The talks are still relevant, though so I want to do them in retrospect.

Relevant parties:

Raquel: Why's you attack me? etc

Gabbie: *facepalm* etc

Wrath: *thumbs up* etc

[ReformBlade]

Did... Did she really just have the guts to say 'if they have the same integrity as I do'?! "Right, right..." Aneda began to speak up. "The same integrity that lead to you almost singlehandedly getting all of us kicked out of Sanctuary, and the same integrity that leads you to shoot a teammate? No thanks, I'll pass on that bullshit logic train, okay? And besides, they're fine as is in terms of workforce. As far as I'm concerned I'm just here as a bodyguard of sorts for when things get out of hand. And before this gets any more personal, Gytha, I'd like you to refrain from judging people out of fucking nowhere. I don't give two shits if you think you're an upstanding citizen or a goddamn master prankster tyrant thingamajig, you keep that shit to yourself..." Done ranting, Aneda took Hannah over towards Gabbie and... "Faatina, right? I'm Aneda, looks like we'll be partners for a wee bit." Smiling she extended a hand for some newfangled gesture known to some as a handshake.

Wait, who is Robin or Mireille? Did we meet either of them beforehand? Davod scanned the crowd to try and find out whoever he was supposed to be working with, but to no avail. "Ah well... I'm the new guy, they can find me, right?" he said to himself. Yeah I guess that'd work...

[Ether]

Accepting the handshake, Faatina replied to Aneda.

"Ah, yes. Aneda, well met." Releasing the other woman's hand.

"Do you guys always get into fights like this? You were infamous in Sanctuary for it, though I thought it might be a more rare occurrence?"

[Snowy_One]

"I am Robin." said Robin as she raised her hand to help Davod pick her out. "And you are Dovad? We have not been introduced yet. I am a archer who specializes in sniping and non-lethal take-downs. I do not know much about you either though."

[Mercakete]

"If I'm hired t' do somethin' I do it. I, fer one, am goin' t' pull me own weight. N' cultural differences has nothin' t' do with me integrity," Gytha simply and sternly replied to Aneda before locating Fiat and walking over to speak with him. "Not sure if anyone else needs a tour n' I'm pretta sure I can figure this ship out but at some point I'd like t' know th' layout so I can work here more effectivla. I'd also like t' see yer ship's rules n' sign if that's part o' th' crew's requirements. Don't want t' go breakin' any rules unintentionalla. What's yer rank, anyway? If ye don't mind me askin'," she asked.

As Gytha walked off and began talking, Norbert got to wondering. Wait, did we sign up to work, too? I thought we were just going to help with the fighting... Well, it sounds like Gytha thinks we're all suddenly mariners or something. The captain just said he just wanted some extra muscle to help with the fighting, so I don't get what her problem is.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

Yeah, all right tough guy. Nadya thought to herself at Shadrak's response to their team pairing, but decided not to push it. She decided to go back down below decks to spend time with Luca...this helping with the ship stuff didn't seem mandatory or profitable and she figured someone would bug her if she had to do something.

Veronika

"I think our time would be better spent preparing for our task than pretending we're seamen. Besides, if history's any indicator, some of us won't feel up to doing much of anything," she noted, remembering the multitude of issues people had crossing the Kigenese channel.

[Phoenix]

Filat

"Well, the Leverager is much like most large galleons I've seen. We're currently on the main deck as you probably guessed. It's where we've got to keep your troublesome wagon for the time being. We don't usually haul live cargo as large as horses so they're the next deck down. Long term storage is way at the bottom, just below the orlop deck." he explained, pointing to anything he mentioned that was in plain sight. "The Quarterdeck, navigation, infirmary, galley, and Captain's cabin are behind us. The ship is large, but things are still packed rather tightly. She needs to be able to haul a lot of cargo and ammunition." he added, grimacing a bit. Maybe he wasn't too thrilled with the ship's missions or something. "The captain expected the worst hiring land-bound mercenaries, so as a precaution, he was planning to gauge us before handling anything like the ship rules. That clearly went straight to the depths. As for my rank ... well ... I'm supposed to be the first mate, but I didn't earn it. Enough about me. Did you want an actual tour or ..."

Bogdan

The following exchange between Gytha and Aneda wasn't of any concern to Bogdan, and he wasn't surprised there was still some tension among Raquel's people. She recovered from the first incident well enough, and things fell back to order in the end, so he decided to head back to his cabin, but left with some parting words. "I'd like to speak with you in my cabin when you have a moment, Raquel."

Raquel

She could only wonder what he wanted to speak with her about as he left, then lowered her head shamefully as she thought back to everything that had happened since they boarded. She was never going to be able to live this down ...

[ReformBlade]

Rolling her eyes at Gytha's comments again, Aneda smiled at Faatina. "Fights like this? I don't know if it's happened often enough for it to be a common ocurrence, I joined with em not too long ago. Thing is, I think a lot of it comes from vast misunderstandings all around us. I mean, I don't get a lot of things politically, magically, hell even physically, but hey, I'm not gonna question what isn't hurting me. But that's neither here nor there, if I had to guess, I'd say things get really tense very easily in this group. My advice? Keep a cool head on your shoulders and your wits about you. If you're a soldier like you look, you should be doing that already! I've been through my share of battles, nearly died many times, but I never lost my cool. Level heads win out at the end of the day, not unfettered emotions. That's not to say letting go once in a while is bad!" Aneda's eyes lit up, thinking back to that heavenly drink she had at the Sandbar. "To summarize, since I seem to ramble... I think yes, this is unfortunately common, though they keep finding new ways to make it even more extreme... Stick by me and I promise you'll be fine."

"An archer? Ah, forgive me, I'm getting ahead of myself!" Clearing his throat, Davod continued. "Davod Icaros, at your service. I'll be part of your team here for a while it seems. So... you're an archer, you say? Sounds like a... well a rather important role to fulfill. A well timed shot could change the flow of battle before it even starts. I'll uh... I'll do my best to keep them off you and set up shots for you. If there's one thing I'm good at it's distracting opponents. I may not look it but I'm quite nimble!" He grinned as he let out a small laugh. "And if it's alright with you and this Mireille we're supposed to be with, I'd like to try and do something while we fight. The way I see it, Fighting is one big chaotic mess. A way to win, basically, is to try and find a rhythm and focus on that, like a... A metronome. If we can sufficiently keep opponents off of you, you're free to focus on a rhythm and you'll find... well you'll find that you'll be doing things a lot faster and more precisely than you would if you were trying to take into account everything on the field at once. Now, I'll work with you on this, so uh... what do you say?"