Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[roymbrog]

“Ah, wonderful choice,” the shopkeeper replied as he retrieved the saddle. “Right this way then…” And he walked back around and placed it on the table before the waiting mage.

Well, the thing looked alright. “Good job, Chelsea,” Synthia said while looking it over. “Hey, merchant, do you mind if I try it on her first? And could you get a saddle blanket? I- …We’ll buy that too.”

The man didn’t look happy with the way he was being addressed, but he did as was asked and Synthia started saddling the horse. While that was going on, he noticed Nadya and her black hair hanging around the stand and put on his best apologetic smile. “I’m sorry if you needed something, miss, but I won’t be able to help you today.”

-----

Valter was relieved when Tia decided to leave him alone, but felt a pang of guilt as she walked away. He hadn’t exactly been very kind to her. A realization struck then, and a mild look of horror crept over his face. “Oh no… I’m turning into Synthia, aren’t I?” he said, looking to his horse. Phyllis didn’t answer because she was a horse, but she wasn’t paying attention anyway. “Damn.” The horseman ran a hand down his face before drifting into quiet contemplation.

[ReformBlade]

"Detour?" She asked before getting the picture really quick like. "Uh, sure, I'm just killing time really~"

Nothing else to say really.

Because I don't do interactions, right?

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

In whatever shady corner of the ship he was sleeping in, Gar awoke with an incredibly restful yawn. He hadn't had a sleep that restful in years. Felt like he had slept a month even. So he went right back to sleep until the ship's eventual stopping and the force generated by that action shook him awake.

Then he went right back to sleep.

But eventually he did wake from his usual dream of nothing but darkness. It was a really good nothingness too. But either way, they were probably at their port destination or whatever so he should go take a look and see if Suzzy Q changed her mind if they were.

Gar crawled out of his hidey hole and started stretching away his disorientation. His left shoulder was especially sore but that was to be expected that all the affected areas would be like that. He spent a few more minutes making sure he had the full range of flexibility on that arm before heading topside for some refreshing sunlight which burned him because he'd been below decks or only out and night for some long.

He mumbled something as he rubbed the pain from his eyes.

[GoD]

Pleased that she was able to help her comrade, Chelsea made a mock salute to Synthia and said "Happy to help!!".

It was at this time she noticed that Nadya was there; the troubadour made it a point to greet the other troub. "Yo, Nadya. Whatcha doin here?"

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"I wasn't buyin' anyway," Nadya said to the merchant rather gruffly. [i[What they don't serve 'my kind' here or somethin'?[/i]

"Just checkin' things out, goin' for a ride," Nadya replied to Chelsea pleasantly.

Erica

Erica waited patiently for Norbert to get off the ship...until he took off on his pegasus.

"Oh for Mercy's sake..." she muttered to herself, spurring Patches 2 to go on as she attempted to track them through the air. Where is he going anyway?

[Script]

[spoiler=Untouchable and Now Invincible]At some point during some day Gar felt the urgent need to do one part of his grand plan of weakening his enemies(because it was impossible for him to get better you see), so he felt like doing that in the most bizarre way possible and of slightest relevance to something he said roughly sometime soon he remembered.

So on that fine day he went and found Raquel somewhere tasteful and asked a very important question. "Do you have any armor in stock on that wagon of yours?"

That coat wasn't anywhere near done, but Raquel needed a break and decided to spend that break relaxing in the galley. It wasn't time to eat or anything, but it seemed like a nice place to spend time when the Dauntless was getting too stuffy. She'd brought a book with her, but realized she might not get the chance to read any of it when Gar showed up. "Armor? Uh yeah, there's plenty. Are you looking for anything in particular?" she asked.

"Lightweight, flexible and high deflection capability for all pieces," Gar answered. "Piece-wise: armguards capable of fitting under my coat and actually all pieces need to fit under it. left-fitted spaulder--only the one really--and a plackart." Gar finished.

Yep, it was time to go back to the Dauntless. "Hmm, I think we have all that but I'll need to head back anyway if you're going to be buying all of this now." She stood up from the table and slipped the book into her bag. "Let's go back to the Dauntless and I'll see if I can find what you need."

"Spiffy," Gar said. "Oh, and sorry for interrupting whatever it was you were doing," he nonchalantly apologized. "Anything interesting?"

"Not really. I'm out of 'new' books to read, so I went back to an older one I've got vaguer memories of," she answered as she made her way out of the galley. She elaborated on the way back to the Dauntless. "It's a story about a nobleman who's girlfriend tries to assassinate him; she's an assassin working for another noble house. She actually does fall in love with him though, so when his enemies get suspicious, they send another assassin who spends a lot of time with the nobleman and assassin. It's really tense between the assassins for awhile. Eventually the new assassin ends up killing her while she's actually trying to kill both of them. By the end of it, the nobleman figures out what's going on and avenges her and takes down the entire enemy house. It's not very epic, but I did like the assassin woman changing sides. Being lovestruck's not the best reason, but I'm still glad she was on his side in the end."

By the end of that summary they had arrived at the Dauntless.

"Hmmm, let's see what I can scrapedog up," Gar said as he intruded into the wagon. "So," Gar said as he began looking at some of the armor pieces immediately available. "What's the reason you liked her being on his side in the end?" Gar shook his head at the first pieces. Wholly unfit for his tastes.

"They went through a lot together and throughout most of it, I was dreading that moment when she was going to finally try to kill him because I figured it was going to backfire and she was going to die, break his heart, and have it be one of those really sad endings. I wanted her to be there and alive with him at the end of the story. Once the other assassin showed up, I was really worried for her sake and just had to keep reading to find out how it would end. Instead of her trying to kill him and dying in the process, she protected him, albeit at the cost of her own life. Still, it made me happy knowing she at least had that change of heart in the end ... and she did save him which is the only reason he was able to take down the other house."

She gave a small wave to Connor once she noticed him.

"Ah, well that paints a clearer picture," Gar replied while still searching. He grabbed a promising armguard. It's weight was nice, but would it fit? A quick check and nope, it bulged too much under his coat. Dangit. Still, he set it aside in a more useful pile along with its twin. "So, what was the reason the two houses were at odds?"

"That was one thing that really bugged me. The author just decided to go with something simple instead of something more interesting," Raquel began. "The country the story takes place in is clearly a fantasy version of Ursium but unlike the real Ursium, they're in the aftermath of a civil war and all the noble houses are making huge landgrabs. That's all of them except the noble hero's family. They're just trying to hold on to the land that was rightfully theirs in the first place. Despite the fact that they're smaller than some of the other houses, they manage to fight everyone else off--the nobleman's a really strong warrior which is why they needed assassins in the first place. I was hoping for something a little more in depth ... not too convoluted, but definitely more in depth. I mean the author could have at least explored a bit deeper into what was going on in the capital and told us what the royals were up to. It only comes up a few times and seems like it's just there to keep the reader from wondering why the crown isn't stepping in to help out."

"It's a shortcut a lot of writers take," Gar commented as he spied a decent looking piece. "Use something just familiar enough to ingrain a sense of false attachment and work from there." Gar grabbed a cuirass. The breastplate wasn't what he was interested in, so he pried it apart and left himself with a fair looking plackart. A bit fat, but that was less a problem than with the arm armor. "There's nothing wrong with that kind of allegory to real-world relations, I think. True creation of a fictional world takes many different and time-consuming resources, all for something that might never go to a printing press." Gar removed his cloak and coat and wrapped the stomach armor around. It was too loose, too bulky and too stiff at the same time. Still, he could work with it. "Kinda funny thing with the crown not solving everything considering the circumstances here y'know?" Gar chuckled.

"I guess you're right," Raquel admitted. She eventually tilted her head at Gar as he tried to do get the armor working. "You know, it might be easier if we got that altered to fit you better. I can't do it, but Connor probably could ..." She leaned over to get a better look at Connor and what he was currently doing.

"Oh, you have someone that can do that?" Gar looked up from his own work for the first time since he started. Raquel was leaning over at some kid Gar had completely failed to notice. That was kinda awful of him wasn't it?

"Well, I think he could do it. Connor's an alchemist," she explained. "Hey, Connor? Do you think you could do it? Get the armor better fitted for Gar, I mean?"

Connor was currently engrossed in deconstructing an iron helmet, ignoring the first few mentions of his name before looking up and paying attention. "Oh hello there," he said to the familiar looking man before replying to the query. "Sure, I can do armor fitting, not a very hard job at all. Just have to take some measurements and make the adjustments."

"Spiffy," Gar nodded in acknowledgement. "Light, flexible needs to sit over my shirt but small enough to hide under my coat." Gar grabbed the pieces he had selected. "Here's what I found so far, just a spaulder left."

"Oh by the way," Raquel interjected. She didn't want to forget, so she brought it up as soon as it came to mind. "Which sets did you get those from? I'll need to figure out the cost, but I wasn't paying attention like I should have been ..." That was painful to admit, but she had been wrapped up in that story's finer points.

"Good question," Gar admitted. "Dunno if they were in sets, but the placart was at least from this cuirass here." Gar looked around for anything resembling the armguards he had picked out. "Maybe this piece was part of the armguards?" he unsurely pointed out some similar looking design.

"Ohhh, well that's not too expensive," Raquel said upon inspecting the similar wares. "Minus whatever Connor charges for the fitting should be thirty gold." Raquel took a moment to look through the armors herself, thinking back to Reign and Veronika's suggestion of getting some armor to better protect herself in battle. She wasn't sold on the idea just yet and still wanted to try a few other things first.

"I have that right here," Gar reached into his money pouch and brought out the proper coinage. "Here you go," he handed the gold off to her. "So all the shiney metal give you any reconsideration of picking up some of your own?" Gar asked.

"Only if all else fails. I really don't like wearing a lot of metal," she replied with a frown.

"Yeah, neither do I," Gar admitted. "But one of those bowmen nicked me and it really stung so I figured if I could prevent that with a little spending and specific pieces I might as well." Gar shrugged.

"I guess you're the smart one. I've been more than just nicked, and on multiple occasions," Raquel admitted, wincing as the memories came back. They were a lot fresher than she expected, especially the pain involved.

"Arrows are just easier to dodge than bullets is all." Gar plainly said.

"You could try some leather if you don't want to wear metal. Tough leather can protect you from things like arrows as well...maybe not bullets so much, but it's better than nothing," Connor piped up.

Raquel came over to a small box she was using as a temporary gold storage and put the money in there. It was there to make buying and selling easier and was always meant to have at least fifty gold in it so Raquel and no one currently working for her would have to go straight into the 'big pile' for every little transaction. "Can you share your secret with me? I'd really like to stop getting taken down by archers all the time," she replied with a blank look on her face. "And please don't just say 'dodge!', it's so much harder to think in the moment," she added with another wince. Connor's mention of leather was actually one of the measures she was considering to avoid having to wear more solid materials. "Yeah I'm considering that too. I would need to make a lot of alterations to get it to look and feel right, but at least it wouldn't be too bulky and uncomfortable."

"I can share information, no promises it'll do much, since that's only half the requirements and the physical half would be... um, well bad." Gar shared. "First off, it's impossible to actually dodge arrows and bullets. What I said earlier is just a figure of speech. What you need to do is not be where the enemy is aiming. Which requires battlefield awareness of all threats. That applies to all targets, but it's a lot easier to see Joe Swing-A-Sword coming than Jim Arrow-You." Gar delightfully ended his first step. "Armoring certain high-priority parts like I'm planning can be useful to deflect attacks. A panicked arm throw with a leather bracer is a lot more effective than one with bare flesh or simple cloth. If dodging's impossible than the next step is minimizing the damage area." Speaking of all that finally got Gar back to searching.

"Heh," Raquel had an amusing moment when she realized that she had a tendency to ... you know what, we'll just let her explain this part. "That's funny; I always close my eyes and curl up when something comes at me and I see it coming. That's probably the worst thing I could possibly be doing in combat, but the idea of getting hit in the face is just ... awful. So I turn away if I see something coming. Most of the time I haven't seen an arrow coming and get hit in the shoulder or somewhere close by though ..."

"Well I wouldn't say it's the worst but it's top ten for sure definitely," Gar gave an answer. "So your first problem is the natural precaution that everyone has. I mean, I know like, three people who like getting hit in the face and they're all weird, but we're not talking about them." Because our clothes are on mainly. Gar found the only piece of armor that even remotely fit what he needed and dragged it up. "Try to count out how many have some form of ranged offense next time. Well, if there is a next time at least." Gar handed off his selections to the kiddo. "Conquering your own reflexes takes time in any way though."

Raquel groaned quietly to herself before muttering, "No wonder everyone wants me to train. If that's what it takes to keep from getting hit I'm not going to have much of a choice at this rate ..." Speaking up more she said, "My chances of avoiding an arrow aren't any better while mounted are they?"

Connor took a brief look at the armor items and set them on the floor of the wagon in a small pile before getting out a roll of measuring tape. "Uh, please try to stand still for the next few minutes while I take your measurements- once I have those I should be able to use alchemy to get your pieces perfectly fitted within the next few days," he said to Gar, measuring how broad his shoulders were and marking it down on a piece of paper.

Gar stood as perfectly still as he could. Which was almost statuesque, save for when he talked or breathed, on account of his training. How everything fit together. "There's always a choice. Sometimes the choices just suck." Gar stilled his breathing for a minute in between. "I don't know anything about horse dodging honestly. Probably harder because you can't control a horse as well as your own body though."

"Probably yeah, and that means Riley would need armor too. I'm already worried just putting him in that kind of danger. I'm not sure how Nadya does it, really, but I guess 'her choices suck' or something," Raquel replied.

"Probably," Gar said. He really couldn't think of anything else to reply with.

And with nothing else to talk about Connor finished taking Gar's measurements and returning to work.

Eventually Gar's fancy new set of stuff was ready and so was the payment Gar handed off to the kiddo. First step after was to naturally try it on. And damn did it ever fit well. It was everything Gar had ever wanted in armor. In fact it was so spectacular that Gar briefly entertained the idea of kidnapping the kid and making him work for the Guild. But that was just such a bad idea. He didn't have the arm strength to carry him that far. And all those lesser problems like Weyland hunting him down. But those were so secondary.

Now it was time to preform the most important test of all. Which he was ill-equipped to handle in his current loadout. So, he found who he needed. "Hey Raquel may I borrow a sword from your wagon? I need to test out my new toy."

"A sword?" Raquel echoed. "I guess that would be alright, but you're not going to be cutting anything with it, are you? I'd have to get it resharpened and I'd be obligated to charge you for that," she warned, though she was awfully sheepish about it.

"Nah I'm just gonna," Gar stopped himself. "Well, I'm not gonna use it for any of those things, but what I am gonna use it for is just something you'd have to see heh."

"A ... a flourish ...?" she guessed as she picked up one of the swords. She didn't hand it to him just yet, but it wasn't well defended either.

"He's probably going to test how a sword works on his new armor," Connor interjected from inside the Dauntless. "It shouldn't be able to go through- well except at the joints. Hard to design a piece of armor without any weak spots," he said, shrugging.

"It'll make a flourish look like a paintbrush in the hands of a baby!" Gar declared with unusual loudness. "Or it'll just be a weird awkward waste of time, either way need to find some space."

"Well ... alright," Raquel conceded, handing over the basic looking sword she'd retrieved a moment ago. She wasn't sure what to make of his vague foreshadowing, but it didn't sound like the sword would be dung up or damaged ... not quite, at any rate.

"Spiffy," Gar took the sword with a smile. Nice and basic. It wasn't perfect for what he wanted, but hey, it's exactly what he expected. "Time for a place with a little more room." And Gar found it right outside the wagon!

He took off his cloak and normal belt, the armor being indistinguishable under his coat. Really fine work it was. He gripped the sword in his left, took in a deep breath and raised his left leg.

Raquel stifled a laugh after a short pause when Gar began dancing. She quickly covered her mouth with her right hand. What's he doing?

"I learned," Gar said as he maneuvered the sword's blade around his arms. "That the best test of flexibility was dancing." Gar leapt into the air with a spin and landed with the sword fully struck out. "And sword dancing shows a greater test of skill than other solo dances." Gar pivoted and thrust the sword into the air.

"Ohhh I see," Raquel replied. It seemed less humorous after that explanation. Amazing what a little context could do.

"Alrighty then," Gar finished off with a series of flips. "Man, now that's some craftsmanship. If it wasn't for the weight I wouldn't know um..." Gar trailed off as he suddenly forgot his point. "It was, uh, dangit.... right! It's so flexible as a whole I wouldn't think it was there if it wasn't for the weight. Or something, whatever." Gar shrugged and retrieved his things. "Thanks," he said as he returned the borrowed sword. "Been awhile since I had need to do that."

Connor watched Gar's show from the Dauntless and beamed a little at the praise. And people think Ursium still needs blacksmiths to do good craftsmanship- they're all stuck in last century I'd say. He monologued to himself, before returning to his work.

"You're welcome," Raquel replied, taking the sword and putting it away. That was definitely a learning experience.

Gar purchases Chain Mail for 30 points. 61 points remain.

Gar upgrades Chain Mail to Splint Mail through Connor for 20 points. 41 points remain.

Gar upgrades Splint Mail to Plate Mail through Connor for 20 points. 21 points remain.

A Man Called Gar

Gar finished slowly blinking away the troubles he brought upon himself. You'd think that'd be a learning experience but this wasn't the first time he'd gone all ship rogue like this and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Well either way he finally opened his eyes--slowly--to the light and deck activities. And who should be one of the first people he sees but Suzzy Q herself! This day was looking brighter already. He sauntered on up to her. "Hey Suzume, how's it going?" he said without a shiver of shame.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Script

[Mercakete]

It took a bit of flying, but since it was morning, several streets along the edges of town were practically abandoned. It was a much better spot to let Riz run around in than the crowded docks. So, pegasus and rider landed there and Rizen immediately broke into a run. The streets had another benefit: since it had so many turns and was an unfamiliar area, it made for great riding practice. Norbert didn't let Rizen go any faster than a speed he could direct her to avoid things on, though. However, he did take into account Rizen's own reflexes, so she was still able to run fairly quickly.

[Phoenix]

Stealth Fail

Suzume flinched as soon as she realized Gar was addressing her. She had no doubt he was going to continue from where he last left off. She had been hoping to have a word with Anna before anything else happened, but it was too late now. "Uhhh ... hi," she greeted, slowly turning around to face him. Anna left the ship soon afterward ....

Equine Fail

Raquel made it down to where the horses were being kept, and the first thing she noticed were the sailors trying to clean the place up, and the smell. "I'm here to get Sandrock and Riley ready to go," she said to any of them that were listening.

"Those two are yours?" one of them asked, gesturing at her horses.

She simply nodded at first. "It shouldn't be long and then we'll be out of your way. Sorry for ... making you turn this place into stable."

The sailor stopped wiping things with his rag and slapped it down over one of the makeshift stable rails. "Don't worry about it. We've honestly had worse than a few smelly animals cooped up in one place."

Raquel didn't really want to know anymore than that so she nodded deeply giving a wordless apology before heading over to Sandrock and Riley. It took her all of fifteen minutes to tend to both equines but once she was finished, she put their halters on, recruited one of the sailors to carry anything extra, and began trying to lead them out onto the main deck. Unfortunately, Sandrock wasn't really interested in going anywhere, so Raquel's encouraging words and occasional tugs weren't helping much.

"Sandrock, what's wrong? Don't you want to be on land again? There's no way you could actually be attached to this ship could there?" That wasn't it, but once Raquel stopped to ponder what Sandrock's motives were, the equine revealed them by closing her eyes and dozing off. "Sandrock!" She opened her eyes at the noise and even flinched ever so slightly. "Hmm ... maybe you're having a hard time getting a good rest on the ship. Look, once we're on land, I promise I'll let you sleep, just please don't hold us up right now ..."

Not having any idea what Raquel was telling her, Sandrock just stared for a moment. Once it seemed safe to go back to sleep, she did, leaving Raquel there to just sigh.

"Now I don't know if it's 'ethical', but you could give this mare a stimulant," the sailor offered.

"Something about that actually does rub me the wrong way, especially after what happened with Chip and the emblem piece. Wait, where is Chip?"

"Who?"

"Err-never mind ..."

Edited February 6, 2013 by Phoenix

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Given any more thought to my proposal?" Gar asked. She clearly had other things on her mind right now, but they hadn't seen each other in days so she had plenty of time to think that up.

[roymbrog]

“Alright, hmm…” Kat took in their surroundings. There were stalls selling fish and such nearby, but to buy enough fish to fill her wyvern would be rather expensive. She needed to find a lot of cheap meat. Volga didn’t really care what she was eating and had the stomach of a vulture anyway.

Based on the types of shops nearby she picked a likely direction and started walking. In about a minute they came across what appeared to be a butcher’s shop, if the slabs of meat hanging outside were any indication. “I’ll just be a minute,” she said. Katrina then patted the wyvern on the nose and told her to stay before heading inside.

---

The last two months in Ursium hadn’t been that bad, Jerald had to admit. His uncle appreciated the help with the tavern, there were plenty of beauties to admire, and best of all there were no old geezers barking orders or a surplus of manual labor. Yes, life was good. He was even considering staying here if he wasn't needed back home. Screw the merc guild, he was perfectly fine in Sergio. So, imagine Jerald’s surprise when while walking through port he recognized a fat, miserable looking lizard standing in the middle of the road. The guy’s jaw nearly dropped off his face.

Volga looked nearly as surprised when she noticed the large, blue haired man approaching her, then nearly bowled Mushirah over in her attempt to close the distance between them and lick his face. Jerald managed to duck out of the way before smacking Volga in the side of the head. “Watch where you’re going, you damn overgrown lizard." What on earth was it doing here anyway? There were things higher on his priority list than puzzling about the wyvern though. "Oi, lass! You alright there?” he asked Mushirah as he skirted around the lizard.

-----

“Happy to have your help,” the mage replied to Chelsea. Synthia finished saddling Myra and immediately mounted the horse, riding a circle around in the street before returning to the table. The saddle was a good fit and wasn’t uncomfortable, so that was one problem solved. “How much do I- Does she owe?”

The merchant had nodded to Nadya, not much caring if she had taken what he said earlier the wrong way or not. He didn’t speak up again until Synthia asked him the price. ”One hundred and fifty gold,” he replied.

“Well that’s steep. How about knocking off twenty, for the pain in the ass you’ve been.”

“I’ll go as low as one-forty. Take it or leave it.” He just wanted her gone, honestly.

And Synthia just wanted to leave. “Chelsea, you mind counting that out for me?”

-----

Well, with nothing else of particular importance on board, Valter left to do something that was important. He led Phyllis off the ship before riding off to find the nearest church.

[Snowy_One]

Tia calmly walked about on the deck, trying to find someone else to talk to. She could see that some of the other people weren't occupied, but many were sailors and, for all she knew, they COULD be occupied with something that she simply didn't understand. However, she couldn't leave until Raquel mended her books either. She calmly walked down off the ship (which seemed to have people leaving it to get ready to go elsewhere) and onto the docks just in time to spot Shadrak being told to go elsewhere by Gabbie.

Smiling, she calmly walked up to Shadrak. "Excuse me, mister mage, would you mind if I bothered you for a second? I'm curious about a lot of things, especially regarding magic."

[Phoenix]

The Ursian Inquisition Has Arrived

Gabbie smirked when Tia arrived and stated her intentions, mainly because it went right along with what she'd told Shadrak previously and she got some amusement out of that.

"You're curious about things ...?" Not sure what to make of that until he heard the questions themselves, Shadrak decided to just run with it. "Okay, sure. Ask away ..."

The Problem Solver Has Arrived

"I uh ... hadn't ... thought about it much," Suzume replied, stifling with her words repeatedly. Once she was sick and tired of watching herself behave so awkwardly, she took a deep breath to try and compose herself. Now she was able to behave normally again. "I still don't understand why you're interested in spending time with someone like me. We may both be mercenaries ... of a sort, but we were fighting each other not terribly long ago."

Drug Abuse

Raquel eventually decided to try the sailor's stimulant idea, but only after Sandrock repeatedly ignored Raquel's urging and tugging and dozed off again. For some reason, the horse wasn't too miffed about taking a drink of the laced water, but quickly went back to sleep once she was done. From there, Raquel only had to wait. Within a minute, Sandrock woke back up and her eyes opened disturbingly wide, creating an eerie soulless looking stare. This stare did not fade with time.

"S-Sandrock ...?" Raquel slowly put her hands over her mouth.

"Hmm, never seen this before," the sailor chimed in.

"Oh my gods, what have I done?!"

"Well, see if she'll follow your lead now ..." No point in letting the stimulant go to waste, he figured.

It took Raquel about ten seconds to calm down before she could take the reins and try to lead Sandrock around again. The horse followed, but was staring off eerily to either side with wide open eyes and perked up ears. "Sandrock, I'm so sorry ..." Raquel murmured with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, it's working isn't it?"

"Well yeah, but I shouldn't have done that. Look at her. It's like I fried her brain on a skillet or something. I shouldn't have used her like a lab rat like that ..."

"Fair enough, but it'll wear off soon."

"I'm so sorry ..."

Sandrock simply stared back at Raquel with those big creepy eyes not having a clue as to what was going on ....

---

Once they were on the main deck, Raquel had calmed down, but she wasn't able to hide how distraught she was, or how ridiculous Sandrock's expression looked. She was so self conscious that she was keeping Sandrock's head as close to her as possible to try to obscure it, but she was too short to hide much from anyone. She made her way down to the Dauntless and led the horses around to the front, then she prepared to get them rigged up and ready to go. "I can't believe I did that ... stupid, stupid, stupid ..." she mumbled while getting them ready to go.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I've gone from fighting to drinking to fighting with people with minutes. I live my life by my own rules, that's why I became a problem-solver, so I wouldn't be baggaged with the forced convictions of nations or the stigma of mercenary. My life is mine to chose how I see fit, and if a cute girl interests me I go after her." Gar explained simply.

[Phoenix]

Main Deck

Suzume's head sunk between her shoulders, not much, but enough to count as a reaction. Safe to say she was thoroughly embarrassed. "There are a lot of 'cute girls'. Why this o-I mean 'me' ...?"

Dauntless

It didn't take very long to finish securing the two horses to the Dauntless, but before they would be able to physically move the Dauntless, she would have to turn on those deflector pads on the bottom. That was never very fun, or safe for that matter.

Anna soon approached and so turning them on would have to wait anyway. "Hi, Raquel~ How're things coming?"

"Just about ready to go ..." she replied nervously. "Did you need something?"

"Nothing in particular. I'm going to be leaving ahead of you. Someone needs to get word back to Mister Weyland ASAP and I'm known for getting around pretty fast. I think the extra bodyguards should come in handy if you run into trouble, but just in case things are getting too difficult, I have some important advice for you."

Raquel stopped messing around with the horses' tack, Anna's statement having piqued her interest. "Advice?"

"Yeah," Anna nodded. She quickly held up one finger before explaining. "Use your emblem piece~"

"But I can't. It quite literally never works," Raquel protested. She was hoping for advice she hadn't heard before. "Don't you have any other advice for difficult fights?"

"Well yes, but you're not a fighter; those aren't things you're conditioned for and can rely on in a crisis. You said that dragon thing ran out of things to teach you, right? That means either he's just guessing at how to teach you and ran out of ideas, or you're ready to use it now and just haven't been put in the right situation to do so yet. I'm pretty sure if things get heated again, you'll be able to use it next time."

Raquel shook her head and her gaze fell to the ground. "It won't work ... not when I really need it."

"You're still alive and well, so you probably haven't needed it yet. I'm just saying, if there's one thing you should be investing more of your trust in, it's that artifact you carry. Just paying attention to it isn't the same thing as trust. Why would it work if you have no faith in it?"

"I'm not sure what faith has to do with it. Everything else works no matter how pessimistic I might feel about it."

"Yeah, but that's not the case with the emblem, so you have to try something different here now don't you? So again, my advice is that if all else fails, trust that the emblem will work and then use it. I'm positive that's the one thing you haven't tried yet~" Anna explained, making a teasing comment at the end.

"Maybe ..."

"Anyway, I'm off. I'm in a hurry so I won't be making any rounds. Tell everyone I said safe travels~"

"You're just heading out right now? I mean you could say goodbye to Connor and Gabbie right now. You had time to talk to me just now ..."

"I know, but it was too important to leave to chance. I'll see you guys again in Europa ... so hurry up and get a move on, okay? Hahah! Bye, Raquel!" And with that, Anna ran off, leaving Raquel alone by the horses.

Raquel glanced over at Sandrock to see if she had recovered yet. She hadn't and was still staring eerily at her which prompted a deep sigh.

[-Cynthia-]

Erica tried to keep a close eye on Norbert's aerial journey as she weaved through the crowd with Patches 2. Eventually he seemed to descend near the edge of town, so she decided to go there herself, leading the horse through the alleyways. She figured Norbert should be pretty easy to find, not too many people with a pegasus around town after all. She eventually came to one nearly abandoned street where Norbert was charging in her direction on Rizen. She made sure to keep Patches 2 out of Rizen's direct charge path before calling out. "Hey Norbert! Have a nice trip?" she asked.

[ReformBlade]

Mushirah and Aneda both nodded at Kat, Mushirah waving but then starting up a little conversation with Aneda to just pass the time. It got interrupted, for better or worse, when the not quite attended but not quite ignored Volga decided to charge towards something or someone rather randomly. Unfortunately, Mushirah was just in the way, the rexian woman diving rather ungraciously out of the way, dust and dirt all over her front side now. Coughing and dusting herself off as best as she could, some blue haired guy, the apparent target of Volga's charging, hailed Mushirah, prompting a light smile, "Yeah, I'm fine... Kinda wish we had a leash on that thing though, If he's prone to charging around like that..." she said in a joking manner but probably meant it to be a little bit more serious a suggestion than it sounded.

[Snowy_One]

"Well, for starters, what sort of magic do you practice exactly? How have you managed to utilize it in a group setting and continue your studies while on the go? Which of the elements do you think is the best? Stuff like that. My name is Tia by the way. Water Mage."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Because you're more exciting than them? Because if things go poorly it won't affect a working relationship?" Gar sighed.

Edited February 7, 2013 by Script

[Mercakete]

When Raquel came over to the Dauntless and started hooking up the horses, Gytha watched idly for lack of much else to do as she continued her leaning against the wagon's side. When Anna came by to talk to the merchant, the mariner tuned out the conversation. It wasn't her business what the two talked about, so it would've been both unnecessary and rude to listen in. When she looked over again, Anna was gone and Raquel was continuing her work with the horses, though something was making her sigh.

It wasn't unusual, Gytha had noticed. Raquel tended to sigh a lot, probably thinking of a large amount of despairing circumstances, notions and otherwise. Seeing as this was the port where it all began, she could understand why Raquel might be more depressed than usual. Sometimes, in circumstances like these, it was better to leave the person alone. Raquel hadn't expressed a desire to attempt to cheer up the last time she'd talked with her, so she probably just wanted to be left alone to wallow in her misery this time, too. Then again, she could be more inclined toward trying to cheer up this time around. People were hard to predict like that at times.

So, deciding she might as well test the waters at least, Gytha pushed off of the wagon's side and walked up to the merchant. "Ahoy, there," she greeted, "Noticed ye look a bit down."

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

One thing Norbert hadn't been expecting as he was riding was for one of his sisters to round the corner. She was out of Rizen's way, but the surprise got the better of the man and for a moment, he was worried he was about to run her over. "Whoa!!" the started pegasus rider cried, immediately pulling back on Rizen's reigns. Rizen halted so abruptly -- surprised herself by the sudden command at speeds like she was running at -- that the inertia sent Norbert over Rizen's head and tumbling onto the street.

"Merz, where did you come from?" he groaned as he picked himself up into a seated position. He wasn't too keen on fully standing up quite yet. His head hurt from that fall, after all, as was evident by his holding it after giving it a quick shake. Rizen was confused, so she simply looked from Erica to Norbert for a moment before taking a couple steps towards her rider, wondering if he was okay.

[-Cynthia-]

"Europa. My journey here was probably a lot less interesting than yours from what I've been hearing though," Erica said, dismounting Patches 2 and offering Norbert a hand up. "You going to be all right or should I get a healer?" she asked with mild concern.

[GoD]

"Mmm... sure just let me count it all."- Chelsea told Synthia as she took some of the gold coins out of the bag and began counting them in a rapid-fire manner, that is to say she was good at counting them all.

In about 30 seconds, she was done and handed the coins in mass to the merchant. "Here you go good sir. Thank you for allowing us to use your services."- the troubadour lightly bowed after the merchant received his money.

[Mercakete]

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Norbert replied, waving off the injury as he scrambled to his feet to try to prove his point. He was a bit dizzy and his head still hurt, truthfully, but he wasn't about to let her know that. Besides, there was something that she said that was more interesting to him at the moment.

"So, what have you been hearing?" he asked fairly nonchalantly. His somewhat defensive tone was prevalent again, though it'd actually been fairly absent for the past couple weeks. It was his normal one for a long time before that, so its return was only noticed subconsciously by the pegasus rider.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Mercakete

[-Cynthia-]

"Well after Danton, we looked into the disappearance of your group. An avian claiming to be Lilith said you all ended up in Rex-Avaz? Seems like a pretty farfetched tale to me, considering how Lilith's been missing for so long and almost no one can warp that far, but you all were away from Ursium for quite some time," Erica said skeptically, trying to gauge Norbert's reaction.

Edited February 8, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

Norbert's initial reaction was a slight grimace and hesitation as he thought this information over; he wasn't entirely sure how much would be safe to tell. The group had been pretty loose-lipped so far, but Erica was military and the Wrathites hadn't exactly been friendly in the past. Of course, at the time they had been smuggling a Fallen into Ursium, but the fact that they killed Ursian forces couldn't possibly reflect well on them if it came down to it.

Well, regardless of how easily Raquel accepted new members and current members told the new ones everything right away, Norbert decided talking about the emblem was right out. Lilith had already made herself known, so he could just go with that.

"Well, she says she is and she's pretty powerful," he replied, "She took us to the desert, but wouldn't take us back so we had to go to Sanctuary for supplies. After that, we crossed that blasted desert again and then took a few ships to finally get back here," he finally answered. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly honest either since so many details were left out. The good news was that he wasn't dizzy anymore.

[-Cynthia-]

"An avian who can travel like that must be something pretty special, legendary vasilus or no," Erica mused. "Glad to see you're safe at least. So...why are you with this group anyway? Never got to ask you that I think, we were in a pretty big rush to save your merchant before," she asked casually. Let's see how he responds to this one...knowing Norbert he'll get testy if things start seeming like accusations too quickly.