Return of the Emblem Chapter Ten: Converging Destinies

[Eail]

Luka was taking note of the apparent "Zombie" situation that was happening nearby, such drivel wouldn't be needing his attention unless someone ended up hurt. Out of the corner of his eye though the boy spotted his fellow pinkette watching the scene as well. Specifically the man, Reign wasn't it? Involved with the woman of Rexian descent. Well, Raquel was nice enough, so maybe he could help out with this a bit.

By help of course he meant meddle in other's business. Walking over next to the girl he stopped and stared where she was. "....You like him don't you~?"

[ReformBlade]

Watching the scene unfold was pretty funny until they started getting a bit out of hand. She didn't want to really do much about since it had been taken care of for the most part, but she felt obligated to say something anyway. "You know, you can handle things without getting so abrasive, right? That goes for both of you..." Was it her place to say that? She didn't particularly care but she figured it was still the right thing to say. "But if you need some more immediate help, I've got some water here, not sure if it'd be enough though, just enough to keep me going on long nights..." she pulled out a small canteen of water, sort of shaking it. "If you think it'll help, take it."

"Hahaha, that's a good one. I think you're giving me way too much credit, or you're just a clever girl and calling me out on my bullshit!" Sitting there and actually thinking about it, she shook her head slowly, "I dunno. What if... what if they're lights from some reeeeeeally far off place? Like a city in the sky or... something? I dunno, it sounds crazy, I know."

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"I can't really go around just infusing any sort of light magic into anything- I guess you could use a shock grenade though," Connor said gesturing towards that box before looking outside the Dauntless towards the fire. "It doesn't look like anyone is eating any faces off to me..." he said hesitantly.

[Snowy_One]

"What? But Robin said that she was-" started Tia, poking her own head out, just in time to catch Robin facepalming.

"I told her that to get her moving and out of the way of someone else who was drunk. I did not think she would... you know what? Never mind." said Robin, groaning in annoyance.

"Huh? She... Lied? Well... Bummer. I was looking forwards to infusing a grenade with light magic to blow apart zombies. Ah well. Connor, you work with alchemy, right? Would you mind showing me some of your stuff then? I always wanna see new things!"

[Snike]

Right, well that situation appeared to be handled, aside from the arguing by the Rexian and Shadrak. Back to this fascinating conversation. Which was summed up by Colin saying that Sardis could wipe the whole group out, so the numbers were irrelevant. Nika was having none of that and basically said that if Sardis bleeds, he can be killed. While that was accurate, there were a few issues with that statement.

"That's true, but I doubt we can stick that sword in him without getting stabbed ourselves," Axel chimed in. "I heard about the estate battle, and apparently he and Craig, one of Weyland's best men, nearly killed each other, after the former had already blown up the tanks. If he's healthy, and I don't doubt that he is, Sardis can wipe the floor with at least half of us before we can get a single strike on him."

Well that wasn't necessarily true, but to everyone else, it was.

***

"I think the organization's got an ace, of sorts, that they're going to play at the meeting tomorrow, and as much as you're not going to like it, it's better that you know in advance," Blake said, before following Raquel's gaze to... Oh dear. There were two people in a pile, presumably embracing. Shadrak went and pulled off the top person -who was Faatina, the Rexian paladin-, and the person on the bottom got up and dusted himself off. That was Reign. This was... surprising. Raquel thought as much, what with the "Oh crap," she let out. The man turned to see that his boss was blushing, and then as if it could get any worse, the new healer - Luka, Blake thought his name was - was suddenly present and inquired if Raquel liked 'him'. Whoever 'him' was, this was going to get incredibly awkward.

"... Right, I'm going to go see what exactly is going on, over there," Blake said, trying to mask the surprise in his voice. "Would you like me to bring Valter back, so we can talk about the Reds?"

[roymbrog]

Katrina lowered the egg again and laughed. “What, I’m just guessing too. …A city, hmm? If there was one, I wonder what we’d look like to them. I doubt we'd ever figure it out anyway though, the stars are much higher than I’d ever be able to fly…” She started off blankly for a moment before smiling and looking up at the stars again. “I like looking at the night sky. It reminds me of home.”

-----

“Zombies? Really?” Well it worked apparently, so no reason to complain. Valter spent the next few moments averting his eyes from the nearby scene. As expected, someone did do something about it, even if that person was Shadrak. Well, Beggers can’t be choosers.

Oh, you know things are bad when Synthia’s agreeing with Shad on something. She took a few steps closer and was making a conscious effort not to punch someone in the face, namely Reign. “Did you seriously just lie there and… and... let her do that to you? And you know she’s drunk off her ass! If that's not sleazy, I don't know what is. Mercy, she’s going to be mortified when she comes to her senses,” she said, then director her glare to most of those present. “If she doesn’t remember this in the morning, I’d prefer it kept that way. Got that?”

[Phoenix]

Camp

"I'm not repaying a kiss with a slap," Reign replied to Gar with a chuckle. "... Shadrak can do it," he said afterward, making one last jab.

"I'm not going to hit her!" Shadrak turned down the advice immediately too. To Mushirah, Shadrak said, "Look, I'm sorry for raising my voice, but I really don't approve of stuff like this. I honestly thought he was going to shove her off before anything happened, but he just lied back and ... ugh, never mind, I'll just take the water," he cut himself off and accepted the water from Mushirah before offering it to Faatina. "Please drink this. It's not all your fault. Some people just have no shame."

"I'll be back. I'm going to get some more water. She'll need it if she's going to stay hydrated," Reign informed them. Now he didn't have to stand there and listen to the shaman say one stupid thing after another, at least not until he got back, but hopefully by then it would be out of his system. Of course he hadn't exited swiftly enough and was next accosted by Synthia. "I might have gotten her off sooner if I wasn't distracted and wasting time arguing with Shadrak. Wasting time arguing with you isn't going to help get her that water any faster, now is it?" Rhetorical questions were such a great thing to walk out on. With that, he was back to his quest to find some more water for Faatina.

"No shame at all," Shadrak muttered.

Colin sighed. "Listen to your red friend. If a group of disorganized mercenaries could take out Sardis, it would have happened by now. If you want an estimate, I can give you that. At least as many as you have here right now, but probably more. You know, the usual."

And over by the Dauntless ... "Uh, yeah, thanks, Blake," Raquel answered Blake first, trying to buy herself time to properly compose herself. Next she spoke to Luka. "Luka, that's ... none of your business," she tried to word it politely but came up a little short. To make up for it, she decided to explain her most pressing concerns, though she kept it unhelpfully vague. "... I haven't had a chance to really sit down with Reign and talk about what happened. He left the military, but I don't have the whole story just yet, and seeing this has me worried. Like he might be trying too hard to forget about the past. Or ... maybe she's just drunk and I looked at a bad time. I'm not sure which now that I think about it."

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Oh sure. Currently I'm looking at throwing knives- I'm trying to make them reusable without making them too heavy or compromising their sharpness. Difficult task so far, since the sharper and lighter I make them, the more brittle they get," he explained to Tia.

Nadya

Nadya had turned her attention from the Dauntless to the campfire and watched in mild amusement. People began accosting Reign after the incident though, which Nadya found unfair and so she decided to intervene.

"What was he supposed to do, shove her into the fire?" Nadya asked no one in particular. "If ya run around actin' like a drunken hussy, then anythin' that happens after that is your fault. If ya don't like what happens when ya drink too much liquor, don't drink so much," she stated simply.

Veronika

Veronika sighed at Colin's news, her gut instinct telling her it was probably mostly correct at least. "Let us pray that this meeting will not come to violence then. If your people spring a trap you may win, but not without cost. Most of us have killed many members of your Organization before and will do so again- it would be wise for you to remind your companions of this if they choose to attack us," she said icily.

[Eail]

"Mmmhmmm." Rocking on the heels of his feet with a grin of his face Luka looked at the girl. "All of that might be true sweety, but I know that look when I see it. Sooooooo, if ya wanna talk about it I'm open for ya. Think of it as a pink thing, need to help each other out and all~"

[Snike]

Of course, Veronika couldn't leave it at that. She went and essentially gave the prisoner a redundant heads' up that they would fight to the last man if they were trapped. Which was kind of obvious, but while it would be amusing to push her buttons some more, Axel remained silent, for the time being. He'd have his chance later.

***

"...No problem," Blake said, before hastily making his escape from the pink hair convention. By the time he had managed to get over to scene of the incident, Reign had already left in search of something, or another, but at least most of the witnesses to the straddling were still present.

"Explain," Blake said, in general, as he gestured towards Faatina.

[Snowy_One]

"Hmmmm... I suppose you're attempting to find a new material then that allows for the blade to be manipulated down to a finer edge without increasing malleability. Have you tried to find a new forging technique though? A new technique might allow for increased control over the metal which would allow for strengthening without compromising durability or sharpness. Maybe if you could smelt in diamond dust that would increase the durability?"

[Phoenix]

Camp

As Reign was walking away, he overheard something contrary to Shadrak and Synthia. It sounded like Nadya. He smiled a bit as he approached the Dauntless. He was coming around taking a slightly roundabout route to reach the back, so wouldn't wind up too close to Raquel and Luka, or Gabbie and Ringo.

"There's really nothing to talk about. I don't even know what's going on ..." she trailed off as Reign drew closer, but he wasn't close enough to have a normal conversation with, so she left well enough alone for the time being.

Back at the campfire, Shadrak took the initiative. "Faatina got drunk on something she bought in port and got a little too physical with Reign, but instead of immediately getting her off of him, he just lied there and let her kiss him. I had to pry her off myself before she did anything else she'll regret in the morning."

"I'm pretty sure Sardis already did enough warning; little else I can do at this point, save try to convince you people not to go in swords flailing," Colin countered. "Just what are you expecting us to do to you people anyway?"

[roymbrog]

Synthia’s glare at Reign’s retreating back was soon transferred to Nadya. Really? Was she going to argue that? “Into the fire, no. And just because other people decide to act like idiots doesn’t mean the rest of us shouldn’t have some sliver of propriety. I really have a hard time believing Faatina ended up like this on purpose, but even if she did that doesn’t excuse his lack of action,” she said.

And then joy of joys, Blake came over to investigate. Being the helpful person she was Synthia decided back up the shaman's story. “What he said. And Nadya is defending Reign for some reason I can’t fathom.”

[Snowy_One]

"I applaud you for what you did Shadrak." said Robin with an approving smile. "I should have helped but was not entirely sure what was going on myself."

[Snike]

"Well, presumably, kill or horribly maim us given your group's track record," Axel said, preempting whatever Veronika was going to say in response. "Especially since I doubt this is some sort of elaborate apology."

***

Drama. Just what he needed. The Ursian could see why Reign wouldn't want to anger a drunk warrior, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder why the Rexian had let it go so far. So he made the only call he could.

"... I'm going to stay out of this," Blake began, trying to mask his unease with the situation. "but the issue with Faatina IS being dealt with, right?"

[ReformBlade]

"I... I just told you guys..." Not even moments after taking the water, the two were at it again, like children. "Come on, what's the problem here? Can you guys please just cool it? This is really getting me pissed off here." She spoke rather sternly, if over reacting a bit. It's such a simple request, what's the problem?!

"Home? Yeah, I can see that. You are a bit of an air head." Aneda had to take the jab. Had to. or else she'd die.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Well I don't really have diamond dust on hand- diamonds are expensive you know. I don't forge the traditional way either, I transmute raw materials and replace the existing material with it. It's as much magic as it is metalwork," he explained to Tia.

Nadya

"Yeah I bet Tina just fell into a bottle of wine and had to drink her way out, that makes sense," Nadya said, rolling her eyes. "She should be fine in the mornin' although it'd be nice if people weren't hung over if we're gonna get into a fight," she said, turning to Blake.

Veronika

"Attack us as soon as we walk through the door," Veronika answered Colin honestly. "You people have attacked us on sight since the first time we showed up in Sergio, it's a rather reasonable assumption that you'll do the same thing again."

Edited March 5, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[roymbrog]

“Reign’s getting her some water,” Synthia told Blake, as if that answered the question. She then crossed her arms and resumed her glaring at Nadya, because the nomad didn’t seem to get that her problem with Reign had nothing to do with Tina’s guilt. “Hmph.”

From the other side of the fire Valter was busy wondering why he traveled with these people. It was moments like these where he questioned his decisions in life.

----

“Hey!” Kat said, lightly jabbing Aneda in the side. “I didn’t make fun of you for saying silly things~ I’m being serious here, though. You know how wherever you go the stars are pretty much the same? I was looking at the same sky in Lukin as I am now. It’s nice.”

[Phoenix]

Campfire

"Thanks, Robin." To Mushirah he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to start a fight or anything. It's just ridiculous how someone can defend what he just did ... or rather didn't do." And to Nadya he said, "And look, Nadya, we're not saying it's entirely his fault, but you can't honestly say he's blameless in all this. He didn't lift a finger to get her off until AFTER she kissed him. How is she going to feel if she wakes up remembering that? How would you feel if you got drunk and nearly made out with someone?"

Colin sighed again. "Right, like I attacked you when you came into Ezio's shop. And don't say you had the advantage because you didn't. If I was there to capture Raquel, I would have taken you down before you realized who I was and then overpowered Raquel and made off with her. I might have attracted some attention, but I would have gotten away. We've had ... what, several fights? One of them didn't even involve Sardis, and another was just some idiot going off orders."

Dauntless

Reign arrived in the Dauntless and tried not to disturb the two teenagers conversing inside while he searched around. "Don't mind me. Just trying to get some extra water for Faatina. She's going to need it."

[scorri]

"But don't you see? There's more to knowing each other than just knowing each others history. What's my favorite color? Do I like dogs or cats?" She reached out and covered Zach's eyes with her hand. "What color are my eyes?" She sighed. "Look, maybe I'm jumping at ghosts that aren't there. But doing what makes me happy now... Being impulsive like that just leads to heartbreak. I'm not saying that I don't want to be with you, I'm just saying we should maybe take it slow." Dropping her hand, she sighed. "I don't even know what my heart wants anymore."

[Eail]

Zach gave a small smirk when Marella covered up his eyes "Hazel.... and I'm gonna have to say cats really. You seem like the type that would like cute things such as kittens. Color though I don't know, maybe yellow?" Zach suggested at the questions the woman asked him. The last one was really up in the air though.

Getting serious again though Zach wrapped his arm around Marella's shoulder. "Taking things slow is fine with me Mar. I don't want you to end up regretting anything with me, so maybe that's for the best..... Please don't be upset Mar. I don't like to see people important to me be upset."

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"There should be some full water canteens on the right side, near the bottom," he said to Reign. "Good to know she isn't trying to eat anyone," he added as an afterthought.

Nadya

"I'm smart enough not to drink more liquor than I can hold, so I wouldn't know how it'd feel. Maybe if she remembers it'll be a good lesson for the future," Nadya replied to Shadrak, shrugging. "The problem is with the person lackin' self-control, not the person they forced themselves on."

Veronika

"This false bravado act is really getting tiresome. You people only act when you have a numbers advantage and from what you've said, you'll definitely have one at this fortress. We have little reason to take you at your word," Veronika said, crossing her arms and frowning at Colin.

[ReformBlade]

"Excuse me? I'm not taking any sides, but since you're so inclined, I'm taking my side here." Pent up frustration almost boiling over, she took a moment to think her words through carefully. "Look... Just... Could he have handled it better? Yes. Hindsight is always going to be perfect like that, but just as he could've handled it better, yelling at each other isn't going to fix it." Standing up and dusting herself off, she stared right at shadrak "You can sit there and judge people all day, tell them how to do it all better. Seriously, you can do it all day but people aren't going to listen to you if you're gonna keep that attitude! You are not a parent, Shadrak, or at least not his parent or her parent! It's fine that you wanna stand up for someone who isn't really playing with a full deck, but do it with some class, man! Don't immediately jump to conclusions, don't assume he's some filthy lowlife looking to take advantage of some drunk girl." Taking a deep breath, she continued with just as much zeal. "If it was me drunk and making out with someone, I'd be wondering the next morning what happened, but if I was drunk by my own means, then what happened afterwards was my own goddamn fault, not someone else's! I ain't saying it's all her fault, or all his fault, no it's a friggin joint situation here, so I would really appreciate it if you would just think about things happening around you before you start labeling, OK? I think we would all benefit from that! Can you please start doing that?"

"Well damn, that's actually pretty adorable Katrina..." And that got Aneda thinking. "I wonder... what mom and pops are doing now, to be honest. I just kinda left em half a decade ago, without so much as a word. I never felt right there, wanted to go get some fresh air as it were. Ha... Look at you, making me all reminiscent! I'll get you back, just you wait."

[scorri]

Marella raised an eyebrow when the sage got her eye color right. "Well, two out of three isn't so bad, though as for cats, I tend to like them and dogs equally." She stuck her tongue out at him before continuing. "My favorite color is purple, but that's not the point. The point is we've known each other for two weeks. Why don't we take this trip to Europa to figure out where we stand. Spend time together. And then... figure out where we stand when we get where we're going." She stood up and stretched. "Oh, and Lightning Head. You'd better talk to Robin. Soon."

[Snike]

Alright, Colin had a point about advantage in the shop incident, assuming that even happened. Getting away was an entirely different matter, but Axel let that one slide in order to continue watching this spectacle. Nika kept hammering at the prisoner, and the prisoner kept being relatively unhelpful while making reasonable points. Who would break first?

***

"Right, so it is being handled," the mercenary said, before another event stole his attention.

The new mage- Mushirah, Blake guessed,- went off on Shadrak, in a way that, while reasonable, might to start something off. Oh boy.

"I'll talk with Faatina tomorrow morning," Blake sail to Nadya, distractedly. Then, to the gathering in general, he said, "If you don't mind, could we stop the arguing over who's at fault here, or at least postpone it until after tomorrow? We already have someone who won't be at their best in case of combat. There's no need to add another two people to that list." Once that was said, the swordsman moved around the fireplace and approached Valter, who appeared to be lost in thought.

"Valter, are you free for a few minutes?" the man asked, moving his eyes away from the gathering for a moment or two. "Raquel wanted to talk to you about the Order of Wrath."