Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[scorri]

Lumi
Raising an eyebrow, Lumi walked over to the man and knelt down. "Are you ok? Eli, do you have your staff on you? Sir, do you want to come with us to make sure you're ok?"

Erion
Rolling his eyes slightly at Al's continued insistence that he would protect Jam, he grinned at Jam. "Oh good, flats are much better for moving in." As they moved forward through the security station, Erion stood still as they inspected him and drained his aura. Once they were done with him, he grinned at Jam as she started to go through the same process. "So, shall we go get food after this or would you rather enjoy the sights first and maybe get a dance or two in? I'm afraid I'll be having you stolen from me all night by the men here, so I must insist that I get in the first dance at the very least."

Eric

"Sounds good to me. Let us do that." With Miri still on his arm, he started to lead her towards the tables of food, making sure to do his best to appear as if he fit in.

[ReformBlade]

"Th... That depends, where are you going?" Jericho asked, not quite sure why someone would be so willing to help out given the company he's been seen with.

"Eh we're just going back to where we're staying, the Weyland estate or whatever." Aneda answered, casually rubbing her jaw because that jerk made her bite her tongue and it's still a serious issue, get off her back.

"You kiddin me...?" The exhausted mage responded, not quite understanding what that meant. "Weyland? Like, that friggin genius inventor dude, that Weyland?"

"I don't really know of any others, at least no notable ones I guess...? Look, we're going back to grab a bite, and it seems you kinda coughed yours up there... what the hell was it, some sort of sandwich? Looks... Eeeugh." the Pegasus rider made a rather disgusted face at it, but went right back to chewing on chocolate.

"Yes that's what happens when things are in a stomach. IT was just a ham sandwich. Part of one anyway. Um... I guess... if you're offering, sure. Doubt I'll be walking on my own at this point in time and fuck it, I'm too tired to think." Jericho replied a bit out of breath as his limbs went weaker.

[Toogee]

Eli was about to get his lance out once the knife came into play, but Jericho had finished the the thugs off with a fire spell. With the fighting over, Eli walked over to the chaplain and administered a healing spell.

"Next time, lead with that," Eli suggested. The rider wasn't entirely sure how great of an idea it was to bring a complete stranger into someone else's home. They were guests themselves after all. But he was sick and needed a place to rest up.

"Well, since we're offering a place to stay, what's your name and why were those guys after you?" Eli offered a hand to help Jericho up, hoping the healing had helped his condition.

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Jam nodded to both Alphonse and Erion as her magic aura was being drained. She was shocked out of talking as she experienced the sensation of having her magic entirely drained. The process was made worse when magic tendrils started creeping around her. The dancer was glad when the process was over.

"Let's start by going inside. Those things give me the creeps," she replied, referring to the tendrils.

[Eail]

"Try getting stabbed by five tendrils and forcing your way further through them to cut the jackass that just tried to kill you... Actually don't, trust me on that one." Alphonse muttered as they entered the location of the ball. Looking around the area, the swordsman without a sword had to say he was certainly impressed, paintings, sculptures, fruit, this place had it all. Letting out a small whistle as he took in the sights.

"Fancy."

Edited October 9, 2013 by Eail

[Phoenix]

Suppressed Things

"I ... I guess," Raquel answered Blake. She wasn't really ready, but Weyland's theory made sense, as well as Hypnos' advice. Perhaps if she just didn't aggravate the situation by expecting anything to go wrong, therefore influencing her remaining energy, nothing would happen. Fortunately Blake was the first to have the block waved over him while Raquel was examined by the guard; she had another moment to prepare herself.

This is it ... I suggest focusing on a solid color.

A color ...?

A pleasant color that will take your mind off things ... not gold or yellow though, obviously.

Raquel began picturing a soft violet as she closed her eyes and focused on nothing else. A moment later, it was time for the guards to switch roles, and Blake was the one facing tendrils while Raquel faced off against the magic seal. Hypnos crossed his imaginary fingers as the seal block passed in front of her. Raquel winced, somehow knowing the threatening device was close by. She tried to reinforce her thoughts since nothing had happened yet, and she wanted to keep it that way, but about halfway through the draining, once most of her natural aura had been absorbed, she began to give off a faint golden glow.

"Huh?" He kept waving the block over her, but the golden light would not yield or fade away. The guard withdrew his magic seal and stared dubiously at it. "I think something's wrong with this one, Lieutenant Colonel."

"No way, it was working just fine a second ago," his partner protested, glancing dubiously at Raquel rather than the block.

"Whazgoin'onnow?" Miguel inattentively chimed in, slurring his words pretty heavily. He stepped closer to see what was going on but only caught the golden glow fading away as Raquel opened her eyes. "Nice trick. What sort of magic can resist a magic seal?" he asked with a grin. Security was taking yet another strange scenario to the face, but Miguel was being a good sport about it, even with the snake around his neck.

"I ... I don't know." She had thought up ten different lies in record time in order to explain the seal issue and her lingering golden glow, but she didn't use any of them. She wanted to be honest with Miguel in the hopes that he would understand and let her through regardless, and that resulted in her initial response. How could she convince him without explaining the situation with the wrathites, and how would that not blow up in her face? What were their chances of not being captured by the wrathites if this emblem energy infusion of hers reached Desmond?

Ballroom Bliss

<"Um ... not exactly,"> Haythem answered, sounding a bit unsure of how to convey his feelings. <"You haven't caught anyone scowling at you, have you?"> I hope we're not just a nuisance to all these nobles ...

Meanwhile, Shadrak was left as the one who would have to answer Morgana's inquiry and that wasn't something he was comfortable with, either; he didn't really have a definite answer to begin with. "They ... could be related. Raquel definitely has family ..." And that bastard with the light spells is targeting them. Truth, I hope they're alright.

"Oh, no matter. My curiosity is sated. Was there anything else you wanted?"

"No! Err-no, sorry to bother you. We really should take a walk through the room and get familiar with the area."

"Enjoy the party," Morgana bid them farewell.

Dammit, I cannot think straight when I'm nervous. Oh well, it's over now. Just relax. It's time to maybe start actually having some fun now. Shadrak scanned the room, first to try and find some sort of route they could take around the ballroom that wouldn't have them bumping into crowds or stuck walking in circles around the very center of the room. With more people coming in by the minute, he realized that to actually navigate the room, they were just going to have to wing it ... a predetermined route was doomed to failure. "Paintings ...? They're painting portraits for this party? Huh ..." he said as he noticed the line of finished paintings at the south eastern corner of the room.

Emblem Studies

"Well, I would suggest some tea instead of candy," the maid plainly stated.

[ReformBlade]

"Maybe you'd like one?" Mushirah noted curiously, or asked anyway. Really she was just glad that the other lady had let them go for all intents and purposes, she was starting to get a bit nervous. "By the way, sorry to put you on the spot there, but I wasn't sure how to answer... either way, let's go enjoy ourselves." She said with a smile, gazing over towards the portraits Shadrak had pointed out.

Over on the streets, though, "My name? Jericho Pellen. Why I was with those guys? They started out decent enough, if boring. Just a couple of guys doing some business, like delivering special items for people and what not. Not even a week ago though they just started being downright nasty about it, extortion and whatnot. Look, I really don't know what flipped there switches but I wanted none of it. What I do know is that they're a waste of my time, so... Jobless once more. I've had worse though..." He noted rather plainly, like it ain't no thing.

"Well... you can sort that out later, you'd probably like something to eat, right?" Aneda interjected.

"I... maybe? Stomach really hurts, so maybe just something light."

"I'm sure they can manage that. You gonna be fine to walk?"

"Yeah, like I said, it's just my stomach that's hurting, but not as much as before, thank you sir." Jericho nodded to Eli, definitely grateful for the assist but Jericho notes to all viewers he would've been fine either way. totally.

Aneda shrugged, took another bite of her chocolaty caramel goodness and led the man back to the estate which prompted a low whistle from Jericho. "This place looks like it'd be loaded... You sure you're friends with this Weyland guy?"

"Me? Naw, my employer knows him though, or something... Or her dad knows him, knew him... Hell I haven't been able to keep up with all the crap happening." Aneda said with a fairly exasperated look about her.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya smiled a little at Haythem's comment. <"Haven't noticed myself, but it's probably happenin'. Outside of Sanctuary, ya are gonna get more dirty looks than usual. It helps not to care much about what other people think,"> she said, shrugging.

[Snowy_One]

"Tea? Hmmm... The flavor isn't that favorable, but the energy certainly would help... And the sugar crash is gonna hurt no matter what, okay. Tea sounds like a very good idea! Thank you!" said Tia with a smile before suddenly jumping up to hug the maid full-on.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Snowy_One

[Snike]

The beginning of the inspection went fine, what with Blake facing the magic block and Raquel the tendrils. Then the roles reversed, but while the swordsman made it through his section relatively unscathed, his employer, on the other hand, still had a golden glow left after her aura was drained. Time to think fast.

"That might be because of that light magic infusion you took earlier today," Blake said, turning to the merchant. "I told you that was too large of a dose. My apologies, milady has had a rough time as of late, and she's developed a bit of a dependency on life force, to get through matters such as these."

[Phoenix]

Main Entrance

Raquel immediately winced. "Blake, I really didn't want anyone to know about that ... but ... I guess if we don't explain, they'll get the wrong idea," she played along. It was actually one of the lies she'd come up with as well, and so it wasn't difficult to switch gears once Blake got going, and despite being a lie, there had been a time where she was heavily reliant on the emblem's energy. Perhaps she still was and the infusion had simply been a temporary fix after all.

"Just to be sure, let's try that again," the guard said after trading seals with one of the other screening teams. He approached Raquel and began waving the block over her before she had time to mentally prepare herself. Like before, a golden glow appeared, but unlike last time, this time it was uneven and moving about her erratically.

"Heh ... well, when you get compliments about how you're glowing tonight, you might want to look in the mirror to make sure they aren't being literal," Miguel teased. I don't know what kind of magic that is, but it's definitely not light. Raquel has a strange power. I wonder what that's about. Is it harmful? If not, I don't really plan on making a fuss over it.

"I am so confused ..." the guard said, realizing that two seals being broken and unable to draw in the light was just improbable. He didn't know much about infusion, and his lack of knowledge led him to just accepting Blake's explanation and Raquel's confession, just like Miguel seemed to have.

The middle team then began their screening of Gabbie and Steinn. Gabbie was already helping Steinn by implying some things about herself, for one, being a rather clingy date. The guard said, "Stand side by side, please," to get her to let go of Steinn's arm and stand normally, which she eventually did.

Steinn, pay very close attention. There's a big flaw in this system we can exploit here. She only looks people over with those tendrils from the front. She'll still be able to reach your back and find your tail, though, so you can't keep it where I think you're keeping it. You've got to give it to me when I go back there. As soon as I move to your back, slip your tail out of the suit. No one should see it with my dress in the way, but I'll get real close just to make sure. It's still a risk, but I'm feeling lucky.

Steinn heard the plan, and saw an extremely fuzzy image of what Gabbie was planning to do, and while it was a gamble, it actually had some merit. It would require flawless execution on his part at the very least, to have any hope of succeeding. Still, he was trying to plan for their possible failure, as well.

As soon as Gabbie's scanning was done, she prepared to make her move, but then something unexpected happened. "Spread your wings, please ... carefully," the guard instructed. When Steinn nodded and began to spread his wings, he also secretly moved his tail lower until it was outside his suit. Only someone directly behind him could spot it. Gabbie began to think that this wing measure might actually make things easier for her. While the guard started at the top of Steinn's suit, Gabbie quickly moved behind him to 'admire his spread wings'.

The guard with the block followed her, saying, "Hey, don't go back there, I'm not done yet." Instead of waiting for her to comply with him, he started waving the block over her since it was a lot easier than forcing her to stand right where he wanted.

"My gods, you should do this more often," she spoke up while standing behind him. "Your wings are so beautiful." Steinn took the opportunity to slip his tail down his legs, using his left one and Gabbie's dress as cover from both the guards and any potential onlookers. He was a little surprised this was working so far. The female guard scanning his body was more focused on his torso for the moment, but as he tuned in to her outgoing thoughts, he began to see her intentions from start to finish and realized his wings themselves were far more suspicious to her than his upper or lower back.

"Keep off of him," the guard warned her. "You can go back to throwing yourself all over him once I'm done here." This was it, the moment of truth; the only thing Gabbie couldn't account for was the base of Steinn's tail, which was insurmountably attached to his body. As she passed below the base of his tail, he realized that she had put more focus on his sides than on the center of his back and buttocks and so the tendrils never came in contact with the base. He resisted sighing, deciding to do it later, and Gabbie gently stroked the feathers of his outstretched wings until the guard got around to scanning those as well.

Finally, once she was nearly done checking his wings, Steinn stealthily slipped his tail back into his suit. Gabbie then froze all of a sudden. ... Ayano ...? Deciding not to make herself look suspicious, she took Steinn's arm the second he began to bring his wings back down and impatiently said, "May we go in now, it's chilly out here."

The guard with the block wasn't sure this had all played out right, but took a step away from them and shrugged.

The other guard said, "Not yet," and produced a bracelet, which Steinn immediately recognized. "You'll have to wear this for the duration of the event, Sir. If the royal guard spot you without it, you'll be approached and questioned, so wear it outside your sleeve, not beneath. It will keep your internal power in check and prevent you from casting any spells. Don't take it off yourself for any reason while inside; ask for help if you have a problem.," she explained before handing over the bracelet.

Steinn promptly placed it on his left wrist, on the outside of his coat. "I apologize for any inconvenience."

"Me too. Try to keep that date of yours from making a scene, alright?"

Ayano ... she could have HELPED or something ... instead of watching me pretend to be some floozy with a feather fetish. What is she even doing here, right now? She didn't come here on our carriage or I would have sensed her a long time ago. On the outside, Gabbie looked put off, but she implied different reasons by continuing to feign impatience and offense.

"Let's go inside now," Steinn suggested, beginning to lead Gabbie along. She bid farewell to the guard by smirking at her. The guard assumed Gabbie was smirking because she was getting into the party while she herself wasn't going to be able to, but Gabbie was actually smirking because once again, the guards had been thoroughly played by Weyland's guests.

Ballroom

Haythem sighed at that. "Well ... as long as hands and fists don't get involved, everything will be fine." Noticing Nadya's full plate, he uttered, "Wow, that's some variety, there. Have you tasted each of those, already?"

On the subject of paintings, Shadrak answered Mushirah saying, "Mmm, not if I have to pay for it. I didn't think we would need to bring money, so I didn't ... and don't worry about it. I don't think either of us are in our element right now. We should be fine once we've wandered around a little."

With those two now on their way, Morgana decided to leave her present company and do a bit of wandering herself. "Enjoy the party," she bid them farewell and moved away. I wonder what Athena's planning to do to make the most of this.

Library

Tia had taken the maid's suggestion to heart, and then rose up to embrace her. Why, the maid wasn't sure, herself. "I'm happy to help. I should see to it, now," she said, referring to the tea. Someone had to make it.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Phoenix

[Toogee]

With the screening behind her, Jam entered the estate on Erion's arm. The place was filled with people admiring statues, paintings, and architecture the home provided. Farther in the back was the ballroom; the dancer could hear the music playing; would the dancing start soon?

"I'll say," Jam replied to Alphy. To her, anything with columns was considered high class. The dancer had come a long way from the desert village. She turned to Erion to suggest what to do first.

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

"Agreed," Eli replied to Aneda. It was quite difficult to keep up with the comings and goings of Raquel and co. Many of which involved far more supernatural occurrences than he had ever anticipated seeing in his entire life, much less the past few days.

"Prof. Weyland is kind of my boss. Well, maybe boss's boss. Either way, please don't break anything," he said to Jericho as he opened the door for the three.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Toogee

[Eail]

Reserved for later

Edited October 11, 2013 by Eail

[Snike]

Blake shrugged.

"Better the embarrassment now, than the embarrassment later when you would have to explain why you could not get into the manse," he said aloud, before leaning in to whisper into Raquel's ear. "I'll make it up to you, later. Promise."

It seemed like there were no other issues with their inspection, so all that was needed was the go-ahead, and they'd be on their way.

[scorri]

Lumi

Walking into the mansion, Lumi shrugged. "I mostly just hang out with the group for the protection they offer. Pete and I had been traveling alone, but a big group's much nicer. Though... this group's a bit big and tends to run into trouble... I don't know if Pete's going to stay with them after this. And I know he doesn't want me to stay with them... So yeah. I might not be joining Raquel when she leaves the city." She winced slightly, waiting for her two friends to get upset.

Eric

Arriving at the food, he grinned, and allowed Mirielle to take the spot ahead of him in line. He smiled, and said, "I'm glad you invited me to this. Something like... I would have never even dreamed of being able to be here. So thank you."

Edited October 11, 2013 by scorri

[Balcerzak]

[spoiler=some weeks back, on the road]((This directly follows this post))

By the end of the first part of Sinbad's explanation Synthia had donned a slight scowl, though from where she was sitting it probably wasn't visible to the horseman. "Apparently not," she replied about Colin. The group giving him any modicum of trust had really been a mistake in her mind. And given that he'd been the one to stab Valter earlier, she now had a personal grudge against him as well.

Sinbad continued his explanation, and hearing that he'd shot the bastard did make her feel a bit better about the whole thing. She also found the fight being started by some misunderstanding hard to believe, with how persistent they'd been about not letting the group leave. Bloodshed would have been avoided if the organization hadn't engaged. Anyway, the guy Raquel had been talking to was probably Sardis, though she had no idea who the second leader was. When it was mentioned what exactly Samael had said, she sat for a moment in disbelief before getting very upset very quickly.

Without the actual target here to vent on (and that would have been fairly stupid to do to the villain anyway), she was only left with the ability to complain about it. That would suffice for now. "That bastard," she muttered. "They're the ones who started the damn fight, who the fuck gave him the right to threaten anyone, much less people's families" And then something else came to mind which was probably entirely relevant. With a rather more worried tone and expression, she tried to turn to talk to Sinbad more directly, instead of the odd not-talking-at-him thing she had been doing. "Was it only Raquel he threatened? I mean, there's probably no one else they really care about, but just making sure..."

Sinbad hadn't had long to try to ponder if there'd been any details he'd forgotten. After hearing some grumbling and venting from Synthia about how low the enemy had stooped, she twisted at the hips to turn and face him directly. The cowboy saw the last bit of what had probably been a right unfriendly scowl melt from her face as it was replaced by an expression of concern. Not exactly sure where to start, Sinbad rested a comforting hand on her shoulder and answered.

"Well now, darling, near as I can recall it was just Raquel. Gave her three options: surrender, retreat and have her family hunted, or kill herself. Don't rightly reckon any of the resta you were even worth his notice. Mebbe you should ask around ta be sure though, I wasn't listenin' close to the conversation until I heard something I just couldn't ignore, so coulda missed out on other threats... Sorry that's not particularly helpful."

With a bit of a forced sheepish grin, he added on a bit more grumbling of his own, still upset about the enemy sinking to threatening people's families like that. It probably wouldn't reassure her any if she were worried after her own family, but that was information he just didn't have, so there weren't no helping that matter anyway, 'cept for maybe just distracting from it.

"Anyway, s'pose it's lucky my bag o' extra bullets got slashed during the fighting an' I couldn't actually shoot the bastard right after he said it, else I probably'd've done ended up making the whole thing turn even sourer. The only pellet I'd had left, apparently, were the one I'd loaded inta my gun beforehand, the one that done got fired into Colin... 'fore that young healer dug it out of him an' patched him up anyway, but weren't like I could reuse it..."

That was actually a decent enough segue to one of the things the cowboy'd been hoping to ask about actually. "Speaking of, do you know if that'd be something I could maybe get resupplied from ya'll? Not sure what all Raquel does or doesn't have, but I know that Gytha's got a pistol of her own, so I thought... well maybe?"

Not that the mage was happy Raquel had been threatened, but at least she didn't have more to worry about at the moment. The horseman seemed to have an idea of what she was worried about, as his hand was placed on her shoulder in a way meant to reassure. The news itself did more than the gesture and she merely ended up a bit more somber than she had been originally. "So we took the retreat option, I assume," she said, though it was fairly obvious considering Raquel was still alive and they weren't prisoners.

She wasn't sure how shooting the guy could have made things worse, except maybe getting everyone else killed Well actually, that may have been worse. Scratch that, she actually agreed with Sinbad on this one. Sitting as she was was starting to get uncomfortable, so she turned back around and talked over her shoulder instead. "Raquel does sell ammunition. By all means, buy some more so you can shoot that bastard if you ever run into him again. We could probably give you a discount, even." Not free, of course. "What were your other questions?"

That was a fine piece o' news indeed, the cowboy would have no trouble restocking it seemed. With a bit of a sigh of relief, and following the path in the conversation laid out to him by Synthia, Sinbad turned toward some of his other questions.

"Well now, ya see, I don't really know all that much about whatever it is has got you all in that mess. I'd been joking around with her earlier asking her just what she was selling as made people so upset with her, 'n she mentioned it was more of what she wasn't selling, but at the time I didn't figure it were all that important, I heard her Pa was being held hostage, and that was all I needed to know. After seeing what kind of firepower you lot are up against, not sure I feel really comfortable being in the dark. Also reckon it might be interesting ta hear how you and Raquel met, and why you've been travelling with her, 'n how long and things. Mebbe a brief description 'n bit o' gossip about some of the other fellas in this here merry band, help me get off on the right foot with the ones I ain't approached yet. At this point unless yer altering plans, we're headed as far as Europa together, and unlike that ship voyage, there's really no point in stayin' apart from the herd."

Sinbad made a bit of a wry grin that the mage probably couldn't see, he didn't feel really confident he'd said his piece all that well, so he made a vague not-really-apology. "Leasta ways it'll make for some conversation, 'n that's better than riding in silence." Not that a nice quiet ride with one's horse was necessarily a bad thing, but... damn, why was this a little awkward?

"Well if it's silence you don't want, I could probably talk a straight hour. Most of it would probably be complaining though. Er" Synthia didn't mind talking to Sinbad about this, and he probably had a right to know after all that just happened, but there was no way to start the explanation without sounding crazy. "I don't think Raquel would be against me telling you this at this point, so suspend your disbelief for a moment. They're after a fragment of the Fire Emblem she found a few months ago. The Fire Emblem, the one supposedly used by gods and such. It's why they took her father in the first place, and it's why they're after Raquel now. I met her in Sergio, actually, shortly after they kidnapped him. She had already hired several mercenaries to help her retrieve her father from that fortress, and I came along as a healer. Unfortunately we missed him the first time. This was about three months ago, I think. I mostly stuck around after that because I needed the money, but it's more than that now I suppose."

Having recognized that she was going off on a personal tangent, the mage returned to explanations. "The search for information on that organization somehow led us to Weyland, a big shot inventor who lives up in Europa. Connor, the boy in the wagon, is his nephew, by the way. Um, he's also the one who gave us the Dauntless. It's a prototype he lent to us for testing aaand now it's busted." Oh dear. Yeah, he might not be so happy about that detail when they got back. "The guy pays ludicrously well though, he gave us several thousand gold for some jobs we did for him in Ursentius and Kigen. Oh, something else you should probably know. We've met two vasili, and they're kind of on our side I guess? They're Griffin and Lilith. I don't know how much you know about Ursian lore, but Lilith was involved in the great rebellion against Wrath. They kind of met her in purgatory." Yes, after being warped there by a girl who fought with flying coffins. Mercy, that sounded ridiculous to her now that she had to explain it to someone else.

"Anywaaay" On to the descriptions of people, because that made her sound less crazy. "I don't know who you've met already, but I would stay away from Shadrak, Zachary, and Robin. The first two are kind of dicks, the last is just stupid. Don't talk to her, I can guarantee you'll get a headache from it at some point. Most everyone else is fine to an extent, I suppose. Veronika is second in command after Raquel, so if you need something you can probably talk to her too. Also, it's probably best for all of us if you don't make Norbert or Zachary angry. They have issues."

Sinbad wasn't entirely sure what to make of all of that. She did warn that it was going to be outlandish, but... Not entirely sure if he was serious or not, he asked, "So have you all met a legendary dragon too, then?"

Whether they had or not, and despite how farfetched the story seemed, the cowboy couldn't think of any reason the mage would lie to him. And as she shifted to describing and warning against some members of the group, it was certainly more useful knowledge. Her descriptions were mostly of people to warn away from, and he tried to figure out just who they might apply to. Thinking back to that dream battle, he recalled the lightning user who'd seemed permanently angry. Near as Sinbad could tell, he was also the one responsible for the lighnting flares and the various other coordinating spells, so it wasn't likely he was one of the ones noted for being a dick. That left...

"So, Norbert is the lightning mage with rage issues? Anything in particular that sets him off?"

Legendary dragon? "Um, not that I know of. We have fought an artificial one, though," Synthia replied. She did somewhat regret mentioning that, though, as it brought up unpleasant memories. Then Sinbad's mix up with names was puzzling, but she supposed she should have seen this coming. "No, no, Bert is the mace wielder with the pegasus. Zachary is the thunder mage. As for what sets them off, they both have trouble with people telling them what to do. Zachary doesn't like people who disagree with him and has a tendency to hold grudges. Unfortunately, he's also one of the most talented mages in the group, but has trouble controlling himself when angry. He's gone off and killed animals when people have made him upset. Shadrak has as well.

"Not upsetting Bert is rather easy, though I'm not sure why some people haven't picked up on it yet. Just don't act like you're the boss of him without actual authority. He's actually fairly harmless, otherwise," she noted. Maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but the pegasus knight never really seemed to do much when he was angry besides yell and be obstinate.

Well, that was mostly out of the way now. "Was there anything you wanted to know about Ursium? From the sound of things, I don't think you've been up here before, right?"

While he didn't quite know what she meant by artificial dragon, he felt a little relieved that they hadn't actually met one of the legendary dragons. Listening to the rest of her explanation, and her clearing up his minor confusion with names Sinbad smiled a bit. "Ah, mace weilding pegasus rider, that there woulda been the fella I had ta cut open 'n get that arrow outta, huh. Well, don't be s'posing I'll have any trouble with him, I don't much act like I'm in charge of anything. Wouldn't really sit right, 'specially considering. Not sure I can be helping anything about the mages, but find myself in powerful agreement. Normal folk just don't be going off and killing defenseless creatures as way o' letting off steam."

"Far as my experiences here in Ursuim, aside from one cattle drive a few years back with my Pa, which is why I had the proper papers to cross anyway dontcha know, I haven't really spent much in the way of time here, so I reckon I'll just let you start talking and telling the customs and then I'll speak up if it jostles any questions."

...And so they passed much of the rest of the ride in idle conversation.

The rest of the travel from the fortress where they had confronted the forces of the Organization, and that disastrous breakdown of negotiations pitting mostly reasonable people against each other (mostly reasonable, that one with the light beam and the unforgivable threats aside), well it could hardly have been called uneventful, but Sinbad had found himself isolated from much of the bulk of it.

Part of that was due to just plain good sense, as he was not one of the foolish ones that had been eager to rush into a tangle with a dragon, wild or otherwise, rather staying behind with the other folk with their heads in the right place. Pale shadows of the four heroes, the powerful animals couldn't be expected to adhere to the concepts of honor, wisdom, and strength. No... more often they were just beings of raw power, better to be avoided.

Part of it was due to just a difference in agenda, as near the start of their visits to each major town, he would break off from the rest of the caravan for some information gathering, seeking to confirm that he was indeed still on the right path, and to find out whether or not the cowboy had gained any ground on his quarry. The search in Ursaea hadn't provided much, just some further confirmation that the man with one arm was still en route to Europa, not having doubled back or looped out of the way, at least not yet. At Europa, impatient with the traffic jam of the main group, due to some religious fanatics' rally or some other nonsense Sinbad didn't really know, understand, or care for. With no urgent need to be at Weyland's as soon as possible, which seemed to be the goal for most of the rest of the group, he'd bid them a temporary farewell, and seeking at least the illusion of progress, had begun to try to get a lead on. He said he'd find the estate himself later in the evening, and if welcome and able, would join back up there later. Failing that, he intended just to find an inn for himself and take care of business. Still, that would be sort of a last resort, and would probably feel a little lonely.

It was probably fortunate for everyone, however, that his absence during dinner meant that Sinbad did not have to come face to face with any of Weyland's Fallen guests, at least not yet and not without ample warning. Upon his return, he heard the rumors about the invitation to the ball, and while he honestly didn't expect to either learn anything there, or even necessarily to enjoy himself if it was anything like the dry affairs in Kigen, what with the sitting seiza and listening to poetry recitation, and having to nod and pretend you believed all the boasts of whichever samurai you were seated next to, there was always the chance. It seemed expected to attend in pairs, though some mention was made of a few intending to go it alone. The cowboy figured pairs would certainly be preferable, especially if it were someone he got on well with, but failing that alone would suffice. So despite a lingering sense of apprehension that Grant had probably asked her first, while he was out and about earlier, when the first news of the ball had broken, he went ahead and asked Synthia if she would mind accompanying him.

Which essentially brings us to the present. Sinbad had been a little uncomfortable when he saw the formal wear the maids of the estate had suggested and laid out, and found himself wondering rather concernedly what to do about his hat. It was a very nice hat, a fine Minamota in fact, but it weren't exactly polite to wear indoors, and he would rather not lose it on a hatrack in a room with what was probably bound to be dozens of guests. So he had elected to go without, and after having changed into the rather foreign outfit, felt that lacking his hat only added to his discomfort. After the carriage ride, he watched others going through the checkpoint, and idly wondered if his tobacco would end up being confiscated. It wouldn't possibly be, right? Nobody would consider that a weapon or a threat, but some folk never did seem to approve, and maybe... well that would be just the rub, wouldn't it.

In short, the cowboy was nervous for more reasons than one, and had every right to be so. Maybe this had been a silly idea from the start.

((NB: Whether or not Synthia accepted is left decidedly open, for the record.))

Edited October 11, 2013 by Balcerzak

[Snowy_One]

It had been a while since Alex had been at his station manning the portraits, and for good reason. Good, important reasons... Shaped like wine-glasses. Yet there was no wine within his glass as he had drank it all, as well as some water, and some snack-foods. Painting at the level he did, then trying, and failing, to attract some attention from either noble or lady alike had failed. Ah well. With a gentle swirl he started to head back to his station only to see he had attracted two more customers! Great!

"These paintings aren't easy to paint you know." he said, coming up beside Shadrak and Mushy, making sure he was loud enough for them to hear but to not disturb them as he approached. "It's hard to capture exactly who and what a person is. Reading the signs, figuring out what their part in the world is, and to paint it all down, especially if they have a poor part to play. No one likes a money-lender, but you can't call them a pig to their face, so you need to be very careful about painting them to capture who they are while still getting paid."

---

Tia smiled as the maid left before turning back to her research, pulling out more books, scrawling down more notes, and trying her best to separate truth from fiction, rumor, and local lore. But there was something here. Too many coincidences and... well... There was some gut feeling in her that there was truth to the tale of the emblem.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Snowy_One

[ReformBlade]

Smiling at shadrak, Mushirah was looking at the paintings lined up when a man came up and started a conversation with them. Neat. Mushirah listened to the man talking about the paintings, genuinely interested as he was talking about capturing who a person is on paper as opposed to just what is seen. "Oh? And how can you pick out these details? I fancy myself an artist, but these paintings aren't just... replications like I do, there's more to them than that."

"I'm not... Nevermind." Jericho shook his head, annoyed that the kid's first thought was that Jericho was just a troublemaker. But he wasn't about to go refuting things he didn't care to refute. This employer of theirs sounded... dubious to him. Needless to say, he was intrigued. "This Raquel person, who is she?"

"Eh... i'm probably not the best person to ask as I don't know her beyond what she's shown me and I've only been around her for weeks." Aneda started, "And really, I don't... hate her so much as feel left out of important things concerning the tasks I've been given. But I shouldn't expect much, being a plain old mercenary anyway."

"This is just giving me more questions... I suppose I could try asking her myself?" Jericho wondered, though he doubted he'd get much out of a single conversation from her, if he'd even get that chance anyway.

"Eh, I guess. I could introduce you if you want. If you're looking for a job, she'd probably be a bit more willing to talk to a random stranger, but that's just me hazarding a guess." And then aneda decided to address Lumi's comment, "and hey, don't forget about me. If you've got something in mind, tell me."

Hmm... I am looking for a job but this all seems wacky and out there. Can't be worse than my last gig though, heh. Jericho thought to himself, wandering into the place, admiring the decor and the over all size of the place.

Edited October 11, 2013 by ReformBlade

[Phoenix]

In The Clear

Make it up to me? How's he going to do that? Raquel wondered.

With food, I hope. You may be used to it, but I worry you're not eating enough, Discovery.

"By the way, Raquel," Miguel spoke up, coming a little closer and placing his hand on her shoulder. He winced a little when he noticed her tensing up. Maybe that was a little too familiar, after all, that or she was still nervous due to this screening. He gently took his hand away and said, "About the light dependency. Take care of yourself, alright? You're cleared, I just ... wanted to say something about that."

... oh ... "I'm trying ... really."

I don't know what the deal is with that magic, but stay out of trouble. As a servant of the crown, I'm unable to help people as often as I'd like. "It's a shame they didn't get back here in time. You probably won't be able to see Nadine until you're on your way out ... or not at all."

That's right, Nadine is in his unit now. I doubt she would be very happy to see me after I just quit training and left, but ... maybe I should try and find her. Even if she's upset with me, tonight can only get so much worse. I'm sure I'll be able to deal with anything once this meeting is over. "We'll come find you later ... maybe even during the party if I need some fresh air."

"Heh, that'd be great."

Secretly, one of the guards began waving the block over Raquel again while she wasn't aware. Nothing happened, not even the glow. He looked at the block and ended up scratching his head.

It's a good thing Weyland's theory held up, or I would have just been assassinated.

Huh?

Gather Around

Calling someone a pig through painting? Shadrak was a little confused by this random man's introduction. From the sound of things, he was the maker of the paintings over at the table. Shadrak had no idea they would be accosted from that far away, but it happened. Well that's a little deceptive, at least it sounds that way if he's trying to sugarcoat the painting so they don't catch on to the message. He kept quiet once Mushirah began replying, not having anything coherent to say anyway.

Mushirah seemed far more interested in them than he was; Shadrak figured that was to be expected since they were both artists of a sort. He was beginning to wonder if either of the two was about to suggest getting a portrait done. He wasn't going to make the suggestion, at least; he still wasn't even sure if there was money involved and the idea of this painter showing him an interpretation of him after only just meeting sounded kind of unpleasant.

Meanwhile at the top of the staircase leading down to the first floor of the ballroom, one of the royal guard, a woman, dressed rather lightly, possibly even too light for combat, was standing beside well dressed man. The odd thing about these two, were that they were off to the side and the guard was holding her hands in front of the man's mouth in a cylinder shape. "Say something ..."

"Ahem-oh!" The man's voice traveled throughout the ballroom.

One of the nobles at the food tables flinched at the sudden voice, and then after gazing at the source and squinting, he said, "Ah ... an announcement."

Bernard raised an eyebrow at the man making the announcement from his table on the second floor, well above their position. Timothy Reuter? Now what's he doing there? Oh well. Cruz shouldn't have trouble identifying him now, either way.

The man leaned away from the royal guard's hands and said, "Goodness, this actually works. I've always wanted to have my voice amplified like that ... a bit unexpected, though."

"Don't you have announcing to do? They're waiting," the guard pointed out.

"Yes, yes. Ahem," he leaned in so that his voice could be amplified once more. "Welcome, everyone. Welcome. My name is Timothy Reuter, I'll be your announcer for the evening ... at least until our dear princess comes to relieve me ... I've been informed that she might, heheh."

Oh yes, she's not happy about the engagement, so she's going to milk this party for all it's worth, Morgana mused ... in amusement. She was becoming a bit more comfortable with the idea of Athena's takeover, since, at the very least, she would actually be able to enjoy the evening this way, even if she did have to spend it with a man she cared nothing for.

"Please, gather 'round, but avoid blocking the stairs. Our star couple should be here momentarily."

Actually, I think they're just standing by to be announced.

[spoiler=Parental Advice]"Could you try giving me some useful advice for a change?" Reign asked Aldric, hoping to get off the subject of emotions and women.

"Well ... do you have anything on your plate you don't feel prepared for at the moment?" Aldric asked, shrugging afterward. He might as well be giving pertinent advice if any.

Reign put his elbow on the table to support the left side of his head and began thinking. He realized there was something he wouldn't normally mind getting some pointers on, but knew Aldric would take advantage of the context. He didn't simply have a bad feeling about it, he knew, with a level of certainty that couldn't fully be put into words. This was inevitably going to go right back to being a conversation about his nonexistent love life, but at least he'd get something useful out of it this time. "... any massaging tips?"

Aldric sat there in silence for a moment. "Who are you giving a massage to?"

"That's no business of yours, now do you have tips or don't you, old man?" Reign quickly replied with a small smirk, realizing he might be able to steer this topic after all.

"I've got tips ... but you're not gonna like'em," Aldric warned. Once Reign let his head slump a bit in response, he continued. "I assume you're not the group masseur, so this is probably a treat for a new girlfriend, or something. That's why you're not going to like my advice ..." Reign didn't reply, and Aldric was a little unnerved by that, soon realizing that it wasn't necessarily a girlfriend. "... you're ... just doing someone a favor ...?"

"Something wrong with that ...?" Reign asked, looking exhausted all of a sudden.

"Well you're going to give people the wrong idea before too long. What if you give her the wrong idea at some point? Believe me, accidentally leading someone on may seem harmless, but it hurts like hell for them in the end. Even if you don't have intentions one way or the other, you'd better make that clear as day as soon as you can, or you're going to hurt someone."

Reign's eyebrow raised ever so slightly as he pondered his father's response. "... you know, that actually is good advice. Unfortunately, I don't really know how I feel about any of this, yet."

"And you probably won't until you see Nadine again and figure out how that's going to pan out. And don't bother lying about it, either. We both see just how sad you are every time she comes up; hell, we feel it, Reign."

"A lot of people figured we were 'together', thanks to all of the conditioning and exercises we did for her synchronized casting project," he explained. "Of course, at that academy, it was inconceivable that two people could spend more than lunch together and not be 'madly in love', so we paid for all that hard work in the form of all sorts of bullshit. Some idiot almost caused our whole squad to fail an important exercise just so he could mouth off to me about Nadine."

"Hahahah, epic."

"No, it was pathetic. I've never wanted to kill someone for their sake so badly in my life. If Wynn didn't take him out when he did, we might have failed that exercise and been in danger of not even graduating that year."

"Hmm ..." Aldric put his hand on his chin.

Tea Time

The maid eventually returned with some tea for Tia, and carefully poured a cup for her, while contemplating whether or not to take away the other sticks of caramel now that they probably weren't needed.

Fire

Somewhere in Sardius ... there is a huge fire burning out of control. Just ... thought I'd note that here.

[Mercakete]

Gytha hadn't been wandering very long when the sound of someone's voice echoed through the room. It sounded like they were all supposed to gather, so she headed for the indicated space as she began to wonder what exactly was about to happen, or rather the manner in which it would occur.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Gar rubbed his chin in thought as his mind had randomly wandered over to worrying if he'd left grenades near the stove. It could totally cause a fire burning out of control!

But eh that was unlikely.

[-Cynthia-]

"Nope haven't tried it all yet, was gettin' to it," Nadya replied to Haythem before the announcement came. She stood there rather awkwardly, unsure of what to do in this particular situation.

[Snike]

Well, Raquel seemed to be confused about what Blake meant, and just as well; that could be explained later. For now, he'd wait until his employer was ready, before proceeding into the ball venue.

[Phoenix]

Introducing ...

Once Raquel and Blake arrived in the ballroom, it was relatively easy to spot just about everyone who had come in ahead of them. Raquel, of course, was keeping her eyes out for Desmond. She wasn't sure what he was supposed to look like, but she hoped the cold gaze of a wrathite would be the real sign, not just his appearance.

They had arrived just in time to see people moving closer to the central staircase, as well, which suggested something was about to happen. "Maybe they're introducing some of the couples attending, though they didn't do that for any of these people, I don't think."

Over by the snack tables, Haythem stood awkwardly right along with Nadya. <"You're not planning on taking that plate with you, are you? I mean, with people crowding together, you're likely to have an accident."> <Oh what am I saying? Be more assertive, here!> <"Hmm, yeah, actually, let's just stay put for now. See over there? And there?"> Haythem began pointing out various clusters of people on both floors who if nothing else, hadn't moved any closer to the stairs with the rest of the crowd. <"Not everyone's moving, so let's just stay put,"> he concluded with a smile.

"Now then, without further delay or stalling for time, allow me to introduce, Princess Athena Shastak, and Lord Terrel Reuter." Timothy gracefully backed out of the way as the couple emerged, the latter wearing a suit with a purple cloak over his left shoulder. Athena, wore a teal ballgown that seemed to sparkle in the light. As the two descended the staircase, Athena's gown began to look different to most of the guests; by the time the couple had reached the first floor of the ballroom, her dress appeared to be blue, not teal.

[Snowy_One]

"Well, it wasn't easy, miss, I'll tell you that. I started as a young healer upon the road, like I'm sure many an aspiring adventurer have done so, except with staff and tome instead of sword and axe. The world was a violent place, but even the common thugs seemed to have tales and stories to them, so I decided I wanted to try and capture them all down, the stories, not the violent thugs. I decided painting would be the best means and decided to start with the wall of, what I thought, was once the wall of some home... Turned out to be a cow barn... Ever since then I've practiced my best, trying to pick up on small clues, subtle signals, and the like coming from a person to figure out who they really are within the world. Not to mention improving my own arts as both painter and healer... mainly for when I failed to capture exactly what was going on. Took a while, but I finally improved to the point where they hired me for this ball! So, madame and sire, would you like for me to paint you? It's free of charge."

---

Tia looked down at the steadily growing pile of notes and books as the tea arrived. Things were starting to come together, rumors aligning, and some being thrown out, all to make a clearer picture of what was actually going on.

"Golden light, bright enough to be seen in daylight from the heavens above, shattered by Wrath into many shards, possibly able to grant wishes if entirely reassembled... And the descriptions... Thanks for the tea." said Tia, lifting the cup up without even looking at the maid as her brow furrowed in study. "An item of this magnitude and power could easily disrupt the balance of... everything. Even without it's wish-granting power, the people who would scramble for the shards, so much could happen. And, if I'm right... This can't be good."

[-Cynthia-]

<"I'm not really here to see the princess and whoever she's marryin' anyway," Nadya answered, blindly taking something from her plate and sticking it her mouth. It appeared to be some kind of fruit wrapped in bacon, which was rather tasty.