Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Mercakete]

"Take Anna's advice," Norbert rerouted, more or less trying to get the question out of the way than actually trying to be a help, "And asking about hobbies isn't a bad start. Just try not to dominate the conversation only talking about yourself."

[Snike]

"They used wyverns in the attack, so as to trick the army into thinking it was the Skotians, I believe. The cover story is true, as far as the army could tell," Blake said, to reinforce the attack on the estate. He quickly fell silent afterwards, to let the story progress.

[Balcerzak]

"Haha, from reputation I'd never have taken you for a caged bird, Sir Devlinos. That woman must be quite something special," Theodore couldn't help but laugh as Gabbie did her finest work at destroying his mental image of the avian. He honestly hadn't heard too much, and most of what he'd imagined was likely pure fabrication anyway, but even so. "That would leave you with the Buzzed Bachelors then, I'm assuming? Unless you're planning on overriding that veto on the 'leggy girls', but I'd imagine Charis had an interest in them from the start anyway."

[ReformBlade]

"The name's Jericho Pellen. " He replied with a small air of pride. "A do gooder with a penchant for fire." Though really I just want to go for one person... He thought, if only to remind himself that he had something to work towards so he wouldn't sit around forever,

Aneda was a bit embarrassed that she didn't know the lady's name right off the bat, unfortunately, so she sat down again, smiling a little, her face a slight tinge of red. "And gettin your ass kicked, heehee."

"Oh, yes, like I'm just gonna pick a fight on the street like that." He said defensively.

"But you kinda did anyway~"

"Ugh... Anyway, ignoring her for a second, well... actually no that was it, not really much else to my name I'm completely comfortable with talking to you folks about. Nothing too personal about it, just... kinda saying."

"See now I'm curious!"

"Well get un-curious... not... curious, you know what shut up."

Edited December 5, 2013 by ReformBlade

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"I suppose it's alright ... a cage has its benefits," Steinn replied.

When Theodore mentioned Gabbie lifting one of her vetoes, she said, "Hahah, not a chance." She didn't look like a woman who had been crying earlier, that was for certain.

"I will take them then," Charis agreed with a smile.

"That leaves me with our buzzed friends," Steinn said, nodding.

Urgh ... now ... what to say to Gytha when my turn comes up, Shadrak mused.

"I suppose we should get started and declare the winners. Who would like the honors?"

"Shadrak, how about you? You haven't shown much confidence in yourself tonight, and even now we can see you struggling with your thoughts, hmhm. You should take this opportunity to truly assert yourself as a judge and let everyone know who we've chosen," Simon suggested.

"I ... uh ...."

Main Hall

"Heh, I'm curious now, too. What's your story, Jericho?" Greta asked while reaching over to reclaim the bottle of whiskey. It'd take a somewhat steady supply of it to keep her mind off of other things. "Ya look like ya can hold your own in a fight, but there's definitely more to it than that."

Dining Hall

"I wouldn't advise sleeping in the stables with rooms available ... fair warning. If you want to write something down, I'd head to the library." Hearing Tia immediately follow up with her love of makeshift beds made of books, she frowned. "You people could at least pretend to be normal."

"I like to think of myself as normal. I sleep on the ground or 'stuff' when it's necessary, not by choice," Suzume noted.

"That makes you my favorite. Now then, if there's nothing else, I've got a war machine to put together ..."

Carriage

"So ... the reason we ended up in Rex-Avaz is because this girl, mainly, warped us along with Danton's walls and buildings into Purgatory and ...-" "Ohoho this is epic," Nadine cut in again. "Then they abandoned us there and--oh Sardis escaped in the chaos mind you--and we found Lilith's tomb."

"Let me guess, you broke inside and smacked her around until she woke up, and that's why she showed up not long ago in Ursentius and stole Ascension from the museum there."

"... yeah."

"This is the part of the story I'm inclined to believe since everyone knows about that violent heist of hers. I mean some people don't believe it's actually her, but even earth mages have a tough time with that blade, so if she can take it up with just her hands, it must be hers. That or she's just a really good actor. I don't really care either way, but don't worry. There's nothing crazy about you meeting Lilith at the very least."

"I can't help but feel like what she did was partially our fault. I mean she was just fine without the sword. We could have pretended we didn't know where it was and she might have forgotten about it or something," Raquel explained, letting her gaze fall to the floor.

"Eh, nobody died from what I heard."

[Mercakete]

"Why the advice against the stables?" Norbert asked. I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Rizen at hand than someone trained to kill I don't know in the next room over. ...I may not have a choice, though, actually. Anna seems like she's going to send someone to assign us our rooms anyway.

[Snike]

"Nobody was even hurt. from what I heard," Blake added in, mostly to reassure Raquel. "She literally walked in, took her sword, and walked out, from what I understand. The guards fired on her, but their weapons were useless."

[ReformBlade]

"My... story?" Didn't I just say I didn't want to talk about it? I don't suppose i have to tell them everything. "There's not much to it, just a heads up. I'm just looking for a person, someone I've... lost, let's say. Someone who owes me..." He finished, an almost imperceptible amount of bitterness in his voice as he did so.

"...Is that it? Come on, there's gotta be more." The pegasus knight insisted, but insisting didn't seem to be working in her favor here.

"You'll just have to find out if there's more, won't you?"

Meanwhile, over with Mushirah, she finally decided to speak up for some good old fashioned encouragement. "Come on, Shadrak, it won't be that bad! Plus... you've only got one chance, why not take it?" Oh gosh, why don't I take that advice? Ohhhh, not right now, conscience, just be supportive!

Edited December 5, 2013 by ReformBlade

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"Are you sure I should do this? I mean, it's ... well ..." Shadrak's excuses for not doing it fell apart mid-sentence and left him speechless for a moment. "Well, if no one else minds, I'll give it a go. Thanks, Mushirah. I'll try to get this right. It's my one shot after all."

Main Hall

"Hmm, sounds real personal. Alright, I won't pry any deeper'n that. I know how it is," Greta commented, taking a quick drink and then offering the bottle to whoever wanted it.

Dining Hall

"Well, you don't want to get off to a bad start with Ernesta, do you? I don't advise sleeping in the stables, then," Anna explained to Bert.

Suzume, speculating aloud, said, "She probably doesn't like people who live here sleeping outside of their rooms." She was hoping to get a nod or affirmation from Anna, but she had already turned around to leave, so that likely wasn't coming.

Carriage

Oh that's right; Blake did go with her, didn't he? Raquel thought to herself.

"So what's she like? You can't tell me you met a living legend and not expect me to be curious," Nadine replied.

Hehehehhhh, oh the meeting of legends is only just beginning, Hypnos noted in sheer amusement.

I'm not even sure whether to tell her about you or not ... you always disappear when you get put on the spot, and it's really annoying. "She's ... a bit like you but with no sense of humor. She's really serious most of the time and tends to look down on everyone else's problems."

"That does sound like me ..."

"Well, it's only a small comparison. You're much nicer than she is and even if it's just because we're friends, at least you don't trivialize everything I care about," Raquel insisted, her voice rising higher than she wanted. Quieting down, she continued. "Anyway, she's not my favorite person in the world right now. I mean she pretty much stole half of my err- ... artifact ... wwwithin five minutes of meeting her."

"Okay, fair point. I'd have just asked nicely unless it was too important to bother." That response would have made Raquel a bit happier if not for the last part, which was Lilith's excuse for being as forceful as she always was.

[Snike]

And so, the topic shifted to Lilith. Raquel was describing Lilith's personality, which was apparently similar to Nadine's - they even used the same excuse for taking something, being it was 'too important to bother'- with the exceptions that the latter had a sense of humor and was generally 'nicer'. That was certainly interesting, though nothing to remark upon. As a result, Blake continued to listen, thumbing the insignia in his pocket. At least they had gotten off of the topic of Bert, for now, though he wasn't sure how long that would last.

[Ether]

"Well damn... I had been told y'got inta some crazy shit Raquel but boss wasn't kiddin' when he basically said to be ready for wackier bullshit than I could even try t'come up with." Arietta chimed in at some point during the story telling... no wonder Weyland sent her support, if he wanted this girl any sort of alive, she needed all the help she could get, and then some.

[Mercakete]

That was really all the warning he needed. Indeed, Norbert did not want to get off to a bad start with Ernesta. "Fine," he half-grumbled, half-sighed. I guess I can only hope my neighbors aren't trained assassins...

That out of the way, Norbert thought to find that library Anna talked about, but then he remembered she wanted them to stay where they were for the time being. Eh, making the note its self can wait. "Want something to eat? I was going to see about getting something for myself," he asked Suzume.

[ReformBlade]

"Laaaame." Aneda blurted out with no actual follow up.

Rolling his eyes, "Maybe I'll change my mind if you'll share your whole person life story. Maybe." he reiterated for emphasis. He wasn't planning on it but hey, if he got a good enough story and a reason to say something...

"Hmm..." Thinking for just a second before stealing the bottle away again, taking a nice big gulp of the liquid, "Didja know I was in the military here only... gosh how long has it been? If i'm 26 then... 5ish years ago I think?"

"You? Don't take this the wrong way but I don't really imagine you as a soldier of any sort, you're way too... out there." Nothing about her seemed military in the slightest to the mage.

"Well to be fair I did sort of just... leave them. Took my Pegasus with me as I did that, couldn't stand the way things were run, couldn't stand being bound by so many rules and regulations, when to wake up, when to eat, when to train, who to fight, blah blah blah. It got depressing for me for a while there so I had to get up and go. I honestly don't know why I actually got away with it, maybe they just let me go? I dunno, that'd be kind of a bitter pill for me to swallow. Point is..." She thought her next few words out carefully. "I don't care for them now, and I really don't want to be here, but I think the fact that no one ever really came and got me and the fact that I'm still alive means they don't particularly find me of value to em likewise. So... yeah." It wasn't her most thought out logical pattern, but it's what she could come up with at the moment.

"I'm pretty sure you can't just... leave like that, on a whim." Jericho scowled at her. "You're not telling something there."

"Oh, now it's not okay to leave out a detail or two~?" she replied with the teasingest of tones.

"... Well played."

[ArchShark]

"Cruz," he stated simply to Timothy. Honesty worked much better than unnecessary lies. "I can see why. Such amazing talent present." He took a sip from his drink. "I'm not much of a dancer myself. Do you dance half as well as you speak?"

Besides subtly encouraging him to take a drink (and thereby secure his kill), Cruz was eying the crowd for someone to pin the blame should Timothy recognize his name. How hard could it be to find one shifty-eyed person in a ballroom?

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"If only," Timothy nervously replied. That bit of embarrassment didn't last long, though. "Besides, even if I could, I wouldn't hold a candle to some of those acts. I can't wait to see which is declared the winner, though I've a feeling the princess and Lady Wyght are going to be victorious." More talking wasn't making his thirst go away, so he took the first sips of the drink Cruz offered him.

Main Hall

"One'a my uncles got killed in the army, so I'm not a big fan, myself," Greta commented. "We weren't in a full-blown war with the skotians five years ago as far as I know. Maybe that had somethin' to do with it? I mean I hate to say it, but they probably did just let ya go, and not havin' any immediate need for soldiers probably gave'em the perfect excuse ... but at least you got your freedom in the end." She was going to need that bottle back real soon, from the expression on her face.

Dining Hall

Anna took a bite out of her sandwich, waved to those present, and then left the dining hall. She must have been in a real hurry to not even bother to finish her snack at the table, Suzume figured. Bert's question reminded her that she wasn't interested in eating ursian cuisine in particular if she didn't have to. Having spent weeks aboard a ship and some days on the road, with access to either ursian food, rations, or nothing at all, she wanted something she was familiar with. "Do you think they keep any fish here? Some rice too if they have any ..."

Carriage

For some reason, just as Raquel was about to move on to another part of the story, the carriage stopped. This caused Raquel to stop to, wondering what was going on.

"We're probably at the first gate. I'm not sure why it would be closed, but if there's no big issue we'll be moving again soon," Nadine offered.

"Oh, okay. Anyway, we uh ... well Lilith led us to Sanctuary next ..." she said before pausing to wait for Nadine's reaction.

"Hehehhhh. And then you met the rexian queen, right? I can't wait to hear how Sympan autographed a meteor and sent it down to you guys. Did you meet any other interesting legends along the way? You can get back to the actual story later, I'm more curious about this."

"Well Lilith brought Griffin back with her one time and he sank a pursuing ship for us ... and then they left us with an egg that has a phoenix in it. I'm not sure when it's going to hatch, though. We also ran into the angel of death if you can believe that. So that would make a total of six vasili we've run into so far."

Not noticing Raquel's math error right away, Nadine said, "The angel of death? Awesome. If you run into him again, could you see if he'd be willing to kill off every last bandit and pirate on the continent? That'd be great. I'm sure there's some natural order bullshit going on but it probably wouldn't hurt to ask. Also, six? I only counted five."

I'm happy you didn't forget about me, but technically I'm not a vasilus, Discovery. Also, you didn't seem to want her to know about me before.

Well at this rate I'm going to slip up anyway, and the fortress battle isn't going to make any sense without you in it.

Outside the carrier, the driver was trying to get a good look at the scene at the gate. From the looks of things, there were some people around, asking the guards about the situation ... on both sides of the gate, no less. The driver had a funny feeling they weren't planning on opening it any time soon. Something must have been wrong.

[ReformBlade]

"I may have my freedom but it's been nothing but a bunch of shallow self indulgence. I can't stand up for anything I believe in if I don't follow through with anything I say or want to say..." It was a sad reality for the rider but one that surfaced, if a bit too quickly. She did, however, cede the bottle over to Greta after hearing her story.

"...My condolences." Jericho uttered, not quite sure what else to do with the information. It came quickly to him and it was fairly sad, not in a deeply hurting emotional way to him but in the sort of way that the guy couldn't do anything about it since it'd been so long, he hardly knew either of them, and he didn't know what he'd do anyway even if he could.

"Well, for me it's done with... I just want out of here soonish, the longer I stay the more I'll feel watched and just all around blegh."

[Mercakete]

"I'll ask," Norbert answered as he got up from the table. Deciding to go right to the source, he made his way over to the kitchen and stepped inside. Rather than pulling a cook or idle server aside, he just asked the room as a whole, "Hey, do you guys have fish and rice? I need to write down a note for you all, too, so if you have any extra paper and something to write with, that'd be helpful."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika eventually stopped attacking the tree, afraid that the blade might dull. Fedor would not be pleased with me if I ruined his handiwork, she thought to herself, thinking fondly back to the blacksmith as she wiped down the sword with an oil rag. She then took her whetstone out of her pack and applied the oil to it. Placing the sword on the whetstone, she passed the sword down across the stone with a slow, uniform stroke. I will need a sharp sword soon- though hopefully not tonight, she thought to herself as she continued to sharpen, her mind drifting to Alastor, Colin, Silvia, Sardis, Suzume... So many enemies and not enough friends.

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

After slowly standing up to announce the winners, Shadrak took a deep breath, and the ballroom began to quiet down as various nobles noticed him and their neighbors. "Ahem ..." With that, the room grew even more quiet somehow. Keep yourself together. Keep yourself together. This is it! "The winners of the competition are Princess Athena Shastak, and Morgana Wyght."

Applause began right on cue, and the two winners bowed. Shadrak knew he still had one more job to do so he raised his hands to try and get everyone's attention. "Th-there's one more thing! One more thing!" It took a little while for the applause to die back down, but as it did, he composed himself and continued. "We wanted to each address five of the acts. Honorable mentions and such. And we would all comment on the Princess' and Prince's acts." Leaning down toward Theodore, he said, "That was it, right?"

"Oh splendid, I was hoping to hear their thoughts," Athena commented. "I'm not an avian so they'll have to be forthcoming, hmhm."

Athrun sighed at the news. He was getting a little tired of just standing around.

"Well it was close, I'm sure, but I suppose an act like theirs is pretty hard to beat," Haythem said to his group while scratching the back of his neck.

"How are you defining 'close'?" Morgana inquired, wondering if he really thought they had a chance.

Main Hall

"Hmm, I actually like it here," Greta noted. "I mean it's a little overwhelmin' sometimes, but right now, at times like these, big halls and servants all over the place is ... erm-therapeutic. Somethin' like that. Not enough guys, though ..." She took a couple of gulps and held the drink out for either of the two.

Dining Hall+Kitchen

Before even answering Bert's question, one of the cooks passed him a notebook with a thick stick of graphite attached by a long, pale red ribbon. It wasn't a pretty to look at as a pencil and might leave residue on the hands, but it would do for making quick notes. The man then handed Bert a noticeably dirty cloth and said, "Just note it in there and set it away from the food."

Another cook, a woman, answered, "Oh, plenty. Not many different kinds of fish at the moment, though. How much rice did you want? And did you want one fish or two? Will just anything we have do or did you want a certain kind?" There were some pretty big appetites around here, apparently.

Carriage

"Is there a problem over there?" The driver asked a passerby who had tried and failed to get passed the gate.

"Yeah, some tripe about wild animals attacking people in the city. First off, who let the bloody circus in with poorly trained animals? That fool needs to be hanged. Second, how can the guards not handle a few wild animals? Why do they need to lock down an entire section of the city just to deal some loose animals? I need to check on my family wrathdammit!"

"Well it's clearly a cover story to keep people from panicking, but that has me even more curious ..." the driver mused aloud. The passerby shrugged and stomped off as the driver got down and gently opened the door to the carriage. "We've a minor situation."

"So I heard," Nadine quietly noted. "Glad I brought my tome ... and my gun.

"Wild animals ...?" Raquel eventually echoed, trying to think of what that might actually mean. She knew there was no circus in town; those were so rare these days it was kind of sad. What she didn't know was what 'wild animals' would make at least a passable cover for. The only thing coming to mind were those vicious creatures that attacked them in Kigen when they tried to help Atsuko. It wasn't anything like that, was it?

Edited December 8, 2013 by Phoenix

[Ether]

"Aww, that's too bad. Oh well~" Angelica noted with a light sigh as the Princess and her partner were announced victorious.

***

"Well that's that, then. It was fun either way, right?" Faatina replied as proceedings continued... the Princess's dance partner made an inquiry of Haythem as the man made light banter, which to be honest, sounded quite haughty in tone... but it would likely be best not to comment on that.

***

"So what should we do, aye?" Arietta asked, her hand moving to the hilt of her maul... Nadine seemed ready for combat if at all necessary, appearing quite eager to make note of her weaponry.

***

Well, that could be an issue. No matter, Annelise decided, wistfully gliding towards their side of the closed off gate.

"If at all possible we would like to pass through here... what might be the issue keeping this gate closed?" She inquired of one of the guardsmen.

[Snike]

"I suppose congratulations is in order for both the Princess and the Professor," Ethan said, as the two women were crowned the victors. "I suppose it was not unexpected, however."

***

And so apparently part of the city was closed off, due to 'wild animals'. Right.

"Do you have a spare weapon?" Blake asked the driver. He'd be damned if he couldn't secure something to help defend Raquel with.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya clapped politely as the winners were announced, but frowned at Morgana's comment. Just because ya won doesn't mean ya have to be a bitch about it. "Their act was okay," she responded curtly.

Edited December 8, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[ReformBlade]

"Well yeah, here in this big old mansion is pretty spiffy but the places all around it? I don't particularly care for em. I'd take just about anywhere else... As long as it's liveable and nonviolent, of course.~ I can also agree to the guys thing, been traveling with a lot of women and girls. Not that I'm complaining too much, some of them are pretty cute and whatnot." Thinking about a previous incident left Aneda smiling, though it could easily be from the drinks she'd just had. the red in her cheeks was definitely due to that.

"Oh so you'd like to live in a fantasy land? You and everyone else, really." Jericho noted rather dryly, before deciding to be brave and take the bottle from Greta and taking a rather quick swig, giving him a burning sensation in his throat almost immediately, followed by a cough or two. "Oh fuck, I keep forgetting, ack... I'm never used to this stuff." Feeling a tightness in his chest, he handed the bottle off to Aneda while clutching at said chest.

"... you gonna be ok? Need a doctor or something?"

"N-no, just gimme a second..."

"Oookay then."

[Balcerzak]

Theodore nodded, clapped a hand on Shadrak's back, and whispered, "Just fine, champ. I'll take things from here."

Stepping forward then, taking center position from the other man, he began, "Addressing them in the order they performed, I firstly want to say a few things to Neil and Laura, who graced us here with their waltz tonight. You already know it, obviously, but your mastery of the steps and form was most excellent. The only flaw, if there could be said to be one, was in your performance artistry. For a dance so standard as that, it does little to whet the viewers appetite, and part of a contest such as this to entertain. I might recommend something a little bit more showy, for the future, perhaps a minuet, or, since they're both done in 3/4 time, a blend? If you want to stick to just the waltz though, don't simply stay in the closed position the whole time, but spice things up a little, add some hesitation steps, or switch briefly to promenade for a bit. Keep us titillated. Still, I must say on the whole, it was a solid performance, and an excellent way to start the competition off on the right foot." He put just enough emphasis on the final words, and ended with a wink, so that everyone would realize the bit of humor there was thrown in on purpose. Then he paused for both any laughter, and to allow a round of applause for the couple, before turning to Charis, and motioning her to proceed with her commentary.

[Mercakete]

Gytha clapped along and laughed a little to herself as the winners were announced. It had been a fun experience -- she didn't really view it as a competition in spite of the fact that that was just what it was -- and she was glad for the winners. When Shadrak announced that they were going to talk about the other acts, though, she became a bit curious and returned her attention to the judges. First was talk of the first act, of course, but most of it was lost on Gytha. She tried to be polite about it, but it was a pretty boring speech in her ears, even the joke at the end, though it did help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norbert was a bit surprised at how speedily things were handled, but he didn't mind being given the note pad so much. It was the barrage of specifics that he couldn't answer, really, that was bothersome. "I don't know -- it's not for me," he answered the lady cook, "It's for Suzumay. She was wondering if you had any rice or fish, so I just asked. You'll have to go ask her for the answer to those questions. She's the woman sitting at the table with the Fallen girl."

That handled, he quickly wrote down his name and preferred diet, which was simply summarized as "food good for enhancing effectiveness in training and combat."