Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[-Cynthia-]

"Yup that's me," Connor said after Raquel's introduction, waving to Tia. "Anna should be back with the crane as soon as she's able and she's usually pretty quick. Try not to let the ship rock too much?" he suggested, shrugging.

[Eail]

"I..." Zach really didn't want to leave Marella right now, but she seemed serious about him going on ahead. "Okay... don't be too long though." He said with a sigh before unwillingly letting go of her hand and starting to walk away. The thunder sage had the distinct feeling this was not going to end well...

[scorri]

As soon as Zach was out of sight, Marella turned and glared at Robin. <Ok, you listen to me right now. You do not deserve Zach in a million years. When he was hurting, all you could do was pester him about why he was ignoring you. Sure you guys may have had history once, but that was over years ago. Did you ever think that maybe he just needed someone to listen to him? Next time you have someone you care about, try thinking about what they need, not just what you need. From the first day I showed up on this ship, you've been pestering him about how someone he cared about died and about how he's ignoring you and how he must hate you now. So maybe he ignored you. Maybe he didn't need someone pestering him about the sorrow in his life. Maybe he just needed someone to listen. All I did was sit next to him after you told him he was dead to you. And he broke down and told me everything. Can you blame him? He needed someone to give him space and listen and all you could do was think selfishly about how his pain was affecting you. So maybe he has moved on to another girl. But you know what? To him, it isn't like he moved on in a few days. To him, any romantic relationship between the two of you has been dead for years. You've been a friend and nothing more since before he left home. So you have no right to judge him on what may or may not be happening between us. It's honestly none of your business, especially if he's supposedly dead to you.> Marella took a breath and considered saying more, but then just shook her head. <So unless you have something to say, I'm going to go enjoy a nice afternoon with my friends.>

[ReformBlade]

Seeing the wyvern ride out before them, Aneda followed after her on Hannah, with Mushirah merely taking the lowly human route down. It seemed people were coming anyway, and Aneda was getting quite famished, when suddenly the smell of fish hit her, good fish, fresh hot fish with delicious on top of that. However, there was another smell, something... potatoey...

A vendor offered the curious woman a hashbrown, "Here you go, first one is free, madam!" but Aneda remained skeptical, but hopeful. "Well... Can't kill me, right? ... Right? Haha, just joking. Smells amazing by the way..." Taking a large chomp out of the hashbrown, Aneda's eyes lit up. "And it TASTES great too! What even is this thing?" The man (hyper) beamed at Aneda, "I call it a hasbrown, it's a new technique I'm trying out, I'm glad you love it! You can get 2 for a gold piece!" Aneda quickly threw 5 at the guy (ok not really throwing but you get the picture) and she found herself holding 10 hot fresh hasbrowns in a little bag. "Be sure to spread the word, ma'am, thanks for your business!"

5 gold poorer but swimming in hashbrowns, Aneda was very happy. Very... very happy.

Mushirah, going back to that lass, was stopped by some goofing off (as she'd put it), but she wasn't annoyed by it or anything. "You guys alright?" She asked, not quite able to understand their language at the moment, but still concerned for the tumblees.

[Snowy_One]

"<Yes, I do have something to say. I never left Zach. I was always there for him, trying to do my best for him even when he was struggling. When he was lonely, I was there for him. When he needed my help, I always did my best for him. I did that for years until his mother died. When she did, I tried my best to comfort him and he pushed me away to go on his little journey of self-exploration. And when he came back, I forgave him of those two years of abandonment. I forgave him of all he did that could have hurt me because I CARED about him. And what did he do? He shoved me aside for Lia, the weak and helpless girl he could protect. All I wanted was him to acknowledge me as a friend again. All I wanted was for him to not treat me like some stranger, but as a person he could trust, and instead he shoved me away. If he wanted me gone, he got exactly what he wanted. You have known him for less than a month and you think you can suddenly stand up and know him best because of one breakdown? DO YOU THINK I WANTED TO DECLARE HIM DEAD?!>" yelled Robin, raising her voice noticeably. "<I didn't! I spent all night crying my eyes out because my best friend, the person that I had cared the most for in the world and had done my best to support throughout my life had rejected me for the ghost of his mother. And where were you then? Where was Gytha? Or Shadrak? Or Raquel? Or even the damned horse? Nowhere! And you know what? I sucked it up and got through it. I toughed it out and survived. I may look like shit and feel like I've been stabbed in the heart, but I kept it to myself and toughed it out. And now, you come up, after one break down, and tell me you know him better than me and all the pain I went through is unjustified because he had one breakdown? I hope you like being a ghost, because that's all you are to him. The ghost of his mother... and the ghost of the happy past I once gave him.>"

[Parrhesia]

Rook heard the word 'horse', and went to go check on Chariot.

[Mercakete]

Well, they'd made it to shore and Gytha was mulling over Robin's question. Actually, places Gytha went for fun in ports typically did involve bars, though not for the drinking. It was a great place for news about the affairs of the world, adventures at sea -- true or not -- and to hear which ships were looking for extra hands. Sometimes there were competitions to watch or to join in to and there was usually music. Quite the place to meet strange, new people, too. You never knew what the tide brought in, after all.

Gytha's thoughts on that, though, were interrupted by something that sounded a lot like people falling, so she turned around to see what'd happened. The scene that she saw left her standing there trying to understand it.Zachary, a girl she didn't quire recognize and Robin had apparently tumbled some, then they were speaking in a language Gytha didn't understand. Zach eventually left and then the one lady let Robin have it, word-wise. Or at least that seemed to be what was going on since Gytha herself didn't understand a lick of it. Another lady Gytha'd seen around the ship but hadn't learned the name of yet commented on the scene, too, asking if everyone was alright. Gytha just shrugged at the lady.

And then Robin began vehemently speaking in that language again in return to the first lady. This didn't seem like it was even close to being over yet and quite frankly, the mariner didn't know what to do besides stand there and wait for it to finish.

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

"You can work for whoever you want to," Norbert replied with a shrug, "I'm just trying to give as much good advice as I can. Though working for Weyland does pay well. From my experience anyway. He might be hiring..." Especially since Sophia was working for him before... I don't know, though... It was uncomfortable thinking about it like that, so he just moved on. "He lives in Europa."

[scorri]

"Yes, we're fine. Just discussing something personal, that's all. Thanks for your concern." Marella smiled at Mushirah and then turned back to Robin. <You misunderstand me. I'm not talking about years ago. I'm sure you were a wonderful friend back then, but honestly I could care less. That wasn't my point. I never claimed you left him. In fact what you've done is the opposite. He left his home for a reason. You refuse to understand that it wasn't personal. It had nothing to do with you. It was something he needed to do. And you forgave him for that? Oh, how grand of you. Perhaps you'll forgive him for going to eat by himself next. Can you not understand that sometimes people need time to themselves? You claim he shoved you aside for someone else and that he should have not treated you like a stranger. Did it not occur to you that after two years gone, you were a stranger to him? Did you even try to get to know the new him or did you just assume that it would be exactly like the old times when you two were together and in love? He found someone else to care about. What's the crime in that? I never claimed to know him better. But I've been looking at things from the outside for the past month and that's allowed me to see some things pretty clearly. Did you ever think that maybe he shoved you away because you were clinging on too hard? Sometimes the harder you hold onto something, the harder it will try to escape. And here's the thing. You keep trying to replace the people he's lost in his life. Take the place of his mother, take the place of Lia. Of course he's going to shove you away. You aren't them. You won't ever be them. You can't fix those holes. They'll always be there. You claim I'm like a ghost to him. Perhaps I am for now. But all I'm trying to do is be his friend. I'm just trying to be there for him in whatever way he needs me. And so I'm ok with that. That will change. A new bond will form and I'll be me to him. But you... you keep trying to reclaim the past. You can't do that. Both of you have changed too much. Maybe you should try to get to know the new Zach instead of trying to force an old relationship on him. If you don't want to declare him dead, then why did you? All your doing is hurting both of you. But you're so stuck on the past relationship that you can't even see that.> Marella shook her head. <Honestly, I almost pity you. You can't even see the damage you're doing because you're so stuck in the past. You can't accept the fact that he's moved on and has changed. Let the old Zach go. Get to know the new one. Maybe when you've realized that, you'll be able to be his friend again.> She nodded to Gytha and Mushirah and then turned to start walking away.

Edited January 31, 2013 by scorri

[Snowy_One]

"Get to know the old Zach. Because that is the one you will be marrying." replied Robin, coldly, as Marella walked away.

[scorri]

Marella laughed scornfully. <You just refuse to see that the world changes whether you want it to or not. Grow up and learn to accept change.> She shook her head as she walked away. Turning the corner, she found Zach. "Ah, Lightning Head, there you are. Ready to go get some food?" Grabbing his hand, she smiled. <I just had to explain some things to Robin. Well, try to. She refuses to understand.> "Anyways, lets go. We need to catch up to the others!"

[Snowy_One]

Robin said nothing for a moment, then turned about, seeming to want to head back up the ship ramp. "I suddenly do not want to go out anymore."

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

"Well, I'm Raquel Valcyn," she introduced herself.

The sailor meanwhile replied to Connor. "Alright, we'll untie it, but there's not much we can do if the Dauntless starts rolling down here so make sure you're well out of the way," the sailor warned.

"Don't worry so much. There's no way the ship'll move enough to get that thing rollin' around," another reassured him.

Raquel wasn't terribly worried either once she glanced over at the Dauntless for herself. It looked stable enough to her. That was when a thought occurred. "W-wait a minute! Doesn't it have something to keep the wheels from moving?"

"A brake? Nope," Gabbie instantly answered.

"Well ... the next version should probably have one. That seems like a good addition to the design, don't you think?"

"Yep." Gabbie stopped paying as much attention after that reply.

Once the crane was close enough that anyone on the Prometheus could look out and see it(recognizing it as such was a different matter), Anna strolled back up onto the ship and approached Raquel, Connor and the others near the unloaded cargo. "The Dauntless doesn't look ready just yet. That's a shame, but I still think we're making good time. At least they're working on getting the harness on~"

Stairs

"Well, it's an interesting opportunity ... good pay, not likely to run afoul of you people again ... ... but at the same time I don't really like the idea of running into this group again, period. I'll have to think about it, but I'm not sure going to him personally is such a good idea, especially not if it's a long trip. I could probably look into something closer to the water. Weyland Enterprises is a company, right? If it's not limited to just Europa, then maybe my idea would work ..."

Edited January 31, 2013 by Phoenix

[Eail]

While he might have been hidden from sight Zach still pretty much managed to hear all of what was said between Marella and Robin. His former friend's words still bit deep, and they weren't easy to hear. However the sage was doing better today than he had last night with keeping the emotions in check. By the time Marella came back to him it was all stored away for later... and boy would it come up later.

He slipped back into sight so Mar could find him easily, and felt happy to be near her again. "Yeah... thanks for that. Probably should catch up to the others, and I owe you some food too right?"

[Mercakete]

Well, whatever that had been about, it'd turned Robin's mood for the worse. It was probably better not to go to any of the livelier stops Gytha would usually take if only because she didn't know what Robin would do in said stops in her current emotional state. "A'right, then. We can wait in th' ship t' move out if ye want to," Gytha replied to the archer girl, deciding to let her take the lead this time.

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

Plan? The pegasus rider decided not to think about it too much. He had questions to answer and it wasn't any of his business anyway. "Yeah, it's a pretty big one, too. Weyland's an inventor who makes weapons for Ursium's military, but he has establishments all over Sardius from the looks of things. I guess he's good at it if he's that well-known," Norbert replied.

[Snowy_One]

"I do not want to move out Gytha. I just... I need to be alone for a bit now."

[Mercakete]

Gytha nodded in reply. "A'right. Just keep yer head up; don't want Raquel leavin' without ye." By now the crane had arrived, so the mariner figured they would be leaving soon.

Edited February 1, 2013 by Mercakete

[roymbrog]

Now on solid ground, Katrina dismounted Volga, opting instead to walk along leading her. There was no need to draw more attention than was necessary after all. Riding on the wyvern was probably more conspicuous than walking next to it.

Kat’s attention was soon split between the altercation by the ramp and the nearby merchant selling Aneda something. Marella seemed to have the thing with Robin under control (and Kat couldn’t quite hear everything from where she was) and Kat was pretty hungry, so she ended up following after Aneda. Whatever she had picked up from the vendor smelt delicious. “Hey, what is that?” she asked. “….Can I have one?”

Volga followed along, taking in all the smells of port. It was very tempting to rush all the seafood stalls and devour all their merchandise, but the wyvern knew her rider would scold her if she did that. The fear of disapproval kept her in check for now. It didn’t keep her from whining about it, though.

-----

Synthia was on a mission as she walked into town, a mission to find a saddle. It was nearly impossible to climb onto her large equine’s back without one. So she went to a place that probably sold stuff or something and didn’t run into Jerald at all because roy fails and can’t write that interaction for some arbitrary reason.

-----

Valter finished saddling Phyllis and probably talked to Luka or something. Hell if I know, no one really cares about the guy anyway. He exists somewhere invisibly on deck.

[Phoenix]

Offloading the Dauntless

The sailors were still prepping the Dauntless, so Raquel returned to what she was doing, looking through the enormous stack of crates and boxes that had been unloaded. She was embarrassed to see so many of her personal belongings on the outside of the cargo pile, even if they were all boxed up.

Gabbie didn't have much to do for the moment either and so simply stood by Ringo. She was glad that she didn't have to lift a finger to help with the Dauntless anymore.

After a few minutes, the Dauntless' restraints were removed, making it a separate piece from the ship. The harness was secured as well, just in time for the crane crew to finish setting up on their end. Once the Dauntless was hooked up, the crane began to hoist it into the air. That was when Raquel again realized the obvious. They were going to have to carry down each individual crate by hand. This wouldn't have mattered to her normally, but she was suddenly uncomfortable with her personal things getting moved about at random again. She quickly began pulling the boxes she knew contained her personal effects out of the pile and made another much smaller one. That was one problem out of the way. Her next thought was to have Zachary and the others help her carry them down and put them back into the Dauntless once it was on the ground, but a quick scan of the area revealed that they had already upped and left. She lowered her head and sighed. I told them to wait a minute ... oh well. There are still other people I can ask. "Shadrak, Gabbie, could you help me with these?"

"Uh, sure," Shadrak replied. He had been a little preoccupied by the confrontation between Robin and Marella, but didn't know exactly what they were talking about and didn't know what use he'd be getting involved. Now he couldn't, so he reluctantly picked out a box at random and held onto it for the moment.

Gabbie shrugged and motioned at Ringo. The wyvern moved close to the pile and laid back down. She didn't bother picking up a box yet since the Dauntless wasn't on the ground yet.

"Alright, once she's down we'll take the cargo down and put everything back inside!" Silas was still coordinating the operation. He turned to Raquel and Connor next saying, "There's no way we'll be able to get everything back like it was on our own, so any guidance in that area would be greatly appreciated."

Conversation At the Stairs

Suzume stopped leaning against the rail and let her arms down after Norbert expounded on Weyland's company. "I guess I'll look into that then. Thank you. That actually helps me quite a bit, actually. Well, a lot more than mere sympathy would."

[Mercakete]

Gytha made her way back onto the ship. The Dauntless was being lifted up and the last time she'd seen Maw, the cat had been asleep on it, so she wanted to make sure the feline was in her line of sight. It didn't take much looking as the mariner saw the cat sitting next to her bag by a pile of crates.

"Hm, guess they unloaded it," she mumbled to herself as she observed the scene. She wasn't entirely sure why Shadrak was holding one of the crates, but apparently they'd need to be moved off the ship by hand. Well, she could be useful for that when the time came.

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

In hindsight, Suzume was right: this information was, in fact, a lot more helpful than a handful of gold would've been. At the time, Norbert just hadn't thought any information he had would be all that useful since he didn't know what she already knew or didn't know.

"I'm glad I could help," the Ursian replied. That seemed to conclude their business. So, with a nod, Norbert finished the conversation off, "Well, good luck."

[Snike]

"Right, and you expected those bloodthirsty devils to just let us go, after our negotiations? You must be more naive than I thought," Axel said, shifting his stance. "Anyways, since I take it that the organization caught up to the group abroad, should we be expecting anyone or anything from the sea?"

***

After a bit of wandering about the boat, Blake found Raquel, along with Gytha, Gabriella, and Shadrak, near the ramp alongside some boxes that were clearly separated from the rest of the merchandise. If the fact that Shadrak was carrying one was any indication, those would have to be brought down by group members. Well, he had nothing better to do, so why not help? The Ursian laid down his staff on the deck next to the outer barrier, so that it wouldn't be in the way, before approaching the containers.

"I take it you'll need help with these?" Blake asked, as he picked up a box. He figured it wouldn't harm anyone if he took initiative in this case.

Edited February 3, 2013 by Snike

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika narrowed her eyes at Axel, but decided to answer the query anyway. "We haven't seen the organization since around Port Temptress, so it seems they've either lost track of us or are waiting until we are on land to attack. We ran afoul of Neviskotian rebels since leaving Temptress, but since we don't have what they were looking for they probably are no longer interested in us.[/i] she said, avoiding talk of smuggling dragon eggs in an Ursian port.

Connor

"Sure I know where everything should go, so I can coordinate once the Dauntless comes down," he said to Silas. "Thanks for your assistance everyone," he said to both the Weyland employees and Raquel's mercenaries alike.

[ReformBlade]

Munching on another hashbrown, Aneda shoved a hasbrown into Kat's hands as soon as she asked. "Eat it." She said. "Eat it and know that you've tasted one of the most amazing things you've ever tasted in life." the rider was dead serious in her tone and her face, but she slowly smiled, "OK maybe I'm exaggerating... a litle, but still, these are pretty dang good. I'd be glad to share more with you, it's called a Hashbrown by the way..." Looking around, she didn't see anyone else form the group, "Man, is she still over by the ship? Ugh..."

Meanwhile, Mushirah was indeed still over by the ship, but decided upon observation that Marella and Zach were probably gonna be doing their own thing. Giving a wave, "Um, well, I'll see you later, Marella." An assumption made, and a decision later, Mushirah quickly caught up with Aneda. "Well you didn't have to leave without me, you know." "Yeah well you took too long. Plus, food. Here. Eat. Now." And so Mushirah did.

[scorri]

Marella smiled. "No need to thank me. It wasn't anything important, I just needed to explain something to her, that's all." She considered the option of joining the others and then shrugged. "Well, they seem to have gone on without us, so why don't we go get some food and then wander around the town. Or, after we eat, we could head back to the ship to see if Raquel needs help. Up to you."

[Phoenix]

Touchdown

Once the Dauntless came gently back onto land, the dockers immediately began undoing the harness. Back on the Prometheus, Raquel figured it was time to get started and picked up as many of the smaller boxes she could carry at once and nodded at Blake's inquiry. She was hoping to get her personal belongings back further into the Dauntless than the merchandise, and so wanted to move them back in first. They wouldn't necessarily have to work ahead of the crewmen, though. "Hey Connor? Can you make sure they don't put everything way in the back? That's where I keep my things and I don't want them getting mixed up, a little here, a little there ..."

Gabbie grabbed a couple of boxes too and immediately realized the ones she grabbed only had books in them. That didn't seem terribly important, but she carried them anyway ... not very far though. She placed them on Ringo, intending to have him do the actual carrying. She put on a couple more since there was still room. "Ready when you are," she informed Raquel. She wasn't aware that one of the boxes she'd placed on Ringo was Chip's old room box. The monkey quickly emerged and shrieked to get her attention. "... huh? Oh roight ... monkey box."

Farewell

"Good luck to you too, and goodbye," Suzume replied, hoping he wouldn't end up getting injured like he had again. If only she knew. Her next objective was to try and get off the ship without running into anyone in particular, but knowing that the ship and its crew were hired by Weyland Enterprises, she was tempted to get some more information first.

Edited February 2, 2013 by Phoenix

[Snowy_One]

Things seemed to be set for the moment as Raquel, the woman who could fix her books, was busy with some sort of crane. Still, Tia was not the type of girl to sit idly by while there was things to be doing! Like LEARNING! Knowledge ho! This was a new group of people with many interesting things about them, she was sure, and her eye looked for one that wasn't occupied at the moment. Namely Valter.

Approaching the man mounted atop the steed, she bent in close to look Phyllis over. "Interesting horse you got there sir. I assume you fight on horseback mainly instead of using her for travel? What's it like? How do you compensate for the motions of your mount so easily? How do you care for your mount to keep her in such a shape? My name is Tia by the way, water mage extraordinar."