Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Eail]

"Well, at the very least I'd wager that he'd try it. I know I'm not anywhere in the running either though." Zach said with a small but somewhat actually noticeable disgruntled tone. "Hell, ol Shaddy boy is probably ahead of me on that list.... and just about everyone else."

Edited February 23, 2013 by Eail

[Script]

H Man Called Gar

"It takes a very certain and bizarre set of circumstances to bore me," Gar commented with his eyes closed. That, was probably a weird way to phrase that now that he thought about it. Oh well. "Well, let's start with you being quite pretty," Gar stated with no reservations whatsoever. "Especially that hair color, it's gorgeous." Compared to Gar's utterly baffling white it was a pleasure to look at. "You know what you want in a career, you have good taste in food, you're a big-hearted enough person to give a guy like me a chance and you can clearly hold your own in combat." Gar wasn't actually sure about that last one but she was a mage with a nicely-trained and nice body so that was clear on something. Wait what was his point again?

[scorri]

Marella only half listened to the conversation going on between Zach and Blake until she heard Zach's tone going downhill. She straightened up and punched him lightly on the arm. "Come on Lightning Head, cheer up. What's so important about being a leader anyways? All you gain is more stress. It's more fun to be one of the lower ranks. You get more freedom and fun. Come on now, cheer up. Wanna walk around for a bit while we wait for the others to join us?"

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

"We should probably get going, so I'm going to go over and see if Sandrock and Riley are ready. Shadrak, I need you to turn on the deflectors once we're ready to get moving, so stop talking to Colin for now," Raquel instructed. Without waiting for his answer, she wandered over to the front of the Dauntless where the horses were. Sandrock seemed to be coming down from her stimulant high. This was evidenced by a new more exhausted looking version of her wide eyed stare. "Mmm." Feeling guilty that Sandrock had been put through the stimulant experiment at all was one thing troubling Raquel, but now she had another problem. Sandrock was probably going to go back to sleep as soon as it finally wore off. Giving her more just seemed cruel and unusual. "Well at the very least we can get to the tower. I guess she wasn't having an easy time sleeping on the ship."

Shadrak stood around waiting while Colin paced around the Dauntless looking over the wooden facade layer. It wasn't in mint condition anymore, but the metal hull underneath was still well hidden from the swordless sword master. "So this is the wagon from Danton. Interesting. I wonder if it's got any interesting surprises tucked away in there."

"Okay we're ready to go," Raquel announced. She came back over and approached Colin first. "You keep that hood on until we have a chance to explain. Don't say anything to any of them when we get there."

"Can I still take a passenger seat?"

"... we'll see."

Restaurant

Suzume was more than happy to hear such a positive assessment of herself. "You mean it? I ... thank you, Gar. That means a lot." I've been kicking myself pretty hard lately because of everything that happened. Spending so much time on a ship full of nothing but enemies and fearing for my safety wasn't helping matters. Things are looking up now though and I've got more good going for me than I could have considered at the time. Though I've got to wonder where we go from here. It's not like working for Weyland Enterprises would guarantee I get to see him again. Aaand as much as I would like to keep this a short distance thing, there's no way I'm signing up with the merchant girl's group. Gar's ... different, I really don't think it'll be 'water under the bridge' with the rest of them, and if my pegasus riding friend tries to jump in again, who knows how badly he'll get hurt this time. "I've ... got another question for you. See, I like some things about you too and I'm not sure where all of this is going to lead in the end. Do you know?" I know I just set myself up for a slew of bad jokes but if he answers the question somewhere in the middle, I'll live, I guess.

Outskirts

While Anna ran along the side of the road heading north, she took note of her surroundings, clear blue skies, beautiful spring grass, a peaceful coastline, occasional wagons traveling to and from the city, four men on horseback heading the same way as her. Nothing out of the ordinary. "My next big stop along the way will be Urquium, and that's quite a ways up north. I'd better hightail it if I want to make up for lost time."

A few moments later, the four horsemen caught up to and surrounded her. Anna immediately recognized them. "Oh hi again~ Heading out too?" Although she stopped--having been surrounded--she didn't stop her usual jogging in place.

"The boys and I did some thinking. We try to be objective in life, figuring out how to best approach every situation, you understand? Well you've got quite a haul there and while that was intimidating at first, you're just one person, one woman at that. We're going to be taking your stuff, so just put down the pack and keep on running, girl."

Anna stopped jogging and took a moment to catch her breath as her smile faded. "So you want me to just drop all of my things and keep running?"

The bandit nodded. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be. You know what normally happens to pretty little things like you when there's no one around to help'em out? Just drop the pack and run."

"Mmm," Anna put a finger to her cheek as she seriously considered the bandit's demands. "... sorry, I can't."

"What?! Y-you don't seriously think you can take all four of us, do you?! Don't be stupid!"

"Even if I couldn't, I've got a job to do and I need my 'stuff' to do it. You guys should do a girl a favor and give her a lift instead of trying to rob her. I'd say up to Urquium would be good. I could even pay you for your services~"

"Pay us?" the leader repeated.

"She's knows we're outlaws, right?" another asked quietly.

"That's fine. One of my coworkers has a list of capital offenses as tall as you are, so I don't much mind working with miscreants or criminals as long as they can behave themselves for a little while~"

"... huh. Uhhh, give us a minute, would ya?"

"Sure, but only one minute, guys; I'm on a pretty tight schedule here."

[Script]

I Man Called Gar

"You're welcome, and thank you" Gar replied. "In the end? Well," he paused for a second in though. "I don't like to plan for ends," he honestly explained. "Makes life too boring from my perspective. Makes you too content when you can always make things better."

But truthfully, in the end he couldn't share anything. He would never leave the Howling Voice, and living with a secret like that would be impossible. Anyone could join the Guild, but only if Boss brought them in which was always bitter news with how it went.

Ha, listen to him, getting all serious about all this. Seems all the mad happenings had affected him more than he'd realized.

[Eail]

"Yeah I know... I'm not saying I want to be leader all the time or anything like that at all. But at the same time if something does happen? I'd rather it be me than someone, once again, like Shadrak." Zach explained. Getting up off the ground and dusting off his pants he held out his hand to Marella to help her up "Sure, might as well do something to pass the time."

[Mercakete]

Norbert circled the markets from the air one more time before finally landing to search aground. He'd been grumbling a bit prior to this choice simply due to the lack of finding any more group members since he'd talked to Synthia, Chelsea, Nadya and Gytha and was now in something of a sour mood. So, as his eyes continued to glower as they searched around and while Rizen walked through the market crowds with her rider in the saddle, Norbert's complaining continued in his head. I have no idea where anyone is. How many people have gone to the tower or back to the ship by now? I sure didn't see everyone at either place the last time I was there... They could be anywhere! Urgh, I'm getting hungry, too... Wait, did I have breakfast?

The flow of thoughts continued even as he thought he recognized someone in the crowds around him. It turned out to be someone he didn't know though. Guess it doesn't really matter whether I did or not -- I have to find some wayward, ignorant morons who don't even tell anyone where they're going or when they'll be back so we can find them and we're being chased down by Wrathites and I trust that "captive" about as far as Raquel can throw him...if Raquel was even capable of picking him up... Sheesh, where did everyone go? Did they go back by now? Am I looking around for no reason? There were plenty of people missing, but... What if someone's in a building somewhere? This is going to take forever if I have to check inside EVERY building... Blast it, this is just stupid. I should just go back and leave whoever isn't there behind.

A half-sigh, half-grunt escaped from Bert's throat, though, at that idea. Raquel would never go for it... If someone's missing, she'll probably half-attempt to get some sort of search party going...and fail because she'll just ask if anyone wants to and no one will want to... No one with a reasonable means, anyway.

This got Norbert thinking about how to deal with this particular circumstance on his own. In the end, he decided to limit his search before returning to the tower to see if there was anyone else missing. It'll be Raquel's problem if I can't find anyone else after this last check. And so, whether through logic or the fact that he was hungry, Norbert decided to look in areas where people might have gone to get food as his last attempt at finding group members.

[Phoenix]

Restaurant

"Hmm, I guess that's a better way of looking at it than I was," Suzume admitted. "Sooo I guess I'll just have to track you down at some point. That's the only way I can see making things better after today's over." She ate some more of her soup before continuing. "I'd really like to spend some more time with you but once your group sets out, I'll have to get going myself ... to Europa, apparently."

Dauntless

And so Colin got his seat next to Raquel despite her reservations and Shadrak carefully activated the deflector pads. He wasn't happy about all of the dust they were blasting into his face, but it couldn't be helped. He continued working until 2 rings on each pad were active and then began brushing his face with his sleeves to get the dirt out of his eyes and bangs.

Colin made sure no one was right up front or in direct view before saying, "Interesting design. Kinda loud, but I like it." Indeed it was loud; anyone not right next to them wouldn't hear a word of their exchange. "Weyland must be trying to find a way to transport incredibly heavy loads without needing mutant horses," Colin reasoned to Raquel.

"I've got nothing to say about that. I know you people weren't just after me, but Weyland too."

"Well ... yeah, but not anymore. Turns out Hammer Industries was a better target in the end. Check this out," Colin replied, opening up his cloak a bit to reveal a strange set of plates attached to a gray vest.

Raquel took a look at it and didn't look very impressed. "That has almost no coverage. Is that really the best Hammer could come up with?"

Colin leaned in so he could tell her something, but she leaned away reflexively at first. "Let's just say poor Shadrak won't be getting his revenge no matter what you decide on in the end," Colin half whispered with a smirk. He then closed up the cloak and leaned back in his seat, giving Raquel some space.

"Magical armor ... noted," was her quiet reply to him. She began to do some thinking as she got the wagon moving. Why did he tell me about that? I wouldn't have ever guessed or even noticed it on my own.

Tower

Is he still upset about Tremere or something? All I'm hearing is Shadrak this and Shadrak that. I don't see anyone stepping in for those two and keeping this group whole without us already having a clear path already laid out for us and in a situation like that, a leader is inconsequential anyway. "Here," he gave the basket to the two children. There were only two scones left inside anyway, so he figured he would let them have the rest, along with the basket since he wasn't sure about keeping such a thing. He was only had sentimentality for things he could wear, after all.

"Thanks, Reign! These are really good," the child with the basket replied.

He shrugged. "You're welcome." Now it's just more waiting, I guess, he thought as the children nibbled on the remaining scones.

[Script]

J Man Called Gar

"Good luck with that," Gar chuckled. "I"m a hard man to track down even with directions." It was some form of irony here wasn't it? Him being tracked down was exactly the reason he was here. Suzzy Q's reminder she was heading for Europa reminded Gar he had no idea where Raquel and co were headed. Well, it probably was Europa anyway, but still he should probably find out. If they were still even here.

Man, this was almost starting to seem like a stupid thing to have done. Oh well. "Always possible that's where we'll be heading too, I guess," Gar shrugged. "While it certainly has been fantastic coordinating any future rendezvous would take a little bit of planning." He stroked his chin a bit in thought. "You, probably haven't been to Europa before have you?"

[scorri]

Marella grabbed the offered hand and pulled herself up. She grinned at Zach and gestured in a random direction. "Then let us go." As they started to walk off, she asked, "So, what do you want to talk about?"

[Phoenix]

Restaurant

"You could at least leave me a decent trail to follow," Suzume said under her breath, looking elsewhere for a second. She ate some more of her soup and then answered his question. "That's right, I've never been there before, so this is going to be something new. I'm used to dangerous country roads rife with bandits and wild animals though, so the trip there shouldn't be so bad. Is there anything you can tell me about it? I'll have to ask random people I come across along the way otherwise."

[Script]

K Man Called Gar

"Well," Gar lowered his voice and leaned in closer, "don't mention dragons first off, that never goes over well." He leaned back and returned to a normal tone of voice. "Otherwise for the most part I can't say anything that isn't the gold-standard rule of everywhere on etiquette," Gar said before finishing off his water. "You probably won't need knowledge about my old haunting grounds since you got hired by Weyland on the up and up though. Much too low class. And for the most part I've left my existence there as a rumor anyway so that's no fun. Otherwise I don't know much about the mountain-peak of luxury there either. Except they need better security," Gar meandered off in thought. Suddenly a thought hit him! "Probably best someplace in the middle to ever meet again." Gar rambled. "Man that feels like I'm rambling with no point."

Edited February 25, 2013 by Script

[Eail]

"Well, I really didn't have anything in mind. What about you Mar?" Zach asked as he and the woman started to walk around a bit. There was perhaps the subject of well... them. But now really wasn't a good time for that, considering they could have to leave at nearly any moment

[scorri]

"Hmm... well... uh..." Marella frantically searched for something to talk about that wasn't their relationship and ended up saying the first thing that popped into her mind, "So earlier when I talked to Robin I was kinda yelling at her for treating you so horribly, I'm sorry please don't hate me for trying to fight your battle for you." She gulped and stared at her friend in slight horror, wondering why in the world she had just said that.

[Eail]

Zach halfway raised his eye at the way Marella suddenly had an outburst like that. A small grin crept onto his face though as the look of horror on her face sat in. "Don't worry about it Mar, I'm happy to have someone like you that was willing to stand up for me. If it weren't for you last night I don't even know how I'd be right now, so I really owe you a lot for looking out for me so much." Clasping his hand on Marella's shoulder as he spoke

[scorri]

"Yes, well..." Suddenly switching languages to prevent eavesdroppers, she continued, <"You see, she wasn't very happy with me. And, well, I'm afraid that I may have made things worse for you by allowing you to run away more. I didn't mean to... I just wanted to help. I couldn't stand to see her say those things to you and just... ugh. She thinks she's being a friend to you and she just doesn't understand. And she was being stubborn and refusing to listen.">

[ReformBlade]

Both Aneda and Mushirah decide to leave.

Weird.

[Phoenix]

Restaurant

"Well yeah, kinda," Suzume admitted. "I guess that's a start," she said, pausing afterward to take another bite from her soup. It was almost gone but not quite. "It's silly, I should be making the most of this right now, but I'm too busy trying to figure out what to do about finding you next time. It makes some sense, but part of me feels like I'm wasting good time with this worrying ..."

Tower

The children finished the last two scones and then handed Reign back the basket. Well that plan sort of backfired. I guess it's good that they remembered that it's mine, though. They're good kids in that regard, or at least not impoverished kids ... "Thanks. Well I see our wagon coming--hell I hear it coming--so we'll be leaving soon. It's been fun talking with you."

"Oh you too, Reign. Thanks for the advice," the child with the ball replied.

The other said, "We'll remember every word, promise!"

"Just remember my intent. Words don't much matter."

"Kay!" And within seconds they were scurrying off, taking their ball and new knowledge and ideas with them.

Reign sighed and stood in place waiting for the Dauntless to get closer. It wasn't long before he noticed a cloaked and hooded figure up front with Raquel. "... Gar? No," he thought aloud as he squinted at the figure. "Hmm." Once Raquel stopped the wagon, he moved closer, but didn't wander to either of the sides due to the dust the deflectors were blasting up from the ground. "Raquel!" He waved his hand to get a dusty breeze out of his eyes. "Raquel," he called again, this time saying it a bit louder and stepping closer to the vehicle. "Who is that?!"

Instead of calling back, Raquel motioned for the man to stay put in his seat, and she hopped down to talk to Reign up close where neither of them would need to raise their voices. "His name is Colin. He's one of Sardis' men and Veronika's keeping him as a prisoner for the time being. There wasn't any violence; he agreed to it when she suggested it and I'm holding onto his sword as a precaution," was her initial explanation. "They're holding my father in the same place they did when all of this started, so we're heading there for a meeting. I have no idea what's going to happen but this is the only lead on my father we've ever had and ..." "I know, you don't have much of a choice here if you want to have any chance of saving Jethro," Reign interjected. "Y-yeah."

"The best you can do then is keep your guard up and keep going as planned. It's far from ideal, but it's something. I'm here if you need me this time."

[Snowy_One]

As Tia and Robin followed the Dauntless along, Tia seemed to be rather busy, trying her best to get in close to study the vehicle. Robin had taken to watching the younger girl with interest. She doubted that Tia had never seen something like it, at least close enough to not be curious on her own, but something was up. Already Tia had a tome out, something Robin assumed to be a notebook, and was carefully darting along the sides of the Dauntless.

"Sucks, does it not? You tried to teach me a lesson and got shut down by Veronika." she said, trying to distract the girl before she ended up getting herself hurt.

"Huh?"

"You attempted to become a merc just now. It was, like, less than ten minutes ago."

"Yea. I know. Sucks, but oh well. If they don't want me to fight, I won't fight. Sides, this sort of thing interests me more."

"I did not know you were in to building wagons, carriages, and the like."

"Dummy! Look at this thing and how easily it moves! It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there is something magical about it, and I wanna know what it is! I want to know how they did it, and I want to try to make my own!"

"It is magic, that is all that needs to be said. Magic is magic is magic."

"Yea, yea. You don't understand, I get it. I take it you are one of those people who considers magic to be something totally unapproachable, right?"

"I have no talent or skill for it. Why would I? I have the magical skill of a stone."

"Even stones are useful for earth magic." remarked Tia as her hand darted in close to the Dauntless, only to catch on one of the corners electing a small cry of pain from Tia as she pulled it away, a scratch on her hand.

"See? You did not pay attention stuck your hand in a dangerous place and look what happened."

"I got hurt? It's just a splinter. No need to get dramatic about it. I don't care. You get hurt, you cry out in pain, but you keep on learning. I couldn't help but notice you use stone arrows when you pulled your bow earlier. Ever mash your finger while making one?"

"Often."

"But you still keep doing it, right?"

"Of course."

"Did you start off capable of knowing how to make one?"

"No."

"Yet you can now."

"Of course. Where are you going with this?"

"No where really. I mean, I could like this into telling you that pain and mistakes are part of growing up, but really, I just want you to think about that for a moment. Hmmm... Maybe some thunder magic to form an electric current..."

"What?"

"Well, if this uses wind magic to artificially lighten the load, then maybe it could be charged with high-density thunder magic and put over a metal plate on wheels to cause it to hover, lighten the load even more, and launch metal knives at 100 miles per hour on a whim!"

"You are nuts Tia."

Edited February 25, 2013 by Snowy_One

[Script]

L Man Called Gar

"Well then," Gar said with a smirk. "since it's bothering you so much, guess that just means I'll track you down instead." He then took a couple bites from his steak. It seemed so long ago that the plate was nearly full.

[Eail]

"< I'm done running away Mar, but it's just not the right time for it yet with Robin. Look don't beat yourself up over this or anything okay? I really appreciate what you've done for me, and it means a lot that you were willing to do all of that. Robin is just Robin, in her mind she's helping even if it's the opposite. It'll all get straightened out soon okay?>" Zach explained, also switching to their native tongue. "Well, looks like Raquel just arrived too. With a new "Friend" no less it seems, think we should check it out?"

[Phoenix]

Restaurant

Suzume hid the glee that caused behind a more casual reaction. "Well that would certainly make things easier. So now that that's settled ...-" she wouldn't give him a chance to go back on that one, "-time to focus on this date ... and this food." Oh, I just said date out loud. Hmm, well I think it's true, but how will he react to that? She continued to finish off the rest of her soup. Oh who am I kidding, it was probably his idea all along. I haven't seen even a hint that this is anything else.

Tower

"Umm, okay everyone," Raquel spoke up so those farther away would hear. "I don't see every last person here yet, but I've got an important announcement to make and it's too important to wait. So firstly," she paused to point to the figure sitting in one of the passenger spots on the Dauntless. "Do not attack that man. He's unarmed so you've got no excuse. I know that seems like a weird thing to say, but I'm about to explain why. He is ... one of the people working with Sardis and is technically our enemy, but he made a deal with Veronika and is coming along as her prisoner for the time being. I have his sword and he has no other weapons, so don't do anything stupid. I'm serious, this is too important to mess up. Now the reason this is so important is because we're going to be meeting with the organization to try and get my father back. Since the last time we were here, we've never been this close. I don't want to give them a reason to do anything else to my father, so do not harm him." She sighed heavily at the end of her announcement, having drained herself quite a bit in the process.

"So how long are we going to wait around for the others?" Reign asked, seeing that the announcement was over.

"I don't know. Leaving people behind doesn't make any sense, even if the Wrathites are coming ..." Raquel answered with a frown. Figurig Reign might not have heard about the Wrathite's finding them yet, she added, "They found us pretty easily."

"Heh, why are we in this country again?" Reign asked half seriously.

[Script]

M Man Called Gar

"And what a lovely date--in both ways--and good food it is," Gar casually said before finishing off his steak in what could only be described as a blur. This left him wishing he had another glass of water. Which appeared like magic along with a bill. "I think the waitress missed her true calling," Gar joked before putting his hand on the bill. "Time for the old 'guess the bill' game."

[scorri]

Marella nodded. "Yeah, I guess we should head back there." They approached the carriage just in time for Mar to overhear the name Sardis. "Who's Sardis?" She looked at Zach. "Is that someone you guys have been fighting? And you're dealing with Wrathites? Sheesh. You guys have a lot of enemies."

[Eail]

"Well, to put things simply, he's the leader of The Organization, a group that particularly wants an object that Raquel has in her possession. To be honest I'd say he's probably scoping us out or something with this Colin fellow. It'd certainly be stupid to trust him at least." Zach explained

"You want me to deal with this one Raquel? Any sort of funny business and a quick little *zap* can deal with it pretty quickly." He called out to the pink haired leader