Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[-Cynthia-]

Dining Hall

Veronika frowned at Zach's response. "Being part of the military isn't always about killing people- it's also about protecting people and their way of life and violence is the means to achieve that. Your opinion surprises me given your mother's former occupation."

Estate Grounds

<"I ain't afraid of a little more rain, but I'll take ya up on that. Isis sure is a handy gal to have as a friend,"> Nadya commented.

[Toogee]

"We are so cutting down on the sweets."

While everyone else was busy pissing off a goddess, Eli was still stuck in the narrow stairway. Actually, it was his pegasus. Her back half could not make the narrow turn. He tried pulling on her reins and pushing from the other side. Nothing seemed to work. Then, Eli heard footsteps approaching. Another person would surely loosen up Betty!

"Hi!" Eli said to the approaching priest. "I'm in a bit of a jam here. Long story. Do you think you can help get my peg out of here?"

"Oh yes, sure," the priest replied. "But first...you're a healer, right? I saw you come down here and you had your staff." The priest pointed to Eli's staff on his back.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I got this wart here."

And just like that, Eli found himself between two butts. He was trapped, oblivious to the near disaster going on below.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Too much on goings... too many things that didn't need his attention, so instead Alphonse had ended up going for a bit of a walk. He'd ended up getting lost in the estate for a little while... but fate seemed to have plans, even if they weren't that important. "Nine out of Ten, Jam, work on the landing a bit and you're gold." He said with a grin as he watched her from the doorway.

"Ha Ha Ha," Jam feigned laughter at Alphy's sarcasm. "Now come help me up."

She reached her hand out to him for assistance. Maybe.

"I'll show you a nine out of ten."

Maybe not.

[Ether]

"There's not a damn thing we can do now, short of waging a damn war with the Order of Wrath. If you're so adamant about this to go rush in by yourself and either get killed and dropped off in a ditch somewhere or tortured yourself, don't let me stop ya... but if we make a push now and it doesn't work, you can kiss any hope of getting her out goodbye." Arietta replied with a sigh, before taking a more serious tone and stance with Glen.

"Some fights aren't winnable. The people who know how to pick those out, and how to deal with them so they can win later... those are the people who make it. I know it sucks, I've had to back off from too many than I wanna count... but no matter what is said or done, you can't do anything about it if you charge in fulla pride and get cut down."

[Eail]

"Don't get me wrong Veronika, I respect soldiers, I respect them greatly for their choice to put their lives on their line for what they believe in. It's basically the same thing we're doing, I have a bit of resentment towards those that sign the lives of soldiers away for petty squabbles and don't appreciate the fact that they get to sit back feasting every night while some poor bastard is sitting in the rain next to his best friend halfway freezing to death while their other friend is dead facedown in the mud." Zach said rather blankly.

_________

Getting off of his place against the door frame, Alphonse walked forward with a grin still plastered on his face. "Your wish is my command Princess." He said, offering his hand out to the fallen girl to help her back up.

[Toogee]

Jam grinned right back as she grabbed onto his hand.

"9/10 this!"

Jam attempted to pull down as hard as she could to bring Alphonse down to the ground.

[Eail]

Under any normal circumstance, Alphonse's increased weight and size compared to the dancer would have let him stay upright. Yet the surprise from the sudden yanking lead to him tipping forwards, managing to catch himself before he fell directly on top of the girl, though their faces were now inches apart and she was pinned under him. "Dirty move Jam... I approve." Oh how she was learning.

[Toogee]

"Maybe I don't need that sword after all." Jam remarked as she remained pinned down. "You should probably get off before someone gets the wrong idea." She smirked, trying to wiggle out of the hold.

[Eail]

"Maybe, keep training anyways though." He responded, before blushing a bit as she said to get up "R-right.. last thing this group needs is any more drama." rolling off to the side of the girl. "Fun times all around..."

[Sakusa]

"Ha! Men simply have fragile egos all around. 'How dare a woman impede on masculine territory?!'" Gwyn exclaimed expressively, waving her arms around and chuckling. She paid no mind that Zach left; it wasn't exactly a conversation that he could participate in, and he had no obligation to keep her company, so she continued her conversation with Lumi. "Besides, wearing some sort of pants or tights is absolutely crucial in riding any sort of animal. Well, unless you're absolutely mad and insist on riding sidesaddle, but the practicality of that is virtually nil. As for me, I make it a point to wear shorts underneath my skirts so that chafing will not occur when riding on Glen, he's Cyrus' wyvern-- he's an absolute charmer and I should introduce you to him sometime in the near future-- but it also serves to keep my undergarments safe from peeping toms. As for your situation, you have my condolences. In light of this, you have the freedom to do what you please now without any social obligations to anchor you down into place." Just as she was about to ask her newfound companion about Kigen and the Fallen, a peal of thunder rendered her speechless for a few moments.

"M-My apologies, I don't fare well in stormy weather," the mage stuttered, flashing a weak smile. "So what is the situation, exactly, with the fallen? I'm afraid I'd just arrived in Europa this morning, so I'm not quite acquainted with current events. Why would your group need to split-- AHHHHH!"

The girl let out a bloodcurdling screech, not having expected anyone to come up from behind her and cover her eyes. She recognized the voice instantly, but the shock of being interrupted and suddenly not being able to see caused her to overreact. "Mercy, please take pity on this poor soul and grant her patience and fortitude to endure these trials ahead." Her hands made their way to his, and she wrenched them off her face. Scowling, she angled her body towards Cyrus primly and gestured gracefully with a hand before finally composing herself with a refreshing smile.

"Lumi, I'd like to introduce you to my childhood friend, Cyrus Labroue. I've talked to you about him quite a bit already, but it seems the chance of meeting him in the flesh came more quickly than I thought. Cyrus, be a dear and tell her more about yourself."

"And after that I'd love to give you a piece of my mind."

Edited June 2, 2014 by Sakusa

[Phoenix]

Stables

"Oh don't mention it," Vivian forced a smile. "I mean one of us had to, right?" She began leading her pegasus into the stables along with the others. The sooner that was handled, the sooner she could find out if everyone made it through the fighting okay.

Dining Hall

"Ugh, who does that anymore?" Suzume grimaced at the thought. She waited a bit longer before starting on her soup again. She wouldn't be able to really enjoy it until her throat was feeling a little better. A drink might have helped but she'd forgotten to get one.

Reign squinted slightly for a moment. "Save the world?" Apparently these two had talked about it before. Soon enough though, Reign just wrote it off as something involving the Lilith and Wrath situation. As he recalled, all Lilith wanted from them for the moment was to keep their particular emblem piece safe and they had already failed spectacularly in that mission. About the only thing left they could 'save' was some face by getting it back ... and that wasn't even a priority, right now. "Eh, I don't think we're going to be saving much, at least not the world. Anyway, most of the people I knew in the army weren't actually fighting for what they believed in and neither was I. I'm not here fighting for what I believe in, either," he explained, smiling grimly. "Don't mind me. Drink's just wearing off." Well, that was true.

Study

Glen took a step back. "Urgh ... I'll think of something," he insisted. "The whole time, from start to finish, Joanna never gave up on making sure everyone made it out of that mess alive. I didn't think it was possible, but somehow, everyone survived. I'm not going to give up and wait for you people to come up with something just because the odds aren't in our favor."

"This situation is vastly different from that one," Weyland pointed out.

"Yes, I know," he softly replied, seeming calmer than ever. He seemed more resigned than ever, too.

Training Room

Raquel wasn't sure on the specifics either, not fully, but she knew how to get the spell started and that was enough. To add to her excitement from before, though, she didn't sense any real change within herself, implying the warp had used up a negligible amount of her energy. It would add up over time if she kept using it, but for now, she was definitely safe to practice. That said, she figured she might as well give Jericho's theory a try rather than stand there and make an educated guess.

"Let's see ..." She held out her hand toward Jericho's tome. Her body began to glow again, and the tome right along with it. In about the space of a second, the tome was overcome by the light, reduced to the size of a marble, raced over to Raquel, and then returned to normal, much to her surprise. "Wow ... I didn't think it would actually work." Quickly shaking off her surprise, she said, "Sorry, I should have tried getting this to you first, but I was worried that if it did work you wouldn't have been able to catch it and might have gotten hit or something." I'm not sure why I wasn't worried about getting hit myself, though. A tome coming at me that fast could have killed or at least knocked me out, easily. I'm glad it slowed down.

Estate Grounds

<"Glad to hear it,"> Haythem said, standing up and folding up his cloak before holding it under his arm. <"We probably would have followed you anyway, though, honestly. Okay, Isis, we've got a bit of walking to do.">

Isis, figuring Haythem wanted her to get ready to literally 'walk' somewhere, began to rise up off of the ground on her two hind legs. She looked even bigger once they were looking at her from slightly below. She pulled her left wing in slightly and pushed the other out to match it so she could keep her balance as she stood there.

<"Okay, she's ready. Let's go.">

Complex

Cassandra squinted at what she was seeing imposed in her thoughts, but then just as quickly, surprised turned into understanding. They had met before, and things were definitely starting to make sense, so she went forward more open-minded. None of this made it any less irritating to hear Raquel referred to as her other self, but she didn't plan on making a fuss over it. He's not my father, she couldn't help but think back at Uniter. I guess I can help, though. I'm surprised this isn't an order, though. Is it because I've been ... here longer? Seniority, I mean.

The Archives

To Shadrak's surprise and relief Tia didn't say anything else. Nyx, however, did. "I don't think you're taking this seriously enough," she told the group as a whole. Her gaze leveled on Shadrak specifically after that, though. "While it's true, I prefer to deal with individuals, you came to me as a group and you should have prepared them as a group instead of just looking out for a few. There's really nothing for the others to apologize for."

I honestly didn't think Tia was stupid enough to badmouth a vasilus for no damn reason, Shadrak thought to himself, getting progressively louder as he went along due to the reality of the situation sinking in. Of course now that I do know, I'm not taking this insane little mage anywhere else ever again. She jeopardized our whole reason for coming here! It seemed like before they would just be paying a high price to get what they wanted, but now he wasn't even sure if Nyx would budge at all. As she turned around and began walking away, he became even more worried. "H-hey, wait a second!"

"Calm down, I'm just having a seat," Nyx shot back. "A little to your right, Nadine," she said, sounding bored. Nadine was a bit surprised but moved over and after Nyx sat down on the bench, she said, "Let's get started, preferably before something unpleasant happens."

[scorri]

Hoshi

"I... I.." She shook her head and stared at the table. "I have, as you say, been out there. And I, uhm, didn't much like what the world had to offer me. Much safer and nicer here. Alchemy doesn't require being smart, it just requires years of study and a fine control of dark magic. I, uhm, suspect that's why I was able to fight like I did. But..." She trailed off and shrugged. "Uhm, it is nice of you to say those things. Even if I don't think it's completely true."

Erion

Watching the warping, Erion paused and then grinned. "Hmm, Raquel, you seem to be able to catch stationary things. How about moving things though? Like a dagger or something? If you can catch them and bring them to you... Well, it could be a way of protecting yourself. Heck, we could practice that here. Obviously I wouldn't throw them at you. ... Least not at first." He idly toyed with one of his daggers as he spoke, carefully looking around for a decent place to aim at.

Lumi

Nodding along with Gwyn's comments, Lumi grinned. The other girl clearly understood exactly where she was coming from. When the other girl jumped because of the lightning, she frowned slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's funny, I've flown in storms so much that I barely notice it when I'm inside and I forget that it bothers some people." She was about to explain the split when someone placed their hands over Gwyn's eyes, causing her to scream. Lumi pulled the ice tonfa she'd kept at her belt into a floating lump, ready to use it if needed. But then it turned out it was just her friend she'd mentioned before. Slowly lowering the ice, she scowled slightly. "You'd think that someone who knows you get nervous during storms would have the decency to not terrify you during one," she pointed out to her new friend.

[Ether]

Atleast he didn't seem as angry as before... that would make this a bit easier. Still, with how quickly Glen seemed to switch from calm to angry Arietta wasn't letting her guard down.

***

After a decent wander, Faatina managed to find a somehow familiar hallway, and reached the dining hall once again. Spotting Hoshi, who had apparently made her way out of hiding by this point, and had begun talking to a man she recognized as one of the bowmen that had fought with them when the demons attacked, the paladin made her way over.

"I see you finally decided to come and see the light of day, Hoshi... how are you feeling, still shaken?" The paladin asked, still fumbling about with her belt somewhat... where would be the best spot to latch this sheathe onto...

***

Sitting around wasn't going to accomplish much, and despite a bit of a headache, Angelica felt if she went to bed at this time of day it would only mess up her sleep schedule. With that in mind, and a bit of musing in Rexian that she didn't really catch due to distance, Angelica made her way over to where Amon and Malik were sitting... Amon did have some new information that was quite juicy after all...

"Hello Amon, manage to sort your thoughts out, yet? I know you were pretty out of it, earlier." She noted, giving Malik a wave as well as she sat down.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Ether

[-Cynthia-]

Dining Hall

Emperor Loginov has never entered any wars I considered to be unjust, Veronika thought to herself, though it seemed that Zach did not feel the same way. Veronika now turned her frown in Reign's direction. "Don't you believe in your friendship with Raquel? That seems like a reason to fight to me- but nobody is forcing you to continue with us against your will," she said to him in a somewhat perplexed tone.

Estate Grounds

Nadya slowly made her way to the stables under the wyvern who now seemed quite massive now that Nadya was under her. Hope she don't spook Luca or the other horses. She figured Luca had gotten more used to wyverns after traveling with folks like John and Katrina, but the other horses may not be similarly trained- and Isis was no ordinary wyvern.

[Eail]

Cyrus winced as Gwyn let out a scream... that was not according to plan. "Er... sorry Gwyn... I was just trying to play a prank... distract you from the storm and all that, didn't mean to upset you." He sounded genuinely remorseful, rubbing at the back of his neck and feeling pretty bad about it." This other woman she was talking with seemed pretty hostile about it, rather than the type to feel out a situation before commenting "It's not very nice to make assumptions about people before you know them..." He said simply

Following Gwyn's instructions though, he gave a brief introduction. "I kidnapped Gwyn a few years ago from our village, that's what they say at least. We ride around on my Wyern taking jobs, I get stabbed, shot, cut, burned, electrocuted, crushed, and generally pretty messed up, and she heals me."

Blinking a bit, he suddenly looked down at Gwyn "Oh, right. Glen told me that he wanted you to come by later to make sure you were okay.... and to bring some apples, he said you could have one too if you were hungry..... bastard never offers to let me have an apple..."

[ReformBlade]

Going along with Erion's line of thought, or so Jericho figured anyway, "Hell, if you can do that to fast moving projectiles, I just... guuuh." the amount of things he was imagining Raquel being able to do was getting a bit ridiculous, thought he was only able to think on a more fantastic level than what was actually plausible from what she's said. "Hate to keep bugging on further, but can you pull a person to you, or away, like you did that book?" He had his hand on the side of his face like it was a really big deal what he was talking about, and to be fair he always thought what he was saying was a big deal.

[scorri]

Lumi shrugged. "I'm just not sure what part of you thought sneaking up behind her and grabbing her like that was a good idea when she gets scared during thunder storms. I'm Lumi. Gwyn's told me some about you already. I'm with Weyland, sort of. Not exactly officially employed, more just along for the kicks. Get some good fighting in, get to stay away from home, that sort of thing. Only joined up with them a short while ago. Well... joined up with Raquel. Probably switching away from her and to the group headed to Kigen instead... As I was about to say before we were so rudely interrupted," she continued with a wink to Gwyn, "I'm headed with the group going to Kigen. There's some big threat with the Fallen. They're making these gates to attack nations where they aren't expected. One group's headed to Neveskotia, and the other's headed to Kigen. Personally, I have no interest going to 'Skotia, 'specially not as an Ursian pegasus rider, if you know what I mean. So I'm joining the with Kigen group. 'Sides, always wanted to go there, see the elephants they use..." She grinned, slightly lost in thought. "Oh, and we'll probably get to fight some Fallen while we're there, so that could be fun too."

[Snike]

"I think I'm telling the truth, so there's no need to thank me for saying those words. And I still think you should get out more often," Peter said, as a paladin arrived. "But I guess I'll save that for another time. You've got company."

The warrior began to rise, from the table, but couldn't help but notice the woman's fumbling. Did she not know where to carry a sword? He decided to wait a few moments, and if she hadn't finished fumbling with the sheath, he'd step in.

***

Maybe not physically, but you remember him as such, do you not? Parentage is more than just blood, despite what others might tell you. Thank you for agreeing to helping me, by the way. As for why it wasn't an order, among other reasons, I don't think it's right to order someone as young as you, mentally, around in general. That's without factoring in the enormous task of maintaining cover, which even I am having some trouble in dealing with. And I've done things like this for years. You're doing incredibly well at that, by the way.

[Cevian]

Cherish shrugged, "Yeah," and turned to look back in front of her as she left her ride to deal with her pegasus.

It didn't take long for the thief to find her way to Dining Hall. After all there was a loud scream for her to follow, not that she hastened her pace at all when she heard it. After all either it was someone just surprised about something, and if that were the case her rushing in wouldn't help much, and might actually hurt in the long run is she surprised them more. If it was danger, then rushing in was a bad idea.

Peering around the corner in to the room, it definitely didn't look like the latter. Let's see... People: Check. Alive: Check. In need of any help that I'd give them: Don't care. Shrugging again she walked into the Dining Hall and just moved over to look for something to eat. It's most of the reason she had come here first anyway.

[Sakusa]

Gwyn turned back to Lumi and laughed nervously. "I uh... had a bit of a mishap with a thunder spell when I was young, actually. Fledgling mages tend to have some sort of traumatic experiences while learning, and this particular event had a lasting impact on me. Cyrus and I generally travel via land when storms happen, so it's usually not an ordeal," she explained, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Thank you for the concern, though. I genuinely appreciate it." She smiled again and jabbed the wyvern-riding goober in the ribs. "Cyrus has his heart in the right place, though his brain needs a compass sometimes." The pinkhead then pulled on his arm and sat him down on the vacant seat next to her. "There should be plenty of apples in the spread, so you can have an apple before seeing him, and I'll bring the rest to him later. No need to be bitter about your wyvern liking me more than he does his master~" she chuckled.

"Anyway!" her attention returned to Lumi, "If you're going to Kigen, we'll likely follow suit." She removed her hand from Cyrus's arm and folded her hands neatly on her lap, maintaining an impeccable posture. "I've never really handled myself well around 'Skotians, even though the both of us lived on the border until recently, and we used a pidgin of 'Skotian and Common in our daily activities. Sometimes you'll hear a bit of a Neviskotian accent when Cyrus talks; I speak Common properly since I spent more time in the urban areas than he did during childhood. Regardless of background, most 'Skotians find ways to irk me in some capacity, so I don't relish the thought of going Neviskotia even though I could probably handle myself better there than In Kigen. Like you, I've always wanted an excuse to go Kigen, but for other reasons. Don't tell anyone I said this but..." she lowered her voice into a whisper and leaned in closer to the pegasus rider, "my family runs a business in textiles, so I've always been interested in the tales of luxurious silks and brocades." Once she relinquished her juicy tidbit, she returned to her upright position. "Let's not forget about the legends of treasures beyond your wildest dreams, either! You two can go ahead and smack the Fallen around a bit, I'll just stay back and keep you two in tip-top shape," she grinned.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Sakusa

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"There's bound to be someone out there crazy enough to do anything." Like him! That was when Gar's keen, keen sense noticed something. Suzzy Q forgot some water. How dangerous with hot soup! "You need anything to drink?"

[Phoenix]

Dining Hall

"Okay so someone wasn't feeling well out here, right? I've got some tea for you," Erica spoke up as she came into the dining hall from the kitchen entrance. The timing wasn't too bad, Suzume felt.

"Yeah, tea sounds nice, actually," she said, her voice still significantly strained.

Reign frowned again, having feared that might come up. "Friendship's one thing, but it's not really something to go around killing people over; that part's just self defense. At least ..." he paused and sighed, "at least that's the reasoning I run with. Can't really justify what I do, otherwise. Not that it needs justifying, but I don't want to get bogged down with thoughts like these in the middle of a fight."

Malik did his best not to make any unpleasant faces when Angelica butted into their shady conversation, but failed completely. "It's starting to make more sense now, yeah," Amon nodded, "but I'm still not sure about some things. I don't have a frame of reference for any of this since I'm not a mage. That's the real reason it's so hard to sort it all out. I probably should have been more specific when I asked ...."

"If you had been too specific we would have basically come out of this with nothing, so just deal with it," Malik muttered. "At least it's not a complete mystery anymore, right?"

Soon, another one of the new arrivals came and made for the makeshift buffet table. Since she didn't recognize anyone in the dining hall, she assumed they were guests and kept quiet. She just assumed Erica was one of the cooks since she hadn't met her before. "So far, nothing but guests. Would Weyland really have guests over at a time like this?" she quietly asked, partly to herself and partly to Cherish. "Maybe mercenaries ...?"

Study

Glen took a seat, his thoughts shifting from trying to get Weyland and his people to see things his way to trying to save Joanna without them. The only thing that seemed feasible was to hire someone, someone unaffiliated, to sneak in and get her, but who would take a risk like that with the pitiful reward Glen could offer? Furthermore, who had that kind of skill? Best to ask the man himself. "Weyland, do you know any mercenaries? Not ones you keep close to you or use often enough to be linked back to you. I just need to find someone, someone with the skill to get her out of there before this goes any further."

"That sounds like more of an inside job to me," Steinn commented offhandedly. Just a little more pushing and then they could move on. "However, once your plan is revealed, you'll have to trust insider not to betray you for the greater good."

"There's no greater good in this than getting her out of there," Glen snapped, though he managed to keep his voice down. "But you're right ..." he grimaced, "I can't expect just anyone to buy into that."

Training Room

"Uh ..." Raquel glanced around randomly, not sure if she wanted weapons flying around at all. Even if she drew one to herself, she was worried she might catch it by the blade and cut herself. "Could we start with something that's not quite so sharp? I've got no experience with knives. Well ... no experience that counts for anything here ..." Memories of her days of training at Horizon came in droves, and among them were a few incidents involving the mages' choice in secondary weapons.

"Actually, yeah," Raquel nodded at Jericho. "It's how I saved Veronika when we ran into Greta and Erion for the first time. I just ... wish I'd been strong enough to save her and Marella," she frowned. "That's one of the things I want to test while we're here, warping two people at once. I don't ever want what happened to her to happen to anyone else."

Stables

It didn't take long to reach the stables, and since Isis had nothing better to do, she stuck her head inside to investigate the place. In doing so, she figured out where all of the equines were disappearing to. There were also some distinct wyvern scents about, but she'd had so little contact with them on the whole that she didn't consider them much different from anything else.

Unfortunately, some of the horses and pegasi were startled by Isis poking around. Luca just stood there in his stall looking a little depressed while the others voiced their protests. Finally, when Luca saw Nadya, he was excited again. He moved closer to the edge of the tall and stuck his head further out to get a better view.

<"There he is,"> Haythem cheerfully pointed out. <"I'm starting to recognize him easier. Not sure what to do about these other horses, though. Isis doesn't mean any harm but they sure seem upset ...">

"I-is that a ... a dragon?" Vivian barely managed to say as she stood beside her pegasus, frozen.

Complex

I prefer not to think about it, Cassandra replied, even if he really was my father, he just thinks of me as a 'copy' of Raquel and it didn't take much for him to go and prove it. Their first encounter indeed hadn't been a pleasant one. Anyway, I'm not really sure I'm doing okay so much as the people leading this group really like ... artificial humans. Even though Burke was the one who brought me to them they don't think much of it. Still, I'll be careful. She slowed her pace as she left the shed areas, trying to make sure she didn't accidentally get pulled into a conversation with any of the people running around searching for Anna. So you want me to isolate Jethro and Hayato? For ... how long? Already she was going over a bunch of ideas and shooting down roughly half of them on the spot. Depending on how long she had to keep them in one place, the difficulty would increase.

Archives

Shadrak took a deep breath and tried to calm down. They probably weren't screwed yet, though he fully expected her to charge them double or something akin to that. "Okay ..." he took a few steps closer and then stopped, making sure not to get too close. "I came here to learn about the rune knights. Specifically, anything that will help in creating a prosthetic arm."

"You know what could happen if that kind of magic got into the wrong hands, don't you?" Nyx asked, though her tone made it seem almost rhetorical. Shadrak nodded, anyway. "Just the same, this hasn't been achieved before, which makes it a topic of interest for both me and my father," Nyx's blank expression steadily changed to a smile.

Shadrak raised an eyebrow at that. "A topic of interest?"

"I'm considering simply putting a leash on the two of you for now. It's not the information you want. What you really want is an arm with no strings attached. However, there are always strings attached, so here is my offer to you, Shadrak, Mushirah; I will create an arm to suit your needs. You will not fully understand how it functions ... and probably never will, but it will endure most of what you could put it through. In exchange for this arm, you will protect its secrets with your lives. If anyone not tied to me tries to examine it too closely, you are to stop them by any means necessary. Additionally, I will require you both to return to me along with the arm and offer up your experiences with it at a time of my choosing. Ryder can help you with that if you aren't in the area. After I have obtained your experiences, you are free to keep the arm, or seek out another to replace it with a flesh and blood version.That should be easy enough for the two of you ... but these terms are not negotiable."

It wasn't a raw deal exactly, but the way she laid out her terms so unflinchingly made it feel like they were being completely screwed over somehow. In a small sense, they were, since Nyx was doing exactly what Shadrak didn't want, accessing Mushirah's mind. Probably more than once too, since attaching the arm would give her at least one other chance to poke around in his friend's mind. It was an irritating prospect, but ultimately not his decision to make. Sighing heavily, he turned to Mushirah. "I got us this far but it's up to you. If it's ..." he paused and glanced back at Nyx just for a second. "If it's worth it. If not, I'll find another way. I just need some time," he assured her, not wanting her to feel anymore pressure than she likely already felt.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Phoenix

[ReformBlade]

Of course, what Mushirah wanted was her arm not to have been bitten off in the first place, so even though this is still a fresh wound for her literally, she always figured that getting her arm back with no strings attached was completely out of the question. She'd either have a lifeless excuse for one at her side or a 'fake real' arm which would cost her too much money for her to even consider doing, and really, by the time she'd probably get enough for it she'd probably be used to not having the arm in the first place. This whole ordeal was feeling very surreal for her, the woman still not fully comprehending what her situation exactly was and deep down she was perhaps feeling a bit spoiled by Shadrak, seeking out an immediate solution not even 24 hours after the incident so really, the only shock she could think of was the physical pain that did the deed.

This was all sort of swimming around in Mushirah's head to an extent, not necessarily all at once but definitely all there. "I..." she started then stopped abruptly to try and cough her lump away. She was nervous but this was no time to let something as frivolous as that to get in the way, "I understand that you want this information kept secret, private, however you want to describe it... You mention not letting anyone not tied to you examine it, but I guess I'm curious, will you ever send anyone to check on it at all? I can't imagine you not wanting to look at it in person but far be it from me to make assumptions regarding what you would or would not do. In addition, does that also include us since we're talking about it now, or do you not want us to delve into it? I-I know you said we'd never really figure it out, I'm just... curious, and admittedly afraid of accidentally overstepping without knowing since you mentioned a leash."

Jericho laughed at Raquel's admission/explanation, completely not expecting anything of what this emblem could do. Once he got a grip though, the man made an offer she could easily refuse, "Well I got a harmonica and my tome, I'm less inclined to throw my harmonica but if you're completely confident it won't break in the process then I can use that, so if you want something not sharp, I've got those."

[roymbrog]

Weyland would get Joanna out if he failed, and that was good enough for Valter at the moment. Unfortunately Glen hit upon the reasons not to trust Weyland and Steinn, and the horseman grimaced. He agreed with Glen in a sense, but this wasn’t the time for that sort of outburst he felt. And then Steinn was actively trying to make things worse, which convinced Valter to ignore his comments from here out.

Both men wanted a plan that could get Joanna out now, and though Valter understood that Weyland couldn’t help on that front, he also knew that this didn’t end with Weyland. To Arietta he said, “Some fights aren’t winnable, yes, but that doesn’t always mean you have to back down. Sometimes it just requires coming at things from a different angle. Why do you think I’m asking others for ideas?”

Speaking of ideas, Glen hit one Valter had considered earlier, though had no clue who could help at the time. Actually, even if they couldn’t convince someone to save Joanna for her sake… “If we’re looking to convince someone else to rescue her, perhaps pitching it as retrieval of an emblem piece and its wielder would be more persuasive?” he said, looking to Weyland for comment. “I have no interest in involving Raquel, but one of her connections might be willing to consider it.”

---

Frowning slightly, Synthia scribbled more down and held her tome out again. “I hope so. I can still make noises. My throat feels swollen.” She thought for a moment, before writing some more. “I was going to go read. I’ll let you go change before you make a bigger puddle.”

---

Axe all nice and sharp, Kat flipped it and gave an experimental swing. Perfect. She went and propped it against the bed, before sitting down to contemplate what else to do. Familiarize herself with the manor perhaps? She had a habit of getting lost, and in an emergency that would be pretty awful. Yes, that was something to do. If she couldn’t find her way to her room afterwards, well she could always ask a maid she supposed. And so Katrina left her room, and started off down the hall with the express purpose of making a mental map of the manse.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"There goes me being useful," Gar shrugged and took a bite out of his apple.

[scorri]

Erion

While he understood her desire to not want sharp things flying about, he didn't quite think the tome was the right answer either. "Well... if the whole point of this is for her to catch small dangerous things, not sure throwing your tome is the right way to go about it. Plus you risk damaging it. How about this?" He took a few seconds to undo the ties around his wrist and then pulled off the sheath the dagger had been resting in previously. "Here, I can stick the dagger in here, throw it, you get to practice with small flying things and there's no risk of you getting stabbed. Though I'd also suggest trying to see if you can catch something and direct it somewhere that's not to you. That way you're not at risk if you do need to stop a dagger or a bullet or some such thing."

Lumi

"Oh, that'd be great if you came with us. It will be nice to have someone else around that I can talk to about things like our conversation before. Pete is nice and all but he's a guy so... you know how it is." She grinned at Gwyn. "Well, if you're going to be healing, I'll have to make sure to keep an eye out for you as well. I have decent offense, but I'm also a fairly good defender if the situation calls for it. At least... usually I am." She went silent for a few seconds and then shook herself. "Right, not the time. But yes, you will find your fabric and I will find my elephants and it will be wonderful. Oh, and you have to meet Star Hunter at some point. He's my pegasus and he's just wonderful, you'll see."

Hoshi

Shrugging, she quietly said, "Well I'm going back to Kigen soon but... I'm not sure that will be good." Turning to Tina, she did her best to smile slightly at the paladin. "Well... uhm, the fight last night was rough and then, uhm, seeing Nyx and everything... uhm, you're right, I was shaken. But... I am better now. Uhm, well, mostly better. Better enough. How are you? You were, uhm, more injured that me. I hope you're feeling better?"

Edited June 2, 2014 by scorri