Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Parrhesia]

Rook watches with satisfaction as elbow impacts with cuirass. Unfavourably.

He offers Robin a cigar.

[scorri]

Marella mutters curses and something about someone needing to be stabbed again.

[Eail]

Luka

"Sorry to bother you, good night...." He muttered, getting up to back to his bunk. Luka didn't like it when people were mad at him, and it seemed that Synthia was right now so it was probably best just to leave it alone for the moment.

Zach

Dear Zachary on the other hand was knocked the hell out on the deck of the Prometheus, back to using Katrina as his teddy bear. Course, Aneda was kinda on the other side of Zach using him as a teddy bear, so it all worked out in the end right? RIGHT?

[roymbrog]

Katrina was out of it way before the others were out of it. She had no idea what was going on...

Volga on the other hand wasn’t quite asleep. Kat had a hold of her paw though, so she wasn’t really going anywhere either. When Robin came over to attempt talking to Zach she shoved her face over and sniffed the archer. Did she plan on sleeping over here too?

[Snowy_One]

Robin shook her head in response to the cigar. "I do not use those things." she said simply before returning her attention to Zach and the rest. Zach was passed out, fast asleep. "<Great.>" she groaned to herself. She hadn't seen that he was asleep from her angle. Volga, however, was not. Calmly, she looked up to Volga, remembering what her father had taught her, and started to calmly stroke her muzzle while making soothing noises, aiming to get in closer to Zach to be right there beside him when he woke up.

[Parrhesia]

"Cold bitch," muttered Rook, and started to wander around the ship looking for other, more attractive women.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

"Well," Delan prepared to explain. "She's a merchant affiliated with Weyland Enterprises. We're taking her and her associates back to Ursium. Sergio port specifically. That's where we're headed." Rook's mention of a man falling overboard was concerning, but it was also telling that neither Rook nor Marella seemed all that worried about him. The man probably drowned a while ago already then, and he was reluctant to investigate further. Just as well since Rook immediately began to hit on one of Raquel's people and that was worth watching for a good minute.

[Mercakete]

Anna had guessed correctly and it only took a couple moments more before the tour of the ship was underway. During that time, Gytha explained the agreement she and the captain -- who she was told was named Delan -- had come to. The tour had gone smoothly and by the end of it, Gytha followed the rest of the orders issued her by the captain: to find a place to settle in and get some rest. So, she found a comfortable cot and stuffed her bag underneath it. Following that, she went to sleep to be ready for the day ahead.

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

He hadn't even noticed when he fell asleep. It was, at first, a deep yet dreamless sleep. His mind didn't notice the pain as the surgery was performed and the arrow removed. He never had the chance during it to panic, either. He might have, somewhat at least, as two of the ones performing the procedure were people he did not know and the last he didn't really trust with this sort of thing. When he was awoken by the doctor for medication, he was so tired his memory didn't even register it. The doctor used his restore staff to help with treating any infection that was in the wound and he sealed it up with a heal staff. The part Norbert had to be awake for, though, was taking the painkillers. They were in pill form, though a liquid form did exist, and they were rather chalky and bland, only being slightly bitter but overcoming his taste buds. He didn't remember that, though. He went right back to sleep as soon as the ordeal was over. Only then did the pegasus rider begin to dream.

Norbert was practicing with his maces back in north-eastern Ursium's wilderness. It was a familiar place to him as this particular spot was one of his favorites. It was far enough away from known bandit camps and civilization that he felt relatively at ease here. Rizen wasn't around. The weather was mild that day. Or at least, that's how it was at first. Suddenly, the sparsely cloudy sky turned dark and Norbert halted his routine, glaring up at it. His first thought was that he hoped Rizen was nearby. A loud, sudden crack and a small tremor yanked his attention downward. There was a jagged split in the ground.

"Well, that doesn't look good," he muttered as he heard more popping and crackling. Shifting his gaze to the side, Norbert noticed the leaves on the trees were rapidly withering and the grass was pulling back into the ground. Soon the trees themselves began to split and the clouds in the sky lit up with lightning. Thunder quickly followed. Deciding not to dawdle any longer, the pegasus rider began running off in a random direction in search of his pegasus. It was looking to be a dry storm so far as no rain had begun to fall. The wind was picking up, though. After some minutes, he suddenly halted, hearing a shriek from the north. So, he changed directions, running northward as quickly as his feet would carry him. When he got there, he saw none other than Raquel lying on the ground, unconscious.

The pegasus rider sighed in exasperation. "You have got to be kidding me..." he muttered. He only managed to take a single step towards the woman, however, when Blake literally swooped down, picked her up and flew away all without wings. Norbert just shrugged and in all of his dream-state logic, figured that whatever happened to Raquel, she would be fine now since someone was taking care of it. Blake flying was apparently normal. Well, that was taken care of. However, that was when something less than comfortable happened.

Suddenly, a sword's tip poked out through Norbert's chest. He stared at the blood-stained object for half a moment as someone began chuckling darkly behind him. When he looked back to see who it was who'd just run him through, it was something of a frightening sight. It was a bandit, but this particular bandit was partially decayed...and had several broken bones by the looks of him. For a moment, in a flash of lightning, the scenery changed, as well. The ground was still cracked, but when the lightning flashed, he found himself in Purgatory. Various people much like the bandit who'd run him through were climbing out of even larger cracks in the ground, but he was back in the ruined forest when the lightning faded. What's happening? Are they...people I've killed?

At first, he thought it was another blast of thunder, but when the undead man fell to the ground, Norbert saw none other than Oscar standing there with a gun pointed at where the man had once somehow stood. The sword was still lodged firmly in the pegasus rider, but it hadn't started hurting yet and wasn't really effecting him, which was weird since his heart was probably about to stop working. He was surprised to see the doctor from the Leverager, though. "Oscar?" he managed to ask in bewilderment.

Oscar just put his gun away as he walked over then grabbed the sword and yanked it out before tossing it to the side. The wound it'd caused was immediately gone. "Thanks," Norbert said to him.

Oscar just shrugged and replied, "Don't get stabbed." Then, he disappeared without a trace. Norbert didn't notice it, but the bandit Oscar had shot was gone too, now. However, right then, a bunch of bandits charged out of the foliage and surrounded him. They were whole and hale, though. Norbert's hands quickly went to his maces...only to find they weren't there now. Blast it...

"Aw, what? Forgot something?" one of the bandits taunted. They all kept their eyes locked on him hungrily, just waiting for the order to attack.

"Where are my maces?!" Norbert demanded.

"Maces?" the bandit echoed, "Haven't seen any. You must've left them at home... Aww, how unfortunate for you. Heheh... Well, go on. Give us anything valuable you have and we'll be on our way."

The pegasus rider rested his hands on his hips, glaring down the leader. "I don't have anything valuable on me."

"Aw, too bad...for you. Get 'im, boys!" With that, all the bandits converged to attack.

I'll just have to do my best without my weapons. Norbert figured as he readied himself for the first blow. However, something suddenly fell from the sky, landing right by Norbert and attacking the first bandit to reach him. She was a girl Norbert had never seen before and she'd just forcefully kicked said bandit square in the teeth, knocking him flat onto his back five feet away. The next bandit to arrive was kicked in the stomach, forcing him away as well. The girl flapped her wings -- yes, this lady had wings. White, feathery ones -- and landed on the other side, sweeping her leg low and knocking the feet out from under another bandit and his face landed right on her fist. Apparently her arms were only of average strength, though, so as the bandit began falling forward again, Norbert planted his own fist into the guy's chin in an uppercut and thusly forced him to fall backwards.

"Great one!" she cheered before kicking another guy in the stomach. This was when Norbert got his first, good look at her. She was wearing charcoal-colored leather armor over white clothes. Her hands were covered in black gloves that only went to her wrists and her shoes went to her ankles (the shoes were also black.) She wore a charcoal-colored leather mask that covered the upper half of her face with holes for her eyes. It matched her armor. She had white, feathered wings and white hair, too. She wasn't likely to be an Avian, though, as she also happened to have a long, sharp, pegasus' horn sticking out of her forehead and she had a white horse tail. That particular, odd piece of armor on her back and the bags attached to it was also strange.

She simply turned her head to use her horn to cut open one of the bandits' throats as Norbert gawked as he tried to get over his surprise. "R-Riz?!" he exclaimed.

"Yep!" she happily replied before kicking away yet another bandit. It was right after that that she seemed to suddenly register what was happening. "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed, quite shocked all of a sudden. A moment later she looked over at him apparently overcome with joy. "You can understand what I'm saying?!"

"Uh..." That wasn't what he would have commented on first. He answered her all the same, though. "Yeah..."

"Wow! This is great! I've always wanted to talk to you! I can't believe it!" she giggled, ecstatic.

"Uh, Riz, we're still being attacked!" Norbert interrupted the giddy humanoid pegasus.

"Right!" With that, she proceeded to continue their attack on the bandits.

More and more kept coming, though. As the two fought on together, they began to get tired. "We can't keep fighting them. They just keep coming!" Norbert acknowledged. What choice do we have, though?

"You want out of here?" asked Rizen as she kicked another one away.

"Yes!" he was fairly frustrated at this point.

"Okay!" she happily replied, "Grab onto my saddle!"

"WHAT?!" of course she would think of that immediately -- she was a pegasus after all -- but...

"What's wrong? I thought you said you wanted to get away from these guys," she asked, genuinely confused.

"Circumstances have changed, Rizen," he replied, feeling awkward about the whole thing, "You look kind of more like an Avian than a pegasus now. You're built differently, so it would be weird."

"Don't be silly! Come on!" Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed his hand and flapped her wings down, climbing into the air speedily. A few arrows shot up after them, but none hit their mark. Soon, the two were high in the sky and Rizen was flying out of the gray, stormy part of the sky and towards clearer skies. She raised the had that was holding onto Norbert's and he grabbed onto the rim of her saddle, though his hands were the only things that touched it. He refused to sit down, instead just being pulled along through the air.

"Thanks for getting us out of there, Riz, but... How did this happen?" he asked.

"Does it matter? You can understand me now!" she happily replied, "I've wanted to talk to you for a long time now!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great and all but how did this happen to you?"

She frowned. "What's the matter? Don't you like that we can talk to each other now? Go on, sit down and we can chat."

"No, Riz, I told you before, that'd be too weird for me. It's one thing riding an equine around but riding someone close to your species?" he awkwardly tried to explain.

"You don't spend any time with me anymore!" she suddenly complained.

"I know -- I'm sorry. Rizen, you're my best friend, but..." It was just plain weird talking to his pegasus like this.

"You're my best friend, too," she replied, "so why won't you just sit down and talk to me?"

"Can we just keep flying?" he sighed. There was too much weird going on today.

Rizen grimaced with a small groan but remained silent and just kept flying around.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Mourning Unto Morning

Raquel's attempt to figure out what was going on led her to one of the crew who eventually informed her that the group had indeed suffered some casualties. She was shocked, overcome with grief, and mortified all at the same time. What should have only been the beginning of her investigation became something like the end. Rather than going to search out the others, she tried her best to find some place to mourn where she wouldn't draw any attention. She eventually wound up in the holds and came across Shadrak.

"Raquel? Hey! Are you alright?!" he asked, seeing the tears streaming down her face. She couldn't very well hold them back at the moment.

"No, I'm not alright. I screwed up and got them killed. Killed for nothing."

"That's not true," Shadrak reflexively countered.

"What did we accomplish? It was another meaningless fight and one of the very people we tried so hard to save died over it."

"That's not true! We had to defend the Leverager or they would have been obliterated by ranged attacks, especially that meteor. It could have taken out the entire ship!" Shadrak protested. "But wait, you know that ... that Lia died? Did one of the others tell you?"

"Not really, I just ... I just ... I just knew. I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not, but when I came to and went to figure out what happened, one of the men told me we had some casualties and that the bodies were being stored in the brig and I knew it was them. It couldn't have been a coincidence that those were the names I heard; it just couldn't."

Weird, Shadrak thought. "Look, it's going to be okay. We've had deaths come up on our side before."

"Not like this ..."

"Maybe not quite like this, but it's happened before. You can't beat yourself up about it. It's not healthy! Seriously! I ... look, I know women sometimes need to ... cry it out and what not ... so do that. There's nobody else down here--really--so you won't be disturbed by ANYONE."

"... okay," Raquel agreed, somewhat ignoring Shadrak's suspicious intonation. Suzume got the message loud and clear, though and sunk behind the crate she was sleeping on slowly and silently. Comfort was already thrown out the window in favor of stealth, and so this was only a minor inconvenience for her.

Day Thirty-Eight

Unsurprisingly, Raquel fell asleep in the holds, her tears long dried and her hair now noticeably less orderly. As soon as she sat up, she felt her cheeks begin to get warm again, and her eyes began to tear up. She felt like she was starting all over again, having never gotten it out of her system or something. She fought it off well enough to stand up again, but still had to wipe her eyes as she made for the staircase. That's where she found Shadrak, sitting on the stairs and going through his notes again.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, squinting to see if that was his notebook or something else. Indeed it was the former.

Looking up stoically from his notes, he replied, "Honestly? I was trying to place together a theory. You remember when Zel lost his mind and tried to kill you?"

"I'll never forget ..."

"Well the emblem actually worked that time for some reason. I figured it was because you were really angry. It might only work when someone really cuts loose or something and I'm trying to figure out if that's the key here."

"If I have to be on the verge of insanity to get it working, then this will never help us. I can't think straight when I'm that upset. I even had a strange dream last night where the emblem started working too."

"What?!" Shadrak had to hear this. "Tell me every detail!"

"I can't remember all of it. Just that it's the reason I knew who had died in the battle, and that Lilith and I got into a fight."

"Another argument?"

"At first, and then she took the emblem from me. I ... I somehow took it back ... all of it. Her piece too. Then the dream ends and I wake up in the infirmary," Raquel explained. She remembered the dragon head, but was avoiding that creature due to the strange phenomenon she wasn't sure what to make of. She'd seen it in her dream, and then when she awakened. That had never happened before and it had her extremely nervous and doubtful about her present environment.

"What did you two talk about that led up to that?"

"She just ... went too far. When I asked her if she'd have let us suffer and die when fighting the rebels, she said she would. I couldn't take it anymore! What kind of ally is that?! I know we didn't go in fully prepared, but if she won't help us when we need it most ... I just ... couldn't deal with it anymore and told her I was done. Done being her ally. She took the piece from me and I tried to choke her out but she blew me off and nearly killed me in the process. Once I ran out of options ... things just ... got really tense and I managed to take the emblem back from her. The dream ended after that."

"Was that creepy dragon thing in it?" Shadrak quickly followed up. Apparently he remembered that entity.

"... y-yes."

"And what did it do?" Shadrak began writing down a few things.

"He ... coached me through it."

Shadrak stopped writing and slowly looked up at Raquel with a cold investigative look in his eyes. "Something's not right here."

"W-what?"

"Never mind. Sorry, I'll leave you alone now. You should probably get some breakfast. Me too actually. Let's head up to the galley."

"... oh ... okay. I guess."

I wonder if he's going to bring me back something to eat or if I'm going to starve to death down here, Suzume pondered as she sat with her arms around her legs behind the crate. Her hair was let back down and her scarf was tied normally again.

-------------------------

Reign woke up on the cot he'd napped in the previous day and stared at the ceiling for a time. "... right then ... so about thirteen days left if nothing slows us down or speeds us up. Well we're off to a grand start, aren't we? Urgh!" Reign quickly shot up from the cot, turned back toward it, snatched up his coat which he'd been using as a pillow and put it on before heading for the stairs. He was aiming on heading up to the main deck before breakfast to get some fresh air. The Prometheus was a little too well insulated for his tastes.

-------------------------

Once he arrived up there, he saw the crew at work and the sun around halfway to its noon position. "Guess I was staring at nothing longer than I thought," he muttered to himself, remembering that he'd actually first come to at what seemed to be dawn.

Gabbie was right where we left her, curled up and sleeping in her bedroll with Ringo's right wing acting as an extra blanket. She wouldn't be able to tune out all the noises and order relays for long though, and was already tossing and turning. Ringo was awake and waiting for her to do the same.

[Parrhesia]

So apparently the head honcho or whatever was awake again, and Rook was in no hurry to be seeing her. After all, he could stay aboard the ship as long as his presence wasn't actively driven away by the leader, and he was more than content to postpone the inevitable.

Rook had grown to like the Prometheus, not least because it looked far more seaworthy than his own wreck. Rook had attempted to repay the crew in his... special way by trying his hand at baking. It had gone poorly, a fire had been started, and when forced to explain himself Rook had needed to be bailed out by the chef, which had been somewhat humiliating (that said, he'd made a mental note to revisit the woman later). The bowman shrugged; evidently the fates did not wish him to do anyone a good turn, so... well, he wouldn't. Sod 'em all.

He missed dry land.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Furetchen

[Snowy_One]

Thankfully for the crew, one of the guests upon the ship did know how to cook and how to cook well. Upon seeing that Zach was asleep, Robin had set about making herself busy. By morning she had cooked up a small breakfast omelet with bits of bacon cooked into the egg and had thoughtfully made enough for a few extra people before heading up, the smell of breakfast flowing from her hands.

Taking a seat beside Zach she placed the plate before him. "<Wakey wakey Zach.>" she said in a soft voice, trying to not disturb him.

[-Cynthia-]

The Post that Never Was

Veronika

Veronika was still asleep the following morning, having a few hard drinks by herself after a hard night. Her sleep in the sleeping quarters was dreamless and deep.

Connor

Connor fell asleep in the surprisingly comfortable Dauntless after tinkering away much of the night. The wagon was well-insulated from sound and he frankly enjoyed the privacy instead of having to share with the crew.

Nadya

Nadya woke up early to feed and brush Luca, before heading towards the galley to help fix breakfast. Some idiot had set something on fire, but Nadya managed to clear out her own workspace and avoid the incident. Better to do somethin' than sit here collectin' dust. she thought to herself.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Captain-guy had expressed his thoughts on what had taken the sinking ship down, but he rescuee-girl explained that some crashing pegasus did it. Which seemed silly and nonsensical, but the ship was sinking so any points as to how seemed irrelevant now. After that the guy from the lifeboat came over and started bantering with her. Which was fun and all, and got even better when Robin began asking questions and the lifeboat-guy started attempted to flirt with her. Rescuee-girl and lifeboat-guy got into a little spat after that. These two were gonna be fun while they were here. Robin didn't feel like doing anything other than dismissing the guy's attempts towards her and focusing on a passed out Zachary-boy. Captain-looking-guy gave out Raquel's info out to the life-boat guy, and that was more or less it for the night. Though Gar also learned they were on the Prometheus from all the back-and-forth. So that was kinda helpful.

Gar went and found a nice secluded corner to nap in.

Gar dreamt of nothing but darkness, like always, because he wasn't one to have a crisis of conscious or deep-rooted fears.

Gar woke up with a yawn in the morning. Sleep had been just as restful as ever. He stretched a bit and headed back to the deck--with a couple confused glances from people who had no idea he'd been there. Once on deck he hung out near one of the rails, munching on an apple and taking some swigs of water. He pondered what to do with his day.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Script

[Mercakete]

As planned, Gytha got a very good night's sleep. So, the next day she was awake and took care of Maw, as usual. Then, she had breakfast and sought out Silas since she hadn't been introduced to the quartermaster yet. It took a bit of seeking, but eventually she found him. "Ahoy n' good mornin'!" she cheerily greeted, "Not entirela sure what I'm supposed t' do t'day, so mind showin' me who the quartermaster is?"

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

Norbert's dream didn't go a whole lot further than that: just flying with Rizen away from the storm and into clearer skies. Eventually the dream faded and the pegasus rider slowly began to come to his senses. There was a dull ache in his side. He was also laying on a cot. The first thing his eyes took in as they opened and focused was the ceiling above him. It was pretty quiet in the infirmary. For half a second, Norbert wondered where he was and how he got there. The memory quickly came, however. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep on the cot he was laying on, about to be cut open. So, the first thing he did was carefully move his hand to his side. Sure enough, the arrow was gone. The wound was closed, too.

It sure is weird waking up and finding something missing like that... Remembering where he was, he didn't move for another moment or two, just listening instead. Eventually, he sat up. He was stiffer than he thought he'd be. I must not have moved around very much while I was asleep... What time is it?

[Parrhesia]

Rook, bored shitless, wanders off to Zoe's regular place in the kitchens, eager to impress her with abilities he actually possesses, such as his remarkable luck while fishing. He whistles a jaunty tune as he walks, certain that this is going to be his breakthrough with the kind kitchen worker.

[roymbrog]

As she had predicted, Synthia didn’t get much sleep that night. In the wee hours of the morning she had taken to wandering around the ship and eventually ended up in the galley at some point. Some guy had come in and almost burned the kitchen down, which was amusing, and Robin had come in to make food for someone. Synthia didn’t really care who, but the archer had been nice enough to leave extra behind. So currently the mage was sitting at one of the benches poking at an omelet while trying not to fall asleep in it. She had a feeling today was going to suck.

-----

As Robin approached, Volga had pulled up her wing, exposing people to the light who probably wouldn't enjoy it. Katrina sure didn’t. She pulled the wyvern’s paw down over her face. “Mmmsadfph.”

Volga was much more interested in whatever Robin was carrying, however. It smelled nice. While she was trying to wake Zach, the wyvern put on her best impression of a starving puppy and shoved her face towards the plate of food.

-----

There was something that Valter needed to do today, and now was as good a time as any. After asking directions from a sailor he soon arrived at the infirmary and knocked lightly before entering. Bert was the only patient in the room. That suited his purposes just fine. “So, the operation went well?” he asked, walking over. How to bring up what he actually needed to talk about? He didn’t particularly want to have this conversation.

[Snowy_One]

Robin looked at Volga, a thin smile on her face. "<Dad always told me that wyverns like you would pull tricks like this.>" she said as she reached up to scratch the wyvern's chin. "<I'm not sure this is the best for you, but here.>" she broke off a small piece of the omelet, one full of bacon, before holding it out juuust in front of Volga's head. "<Here you go. Just a small bit.>" she said, carefully moving it close so as to not lose a finger.

[Eail]

Zach

Zach was still strapped to Katrina come the morning hours, she evidently made a really good pillow/stuffed animal. What finally woke him up again was the voice of Robin.

'Oh god why.... sleep, need it.'

Not moving from his position of cuddling Katrina, he grumpily responded "What is it...."

Luka

The pinky had managed to rest quite well, but he was still concerned about Synthia. It had been obvious that something was wrong last night but she didn't want his help.... maybe she would be better now. Managing to find his way to the mess hall Luka picked up a bit of breakfast for himself, quickly finding his new friend as well he took a seat on the bench across from her. "Good morning.... um, are you feeling better now Synthia?"

[roymbrog]

Volga grinned greedily at the proffered treat, and proceeded to envelop Robin’s entire hand with her mouth. Her empty fingers were left with no bite marks, just lots of slobber.

-----

“Morning…” Synthia replied, looking up. Oh, it was the kid again. “I’ve been worse,” she muttered. The omelet wasn’t bad, at least.

[ReformBlade]

Mushirah had gotten very little sleep but didn't particularly care either. It never affected her much, as she wasn't the most active person to begin with... Either way, she saw that there was an incredibly bored looking person playing with her food over yonder. Her detective senses kicked in as she moved over to investigate, pulling her hood off. "Good morning... I guess the other night was pretty intense for you guys, wasn't it?" Maybe a bit insensitive, but Mushirah didn't really know where else to go honestly. Magic? Comparing clothing? Eye spy? Arm wrestling? Or perhaps an introduction...? "I'm sorry, where are my manners... Probably left them back in Tremere, haha, anyway, my name's Mushirah. I'm hoping to travel the world and get a detailed map of every piece of land."

Aneda, back in dreamland, was being really odd. "No no, don't do that..." she mumbled. "the gun doesn't... shoot frogs.... zzzz" Droll right onto Zach, like it was its friggin mission in its short lifespan.

Davod... didn't do much. The guy was pretty much shut off and reserved at this point. Well shucks...

[roymbrog]

Synthia stared at the newcomer blankly for a moment. “Well, I guess it could be described that way,” she muttered. Then louder, and actually talking to Mushirah, “Nice to meet you. I’m Synthia, this is Luka,” she said, gesturing to the kid across from her. The mage rested her head on one arm while continuing to poke at her food with the other. Tired as she was, perhaps she should at least attempt some form of conversation. “So you’re a cartographer, huh? Where in Ursium are you headed?”

[Parrhesia]

Rook slides open the door to the kitchens, casually slipping past the people actually using the mess hall for its intended purposes, and looks around for Zoe. These last two fish he caught are totally gonna impress her they're like half a metre long oh man oh man

[Mercakete]

Norbert looked over to Valter, a bit surprised to see that no one else who'd come in for help from the doctor the previous night remained. Even Raquel was gone. That probably meant she was feeling better. He shrugged in response to Valter's question.

"I just woke up," he replied as he rubbed a bit of sleep sand from his eyes, "Feels okay, though." In truth, it still ached, but it was easily ignored.

As each millisecond passed, the pegasus rider's senses began to return to him and so he only just noticed something as he looked himself over. Uh... Well, I guess that makes sense... Easier to cut if nothing's in the way. His middle had been bandaged some, and as he looked around, Norbert noticed his body armor, tunic and forehead guard in a neat pile, though it didn't look like they'd been washed yet. Feeling a bit odd, the pegasus rider began to remove his gloves, asking Valter as he did, "And how are you?"

[ReformBlade]

"Um... where?" Now there was a question she hadn't thought of. "I don't really know, I guess where the wind takes me, hehe... OK, maybe I'm not that whimsical, but I don't really know still. I've only really lived my life in a port town, very rarely visiting places outside. I mean, I had lots of fun with my family, I figured, you know, what's the rush? And then my parents kept urging me to get a job, getting all annoyed that I was mooching off of them and whatnot. They were pretty stubborn, yet lovably subtle about it, I think anyway... forgive me, I seem to be spouting expository again. It's nice to meet you, Synthia and Luka. Say... are either of you magically inclined?" She was honestly curious, trying to find more topics of conversation.

[Phoenix]

Just In Time For Breakfast

By the time Raquel and Shadrak had reached the galley, Raquel had finished getting her hair in order. It wasn't perfect, but she didn't feel like she looked ridiculous now. Shadrak immediately noticed Synthia poking at her food and wondered if she wasn't happy with it. He would have said something to her regarding that, but she was engaged with others, one he also didn't recognize. He took a seat and motioned for Raquel to sit down beside him, which she eventually did. Only then did Shadrak remember that this wasn't some fancy restaurant where someone would eventually take their orders and return with food. "Err-one sec, I'll go see what they're making. Did you want anything in particular? I could see if maybe the chef will make it for you."

"Toast," Raquel replied tiredly.

"Okay ..." Instead of heading off right away, he stayed back for a moment. "It's going to be okay."

"I guess."

Once Shadrak went to find Zoe, Reign arrived and took his seat next to Raquel. "I need to talk to you about something. It's important. It can wait, but not too long."

"What's this about?"

"You. On the battlefield. This isn't working and we need to do something about it," Reign explained.

Raquel hung her head in shame. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"You don't have to fight. You've done plenty already."

Raquel immediately began shaking her head rapidly. "No no no no no, I am not backing down after all of this. There's no reason for me to be here if I just sit back and hope for the best."

"There's no reason for any of us to be here if you die," Reign countered. "If you're going to insist on putting yourself in harms way so you don't have to feel guilty about all of this, then I'm going to have to protect you myself."

"But you're not the defending type. I mean ... you can take care of yourself, but me too? That's a bit much. You don't even wear much ..."

"True, I'll have to shift my paradigm a bit, but if you won't stay inside the Dauntless, I don't have any other options here."

Meanwhile, inside the kitchen, Zoe was cleaning up after Robin while keeping track of three separate stews cooking. It was a bit daunting, but with Nadya's help, feeding the extra twenty people wasn't going to be outright unmanageable.

We Live On

The Leverager sailed throughout the night, but at a much slower pace than usual due to the damage the sails took, and all the repairs the crew were working on that would only be made easier by moving more slowly over the waves. It was a miserable night of travel with everyone wondering about the fate of the Dark Utka, and praying to their gods that Mikoyan and his squadron arrived in time to help. They caught sight of the ship after sunrise. The main mast was down, and there was debris, equipment, blood, and dying embers scattered all across the main and aft decks. Coming up alongside the ship, Bogdan was relieved to see over a dozen wyverns present, along with plenty of people working to clear the debris, but he still couldn't make out Filat just yet. He didn't spot him until the ships were connected and he crossed over. Filat was sitting up against a guard rail on the port side of the Utka, looking exhausted. Lev was kneeling beside him and the two seemed to be in the middle of a conversation.

Bogdan approached which got their attention, and Lev spoke up first. "They fought hard, Bogdan. You should be proud of your son, here."

"Filat, what happened?"

"I ... I did my best, Captain ... I really did." Filat answered weakly.

Lev waited a second, and then stepped closer to Bogdan, leaning in and saying, "It took me hours to convince him he didn't fail. He's still recovering."

"Fail?" Bogdan echoed worriedly.

"We didn't lose all of the eggs in the end, and we still have all of the nestlings. The rebels were apparently prioritizing a single egg," Lev explained.

"They killed ten people, and sacrificed half of their forces to get away with just three eggs. One of them was the shadow egg. Cornelius was broken out during the fighting and tried to turn the young dragons on us, but the ursian noble killed him and the dragons were subdued. Everyone from the original Utka crew is dead, and half of the men we transferred from the Leverager," Filat explained the situation more fully.

"Gods." Bogdan winced. "So we only have six left ... and the Ukta is down to a quarter of her crew."

Filat nodded slowly. "The rudder is also damaged and we need replacement parts to repair it. Couple that with the main mast being down, and we can't go anywhere."

"We'll tow the ship back if we have to," Bogdan immediately decided.

"The Leverager is damaged too, Bogdan. I suggest we try to fix that damage first using parts and supplies from the Utka. My squadron can provide escort back to friendlier waters, but the Leverager won't be able to maneuver while towing the Utka. You'll be sitting ducks in a fight. Pirates won't pass up an opportunity like that," Lev suggested.

"Repairs will take days."

"Our only other option is to send word and wait for a proper escort," Lev replied, not really wanting to wait that long, himself. "The rebels know exactly what they're dealing with now, and there are six more dragons they can get their hands on if they commit just one more platoon or two. That's also too good to pass up, but I imagine it will take them time to prepare for that kind of an assault. That's time we shouldn't waste waiting around."

"So send for an escort. We'll focus on repairs and get moving again as soon as possible in the meantime. We'll try to meet them halfway." Bogdan suggested.

Lev seemed hesitant at that suggestion too. "Are you certain? Every rider we lack here is going to hurt us in a confrontation."

"Are you really confident that your squadron will make the difference if we fall under attack? Would having just one man missing really hurt us that much?"

"I don't want to find out with these dragons aboard, but I'll send one of my men, shortly," Lev conceded.