Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[-Cynthia-]

"If Sardis lives and the rest of them die, that would be fifty-five Organization members that won't be trying to kill us later," Veronika pointed out. "The Wrathites may have a similar effect if they act quickly," she conceded, looking towards Raquel. She was their leader after all, so this was her decision to make.

[Snowy_One]

Tia panted as she hurried, trying her best to follow Eva through the stables. It wasn't that the girl was, somehow, unhealthy, but in a mad sprint between a mage and a wyvern rider, it was an uphill battle at the least to keep up.

"*pant pant* What was that about?" asked Tia, stopping safely out of the rain, her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

---

Robin, meanwhile, had remained silent. There was plenty going on, she was sure, but she wasn't sure at all if anyone needed her.

"Ummm... If you need me, I will be right here." she mumbled quietly, not really caring if the others heard.

[Phoenix]

Kitchen Duties

"She one of those noble kids or somethin'?" Johnny asked no one in particular as Gwyndolyn left the kitchen. Greta rolled out her serving cart right behind her after shrugging at him. "Whatever ... s'just not that big a deal when most guests lately have been mercenaries, hermits, and fallen royalty. Rare for any of those types to have any standards."

"All royalty have standards," Erica lazily peeped while pointing her finger accusingly at him.

"Please, I bet if you threw a face on the ground, dear 'Prince Steinn' would go all feral on us and eat it. That's a funny picture come to think of it, bahahahahahahah!"

"Ewwww," Erica weakly replied, and not too long before Norbert, Gwyndolyn, and Greta returned. The latter had slightly jostled the sandwiches, but the mountain kept its shape, so she was more or less satisfied with the results.

"Well that was fast ... go'head and roll those over to the corner over there," Johnny indicated a corner further back in the kitchen with his thumb. "On second thought, why carry the soup with your hands? Stick around for a minute and I'll get that ready, three serving bowls ought'a be plenty."

Preparation B

"You mean the guy with the weird hair and the foire sword? Yeah he's there," Gabbie replied with a shrug to Blake. She hadn't been looking for him specifically, but she definitely recognized him. Not that he was ever terribly far from Sardis anyway.

"Wait a second," Reign spoke up, concern clear in his voice. "I don't think we should clue the wrathites in until we're finished. They'd be a good distraction, but they're faster than we are. Raquel still needs an emblem piece, right? So if by some slim chance this works, we'll have a brief window to find the piece that copy stole from her at the fortress in the rubble. If we just leave it there then the wrathites'll get it and I doubt we'll ever see it again." After that he touched on the mission in general. "I'm pretty certain someone's going to get out of that mess alive. We'll never get our hands on enough explosives to bring the place down before they can get somebody out, but they probably won't attack us again right away without men to back them up. Or at least I've never heard of a time where Raquel faced anything short of a small battalion when fighting them."

Reign's input reminded Raquel of the fortress battle. That's when she knew with absolute certainty that her white haired copy would make it out of the collapsing building alive. She'd used a very powerful shield during the fighting that seemed like it could withstand just about anything, and getting the emblem piece from her was all but impossible unless she was right there during the collapse, caught her by surprise, summoned back her emblem piece, and then fled before her doppelganger could react. That too seemed nigh impossible, though. There were other things to address right now, though. "I don't think I can get the emblem piece from her anyway, not with the amount of time we'll actually have, but without a distraction, they'll be free to focus on us ... or ... me in particular."

"Could always use Lilith," Gabbie chimed in, looking only a little less furious, but it wasn't evident in her voice. "She left you a way to summon her. You can use that once you're insoide. She'll arroive wondering expecting a foight, draw some of their attention while you slip out with your precious father, and blow the place to smithereens. Then you can just apologoize for the inconvenience. It's better than summoning the wrathites since even if she's pissed she probably won't try to run us all through for it, and you don't have an emblem piece for her to take away, so her usual means of threatening you is koind of moot, roight now."

"'Sorry for collapsing a building on top of you ... no hard feelings?' Heh, as long as you're the one doing the apologizing ... but personally I'd rather risk setting off mortals than immortals after our little incident at the cathedral," Reign gave his two coppers.

Gabbie shrugged. "The fox thing, then? She uses warping and dark star spells, so there's no way she'll doie in there. Seems loike she'd take it better than Lilith would, too."

Raquel was visibly not okay with summoning people stronger than her without informing them of the plan, but summoning either beforehand could lead to trouble, too. "I ... have reservations about this," was about all she could say to start.

"Don't you always," Gabbie shook her head knowingly.

Questions of the Personal Variety

"Well," Suzume looked away awkwardly. This was harder than she thought, prying into people's pasts on a whim. "I was wondering about your scars. See, I'd been assuming you had just been fighting so long that you were ... jaded or something, which doesn't really bother me; most normal people start acting really weird when a fight's coming, but I'm used to it. I have my own scars too ... but yours aren't all from battle, so I was wondering what happened to you. It sounded really awful back there."

Le Arrival

Tamara made certain that Mushirah wouldn't step in any of the water Gabbie had left in her wake as they crossed over it at the main hall and started upstairs. Once they were inside Mushirah's room, Tamara came to the closet, opened it, and began perusing the clothing inside. "So, what's the occasion, if you don't mind my asking? We want to make sure you've got the right outfit for the occasion."

Mission Improbable

Anna was drawing closer to where Gabbie had said Sardis and Samael were held up, but given how mobile most of the inside guards were, she was expecting to run across a patrol any second, and there was literally no cover out in the hallway she was in. Every time a door came up, she eased up on the wall running parallel to it and slowly approached while listening for footsteps and other noises. By the time she was coming up on the third right side door, she heard banter getting closer and closer.

"Urgh," Anna grunted, wishing she wouldn't have to have a confrontation this soon. Taking out more than two targets without making a lot of noise was really difficult, and sometimes outright impossible, but she did have a couple of advantages. Firstly, she knew they were coming and was already in position to get one or two of them before they realized what was going on. Second, the rain outside meant none of the patrols outside would learn about this in a timely manner, so if she alerted everyone inside with a grenade blast or something of that nature, she could still get out and slip away before they could mount a proper response and cut off her escape route. With that in mind, she readied the astra bow. Five shots ... five burials, she recited Weyland's Astra Bow slogan just as the door began to open.

"So yeah, once we get to Neviskotia, I want you guys to help me try and find this Ornstein guy," came a woman's voice. "It's a long shot, but if the thing that killed Owen shows up with Raquel next time, we could be in big trouble."

"Yeah, sure. We can't exactly rely on the Darksider for this anyway since his sources are mainly in Ursium. We'll look into it," came a middle-aged man's voice.

Strike! Anna moved around the door, turning to avoid jostling her aim with what would have amounted to sloppy footwork and unleashed the first shot, taking down the middle-aged man with an arrow right in the back of his head. She quickly readied the next shot and took down the other man standing beside the woman, planting an arrow right in his eye. He didn't even have a chance to draw his blade. The woman, however, not being targeted first, had time to draw her sword, and actually deflect the third shot with it. She was the last one, and the two women stood there facing each other. The woman was Silvia.

"I knew it was you," Anna smirked.

Silvia quickly got her wits about her but she was still frowning at what had just happened. "That wasn't very nice. Did you have to kill them?"

"Yep. If you want to avenge them, I'll happily give you the first move," Anna said, trying to steer the conversation away from their own confrontation so she could unleash a surprise attack and gain a decisive victory for herself, "but first, I've got a question for you. It could clear up some things for me."

"Ask away," Silvia seriously replied, keeping her sword between herself and Anna's deadly repeating crossbow.

Wow, I actually thought she said 'attack away' ... my mind must really be on the bloodshed right now. "What the hell are you people doing in Europa right now? When we found out Sardis was here, we were suspecting an attack. Naturally, after the crap you people pulled last time, we thought it'd be better to slip in a small group and ... cut off the head," Anna smirked again.

"A small group? You're not the only one here?"

"Correct. I'm here to kill Sardis and Whatshisface while the others take care of a few other people who ... won't be named right now. We're going to have our revenge for what you did to us and our home. Make no mistake about it. Now answer my question."

Silvia winced, feeling a battle was inevitable now, and not just a battle between herself and Anna. "Listen, this isn't the time for us to be fighting. We're not in Europa to attack Raquel or Weyland. We're passing through gathering up some of our people. We need to get out of this region and regroup elsewhere so we can figure out what to do about the fallen."

"A likely story ...," Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh don't worry, I believe you, but I don't believe your superiors would pass up on some chance to cause us harm. Parting shots are all the rage these days."

"No kidding," Silvia mumbled, glancing down toward the bodies of her allies. Those were technically opening shots, but ... semantics.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Phoenix

[Snike]

"Alright, thanks. That makes four teleports necessary, then. As for the Wrathites, they aren't a threat to our group as of last night, so I doubt they'd go try to kill us all after the fact, " Blake said, glancing to Raquel for a moment before returning his gaze to Reign. "I agree with Raquel in that retaking the emblem isn't feasible in the window we're working with. Our best bet for that would be speaking to Joanna. As for a distraction so to speak, again I'm going to suggest sending in the Wrathites. If we were to do that, the rescues could be performed while all hell is breaking loose, which would both guarantee Raquel isn't focused and remove the guesswork, if any, of where exactly Jethro and Hayato are positioned. The Organization would be too scattered in the aftermath to be able to retaliate against us for a while."

"Speaking of the emblem, though, how much energy do you have left, Raquel? I heard Gar mention Nyx taking some of your energy away earlier which is concerning," the swordsman said, turning to his employer. "If you're beginning to run low, looking into the other emblem piece first might be a better idea."

Edited May 15, 2014 by Snike

[Snowy_One]

"Raquel, please." said Robin, speaking up. "If you can not order us with confidence, how are we to fight for you with confidence? Would you rather have us beat up the bad guys for you with reservations?"

[Nanami Touko]

By the time Tia had caught herself up, Eva had finished setting up the saddle. She stared confusedly at the girl (definitely not for the first time that day). "Why'd you run after me? I'm not going anywhere until Shadrak and Mushirah catch up, and you're not even flying with me..." It didn't make any sense. Sasha turned his head, and slowly proceeded to turn himself around, bringing his nose near Tia's head. He gave her a sniff, and then glanced back at Eva. "No, you can't eat her!" she joked, knowing the wyvern was just smelling her because she was new. "Anyway, go talk to Aneda over there. You'll be flying with her, I guess."

[-Cynthia-]

"Only a fool would have no hesitation in a situation like this, Robin," Veronika cut in. "The Wrathites, Lilith, the fox woman...they're all forces we cannot control and have difficulty predicting. A distraction is a good idea, but we'll have to pick our poison it seems."

Edited May 15, 2014 by -Cynthia-

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Yeah, he figured it was something like that. It usually tended to happen once it was out in the light. Oh well, if he didn't want it out he wouldn't have done it. "Awful is... an understatement. But the source of all these scars if probably the reason why I don't have much of any combat ones." He held his right hand up, his mind tracing each and every scar and their source. "You have to understand, I don't usually do this committed team thing. I don't usually get on-demand heals or someone looking out for me like that. If I get cut up, I have to fend for myself, so the best measure became prevention. If I don't get hit, I don't need medical attention. That's what I learned." He gripped his hand into a fist, and let it drop. "No, I wouldn't say 'learned' really fits it. It was beaten into my flesh for years. Every action I take is beyond instinct, there's no fear, no hesitation, no thought. It's all reaction perfected by years of being slashed, being shot, being poisoned."

He gave them both time to understand. "And, do you know why I learned in this manner?" Of course she wouldn't. "Because of the Fallen."

[Snowy_One]

"Because *breath* I don't know where you stabled your mounts and followed *breath* the best I could. I got lost." replied Tia before, finally righting herself and taking a deep breath to drive away the shortness of breath.

---

"Only food would have a hesitation. You are being hunted. You need to turn the tables. You cannot predict them, but you need to do something. If you do nothing, or try to do too many things, you will end up served before them." said Robin with an annoyed tone before slumping down again. "Sorry. I just... hate too much talking."

[Nanami Touko]

"Could've just waited for Eli. I'm sure he knew the way. I only ran off so I could make sure Sasha was ready to fly with three people, before my passengers got here. Anyway, get to Aneda, scoot scoot! You're making her wait, she probably needs to figure out her own riding situation. Pegasi aren't as big as wyverns." She gave her wyvern a pat, and he took that as a sign that he could relax. He settled back down, sticking his head out from under the shelter of the stables, so that he could enjoy the pitter patter of the rain some more.

Edited May 15, 2014 by I have opinions

[Phoenix]

Planning Makes Stress

"I have plenty," Raquel answered Blake. "I can't help but feel she took just enough to do one ... thing and that's it. I'm not sure why or what it is, though. I've got more than enough for what we're doing here, though. It'd be nice to get my emblem piece back but I couldn't beat that girl before so I really doubt I can now that she has both of them." She would have replied to Robin next, explaining that bringing in any outsiders could jeopardize the whole mission, and so she had to think about it, but Veronika chimed in first and the two seemed to quickly settle the issue.

Reign glanced at the sandwiches now sharing table space with the bread and produce. "Yeah I know going for the original emblem piece is a long shot," he began in response to Blake, "but the other one's at the cathedral, way too close to the wrathites, and they're bound to find it eventually. You said they weren't an issue but I've got no idea what that means, so ..."

"Err-..." Raquel tried to decide how to explain yet another bit of information that might cause people some issues. "I uh ... last night at the ball, when we met with Desmond, he agreed to leave us alone if one of us submitted to something ..."

Gabbie glared at Raquel. "So that's what that was," she hissed. Then she glanced at Blake with a weaker glare. "How does it work?" she demanded, expecting an answer forthwith.

Practice Makes Perfect

Gar's explanation brought up some painful memories for Suzume. She didn't have even a tenth of the scars he likely did, and the ones she did have were minor, the results of screw ups involving her barriers, or accidents while moving through the wilderness. Nothing that was major or would really hurt her chances at settling down later in life. Gar's approach to combat was entirely different from hers, though. She had the stature, but not the speed needed to effectively maneuver away from every single attack, and so she focused on creating barriers strong enough to block even physical attacks, so when she found herself cornered, she would still have a fighting chance. Their methods seemed to work for them on the whole, but she did have a bit of envy for his mobility, despite what it cost him.

Then the Fallen came up, something she really wasn't expecting. "What do you mean, the Fallen?" Her first thought was that maybe they had captured and tortured him but that didn't quite fit with his explanation, she felt. Maybe he was being trained to deal with the Fallen? She was only heightening her own confusion by speculating wildly like this, so she calmed herself and waited for his response. She couldn't do much about the worried look on her face, though. That thing thing wasn't going anywhere just yet.

[Snowy_One]

"Right." said Tia, smiling before quickly casting a small spell to harness the raindrops to scratch the flying lizard's chin before she hurried off to get to Aneda in time to leave.

"Wait for me!" she called out, almost jumping up as she tried to reach Aneda and her mighty steed!

[Snike]

"Just one thing, huh...," Blake said, thoughtfully. That was interesting, but a far more important matter came up. Namely, the link. Raquel broached the subject, but it was Gabriella who really caught wind of it and demanded an explanation. Wonderful.

"It relays location at the very least, but it might relay actual vision of the surroundings and any conversations as well," Blake said, to Gabriella. "It might be able to take direct control of the host, as well, judging by what he said last night. But this isn't the time to speculate about it. Not while we're planning a rescue operation."

[Mercakete]

So, the male cook began working on getting the soup ready for them to take out to the table and Norbert was catching bits and pieces of the discussion in the dining hall. He'd begin to listen in, then remind himself that he wasn't a part of it anymore. Still, there was no harm in learning some of what was going on. It was harder to hear some of it, but he got the basics from what he could catch: Blake wasn't happy with the plan that was decided on and wouldn't accept it, so he was trying to get Raquel to involve the Wrathites. Any plan involving the Wrathites was a bad one, and Veronika and Raquel seemed to agree with Norbert's thoughts on that point. Robin wanted Raquel to be more decisive, which Norbert could understand and even agree with. Veronika argued that it was important to weigh things carefully before deciding on an action. Bert thought this was true in some cases and not in others, but this was a case where that was certainly correct to a degree. Even so, he didn't see any reason why Robin was wrong in what she was saying. She was right: Raquel's lack of confidence wasn't doing the group any favors, however she colored it.

Other means of diversion were discussed, but Blake seemed to think -- for whatever reason -- that the Wrathites were their best bet. Why was he so adamant about that? There was some discussion about the Wrathites no longer being an issue and...voices got quiet for a second. Of course they did; Raquel was the one talking and she didn't tend to speak loud or clear. The wyvern girl spoke up, asking Blake how something worked. Is there some sort of device he has or something? He knew that Raquel was going to talk to the head Wrathite at the ball, but he didn't recall ever actually asking about how that went. Of course, there were reasons for that... Things just sort of kept coming up.

It was all fairly idle listening anyway, until Blake spoke up himself. Wait, does this thing locate other people? It sure sounded like it, anyway. Blake himself didn't seem sure on how to operate whatever it was. It wasn't really his business anymore anyway, so he got to thinking about other things for the time being. Raquel kept picking up new recruits, but apparently Weyland was random with his employment opportunities as well, if what that guy back at the prison said was anything to go by. The lady who was not Greta who volunteered to help with the food could have been an associate of Weyland's, too. It was just impossible to tell, especially with how free Raquel's group was with their secrets. Weyland wasn't that concerned with secrecy himself, it seemed, since just about anyone who was in the dining hall was privy to their meetings.

Then, there was also Robin to think about. She sure sounded like she wanted something to do to feel helpful, but she hadn't volunteered to help with setting out the food. Maybe she just needed orders or something? In combat, he didn't trust many people to give him orders, but he did allow himself to be subjected to a few people's commands. But that seemed to be the opposite problem... Were there really people like that? People without their own motivation, goals, desires, and sense of individuality? Well, there was Veronika, but her issue seemed to be more that she preferred...well, to have everyone fall in line with her orders. How were those two not best friends in that case? He didn't see them talk often, at least... Maybe they should. Then, Veronika would have someone to boss around and Robin would have those direct orders she'd been craving. ...If these guesses were correct, anyway.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Just as confused as he'd expected. Well, even when he learned he had no idea what Ciaran meant. "The person who trained me trained me like this is because it was how she was taught." He paused. "How to fight against the Fallen. Their mind-reading gives them an unprecedented advantage in battle, knowing when to thrust, to parry. Removing that mental advantage they have removes an incredible power they're used to having. By removing the conscious thought from my actions, they couldn't read where I'd go in the manner they were used too, and how many of them rely on that sort of power over actual techniques? Stripe them of their advantages, hit them in ways they don't expect. Fight solely on split-second reaction, render the mind-reading useless with speed and barrages of irrelevant thoughts, press on against any injury and overcome anything. Make them afraid of you." Gar took in a breath of air. "Works pretty damn well against humans too. Not many people expect that kind of maneuverability." He gave a grin and short chuckle. "Well... in the end, it's part of who I am, for good or ill. It's certainly kept me from getting a lot more scars, though I had a few before anyway." He shrugged. "Though oddly the time I did fight a Fallen I got a scar from it so ehhh...." though that was a spectacularly dull memory despite the circumstances.

[ReformBlade]

"Just something simple will do." Mushirah said absentmindedly, gathering her own belongings at the moment. My book, his book, my shotput... yep, I've got everything here. Oh... "Um, I guess it's... a visit? I'm going to meet someone to help me out. I-I guess that's obvious, the person part anyway, but, yeah, just... I don't know. Never met this person before, I guess I don't want to look terrible but I kinda feel like I stick out no matter what now."

[-Cynthia-]

Robin seemed content to be quiet after her outburst, so Veronika let the matter slide. Then came Blake's announcement that he agreed to have the Wrathites inside his head, watching his location, possibly monitoring conversations, and even being able to control him?

"So, you mean to tell me that we have another entity inside the minds of people in our group, who may or may not eventually want to kill us? I'm getting a drink," Veronika announced, getting up from the table in the dining hall and making her way towards the kitchen. So much bullshit in one day.

[Phoenix]

Plan for the Worst

"Pour me one too, would ya?" Reign asked after Veronika. "I guess it's a good thing they aren't trying to arrest you now but if they can listen in on what we're planning and know about the emblem those guys have already ..." Reign just stopped there and threw his hands up. "Hell, if they know where to look, they might beat us to them. How are we going to keep this from getting out of hand? The wrathites might not be trying to kill us right now, but they're not allies by any stretch of the imagination. If the area's really deserted save for the enemy, they could kill us and Sardis with one sweep if we let them get involved. Not that we can really do anything about that right now ... yeah I definitely could use a drink, now."

Raquel frowned at that. The wrathites certainly had the potential to complicate the situation.

"Okay so if you know they could be watching and listening somehow then why are we talking about all this?" Gabbie asked. "Don't tell me they're controlling you roight now and having you suggest we get them involved so we don't suspect anything ..."

Put to the Test

"I see ... well from the look of things you'll probably get plenty of chances to test out that training against them soon," Suzume replied, not looking forward to all the intense violence, herself. "At least it won't be boring, right?" she smiled.

Plain and Functional

"Something simple for a visit? Alright, I'll need to look somewhere else for the coat, but I think these will do," Tamara replied, somewhat musing to herself as well as she removed a plain skirt and a long sleeved shirt from the closet. They were far from fancy, but that wasn't the point in either case, and the coat she had in mind would turn even this dull skirt and plain white shirt into something reasonably fashionable. "Wearing something with long sleeves should make your injury less noticeable at a glance, especially with a thick coat, which I think you'll need, if for no other reason than this weather."

Edited May 15, 2014 by Phoenix

[Snike]

"They aren't going to kill us while the organization in its' whole is functional, since they need someone to deal with the Neviskotian branch," Blake responded, flatly, feeling his headache return. "Even afterwards, they still need the pieces from the Organization to be brought back to Ursium, so this whole thing would be a waste of effort if they were to just go eliminate this group. Not to mention the last time the Wrathites fought with the Organization was while we were sent to Purgatory. Sardis managed to escape that more or less intact, and he didn't have the emblem wielder then, so I'm not confident in their ability to even wipe the Organization branch, let alone both of us. They'd definitely be the center of attention though."

" As for whether I'm under Desmond Langley's control, why don't you tell me, since you apparently can see the link 'no mortal man can detect on his own'?" he continued, ice creeping into his voice, "I mean, for all you know I could've been under their thumb from even before the moment I took the link upon myself exclusively last night instead of allowing the Head Wrathite to apply it to the two of us. Though, that doesn't matter. You got me. Clearly my suggestions don't have to do with the fact that the working plan before I came in was to somehow slip past the guards and set explosive runes, have Raquel warp into their base to take Hayato and Jethro right in front of the Organization's face, and pray that the runes were not discovered in time, that the teleports go off without a hitch while there's a hostile emblem wielder nearby, that the runes don't go off too early which could kill Raquel or Jethro, that they don't go off too late so that the organization has a chance to retaliate with full force, that the explosion actually kills off or injures Sardis, Samael, and the woman with the emblem severely enough to prevent them from immediately going after us afterwards, that we actually have the element of surprise in going there, which we might not since Anna's still there, and that Samael doesn't just kill Jethro outright as soon as he knows we're in the area, given what he said at the fortress. And it's definitely not like I'd rather draw Jethro and Hayato out of their base and out alone, if it was at all possible by having a way to contact them, since that would make retrieving them infinitely less difficult and wouldn't involve rolling dice to see if my boss and maybe even friend gets to live to see another day, which would be a great outcome. No, clearly I'm just trying to get everyone killed, so I'll show myself out."

And true to his word the swordsman promptly got up and began to leave the dining hall, refusing to look at anyone.

[Nanami Touko]

Sasha quite enjoyed the scratching (however water managed that), and was about to roll over, had Eva not taken notice and started pulling on his wing. "Honestly. You're not a dog, you're a wyvern. And you rolling over here would just cause a lot more trouble than you think..." She frowned, and sat down against him. He whined softly, but didn't make a move. "Now I twiddle my thumbs and wait."

[ReformBlade]

"Coats are nice." She blurted out, feeling a compulsion to at least follow up on that. "Sorry, just, I'm usually wearing a cloak I got from my parents, so a coat would still be extremely comfortable for me. That familiar feel..." She trailed off, not needing to go further into detail about something so trivial, instead looking at her previous drawings and feeling a massive tug at her heart. Well that was a bad idea, I'll just... try to put that out of my mind.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Yep, certainly looks like it," Gar nodded. "Hopefully with staves around I don't have to close my wounds up with gunppwder again. That was... unpleasant." Lucky the shudders about that were long gone! "But boring? Never. Oh yes."

[Phoenix]

Loathing

"Hey," Gabbie snapped, quickly grabbing Blake by the shoulder as he tried to leave, "Nobody hates this stupid plan more than I do, and that's saying something since Connor and myself aren't even risking our necks for a change! What I'm worried about is giving those blood thirsty bastards a heads up on what we're trying to do, because even if they've still got some vague use for us, if we become more trouble than we're worth--blowing up a complex sounds loike a noice start--they'll slaughter us like a bunch of wrathdamn pigs and they'll be justifoide in doing so."

"How else are we supposed to beat Sardis, right now?" Raquel asked, frustrated as anyone else in the conversation. "I don't want to risk anyone else fighting them directly which is why I'm going in myself. If we don't do something like this, we'll still end up having to fight them regardless. I know full well at least a few of them are probably going to escape, but maybe this will keep them off of our backs long enough for us to prepare for them ..." What she really wanted to do was hit them and then keep hitting them, never allowing herself to be put on the defensive again, but that would mean they would leave instead of preparing a solid defense, and head to the next target. Risky even if the plan was relatively successful.

"I dunno, I always pictured mind control being a bit more ... jarring," Reign chimed in with a shrug, not really suspecting Blake of anything. He was worried that the wrathites had a bit of an edge over them right now regardless, but with the city up in arms about the Fallen, they could only afford so much manpower until the explosions started going off in the city.

Loading

"Alright, looks like we're ready," Johnny said, having finished pouring the soup from a pot into three rectangular serving bowls. People would have to serve themselves as far as the soup was concerned, but that was a buffet for you. "Alright, you three, get going. You know where to put the carts once the soup's served. Just be careful and don't shake'em up too much. The soup, I mean, heheh."

Clothing

"Mm, there really isn't anything quite like a comfortable outer layer," Tamara smiled as she laid out the shirt and skirt at the edge of the bed. "I'll be right back. The coat I had in mind is in the dressing room down the hall, so I need to go get it. I'll help you get dressed as soon as I get back ... oh-unless you'd rather do that now and then come with me and grab the coat on the way out. Whichever suits you."

Sewing

"With gunpowder?" Suzume was only a little surprised, but picturing it was like something out of a nightmare. "I've had to stitch a couple of wounds myself before, but that's just awful." Quickly shaking off the thought, she returned to something vaguely more upbeat. "But that's good to hear," she forced a smile, "I mean you should always try to enjoy what you do in some way."

[Sakusa]

The virtuoso rolled her eyes, not appreciating being ordered about by a mere peon. Still, it was better than being in the dining hall at the moment. Plans were still being bounced back and forth and nobody could agree on anything. "Right then," she commented dismissively and tossed her hair back, turning to Erica, who still seemed to be out of sorts, "Where are we placing the bowls? Two on the ends and one in the middle?" It seemed like the only logical decision in order to keep the spread presentable. "I wonder if they realize that they're just wasting time at this point. They received the report and lunch is about to be fully served. Now is the time to make a snap decision. The outcome of the situation is going to be messy regardless, so they might as well pick their poison or bide just their time for a more opportune engagement."

[Mercakete]

And then the voice of Veronika cleared up some confusion. That got Norbert's attention, as he turned his head towards the kitchen-dining hall door. What? Reign spoke up next, saying something similar to Norbert's own prior arguments against involving the Wrathites. The wyvern girl also asked a question that would normally have been the first thought in Bert's head. He was a little too surprised for that to occur, however. Then came Blake's outburst.

Concerned as he was for his blue-haired sparring partner, he had half a mind to go out there and try to talk some sense into him. Norbert did not trust the Wrathites one iota, and involving them at all was an absolutely terrible idea. Why maximize the number of enemies they had to deal with? Especially on their home front? The Wrathites could and would find a way to lump them with the kidnappers and justify attacking them all indiscriminately. It was a heck of a lot easier than trying to protect or make sure they didn't harm any of Raquel's group, especially when they had already given the Wrathites plenty of cause to want them at least imprisoned. And as much as Norbert himself thought the plan Raquel, Gar, and the others had cooked up was a bad one, it was the most viable one now, given what had already been set in motion and Raquel's stubbornness. No one's doubting your intentions. We're just disagreeing on whether the Wrathites can be trusted or not. He wished he could say it to Blake's face, but the wyvern girl was already snapping at the swordsman. Raquel likewise began expressing her frustration, though he thought Gabbie was the more effectual in her argument. The list of people to talk to was steadily growing...and there was soup to serve.

Or, there would be soup to serve soon, it would seem, as the pink-haired lady asked for specifics on where to put the soup. The order she suggested didn't make sense, though, at least not to Norbert, so he would up giving her a strange look. "Why would it be set up like that? Wouldn't it make more sense to just put them all on the end so people can grab a sandwich, then just get some soup without getting in anyone else's way?"