Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[Snike]

Blake lifted his sword and twisted his arms so that it was pointing diagonally downwards, its' flat facing its' wielder.

"This way of holding the blade lets you block blows with a bit more ease than the other way, but in exchange it's generally slower to attack with." He held the position for a minute, then shifted out of his stance and sheathed his sword. "Anyways, you have to be going before they find you. I'm not going to tell them you were here, so it's all about getting out. If you want to practice more, well," Blake produced the book he had purchased the day before and offered it to the younger sword wielder. "Try studying from this book. If you have trouble reading the text, try and find someone who can understand it." The book wasn't a monumental loss for the swordsman, seeing as he could always afford another copy, and if it helped the kid out, well, it was worth the cost.

[Acacia Sgt]

Seems their talk of books got interrupted. Well, they could resume it while walking perhaps but for now it was more important to deal with the clothes issue.

''I agree on that,'' Sophia said. ''It would be faster than trying to find it on our own.''

''Fine by me,'' John shrugged.

[Phoenix]

Where To?

"Oi!" Gabbie called over to a guardsman. He probably knew his way around the place ... she'd be surprised if he didn't. "Do you know where any clothing stores are around here?"

"Are you looking for an armory?" The man teased. His face quickly went vigilante again as he added "Why ask me about it?"

"... I'm gonna laugh my ass off right here and now if you don't know where a single shop is." Gabbie warned with a blank stare.

"Blasted woman ..." he mumbled under his breath. He then pointed his hand eastward and said "You people just head on down that way until you get to a fountain. It's not too far from the arena, so if you're lost, just keep that in mind. Once you reach the fountain, turn right and head straight. There's a street full of shops that sell both local and foreign attire; it may be just what you're looking for."

"It would ..." Raquel quickly admitted. She was hoping to come away from this shopping trip with more than just rexian style clothing.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Well then, let's get going,'' John said as he directed Gil to move in the direction the man pointed at.

Sophia too began to walk to follow.

[Ether]

And so the formerly silent one began to gush, and handed her a cloak to go with the rest of her chosen attire. The long, navy blue cloak seemed to fit the rest of the clothing colour-wise, as the very least. Slipping it on over the rest, the piece seemed to act somewhat like an overcoat, fitting in nicely with the remainder of her choices.

Giving the woman a thankful nod, she placed the cloak with her other choices.

************

"I can believe that... I don't think I've seen you miss anything at all, Talitha." Faatina replied.

"Though I suppose it would have been difficult monitoring my defences when I was nursing my leg, huh?"

************

"Sounds like the last big swoop, Fox~!" The woman replied, her ears giving a twitch.

"But you're so cold to me, Fox! You'll name your dragons but you won't even address me at all... don't tell me, you..." She began, putting on a dramatic show of a stream of tears running down her cheeks, entirely contrived, of course, but the trickster was adept at this sort of thing, and any observer would have thought the man to have called her a ghoulish monstrosity of a woman and threatened to toss her off the side of the boat or into a dragon's maw.

[Phoenix]

The Arrival

No, not that arrival, hold your horses. Raquel indeed held Riley; the horse was still extremely wary of Ringo, who he now realized could devour him in a little under ten minutes if pressed for time. Despite having to travel at the rear of the group so Riley could keep an eye on the wyvern at all times, they moved out and made for the shops. When they reached the fountain, Gabbie looked off to her right, and Ringo approached the edge of the water to drink while she wasn't looking ... of course by the time he had finished sniffing the water and lapping it up, her attention was back on him. "Oh you ..."

"So it's this way," Raquel said before getting caught on Riley's reins. He didn't follow her past Ringo because that thing was probably still hungry for all he knew. "Riley, what's wrong?"

"Alroight, you've had enough ..." Gabbie gave Ringo a good yank and he conceded to follow her again. She took the lead once again and only then did Riley leave his place and begin tailing everyone else with Raquel. It felt awkward traveling at the back of the group, but she supposed as long as they got to where they were going in the end.

And in the end, they did. It looked like a rexian bazaar but there were plenty of northern goods in just about every store in view. Raquel was immediately drawn toward a store offering a wide range of cloaks. She deliberately kept her gaze from the green one she saw out of the corner of her eye. It reminded her too much of her failure with the emblem piece the previous day. "Okay ... where to start ..." she said, mostly to herself.

Galley of Bacon and Stats

"Yeah. I mean I could make a decent guess on your defenses, but I've never been wrong before and I don't want to break that streak now." Talitha replied as she bit into another strip of bacon. "Better to just retest you ... but it's ... probably not a good idea now with you still recovering."

"Better do whatever you're going to do quick. We're headin' out at noon, ladies." a sailor warned.

"Noon, huh?"

Carrier

Fox grinned ever so slightly and replied saying "You have an amusing definition of cold."

"U-uh ... Lady Kit? W-what troubles you?" asked one of the sailors nearby. He approached not sure how to handle the situation, but Fox didn't look agitated, so he probably wasn't going to get shot, so he took his chances.

"I'm 'cold'." Fox answered first. "Tell them to release Grabacr and Ofnir."

The sailor paused, stood at attention, saluted and ended his routine with "Yessir!"

Edited August 8, 2012 by Phoenix

[Snowy_One]

Robin sighed as she watched Lia pick out her clothes. They weren't ugly clothes but they were far from practical. There was a reason people didn''t go around dressed in extravagant clothing all day after all.

"Lia. You can not wear these pretty dresses all the time. They will get dirty, torn, and will not always be right. You need to find some simpler clothes as well. Something you can wash, clean, mend easily, and the like. Like... Say... This." Robin quickly looked over the available clothes and picked out a simple skirt made of linen. It was not the prettiest thing to look at by far, but it was practical. It could be washed with great ease, was durable, and had several pockets, two on the side and one pouch in front, making it a fairly practical piece of clothes on the whole. "I can fix this if you ever damage it and it does not matter if it gets dirty. It is a good skirt. You should use it."

[Acacia Sgt]

Soon they reached the fountain. <Hmm, this looks like a good place to just fly back to the ship,> John noted. <Well, I guess it's kinda moot since Raquel brought a horse. I suppose she's returning on foot either way.>

And soon enough they were now by the stores. John and Gil decided to just wait as the ladies did their shopping. John was in no hurry to buy clothes for himself and Gil.... well, can't be more obvious now does it?

Sophia for her part was now browsing around. The fact it wasn't limited to only local clothing was a better prospect. Now she could try to get clothing from all kinds now, instead of just Rexian.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Well the captain said that we should become proficient with the cannons in case we're attacked in a naval engagement. The rest of us, uh should be down here eventually," she said, a little embarrassed by the group's lack of participation. "Can you show me how to use the cannons without firing them? I'm not familiar with fighting on the water," she admitted.

[Snowy_One]

Fred gave a sigh as other people seemed to wrap up their business and leave. This wasn't quite what he had hoped for, but he couldn't blame them. He was a newcomer after all and didn't have any real friends here. Still, he had a possible task, learning to fire the canon!

He waited until Nika left to go learn and then, with all the stealth of a ninja rattling suit of armor, followed her, being sure to keep quiet as she went below decks.

"Well the captain said that we should become proficient with the cannons in case we're attacked in a naval engagement. The rest of us, uh should be down here eventually. Can you show me how to use the cannons without firing them? I'm not familiar with fighting on the water."

"I'm here..." he whispered to himself before shaking his head quickly. "I would like to learn as well!" he said in a strong and bolsterous voice. "I have thick muscles, a strong back, thick armor, and a manly chin! I decided to volunteer myself as well to learn how to use these mighty canons of blasting so I can aid these kind people in blasting the people who want to hurt these kind people!"

[Phoenix]

Market For the Shopping

She wasn't intending to buy a new cloak, but one might come in handy. Her hoodless one was working just fine, but it was the only one in her wardrobe. She began going down the isle of cloaks as she entered the open shop and felt the materials of the ones that kept her attention. Some of them had elaborate designs on them, but Raquel passed up most of these in favor of more plain looking ones. She figured that there was no need to bother with those unless she was inspired by the designs. She planned to make her own designs if she was going to bother wearing a cloak like that.

Gabbie noticed the tension between Riley, who was now waiting nervously for Raquel just outside the shop, and Ringo, and decided to go to a different shop for the time being. She went into a shop selling all sorts of dresses. Ringo waited patiently for her while letting his food settle.

Cannons For the Firing ... Or Not

"So the Captain's bolsterin' our ranks, huh? ... good choice." the gunner said with a sly grin. When Fred revealed himself and gave his boisterous resume, the sailor amended his statement. "... never mind. So there's just the two of ya for now? Okay, we can start with that."

The other sailor quickly stepped forward. "First lesson, always listen to your gunner! Your gunner's first piece of advice is this; reload time is critical in an artillery battle! Repeat that back to me so I know you caught it. 'Reload time is critical in an artillery battle.'"

[Acacia Sgt]

Sophia kept looking, some articles already in hand, when she noticed Gabbie entering the same shop.

''Oh, you're also planning to buy something?'' She asked.

[Phoenix]

Market

"Maybe," Gabbie gave a short and simple reply as she scanned the dresses. "If I can just foind something I can actually stand wearing ..." she added with a tone that steadily grew frustrated.

Meanwhile, Raquel grabbed a pair of cloaks she liked and approached the merchant to find out how much they were worth. Once that was done, she purchased both cloaks, brought them over to Riley and set them up over his saddle. It seemed better than stuffing them into the saddlebags for the moment, though she was keeping her eyes open for any thieves that might be around ... not that she could actually do anything about that, though.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Stand wearing?'' Sophia repeated, a bit puzzled as she looked Gabbie's search for a bit before resuming her own. ''Maybe you should look for something other than a dress then,'' she suggested as she grabbed another one. This certainly looks Kigenese, she thought as she looked at it closely.

-----

Meanwhile outside...

''So how long you think they're gonna take?'' John randomly asked as he leaned against Gil, who just grunted in response.

''Heh, at any rate I doubt it would be long,'' he turned a bit to search through the bags, grabbing another piece of food to snack on as he waited. ''They do know we leave at noon after all,'' he shrugged before taking a bite.

Gil just grunted again. What were the chances to have encountered the human female while they had gone to buy meat? Come on, they had flown all the way to that part of town, and she had happened to have wandered in there too, even if she was accompanying other humans?

And come to think of it... if they had bothered following them all the way here, why was John just waiting alongside him? He should've gone with her or something... and why was he now caring all of a sudden now about it? He grunted again at that.

''Hm, what's gotten into you all of a sudden?'' John spoke up. This snapped Gil of his thoughts, turned his head to face John, grunted, and returned to his previous position to now avoid thinking on it again any time soon.

''What was all that about?'' John just shrugged and took another bite.

[Mercakete]

While Synthia was getting the horses settled in the hold that was acting as the stables for now, Gytha found herself not really having much of anything to do just waiting there. Having nothing to do, her mind wandered a little and she thought back to the previous night. Oh right, Nanahm n' I were goin' t' talk t' Raquel about everyone doin' more t'gether. Synthia can help, too, but she's busy right now. Gytha recalled before telling Synthia, "I'm goin' t' go find Nanahm. I'll bring 'im back 'ere so we can all go talk t' Raquel."

With that, the Mariner hurried off to retrieve Nanahm, still holding the two maces. The first place she looked was the galley, but she didn't see him there, so she left that place. He still asleep? Must've realla been tired. Sure enough, when she went into the place they'd been given to sleep in, he was still in his cot. She was a little surprised seeing how the morning was practically spent already, but she knew she'd been that tired before herself. She couldn't really blame him. Still, it was time to get up.

So, she walked right over to him and with the maces in one hand, she lightly knocked on his head with her free one. "Ahoy, there, Nanahm! Mornin's almost gone -- best be pullin' th' sleep ship inta port, lad," she cheerily proclaimed to the sleeping man.

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

Weakness. Everything felt muted and distant. He felt light-headed and a little dizzy, cold and stiff. He could still feel the grime that came with battle clinging to him, too. Wait. Battle? Yes, he was in a battle -- a fight for their lives, as always. They'd run by him and though he tried, he couldn't get up again. But wait... The sounds were different now. It was...quiet. Hardly a sound... He wasn't face-down anymore, either. Wait a minute!

With a start, Norbert shot up, snapping his eyes open wide as he shifted into the sitting position. That accomplished nothing, however, as immediately his head felt suddenly warmer and his vision clouded in a disorganized, shifting veil of multicolored dots. The next thing the pegasus rider knew,he was falling. It felt like a short tumble -- almost spiraling -- though in which direction he couldn't tell, temporarily numb to that sort of thing, though he felt the landing: that jarring impact with the cot that sent him a small distance into the air again which took his breath (or at least it felt like it with that quick gasp and holding of breath) and sent him into a tiny panic, before he finally came to rest in the position he'd started in.

As his vision cleared and blood rushed to his foggy head, making his face feel comparatively normal again instead of too warm, the pegasus rider managed to feebly demand, "Where am I?"

[Phoenix]

Market

"It's just another weapon." Gabbie replied a bit vaguely as she continued perusing.

Raquel moved on to a different shop and found a pair of pants that were close enough to her size for her to work with. A few slight modifications and they would fit her perfectly. "Hmm, what else do I need ...?" she asked herself before looking around some more. A few minutes of that produced a new pair of gloves and few white shirts. That's when she finally noticed Gabbie shopping at a dress store of all places. "Is she serious? I always took her for one of those women who wouldn't be caught dead in outfits like that. I also considered that maybe she was just showing off her tattoos." she thought aloud. That prompted her to more closely examine the tattoos from a distance. "... mmm maybe she's just trying to take advantage of her looks ..." she added with an unamused look.

"Who's trying to take advantage of their looks?" asked the woman shopkeeper.

"Uh ... Oh! Don't mind me, Miss, I'm just talking to myself-really bad habit-, so don't worry about it."

Infirmary

"Oh good, you're awake. I don't like taking care of vegetables; worst job in the world and no one better say otherwise." was the man's greeting to Bert. "You're back aboard the Leverager, so just relax. If you've got any other questions, feel free to ask, but don't try and get up yet. If you hit your head or lose any more blood, we'll be putting you in a box this time around." he gave a casual warning.

The Sky

After flying between the buildings and getting some unwanted attention from civilians and guardsmen alike, Volya returned to a high altitude. He stayed above all of the buildings including the tallest towers of Tremere; Claudia would be safe enough up there. That wasn't really on her mind at the moment, though. "Um, I want to thank you, Mister Volya ... for taking me around the city." she said in a hushed and humble tone.

"We were supposed to go straight from your home to the docks, weren't we? I knew you would just keep pushing me until you got your extra mile in." Volya replied, though he seemed a lot less agitated than before, like he was accustomed to that sort of thing.

"I'm sorry. It's ... it's just that I know I might never see you again after this, and there are so few of your kind in this part of the world."

"Just stop making excuses. I don't blame you for how you're feeling, Claudia; your situation is terrible. You don't have to justify an urge like this." he explained begrudgingly.

"So you ... understand what I'm feeling right now ...?"

"No. I don't know what it's like to be stuck on the ground, but I do know what it's like to receive a bad fate at an early age. 'Unfair' is an understatement for the both of us, and a lot of other people out there. That's why I don't mind doing this for you ... but I do have somewhere I need to be soon."

"I understand ... but ... just a bit longer? If you really need to make it to your ship before it leaves the area, you could just swoop down onto it."

"Fine, but just a bit longer ..." I just know I'm going to regret this ...

Streets

"... spotted'em." Reign said as he gazed up into the sky. The sun was getting ever closer to its noon position and so it was getting more difficult for birdwatchers like him, but he managed to spot Volya nonetheless. "Nothing to do now though but follow them. I hope this doesn't take too long ..."

[Acacia Sgt]

Gabbie's comment made Sophia look at her again in confusion. A weapon? In what way could a dress be used as a weapon? She thought. But instead of pursuing the matter further, she focused back on the the dress she was holding. She looked at it some more, nodded, and added it to her pile before resuming her search.

Soon enough Sophia had what she considered as enough. Fortunately for her Raquel happened to be in the shop too, well, that would speed things up, so she went over so that the purchase could be made.

[Phoenix]

Market

"Jumpy little thing ..." the shopkeeper commented after Raquel's display. She then noticed Sophia heading over. "Find what you were looking for, dear?" she asked the woman.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Certainly,'' Sophia answered with a smile. Though it was quickly gone as she turned to face Raquel. ''Hopefully this won't be a big burden to your money Raquel,'' she told her.

[Phoenix]

Market

"We should be okay unless you're replacing your entire wardrobe." Raquel replied jokingly, though the joke ended up backfiring and making her worry a bit about the pricing.

"No need to fear, girls; my prices are fair~" the shopkeeper assured the two of them. And then Gabbie showed up with a blue dress that almost matched her tunic. She wasn't a fan of changing color schemes, it seemed.

"How much for this?" she asked.

"Oh my, you must have a stunning young man to impress this evening~" the shopkeeper teased.

"If I end up needing this thing tonoight ... uh, yeah, just tryin' to plan ahead."

"Well that dress will cost you fifteen gold."

"Fair enough ..." Gabbie muttered as she produced the payment.

[ReformBlade]

"You know, Nanahm, you're kind of in over your head."

"I know, Raguni sir..."

"No, really, you're like... way out of your league. Fallen, Vasiliwilliwhatever they're called-"

"Vasilus...es... sir Raguni?"

"Whatever. Powers well beyond you. Not me of course! But you? Way beyond. You're big and strong, but your strength is paltry comparatively."

"I like to think I have a firm grasp of what I'm in right now, but I will heed your warning, sir."

"And that's why I'll kill you last, Nanahm! I want you to KNOW it's all over when you finally see me!"

Thunp...

Waking up from a pleasant dream, Nanahm yawned. Hearing a sudden Gytha talk to him in her usual tone woke him up a wee bit quicker, "Oh crap... I over slept, didn't I? We needed to uh..." Yawning yet again, Nanahm quickly forced it out and continued. "You still wanna go get Raquel and talk to her, right? Sorry to keep you waiting if so."

MEANWHILE, Aneda rolled her eyes slightly at Robin's assessment. "Yeah yeah, the skirt is functional in the sense that it covers her, but she really liked what she picked out! I think it says a lot about her, don't you think? We shouldn't force a style onto her unless it starts becoming detrimental. Like... I dunno, she decides that walking around in a bikini is fashionable, theeen I'd put my foot down. Ain't no way that'll fly."

Davod listened idly as the other ladies conversed without him. This was an excellent time for him to consume some pig nutrients as well, it seemed. So he did just that. Yeah, the bacon will keep your mind off of that girl you're totally eye-banging. Suddenly the bacon seemed extremely bitter but he kept on chewing.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Oh, don't worry Raquel,'' Sophia said seeing her attempt to joke about it quickly winded down. ''This is mostly just for the return trip to Ursium,'' she then gazed briefly at them. ''Though I did wanted to have a more varied wardrobe back home,'' she admitted.

Then Gabbie did found a dress in the end, well, good for her. Sophia waited until that exchange was over before asking, ''And how much will it be for all this?''

[Phoenix]

Market

"Now for the two of you ... is this all together?" asked the shopkeeper as Gabbie turned to leave with her new dress.

I'm paying for everything so ... "Yeah, it is. How much do we owe you, Ma'am?"

The woman didn't have a price yet, as she began making short but incredibly fast pokes toward the items in question with a single finger, counting them all up at a distance. "One hundred and twenty will cover everything."

"Err- ... okay ..." Raquel conceded, apparently expecting a significantly lower number. She placed her own purchases aside so she could go into her money bag. Of course, the second she opened it, Chip stood up and poked out like a meerkat sentry searching for oddities. Of course, aside from being a bazaar, everything was odd, the smells, the people, the ground, all of it. He didn't know what to threaten with his pistol first, which fortunately for Raquel bought her the time she needed to retrieve the gold, push him down back into the bag as gently as she could, and pay for the goods.

"Is that a monkey?" asked the shopkeeer. "How fascinating. It looks like he has a some kind of tool on his back."

"Oh, that's just something he got from my father. Nothing dangerous or anything like that." If she can't already tell it's a gun, then she's better off not finding out.

"I see, we'll he looks like a nice little fellow. You should let him out more."

Maybe once I figure out how to keep him calm in situations involving gold ... "You're right, I should, it's just I don't want him grabbing things all of the time. People will think he's stealing for me, you know?"

"Oh, true. Very true."

Edited August 10, 2012 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Nah, don't worry about it," Gytha cheerily replied, hand-waving the apology, "Synthia n' I went out n' got some supplies. Th' Leverager's shippin' off at noon 'cause there's a rebel threat 'r somethin'. I'm goin' t' have t' see what I'm supposed t' do r'gardin' that later, but fer now we can go on n' meet up with Synthia n' head o'er t' sick bay t' talk t' Raquel...after ye get some breakfast in ye. Not sure if there's still anathin' there 'r not, but hey, ye need t' eat." While I'm at sick bay I can drop off these maces too. Yes, this sounded like a good plan. It was easy to shift around, too, if it had to be amended.

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

A box? Well, that was cheery. I must've lost a lot of blood. So, I'm back here, now... Does that mean we won? "What about the others? Are they okay?" he asked the doctor. He could see what was around him now, to a degree (it was mostly ceiling), though he didn't try sitting up again. Yeah, it sure looked like this guy was telling the truth. Something was wrong, though... His fingers twitched at his sides. ... Wait a minute. "Where are my maces?" he added in a bit more of a demanding tone than his previous question, which was a bit silly considering he couldn't really follow through on any threats he might've made.

[Acacia Sgt]

She certainly needs to retrain somewhat that money, Sophia thought seeing the money again going all sentry-like. I'm still glad she came to get the gold.

''We should be heading back now,'' Sophia said to Raquel. Now that their shopping trip was over, it was a good time as any to return to the ship.