Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Ether]

"Well, you did need someone to contrast that dour visage you parade around all the time... luckily you've got the right girl for the job." Angelica replied with a smirk as Gar closed out the rest of the distance.

***

"I see... very well, Lord Devlinos, I shall do as such." Annelise replied.

***

"Alright, I'll keep it in mind." Arietta replied... an ultimatum, huh? As harsh as it might seem at first blush, it might be just what Raquel needed to get on track... there were a lot of problems floating about in that group of hers.

[Mercakete]

Gytha chuckled at Fizza's joke, "Aye, it would have been fun to see what the ball's like together." Then to Amon, she replied, "Thank you. Your confidence always has a way of giving me courage."

She glanced over to where people were beginning to leave, then looked back to the two Rexians. "I'll tell ye all about it when I get back!" she cheerily promised as she took a few steps back. Then, she turned and began heading for the door, waving farewell before leaving the manse entirely and heading for the carriages. When she saw them, she had to stop and think for a moment, unsure of which one to enter. Most of the group was going in pairs, so she didn't want to create an awkward situation by choosing the wrong one.

[ReformBlade]

"Well he seems like he's waiting for us." Mushirah pointed out the very same third carriage. He seemed like a nice fellow enough, not to mention that getting a seat quicker would be better than later and having to scramble around. "Come on, let's go!" she urged him to make the first move because come on bro, standards.

[Snike]

"Very well," Blake said, as he led Raquel outside and down to the carriages.There, there was quite a lineup of carriages. Weyland must've been expecting a larger number of the group to have attended it seemed. Regardless, the first two carriages were already occupied, and it appeared as if Shadrak was contemplating bring Mushirah and himself into the third, so, the Ursian escorted the merchant over to the fourth carriage, and opened the door before the driver could get all the way down. With a smooth gesture, he directed his employer to enter the wagon.

[scorri]

Lumi

Grinning at the look on Aneda's face, Lumi wandered around the store. She wasn't really looking for anything specific, more just taking in all of the wonders it had.

Erion

Seeing Jam walk down the stairs, Erion smiled. With a bow, he offered her his arm and replied, "Well, with you at my side, we shall outshine everyone else there. You look wonderful. Shall we?" He headed outside, towards the first available carriage.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I like to think of it as 'rugged realism'," Gar motioned his hands as if he was revealing the title of a hot new product line. "So, picked out a favorite carriage aye?"

[Ether]

"Heh... sounds like something you would say." Angelica replied with a smile, before being asked about the carriages.

"Well, the first five all seem to be occupied, and I feel like breaking sequence today, so let's go for number seven."

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

"Have fun, Gytha. We'll see you when you get back," Amon waved goodbye. Fizza waved goodbye, as well.

As fate would have it, Reign was the next to appear, neither wearing the clothing, nor the attitude for an engagement party. Instead he wore a bit of a scowl beneath a dark, hooded cloak. Beneath that cloak, was his normal clothing. He doubted he would make it out the front door without being addressed, and he was right.

"Well, if you're going to crash the party, that's certainly the way to do it, but I thought you weren't going," Fizza spoke up. "Playing escort or are you going somewhere else entirely.

"Somewhere else entirely. Is Raquel still getting ready or is she outside already?"

"Outside," Amon answered.

"Thanks." With that question answered, he knew where to go next, out to the carriages to try and find Raquel before they set out.

Main Entrance

On Mushirah's suggestion, the two approached the third wagon, and not a moment too soon, as other couples were emerging from the manse and they likely wouldn't have the third carriage for long if they didn't hurry. Blake and Raquel seemed kind enough to let them take it, but that was just them. After arriving, Shadrak copied Blake once again, allowing Mushirah to enter first. He assumed the driver would close the door behind them and so didn't think much about that part. He just had to make sure he didn't trip getting in. His dress shoes didn't have the most traction.

Meanwhile, Raquel got into the fourth wagon while the driver got down in order to close the door behind Blake. It's weird, he really knows what he's doing. It's as if he was born and raised in this sort of culture. Raquel took a seat inside the carriage, albeit slowly, and looked through the door back to the main building they had just come from, wondering who would be joining them next.

[-Cynthia-]

"Carriages huh? Guess we're fancy folk now," Nadya said to Haythem. "Any idea what the plan here is? I ain't ever been driven around before."

[Snike]

Blake entered the carriage and took a seat across from Raquel, so as to have a better view from both sides of the vehicle. He stared at the opposite door's small window, with its fancy little curtain. It had been a while since he had been in a carriage like this.

"I apologize for bringing this unpleasant subject up," Blake said, avoiding eye contact as he spoke. "But once we arrive at the ball, would you prefer that we meet the Head Wrathite as soon as possible, or delay the encounter until later? I would imagine getting it over and done with would allow the rest of the evening to be more... enjoyable, but there is some merit to having time to steel oneself, I suppose. "

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Seven eh?" Gar eyed the carriage mighty suspiciously. "I think this calls for a dance number over to old number seven." He bowed and offered his hand to his date.

[Toogee]

Jam gladly took his arm and headed out with Erion. She had a little spring in her step as walked outside, but not before calling to Alphonse.

everyone else there. You look wonderful. Shall we?" He headed outside, towards the firs

"Alphy, what are you doing back there? Come over here and tell me how pretty I am," she said with a smile.

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"Do not worry, I am a responsible bartender," Pierre replied to Aneda. "Here, try the chocolate bears. They are a favorite among the children." The baker apprentice offered three pieces of chocolate that resembled gummi bears. Each was a different shade of brown, denoting how sweet each was.

During all of that, Eli found Lumi wandering the store alone. This would have been the perfect time to make his move...if he had a move. For the moment, he kept his eyes towards the giant cinnamon roll behind the glass.

[Ether]

"I suppose a little practice beforehand couldn't hurt." Angelica replied with a sly smile, accepting Gar's offered hand, spinning herself around him. Of course, a slow waltz over to the carriage would be boring and far too standard, so instead, an assorted mix of flips, spins, dips, and several show poses made their debut along the way to lucky carriage seven... or in this case, poor, stuck with lunatics carriage seven... ibuprofen is in the dash, buddy.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"A fine dance for a fine lady," Gar "helped" Angel up into the carriage before settling down himself. "And there went anything truly interesting."

[Mercakete]

About then, Nadya and Haythem came out of the manse and Gytha's thoughtful frown turned into a broad grin as she had an idea. The carriages were big enough not to be limited to two people, so she walked over to the two. "Ahoy, there, Nadya and Haythem! Mind if I ride with you?" She'd forgotten to not use her accent until the last word, but she retained her friendly, hopeful grin. She didn't mind riding with those two and so she felt that it was more likely she'd avoid an awkward situation by riding with them instead of either someone else.

[Eail]

Zach softly enclosed his hand over Faatina's, the sage really didn't have any clue what he was supposed to be doing at this point, Kerrigan was never one for teaching his protegee how to make a lady swoon. Deciding to just go with what he'd read in books, Zach kissed his date's hand, before holding onto her in a more normal fashion. Blush showing as he awkwardly looked away. "I uh... suppose we should head to the carriage right? I'm not really sure how these things work..."

____

Alphonse was close to just leaving on his own and hitching a ride up front on one of the carriages with a driver, betting that he'd enjoy some company on the ride to the palace. Instead he was brought of his thoughts by the voice of his dancer friend. Putting on a fake smile, the redhead followed after the blonde.

"You look beautiful Jam, like a princess straight out of a fairy tale."

[Ether]

"Surely someone will cause explosions en masse as soon as we get to the main event." Angelica replied, as Gar somehow assumed that nothing would go wrong.

***

"I suppose we should, huh?" Faatina replied, as Zach mentioned that they should probably head to the carriages. She might have been a tad more flustered at his kissing her hand, had it not been made readily apparent from the others that such a thing was customary precluding these sort of events.

[ReformBlade]

Accepting the darkest bear made of chocolate goodness, the bittersweet taste took over and Aneda made a weird squeaking noise to accompany the taste bud explosion in her mouth. "Oh my God, I haven't had a piece of chocolate in forever I forgot how good it was! Well, didn't forget so much as my mouth was craving it and never got it and now it's just screaming at me 'Congratulations, you finally friggin got the message'!" Her inner child was rearing its head again, probably in a desperate attempt to not feel depressed over past events but hey, everyone's got their foibles. "Do you got anything sweeter? Like something with a caramel you'll let me try? and before you get concerned, I promise you I'll buy something here, I ain't no damn freeloader when it comes to chocolate!" she spoke with the seriousness of a person who wanted to seem genuine. Weird.

Taking a seat while she still could, Mushirah smiled at the man. While it certainly was more of a show than complete genuine manners, she would certainly enjoy being doted upon for however long this would last. If reality had its grimy hands on teh conversation, it wouldn't be a very long time but screw reality, she had other plans. Not really plans so much as... hmm... yeah, plans. "I knew you could be a gentleman." she said to the man, waiting for him to take a seat with her.

[Phoenix]

Main Entrance

"Uhhh ..." Haythem was just about to answer, but then Gar and Angelica began dancing toward one of the carriages and distracted him for a moment. "I uh ... wait what? I guess we just get inside and wait to be taken to the party," he offered with a shrug. They weren't in the lead vehicle, so they likely didn't have to give the driver directions or other instructions ... furthermore, these people probably knew exactly where to go anyway. When Gytha approached, asking if she could ride with them, Haythem said, "Sur-! Um ..." and then stopped, deciding to let Nadya have the final say.

Meanwhile, in one of the carriages, Raquel mused aloud about how to handle the purpose of this outing. "Well ... I usually like to put off things like this for as long as I can, but that would pretty much ruin this whole evening for me ... so maybe I should just deal with it sooner rather than later. I don't want to spend the whole evening brooding about it; I'll just try to prepare myself for it while we're in here."

Reign came outside in the meantime and approached the carriages, trying to figure out which one Raquel was in. Having not seen her immediately upon leaving the manse, he figured she was in one of them already, likely one of those with its doors already closed. Perfect, now he had to actually search. That was when he spotted Shadrak. Time to see if the shaman was even remotely useful outside of battle, he supposed. "Hey, Shadrak, have you seen Raquel around? Do you know which carriage she's in?"

Shadrak had been just about to get into the carriage when this question came up and was annoyed by the interruption. Despite this, and it being Reign of all people butting into his quality time, he answered, though not very helpfully ... "Only a couple of carriages are picked out. Just check each one, but she's probably behind ours since we got here right after Gabbie and Steinn left, and Weyland obviously has the lead carriage."

"Thanks for ... something," Reign said before heading farther to the back of the line.

With Reign going on his way, Shadrak stepped into the carriage and smiled, more genuinely than usual, and the driver shut the door. "Reeeally sorry about that, Mushirah. Wow, it's a little dark in here, heheh. I guess that's what happens when you go around driving at night."

Reign knocked on the four carriage's door hoping Raquel was inside.

[Snike]

"Very well, just say the word, and I will track him down," Blake said, just before someone knocked on the carriage door. He immediately went to open the door, and there, in a dark cloak, was Reign.

"Evening, Reign" he said, as he moved to the side so as to not obstruct Raquel's view.

[-Cynthia-]

"Howdy Gytha! That'll be fine by me, more the merrier," Nadya said, walking down towards one of the yet unoccupied carriages near the end of the row.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Literally or figuratively?" Gar mused. "Well either one will be fun."

[ReformBlade]

"Don't worry about it, things happen, and really I won't hold it against you for too long~" Mushirah responded with an uncharacteristic teasing tone in her voice. Perhaps this group was a bad influence on her, which is totally true, but really she was feeling nervous and it was the first thought that came to her mind, try and joke with him. "But yeah, it is kind of dark in here..." she mused with a little bit of awkward shuffling of feet on her part, still not very used to the new shoes she had but that's neither here nor there. "I'm ok with that though, if I have to be stuck in the dark with someone, you're up on the list." Thankfully he couldn't see her blush, but the embarassment showing on her face was fairly plain and almost adorable in that 'did she really say that' sort of way.

[Toogee]

"That's much better," Jam said to Alphonse. She reached her hand out to her bodyguard to bring him to her side. The dancer definitely felt like the belle of the ball with two men at her side. Eventually, they went to one of the remaining carriages.

"You want to come inside with us, Alphy? I'm sure we can squeeze you in somewhere."

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Pierre went back behind the counter to grab his latest creation for Aneda. Seeing that he was busy, Eli decided to hold off on the cinnamon roll and refocused on Lumi. He finally came up with something to talk about, and it was actually somewhat relevant.

"Well, Aneda seems to be having a blast," Eli said to Lumi, "How do you two know each other?"

Meanwhile, Pierre returned with a morsel of his caramel treat.

"Chocolate-Caramel Swirls. A mix of both in spherical form. Just made these today. I'd love an opinion."

[Mercakete]

"Ah, good!" Gytha cheerily answered, glad that both Nadya and Haythem seemed to be quite fine with her riding with them. As she followed Nadya to the carriage, she began talking to them happily, "I was worried I'd have to ride with someone who didn't want me around. Thanks fer taking me with ye. You know, Fizza and Amon and I played a game when Amon got back from that trip with Shadrak. You should join us the next time we play it! It's a lot of fun! And the more people who play, the more we can try different ways o' playin'! Y'see, since there were three o' us, two would team up n' try t' catch th' other person. Th' mansion here's pretta big, so we had t' set boundaries. Anaway, ye can use ana tactics ye want t' catch 'r run away, so that includes sparrin'! I unloaded me pistol n' used that, too. Shot Amon down once, heharharhar! I didn't do as well as either Fizza 'r Amon, though. They're good!" And so her rambling began.