Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Phoenix]

Front Entrance

Faatina and Zachary were drained, screened and cleared next, along with Ethan, and another unknown couple. Around the same time, Steinn's carriage pulled up, and the driver got down to let the group out into the back of the now short and scattered line. There were more people lingering in the area than in line to be cleared for entry.

"That was worth the wait. Lines aren't really my thing," Steinn said as he helped Gabbie out, and next Annelise. The driver then drove the carriage out of the way, making room for the next ones. There were only three carriages left that had passengers to unload, a total of three couples and their escorts, but once they were outside, they didn't even approach the line. Instead, they approached Weyland.

Ballroom

Haythem decided to try something; one of the sandwiches would do, and would also satisfy his curiosity. After picking one up and putting it in his mouth, he began to chew and quietly pray to Aisha that he hadn't made a mistake. "Hmm ... intereshting fravor ..." Then, trying to mind his manners, he swallowed it. "Ahem, sorry." He glanced over to a nearby nobleman who seemed to be gathering a bit of everything onto a small plate. The two made eye contact, by accident on Haythem's part, and the noble scowled at him before turning away. "... did ...?" Did I do something wrong there?

Meanwhile, the pleasantries ended once Morgana shook hands with Mushirah. "So, what brings the two of you here? Invitation, or ...?"

"W-Weyland," Shadrak reflexively replied. "Sort of." Needless to say, Morgana looked a bit dubious after that.

Over by the paintings, Gytha's conversation with Alex continued after the latter suggested Charlie 'take five'. He shrugged at that since he'd be replacing his power source and testing a power source rather than actually relaxing. Regardless, he decided to see to that issue sooner rather than later, as well as get another drink, so before long he had wandered off once again.

Library

"I'm certain there are more. If you'd like, I can locate the others for you," the maid offered.

[Snowy_One]

"Probably near the middle or end of the ball, sadly. It takes time for the paint to dry, even with the help of my assistant. It just can't be done too fast or slow or it will cause problems even with the aid of magic. Until then, I assume you will be enjoying yourself at the ball? Or, if not, perhaps interested in spending some time with a new friend?"

---

"That would be very appreciated." said Tia, trying her best to smile as she quickly scrawled down some more notes and flipped through some more pages as fast as she could. "Also, candy. Don't care what kind, but something with some energy. I have a feeling I'll be needing it. If you would be so kind, that is."

Edited October 6, 2013 by Snowy_One

[Mercakete]

Gytha nodded, noting to pick up the portrait when it was time to leave. In answer to his question, she replied, "There are some people here I know, but I'm mostly just seeing what it's like at a ball. Well, good luck with your painting." And so Gytha departed that particular corner of the ball.

[Eail]

Alphonse simply cocked his eyebrow at Erion as the thief went on his little rant, really, he was the coward? The one that didn't run away from the dragon to leave the rest of them to die? That was a hoot.

He gave Jamilla a shrug, at her question, still following behind the dancer. She could have her night of fun.

______

Rubbing at his wrists as they were finally admitted, Zach was incredibly uncomfortable. "This is weird.... being drained like that. I feel like I'm a newborn or something with how vulnerable I am." Even at the other events he'd been to, the mages weren't drained, it was a totally new experiencing for the man and he couldn't say he liked it.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Eail

[scorri]

With what little response Al was apparently going to give them given, he smiled and lead Jamilla up the path to the security stations. While all the guards were busy right now, they would be the next up for inspection. "So, you remembered to leave all your equipment at home right? You're not hiding battle axe somewhere on you, right?" He grinned at, doing his best to completely ignore the swordsman who was a few paces behind them. He was not going to let the man's jealousy and inexplicable and baseless dislike of him ruin the night. "Because if you do, well, first off I'm going to need you to teach me about concealing weapons. I thought I wasn't bad, but if you've managed to hide something on you tonight..." With another grin, he paused and then turned slightly more serious. "I hope you aren't worried about this next bit though. Not being able to have access to your magic... I hope it isn't too unsettling for you. I wouldn't know how that works exactly but... I'm sure it will be ok."

[Eail]

"It's a simple drain of her magical Aura, simple, it's going to feel strange though. Nothing dangerous will happen with it, if Jamilla had a tome she'd still be able to cast magic, but at the moment she's totally unable to use it. It should regenerate by morning, if not a bit after that." Alphonse interjected.

[ReformBlade]

"Well fine, if neither of you want some chocolaty goodness, your loss, more for me!" Aneda said with the smugness of a person who was holding their first born. Taking her bag and holding it gingerly, Aneda made her way out of the establishment, with a salute to the man who gave her the chocolates and an urging wave to the other two to follow. "If you want this so called real food, then lets head out, time's a wasting!" she decided to go on ahead a little, deciding to give the other two some space because hey why not. On her way down the street, she certainly wasn't expecting an argument to occur.

"Look, kid, we had a deal! We'll pay you big later, we promise!"

"That's BS and you know it. You can think I'm an idiot all you want, but i know exactly what happened to the other guys that were helping you." said the red haired man or kid, he seemed a whee bit shorter than average and his build was a bit smaller, but at the same time he sounded a bit older than just a typical teenager. "All of them had injuries out of nowhere, and the dumb part is it was the same injury every damn time! Like... what is it with you and feet? That's just creepy! It's not really that damning, and really it's just inconvenient, and you're complete fuck ups for doing it. things like that, they tend to stick with people for a long time. Try starting a legitimate business like normal people, mkay? You had a good start but you quickly devolved into typical thuggery... I ain't gonna be a part of that."

"H-Hey, it's... it's complicated!" said one of the guys, clearly flustered but trying to seem in control. The other one was just looking really angry, constantly. It may have been his normal face. Angry guy spoke up after a moment, "You're already a part of it though, Jericho. We had a deal, we were gonna change this place! There's still time, you can come back to us!"

By this time, Jericho saw some people walking by, or maybe it was just one person but it was another person so there was a witness. Perfect. "Are you an idiot? Were you dropped on your head as a kid? No seriously, I just don't get what the hell you're even saying, we never made a deal like... well like that, I'd never agree to something that stupid."

Meanwhile, Aneda was just sort of watching, eating some chocolate. I have no idea what's going on but this is kind of entertaining... Wow I need a hobby.

[Toogee]

The less than enthusiastic response from the two showed that Erion and Alphonse had something going on. Neither were letting it slow the night down, so Jamilla let go of the matter. Starting a fight was not wise with all the guards around. The topic turned to the screening process, something the dancer never had to worry about. She cracked a smile at Erion's bit about the battle axe, but her look turned serious once "draining of aura" was on the table. Alphy assured her that it wouldn't be dangerous, so she wasn't terribly worried.

"Well, I was never a strong magician to begin with. I probably won't even notice...whatever it is they're going to do," Jam replied. "Besides, if something happens, I'm sure Alphy could fend off anyone with just the silverware on the table." She looked back to see if Alphonse was listening, as if looking for confirmation.

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

Eli walked with Lumi as they followed Aneda,waving goodbye to Pierre as they made their way back to the mansion. Along the way was a rather spirited argument. The rider had no idea what it could be about, but involved feet and thuggery. Nothing good could come of it.

"None of our business I'm sure," Eli said as Aneda stood there and watched. "Best be heading along before things get too rowdy." Nothing would ruin the night more than getting involved in a brawl they had no investment in.

[Eail]

"Well a far as I understand, the drain is something similar to how dark mages use Nosferatu, simply sucking it out of you, except this really isn't harmful. Just a drain like I said, and don't sell yourself short Jam. Your magic helped out a lot back in our little bandit ambush." The swordsman told the girl.

"Silverware? Hah!" Alphonse laughed "With how tight the security is in this place I'm wondering if they'll even let us have something more than a spoon. Gotta love Kigen ancestry though. My old man taught me a few things, I miss my sword, but trust me, I'm not useless without it, not by far."

[scorri]

Erion

Choosing to ignore the swordsman's comments about the magic drain, Erion instead grinned at Jam. "Ah, well, if there's not battle axe I guess we'll just have to settle for spending the night dancing and talking and eating. It's too bad. If you did have a battle axe, I was going to suggest a daring heist in which we cleverly defeat the enemies attacking us and manage to just barely escape before riding off to fight more adventure and have you rescue a handsome prince or something like that. But," he shook his head sadly, "I guess we'll just have to stick to the backup plan. Ah well. It's just been so long since I've had a good adventure, you know? Too much real life has been sneaking into my adventures lately. Though, at least tonight I get to escort the beautiful lady to the magnificent ball. Perhaps you'll be lucky and find your prince here. He'd have to be a fool not to fall in love with you instantly. Or be like me and simply want to e like a brother. But us brother types are few and far between, I must say."

Lumi

Shaking her head, Lumi pulled away from the group, with a small mutter, she quickly formed a small patch of ice on her right elbow as well as a shell over her gloves. Walking up to the argument, she frowned at the men. "Hey, leave him alone! He clearly doesn't want to be around you, so let him be!"

[Toogee]

"Just like Nosferatu," Jam replied to Alphy with skepticism. "You're not really good at selling this. Anywho, I too learned a few things from a certain someone, so there shouldn't be a problem." It had been a while since their last lesson, but Jam felt she could defend herself quite well.

Jam's ears perked when Erion went on about the adventures they would have.

"That's sounds like one of your tales," Jam replied. "Minus the princes. Honestly, princes that need rescued aren't high on my list. They better be taking care of me."

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

"Ah, wait, Lumi!" Eli took his staff in hand and walked after the girl. He regretted her getting involved; it really was none of their business. It was something she would do though, despite Eli's objections. Such confidence in her decisions; that was why he liked her.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Toogee

[scorri]

"Hmm, true. You deserve better than a prince like that. Well, perhaps we'll just find you a brave prince who will go on quests to win your heart. Your dancing will cause him to instantly fall in love and he will do anything to prove his love for you." He paused and then nodded. "Yes, that fits much better, don't you think? And then you two will live happily ever after, the brave prince and the dancing princess. Stories will be written about you and passed down for ages to come." He grinned and chuckled slightly at the image.

[Rothene]

The screening was not entirely pleasant, especially the feeling of magic being depleted from one's body. Nevertheless, it was not too different from the barracks where recruits were screened to make sure they were not smuggling anything into it. Although Mireille mused about how some of the nobles were taking being checked.

When Eric stepped through the screening, the Ursian noble slid her arm under his and asked, "Are you famished? Shall we head to the food stand or perhaps you want to look around the place, admire the architecture?"

[ReformBlade]

Trying to help Shadrak out, "Well, we were invited by a friend who knows Weyland, not Weyland himself. Hopefully that makes more sense." Mushirah answered truthfully. The woman she was talking to seemed irritated, or perhaps she was reading her wrongly.

"Not sure if we should get involved or not..." Aneda muttered but ultimately she was hoping to get involved, chewing some chocolate for good measure.

Wait, really? Well I guess they don't know I can take care of myself, but oh well, help is help. Just hope she knows what she's up agains- is that ice? OK this'll be good. "Look you fuckwit, it's like she said, I don't wanna be around you any more!" Jericho said, trying to imitate Lumi's tone but failing quite spectacularly. "And really, you're just not... worth it? I guess that's the phrase. Not worth the time, the effort, not even worth speaking to right now." You see, Jericho would have gone on but at this point the angry looking guy sent his fist flying into Jericho's stomach as hard as he could, dropping the man like a sack of potatoes, a sack that was coughing up fluids that ought not to be coughed up, gasping for a bit of air.

"Dude what the hell was that for?! We were to persuade him, not kill him!"

"He ain't dead... yet."

"Yer..." Jericho started before his dinner came up and a gasping spree happened, "Yer damn right I ain't dead..." but then he plopped back down, panting. Hopefully... they'll stall... I got juice for one blast... make em think twice... hurrrg

"You punched a guy out for not wanting to be in your club." aneda stated flatly. "That's a pretty big dick move. Now no one wants to join your club and I'd place my bets that my friend here wants to kick your ass. You might wanna run."

"Run? It's too late to run, we've got witnesses." the other guy said in an all too serious tone.

"Witnesses to bullying? Sure, but i'm not quite sure how it's too late, you could literally just wa-"

"IT'S TOO LATE, OK!" he yelled, flustered and confused, taking a wild swing at Aneda, who sidestepped it, biting her tongue since she was trying to chew and move at the same time, "Agh, ffff... you made me bite my tongue you jack ass..." she chided, holding her mouth with her free hand as if it'd help out.

Edited October 7, 2013 by ReformBlade

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya noticed the nobleman look at Haythem, but didn't make much of it. "Ooh, a plate- that's a good idea. Faster than gettin' things one at a time," she said aloud, taking one of the plates and began to shovel various dishes onto it.

[Eail]

"Like, Nosferatu, not Nosferatu, like. Nosferatu is gonna kill you, this stuff will just make you feel fuzzy at most for a few hours." Alphonse elaborated. Erion was really going full ham on this wasn't he though, that was kind of annoying though he didnt let it show. "Ah, but can you fight in a dress? Might just need to strap a corset onto anyone that's attacking, those things are more dangerous than the silverware."

[scorri]

Lumi

With a slight grin, Lumi tapped the man who was trying to hit Aneda on the shoulder. As he spun around, she shook her head. "You made the wrong move there buster." With a quick chant, her arm flashed forward much faster than a normal human's could have, and suddenly the man was flying through the air with a ring of ice on his stomach where her punch had connected. Turning to angry guy, she grinned. "You want to try to punch me this time? Figure maybe punching someone who will punch back isn't really the way you operate though."

Erion

"Hmm, well, fighting in a dress isn't so bad if you've practiced it some. Corsets can be a pain, but honestly the big problem is the shoes." He shook his head sadly and continued, "Proper high heels are so hard to fight in, and if you're not careful, you might snap a heel. Much safer to just kick them off and then fight. A properly laced corset won't prevent you from fighting if you're planning ahead though. ... Don't ask me how I know all this," he added with a wink to Jam.

Eric

"Oh, uhm, food sounds fine, but so does just wandering around. Whatever you desire most, I would be happy to do," he said with a smile.

[Phoenix]

Human Error

"Well that was a big waste of time," Miguel loudly said as he returned from within the estate. Apparently his search hadn't ended well, though he didn't expound on the details. He came right back to the very spot where he had been standing just before he left. He didn't have much to do since the last of the couples were being cleared on his arrival.

"Gabriella, I'll need your help momentarily," Steinn quietly warned her as they approached the back of the diminishing line. Steinn was of course referring to his tail; if the female guard detected it with her tendril magic, there wouldn't be a decent way of explaining it. He had already taken a small step in avoiding suspicion, by ejecting some of his aura, himself, but he would need to mislead or distract the woman for this next part.

Weyland had similar problems, oddly enough, with similarly shaped 'contraband'. "Well no point in stalling, right, Mr. Weyland? Let's get this get this over with, shall we?" Turning his attention toward the nearest screening team, Miguel waved them over, saying, "Hey, they're next."

Oh for the love of ... well ... I hope you have a plan, Chie. You too, Steinn. I didn't expect security to be this tight. You shouldn't be here if you don't have a way to disguise your tail, though I suppose if you're hiding it around your wings, you have a slim chance of her missing it altogether.

For some reason, Chie stepped forward first, shocking Weyland and giving him even less time to try and figure out how to handle this situation. The idea of apologizing for his own date's behavior was more than embarrassing, it was downright frightening; he had a reputation to maintain, after all.

As the guard began to use his tendril magic on Chie, he moved down from her collar to her chest. Of course, at this point, he slowed down, and Chie's eerie gaze fell to her left shoulder. Next, just before the guard began to continue his search, one of Chie's vipers emerged from her dress, using her left breast for support, and scaring the hell out of the guard. "F-f-fu- ... is that's a fucking snake?! Merz!" He took a step back and then began to calm down when he noticed how docile the creature was, as well as Chie's motherly handling of it. She held it in her arm after it crawled out onto her chest.

"Something wrong?" she asked, innocently.

Weyland had his line prepared already, but first smacked his forehead with his palm. "Gods ... I'm ... terribly sorry about this. She just can't seem to go anywhere without it .... I warned her," he explained, shaking his head. At least he'd given them reason to believe he knew nothing about the snake, but little did he know that she was going to use those words to clear herself, as well.

"Y-you know animals aren't allowed in here, right? That thing isn't poisonous, is it?" the guard nervously asked Chie.

"Really? Oh, I'm so sorry, I assumed that since he's tame, I might become an exception. I suppose Seth was right. I should have guessed," Chie explained with a slight grimace. "Well then, I suppose we'll have to figure out a way to resolve this. How about this? I'll leave him out here with you and retrieve him later. He won't give you any trouble, I promise. Just promise me that you won't let anything happen to him. It took years to train him and he is very special to me."

Wait a moment ... Weyland was beginning to see Chie's scheme in action. Only one snake had even been mentioned. That was partly his fault, wasn't it ...?

"C-clearly ... and I ... uh .... I'm not sure ...?" the guard shrugged helplessly and then looked to Miguel for guidance.

"... you've got strange tastes, Weyland, I'm not gonna lie. Sure, we'll keep the snake for her ... I guess ..."

Chie, then raised her arms up high with her snake in hand. "You should finish screening. I'll keep him out of your way," she said. Of course, this was merely a trick to keep the other snakes in her sleeves from being detected, as they were now being held well above the area the guard was planning to search, and neither he nor Miguel suspected her of carrying anything other than the one snake. Weyland tried his hardest not to gawk as the guard accidentally skipped searching her sleeves and worked his way down her waists and the rest of her dress.

That woman is clever ... I dare say a genius. This probably wouldn't work at any other time, but she took advantage of our circumstances just the same, Weyland thought to himself.

The guards now screening Steinn and Gabbie were drawn to the spectacle as well, but didn't skimp on their duties. They were just glad they weren't likely to come across any snakes or snake-like items ... or were they?

"You're clear," the man said as he reached the bottom of Chie's dress. She then came over to Miguel while Weyland switched places with her and reached out to him to let her viper climb onto him.

"... juuust great," Miguel muttered as the snake began to slither around his neck.

"Be good," she instructed the limbless reptile before coming back over to Weyland. After that, the magic seal block was waved over her until her aura was drained completely. While that had gone right, she had beaten their system with subtle instruction, well chosen words, and good timing. She stepped into the manse with her arm around Weyland's, her sleeves still occupied by several deadly vipers under her complete control.

"You're mad, woman," Weyland whispered, causing her to smirk. Once there was no danger of anyone with the necessary context overhearing them, he asked, "By the way, how ...?"

"Sometimes sacrifices are necessary. You helped as well, Seth, so thank you. I'll be sure to return the favor," she quietly answered as they made their way through the hall and toward the ballroom.

Gathering

<"Can't help but feel like I should be watching my back now, all of a sudden,"> Haythem quietly commented as he scratched his neck. <"No armor, no lance, no Isis ...."> Meanwhile, Nadya seemed to be gathering up snacks on a plate. By the time Haythem noticed, she'd nearly taken on about as much as the plate could safely carry. "Heheh ... let's hope there isn't any dancing soon, or we'll be in some trouble here ...."

Mushirah's explanation did manage to clear things up, but Morgana had one other question for the two as a result. "Who is this friend of yours, exactly? I'm sure it's just another acquaintance and no one I would know, but I'm curious just the same."

Should Shadrak be giving out names? He wasn't sure. On the one hand, neither Weyland nor Raquel were hiding her identity, and the wrathites sure as hell knew who she was, what she looked like, and even why she was here this evening. On the other hand, while this information seemed well known, at least to relevant parties, it likely wouldn't spread any further than that without humoring inquiries like this one. "... Raquel ... Valcyn. I doubt you've heard of her." Hopefully this wouldn't come back to bite them.

"Valcyn ... I believe Rodrigo Vasquez's fiancee has that same family name. Are they related by any chance?"

Rodrigo is engaged now?

[spoiler=Ironclad]"Yeah, everyone had some choice words once we were sure no one was going to kill anyone else. It was depressing, but by the time it was all over, I knew I had some serious thinking to do," Reign explained to Aldric and Regina.

"You can't let the depressed musings of those around you govern the course of your life," Aldric replied.

"That was the only time in my life where things were so close to being hopeless, that no one had anything left to hide. It felt like our true feelings were finally coming out. I did what I could that day after they found us. I got the hell out, because it wasn't the answer. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done, but I had to. The problem now is I'm caught up in this situation with Raquel and I still haven't found the answer I was looking for. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I'm running out of time ..."

"Are you sure the answer isn't for you to simply stay by Raquel's side?" Regina asked, noting the similar situation Reign was in. "She could really use your help right now from the sound of things, and she might help lead you to what you really want."

"Yeah. Us men don't have to do anything lofty with our lives, just something we want to do," Aldric added.

Reign shook his head a few times. "Following Raquel around for now is just fine since I have nothing better to do; following Raquel around for the rest of my days out of guilt seems even more misguided--and frankly, stupid--than serving in the military."

"Not if the two of you-" "I don't feel that way about her," Reign interrupted. "... I don't feel that way about anyone."

"Hah, you can't fool me. Maybe you're not madly in love, but you and Nadine were really close, at least until you left," Aldric countered. "Wasn't leaving 'the hardest thing you'd ever done'?" he added with a smirk.

"I could have left in a split second if she hadn't begged me repeatedly. ... it was the first time she ever cried in front of me. Do you have any idea how messed up it is to see her in tears, of all people? In our little group of four, she was my best friend. It would have hurt less if I stabbed myself in the chest. I felt like we became enemies and she knew it ... and I guess technically, we did."

"You left her in tears?! Is your heart made of iron? A lady in tears is practically mind control on me ... I didn't even know she did that. Err- ... you were just being stubborn, yeah. I'm sure your heart isn't completely closed off yet, either. You just need to stop forcing yourself to avoid doing things just because your 'emotions' agree with it. I live my life with my emotions running wild and everything's working out just fine."

"Congratulations, but If I have to keep making decisions like these, I'm trading in my heart for one made out of iron. I'm sick and tired of being tormented and controlled by my emotions."

Special Delivery

The maid wasn't sure about the candy, but decided she would cross that bridge when she got to it, that or watch passively as it collapsed, figuratively speaking. First, she began looking through a single book near the library's entrance. The book was a subject index, referring to any books that had anything in them pertaining to certain subjects. The Fire Emblem was in this index and pointed to some more books that the maid soon gathered and brought to Tia after committing the names to memory. Carrying the book around would have been too much of a hassle given its size.

Once that was done, she left the library momentarily to see to candy issue. She did some searching, but the first things she heard about in stock were wrapped sticks of caramel. Being confections of pure sugar, they would probably give Tia the energy she wanted ... temporarily, though the maid would have preferred to have something more appropriate prepared for her. Once she returned to the library, she placed three of the wrapped sticks down atop a plate in front of Tia, but out of her way. "I hope these will do, but might I suggest an alternative to straight sugar?"

[Snike]

Mr Taylor seemed to have failed in his search for his subordinates, which probably was for the best, though Blake didn't bother to inquire further. The Red Wolf appeared to be in a bad mood, worsened by the addition of a viper, so bothering him did not seem wise. Regardless, they were almost up to be scanned.

"Are you ready?" he asked Raquel, quietly. "This shouldn't be too bad."

***

The inspection went off without a hitch, and after his connection to Weyland was revealed, Ethan was allowed into the manse proper. Success. But now, he had very little idea of what he was to do. So he decided to pick a corner of the room, and tried mingle, as best as he could.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Snike

[Toogee]

Eli visibly cringed as Lumi throttled one of the thugs with a magic-powered punch. At this point, he was going to have to bring out his lance. For now though, he stayed back, staff at the ready.

"I wouldn't mess with her if I were you," Eli warned the thugs. "You really should just go home."

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

"Ah, good thing my shoes are flat then," Jam replied to Erion, waving one of her feet from under her dress. "Forget fighting: these are just comfortable for dancing."

[-Cynthia-]

<"Expectin' trouble? This is the most guarded place in Ursium right now I bet,"> Nadya answered Haythem before popping a small sandwich in her mouth. Where are the big plates? she wondered.

[ReformBlade]

Mushirah wasn't sure exactly who this Rodrigo person was, nor did she know of anyone else with the last name of Valcyn. Really she didn't know too much about her employer to begin with, and due to that she gave a look to Shadrak, hoping to whatever god would answer the prayer that he'd answer for them.

Meanwhile, a man flew into the side of a building, not really damaging it but boy was he bruised pretty badly from the impact, hurting to stand up cursing his luck and his pride. The angrier of the two looked Lumi dead in the eye, "I don't care what I have to do." he said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a pretty mean looking blade. Jagged blade, looking extremely used and it possibly had some faint blood stains on it. Not really the best weapon, probably dulled with repeated use and lack of shaprening, but still, it looked menacing enough in the current light. "Any means to my ends works." And as the man took a step forward, Jericho finally got himself up on one knee.

"End. That's a good word, let's just end this." Hurling a small ball of flame at the man, Jericho grinned with delight as he lunged with his other hand, throwing a second fireball at the man's back.

To his credit, the angry man did manage to turn around and block the first ball, to very little effect unfortunately as his blade had begun to warp and the searing heat just really rustled his jimmies. The second heatwave came at him in full force, flooring the man in a bit of a wimpy shriek as he rolled like he'd never rolled in his life, scrambling to get the hell out of there as fast as he could. Apparently he'd never really dealt with fire before, the fool. His friend, however, stared in disbelief, not really understanding how the vomiting mage was able to do that, but he was outnumbered and his friend just got burned by a, as was said, vomiting mage. He booked it.

On the ground, Jericho let out a bit of a silly laugh, in pain but not dying, though he did look at the stuff that spilled out of him which made him giggle a bit more. He would have reached for his staff but sitting there was all too comfortable. Aneda nodded with approval, glad that she didn't have to do anything and that no one was really having to deal with the situation more than they already had.

[Eail]

"I'm sure men will be failing for you left and right once they see you start to dance Jam. Just enjoy yourself tonight, I'll take care of anything that comes up." Alphonse told his friend.

[Snowy_One]

From her pile of books, Tia looked up. Already, despite how short of a time the maid had been gone, Tia had managed to find three of the books and was, somehow, managing to read two of them at once while having a fourth book, a standard overview of magic, open behind her with notes scrawled across several pages.

"Hmmm? Sure. Go ahead." she asked as she placed the pen down, mid-scrawl. Calmly she broke off one of the ends of the stick and started to chew on it, trying her best not to overdose and end up with a sugar rush, then crash, before her research finished. All about her the notes were widely varied.

Fire Emblem rumored to be the very object that created the entire world. Wielded as an amulet by someone, not one of the three goddesses. Probably a local legend, but cross-reference the name to be certain: Istar. I've never heard of Istar before in any other tales, but the general story may be worth seeking out cross-references for. Maybe one of the three Goddesses and it's simple localized corruption?

Fire Emblem formed by bringing together multiple stones and turns into a large golden medallion rumored to free a powerful Fallen. Look into magic that might allow this.

Emblem soothed by singing. Doubtful. The Emblem doesn't have ears. However, the emblem is likely magical in nature and it is not impossible for a lengthy incantation to be disguised as a song. Discount unless more references to this come up.

Emblem takes the form of a pendent and can only be held by a pure maiden. Unlikely as all three other books reference it being held by men and women. Be sure to look into qualifications of 'Maiden' though. Most likely this tale is pure bunk and can be dismissed. to name just a few. She seemed to be very cautious about her notes, writing down literally everything, paraphrased and condensed at times, but cautious none-the-less.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Snowy_One

[Rothene]

"Well, I do crave for food at the moment. So let us get something to eat," Mireille answered Eric, waiting on him to lead the way.