Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[Ether]

"Unh...?" The girl groaned, as her eyelids fluttered open, lavender orbs residing behind them becoming alight with the bright gleam of conscious thought. She could feel herself being held up by something... someone.

*Thump. Thump.*

'Is this... the enemy? Did I... lose?'

*Thump. Thump.*

A girl? She was rather slender, and she did not appear to be native to Tremere... perhaps she was one of the ones who had come to attack those men?

Zachary came up beside the girl, his face more familiar to her now that she was released in part from her stupor. Yes, he was a friend... he was not out to harm her.

*Thump. Thump.*

"Z... Za-" The girl stammered, a sharp cough cutting her off, her throat still raw, as a slight trickle of blood escaped her lips.

*Thump. Thump.*

Her small hand snaked it's way up to her own throat, rubbing the infernally indignant contraption to soften the pain in the inflamed muscles.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"If we can't go against her, Raquel needs to learn how to use the emblem. I'm more worried about the Organization than Lilith frankly- they seem to have a knack for finding us and they are stronger than we are. I...don't have a plan for dealing with them yet," she admitted reluctantly to Reign.

Nadya

John mentioned something about the girl, which made Nadya pay attention to her for the first time.

"Purple eyes, white hair. Just like Gabriel- oh I see what you're gettin' at," Nadya said, smirking. "She's one of those humans that was made in a lab. Hmm," she said rather noncommittally beginning to scan the room for loot. That paintin' looks expensive...can't carry it in my pack though.

[Eail]

Just as Zach was about to open up the files Gar had given him him, he heard a small sound croak out of the girl. Almost sounded like his name in fact, anyways Zach handed off the files to the nearest person he had, which just so happened to be the heavy armor guy.

Getting a good look at the girl he noticed she had some blood running down her mouth and was rubbing her throat, probably from all the screaming she had done. Zach asked her the first questions that came to mind "You alright kiddo? Do you, uh, know who I am?"

[Snowy_One]

"Be careful." said Robin with a low and soft voice. "She had been through a lot. She needs space." she wasn't sure at all if that was right. As a small child whenever she had been hurt, either hunting or by some other means, one of the first things her mother had done was try to keep her separate, to give her some space. The second thing had been to keep her voice down and soft when she was sick, something that had helped with any headaches immensely. Robin wasn't sure at all if either of those things applied here, but she knew she had to at least try.

[Acacia Sgt]

Seems Zach acted quickly on taking it out. Well, Sophia now followed suit with using her staff to heal the wound. ''There, that should do it.'' She said before heading back with the others.

-----

Good, someone did catch on to his line of thinking. And now the girl was finally coming to her sense. Now Zach approached her, while handing John the files he got from Gar. Gar said they were relevant to Lia, so it was as good as any to have solid proof right there.

''Yes, especially after she sent the chandelier down and using that axe, that kinda gave it away combined with the hair. But just to be sure...'' John said as he opened the folder. <Well now, just as thought.> ''Yeah, it is written right here. She is indeed one of the Artificials.''

''Artificials?'' Sophia spoke. Most certainly something else that happened to the group before she joined them.

[Ether]

"Z-za..." The girl choked out, bringing forth another cough, and another scarlet stream. The girl decided it would likely be best not to attempt to make any sound, opting to simply nod her head before pushing off of Robin, and bringing herself to her own feet, albeit shakily. Grasping a railing for support, the girl leaned her back against the cool marble wall, closing her eyes for a brief moment.

[Eail]

"Just rest up for now kiddo, I'll deal with everything else for now." Zach told the girl. Turning to the rest of the group he asked "What exactly do you mean by artificial? I knew she wasn't exactly normal but she's got to be human right?"

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"Normal humans are born from a woman, artificial humans are born from magic. Whether she still counts as a human or not is a matter of opinion I guess," Nadya said, shrugging. "She doesn't seem able to fix herself though- not like those ones we fought before," she commented casually, looking Lia over.

[Phoenix]

Manse

Reign grunted, feeling a bit powerless for the moment. He couldn't even question Lilith himself until she showed up. Would she show up? Probably. The chances seemed good with what he saw; a group protecting Raquel while she tries to master an ancient artifact that some organization is going to great lengths to get from her. He'd just have to wait, but he could only wait so long. It was pretty obvious that they were going to head back to Ursium soon enough ...

There seemed to be something else going on as well, that girl they had rescued. 'Artificial', yeah that couldn't be good, and once Nadya answered, Shadrak followed up with that 'matter of opinion' she'd warned them about. "They're not human, not really," he began, deciding to leave his cloak be for the moment, bloodstained or not. "They're just humanoid weapons."

"Heheh, they're called 'artificial humans', Shadrak, not 'humanoid weapons'. You should know; you were there. They had an artificial dragon too. Gonna say that wasn't a real dragon?" Gabbie chimed in.

"It wasn't a real dragon, just a cheap copy. I'm not trying to get into semantics here, I'm only saying that while they have the same shape as humans, they aren't truly human. They're fake. They're constructs made for one thing, war. Even this girl's capable of butchering people singlehandedly and she's half our size."

Edited July 6, 2012 by Phoenix

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Gar didn't know a damn thing about magical theory. All that crap just went right over his head. So when he heard the princess package was possible some magic-created human his reaction was all of not really caring. It might happen, it might not. hell, the Emblem of Legend was here! And that Lilith of the vasili! So why not believe every insane thing coming out of these people's mouths. But if there was one thing he could answer... "What makes a human? Can you answer that Shade drake? Though I suppose that's a matter for people who argue semantics." Gar shrugged. "Though really, are you planning on doing anything about her? Making all these blood, sweat and tears meaningless? Going against our dear unconscious leader's last orders?"

Gar pulled out hit belt and tool again and began putting the remaining holes in it. "And don't act think there aren't plenty of nice normal human children out there that can be just as brutal as any so-called artificial. Kids always look just so innocent right until they ram a knife into the back of your head after all, womb-born or not."

[Eail]

Zach was just about to respond to what Shadrak said, but Gar had beaten him to it. He had pretty much hit the nail on the head on his points and had covered everything Zach would have. So for the moment he just walked over to John and got the files back, then started to read.

'Artificial Human, commissioned to begin a new religion, was bought for quite a large sum of money......... And has the name Lia.'

Deciding he'd ask if that was her name as soon as she was up and about Zach simply retook his position near her, watching Shadrak just to make sure he didn't do anything he'd regret.

[Phoenix]

Manse

"You weren't here when we fought the other artificials or when the fallen came after us, so I don't expect you to understand where I'm coming from," Shadrak began, crossing his arms as he turned to face he man directly. "The fallen came at us with things that looked like dogs, but were they? Of course not, they were weapons. If you don't want to distinguish, that's your business, but personally, I think risking our necks to save something like her is just as compulsive as risking our necks to 'save' a bunch of would-be dragons. Raquel's in charge here, and despite my outspokeness I stand by her decisions and won't get in her way."

Gabbie shrugged at Shadrak's reply not really caring to stay involved and slipped into her own thoughts as she glanced at the door. Despite how demolished the party was, she was about ready to head back to the ship and get some rest and relaxation. Artificial humans are weapons, huh? Maybe I'm one too. Not like I can remember where I came from or anything like that. "... thinkin' about headin' back soon. Is there anything else?" Yes, there were injured people to move and Nadya probably needed some help looting, but Gabbie didn't really care right now.

Her question got Reign wondering what the group's intentions were for Raquel. There was always a chance she wouldn't wake up for quite some time. "Nothing to be done about any of that right now. What are you going to do about Raquel in the meantime? You're not going to just let her lie here on the floor ..." It was worded like a part of a question but spoken like a direction. He sounded pretty set against leaving her there until she woke up, but was hoping Veronika understood why, and left the concerned expression on his face to hint at it.

[Ether]

The girl wasn't sure what they were talking about. One of them seemed mad, it seems a few others were going back-and-forth with the angry one. Another appeared to be hovering with concern over one of the fallen.

**********

Moving up to Reign, who was clearly concerned about Raquel, Faatina wheeled Sharif around beside him.

"Do you want me to bring her to the ship, or does she need more treatment before we move her?"

[ReformBlade]

Aneda seemed to start dreaming or something, an occasional twitch in her fingers every so often. What was she dreaming about? Reader... I'll just tell you to not bother and just assume it's something normal, walk away, and never ask that again. Shame on you. Ah crap she's... Wait she's waking up? Well that was short lived. Opening her eyes again, Aneda looked about. There was noise, probably discussions going on, but she couldnt' understand a single word of what was actually being said. Her wound was closed, but the tear in her clothing was an obvious tell. Is it scarred? Dammit, I never know what healing can or can't do... Oh well, not like anyone cares but me. How long was I out? Why was I still on the floor... She slowly sat up to further assess the situation. Bad idea, she started getting light headed, a whee bit cold as well with the blood loss and all. Aneda was going to have none of it though, she stood up, leaning heavily on her spear and feeling all sorts of wobbly and wishing to sit right back down again. "This is..." she couldn't even finish the sentence she was so tired, but she was equally determined to at least prop herself up against a wall. And so she did it, of course there was some raggedy breathing and a lot of shambling to go along with, and perhaps the greatest sigh of relief she ever exhaled as she slid down the wall and started resting again. A slight hint of color returning to her face from the endeavor.

Davod on the other hand, that guy was still breathing hard. He made his way over to the closest person, a dark haired girl. I think her name was... Synthia? Don't take my word for it though. "I can and I will!" Davod said out loud for no apparent reason to other people, "Are you alright, Miss?" he said through pants and an occasional grunt. "Haha, I probably pulled a muscle or 4 there... Urgh old age isn't pleasant if you want to be active!"

[Eail]

Aneda getting up and then falling right back next to Zach and the girl was a pretty sudden change, she looked pretty bad even though she had been healed.

'Maybe she had some wounds that weren't fixed right'

Giving her a light shake on the shoulder while bending his head to try to get a look at her face Zach asked "Aneda? Are you okay, do you need me to go grab a healer real quick?"

[Ether]

One of the injured woke up, and shambled over to the wall rather absent-mindedly. As the girl looked this person over, it was clear they had it rough during the conflict, several tears evident in their clothing, armour dented and dinged, and just generally bloodstained all around. Eventually, the woman made her way beside the artificial girl, and eventually slid her back against the marble wall, letting out a sigh as she did so.

She seemed to be in pretty bad shape. Feeling a sympathy for the woman, the girl herself being all too familiar with the feeling, she reached out her hand and placed it gently on the woman's shoulder, giving a light squeeze.

"Y... you... o-ok-kay?"

[roymbrog]

“Can and will...what?” Synthia asked, glancing at the newcomer curiously. Who was this guy again? Did she know him? She took a small step closer to Gytha. “Ah, I'm alright. Are you? I can't do much for exhaustion, but I've got a staff.”

[ReformBlade]

Someone was talking right next to her, but who was it? "Huh...? Heal...er? No... please, I'm-" Another voice, someone much younger perhaps? She hardly recognized it aside from feminine, or an extremely young kid anyway, "Look.... I'm fine... I've been... treated... Just need some... rest..." The nudge really made her woozy, the sudden jarring messing with her head. She wanted to lash out, the best she could do was look up and give a the pusher a look and silently think at him, Please don't do that Zach... Come to think of it, it was Zach. Shit, he turned out to be right the whole time... Time to swallow my pride at some point then... A smile on her face she held her head down to try and gather her wits about her, almost falling asleep again but jerking it up again just before a true nod off. Bad idea, she was getting dizzy all over again, forcing herself to lean back yet again.

"Well yeah a lot of it is my overexerting but I think I may have pulled some muscles, if you think a staff can alleviate some of that I won't complain!" He said with some gusto. "I don't think I've introduced myself, my apologies. Davod. Davod Icaros, at your service... although that sounds kind of reversed given the situation." He said with a slight nervous smile, "If you're doing it that is."

[roymbrog]

Synthia didn't see any reason why a staff wouldn't fix pulled muscles, so she tried healing them. So Davod was the crazy guy's name.. alright then. “I'm Synthia. Feel better?” she asked as she finished.

[Eail]

'Yeah, in hindsight even that slight shake wasn't a good idea, nice going dumbass.'

"All right then, if you need anything I'll be right here. Don't know how much longer we're gonna be staying though." Zach told Aneda

[Acacia Sgt]

Humans made from magic? And even a dragon!? Sophia was surprised at this. Was there little magic couldn't do?

Arguing over semantics and exact words, big deal. John didn't care. Even back in that night that gunner was an artificial yet helping them and he wasn't even just focused on killing. That level of sentience could already show he was above being called a weapon, whatever Shadrak thought regarding the issue. But then that wasn't surprising, considering he also considered the egg-born dragons as weapons too. How discriminating.

But nevermind that, now Reign brought up the issue of what to do with Raquel, who was still unconscious. Faatina offered to carry her on her mount, who seemed to be the only one to have brought hers.

''Not a bad idea. Though regarding the others... say Zach, I take it the cult has some stables with mounts? It may be faster than going back and forth for ours at the ship. Unless we aren't moving them right away. Carrying various unconscious people across town in the dead of night can raise a few eyebrows without a proper explanation after all.''

Edited July 6, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[Eail]

"Yeah, there's some stables out back. There should be enough horses and a wagon or two in order to get everyone back to the ship." Zach responded

[roymbrog]

Synthia was ticked off. Did they just ignore her, or was lizard boy more important? “Hey, I'll have you know that was my idea first. If you people had better hearing, we could've already had the horses here already.”

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, that was quite an unexpected reaction. ''I don't think it matters who came with the idea first.'' Sophia pointed out. ''So long we can get them safely on the ship, that is all that matters.''

''So, are we moving them right now or we just get the mounts in advance?'' John asked.

[roymbrog]

Well, that shut Synthia up, for the moment anyway. It really wasn't the time to be petty. It did show how little any of them paid attention to her, though. She felt like little more than an extra staff.