Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Mercakete]

"Thought ye wanted me t' show ye around port. Well, as best I can guess, anaway since I've never been t' this one b'fore. Also thought ye had a list o' things ye wanted t' look fer," Gytha replied to Robin as they walked along.

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

"Why do people keep saying that?" Norbert finally voiced. Though he sounded irritated by his tone, his posture and expression said he was just uncomfortable and confused. "It's not like spending money on other people makes me a nice guy or anything."

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"I think they had a good time. Shame we're goin' back on another ship, but the only other way to get off an island is to fly and we can't exactly do that," Nadya replied to Raquel, sighing a little.

Veronika

"These captains also should be screened by Anna, so we won't be stumbling into any unknown danger...like back on Port Temptress when we were talking to the Dark Utka," Veronika said, rubbing her forehead.

[roymbrog]

Well, Bert was still set on paying him back. "That's fair enough," Valter replied. Truthfully, he'd probably reject the offer next time too. And then the pegasus knight was apparently uncomfortable with the idea of him being 'nice'. Valter had to choke back a laugh, because that had to be the strangest insecurity he had ever seen. "Well, it certainly doesn't make you a jerk you know."

Synthia was perhaps less helpful. "Oh, what would you have me say about you then? Greedy, greedy Bert, who takes money from his own pocket to offer strangers food? That's ridiculous. Just accept the damn compliment." Nevermind that she had originally said it to tease him. Anyway, that said, she started looking around for their original goal, a restaurant or stand of some sort. It didnt help that she couldn't read Kigenese though.

[Mercakete]

"It's not really that," he replied to Synthia, still feeling fairly awkward and it showing up even in his tone by this point, "It just...feels weird. It's nice of you to think so, I guess, but... I don't know." He was having trouble putting it into words again, which was a tad irritating. "It's just not who I am, even if it would be nice if it was true."

[Eail]

"Very powerful and resourceful people are her enemies Sir." Zach said as he got up as well, dusting off his clothes. "They kidnapped her father and are requesting a type of ransom that would be impossible to fulfill, so i suppose that our primary objective is to rescue her father. But it's just not going to be that easy, a lot of careful planning is gonna be needed...."

Thinking about it for a few seconds he decided to add "If you mean actual enemy types though I'd say something like archers, in our last fight she got hurt by one pretty badly. Anything you could teach me to help protect her though would be greatly appreciated."

[Snowy_One]

"Too be honest, Gytha, I do not know what I would look for in the first place. I lived most of my life in Ohka and I made almost everything I needed myself. Maybe, I do not know, some sort of musical instrument? That is the only thing I can see myself really wanting that I did not make myself. Maybe you could show me some things you think I would like? Or that you like?"

[roymbrog]

“Uh huh,” Synthia said, and abandoned her search for the moment to ride up next to Bert and prod him with her staff. Yes, they were going to have a conversation about this now. “So who are you then? Some sort of cretin? Miscreant? ….Mass murderer? I can keep a secret.”

Valter sighed. They were supposed to be looking for lunch, not pestering the pegasus knight. She could ask him about it later like he had planned to do. “Synthia, leave him alone.”

[Mercakete]

"Thought ye said ye needed more arrows 'r somethin'," Gytha replied to Robin, somewhat puzzled, though she didn't bother to recall the full list of items the archer had said she needed when they left the Leverager. Maybe in all the excitement, Robin had simply forgotten about that herself.

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

Well, he hadn't been expecting her to ride up right next to him like that. He didn't pay the prod much mind either as he stared at Synthia for a moment in confusion. As she spoke, however, things began to make more sense, so the confused look melted away. Valter tried to call her off, but the pegasus rider was dubious that he would succeed on his own.

So, he answered Synthia's question half-non seriously. "Right now? Hungry. I'm probably not the only one either. I could detail it out later if you really want to know. It's not like I'm trying to hide who I am."

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"And the worst part is that this next trip is going to be about twice the time and distance ... and that's assuming we're lucky and have a good wind most of the time," Raquel added depressingly. Things were boring enough for her, but her poor horses couldn't even move around freely on a ship like she could.

Sure enough, as the Leverager came into view, Luca neighed in protest. What the hell? Were they seriously getting locked up in that thing, again? Again?

"Okay I'm going to need some help with stuff from the Dauntless. I feel guilty about it now, but we can use Sandrock and Riley to carry most of it. I just need help getting them out of the Dauntless first." Raquel explained.

... again? Luca began stepping around in place uncomfortably while Sandrock sniffed around the wooden paneling. Riley was silent and observant, but a little nervous about going back onto the dead tree thing again.

Gabbie

Gabbie had been tuning out most of the conversation and just daydreaming until Synthia asked Bert some rather odd questions. The third one snapped her out of her daydream and got her scanning her surroundings. People she knew well enough in front of her. Ringo behind her. Various unknowns to the left and right. Suddenly she felt a light headache coming on. "Muuuurgh."

Reign and Others

"Not sure how that would have turned out if you guys ended up on the Utka," Reign replied, imagining a rather complicated situation coming up.

Anna soon opened the door again, and a man in a sturdy dark blue coat stepped into the room. Anna followed him in and shut the door behind her. "Okay I had a word with him, so he understands the situation ... at least with Connor and the Dauntless." Anna explained a little nervously. "But ..."

"All these women. How many again ...? Doesn't matter. Alright, lady. What's your story? Convince me to let you and all your little lady friends onto my ship for a fortnight. Oh, and the extra bodies, I suppose."

Oh, he'll be fun, Reign thought, rolling his eyes.

"The others should be here any time so I'll be out in the lobby waiting for them ..." Anna guiltily bowed out and left the room.

Fyodor and Friends

"She's got no luck with archers, hm? I recommend you prioritize defending against them, then," Fyodor replied. He then nudged his head toward Zach, Mireille, and the guards saying, "You might want to get back a bit ..."

Keichi, Rin, and Iori complied immediately, backtracking forty feet just to be safe.

[roymbrog]

“Really, huh? I’ll be sure to ask you later then, Hungry,” Synthia answered, distancing their equines again. “And don’t think I won’t forget- will forget. ...You know what I mean.”

Valter was probably the only one actually looking for food by this point, and he spotted a place if the tables outside were anything to go by. Perfect. “Hey look, a restaurant,” Valter said, riding ahead without waiting for response.

The mage followed, but not before pointing from her narrowed eyes to Bert in a silent gesture. Were her several last posts serious? No one knows.

[-Cynthia-]

Transport

"I'm sorry," Nadya said to Luca, patting him on the head. "That crane thing can't carry the Dauntless with the stuff inside?" Nadya asked Raquel, trying to make sure she understood the situation correctly.

Other Transport

Veronika sighed audibly before answering the captain. "We have about twelve women in total, which is about half our group. We're associates of Professor Seth Weyland that are quite trained in combat and can assist in other ship upkeep duties. Having women didn't seem to be any trouble on the Leverager- would it be problem with you?" she asked the captain, crossing her arms.

[Mercakete]

"Yeah, sure," Norbert replied lazily to Synthia, not really caring. Valter found a place to buy food at just around then. That certainly was timely. So, Norbert just followed the horseman to the place where they were apparently going to have lunch.

[Phoenix]

Unloading and Reloading

"We're not getting the crane just yet. I'm trying to grab some things to sell in the markets ... hoping to get some trading done while I still can. Once Veronika picks a ship for us we can get the crane and move the Dauntless over," Raquel clarified.

"Honestly, this really isn't the time for trading," Shadrak noted.

Raquel heard him but had nothing to come back with. She wasn't changing her mind now. Once they had reached the Dauntless, Raquel ventured inside and began rummaging through supplies, looking for the old and or less useful pieces of gear and equipment. She began bagging the ones she intended to sell and passed the full ones to Gytha and Robin until she was finished. "Welp, that's it. If these traders aren't too stingy I should make at least a couple of thousand off of this stuff. You two can just tie those to the saddlebags and then we can head back to the markets."

Tagging Along

'Restaurant ho!', apparently. Gabbie followed along, hoping no one would make a terribly big fuss about Ringo. She planned to just let him stand around with the equines if nobody minded, but she'd been surprised a few times in the past. It wasn't Ursium but she was ready for a complaint if it came. That headache was starting to set in, though ...

One Captain, Two Captains, Three Captains, Four ...

"Hmm ... what kinda clothes do you ladies wear?" the captain asked, staring dubiously at Veronika's chest. Reign leaned closer to her to try and confirm where the captain was staring. "... what, boy?"

Being too amused to respond, properly, Reign slowly sat normally again, chuckling and shaking his head. "Heheheheheheh, nothing."

The door opened again and an absurdly tall man stepped through, grabbing his hat to make sure the top of the door frame didn't take it off as he stepped into the room. "Well whaddya know, a rexian. I don't see a lot of your kind around here." The man quickly took a seat just one chair over from the first captain. Then, reaching across the table and offering a handshake, he said, "Delan. A pleasure, both of you~"

The captains seemed to have shown up in mass, as the door opened up the instant Captain Delan introduced himself and two more stepped into the meeting room. One was a scarred woman trying to light a pipe even as she approached her seat, and the other was a chubby looking man. Anna followed them into the room and said, "Ma'am, could you not do that in here? It's difficult to get rid of those smells quickly."

The woman paused just as she was about to sit down and looked back at Anna innocently with the pipe in her mouth, and a small flame just above the opening. "... no?"

[Eail]

Deciding it might be best to follow Fyodor's advice, Zach moved out of the way from the dragon. "Whenever you're ready Sir."

[Mercakete]

"Aye, aye!" Gytha cheerily replied to Raquel with as much of a salute she could handle without the use of her hands. Tying the load to the horse wasn't a difficult task at all, given that Gytha did, in fact, know a few ways to tie a rope securely.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"Prices here didn't seem too bad- then again I wasn't tradin' weapons this time around. Ya have to haggle with 'em a bit though, the listed prices here in Kigen are more suggestions than anythin' else," she said to Raquel.

Veronika

Veronika looked down at her chest to see if something of particular interest was there and didn't find anything she wasn't expecting. "Pleased to meet you as well Captain Delan," she said, shaking his hand. "The women in our group wear a variety of clothing- usually loose fitting clothes that are easy to move around in. We are mostly mercenaries after all," she emphasized, before turning her attention to the scarred woman and the chubby man.

"I'm Veronika, this is Reign- Anna's probably already informed you about our search for a ship. Would you mind introducing yourselves and telling me about your vessels and crew?" she said, looking at each of them in turn.

[Snowy_One]

"Yes Ms. Raquel." said Robin, trying to sound a bit more curt as she approached the horse, handling her bit of the loading with ease. "My father taught me how to pack well. He would always tell me <Robin, a mount will be your best friend in life. Always respect it and know how to treat it.> Knowing how to pack a horse is part of that. and Gytha, you are right. I do need more arrows. But they are a need, not a want."

[Phoenix]

Loading the Horses

"Oh there's more than just weapons here," Raquel began. "Consumables, armor, some smaller weapons including some knives I don't think any of you are going to want to use ... ... just stuff I don't need or you and the others aren't making much use of. I've still got a little bit of everything I've picked up so far, just not a large quantity. I have to choose between having a few things in large stock or a lot of things in small stock and with the variety of mercenaries and helpers who show up, I think it's better to have the latter."

Coming out with the last two bags, she handed them to Gytha and Robin and said, "If they aren't going by some crazy pricing standards, I think we can make a pretty good haul this time. I might finally get back in the black~" she noted a bit cheerfully. Robin's comment about arrows was a little confusing though. "I thought you made all of your arrows. Are you going to start buying them or are you just looking for obsidian to carve them out of?"

Luca looked on curiously as Sandrock and Riley were loaded up with bags of ... stuff. This looked similar to what Nadya would do before she got a lot of gold. Was this a gold expedition? Sweeeet~

Meeting with Captains

The woman lit up the pipe anyway and sat down between the first captain and Delan, prompting a sigh from Anna. "Look at it this way, hon, your wind mages will get some much needed practice, and I'll be comfortable during the meeting. Everybody wins."

Anna sighed again and made for the door. "I'll be right outside if anyone needs anything. We're still short one captain, so ... yeah." With that, she shut the door.

The chubby captain sat down next to the first captain. "Veronika and Reign, huh? Borgia." the man introduced himself. "I deliver Weyland Enterprises' goods to the frontier."

"Daniella," the woman introduced herself plainly. "My ship's an escort fluyt. In fact, I was the one that made sure 'Borgia' here made it to Chousokabe safely~" she teased.

"Well you already know me," Delan said as his turn came around. "I also deliver Weyland's products, but mostly schematics for ship upgrades and a few prototypes."

And then the captain to arrive first finally introduced himself. "Captain Morse. I also do supply runs, though not usually this kind ..." he noted with some agitation in his voice.

Shields Up

With everyone far back enough not to get completely annihilated, Fyodor entered a stance that made him look as if he was about to pounce on something, but instead of pouncing, he raised up and roared as his wings spread out to mark the edge of the electrical field that was beginning to form up around his body.

Keichi and the others were shocked. "... the rising shield ..."

The grass at Fyodor's feet began to be ripped right up out of the ground and carried along a powerful current, was burned up along the way, and cast away over Fyodor's form. The rising torrent of debris made the field easier to see; it took the form of a bubble and everything that came into contact with it quickly rode the current in a counter-clockwise circle up and around Fyodor before being away near the top. Before long it was raining tiny bits of ash, and then Fyodor dispersed the field. "Whew ..." Turning to the group of five nearby he smiled saying, "Had to make sure I didn't cook anyone there, heheh."

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"How did ya end up behind in the first place? Weyland gave us a pretty hefty sum- not that ya need to tell him that mind ya," she added after her question.

Veronika

So they're all transport ships- that works. "Well, first off I'll need know what sort of space you all have available. Anna's probably already informed you about the Dauntless, we also have about six horses, two pegasi, three wyverns, and about twenty-five? humans traveling with us. You would need to be able to accommodate all of that as well as whatever cargo you're carrying," she informed the captains, looking at them in turn.

[roymbrog]

Valter tied Phyllis up at a convenient horse post before walking inside, Synthia doing the same and following after. The restaurant wasn’t very large and was split into two sections, one with what the Ursians would consider normal seating and the other with low tables surrounded by cushions. There were a few other patrons inside, a Kigenese couple in the back and a foreigner at one of the low tables. A young girl approached the group as they entered the doorway.

“Welcome~ Um, where would you like to be seated today?” They were obviously foreigners, but her mother had scolded her for not offering a choice before. She liked her job. Being sent off to help in the kitchen again wasn’t very appealing.

Synthia peered off to the side. What was the point of floor tables? The Kigenese obviously had the technology to build chairs, that was just silly. “Could we not sit on the floor please?”

[Mercakete]

Like the two with equines before him, Norbert tied Rizen to one of the horse posts next to the other two and entered the restaurant. Rizen wasn't too concerned, getting used to him going into buildings and such for a time before coming out unharmed. She wasn't in the unstable stables, either, so she was probably not going to be left alone for any long period of time. She also had some company and so happily greeted the two mares by her.

When he entered the restaurant, the sight certainly was different. Low tables with pillows as chairs on one side and normal tables on the other. I wonder if it's a Kigenese thing. Almost immediately, they were greeted by a girl who worked there, apparently. She asked where they'd like to sit and Synthia answered. All the while, Norbert was beginning to get a little concerned. Did I bring enough money for a place like this? I was thinking more of just buying some food from a stand...

[Phoenix]

Le Dauntless

"I don't count Weyland's funds among my profits. It makes it seem like I'm making more money than I actually am," Raquel explained. "Weyland's funds included, I'm fine, but I need to make sure my business is profiting separately, and it usually isn't. Well that's everything. Are you all ready to go?"

Meeting Room

"Oh don't worry about the space, hon," Daniella spoke up first. "Anna out there made sure to only send for the captains who had the space to haul you and your friends back to Ursium. If I had to guess, I'd say Delan and I have the most room for ya headin' back, though. Also the least annoying, I bet~"

"What makes you say that?" Borgia inquired. Yep, he was a little offended.

"I can see the signs. Morse here looks so pissed off he might actually start makin' 'demands' and I got to know your crew pretty well, Borgia. You seriously need to give those boys some shore leave or they're going to start experimentin' with each other."

"Hmph!" Morse huffed in response. "I take it your crew is disciplined enough for a bunch of female passengers?"

"More disciplined than yours, probably." she replied blankly before putting the pipe back in her mouth. "But that's not all to consider, I suppose. It's a bit of a trip back to Ursium and I'm sure you'll want a ship that can hold its own under fire, right? Well, once again, Delan and I are your best bets. His ship is brimming with prototype tech Weyland gave him as part of his payment, and my ship is a frigate killer," she explained, crossing her arms cockily.

Sounds like Captain Daniella actually wants us to pick her or Captain Delan. I have to wonder what her motives are. Maybe earning more of Weyland and his company's trust? Maybe she just likes us? She seems pretty blunt and honest. I'll go'head and ask her in a minute depending on where this conversation goes, Reign mused.

Chousokabe Express

Gabbie left Ringo with the equines as planned but didn't bother hitching him. If she did, he would cause a lot of property damage trying to get to her in an emergency so it was just better for everyone involved if she didn't do that. Following the others into the restaurant, she found herself a bit relieved to be out of the sunlight, but now her vision was a bit darker. "Uuuuug," she muttered as she waited to be pointed toward a seat.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Phoenix

[roymbrog]

Hearing no objections from others in the group, the girl (let’s call her Chieko) led them to one of the standard tables already furnished with menus and utensils. As Chieko left, Synthia and Valter sat down, the latter picking up one of the menus. To his relief, each of the menu items had a translation and short description in common. Heaven forbid he couldn’t read what he was eating.

The Waitress returned bearing a pot of tea and warm towels. “For your hands,” she explained. “I’ll be back in a moment to take your orders.”

“Classy,” Synthia said, taking one of the towels. “I bet someone’s pockets are feeling a bit lighter~”

Valter coughed.

[Mercakete]

"Aye!" Gytha happily replied to Raquel, for her part, with a salute now that her hands were free.

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

Norbert sat down with the others. Valter and Synthia were seated on the far end of the table, which was against a wall to their left. Valter sat on the wall side, as did Norbert, leaving the near, outside chair for Gabbie. The pegasus rider's concerns grew with each luxury displayed, though he didn't show it until the waitress was gone. When Synthia made her comment, Norbert affirmed it with a simple groan as he lowered his head until his forehead guard was resting against the table. "I just hope I brought enough money... I'll go back and get more if I have to, but then I might look like a thief..." adding more as an afterthought, remembering their almost-conversation earlier, "which I'm not."

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"Sure, I'll bring Luca along if ya don't mind. Might as well get fresh air while we can. Besides, I'll need a quick getaway plan if the furry thing comes back with some of its friends," she said.

Veronika

Well she's certainly selling herself and Captain Delan- probably a good thing, I'd rather be on a ship that wants us rather than a ship who is begrudging our presence. "Security is an important concern of ours- we can fight but we can't do much about enemy ships directly. How would your crews react to having a number of women suddenly on board? What are your strategies for disciplining them if their behavior becomes...inappropriate?" Veronika asked the captains, thinking this was an important subject to cover.