Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[scorri]

"I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of what she wants, Lightning Head. After all, she did just say not to hurt him." Glancing around and not seeing Rook, she calls out to the people who had been around for the fight before, "Hey, do any of you know where Rook went?" Glancing at Robin, she amended her question, "Well, any of you who didn't punch him in the face?"

[Phoenix]

Restaurant

Yeah, I thought so~ "Twwwelve gold? No, that steak was actually pretty tender and really good so they're probably charging way more for it than some other people could. Then there's this soup which is probably the best I've ever had," Suzume quickly reasoned. "Going with sixteeeen ..." she decided, going right along with the game. If it's any more than that then I think I'll pitch in. Date or not, he shouldn't have to pay for everything if they're charging us more than what I think is normal.

Tower and Dauntless

"Nonono," Raquel quickly answered Zachary. "No magic, no restraining, nothing like that." Marella's assessment seemed spot on.

Since Shadrak realized such leniency didn't make as much sense regardless without some context, he decided to add it once he was certain Raquel had no intention of doing so. "He's being pretty cooperative if not annoying, but it's just because Raquel agreed to a date, or something vaguely similar." ... or his version of said context.

"It's not a date!"

"More importantly, he's Veronika's prisoner, not Raquel's, and she doesn't want anyone messing with him, so don't," Shadrak explained, not being certain anyone else could even differentiate between being Raquel's prisoner and Veronika's. He wasn't sure what to make of it initially either until the latter spoke up about it and that was something he never would have expected. With that in mind, bringing it up again here seemed like a good idea. He then took a moment to glare at Colin. As soon as they spring their trap and this prisoner thing is over, I'm taking him down for that night.

"More fighting?" Reign murmured. Juuuust great.

[Script]

N Man Called Gar

"Sixteen hm? Guess I'll go wiiiiiiith, eighteen," Gar declared before flipping the bill paper and eyed the number. "407!" he exclaimed with uncharacteristic loudness. Other people even took notice of it, not that Gar noticed. "That can't be right!" he eyed it closer and, "oh, wait it's seventeen. Huh." Gar rubbed his eyes. Man that was a bad comparison to make. "Well you're closest without going over, lucky you."

[Snowy_One]

"I was unaware that punching someone let me know of their location at all times." replied Robin, a hint of wry unamusement in her voice.

[-Cynthia-]

Destination

"We're in Ursium to get help from my uncle- the Wrathites won't act against us once we're under his protection. Weyland Enterprises is too valuable to the military to risk alienating them," Connor explained to Reign.

"No offense, but his protection don't seem to mean a whole lot between here and Europa. We got a buncha zealots after us and we're headin' straight for another group that wants to kill us...at least we won't be gettin' seasick?" Nadya said, trying to find the positive in the situation.

Rumination

"Colin has agreed to an interrogation and to remain in our custody until our negotiations are complete. As Raquel said, there will be no restraints and no harming of him until he is released," Veronika clarified once again. Hopefully this interrogation will prove useful, otherwise...this may all be a waste. If Sardis was smart enough to attack Sergio and Weyland's estate, he'd be smart enough to know he has a more valuable hostage. This seems an obvious trap, but Jethro is the bait we cannot ignore... she pondered to herself.

[Phoenix]

Restaurant

Gar's initial number, four hundred seven, made Suzume flinch for the fact alone that it was such a high price. The surprise in his voice added to that had her worried though. Even the pay from my last job plus my poker winnings wouldn't cover that much! How could people in Ursium possibly afford food this expensive?! "Uhhhh ..." It wasn't until he read it again as seventeen that she relaxed and eased back into a more comfortable position in her seat. "Whew, don't scare me like that. I thought we would be working in the kitchen for the next couple of weeks for a second there." She didn't much mind the attention they had drawn and even went as far as ignoring them. Frankly the threat of an absurdly high bill warranted the initial reaction. "So I won, huh? My luck really has turned around lately, heheh."

Tower and Dauntless

"I hope you're right about that, Connor, but like Nadya said, until we actually reach him, we're in serious danger," Reign replied.

With another important matter to address, Raquel asked, "So who all is missing right now? We need to regroup so we can leave."

[scorri]

Marella rolled her eyes at Robin's response. "If you'd listened to what I said, I was asking everyone but you," she said scornfully. "In other words, I expected you not to know or really to just plain not care. After all, seems to me like you only care about children." When Raquel asked who all was missing, Marella turned her back to Robin and responded, "Well, Rook's still out there somewhere."

Edited February 26, 2013 by scorri

[Mercakete]

Before Raquel introduced who the hooded man was, Gytha had assumed he was just another person Raquel picked up to work for her. After his introduction, any sort of contentment or cheeriness left her posture and expression. Instead, a hard look came into her eyes as she kept her glare locked onto the man with her hand on her pistol and ready for use. She didn't move it after the warning not to hurt him, though. Not until the group was assured he was disarmed. Then, carefully, she relaxed her stance some.

Apparently the Wrathites had found them, too. This drew a bit of a sorry look from the mariner, accompanied with a quiet sigh. I can't believe we've been forced against th' law... I just can't believe it... Thought I'd turned me fate around, but... She lightly shook her head to herself as she took stock of how her life had changed since the last time she was in Sergio. I'm an outlaw now, hm? Does this make me just another form o' pirate? Gah, no, that's not right... I'm protectin', not pillagin'. But... Argh, this is complicated...

[Snike]

Blake would've continued his discussion with Zachary, had not Marella intervened and took the lightning mage away from the tower and further towards the road, with the intent of going off somewhere else for a bit. Alright, in that case, he'd continue playing around with teams... Until the Dauntless showed up, about a minute later. The swordsman put his documents away and rose from the ground, dusting himself off. After retrieving his staff, he approached the Dauntless proper to listen in on the briefing. Apparently the hooded stranger - judging by Shadrak's agitation, maybe the swordsman from the estate battle? - named Colin,was a member of the organization and prisoner of Veronika, and so was to not be harmed. In addition to that, he was supposedly on an alleged date/interrogation with Raquel. Lovely. What was worse, aside from the fact that they were walking into a fairly obvious trap, was that apparently the Wrathites were after the group once again. Looks like Zachary was right, unfortunately for them all. The man's mind turned to making plans as the discussion continued, seeing as he couldn't really affect the situation at hand, for now.

***

Great, totally-safe meetings with ex-enemies, religious zealot military forces on the hunt for the group. What next? Guardians and Kigenese soldiers after them? Axel, unbeknown to the world, was actually impressed by how much trouble this group seemed to attract. Not that it mattered, given how high the pay grade was for working for Weyland, but still, this job would be a hassle. The lancer merely waited, as Raquel and the others tried to figure out who's missing.

***

Apparently their next destination was a fortress. Oh dear. Grant hoped that they wouldn't have to be in there for long, as he tried and failed to listen in on the majority of the conversation.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Snike

[Script]

O Man Called Gar

"That's when we'd engage in the time-honored tradition of dine-and-dash instead," Gar chuckled as he brought out enough coins to cover the meal and tip just so no one would get any preemptive ideas. "Whelp that should be enough, anytime you're ready."

[Snowy_One]

"I do not. However, Tia is actually talking to me instead of making accusations and assumptions and not cussing up a storm in front of people of questionable age and becoming indignant when others ask her to stop."

[Phoenix]

Restaurant

Skip out on payment and run? Hmm, that never even occurred to me. Different upbringings I guess ... "Um, yeah I'm ready," she answered, though immediately after saying this, she turned her attention toward her unfinished water and attempted to down the rest of it as quickly as possible.

Tower and Dauntless

"Uuugh," Reign moaned being subjected to this random pointless argument. Gabbie's approach from the air was a welcome distraction. Maybe she'd found some of the others.

Gabbie touched down and hopped off of Ringo, deciding to ignore Colin completely for the moment and approach Raquel. "Didn't foind anybody so ... have fun with that."

Reign sighed immediately before Raquel did. "Can you go out and look again? We need to get going as soon as possible," she asked.

"I seriously ... just got back from looking, and now you want me to go out looking again? No way, it's someone else's turn to waste toime."

"Gabbie, please?"

"Roight, because calling me 'Gabbie' is going to convince me to help you and not just punch you in the gut ..."

Raquel braced slightly after that and took a step back as a precaution before trying again. "Please ...? I'm not just sending you, but we need everyone with a mount that we can get here."

"No we don't. If anythin' that'll just lead to more missing people." Gabbie then sighed after a quick thought. "You know what, screw it, I'll go, if only to get away from you for a spell." And with that, she turned to get back on Ringo and go out searching again, leaving Raquel with a deep frown.

[Script]

P Man Called Gar

"Heh," Gar smirked at Suzzy Q's last ditch drinking. He got up off his chair and stretched his arms to their peak. Always nice after sitting for a time. "Anyplace around town you're interested in seeing?" he asked as they exited the building. The sun was distressingly bright all of a sudden so Gar pulled on his cloak hood, obscuring all the way to his eyebrows.

[Phoenix]

Streets

"Umm, nowhere I had in mind, really. I'm fine spending time with you until you have to leave town," Suzume replied as she shielded her eyes from the sun. "Oh just ... nowhere too close to the water, though. I'm done with the ocean for awhile."

[Script]

Q Man Called Gar

"Well there goes the fishing trip I hadn't planned on doing and all," Gar let out a light chuckle. "Though that reminds me that I should probably have learned when we were leaving actually," Gar rubbed his chin with an acted solemn face. "Ah, well, they're massively conspicuous even if they left it'd be simple to track them down." Gar shrugged like his words had been some sort of deeply recessed plan all along. Now what to do otherwise? Eating was always the most basic thing. And that was covered. Couldn't move too fast, best to do something vaguely necessary. "Hmmm, how about getting that bullet hole in your clothes fixed up?"

[Phoenix]

And Up Next ...

Suzume took a moment to inspect the hole herself. It wasn't obscured by her scarf like she thought. Perhaps she'd wrapped it too tightly and didn't leave enough of it loosely hanging, but that gave her an idea. "Okay, that sounds like a good idea, but first ..." she paused to give Gar a second or two to make a mental guess. "... I want to buy something else I can wear in the meantime." Her smile faded after she said that; she was having something of a flashback. "I had to take my tunic off to wash the blood away, but since I don't have any other clothes, I had to do it in the middle of the night while wearing nothing but my pants and sarashi ... ... and Gwen never looked at me the same way again after that," she explained. "So let's do that, but get me something to wear first."

[Eail]

Luka had figured that he had a bit of time to kill letting Rika stretch her wings out before heading to the tower, so he had decided to blow off a few minutes to do just that. Eventually he did land near the rest of the group as well, only to see that there might possibly be another problem. "If we need someone to try to search from people I can help out too. That is, if we need someone else searching from the sky."

[scorri]

Marella spun back to face Robin at the woman's comment. <"Oh right. Sorry. I forgot that you care about everyone. In fact, sometimes you care so much about them, you hit them. Like Zach. What's next for Rook, a good round of pretending he's a ghost to you? I'm sure he'd enjoy that, why not give it a try? Couldn't go worse for you than trying to get him to behave did. For the record, next time? Try reasoning with him instead of yelling at him. Or just ignoring him. He doesn't really care if you do that. Let me handle him next time. I'd been doing that. But then you needed to step in and try and solve everything when you had no business doing so. Not that you'll listen to me here. You'll just go on about how you were right and no one understands you. Well, good luck with that. Have fun isolating yourself from everyone until they're all ghosts to you. Then see what kind of life you're living."> Turning away, she told Raquel, "I am going to go look for Rook unless you would rather I stay here."

Edited February 27, 2013 by scorri

[Snowy_One]

Robin didn't say anything, opting instead to merely keep her mouth shut. Anything she said wouldn't do much good beyond provoking a fight and... That simply wasn't worth it no matter what. If Zach was dead to her she would be getting into a fight over nothing. If Zach wasn't dead to her, she doubted he'd like her getting into a fight with his new girlfriend. Then, an answer came to mind.

"<If what you say is true and I become isolated I will be living the same life I have been for the past two years. Nothing changes. Is that your best? And I've been downright FRIENDLY to your little gremlin of a friend. I've been nice, asked him politely to not do things, and given him a chance to take back words I would have tried to deck Gytha or Shadrak out for, all in the misguided hope that some leniency might prove my initial assessment of that man wrong. If one of us has to reason, it is not me. It is him. Course, you wouldn't see that, would you. You accused me of being in the wrong before even trying to talk with me to learn my point. Knowing a man for one night is enough for you to make enemies with people you don't even know.>"

[scorri]

Marella laughed. <"Yes, because threatening to shoot someone is being friendly. I see. Well, please forgive me for misunderstanding your definition of friendship. Why, it makes everything with Lightning Head make so much more sense. And please. I didn't make myself your enemy. From the day I got on the ship, I saw how you treated him. I even offered you advice on how to help him and how to be a friend to him. Which, if I recall correctly, you ignored because you knew him better. And, well, I can see how well that ended for you. You made yourself the enemy of anyone that tries to get close to him because of how poorly you've affected his life. You've hurt him. Of course I'm going to be upset at you. But that didn't mean I was going to never be your friend. That is, until you pulled a bow on another one of my friends. Really, you've done nothing to not make yourself my enemy. So unless you have reasons that I should be your friend..."> Marella trailed off, clearly inviting the other woman to speak.

[Eail]

Gods here they were going again against each other. Zach was really going to have to get the full story on the Rook situation a bit later and just what the hell had happened during the time he had been gone. For the moment though Marella seemed to be fairly pissed at Robin, once again... The young sage really didn't want to have to see this again, and it was only going to end up causing more problems in the long run for everybody. So what did our dearest Zachary choose to do you may ask? "Mar, please..." Leaning down he kissed the girl on her cheek. "It's not worth it..." He sadly said, not wanting this to happen.

[Snowy_One]

Robin said nothing, keeping quite as she watched the kiss. "<They say that, often, two lovers choose to be buried together when they die. I think that will suit you two nicely.>"

[Snike]

Oh, how wondrous the power of idling was! While they waited for the stragglers to come in, an argument between Robin the archer and a new face- a Neviskotian knight, maybe?- erupted, with the two women switching to Skotian once they really got intense. Over what, the lancer couldn't really figure out until another newcomer- a Skotian as well- went and kissed the knight. Oh. Catfight! Axel was almost tempted to watch it happen. Then Robin tnreatened the two newcomers. Yeah this was exactly what they didn't need right now.

"Oi, Rusayev, if you don't step in, I will," Axel said, as he began to move closer to the physical center of the argument. "We really don't need this drama right now."

[scorri]

Marella glared at Robin. <"If you even try to hurt one of us or any of my friends again, you will regret it. That much I promise you."> Turning to Zach, she nodded. "I'm done. I should go find Rook anyways..."

[Eail]

"Right... I'll come with you. I-I should probably not be around Robin right now, else I might do something I'll regret." Zach muttered. Then he actually processed what the red lancer had just said "Wait a minute before we leave though... I think this is gonna be important."