Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Ether]

"I simply see no need for barriers of that sort... people who worry too much about their own little shells never make friends with anyone, and never have any fun... why wouldn't I take the chance to get friendly with Prince Athrun were I to get it? It's not the most common thing, after all." Angelica replied with a light smile, seems that Athena was more protective of her brother than she would have imagined.

"Ah, that... well, let's just say my father wasn't very... educated on the proper methods of raising or handling children..." She continued, directing this second part at Athrun... it seemed he was just leaving the business between Angelica herself and his sister be... probably in his best interest, though Angelica couldn't help but be a tad disappointed that she wouldn't receive her knight in shining armour, here.

[Mercakete]

So, Suzume hadn't seen Gar yet. That wasn't surprising given how short a time they'd actually been there and the hour. It could have been that the strange man had gone off to bed already or was wandering around the manse or in town or had gone to the ball. There were so many possibilities it wasn't worth bothering about. So, shrugging that off, he paid attention to her more immediate inquiry. That of course, reminded him of the maids. He'd been so absorbed in his recent troubles and speculations that he'd forgotten about them.

He stifled most of his groan at the reminder and realization that now he was going to be living among them for how long, he didn't know, but he did slump a little and his expression was telling. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can ask for something. I've only been here as a guest before so I don't know for sure, but I think employees can just ask for whatever they want, too," he answered, suddenly putting most of his focus on listening for anyone sneaking up behind them. Deciding to warn Suzume about this, he added more quietly, "The maids here seem to do pretty much everything: cleaning, taking orders for food, guiding guests around... That may sound normal for being maids, but there's something just off about them... They can sneak up on anyone without being noticed -- it's just uncanny. And sometimes they all...act like reflections of each other or something. The same motions in everything, right down to when they blink... And those expressions almost always hold the same smile."

Edited November 22, 2013 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Royal Affairs

"It's called proper etiquette," Athena replied with clenched teeth and a forced smile.

Angelica's answer had Athrun wondering just how bad it was, for her to feel not having siblings was for the best. Was her father abusive, or just not well off? Irresponsible, or just naive? Feeling it wasn't any of his business, he said, "I won't pry, but that's distressing to hear, Angelica," with a small frown beginning to form on his face.

Two Birds, Two More Birds, and One Stone

Suzume listened to Bert's explanation of the maids. They sounded like spies or assassins, using house work as a front, but she was more intrigued than worried. Maybe they could teach her a thing or two about sneaking up on people. She was no assassin, but she welcomed learning how to deal with people without making a scene. "They sound pretty strong. I wish I'd heard about this earlier when that woman brought me here."

"You're back?" Amon said to Bert once he noticed. Bert also received a small generic wave from Fizza, but not so much as a glance from Malik. Amon wasn't sure who the kigenese girl was, but he figured like everything else, it would come to light once someone informative showed up.

Around that time, someone informative showed up. Anna had Siv trailing behind her with the baby fallen wrapped up in her arms. "Okay, sorry I'm late, guys. Apparently the egg you've been carrying around since Chousokabe finally hatched. Might have to wait until Steinn gets back before we can do anything about it, though ... unless any of you know how to care for a fallen hatchling. In the meantime, I should probably give you and Suzume the rundown, huh ...?"

Suzume sat there quietly, trying her hardest not to let utter shock combined with a bit of fear overcome her reason. If she just stayed quiet and listened for a moment, maybe someone informative would explain why there were fallen in Ursium, and why her future employer had at least two staying in his home ... one barely dressed at that.

Riding Blind

It just wasn't his night, Reign realized when he turned to look back as Sandrock galloped down the street; that overpowered behemoth was following them, and he was catching up. "Oh you've got to be screwing with me ..." About all he could do until the beast was closer was gawk or glare at it. Sandrock knew they were in trouble and gave it her all to get it away. That was when Reign realized his thought from before were somewhat pointless now. If he ran into people, they were only going to slow him down and get themselves killed. He hadn't decided whether to avoid people and just keep the threat near him or try to lose it by drawing it into a crowd. The latter seemed despicable but the last thing on his mind was right or wrong.

Before long, and just a few seconds before the charging monstrosity on their tails caught up, they came upon the first groups of people. Now, even if he had preferred some other option, there were options for that thing. Deciding to cut his losses and head through an alley, either to lose the thing once and for all, or lead it away from the people ahead of them, he steered Sandrock to the right and began yelling, "RUN!!! IF YOU WANNA LIVE, RUUUUN!!!" By the time the people turned to look, Sandrock was already almost out of view, having cut straight into the alley. All the people saw was a hulking giant rush in after them, a big peach blur. No one was quite sure what they had just seen.

Reign was glad to see that the monster hadn't gone after the easier targets, but he was also a little worried that they now had no room to maneuver. At best, they would get run into the ground if they didn't make the next turn. At worst, the bastard would catch them well before then. "Come on, Sandrock, go faster. Go faster ..." Reign looked back over his shoulder to see where the monster was and try to figure out how long they had until it caught them. It was practically on top of them, and Reign might have been killed if he hadn't looked back when he did. Seeing a sweeping arm coming off his right side, he ducked. The attack missed but barely.

The monster didn't give up. It took another swing with its left arm. That one missed Reign, but smashed into the wall, creating an explosion of debris that struck them both hard. Reign cried out in agony as something in that mix of stone and wood struck his eye and cheek. He left the reins in his right hand while nursing his bleeding eye with the left. Dammit that was the worst. I've got ten maybe fifteen minutes to fix that or it's gone ... He looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't about to be hit again, but he was. He ducked but kept his other eye closed just in case the flailing monstrosity struck the wall again, but it was simply a clean miss that time. Not something I want to think about right now but why isn't this thing using vertical swings? He'd have us for sure ...

[Ether]

"Proper etiquette, huh? I've heard tales of such a thing, though can't say I've ever really had much an opportunity to get the specifics of it... where I grew up, if you wanted something, you staked your claim to it and went hard at getting it until anything in your way was left a quivering heap... not much in the way of role models for pleasantries." Angelica replied, still keeping up her smile. That bit should well enough answer Athrun's question as well, and it might be interesting to see what he did now that it wasn't so easy to just ignore the elephant that was rapidly filling the ballroom.

[-Cynthia-]

"Whenever the mages in this group start talking magic it all comes out as gibberish to me," Veronika responded to Robin as the two Neviskotians made their way towards the dining hall. When they arrived, most of the people Veronika saw were only vaguely familiar, people from Greta's group she supposed. She saw Norbert sitting near...the Kigenese mage who was working with the rebels back in Chousokabe?

"Well it doesn't look like there are any maids around to take our order...excuse me I need to look into something," Veronika said quickly to Robin before heading over to Bert and Suzume.

"Hi Bert," she said, giving the pegasus knight a token greeting before turning to her object of investigation. "Would you mind explaining why you are here?" she asked Suzume abruptly.

[Snowy_One]

Robin gave a small nod as she followed Nika over to where Bert was, though not due to Nika at all. If her attempt to become friends with Lumi failed, maybe another attempt? It was stupid to say the least, but, maybe? Nah... ... Well... can't blame a girl for having hopes. However, it would need to wait at the least until Nika was done regardless of what happened.

[Snike]

"Yes, I wish the best for the both of them," Ethan said, with a slight smile. "In other news, the judges certainly seem to be taking their time."

***

"That is... one way of putting it, albeit the propaganda angle is ironic," Blake said, after Raquel explained the segregation. "Well, then, they must have been very close, or else I would imagine one or both of them would have complained to you frequently enough. Regardless, it sounds like Nadine is quite the mage, from what you are saying. It seems odd that she is guarding this event, as opposed to being closer to the front line."

[Phoenix]

A Lack of Grace

Then by the gods, what in the blazes are you doing here? Athena thought, though she didn't say it out loud.

Before she could say anything at all really, Morgana spoke up, beside her. "Well I suggest you adapt and follow along quickly; the only reason anyone's putting up with your arm cleaving is because this is a party."

Athrun sighed. What fresh nonsense had he gotten himself caught up in this time? "You know, this would not be the first, second, or even tenth time someone has-" "Oh we know, Athrun. We know full well, and let's just leave it at that," Athena interrupted, wanting to keep the topic from getting anymore uncomfortable for her.

Sighing again, Athrun turned his attention to Angelica and said, "Again, that's distressing to hear. I can only hope you're a stronger person for your troubles."

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

"It must be somewhat difficult for them, trying not to look as if they're pandering to Athena at her party," Terrel mused.

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

"According to Reign, she and him were both pretty close to the front line some months ago. If she's back over here then she must have gotten transferred to a different unit. Oh! We should have asked Miguel about that ... he would have known what was going on there," Raquel replied. "I guess we could talk with Nadine about it in person too come to think of it ..."

Just one you think you found a really simple solution, an even simpler one leaps out at you. I would keep an eye out for such things in the future, Discovery.

Yeah, noted ...

A Lack of Subtlety

Suzume's issues seemed to be stacking up right in front of her. First a fallen, and now a member of Raquel's mercenary group that recognized her that wasn't necessarily friendly. Straightening her back, and looking perfectly justified, she said, "I have a job interview, nothing more, nothing less."

"That's true," Anna vouched offhandedly as she sat down across from Bert and Suzume. She patted the spot next to her, signalling for Siv to come and sit beside her, which the fallen girl soon did. Next, either as a joke or some other weird thing, Anna slowly let her tensed up fist come down gently on the table and whispered, "Service," just as it landed. A second later, a servant came out from the kitchen, causing Suzume to gawk.

A Lack of Honesty

Reign could see the exit to the streets, but was worried that they would encounter and thereby endanger more people. Still, this creature was going to catch them if they didn't make another turn in a second or two. Sandrock leaped out from the alleyway and onto the streets, then Reign guided her into a left turn and then into a right. The creature began to lose ground quickly, but if they wanted to lose him for good, they had to pick a passage too narrow for it to follow through. Reign didn't like going straight into another alley ... but it wasn't looking good for them or any innocent bystanders they came across otherwise.

Finally, after some searching, Reign found what he was looking for, a very narrow alley that the beast couldn't possibly fit through. He and Sandrock raced for it at full speed and slipped through just in time. As Reign looked back, he saw the monster smash into the two walls and then ... start climbing ... very quickly. "Ah shit ..." There was no telling where that thing was going to come down now. Reign kept Sandrock at a good speed, hoping they could get some distance as their pursuer climbed up the buildings. This might be their last chance to get away.

Just as they came back out onto the next street, Reign looked back over his shoulder and above to see if they were still being followed, not planning to change course either way. Not seeing anything following them, he looked forward again and realized they were around people again. He felt terrible now, because even if they had lost the creature, now these people would pay for it. He had to fall back to his original plan. He slowed Sandrock and made her ride in circles as he yelled, "Hey! Get out of here right now! Run! As fast as you can!"

"... what?" asked one of the thugs standing around.

"Hey, what happened to your eye, friend?" a man with a mug of beer asked. "Did you lose a brawl against a drunkard?"

Reign blinked with the one eye he could still do that with and quietly said. "... to hell with this." He then yelled, "Listen, there's a dragon back there! Do you hear me?! A dragon!"

Finally they were taking him seriously, though not seriously enough, he felt. "Y-you're sure ... how could a dragon get in here."

"It was completely black ... I think it's a shadow dragon. Maybe even Schwartz ..."

"Fucking Schwartz!" One of the bystanders was furious at the news. "He must be here for the princess, the bloody son of a bitch!"

"There's nothing we can do of and by ourselves. You see what happened to me ... get going, for your own safety. Run," Reign pleaded.

"Aye, will do," the man with the mug replied. He took the initiative and said, "We'll send for help on the way. You should come with us."

"No, I've got my own people I need to warn, first. Good luck," Reign said before riding off. That worked, but ... did it? Did he really save those people or was he just kidding himself?

[-Cynthia-]

"What? An interview?" Veronika responded, rather taken aback. "Are you aware that she was involved in the murder of John and Sophia?" she asked, turning her gaze towards Anna. Of course she knows that already...why are they doing this? she thought to herself, clenching her fists.

[Phoenix]

The Past Hurts

"Because she needs a job? You seem pretty out of the loop, Veronika. Didn't you two catch the same ship back here?" Anna asked as the servant approached.

Deciding to at least note one important thing, Suzume said, "I was there as a bodyguard. You already killed the people responsible, so don't blame me."

"Anyway, I want a sandwich and I guess we need something for this baby too, don't we? Bert, Suzume, feel free to order whatever you want, too." Suzume of course was a little distracted defending herself, so didn't quite have anything in mind yet.

The Present Hurts More

Reign continued to ride around, trying to figure out which way to go to get back on track. It might have been much easier without his injury distracting him and limiting his field of view, but there was no time to complain or use for it. Every time he looked back, the disturbing creature was nowhere to be found, so he began to relax a little and try to focus on finding his way back. Once he figured out which way was west, he turned Sandrock in that direction, and then everything went black ...

What's going on ...? I can't be dead, yet ... my head feels like it got split open. Oh great, then I'm only not dead YET, and probably bleeding out all over the pavement. This isn't really the way I wanted to go, but ... there's nothing I can ... do about it now, is there?

As Reign waited, more and more of the environment began to become clear. His eye was still closed, but he could feel that he was on his back, on the cold ground, and he could hear growling and snarling in near by, as well as the occasional sound of very strong punches landing. He sincerely hoped none of those men had come back to try and fight that thing to save him. They would just end up dead too.

Reign was surprised to find that he had outlasted whatever fighting was going on; the sounds began to get quieter and quieter until he had to open his eye to try and figure out what was going on. All he saw when he opened it, was the creature that had been chasing him. It was covered in enormous gashes and bleeding profusely. It stumbled around and eventually fell dead on its back with a loud thud and a splash of red.

There was still some deep growling nearby, a sound Reign was all too familiar with, but he couldn't find the source. With his head in so much pain and his body so battered, he didn't quite care, either. He could only hope Sandrock was still alive and managed to escape. I don't know what's going on here, or what else is coming, but I ... hope they make it out alright. Maybe I should have ... stayed with Nadine ... ... after all ....

[Snike]

"I suppose that may be the case, though any votes towards the Prince would be seen as pandering as well," Ethan said, thoughtfully. "I suppose the question is, will their desire to avoid being seen as pandering trump their objective reviews of the dances? Let us hope not."

***

"That may explain it, then," Blake said, thoughtfully. "Speaking of which, let me know when you would like to head out to speak with her. I am ready, whenever."

[-Cynthia-]

"Bodyguarding for rebel criminals still makes you a criminal by association. If Robin shot and killed somebody and I assisted her in doing so, it would be cowardly of me to absolve myself of any guilt," Veronika said, glaring at Suzume. "And while I am aware that we spared her life because she surrendered, I did not intend for this to result in a job offer. Interviewing the friend of Sophia's killer seems like a damned poor way to honor her memory, she was your employee too if you have not forgotten," she said, shifting her glare over to Anna.

[Mercakete]

"Why? What happened?" Norbert asked, picking his head up off of his hand in sudden interest. He was worried one had actually tried to attack Suzume and got fried or something at first, but then realized that would have been a fairly dumb move for the crafty maids and so now was just very curious. When Amon spoke up, Norbert glanced over and just gave a nod. Yes, he was back, as though he had to confirm that. His attention went back to Suzume but only for a moment before switching over to Anna, who entered along with Siv and informed them that the vasilus had hatched.

Of course, that changed everything then and there. Anna wasn't even done speaking and already Norbert's mind began racing. "What?!" Oh Mercy, what's wrong? It's because I held the stupid egg, isn't it? Then she said they'd have to wait for Steinn of all people before they could do anything about it. "Out of the question," Norbert firmly stated, shaking his head "no." If there's any influence worse than me, it's him...and Cecelia...and Doran...and a lot of other people, but Steinn needs to stay away! We don't need a Vasilus trying to enslave all humans! Anna went on to explain it was because she didn't know how to care for an infant Fallen. Wait, I thought it was an Avian... Aw, Merz... He sighed, losing the tension that had suddenly built up. This is why we should've given it to that one fiery Avian woman...

Then Anna got back to the business regarding getting him and Suzume settled in, more or less. That prompted some sort of confused expression from Norbert. "Are you crazy? That can wait; we need to find out how to take care of this..." he wasn't exactly sure what to refer to it as "thing."

That was when Veronika entered the dining hall with Robin, gave him a short greeting and went right to talking to Suzume. It seemed like he'd just missed the lull that room had been enjoying. When the Neviskotian began what was sure to become none-too-friendly questioning, Norbert locked a glare onto Veronika. His first urge was to figuratively step in for Suzume, but she showed herself perfectly capable of answering on her own, and with poise no less. As Anna vouched for her, Norbert clenched his jaw, reminding himself to keep quiet for the time being. There was no reason for him to intervene at the moment. Then Anna took her seat and Siv sat right next to her. That brought Norbert's attention to the Fallen girl and the bundle she was carrying. He could see the baby's head with its tuft of red hair and its pointed ears. It was weird to be looking at the thing outside of the shell. It was cute, but he was actually afraid. What aspects of me did it get? What if it becomes some sort of monster of destruction because of me? Will this come back to bite me someday? Will the people I know suffer at its hands someday? What if it got my negative outlook? What if it always hates its self because of how I thought of myself when I was holding the egg? What, exactly, is my relation to this thing if any? Does it have any memories of me? Do I mean anything to it? If it goes with Raquel and I don't, will it miss me at all? Will it feel abandoned like I did?

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the servant coming towards them nor Anna's uncanny way of calling them. He did catch the motion, but it didn't really mean much. Veronika's words were loud enough to garner some of his attention, however, and so he felt a strange mix of wariness and lingering fretting due to the child and frustration due to Veronika's wording. Anna replied to it this time and Suzume clarified her role in it. Then Anna began telling her order to a servant he hadn't noticed before. That was mildly disturbing, but he blamed himself for that one. There were so many distractions that it was no wonder this woman had been able to sneak up on them, intentionally or not. When Anna asked for something for the baby, Norbert couldn't help but wonder just what they were going to come up with. Whatever it was, he strongly hoped that it would actually be nutritious for the child and not devastating.

As for what to order for himself, he was in a sort of emotional whirlpool, though the only way he expressed any of his feelings at the moment was with his hunched posture, (again resting his head on his hand) and his semi-intense glare. For the time being, he was far too busy with his own thoughts to be hungry, so he just waved it off and said, "I'll figure something out later."

Veronika, meanwhile, continued her "talk" with Suzume. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of anything that would be particularly helpful. He didn't want to dishonor Sophia's memory -- the girl had probably saved his life a couple times -- but he also was rather bothered by the way Veronika was taking it out on Anna and Suzume. All the same, carefully trying to word it as well as he could, the pegasus rider did speak up. Due to the care in which he formed his sentences, too, it actually sounded fairly calm. "And we're not criminals? We killed an entire Ursian patrol and smuggled a Fallen into this country. You may not care about that, being Neviskotian, but you're hardly fit to talk about crimes. It's too bad about what happened to John and Sophia, but they're not the only ones who died -- just the only ones we knew. Some of her friends died, too, and because of us."

By now, he'd raised his eyes to lock solidly onto Veronika's. "Your involvement with Suzumay's life ended that night. It doesn't matter what you 'intended' to happen as a result from us letting her live. Leave her alone."

Edited November 23, 2013 by Mercakete

[-Cynthia-]

"I'm disappointed in you Bert. John and Sophia put their lives at risk to save your ass plenty of times and you choose to repay that by comparing them to scum!? Yeah, we killed an Ursian patrol in self defense and killed some demons to secure a Fallen- we didn't ambush some good kids in the middle of the night and kill them, no questions asked. Don't try to equate the two just because you have a crush on some girl," Veronika said, pointing a finger at Norbert.

[Mercakete]

A crush? I can't help but find her word choice kind of funny, even though it was supposed to be a jab... "What makes them scum? They weren't killing kids either. And I'm plenty grateful to Sophia and John, but the fact is that they're dead and taking it out on Suzumay isn't going to bring them back. She was there protecting her friends, just like we were. That conflict didn't involve us -- we involved ourselves because we wanted to protect those people we'd sailed with. How are we any different from her?" Norbert questioned. Though he remained plenty firm, he managed to maintain a level voice, which surprised even himself.

[Ether]

"Well, I suppose that's it then, isn't it?" Angelica replied, immediately releasing Athrun and springing back about a foot or so, her expression darkening for a moment before returning to normal.

"Honestly... if Athrun found me such a bother he could have said something himself... I suppose I'll take my leave of him. If you wish to find me in the future... well I suppose that's rather doubtful, isn't it? Do enjoy married life, Princess Athena." She concluded, before turning on her heel and starting towards the entrance.

[Snowy_One]

Robin took a nervious gulp. Already Nika and Bert were fighting and she hadn't even spoken up yet! And to make it worse, the pigeon-brain now had a baby with her?

"Where the hell did she steal that from? Don't tell me she's taken to swiping babies from cradles to eat now! I should totally put an arrow through her throat, but Raquel would probably be furious with me, if for nothing more than cold-blooded murder of Siv." she thought, glowering at Siv with a cold, lethal, glare. Then, giving her head a quick shake, she looked back to Bert. She had good memories, if a bit distant, of him. Had she had a crush on him at some point, despite his being Urswine? She couldn't remember well enough, but it didn't matter. She really needed a friend right now.

"Bert... Maybe you and Veronika should wait for Raquel to get back to voice your concerns?" she suggested, noticably timid. She wanted to get away from Siv and didn't want to get wrapped up in another fight so damned soon.

[Phoenix]

A Request

What Angelica meant as some generic well wishing was actually received more like an insult to Athena, since she didn't want to marry Terrel to begin with and marrying in general was appearing less and less to her as the engagement between the two dragged on. She was pretty certain she would be struggling every second to hide her dismay by the wedding ceremony. Once Angelica began to walk off, she sighed in relief. Of course, Athrun immediately followed. "Athrunnn ..." she quietly groaned.

"Angelica," Athrun spoke up, trying to at least slow her down if not stop her outright. He ended up circling around to her front in the end, anyway. "It was a mistake to let that carry on as I did. Forgive me. Now, I cannot speak for my sister, but I don't find you a bother. Please bear with me, a little longer," he asked, holding out his hand.

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

"Indeed, though it may be difficult to tell one way or the other if either of them wins ... at least without some explanation, though I doubt they'll go that far."

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

"We might as well go now ... unnnless you wanted to wait and see who wins the contest," Raquel replied. She realized that whenever the subject shifted from the dance competition, she subsequently forgot all about it, suggesting she was even less interested in it than she thought she was. Still, it felt a little awkward walking out just prior to a winner being announced.

A Mess

"You people killed my best friend," Suzume angrily and firmly noted. "It may have only been one person in your group, but if you can blame me for your friends deaths, then I can surely blame all of you for what happened to mine. You took Bobby's sister away from him forever, and dragged me way out here to Ursium where I have no family, no experience, and just enough money to survive for a little while. Isn't that enough? Do you have to chase me out of here too?"

"I don't mean any offense in saying this but the dead couldn't care less about honor. They're dead," Anna interjected after a short span of listening. "It may seem wrong to hire someone like Suzume, who was at least on the same payroll as the rebels she was working with, but it's better she's under Weyland's thumb now than back under theirs. If you really want to honor the dead, try to make sure others in your group don't end up dying for the same thing."

Since Anna was the only one who'd placed an order for the moment, the servant woman turned and left to see to it.

A Favor

"Hey ... ... hey ... I know you're at least alive, now wake up. Let's talk."

Whose voice is that? I don't recognize it. I'm still on the ground ...? My eye still hurts but not nearly as much ... and the rest of my body feels fine. I can definitely move but ... I just don't have the energy just yet ....

"Poor thing ... thought it was your date with the Gate, didn't you? Well don't be too disappointed, there's plenty more where that came from. You'll get your chance to die pathetically on some other day, I'm sure. Open your eye," came that same voice. Reign could tell he was close, kneeling beside him. As Reign slowly opened his eye, he saw a man clad in black with long hair tied into a long braid. Unsurprising to Reign, he was grinning back, despite how bad that situation had been. "There you go. See? You're alive ... I had my friend take a look at you earlier."

"My eye still hurts like hell ..." Reign replied. He tried to open it, and he actually managed, but something was very wrong; he could barely see anything with his left eye, and what he could see was extremely dark, blurry, and impossible to make out without help from the right eye. His blind spot seemed to have spread to nearly his entire eye, and so it was practically useless, now.

"Keep it closed, it'll hurt less in a little while. Sorry about that, but my friend couldn't fix your eye completely, at least not in time to completely restore your sight in that eye. There was a pretty big shard he had to get out first and ... well, let's just say it's a good thing you passed out before that whole thing got started. Don't worry, though ... once you're rich, I'm sure you'll be able to find some badass in Neviskotia to fix it for you. They're getting really good at making new eyes for people~ Until then ..." The man took out something from his coat. "Take this." He then sat it down right on Reign's chest. As he lifted his hand away, Reign's hand moved there to replace it.

"An eye patch?"

"Yeah."

"Do you just ... carry this with you wherever you go ...?"

The man chuckled. "Hey, I sometimes have to cover a lot of ground in a lot of different environments. It's good to have an eye that's already 'embraced the darkness', if you know what I mean. Keep it, I'll get another."

"Thanks ..."

"No, thank you for keeping that creature away from any large crowds. That would have been a massacre. I was watching, from start to finish and the path you took was admittedly one of the better ones to avoid making a real mess of things."

Reign was getting a little furious at this news, but figured he'd better learn what he could before he chewed this guy out, so he kept his calm. "Where did that thing come from, and what killed it?"

"Good questions, both of them. For the first ... well I'm pretty sure this 'thing' came from Europa. 'Born' and 'raised' right here in this fine city. There's no doubt in my mind."

"H-how is that possible ...?"

The man shrugged as he ceased kneeling and began to pace slowly in a semi circle around Reign's right side. "Hopefully we'll find out soon. As for what killed it ... heh."

"Was it you?" Reign asked immediately. He doubted it was him, but at the same time, there weren't a lot of people this 'okay' with what had just happened.

"Me? Pff ... look at me, you've got more muscle on you than I do. I'll tell you what could have killed it, though ..." he paused to lean closer and as his grin returned, he said, "... a bigger fish."

"... go'head and be cryptic ... I just stopped caring," Reign groaned.

The man knelt down over him and asked, "What's your name?"

"Reign ..."

"I'm Dominik. A pleasure. Well then, I should get going. If you still feel like napping on the ground, by all means. The creature's dead so only its smell can pester you now. The mare is fine, too, my friend patched her up. She's resting over there behind you."

"Tell your friend I appreciate everything he's done, please."

"Of course." Dominik started to stand up again, but then stopped, as if reconsidering something. Looking down at Reign again, he smiled and began patting the nomad on the shoulder. "By the way ... ... it turns out ... that you weren't lying to them back there, Reign ... there is a dragon in Europa." He patted Reign's shoulder a couple of more times, chuckled, stood up, and then began to walk off.

Is he serious? A dragon ...? A dragon saved me? Heh ... wow. Saved by one, spared by another, now saved and spared by yet another. This just keeps getting better and better ....

[Ether]

"You don't need to ask me to bear with you, Prince Athrun... I must say it was all quite fun dancing with you. Well, I might not be well suited to this kind of high-society party, but if the prince himself is to chase me down and ask of my hand, who am I to refuse?" Angelica replied with a smile, as she took Athrun's hand, intertwining her fingers with his.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika ignored Robin, feeling that Raquel's presence here was not needed. "The difference between John and Sophia's and Suzume's friends is that Suzume's friends are bandits, thieves, rapists, pillagers, and slavers- or supporters of those who do. The 'rebels' are nothing more than power hungry warlords who are willing to oppress and kill anyone in their way for their own selfish ends. Your friends brought this upon themselves and I'd have them killed again given the chance," she said coolly, before turning to Anna.

"Protecting the people in this group is one of my priorities, but that does not prevent me from wanting to respect those we have lost. Apparently Weyland Enterprises does not feel the same way," she finished, turning her back towards the table and beginning to walk out of the dining hall.

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"I thank you ... and again, I apologize," Athrun replied, taking Angelica's hand and leading her back toward the lineup. He made sure that he was between her and Athena this time, and he had no intention of letting too much dialogue go back and forth between them ... not this time. Athena didn't say anything when she saw them returning and simply kept her thoughts to herself.

Dining Hall

"Say whatever you want, I'm not getting involved in that whole empire vs separatist thing. You guys had no business jumping headlong into that," Anna concluded.

"Urgh! Hypocrite!" Suzume yelled back at Veronika as she left, standing up from her seat in order to do so.

"Oh sit down, already. We've got some things to go over," Anna instructed impatiently.

"No! What's the big idea, here?!" Suzume snapped, pointing at Siv and the child. "Why are you keeping them here?! They're demons!"

"... I am NOT a demon. She is NOT a demon, either. Demons are pets," Siv clarified, both insulted and a little surprised.

[Ether]

"There's no need for you to apologize for your family. You aren't the one taking issue with me." Angelica replied, before they made their way back over, Athrun specifically placing himself between Angelica and Athena this time around.

[Mercakete]

At first, Norbert ignored Robin. He didn't know how to address her concern and his focus was on the exchange. Truth be told, he couldn't refute Veronika's accusations about the rebels since he hadn't had much experience with them, but he was pretty sure that that generalization didn't hold water. And as far as he was concerned, if people died in combat, it wasn't murder. Once the Neviskotian noblewoman stormed off, he answered Robin, "I'm not under Raquel anymore and there was no reason to bring her into this."

When Anna suggested they get to business, his reaction was somewhat similar to Suzume's as he simultaneously began, "Are you nuts?" He would have continued, "We have a lot more important things to deal with first" but he stopped himself short and instead listened to what Suzume had to say. Siv responded in a frustratingly offended way.

"And humans aren't," Norbert muttered along the lines of what Siv said, casting her a little glare. Her being offended at being more or less called a pet was something he wanted to point out he felt too when the topic came up. To Suzume, he replied, "The one with the white feathers is the one we smuggled over the Kigen-Ursium border after some Kigenese mercenaries brought her there. The baby is actually a Vasilus we were given to take care of by the Vasilus Lilith."

He sent Siv another glare as he added, "She's not supposed to be holding it."

[Snowy_One]

"Everyone seems to be at everyone elses throat of late." said Robin, looking Bert in the eye. "Nika at Suzume's, me at Siv and everyone elses, we seem to be one poorly chosen word away from a fight today. Raquel seems to be the only one keeping us all together, and now look. I just spent several minutes moping in a corner, convinced I am a monster. I still am too." she reached out, trying to place a hand on Bert's shoulder to try and calm him down.

"Please, Raquel speaks with both the emblem and the authority of the house-owner Bert. Let us not start another fight so readily when her word is the final word in all of this. If... If you have a problem with how Suzume spoke, why don't you and I go off somewhere a bit more private and you can tell me about it. I am not sure what an ogress like me can do to help, but I will do my best to do so regardless."

[Mercakete]

"Raquel's not keeping Suzumay, Siv or me together with anyone," Norbert reiterated, a tad confused on why Robin seemed to think he was all that angry when he hadn't even raised his voice yet, "because she isn't in charge of any of us. She used to be my boss, yeah, but I cut ties earlier. She's not the final authority of anyone besides who is already in her group and nothing Suzumay said bothers me. It's what Veronika was saying that bothered me."