Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[Rothene]

Mireille shook her head then stared at the boy sternly, "Either way, stealing is wrong no matter the intention. And yes, I protect the weak. But I also have to see to it that the unjust receive their due punishment."

Loosening her grip on the boy slightly, so as to not hurt his arm but still gripping tight enough that she was sure he won't escape, Mireille added softly smilling as kindly as she could, "Well, think of it this way...the mage might probably hurt you for stealing her belongings. But I will at least stop her from doing so. And I will see to it that you come to no harm, this I promise you so long as you promise to behave."

Then frowning, "So, you mentioned something about your brother and...kidnapping? Tell me what's going on, for it sounds like there are more evildoers in this tale of yours."

***

"Uuughh..." was all Ranyin could mutter as he slowly regained consciousness. Pushing himself to sit upright, the Kigenese mage rubbed his head where he bumped into the thief. That part of his head was all sore, but nothing he could not tolerate. "Synthia? What're you doing here? Gah, why does my head hurt?!"

[Acacia Sgt]

<A pickpocket chased to an alley?> That sounded very familiar. Quite, same thing happened back at Ursentius. <Some things are the same no matter where it is.> John thought. <So he is in need of help huh. I should probably stay with them to lend a hand. At least in the air I can keep an eye without problem, hopefully.> He noted.

Edited May 4, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[Eail]

Taking the folder from Cervantes' hands Zach noticed how thick it was for such a simple assignment. "I promise you can count on me sir, Miss Valcyn and her group will make it here." Rising from his chair and giving a short bow he continued. "Now if you will excuse me, I'll get started on this assignment right away." With that concluded he exited from the large room and proceed to his own.

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

A Short Time Later In Zach's Room

'Wow, according to these dossiers Raquel's group is actually fairly powerful, maybe I could convince them to help me? I can tell her that the Org is after her in this city and that the cult is planning on attacking her. They can launch a preemptive strike against them and I can save the girl, everybody wins....... Except for the dead people of course. Whatever, I can work out a more detailed plan in a little bit. I need to read the rest of this file for now.'

Flipping through more of the files on the group Zach was actually surprised at how much trouble the group had caused the Org recently and wondered what in the world Raquel had done to piss the group off. Moving on in the folder he discovered that they group had recently made port in the town on a ship known as The Leverager. 'I suppose that's the best place to start looking for her. Now I need to get started on a plan.'

[ReformBlade]

"Aw come on, why are you so embarassed? You're good lookin! Ain't no shame in admitting it, is there?" Aneda put an arm around Faatina's shoulder, giving a smug smile due to the reaction she had gotten. Oh Faatina, dear... you're making this too easy! "It may be a good thing there's so few men comparatively in this group, otherwise you might have a bunch of em hittin on ya left and right~!" She couldn't help but laugh. "Oh come on, let's just go grab you something non-sanctuary like for food!" Aneda started to walk off with Hannah before giving Faatina a smile. "Come oooon!"

[Ether]

"Y-you think so?" Faatina replied with a somewhat weak tone as she was pulled against Aneda.

"I don't think it'd really end up like that... I mean I'm nothing special... look at Raquel or Veronika... their's are so... well... what do I have to compete with that...?" Faatina began, trailing off slightly as she spoke, Aneda laughing profusely.

'How did I get myself into this mess?! I need to get better at taking things like this I guess...'

It seems Aneda had started off towards the market to get some food, Faatina could only hope she wouldn't continue on that... particular tangent.

"Err... coming!" Faatina managed, following after her perky teammate.

[roymbrog]

Torin relaxed a bit as Mireille loosened her grip. At least his frantic speech had accomplished something. As Miri had asked, he took a deep breath to recount his story. “Um, well... There’s this group in the city my brother used to work for. He left ‘em a while ago, but a few days back they returned and took him. Said he owed them money; 1000 gold. They were gonna make him pay it off in the arena,”Torin said. He started sniffling for maximum effect. “S-so see *sniff* that’s why I needed the money... ”

“I’m saving your ass,” Synthia said, croching down by the mage. “You know you were just robbed? I don’t know if the kid knocked you out or what, but that’s probably why your head hurts. Here.” She raised her staff over the part of his head he was rubbing and healed the forming bruise. “It shouldn’t hurt so badly now.”

[Acacia Sgt]

<The arena huh.> John thought, hearing the kid's explanation. <So I take it we'll be heading there then. Well, this didn't turn out to be such a bad stop to make after all, heh.> He let out a little laugh.

[Rothene]

Mireille frowned as she listened to the boy's story. She stroked her chin as she digested his words. On one hand, people who owe money need to always pay back, but not in a way that was not suited to their skills. She did not agree to the method of forcing someone to pay off debts through arena battles.

Then she turned her head to face John and asked sternly, "What's so funny wyvern rider? How could you possibly laugh in the face of a child who's family is in trouble?"

***

"Yeah...I feel better now, thanks. So you said a kid knocked me out? I suppose it was my fault trying out new magic here," Ranyin chuckled embarrassed. "Well I better go appologise to the kid, eh?" he added, missing the part about him being robbed by said boy.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Hm? What makes you think I was laughing at that?'' He asked. ''I had so happened to be heading to the Arena when I spotted this little scene. I just found amusing that maybe that's where you all are probably going next.'' He explained with a shrug.

[Rothene]

"Go to the arena? I highly doubt we would all be heading to that unruly place. It is such an ignoble thing to practice unnecessary violence for sport. I would not participate in such uncouth activities," Mireille said with her head held high, trying to look...arrogant.

[Acacia Sgt]

John couldn't let out another small laugh. He couldn't help it, this was slightly amusing. ''Well, going to the Arena doesn't always means participating in their fights, or even to be an spectator of them. Besides, don't you want to make sure if this kid is really telling the truth or just lying to get away from here?''

[Phoenix]

Raquel

Raquel wasn't sure what to do about the emblem, really. If she tried to figure out how to use it on aboard the Leverager, someone would probably notice. The emblem piece she carried was probably the least subtle possession she owned, shining like the sun and blinding nearby spectators at a moment's notice. Well at the very least she couldn't let an awkward pause ensue. "Right." she replied with a nod. Hard to tell she had no idea what she was doing or planning.

"Well, if there is nothing else ..." Bogdan gestured at the door with an open palm.

"Err-right." she said again, this time just sounding caught off guard.

Gabbie

"Yep, and of course I'm okay with it. Havin'em with us makes my job that much easier. Soooo I guess I'll go snag him from whatever he's doin' really quick and be roight back." With that, she headed back toward the Dauntless, much Ringo's dismay. The wyvern wasn't going to bother trying to fly between the sails and the masts like a stunt wyvern. Only if forced while Gabbie was actually riding him. Instead he flew over and grabbed onto the netting and kept an eye on her. One of the sailors just happened to be right there and coming down from some sail work. He and Ringo stopped what they were doing to stare at each other for a moment.

"Are you supposed to be up here, wyvern?" No answer, just more staring. Once Ringo felt the sailor wasn't going to try to get him off, he returned to keeping an eye on Gabbie. Indeed, the sailor wasn't equipped to deal with the wyvern, and he wasn't causing any problems, so he left him up there and climbed back down.

When Gabbie arrived, she knocked on the inside wall of the Dauntless. "Mister Weyland, you have an appointment." she announced, trying to sound a bit like a perky secretary. She'd even dropped her accent for it.

Cecily

With her sisters off on their individual 'assignements', Cecily gave Proteus one last pat and then left the stables herself. She stopped just outside to begin taking in her surroundings. There was nothing quite as annoying as being unfamiliar with her environment, so she needed to deal with that as soon as possible. After quickly memorizing the layout of everything in sight, she began walking around on her own. She never shied away from a chance to explore a dark alleyway or an open and empty building. Several times she spotted or heard hidden figures, but she didn't react to them, and as she expected, they didn't react to her.

Tavern

"Mind your own business." Hayato shot back angrily. Colin was just about to answer anyway--if nothing else, he could spite Hayato, again--, but one of the sentries entered the tavern and got his attention first.

When the man spotted Clara, he quickly approached her. "There's some round guy on a horse outside. He claims to know you and your sisters, but I'm not letting that freakshow in here until someone verifies it."

Person

The man sighed. He was used to people being angry with him, so Bert's reaction only made him frown. As the pegasus rider left, he scratched his head wondering what to do now. "Oh what are the odds of finding another pegasus? Miss Claudia will be so disappointed." he hung his head and eventually disappeared into the crowd once more.

[Rothene]

"Truth..." Mireille remarked blushing. It had not occurred to her that the boy may be lying to her. Her instructors had notified her she believed what others said too easily and tend to not question other people's words. It was from their point of view a good trait for a soldier, but terrible anywhere beyond a normal grunt.

"I...well...uh...I trust him...I think," Mireille struggled now that she was unsure if she was lied to or not. She never lied before and always accepted punishment when it was due like a well brought up noble born girl. It baffled her why would people lie. But she had read many stories about how lying had proven to ultimately achieve greater good. Feeling confused and emotionally hurt, she turned to face Torin and asked with some tears forming at the corner of her eyes, "You are not lying right? Tell me truthfully whether what you said was true...please?"

The mighty armours she was used to wearing may protect her from physical harm...but she was warned that it took greater strength of will to guard one's emotions and thoughts. At the moment, the young knight could only feel self loathing slowly creeping up her mind with no shields to raise against it.

[ReformBlade]

"Hahaha... Faatina, it's not a competition! But whatever. Either since it's me or since you're just naturally that shy about it I'll stop teasing you..." It was sad, but Aneda had to stop it. "But hey, it's not like I'm lying to ya about it either. Just... take the compliment, but more importantly, you should pick something out that you wanna eat! I'm sure they've got some variety of foodstuffs you've not had before, and just remember that it's on me, consider it a gift."

[Ether]

"Sorry... I'm just not used to it I guess..." Faatina replied, still somewhat flustered.

"I-I'll try to be better about it in the future, like I said... I'm not used to it, and it was really unexpected... hmm... how about you pick something, Aneda? I want to try something that you like."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

At the captain's direction, Veronika left his office and went back onto the ship again. She considered checking out the arena, but thought that might be a waste of time with so many group members having wandered off. She sat down on the deck and began sharpening her sword instead.

Connor

"Huh, who? Oh hi Gabbie," he said finally turning around from working on the helmet. "What sort of appointment?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Clara

"Oh, that must be Simon, he's with us. He is a little odd I guess, but freakshow is a bit harsh," she commented before turning back to Colin.

"So what's this about Sardis?" she asked, ignoring the scarface guy, who seemed intent on being entirely unhelpful.

Cloe

Cloe decided to step away from all the people talking and head upstairs instead. Maybe I can find some documents or something...I know I don't want to talk to any of these people. she grumbled inwardly.

[roymbrog]

“Uh, Ranyin, he robbed you. I don’t see why you need to apologize, it should be the other way around,” Synthia said, raising an eyebrow. After helping Ranyin up, she started walking back towards the street to retrieve Phyllis, as she had wandered off.

Torin was a bit overwhelmed. More people had just appeared, and now the girl who saved him from the angry mage was beginning to cry. He decided that he didn’t like the wyvern rider. “I’m not lying!” he said fervently. “My brother really is at the arena. If you take me there I’ll show you that I’m not lying.”

Synthia sighed at the scene as she returned with Phyllis. “Are you really going to believe the brat? His brother may be at the arena, but that doesn’t mean the rest of his story is true.”

“I am not a brat!” Torin protested.

“You sure sound like one to me.”

[Acacia Sgt]

''I'd say he should be given a chance.'' John said. ''We have nothing to loose in trying.'' <Whether is true or not what he says... well, once we find out we'll see what to do next.> He thought.

[roymbrog]

Valter woke from his nap, sat up, and stretched. As much as he disliked being alone in the belly of the ship, he was feeling pretty cheerful. His fever was completely gone and aside from some congestion he was fine. He retrieved his quiver and waxed his bowstring, then began oiling his new sword. It felt good to be productive again.

-----

Torin looked from the wyvern rider to the knight and back again. Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all. Looking up at Mireille expectantly he clasped his hands and brought out the best puppy dog face he could muster. "Pleeeeeeaaase?"

[Phoenix]

Raquel

With the meeting over, Raquel wasn't sure what to do with herself. As much as she wanted to master the emblem, she didn't know where to start. Literally, she had no idea where she could even attempt to activate it without alerting the entire area. For the moment, she returned to the Dauntless, and once again, she found that Sandrock and Riley weren't attached to it. "They're probably not lonely, but I should check on them. There's no way I can count on someone else taking care of feeding and watering them. The crew wasn't supposed to really mess with us, so they're probably not going to even touch our animals ..." And with that she wandered below decks only to have her theory blown away, completely. Sandrock and Riley were already being fed and watered by a trio of sailors. "... wrong. Not surprising."

"Hi there!" one of them greeted; the one kneeling down to make sure Sandrock didn't knock over the bucket she was drinking from.

"Hi." Raquel waved back shyly.

"These are the wagon horses, I take it. Beautiful ... and where did you get an Ursian Standard Bred, Miss? It's almost a shame he's a wagon horse."

"It was only meant to be part time ... but I'm too busy to ride him ..." My father would sometimes joke about the two of us taking Sandrock and Riley out riding, and even though I knew he wasn't being serious, I always looked forward to the day. This is ridiculous! I can't go ten minutes without thinking about what Sardis did to him.

"You should let them get some riding time. I'm no equestrian, but I can tell these two could use it." the man replied, patting Sandrock on the cheek while she drank. It was annoying but she wasn't going to bite the hand that fed her.

Gabbie

"Hahah," Gabbie immediately laughed. Not being recognized without the accent was hilarious. Reminded her of the fun side of her old jobs. "I need an excuse to get you out of this wagon and I think food is the perfect route to take." she explained, rather concisely.

Abandoned Town

The man sighed ... seemed the Darksider, this Simon, was legit after all. That meant he'd need a better excuse to have him shot than simply not liking him. He didn't say another word to the pegasus knight and left the building. Colin smiled since now he was free to chat. "Well we'd finally caught this Raquel girl we've been after for almost a month. Sardis had her brought to this monstrosity named Burke and his little girlfriend, since he wanted to find out the deal with her and the emblem. Next thing we know, the whole damn fortress is under attack and we had to bail."

"Colin, that's none of her-" "Come on, Hayato, everyone knows about that disaster. Fortresses don't just up and vanish." Colin interrupted Hayato with the sad fact that word had gotten around to most of the organization and even to the outside world. Too many loose tongues, payoffs among clumsy brokers, and the Org's own vast information network were to blame. "So yeah, dunno where the hell Burke took her, but not too long afterward, we got word from him that she escaped. So basically, we went through all of that trouble for nothing. Don't get me wrong, Sardis didn't have any reason to believe Burke was an idiot that couldn't even keep a few mercenaries and their heavy chested employer in check, but the fact that 'he had her' has kinda got'em down, ya know?" Colin explained, giving a sympathetic smile. "Now she's all the way down in like Rex-Avaz or someplace and we've got to sit here and wait for operation reports. Now, you just know we're not going to get anything back but a list of casualties on our end. He's gonna have to capture her again himself, which is just sad, ya know?" he added, shaking his head and raising up his hands, palms face up.

Darksider: Enter Darksider

The man came up to Simon and said "You can go in, but I've got my eye on you. Not that you're hard to miss, round guy."

"Fat jokes, is it? Nothing I have not faced before." Simon shot back proudly. "I will go in and introduce myself to your commander, now. You can remain out here in the cold like a good little sentry."

"Why you ..." the sentry paused in the middle of pulling back for a punch. Simon's horse leaned back a bit ... he was the only one within the sentry's reach so naturally he was the one that was going to get punched, which wasn't really fair. Fortunately, the sentry stopped himself, realizing that he was out of reach and that it wasn't a good idea to attack another agent. "Just get moving, round guy."

Simon soon hitched his horse outside the tavern and then wandered inside. He wasn't expecting to find any of the sisters since their pegasi weren't there but lo and behold, Clara was there. "When he said 'round' he meant it. Who are you?" Hayato asked.

"I am the Darksider, ignorant fool!~" Simon announced to the whole area.

"Information broker from the capital region who never shows his face and is apparently a servant of the Night Queen. Not that I don't know of you, just that you don't have my respect yet. Not a good first impression, either." Hayato replied, sounding angry toward the end.

[Snowy_One]

As Robin headed towards the Dauntless to look for a pot to cook her food in later that night she saw that some of the others were already there. They seemed to already be engaged in various conversations though and she doubted a pot-hunt would be on the top of their priorities.

---

"No! Please! Don't throw me out! I paid up my debts!" exclaimed a young man, clad in golden armor and gems. Before him two arena guards stood, several slips of paper in their hands along with a golden feather. "That golden feather is worth a fortune!"

"It's not gold! It's fools gold! Did you think we couldn't tell the difference you putz?" said one of the guards, tossing the feather back. It hit the man square in the face. "You didn't even preform real alchemy just now, just clapped your hands together and switched that gulls feather for this one!"

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"I can see the real feather in your sleeve!" said the guard, pointing to the armored sleeve of the man. True to his word, a small tuft of gull feather was sticking out. "You owe over a thousand gold on bad debts! Even if this was real gold it's nowhere near enough to pay that off!"

"A thousand gold? Surely, you jest! I paid up front!"

"And lost up front. Now... Are you going to pay up, or are we going to have to pry that pretty armor off of you?"

The man gulped as he started to back away. "But... it's just painted to look like gold! And the gems aren't real!" he said as they advanced. He let loose a squeal like a little girl before turning about to run away as fast as he possibly could!

The guards watched as the man tried to run away at a pace only slightly faster than a walk. Not even a powerwalk. Shaking their heads in shame they casually moved up to try and flank him. They were going to get their money in any way they could!

Edited May 5, 2012 by Snowy_One

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Oh, I don't think I've eaten today anyway," he said, suddenly realizing he was hungry. "I guess a little break couldn't hurt, and while we're there we can talk about your armor modifications!" he said excitedly.

Clara

"That makes sense- the pink-haired merchant is a pretty high priority," Clara said. Even Layla bothered to tell us about that- she'd probably want to know about this screw-up if she doesn't already. she noted mentally.

"Simon, this is Colin and...angry guy," she said, gesturing to Hayato. "Sardis didn't have anything for us to do, so we're just having a nice chat to get to know each other," she said innocently.

[Phoenix]

Gabbie

Kid totally just read my mind! "Yes, in fact I was going to talk to you about that! We're on the same link, good~"

Tavern

"'Angry fellow', is it? Well I suppose the title is fitting ..." Simon replied in a pretentious tone while looking Hayato up and down.

Hayato was in no mood. His sword was at Simon's throat before he even realized he'd pissed him off. "Wipe ... that look ... off your face." Hayato demanded in a low threatening tone. Oh that look was gone before Hayato even made the demand. Nothing but frozen panic remained.

[Mercakete]

Well, it seemed like he wasn't going to get out of being harassed that easily, since another annoyance ran right at him. At Norbert's direction, though, Rizen increased her canter a bit and jumped right over the armored, running man with a flap of her wings. She landed from the jump gracefully as Norbert looked back, wondering what was up with whoever that had been. He was being chased, it seemed, so Norbert rode along with one of the ones chasing the armored man and asked, "Why are you chasing that guy down?" These guys look like they're some form of law enforcement or regulars at the arena or something like that. If I help them, maybe they can help me.

[Snowy_One]

The guards grabbed Fred by the arms. Despite the thick armor, he was helpless against their grapple.

"This... Scumbag of a debtor wagered more money than he owned in the arena." replied one of the guards. "Why? Does he owe you money as well?"

"It's not true I say! It's not true! I spent all my money on a wager... that I lost... but I offered to pay it back! I'm good for it!"

"That's what you said the last time!"

"And I can do alchemy for you!"

"You mean that parlor trick of switching one feather for another? Or that time you supposedly transmuted a bowl into a pool of slime?"

"Yes! That was real alchemy?"

"If that was real alchemy than my nose is a grand master alchemist!"

"Please sir!" he looked to Bert with pleading eyes, making them as round and pitiful as possible. "You got to help me! Help me get free of these debts! Please, I'm begging you!"