Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[ReformBlade]

"Aye. I mean yes. Yes I need to eat." Well that was odd. "I'll get something in me and then I'll go meet you at the sick bay or... wherever she's supposed to be, right?" Making sure he had directions right, he got himself up and ready for the day, stretching his body out (now he's 8 feet tall, how yall not notice this) and limbering up for the sure to be awkward day it was going to be. "Right?" he asked again as if to try and keep himself on topic.

Edited August 10, 2012 by RainbowKitty

[Mercakete]

"Aye, we'll see ye there after you've eaten," Gytha replied with a bit of a laugh before heading off to go back to Synthia to tell her the plan.

[Phoenix]

Market

"Oh, just one more thing before we do if that's okay, Sophia." Raquel made a small plea before turning to the shopkeeper woman again. "Are there any bookstores really close by? We've got a long trip ahead of us and I'm almost out of material to read."

"Really close? My brothers run a small shop down the street. They mostly deal in tomes, though; I'm guess you're looking for something else?"

"Yyyyeah." Raquel replied gloomily. "Well, I guess I'll just have to think of something else. Okay, we can head back now."

Infirmary

"You're asking the wrong guy. You didn't come in here with any maces. Don't know what to tell you."

Just then, one of the crewmen stepped into the infirmary leaving the door open behind him. He came with a small plate of bacon strips and a mug of water. "Doc, I've got your breakfast for you, heheh."

"About time. What, did you brutes nearly forget about the guy who keeps you alive after a bad bout?"

"It was pretty hectic, sir. I was lucky to fetch you this much. There's also a few more heavy eaters than usual."

"Whatever. Just set it on my desk."

"Here ya go~" the sailor complied.

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh right, Sophia thought. She was also interested in getting books for the voyage. Well, it seems they were out of luck in that department.

''Maybe in the next port?'' Sophia suggested, but really, that probably was the only alternative unless they could find a shop on the way back. At any rate, it was time to go so she proceeded to walk back outside.

[Ether]

A bit of a back and forth between two of them, and Lisandra wasn't quite sure what it was about. One of them had picked out a skirt, she could only assume it was related to that. Giving them a slightly confused look, with her head tilted to the side, Lisandra just watched them go at it.

*********

And so the dragons were to be released, though Kit was not unaware of the slight smile cracked by Fox.

"So you do know how to smile, Fox~! That's good, it would have been pretty bad for a powerful guy like you to not know how~!"

*********

"Looks like we're a bit short on time then, huh?" Faatina replied, with a sigh.

"Oh well. I guess I don't really need to know, since there isn't a tournament to compete in..."

[Mercakete]

Norbert was about to complain that his first question hadn't been answered when someone came through the door carrying with him something that smelled fairly unmistakable. And that was when his stomach woke up, apparently, sending out hunger pains that the pegasus rider would have to acknowledge. Food later. "Hey, you never answered my other question! What happened to the others? Are they alright?" he demanded.

[Phoenix]

Market

"That's some days from now, but I guess I can try to find something else to do to distract me. Let's go." With that, she returned to Riley and placed everything she had purchased that was more than a foot long over the saddle. Smaller things like the gloves went straight into the spacious saddlebags underneath. She then turned to Sophia. "There's still space up there. That's a lot to carry back ..." she offered.

Infirmary

"Well, obviously they're alright. There's only two of you in here. If they hadn't made it, who would have brought you both back here, those wealthy pedophiles? Heh, I don't think so." he replied facetiously before picking up a piece of bacon for himself.

Galley

"Well ... you can always try again later. Mandy and I will probably be leaving in the next day or two, ourselves. I can't show my face on the Yoshimo islands, just like last time, but there are other branches around. Maybe we'll run into each other and we can finish up." Talitha replied, trying to find some sort of silver lining.

"You don't work in one place?" the sailor asked. Whether or not he was curious, he used the opportunity to smoothly swipe one of the bacon strips Talitha had hauled aside for herself. Her hawk-like eyes caught the whole thing. The Bacon Wars had begun ...

"Yeah, we travel from guild site to guild site with orders from headquarters to fix any problems that demand our attention and get rid of any idiots dragging us down. We're kind of like inquisitors, but we don't just spy on people and report back; we've got the authority to do whatever it takes to get the various guild groups back on the right track."

"... sound more like guardians ..." he commented while trying to imagine Talitha in heavy Neviskotian armor. And just like that she swiped back not only her piece while he was glancing the other way, but two of his pieces. He would spend a few seconds completely oblivious to the act.

"We don't kill people ... but we can fire people and hire new ones as needed. It's a great job, and I worked really hard to get accepted for it."

Carrier

"I'll start smiling more often once I have my property back," Fox remarked before standing from his chair and stretching his neck a bit. "Maybe .... Until then, there's work to be done. If there's anything you need to take care of before our arrival, you should do it now. I'll need everyone on standby, just in case something goes amiss and I have to adjust some things."

[Acacia Sgt]

''If you insist, though wasn't that why you brought him in the first place?'' Sophia said, handing over the clothes.

-----

<Looks like it's almost time to go,> John thought, seeing the ladies emerge back on the street. ''Alright Gil, time to get moving,'' he said to the wvyern who grunted as he rose. <Hm, maybe I should hold off on flying back to the ship, just in case. Though surely Gil wouldn't like that, heh.>

[Phoenix]

Market

"It was why I brought him, yeah. I still wasn't sure if we would even need him or not, though. In fact, I wanted to make sure I bought at least enough to give Riley some actual work, even though that's kind of stupid ..." Riley was proud to carry Raquel's things; they were so light, he could barely notice them. He did notice Ringo, though. That savage beast was just waiting for a chance, he felt.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Considering how worried you were before regarding spending too much money, I'm surprised you're thinking that,'' Sophia said.

[Mercakete]

Two of us? He wanted to sit up quickly, but seeing how well that went last time, Norbert instead carefully propped himself up on his elbows at his sides. He felt a little dizzier doing this, but at least he could still see, even if it wasn't as clearly as it would've been if he was healthy. "Valter? What are you doing here?" he asked, his temper rising a little, "I thought you said you wouldn't let yourself keel over!" Well, apparently getting worked up wasn't good for him, seeing as his his dizziness intensified as he scolded his friend. In an attempt to recover, Bert leaned his weight onto his right arm and closed his eyes, resting his left hand on his head to try to make the spinning stop. Blasted dizziness...

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

"Hoy, Synthia," Gytha greeted happily as she returned to the mage in the makeshift stables, "Let me know when yer reada n' we'll meet Nanahm at sick bay, a'right?" She was content to wait for the mage. After all, Nanahm would be eating, so they had some time.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Market

"We're not over budget yet," she explained and followed with a small shrug. Her tone soon changed and she added "Of course I didn't get everything I was looking for, either. It's almost noon, though, so we should get back. I don't want to hold up the captain."

[Acacia Sgt]

''I suppose I could say the same, though I'm content with what I got today. But you're right, let's head back,'' Sophia said and began to walk.

John and Gil for their part waited until they were almost near them to follow suit on heading back.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Back aboard the Leverager after proper boarding procedures, Gar flagged down one of the sailors milling about and asked. "Oi, where's the Captain, I have something to return to him." It would have been better to do this before he had gone off to the market, no need exposing the spyglass to unnecessary risk no matter how small, but he was lazy and tired of this whole port thing anyway.

[-Cynthia-]

"Reload time is critical in an artillery battle," Veronika repeated dutifully. She found having to mimic phrases slightly insulting, but she supposed that the sailors needed some basic form of instruction to keep order.

[Phoenix]

Leverager Deck

"Return? He's in the cabin, probably still plotting our route so we can give those rebel bastards the slip if they come down this way." the crewman replied to Gar.

Gundeck

"And do ya know why reload time is critical? I'll tell ya why! Because whoever gets off the most shots WINS, dammit!" the cannoneer explained.

"Well there's also accuracy, but that's the gunner's job. If your reload time is garbage, then the value of accuracy goes up quite a bit ... and even so, it won't make a big difference in the end if the enemy ship is laying down more fire and wrecking us. We actually have more guns in place and ready for use than your average galleon. We need to be able to overpower other ships singlehandedly because we never have backup coming. The Leverager's an independent vessel and needs to be armed as such."

"That does have some benefits. The Dark Utka would have lost in an artillery duel against us. Anything less than an Imperial mainstay doesn't stand a chance."

Return Trip

And with the shopping complete, they made their way back toward the ship. It wasn't a very long trip, but Raquel found herself with plenty of time to envision how boring the trip back to Ursium would be at this rate. She considered distracting herself with work of some kind, like adjusting and personalizing her new clothes, seeing if she could sell anything to the Leverager crew, and so on, but it still only accounted for several hours out of the whole day. Reading old books was always an option, but something she tried to avoid when possible. And just like that, she decided that she needed a new hobby if she was going to endure this trip with any sort of grace.

Outer Sanctum

Within a few minutes, the covers on the large carrier's main deck were opened and an orange scaled dragon wearing a large harness and bridle appeared and looked over the edge of the main deck down at the water. Another dragon with the same sort of gear on, extremely pale blue scales and a tanned underside appeared and peered over the other side of the deck. Next, the wind began to pick up mightily. Fox approached the two which quickly got their attention. They both looked to him curiously. He pointed up toward the sky with a single finger and said "Go exercise." in a distinct tone.

The two dragons hauled themselves up fully onto the deck and then both spread their wings as they leaped from the ship. The sheer force of both dragons leaping away at once pushed the Outer Sanctum down twenty feet deeper into the water. The whole ship was shaken, but Fox and virtually everyone else kept their footing against the daily occurrence. Now there was just awaiting the arrival of the captains ....

Edited August 10, 2012 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

"What if there's more than one ship? Shouldn't we attempt to sail away rather than be significantly outnumbered? I assume the side with the larger numbers tends to win even in naval engagements," Veronika pointed out.

[Acacia Sgt]

Gil grunted. Why did they had to go through land to get back? Well, he at least got to fly the way in, but still. Probably John was just in no hurry or something, he himself wasn't of course, but you'd think in that case they'd just leisurely fly back.

The shopping was done, though Sophia hadn't forgotten the clothes she was wearing now were still in need of mending. Well, once they were back she could always retell Raquel if she had forgotten, which was unlikely, considering Raquel also had her own clothes to mend after all.

Didn't looked like they ran out of time. Things would've complicated a little if they hadn't. After all John knew it was one thing ferrying people, but another would've been trying to get Riley across. Perhaps being carried by all four claws of either wyvern.... well, there was no need to test that out right now anyway.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

Once they reached the docks, the Leverager was in clear view, and Raquel smiled. There were more sailors about, and it seemed like they were getting ready for the voyage to Yoshimo island. Despite dreading the boredom she had coming her way, she couldn't help but notice how large the Leverager was compared to some of the other vessels nearby that they might have had to get passage on if they had left. There was only one other galleon at the docks, the Dark Utka, and its repairs looked finished. Raquel carefully lead Riley up the loading ramp and over to the Dauntless while Gabbie led Ringo over to the opposite side and put away the blue dress with her other things.

While Raquel began going through her purchases, Gabbie headed into the Dauntless. "Connor, I'm home." she said in a joking voice. Raquel heard it from outside and chuckled. May have been a joke to Gabbie, but the Dauntless actually was like a new home for her.

Gun Deck

"If it's just a couple of frigates, we'll take our chances. Odds are one sinks before we take too much damage, and then the other one is on its own against a well armed galleon. Not much chance of losing to a smaller ship."

The other cannoneer didn't hear the other side of that explanation that he was expecting and so touched on it himself. "Of course, if there's two galleons we run the hell away."

"Hey, not always. Sometimes galleons are under-gunned. That's when you can take'em, easy. Besides, the Leverager's too large to escape certain combat situations. Retreating is for sloops." the man defended. "The only time we should be avoiding another ship is if they have way more guns than us, have enough armor to shrug off attacks, or they're tryin' to friggin' ram us ..."

[Acacia Sgt]

And so they were back at the ship. Once they were next to the ship Gil decided to not bother and just flew over instead of using the ramp. Well, didn't mattered much, John caught up to him shortly after. <Well, now we wait for departure I guess,> he thought.

------

Sophia for her part followed Raquel so she could see to her own purchases. She knew most likely they were going to be stored in the Dauntless since, well, where else could they be placed? But either way that wasn't the pressing issue.

''So, Raquel, are you going to be mending the clothes now or...?'' She asked. Considering they might be getting into trouble not that soon after departure... but better to be sure now.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"I didn't have anything else planned for the day, so I might ... right after breakfast." Raquel replied.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Mmm, right, cabin, got it, thanks," Gar sort of absently replied. Any speculation on what these rebels were could wait until he actually talked with the captain. So Gar went over to the cabin and knocked on the door. "Oi, Captain Bogdan, I'm here to return your spyglass."

[Acacia Sgt]

Raquel's comment about breakfast reminded Sophia she hadn't had it yet either. ''Breakfast... it isn't a bad idea,'' she said. Well, she could join her when she goes to the dinning hall, no need to worry then.

-----

Now the duo were back to the usual position of one lying down napping and the other leaning against the side of the first routine of usual. John was just gazing around as usual.

<Hm, isn't that Mandy?> He thought, since indeed it was. <I wonder if it's just her or Tali is here too.> Well, there was a way to find out...

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Oh, how was your trip?" he asked Gabbie, seeing her put away the blue dress. "I don't think I've ever seen you wear a dress before," he said, cocking his head.

Veronika

"What if our ship does get rammed?" she asked out of concern. "If it breaches the outside should we...grab planks of wood or something to fill the hole?" I'll be glad when we're back on land- you don't have to worry about the earth sinking most of the time

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"Well, I'm going right now, so ... want to go together?" Raquel asked. She wasn't used to 'hanging out' with her companions, but it seemed like the natural thing to do, so ...

Dauntless

"I don't loike wearing dresses loike these, but they're useful. Especially if I have to mix in with a certain crowd or get mistaken for a noncombatant~" Then she stopped to think about the dress after she had put it away. "Now I just need to decoide where I'll hoide a shiv and I'll be all set~"

Gun Deck

"If we get rammed? Standard procedure is to contain the damage, get some guys on the water pumps and try to cover up the breach ..." he answered blankly.

"But more often than not, the idiots just run around in a panic. You wouldn't believe what the fear of drownin'll do to the chain of command ...." the other cannoneer added. "Getting rammed doesn't always cause a flood, but if they've got a naval ram, the damage is usually catastrophic and it's really hard to recover from that. We find a ship with a ramming head, it's top priority. A lone ship like the Leverager can't afford to get hit like that, but luckily, smaller ships pack less of a punch and larger ships are easier to avoid. Even if we do get hit, we do have a decent team of engineers that don't freak out and run away when the ship takes a lot of damage. They could keep us afloat, no problem."

"Actually, the Captain sent all of our good engineers over to the Dark Utka to speed up their repairs ..."

"... what ...?"

Cabin

Captain Bogdan answered the door in person for the second time ... wow, just wow. "Ah, it's you. Thank you for returning this, but I have a question. How many of Raquel's people are still in town? We're leaving at noon and the Utka is already preparing to set out."