Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Ether]

"Of course, Lord Devlinos. Your wish is my command." The woman replied stoically, before raising her head ever so slightly.

"Ah... my given name, Milord... it is Annelise... whether you wish to use it or not is of course, your choice."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"We're going to the Princess' Wedding Ball to clear Raquel's name of a crime she didn't commit," Gar answered Angel while working and writing on the list.

[Ether]

"Hehe~ That sounds so exciting~ And it looks like you're figuring out who's going with who, huh?" Angelica replied... she had sorta hoped someone aside from her cohort would have answered so she could read them, but Gar was strangely reliable at only being reliable when you didn't want him to be.

[Mercakete]

Gytha's big grin returned with Amon's suggestion and her thoughts were voiced by Fizza. Nadya then gave a suggestion for something they could all do together before the actual ball. It certainly wasn't something the mariner would've thought of, but that just made it more appealing. "Heharr, sounds like fun! I don't know what sort o' food wyverns particularla like, so it'd be interestin' t' find out," she happily mentioned before addressing Amon again, "N' yer right, we could do some other things too b'fore th' ball! Hmm been a while since we sparred. That could be fun. Maybe this time I'll actualla be able t' land a hit! Hahaharr!"

Then, to Malik of all people, she happily explained, "N' a'course it's a good idea! I'm lookin' forward t' gettin' t' know some o' Amon's friends!" Apparently Malik was included in that.

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

"Assessment before speech keeps regret at bay," Cecelia replied to Amber, still keeping her voice down. She didn't want to make Amber look bad but if Fletcher was going to have any chance at recovering, some sort of preventative step had to be taken. In an attempt to explain it bluntly, she added, "This is a sensitive issue for him. At the very least keep the teasing just as private."

Having given that conversation some attention, the captain had missed part of the conversation regarding Nadine. It was fairly easy to assume that the noble was asking for a moment of her time, though. Miguel took care of that, but Cecelia felt the need to add, though directly to Nadine and in a normal volume so that the noble woman could hear, "Don't be to be too long, Warrant Officer. Remember, you have a duty to perform here." Hopefully that would give Nadine an out if the conversation started growing overly lengthy.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Only if things get prissy," Gar answered back while setting back into song.

[Toogee]

"I.... see.... well then..."

Taking a drink of water mostly to buy some time to get his thoughts together. Al spared a glance towards Jamilla and Erion, noticing the small grin on the thief's face. Oh they would most certainly be having words soon...

"I was mostly concerned with making sure my friend wasn't about to blow her brains out after losing everything she had including her family. She said she wasn't interested in going, and I can't blame her after all the stress she's had." Setting his glass down the redhead continued "Suppose I just missed my chance then... eh?"

Erion

Huh. Well, I'm going to need to deal with that at some point. He's clearly upset about this. Should be interesting to see how he actually handles it though. "Well, good thing you're looking out for her. I never really got the chance to get close to her and then... well, yeah. As for the missed chance... yeah, guess you did. Looks like you'll have to wait for the next ball to ask her." Turning to Jam, he grinned, "You said something about wanting to go dance today? I wouldn't mind taking a walk around the town if you wanted to go dance. I'm sure it'd be an interesting experience for sure." Almost as interesting as taking a fist to the face later for this will be... But, hey. Should be fun.

As Jam dug into her lunch, she couldn't help but feel that Alphy was disappointed. Yes, he had to watch over Greta, but that didn't mean they couldn't hang out at the ball.

"Come on, don't be like that," Jam replied to Alphonse. "You're coming too, right? I think there will be plenty of time for a dance or two."

When Erion mentioned going into town, Jam quickly finished up eating.

"Beats sitting here hearing everyone talk about...whatever it is they're talking about. Ready when you are. You too, Alphy"

[Phoenix]

Formality

"I think I will use it, Annelise," Steinn replied with a smile. "Now then, no need to be so formal. Rise. I'll need you focused on more important matters if you're going to assist me."

Stuff

"Mountain wyverns like to eat animals that live up in the mountains but they'll settle for livestock too," Fizza explained.

Then sparring came up again. "Sparring huh?" Amon looked awkward and nervous again, as if trying and failing to downplay an impending disaster. "That's uh ... that's a possibility, I guess." I did more or less agree to it ... Relaxing again and returning to his normal composed self, he added, "Sure ... let's just be careful."

To Nadya's suggestion of shopping for wyvern food, Malik answered "I've spent enough time with Haythem and his real wife for a lifetime. No thank you." Then, to Gytha, he gave a slight smirk and said, "Friends? Don't look at me, I merely work with him."

It Takes Two

"Yes, Ma'am," Nadine replied a bit formally before standing from her seat. She left her soup at the table, figuring she would either finish it when she got back or miss out on the rest. She didn't much care either way at the moment.

"Thanks for your understanding," Carmen said to the group in general, smiling widely before turning to Nadine. "This way. It shouldn't take long."

The two then set out and Miguel sighed. "Now what could they have to discuss that's private?" he pondered as he set his elbow on the table to support his head.

Nadine and Carmen ended up heading back into the manse and down a long hallway before Carmen decided to stop. She then leaned against the wall, crossed her arms and legs, and dropped her charming act. After Nadine picked a spot about ten feet away from her and mirrored her actions, Carmen said, "I haven't heard anything about the synchronous casting. For me, that's a bad sign, Dalca. It means you didn't heed my advice the last time."

"Your advice is less than worthless. I should be paid for the time I'm forced to waste listening to you prattle," Nadine shot back.

"Urgh ... this isn't about me, this is about all of us. It's just like before; you think you have to have something special to matter in the military, so you hoard everything you learn and in doing so you hold us all back. First, with your whole 'Emerald Chaos' thing, and now with the synchronous casting. Why are you holding out on your own people? Do you think you won't be recognized for your work or something? Are you an even bigger elitist than you accused me of being? What is it?"

"My own people? Last time I checked with you, I wasn't even Ursian. Anyway, the military isn't hurting for colorful fire magic, so don't even start with me about that. As for the synchronous casting, it was never meant to be a weapon, but hey, that's all people like you care about, turning magic into missiles. That's nice and all, but that's not why I'm here ... and don't ask me why I'm here, because it's none of your business."

Carmen ceased leaning against the wall and turned to face Nadine with her arms akimbo. "You've got no sense of duty in this matter whatsoever, do you? Are you that self centered? Fine then ... allow me to present you with a scenario I came up with when I first saw you again. Believe me, it's a very real scenario."

"I'm listening ... for now."

"Good. Listen well, because this is important, even to you." That line got Nadine to glance at Carmen again, but assuming she was full of it, she didn't give the woman her full attention for long, not until she started getting into the details. "Synchronous casting is a technique that you and Abrams developed that caused enough synergy between you to create spells too powerful for even archsages to cast. The military has been trying to do this for as long as it's existed, but no pair's ever pulled off what you two pulled off. You were just trying to show off for a talent show, but you broke the code ... whatever damnable barrier is holding our mages back. Standardizing your technique could win us the war and all future wars if we act quickly enough. You may not care about that, but perhaps you'll care about this. Imagine how grateful our leaders will be for the woman who handed us victory on a silver platter. That woman is going to be you, or it's going to be me, and I'm giving you the chance to seize your chance. You might even get more than just your old rank back. Who knows? You'd be in a position to make a few ... 'suggestions'."

Nadine began staring off at nothing and grimaced slightly as she said, "I know I said ... that my reasons for being here are none of your business ... but I need to tell you something, so you understand why I'll never tell you or anyone else how our synchronous casting worked."

"Urgh ..."

[Mercakete]

The bit about mountain wyverns was interesting, but not enough for her to dwell on. To Amon, she happily replied, "A'course! I'm fine with usin' our usual weapons, but maybe Weyland has some practice weapons we can use." She decided she would ask the man or one of his servants about it after lunch.

There was still a Malik to address, though, and so she shared her thoughts on his statement. "Well, if yer friends ye'll do a lot better at yer job than if yer just allies. That way ye focus on each other more 'cause ye care more, n' ye become a better team." With a happy, wide grin, she added, "So why don't ye join us? We could all have a fine time!" This statement included Nadya, Amon, Fizza, Malik, Haythem and herself, though she wasn't entirely clear about that and so far as she was concerned, more could easily be added to the list.

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

Cecelia shrugged at Miguel's question, rhetoric or not, and continued eating her soup. It was about gone by now. She paused for a moment before deciding to strike up some idle chat around the table. Amber had looked a bit down and Fletcher certainly was. Though the subject probably wasn't the most glad for the others, it was at least something and she, herself, was curious about what news she might've missed regarding it. "That attack on Ursentius certainly was something from what I've been told."

[Ether]

"As you wish, Lord Devlinos." Annelise replied, still somewhat stiffly, not quite sure how informal she was expected to be. Swiftly rising to her feet, the fallen woman opted to look her liege in the eye, as would seem proper, though her petite stature meant that she needed to crane her head upward somewhat.

"What would you have me do, Lord Devlinos?"

***

"Think people will fight over dates, huh?" Angelica replied.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I expect a fair amount of parties to just waffle," Gar finished up the current trend of his list but kept up his singing. "So inevitably someone will need to just say 'sit down, shut up go with so and so' and I'm agitated enough to do so." Gar proofread his list and, when satisfied it was in order, looked back up to the people places.

[Ether]

"So you're just gonna shove people together when they don't make up their minds, huh? So who do you have me with, if none of the big boys here will take little ol' me?" Angelica asked, tossing out her innocent act... Gar wouldn't fall for it, but she didn't expect him to, so much as to keep on a guise for the others.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Someone you could push around easy, I guess," Gar shrugged. "Not like I've had half a look at anything so who knows really."

Edited August 23, 2013 by Script

[Snike]

"Your accent is better than most Neviskotians, true, but it's still quite noticeable," Blake said, fiddling with his insignia as he spoke. "The guards will definitely catch it, anyways."

***

"Understandable," Pete said,, sighing. "Still a shame."

***

"I am more concerned about her doing something reckless as opposed to something embarrassing," Evelyn explained, still frowning. "Despite all the security, we are too close to the border for my liking, especially after what happened in Ursentius."

[Phoenix]

Make Yourself Comfortable

"Have a seat for now. Make yourself comfortable. There should be some food on the way."

The Decline

"I am not here to make friends. We work well enough together, all things considered," Malik responded in annoyance. "I'm still recovering either way, so I don't want to do a lot of needless walking, right now."

Amon sighed. "I guess you really shouldn't be moving around too much until you've got your strength back." That was when Amon began wondering about a minor detail. Would Haythem really want a large group tagging along just for wyvern shopping? Why would he bring it up with Nadya at all if it wasn't just going to be the two of them? I kind of feel like we're intruding now. Well ... I guess I'll know for sure when I see how Haythem reacts when he finds out.

Stupendous

"What were they trying to prove by attacking the capital with just two dragons?" one of the royal guards spoke up.

"Possibly that they could attack the capital whenever they want, but we already knew that. It's hard to imagine such a move as part of some larger strategy, but it very well may be. It seems too unintelligent otherwise," Eugene added. "Of course, if Ursentius is vulnerable, Europa doubly so. Hopefully our business here will be concluded within a day or so and the princess can return to the palace."

"Do you think if I cut down one of those dragons, myself, it would life the people's spirits some?" Athena asked from afar.

"Please, princess, no stupendously dangerous ideas. Such a plan could backfire in an instant."

Hearsay

"The news is spreading like wildfire, but the details are hard to come by," Miguel noted.

"They'll send out official reports that we can all look over within a week or so. They're still trying to confirm all of the casualties, after all," Cain quietly chimed in, though his voice was so muffled by his arms that Miguel could barely make out his words.

"Mmm, there weren't even that many casualties considering this was an attack by the skotians' veteran dragons. I don't know exactly how many died, but so far they're saying it's a little less than a hundred. Seems like we got off easy."

"What are you four doing over here?" came a question from Langley herself. She'd quietly made her way over after noticing them. The crowd surrounding her before had mostly dispersed but a couple of people had followed her over. They didn't look to pleased to see uniformed officers having lunch in the middle of their social gathering, but as long as Langley didn't bring it up, neither would they. She knew this, and so planned on saying nothing about it until they had at least finished eating. "It sounds like you're discussing the Ursentius attack."

Magic Is A Weapon

"Carmen, I joined the military to gain power and influence, enough to have a real impact on this country. Someday, I'll be able to show these people that brute force, and the weaponization of all magic isn't the only way to fight, and it's certainly not the only way to live. I'll rise through the ranks, gather allies, followers, supporters ... friends. I'll help turn this country into something better than it is right now."

"Oh ...? And what is Ursium right now?" Carmen facetiously asked her.

"... a curse on all magic ..."

Carmen's expression became one of pity for a moment, as she contemplated Nadine's feelings, and then a smug expression took its place. With one big exaggerated shrug, she said, "Well then, it's too bad you wound up getting yourself demoted and landed in Langley's battalion. While special task forces like hers are respected, and rightly so, statistically speaking, these task forces are where most military careers like yours go to die. It must be hard for you knowing your plan is at a dead end. As long as you're with those people, you'll never be able to realize your goal. I doubt you'll even get your old rank back ... ... not unless you consider giving the higher ups some incentive."

"I should have known you wouldn't understand. Well I'm not bothering anymore. If you want to use what Reign and I did to kill off the skotians, then be my guest, but we worked hard to develop that technique, and you'll have to do the same. I'm not telling you a damn thing about it. I don't want anything to do with this."

"I have no intention of killing off all of the skotians or even the dragons. That's not what this is about for me," Carmen countered.

"Carmen. You're just one person. If the military finds a way to make synchronous casting practical for combat, they will destroy everything in their path. You may have defense in mind--though I doubt it--but others don't. The Ursian military was founded to destroy, not to protect."

Before long, Nadine's gloomy mood had rubbed off on Carmen, and the woman began to wince as if she'd been prodded in the gut. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew that standardizing that technique for the military would lead to an all out massacre. She hung her head and said, "I won't let it go that far. We're not barbarians, testing out any new weapons we find on the weak or the helpless. We can defeat and deter the enemy without slaughtering everyone. I'll find a way. Someday ..."

"I hope you do, but I still don't want anything to do with this. You can blame me for as many casualties as you want, but either way, from a certain point of view, I've got blood on my hands, so I don't care."

Carmen shook her head quickly before saying, "I don't blame you for the people that died and are going to die. Though ... I do kind of want to shock the tar out of you until you cough up the technique, so I can learn and improve it myself, but we're not allowed to cast in here. No offense intended ..." For that, she got a stare from Nadine like nothing she'd ever seen before. On the surface, she looked disinterested, but just beneath that, in her eyes, she could see the woman holding back a lot of aggression. She knew, if they were anywhere else right now, they would already be flinging spells at each other. Seeing that, she smirked. "It would be nice to duel you again. I'd love to put you in your place. It's just a shame we can't do it here."

"Whatever ... I'm heading back now."

[Eail]

"Dragons.... are just as diverse as people are. I've met truly fascinating ones, kind and as willing to help as possible. Yet there are still those that are cruel and desire to harm... like the one called Schwartz, the dark dragon.... I'll find a way to kill that one." Zach brooded.

____

"Might as well I suppose, I'd planned on talking to Veronika or Blake about something related to the ball but maybe a bit of fresh air could do me some good." The swordsman replied to the dancer.

[Ether]

"Well, it's good to see you're looking out for me, then~" Angelica replied to Gar.

***

"Very well." Annelise replied softly, as she sat down on a nearby chair.

[Mercakete]

Gytha frowned at both what Malik had to say and Amon's reference to the former's condition. "Oh, well, in that case maybe we should do somethin' all o' us can do. Hmm... What sort o' games d' ye play in Sanctuary?"

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

Cecelia was taking in the chat as she finished up her soup, though it didn't last very long. To her surprise, and mild alarm, Colonel Langley had come over herself. Her questions were fine, but those around her certainly didn't seem too happy. Oh no, are we causing the colonel problems by being here? Oh, why didn't I insist on pressing on past this place? Thinking quickly to save them all some face, she replied formally yet casually, "Hello, Colonel. Yes, that was the topic, though we'd only just started discussing it. Did you need anything in particular? I thought you would want to socialize with your peers since you have the opportunity."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"That's just the kind of guy I am right now," Gar said.

[scorri]

Hoshi

Fiddling with her wrap had grown old, and so she shoved backwards from the table. Quickly finishing her tea, she walked over to Weyland. "I'll be at my desk, likely wracking up another headache whenever you're done." With a nod, she walked out of the room and quickly made her way back to her desk where she started sketching out yet another design.

Lumi

"Yeah... Oh well. If you're not going, it's probably for the best that I don't go either. That way you have someone to keep you company, right?" She smiled at Pete before turning to Eli. "So, are you going to the ball? You totally should. You could go with Aneda!"

Erion

Watching Al with a slight frown on his face, the thief nodded to himself. "Hmm, ok then. How about this? Jam, you go get ready to head out into the town. Al and I will join you once he's done talking to people. Though..." he raised a slight eyebrow at Al, "Something might come up for me and I may not be able to join you. Not that you have to worry if that happens. I'm sure Al here will protect you just perfectly."

[Eail]

Al's eyes narrowed at Erion as the thief spoke, trying to figure out what exactly his game was. Why had he chosen to stick around with the swordsman rather than running off with the dancer and convincing her to just leave him behind? Something about this smelled off, but he couldn't detect what it was just yet. "We can wait a bit to see if they free up soon, but if not there's no rush. There's still plenty of time before the ball to talk about what I needed to."

[scorri]

"Up to you I suppose. Figured you'd just want to get that out of the way as soon as possible. Either way, I suppose it's up to Jam. If she needs time to get ready, no reason you shouldn't talk to them now, no?" He grinned innocently at the swordmaster. Hmm, this could get interesting. Now he'll have no clue what I'm up to. Wonder what he's thinking about right now. He continued grinning at the swordmaster while asking at Jam, "So, thoughts?"

[Toogee]

Eli was busy stuffing his face with bread when Lumi told him to go to the ball with Aneda. The rider stood there, dumbfounded. Did he just get dumped or get a date? And who was Aneda? ...Oh right, the other peg rider Lumi was with. Pretty as she was, Eli was still set on seeing Lumi. After swallowing the food in his mouth, he about said as much.

"That's nice and all, but...maybe we don't go to the ball at all. We could probably find something to do around here. Maybe have our own...private ball?"

Eli sincerely hoped he didn't sound completely weird being so forward.

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

Meanwhile, Jam was quite confused herself. First, Erion invited her to come along into town to dance. After she invited Alphonse however, Erion made himself potentially unavailable. The dancer felt something was going on between the two. Hopefully, things would work themselves out when she was gone.

"Um, OK. I'll be back soon. As soon as I figure out where we're staying..."

Jam excused herself to go search for her room in the very large estate.

[scorri]

Lumi

Lumi frowned. "But... you both seemed to want to go earlier. Why not just go with each other? It makes sense. You'd be helping a friend out and have a chance to have fun."

Erion

As the thief watched the dancer head out of the room, he grinned slightly. Now she was as confused as Al probably was. Ah well. He'd explain it to her later. Maybe. It would depend on just how... interesting things between him and the swordsmaster got. Turning back to Al, he grinned innocently at the man. "So. You have your chance to ask questions now. Or to talk to me. Whichever it is you're interested in. Though... from what I know about you, if you're interested in... talking to me, we should probably go somewhere a bit.... quieter?"

[Snowy_One]

A short retro

It had not been a pleasant week. Losing teammates was never an easy thing no matter how well you know them, and with their recent battle with the dragon, even though Robin did not know the people who died all that well, losing teammates was never easy. Zach had lost someone important to him in that battle for sure. Just like Lia. Just like Robin. Despite not even being able to see him at the moment, Robin was certain she could feel him tearing himself apart over her and...

And she could feel herself feeling a bit torn up as well. She hadn't even known his new girlfriend on any level, but she knew Zach. As much as she hated their recent fight, she still cared for him. If there ever was a time to bury the hatchet, it was now. She needed to talk to him, to tell him he would be alright. Which is how she found herself standing outside the Dauntless, looking at Zach from behind.

Slowly she walked up behind him, not trying to surprise him in the slightest, as she placed her arms around him in a hug. "<I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.>" she whispered into his ear. "<I wish I could have done something. I've hurt you so badly. I rubbed salt into your wound in anger and made you lose someone important to you because I couldn't stand not being the center of your attention. Is there anything I can do to help?>"

Katrina had managed to drag him back to the group, but that was the extent of Zach's change of behavior since the Dragon attack. He was still introverted, hardly eating, and still wearing the hood on his jacket to try to give off an aura of "leave me alone." It had worked for the most part, Kat was the only one that talked to him and even that was pretty sparingly.

Hearing someone behind him, Zach didn't pay the person much mind. Tensing up however once arms were wrapped around him, realizing that he was being embraced by Robin. "<Robin.... I want us to be friends again... truly I do. You were like my sister growing up and my best friend... I want us to be friends again... but right now, I just need some time alone to myself. I appreciate your concern, but I have to control my emotions right now and that isn't possible unless it's my prime focus.>" He replied, softly squeezing the girl's wrist.

"<I know you want to be alone Zach. As you said, we grew up together, I know you better than anyone else who isn't your mother. Look, I know I was wrong for trying to push you like I did before, and I want to be friends too, but we need to talk. If I leave you alone now, you have to promise me you will come find me before you sleep tonight so we can talk. Okay?>" she asked as she felt him squeeze her wrist, smiling as he did so. She wasn't dead to him, he was responding to her, and she felt sure he wasn't just pushing her away out of dislike.

"<I know you don't want to talk about this now, but is there anything I can do, besides leaving you alone, to help? I don't care if it's something as small as just starting a fire or sitting beside you, you're the closest thing I have to a brother and I care for you.>"

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"You're Ursian, I trust your word on this. Since it would be more trouble than it's with for me to go, I would ask that you accompany Raquel in my stead. We need someone level headed beside her to resolve this Wrathite issue as quickly and painlessly as possible," she said to Blake bluntly.

Nadya

He ain't exactly adjustin' to life outside Sanctuary well is he? Nadya thought about Malik. "I never bought livestock before, but I imagine there's a good deal of hagglin' to be done and that's a hobby of mine. Not everyone's cup of tea though."