Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I'm comparing various states of artificial creations, not some grand parade of morality," Gar cleared up that point. "Though you're reasoning that only the gods create life is kinda... off, considering the whole making babies thing that people do." Gar cleared his throat before continuing. "Also, don't go and think this is some sort of 'gang-up' on you party formed by me, I wanted to ask questions and get answers. If I wanted to make this some sort of depraved conversation of insults and slurs I would have done that, easily." Gar paused a second to let that sink in before finishing off his latest reply. "If the gods are justified in being the only ones to create life, why are you allying yourself with Lilith to fight Wrath?" Gar finished his rebuttal.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Script

[Ether]

'Ah, so one of them noticed, huh? Oh well, time to spring that then I guess...'

*Sniff*... *Sniff*... "Ah... a-another one w-who wants t-to..." Kit began, as tears began to well up in her eyes and she dropped with a sob to her knees.

"T-they a-all... look at t-these... t-things that he s-stuck on me and t-think I'm a m-monster or a s-sex t-toy..." She let out, her voice quivering and her tone gaining a slight hysteria. Burying her face in her hands she began to cry into her palms.

*******

Mandy's slowdown allowed for Faatina to catch up to the formerly leading rider, though she too slowed herself at the commotion ahead.

"What do you think that is?"

[Eail]

Zachary

.....*twitch*

Had she really just tried to pull that card while he was present.... really? Yeah no that wasn't gonna fly with dear old Zachary boy.

"I don't wanna sound like Pinky here with being nice and all" He said thumbing towards Raquel. "But this is bullshit. After pretty much molesting me two minutes ago you want me to believe that?"

'Hehehe, not that I'm exactly complaining now that I can look back on it. That was certainly a unique experience...'

[roymbrog]

“I was seven; yes, I do remember some things. However, I’d rather not talk about it right now, if you don’t mind,” Valter said with a slightly pained expression. Maybe growing up in an orphanage made this normal for Bert, but the horseman didn’t want to think about it right now. Anyway, the buildings they were passing by seemed to be getting farther apart and smaller as they went on. Valter guessed they were nearing the edge of the town.

-----

Katrina was surprised by the guard (Rin), and a little offended. Sure Skotians tolerated dragons, but interspecies relations was going a bit too far… What was wrong with hugging a dragon anyway? Didn’t people hug dogs and cats and horses and wyverns? One of the guards asked if she wanted one too. Ha, she’d show them. “Yes, actually. I’m not ashamed of being a dragon hugging Skotian.” And then she joined in the group hug.

[Acacia Sgt]

Seems Zach had revealed indirectly about the emblem. Well wasn't that a bad move? Well, what was done was done. But it seems their talk got briefly interrupted when the verbal scuffle of the guards got interrupted in turn by the arrival of the fliers, which made one of them to notice Kit.

Sophia stared in disbelief. ''I can believe she'd resort to that...'' She had no problems voicing her opinion.

''Heh, not a fan of that tactic?'' John asked.

''Certainly not,'' she answered. ''It's very sad, if you ask me.''

[Mercakete]

And so they went to meet Zach's friend, who was...unusual. Though Gytha was more disapproving of her attire than of her animal features. If ye don't want people thinkin' yer wantin' 'em t' pay ye fer a night, then wear somethin' else. She thought, hearing Kit's sobbing. Then Zachary completely destroyed the facade. She was beginning to quite dislike this strange person, rather than just having distaste for what she'd previously assumed to be her choice in lifestyle. Lying about something like that after doing something like what Zachary was saying she did to him was just disgusting.

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

"I don't mind," Norbert replied, "It's good that you remember her, though." I kind of wish I knew more than just stories about mine.

It was about now that he'd realized they were getting further away from the town proper. "Huh, I guess we wandered kind of far... We should probably start heading back. Maybe we can pick up some food along the way. I still have to pay you back for that sandwich you got me back in Ursium," he mentioned as he turned Rizen around to start heading back. Though he decided to use a different road this time, figuring it would bring them deeper into the town, where he hoped to find a food merchant. He already had breakfast, sure, but lunch sounded good. In the back of his mind, he recalled Raquel's warning back in Ursium to not wander off. Maybe she won't notice if we get back quickly enough... Though the truth was he knew he was in for some form of disapproval.

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

<"Well, that went more quickly than I'd expected,"> Daichi noted with satisfaction, <"Is there anything else you think you will need? We have time while Sumire prepares your food and water provisions.">

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Hmm I wonder if we shouldn't be more selective about who we let in. Although Reign has a point about us needing the help... she thought to herself, before taking in Blake's response. She decided to turn her head and talk to him, indulging Shadrak's desire to be left alone for the moment.

"That's an odd view for an Ursian to hold, I wouldn't think we would have so much agreement. Although the Guardian Corps aren't nearly as glorious as you claim, they can't even keep track of their own men," she said, scowling. "Err...not that I know anything about that," she corrected, quickening her pace suddenly.

Connor

"She's probably just wearing a strange outfit. Maybe it's a holiday for Kigen where people dress like foxes or something...although I've never heard of such a thing," he admitted to Gabbie as they descended.

Nadya

"All right now let's get somethin' to eat, yeah? Not sure exactly what this market had- whether it's just stuff from Kigen or from all around," she said half to herself, gathering the horses through the market on her way towards some sort of produce stand.

[Snike]

Shadrak was clearly grasping now, given that he now exploded into a rant against artificials because they have no soul and exist for endless violence, apparently. Blake decided to give him one more response, before dropping the subject.

"It's no wonder that she may have attacked you, considering the slurs you're hurling right now," he said, turning away. "Also, I believe Reign mentioned this, but I don't think the girl was the one committing gull genocide, though." There, enough of that. Time to focus more on ship-searching...

...Or not, because Veronika decided to address the swordsman about his curious opinions. "I'm an odd Ursian, I guess," he replied hurriedly. "And duly noted." The Neviskotian made a denial about knowing about guardians, which was curious, but Blake decided not to press, giving that it looked like she didn't want to talk about it. That was fine, since he didn't feel like talking about his experiences, either.

[Snowy_One]

Robin's hands finally loosened up on the figurine as she started to look around. Even though it was a very nice figurine, there was more to life, and her little talk with Nanahm seemed to be over for now. She was about to leave when she remembered what Gytha had said earlier. "<M-maybe later we can... Do something together then to make up for it?>" she said, unsure of what she should even be saying in this situation. Speaking of Gytha and others... where the heck were they? Robin quickly glanced around, hoping to spot them, but they had clearly moved away somewhere she couldn't see.

"<Crap.>"

---

Somewhere else on the island

Suddenly some thugs from some gang Fred owed money too spotted Fred and dragged him off to become a broom-boy on some ship out in the middle of the ocean somewhere until he could pay off a non-descript amount of debt.

They also left Raquel a very nice fruit basket with a note 'thanks for bringing us Fred' whenever the group decided to rest up.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Snowy_One

[Phoenix]

Raquel and ... Well A Lot of Other People

"A holiday, huh? Wonder if they have any fallen outfits ..." Gabbie would have normally noted the folly in that, but she was too focused on surprising Steinn with a fallen costume too revealing to describe here, and it just sort of came out. "Alroight, let's land and see what's goin' on."

Meanwhile ... on the ground ... "What ...?" The guard had heard the woman's story, as well as Zachary's follow up, but from his perspective, things were a little different than what they were probably expecting. He was in fact wondering if Zach and this woman were a feuding couple, and that she was being called out for crying and not for those strange appendages. Still, he didn't want to jump to conclusions and make a mistake. Stepping a little passed Raquel and into the group, he said "Okay someone explain this." and pointed at the crying woman's ears.

Shadrak and Reign

"We were made to reproduce ... otherwise they would have to make every individual human. It should be obvious why they would automate something like that." Shadrak replied, looking a little offended. And then Gar asked him why he was opposing Wrath by siding with Lilith. "I'm a Truthian."

"Truthite?"

"Truthian. Anyway, as much as I hate to say this, it's better to side with Lilith in this instance because Wrath is planning to take over everything, and that includes Lord Truth. Also, if her story is right, she's not the heretic I feared she was. Besides this is hardly fighting Wrath; we're just keeping this one piece to ourselves until the danger passes."

Blake tried to get the final word, but Shadrak wouldn't let it slide. "That's not an excuse, and the gulls were just pests."

Reign didn't let Shadrak get the final word, either, but not due to any kind of animosity, he was just commenting on a whim. "Yeah but you hunted almost all of them down. I'm glad Lia's not trying to punish all the men over what happened to her."

Mandy and Talitha

"I'm not sure. Even mounted, I can't see what's going on in there," Mandy replied. Summer didn't know what was going on, but these people were ruining her fun. She wanted to start beating her wings down to scare them off, but Mandy hadn't given her the okay to do that yet. "Umm, excuse me? What's all the commotion about?" Mandy asked a random person at the edge of the crowd.

<"Stupidity.> Someone picking fight with mercenary. He's losing."

"Oooo, I wonder if the guild has anything on them~" Mandy replied with enthusiasm as Talitha finally caught up.

"Whoa, what's going on here?"

"A fight~"

"Bleh."

Luca Riley and Sandrock

Nadya had gone for the gold and gotten it, and better still, she was about to take them out for lunch ... or was it still morning? Luca didn't know why that big bright thing in the sky liked to move around so much. Oh well, time for food.

Riley kept an eye out for things as they walked along, and Sandrock went back to sniffing around. The latter might have even found some produce even before Nadya.

Fyodor

Since Katrina wanted in on the spontaneous embracing, Fyo readied his other arm for her as well.

<"This is ... really weird."> Iori said to himself.

Katsu

Katsu shook his head. <"Nothing else I can think of.">

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, time to put that theory to the test.

''Well sir,'' John spoke. ''If they're not fake it's likely they're artificially crafted. Which might say a lot considering there's not much beyond eyes and the like, from humans that is.''

[Ether]

"T-these are... that man's idea of a sick j-joke!" Kit exclaimed, burying her face deeper in her hands.

'These guys really are trying to screw me up. Oh well, I can claim I just met them, it's true afterall~'

"M-my former t-teacher... he o-only taught m-me so he could l-lure me in as a t-test subject..." Kit continued, as her hands moved down from her face, tears still streaming, down to her sides, as she began to rub her own sides in a desperate attempt for some sort of comfort.

"O-one day he t-told me he wanted to c-celebrate my p-progress... I s-suppose he spiked the wine... the n-next thing I r-remember I was tied down to his work b-bench... I couldn't m-move at all..."

The entirety of the woman's frame began to shake frantically as she continued her recollection, shifting from a vague sitting position to a fetal curl.

"Yesyes my cute apprentice always so foxy now to make you even foxieryoushould behappy iDothisbECauSeiLoVEyoU soyo ullonlybemine dont struggle ithurts if youstruggle..." Kit bawled, her frame now essentially a cradled rocking ball on the ground.

*********

"So what do you think we should do then?" Faatina asked.

[Eail]

Pervy Mage (Who now feels guilty)

'Woah, maybe she wasn't messing around with what she said earlier.... I really feel like a dick now. God dammit Zach why are you so bad with women man? I suppose I should do something about this shouldn't I....'

Getting down on the ground next to Kit he pulled her up into a sitting position. "Hey hey it's all right, don't cry okay? Look I'm sorry about what I said but... please don't cry, I really can't stand to see a pretty girl cry." He said before pulling the fox woman into a hug.

"I really hate being me sometimes....'

Edited October 22, 2012 by Eail

[Phoenix]

Raquel Gabbie and Company

John explained his theory, and then Kit followed up with a sob story before being embraced by Zachary. The guard's couple theory certainly wasn't going anywhere just yet, though he did suspect that they were a very recent pairing if anything. What really had his attention though was the realization that this woman had very advanced(though seemingly useless) prosthetics and enhancements on her. "The government might be able to help you, miss ..."

"The government?" Oh no, what are we getting caught up in ...? Raquel was surprised to hear that one. She expected the guard to just arrest and interrogate her since John pointed out that the upgrades were too advanced to be human created ... in theory, but he seemed to have other plans.

"I will need more information ..." the guard turned around to motion over some others hoping one of them had a notebook, and planning to use them to keep control of this little gathering of foreigners if things started to get too rowdy.

Mandy and Talitha

"I wanna check it out~" Mandy quickly replied.

Talitha frowned. "The warrior's guild is a disturbingly good fit for her since she likes all the violence." she explained as Mandy began to move closer to the crowd. Suddenly someone or something hit the ground with a loud thud and some of the crowd backed off, forcing Mandy back with them, but that spread revealed the combatants, if only barely.

The one still standing was a young woman in green, and the one on the floor was a much taller and larger man who was nursing a mild burn on his left arm as he tried to get back up.

"Alright! I love it when the little ones start using throws~"

"is that smoke coming off of his wrist? She's using magic ..." Talitha realized.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

An odd Ursian indeed...I know all Ursians didn't sympathize with their military, but his assessment of the Neviskotian forces was quite precise. Maybe I'll ask him more about the topic later. she thought to herself regarding Blake, as she scanned the docks.

"That one looks big enough," she said, stopping and pointing in the direction of a docked galleon. "Of course we don't know what the crew is like or where they're going, but I think they're worth talking to."

Connor

"A fallen costume? In Kigen? That'd probably be treated as a security threat. I know you like being the center of attention- but not that way," Connor babbled to Gabbie, getting off of Ringo.

Nadya

Nadya decided to go to a stand selling Mutsu apples. They'll be cheaper and fresher since they're local. she decided.

"4 apples please," she said, handing over a gold piece to the produce seller. She didn't bother checking the sign and she didn't much care, she wasn't paying more than one gold.

Ida and others

<"So if I may ask, what are your future plans? We aren't really privy to all the raid decisions...would be kind of nice to raid some local farmers sometime soon with the food shortage and all. Not that I'm complaining!"> Ida added quickly, dumping more hot water into the pool.

Svanhildr and Helga continued to have their wings and hair clipped while they chatted. Slaughter of Siblings huh...can't wait until it's over with, one way or another. I bet the nobles care about these little games of theirs, but I can't be bothered to give a shit. the eldest one thought to herself.

[Ether]

Pushing Zach away and skittering away from the approaching guard, Kit began to tremble.

"How do I know you're not like the others, j-just trying to get me somewhere private so you can do a bunch of tests, or just try to rip them clean off...?" She replied, with an inquisitive gaze.

*******

"I wonder what they're fighting over?" Faatina asked, not sure quite how to proceed.

[Eail]

Emotional Mage Zach

Damn.... She really wasn't faking it seems like, that story was awful. And it certainly seemed like that the guardsman here wasn't helping.

"Nobody is gonna take you anywhere all right? I don't really know how to fix something like that but maybe we can figure something out." Zach said, still trying to comfort Kit. It was almost like he forgot how powerful she really was~

Pinky the 2nd

Luka had been following behind Gabbie and Connor as he flew on Rika. It seemed like they had found the rest of their group because they had landed. Urging Rika down as well the pink haired boy managed to catch sight of what seemed to be a fox girl crying on the ground and a young brown haired man comforting her. Was this something normal in the group here? For now Luka simply stayed close to Gabbie and Connor

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"So your answer is that the Gods are just too lazy. Or have other more 'important' matters to attend to." Gar mused at that thought. And of course the other one hiding behind those words. Gar chuckled a bit at Shade Drake calling himself a Truthian of all things. "You call yourself a follower of knowledge, yet you strike out against anything that disagrees with your world view." Gar pointed out Shade Drake's hypocrisy. "Humans are just pests to Wrath. Does that give him the right to exterminate us? If he gets his hands on the Emblem the other Gods will be like pests to him, does that make him right then?"

Veronika pointed out a large enough ship to go carrying the assets of the group. "Check the ship first to get the name or meet and crew, head to the closest tavern if the crew isn't helpful." Gar laid out a simple plan.

[Acacia Sgt]

''How much more gullible you think he can get?'' John mused, referring to Zach.

''Perhaps if he was willing to fight the guards if they persist,'' Sophia sighed. Who knew this was the situation they'd be getting trouble with, of all things...

Edited October 22, 2012 by Acacia Sgt

[roymbrog]

Well Bert was willing to respect his privacy, and Valter was happy about that. Soon after the pegasus knight suggested they head back, and maybe get something to eat. “Food, yeah…” Anything they found here would definitely be better than what was on the ship. They started heading back by a different route.

As they passed by a street something caught Valter’s attention and he slowed. There was a large crowd and he thought he saw some of the guild members from the ship. “Hmm. Something’s going on over there,” he said, stopping. He was curious, now.

-----

Katrina hugged Fyodor, and that caught Volga’s attention. Why was she hugging that dragon? Wasn’t Volga the one who always got hugs? Volga was sad ;__;

[Mercakete]

Well, this wasn't quite the direction he'd planned on heading in, but there was something interesting going on, as Valter pointed out. There were some familiar people there, too. Huh, maybe Raquel won't chew me out after all. Not if there are others who split off, anyway. Norbert thought, noticing that Faatina wasn't exactly with Raquel at the moment.

"Well, let's check it out," Norbert suggested with a shrug to Valter before riding Rizen close to the commotion. The half-Avian and the other guild member were there, too, but it had been easier to pick out Talitha than her enthusiastic accomplice. "Hey," Norbert greeted the trio.

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

Gytha had lost most of her interest in the happenings revolving around the strange fox woman. As her eyes wandered around the immediate area, she noticed something -- or rather someone -- missing. "Hmm? Where's Robin?" she wondered aloud as she began to look around specifically for the archer, though she didn't move from where she was standing quite yet.

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

<"Well, then, we'd best start packing these supplies,"> he decided before heading back to the room they'd loaned Katsu during his stay since some of his supplies such as the whetstone were probably still in there.

[roymbrog]

The horseman followed Bert, and while he greeting the others there Valter peered into the ring from his vantage point on horseback. It helped that the some of the crowd had backed off some earlier. Were people fighting? “What’s going on?”

[Snowy_One]

Somewhere down by the docks, but just a bit beyond them

Robin's eyes looked about wildly as she tried to find Raquel and the others. The people about, though dispersed, were still present and starting to return. She tried straining her eyes to see farther, above their heads, but to little avail. Though lacking leaf-cover the people seemed to be as thick as trees and far louder. She would need to move and find a clearing if she wanted to try and find Raquel and the rest. She calmly took a step forwards, and then a second and a third. She was slowly moving away, trying her best to find them.

"Raquel?" she called out, trying to get her voice above the ambiance, only for it to choke. "I am going to look for Raquel." she said simply, hoping Nanahm could still hear her.

[Phoenix]

Raquel Gabbie and Ringo

"Eh, we could use a good foight~" Gabbie replied to the costume comment.

Ringo saw all of the other wyverns that landed a moment ago and was both nervous and curious. He rarely got to see so many at once. Hopefully they wouldn't bully him for being different.

"That is exactly what I'm offering to do." the imperial soldier spoke up angrily at Zach as he came a little closer. The guards flanking him came closer too, but not much. They were just there to watch the first's back and keep the situation stable. "You ... woman ... the empire would be grateful for any and all information you can provide about your condition."

Shadrak and Reign

Finally there was a ship to divert some attention away from him. Shadrak was regretting ever coming along with Veronika's group. No one could care less what he thought. Their minds were already made up and he'd sooner convince Wrath to become a Mercinic, but whatever. But still Gar persisted. "Ugh-NO! Look, why are we even having this conversation if all you want to do is twist everything I say? I'm not attacking views I disagree with-I'm just stating my own, but nooo, I can't seem to do that without everyone and their fucking bodyguard jumping down my throat."

"That usually happens to people that talk too much ..." Reign noted.

"No, I'm pretty sure you and anyone else around here can say whatever they want and no one will harp on you about it." Shadrak shot back. "Let's just focus on investigating the ship."

Mandy and Talitha

"Let's get ourselves some 'better seats' and find out~" Mandy suggested.

"There aren't any seats, so I assume you're talking about us finding a better vantage point to watch the fight from." Talitha replied.

"Yeah, pretty much. Come on." And with that, Mandy hopped down from Summer and began leading the pegasus into the crowd by the reins. Just like she expected, people had to either move out of the way or be shoved aside by the perky pegasus as Mandy squeezed through.

Talitha was about to reluctantly follow Mandy's lead when Norbert and Valter arrived. "Oh, hi. I didn't think I'd be seeing anyone else again after leaving the ship. At least not so soon."

Luca Riley and Sandrock

Yaaay apples! Luca couldn't wait to eat one of them.

"Wait," the seller spoke up. "You're one silver shy for that fourth apple." he clarified.

Luca looked at the man with some sort of horse glare. What did that man want now? He already got his gold.

Katsu

Katsu, with the furoshiki and other items in hand, began following Daichi. He'd begin wrapping everything up once they were there.

Finnians

<"It's pretty hard to get at their real food ... sometimes they'd rather burn it than abandon it to us. Bastards. Other times we lose a bunch of soldiers to deathtraps, it's really damn annoying,"> Bryn ranted. <"What we need to do is find a way to neutralize those red mist clouds. Whenever we've had them on the run, they fall back on those and kill hundreds. As long as they have those, even our larger armies can't quite push through to the good farming lands or take any fortresses for ourselves. Without captured strongholds, it's harder to retrieve anything ...">

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"So feel free to jump down my throat when you get the chance?" Gar offered once Shade Drake started getting huffy. "Armor-Guy's had his try at it, him and I had that delightful discussion about me. Shoulda been there, it was a real thriller." Gar shrugged. "Though I haven't really been here long enough for others to 'harp' on my opinions. Haven't talked much until now."

"Yep that sure is a ship alright! Big one too." Hopefully it's name isn't as dumb as The Leverager. Gar thought.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Script