Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Snowy_One]

"Bear burgers and Deer Sausage topped with fresh-cooked trail pancakes actually." replied Robin. "Into which some berries have gone and nuts served on the side, but I do know how to cook. I just want to learn how to cook better and think that they would enjoy something that hasn't been freshly killed from time to time. And alright. If we are still here, I will come tomorrow to learn. May I have a name? Or do I just ask for the chef head?"

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"Alright, well I see that dark magic user of yours, that one woman and the other wyvern rider. Let's gather them up and then see if we're missing anyone else," Haythem decided, making his way toward the judge's table.

Shadrak nodded at Mushirah and then waved to try and get Gabbie's attention, but she wasn't even looking in their general direction. "Hey! Gabbie, we're going, come on!" She seemed to be ignoring him in favor of keeping an eye on whatever Weyland and Steinn were up to. "Urgh, let's just go then, Mushirah," he said as he began to head toward Gytha, Faatina, Zachary, and Haythem.

"Hey there, is the wyvern rider coming?" Haythem asked as they drew close.

"Doubtful, she's pretty much bound to Steinn at this point," Shadrak replied. "Angelica seems to be trying to get in on the prince's ... thing, too. I'm not sure why, though. We should be sticking together right now."

Finally having gotten the king's approval to try and address the problem, Weyland and Steinn turned to leave. Chie was the first to approach the two and joined them at Weyland's side, which prompted Gabbie to finally get up and get moving. She joined them on Steinn's side. "So, what'd you say to get him to let go of you?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh I'm certain you can guess," Steinn teased, his eyes beginning to shift for just a moment before returning to normal. "Come, we have to be swift if we don't want to be outmaneuvered here."

"One moment," Charis interrupted, stepping out in front of them.

"When I said ask him about it ... I meant sometoime in the next century ... not now when we're trying to get a move on," Gabbie angrily shot back.

Terrel meanwhile stood up from his table, finished his drink and then followed after Ethan. He hoped he might be able to calm Athena down some. Even from where he was standing, she looked distraught about whatever the prince was planning.

A healer for the group? Even if that hadn't been a kind of necessity Athrun still would have allowed it. After all, they had no idea exactly what they were marching into. Nodding to Ethan as Morgana began to leave, he said, "Very well, if you're ready to go, meet us outside."

"Morgana, wait," Athena pleaded, grabbing the woman by the arm only to have her shoulders gently grabbed in turn by Terrel. "Hm?"

"She's doing this for your sake ... what if she doesn't go and something happens to the prince as a result?" Terrel reasoned.

"But what if something happens to you?" Athena countered, though it was aimed at Morgana.

Morgana hadn't so much as glanced back at Athena or Terrel and she wasn't about to start now. "I was defeated by a vile woman once ... but she's gone now ... ... and I will never be humiliated like that again. Ever. I won't be defeated out there, not by anyone," she assured Athena. Over the next few moments, Athena's grip steadily weakened, until Morgana's hand fell back at her side, and then she walked away.

Hallway

"Loo'for the room wiz'a door handleee ..." Greta said, pointing off in some random direction before her hand dropped like a brick. "Nevermind ... theyall have handlesss. Loo'for the shiny one ...." Maybe Greta's was noticeably shinier than the others for some reason, but that wasn't a detail to stake anything on. All the doors in sight looked identical right down to the door handles. On the bright side, Greta had just about everything she owned on her person, so even if she ended up in the wrong room, it wouldn't much matter so long as that room wasn't already taken.

Dining Hall

"You could ask some of the other guards how they manage," Suzume offered some advice. "I mean they probably have things they like to keep up on too, be it training or hobbies. I'm not sure exactly what kind of job I want here, but I know I don't want to be stuck at this estate all the time. I'm kind of hoping one of those number people wants an assistant or something."

Kitchen

"Johnny," the man answered.

"And I'm Carol. If you can't find Johnny, just find me instead. I always know where to find this guy," the woman added.

Carriage

"Sandrock here can keep up just fine at least," Reign replied. This just isn't my night ... He got Sandrock running and speed off a short ways ahead of the carriage, so he wouldn't be visible to Nadine. Just to be sure he was out of sight for the moment, he pulled out right in front of the carriage, but kept a good distance so the driver wouldn't feel the need to slow down. Slowing down was just not a good idea right now.

Sure enough, Nadine took a moment to lean out of the carriage to try and confirm that it was really Reign, but he disappeared before she could really get a good look at him. She knew it was him, but, in the middle of all of this hysteria ... "Dammit ..." She quickly shut the door and leaned back in her seat, not bothering to restrain Raquel anymore.

Raquel meanwhile had nearly run out of energy, and also knew they were getting too far away from the gate for anything she said or did to matter, anymore. "Why do people always do that ...?"

Her thoughts were all over the place, but that didn't stop her from finally reaching over and picking up the insignia Blake had left behind. Upon closer inspection, she could definitely tell it wasn't some part of Raquel's dress, so it was definitely his. "Strange for a nobleman to do something that crazy ... then again, maybe not. Chivalry isn't dead yet." Is that why Reign's here? Is he looking after Raquel too?"

Gate

The guardsmen didn't know who was ordering them around at first, but it sounded like a good idea just the same. No one else from within the city was approaching the gate, just demons at this point, so their best option for getting out of this alive was to shut the gate and hope they wouldn't bother trying to scale the wall as they fell back. Hopefully the cavalry would arrive soon and help drive back anything that slipped through in the meantime.

"Arghaaaagh, heeeeelp! Get it off of me," one of the injured pleaded to Blake as the demon continued to gnaw and jerk his leg, trying to sever it completely. When his strike hit the creature's paw, it cut so deep that the demon lost use of it and began to back off. The guard's leg was still attached, but only by his pant leg and a few bits of muscle. Not having the strength to crawl away, he pulled out his pistol and shot the demon in the nose, hoping to do some kind of damage before possibly being killed off. The demon, after nearly having its paw hacked off and being shot in the nose, had finally had enough and began to withdraw, relying on its ears now that its eyes and nose were both out of commission.

Inside of the left gate tower, one of the men near the gate tried to hit the emergency release, but he was ambushed by a sinister looking hound. Several more showed up as he was dragged away from the release and to the ground. In a desperate attempt to accomplish something before dying, he chucked his sword at the ropes above the controls, severing one of them and causing a loud shutter outside. The gate had been jostled and was now off balance, but someone had to hit a release on the other side or it wouldn't fall. He would have preferred to save the bullet for himself, but instead chose to shoot one of the other ropes. Miraculously, he didn't miss, and with only one rope sustaining the gate on that side, pressure on the other side became immense, and another loud noise came.

Outside, the surviving guards noticed the gate was making noise, but not coming down. "They're in the towers," one of them cried out. "We have to get in there, now, or we'll never get this gate shut!" Worse still, more demons were coming into view, hounds and particularly large cats. They had a handful of men left and the cavalry still hadn't shown up yet. That had one of them considering just abandoning the gate altogether. The civilians in the area were already long gone, after all ....

Edited December 13, 2013 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya made her way outside, thankful that the guards seemed uninterested in her passing. She noticed that the carriages were outside, but did not appear ready to leave. She walked over towards a cluster of people she assumed were carriage drivers.

"All right, I'm gonna need a ride back to the Weyland Estate as soon as possible. City's under attack apparently and we don't have a lotta time to spare," she said bluntly.

[Ether]

"Because you're always so damn quick to throw yourself in the middle o'everything, Raquel. Y'should invest in some armour if y'plan on keepin' that up." Arietta replied, as Reign pulled away, and Raquel groaned out a complaint.

***

"Well, both Steinn and the Prince seem like they'd be pretty safe, compared to most... we should worry about gathering up people who don't seem to be going anywhere." Faatina noted.

***

The amount of obvious it was that Athena cared more for her dance partner than her new husband was damn near appalling, so much so that Angelica couldn't help but smile as the exchange continued.

[Snike]

"Excellent. I just need a heal stave and a light tome," Ethan said, as he followed the prince and his guards. It looked like he'd even be able to work with the Professor! Perhaps this wasn't going to be as bad as it seemed.

Eve was pleased that they indeed had a staff wielder, but that was counteracted by Athena's displeasure. Hopefully Terrel would make himself useful for once, and raise her spirits.

***

"We need a medic over here!" Blake said, once the demon retreated. The man had surely lost his leg, but if they intervened in time they could save him. All of a sudden, the gate began to make a loud noise, and one of the guards said that they needed to get into the towers to close it down. This was going to be fun.

"Alright, I'll take the right tower, with maybe a few others," the swordsman said, as he ran up closer to the gate, along with the few remaining guards. "How do I shut it down?"

He was already moving towards the entrances of the towers, as he spoke, so as to not waste time.

[ReformBlade]

Sticking together sounded like a very typical thing to do, safe, but for some reason Mushirah wasn't sure it was the absolute best of options at the moment. Most likely due to her panicky nature as of now. What if we're all taken out at the same time since we're grouped up? Who would tell my parents that I was murdered? She put on a brave face, or at least a stoic face, but really she was a mess on the inside, though that would be a fairly normal thing under these circumstances she hoped.

"Really?" Jericho mouthed, hand sin his pockets as he walked with Aneda and Greta towards a room, any room really. Aneda had the same idea and eventually just picked a room. "Wow, imagine that, we found the room you were talking about!" she exclaimed as Jericho, the gentleman that he was, opened the door. Thankfully no one had occupied it already, what luck that was. It was a pretty good idea at the time, but Aneda sort of tossed Greta onto the bed there without any sort of warning beyond a sudden, "Here ya go!"

[Mercakete]

Suzume's advice was a little...strange. What was she getting at? Did she think he'd get stuck with a boring job? Well, it sounded like she figured he'd become a guard, but if that was the case, what was all this about asking how the other guards managed? It was quite confusing, but luckily, the mage offered more information for him to focus on instead. Thinking about it, it made sense that Suzume would want a job where she could travel around. It was similar to what she was used to that way. But to become the assistant of a number? "Well, I guess we'll just have to see what's available. Who knows? Maybe we're limiting the options too much. This place is a little crazy, after all."

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"Angelica needs a tome as well, and so will Morgana. Eugene, do you think you can handle that for us?" Athrun asked, glancing over his should at the royal guard captain. After getting a silent nod, Athrun returned his attention to his front. "Very well then, we should get some carriages ready as soon as possible."

"Hold a moment," Charis said as she blocked the path of Weyland's group in order to confront Steinn. "Steinn Devlinos. You are a prince, are you not? Tell me, why are your people attacking?"

"To bestow suffering, of course," Steinn answered as if it should have been obvious. To destroy all avians, to repurpose all humans, to corrupt all dragons ... and so on and so forth, that's our purpose as far as the outside world is concerned, is it not? "I have other plans in mind, however ... but ... if I am waylaid for too long, my plans will surely come to not and you'll be a the mercy of the 'merciless.'"

"This isn't the time for us to be letting others dictate our pace," Weyland scolded Steinn. "Charis, get out of the way ... please. We're trying to put an end to this violence while there's still time, but we need to get back to my estate, first."

"I suppose so. Forgive my stubborness, but I doubt I'll have another chance like this. Please go, and save whom you can." With that, she stepped aside and Weyland's group passed by, leaving a lot of confused eavesdropper in its wake. They passed up Athrun's group before long as they made their way out.

Meanwhile, Haythem and Shadrak looked around the room trying to see if there was anyone they had forgotten that hadn't left with Raquel. "Well, you're right; Gabbie's with Steinn and Angelica's with the prince, so I guess that's nothing to worry about-oh right! We're missing Gar," Shadrak realized.

"Who?" Haythem asked. He didn't recognize the name and the face wasn't coming to him, either. That was when he remembered a couple more they were missing. "Jamilla, Erion, and Alphonse," he gloomily noted. He hadn't seen a one of them in a good while, long enough to fear they could be anywhere. "Should we try to find them or just get going, ourselves?"

Main Entrance

"It's not just you is it, Miss?" one of Weyland's drivers asked.

Random Room

Even after landing on something soft, Greta didn't quite know what was going on ... she thought she did, though. "Thanz, n'neda, this coush'll do until'ya fin' my room. I'll jus'take a na'ph'ere ...." While mumbling and slurring just about every word that came out of her, she grabbed and curled up around a pillow.

Dining Hall

"Maybe ... as long as I don't end up in a maid lineup. I just need to figure out what sorts of jobs are available that'll get me out of here at least occasionally, but hopefully regularly. I don't know how long I'm going to stay here, but there isn't exactly a pressing need to go back home, either. For all my griping before, I'm starting to like the idea of having a really well paying job in a friendly place ... even if it is in a foreign country."

Gate

"You should see some ropes in front of a large wheel with levers, kind of like a ship's helm! You need to either-gah!" She was interrupted by a hound leaping at their group, but managed to jump over it. That wouldn't have worked if it hadn't been going for her legs, and she counted herself lucky. "You have to either turn the wheel counter-clockwise along with someone in the left tower to get the gate open, or cut the ropes! I'm pretty sure the ropes'll have to go at this point, though ..."

Two of the remaining guards rushed in, trying to pull ahead of Blake so they could head off any demons that tried to keep them from reaching the tower. At this point, the only way in was through the gate, and off to the right, but opposite that direction was where all the demons were coming from. If they got stopped here, the whole position would be overrun. Worse still, no one was quite sure if this was an effort at full containment or just a stopgap measure.

Just as the two ahead of them expected, demons appeared to head them off, hounds and a couple of very big cats again. "Get inside, now! I don't know how long we can hold'em!"

The two guards still with Blake were disgusted they had to leave those two to a most likely gruesome fate to even have a chance of getting the gate closed, but what other choice was there? Someone had left the door into the tower open, in a panic most likely. This was fine as a whole, since they could easily get in now, but it was also a bad omen, since it meant demons might have already slipped in unnoticed. They couldn't have seen it happen at any point from where they were fighting a few minutes ago, and that was likely the same reason the left tower had gone silent. "Watch your corners ... those crazed mutts are just as bad as the big ones when they have the numbers ..."

Carriage

"It's not like putting on a suit would have stopped Blake from doing that," Raquel argued weakly. She'd spent so much energy struggling to get free earlier that she looked a little beyond exhausted. And somehow she didn't tear her dress in the process.

"Mage armor might work, though it obviously doesn't look like your usual armor," Nadine offered while holding onto the insignia. She thought about giving it back to Blake the next time she saw him, but she sincerely doubted there would be a next time. It seemed more likely that it would just end up as a memento for Raquel to hold onto.

"... we ... we need to go back. I can get him out of there. I can ... I know I can ...." she muttered to herself while staring off at nothing. Nadine wouldn't have worried about that if not for what came next, a faint golden glow surrounding Raquel's body.

"Wait, where's that power coming from? I don't sense anything in here."

"I Just have to use the emblem ... I just have to use it ... again ...."

"I know she's out of it now, but what's she talking about?"

[Mercakete]

Gytha had no idea where to look for any of those people, so she decided it would be best to just stick with the main part of the group.

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

"Yeah, I wouldn't wish that on--" Norbert cut himself off regarding the maid lineup to think about what he was saying. There were some people he really didn't like, but after a bit of thought, he came to the same conclusion with a nod. "Right; I wouldn't wish that on anyone...that I can think of at the moment. But you heard what Anna said about how they do things around here. I wouldn't worry about being made into a maid unless you wanted to...for some unholy reason..."

[Eail]

While everyone else was talking among themselves about the plan for escape, Zachary was thinking. "We need our weapons.... and the mages are in a bad shape right now after being drained... this isn't good." Testing himself for a moment, Zach knew he'd be unable to do even the basics without a tome at the moment. Even then.... he'd probably have to use that technique from Kit in order to pull off anything big.

______________

As Jamilla and Alphonse returned from their little training adventure, there was a great deal of hustle and bustle going around. Something had obviously happened, something bad. Grabbing the nearest guest and asking what was going on, the swordsman's face paled.

"We need to find the others now Jam, if this isn't Neviskotia its something much worse...." It was obvious that he was disturbed by the attack. "Come on."

Looking through the ballroom, it was easy enough to find Haythem, he kind of stuck out like that. Having abandoned all forms of politeness Alphonse practically shoved a path through for himself and his companion. "What in the name of Mercy is going on Haythem? Where's everyone else?"

[-Cynthia-]

"Not just me, the other employees are organizin' themselves and should be comin' out soon. Thought I'd give ya time to get sorted since we'll want to get goin' as soon as they come out," Nadya explained.

[Snike]

"Cut the ropes, got it. Aim for the eyes and the nose on those things," Blake said, as he entered the tower. "Cover me, or cover your backs; it doesn't matter to me."

Right, so odds were some of those hounds were in this tower, which would make things difficult. The swordsman decided to crouch down and ascend the steps that way, so if a hound lunged at him, he wouldn't be knocked off balance and would have time to at least retaliate. Hopefully there weren't too many...

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"Nadya's out front, Angelica and that wyvern rider are over there with the important people, I have no idea where Erion or this Gar fellow are, and Raquel left with a few others a little while ago," Haythem answered, sounding mostly out of the loop, himself. "For now, let's just get a move on and get outside.

Main Entrance

"Right then ..." the driver nodded before turning around and preparing to shout. "Weyland party, prepare to move out! This is an emergency!" Random drivers within other clusters began to break off and approach their respective carriages while the first began a short jog over to his.

Dining Hall

Siv, who had been steadily falling asleep at the table along with the infant, finally came to when the conversation shifted back to maids. "Why are maids bad?" Being a part time maid herself, or something to that effect, she was a little confused, and wasn't sure if Bert had some reason that didn't involve her specifically.

"I just don't like the outfits or the idea of being stuck inside all the time," Suzume clarified on her end. She would have gone on to poke fun at Bert's fear of the maids themselves, but she had just realized she was talking to a fallen and that realization violently derailed her train of thought. What in Sardius am I doing having a conversation with a fallen like this?

Gate

The guards were reluctant to do so, but to avoid being hit from both sides, they shut the door behind them, and hoped that they could deal with anything that was already inside. Near the actual gate controls was a trio of hounds. One was gnawing on a dead man's arm, another was sniffing around, and the third was right beside the wheel, chewing on one of the handles. This was not good.

[Mercakete]

Norbert himself considered replying, but looking to Siv also meant seeing the infant and that had settled it. Immediately he'd figuratively dug in his heels, letting his glare rest on the white-winged one; he was rather disinclined to give her anything she wanted and this was within his power to withhold. In spite of earlier reasoning, he was still unhappy about her holding the child, both for the sake of humans in general and for the infant herself. That pause also gave him the opportunity to realize that since you never really knew where a maid was at any particular time, it was probably for the best that he not say any more about them out loud.

[Snowy_One]

"Johnny, Carol." said Robin, trying her best to smile. She wanted to at least appear courteous and gracious, though she felt certain that, if the two had any brains on them and knew that Skotia and Ursian weren't exactly the best of friends, they wouldn't be surprised that she wasn't exactly the happiest camper here, even with their offer of help.

[Toogee]

[spoiler=This stuff happened before Eail's last post]

"Well, with all that practice, I'd hope I got at least a little better," Jam commented. "Now come on and strike back!"

Jam approached Alphonse from the side and stabbed her stick towards him, as if holding a rapier.

"Now now, Ursentus wasn't built in a day Jam. I've been training for.... over 15 years and I'm still not a perfect swordsman." Alphonse kept talking as he side stepped the girl's strike. She was adapting on the fly, an impressive skill for a beginner to pick up. He'd start "fighting" back though now, make the dancer stay on her toes. Mimicking Jamilla's actions with the stick he launched his own attack

"Perfect enough to try and train me," Jam replied as she spun around the attack, her golden hair flowing through the air. Her dancing skills allowed her the agility to glide around the "blade" and swiftly turn her maneuvers into an attack. Her weapon spun with her, heading for Alphonse's neck.

Al didn't reply to that one, just because he was good enough to train the girl didn't mean he was the best. The redhead actually wondered if he'd ever actually be of the skill level of his father. Shaking those thoughts to the side, he went back to the game they were playing. Jamilla's hair... with the way it flowed in battle it could actually be a decent distraction to use against an opponent. Storing that information for later, Alphonse ducked under Jam's swing, crouching low to the ground before pushing up and bringing his sword forward in a stabbing motion towards her gut

Jam jumped back from Alphonse's blade, jumping right into the adjacent dining seat. Caught offguard, the dancer landed on her bottom, facing her opponent's approaching blade. She recalled during her dances that, whenever she made a misstep, she would improvise to keep going. Such quick thinking was put to use here:

"Hya!" Jam cried out as she kicked upward at Alphy's hand, hoping to disarm him.

That sudden kick, Al actually hadn't been expecting it. He might have been able to move his arm in time to take less damage from the blow, and take the attack on his forearm. Jam had done well though, so he'd give her this victory without any further playing around. The girl truly had skill in improvising her movements, she could be a very dangerous fighter one day given the proper training.

With the kick connecting, Alphonse's "weapon" was sent flying out of his hand, leaving him unarmed. "Huh.... looks like ya got me Jam. Now while I could switch to hand to hand. I'd rather not punch my best friend ya know? So good job!" Holding out his hand to help the girl back on her feet.

Jam beamed when Alphonse declared her the victor. She gladly took his hand and stood back up. She could hardly believe her kick actually worked. Even though this was only for fun, the dancer felt a sense of accomplishment in besting the swordsman.

"I'll be waiting for that sword," Jam bragged, winking at Alphy to let him in on the joke. "In the meantime, I'm ready to call this a night. How about you?"

"I think I have something in mind I could prepare for you Jam. Might take a little bit of time to find it though. You'll get your sword though, I promise." Alphonse told the dancer with a smile. Placing the sticks back where they'd gotten them from, the redhead stretched out. "Yeah, we ended up playing around for quite a while didn't we? Probably need to get back to the rest before we get left behind or anything like that. Now that is something I'd rather not have to deal with."

'Oh gods the drama that would bring. Jamilla and I disappear for a while just the two of us, come back looking a bit disheveled and slightly sweaty. Yeah... could most certainly do without that.'

"I'll say," Jam replied. "I don't even hear the music anymore. Is it over already?"

Jam poked her head out of the room to see that the atmosphere took quite a turn. The king had apparently entered the ball to announce that there was some battle happening in the city. The number of guards quickly increased around the area and nervous mumblings filled the room. The dancer exited the room to get a better look at what was happening.

"What's going on out there?" Jam said to Alphonse, a little disappointed that they missed the initial announcement.

Jam was doing her best to keep up with Alphonse, trying to catch the conversations around her. From what she could tell, wild beasts were roaming around the city, but that shouldn't have been much of a problem for guards, right. Clearly, there was more to the story, or else they wouldn't be in such a rush to get out of there. As Haythem explained what he knew, Jam chimed in with what she knew.

"Erion left a while ago. I hope he made it back to the mansion all right..." As she followed Haythem and Alphonse to the carriages, the dancer looked around to see if Erion was around after all.

[Snike]

Alright, three hounds, two of which were preoccupied with gnawing on things. One, a dead man's arm -that was disgusting. Poor soul- the other, the controls. Blake checked to make sure he wasn't going to be ambushed by some fourth demon, then dashed and sliced at the sniffing hound. It'd take a second or so for the other monsters to react, which might be long enough for him or the guards to take another dog out.

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"So Erion's accounted for, I guess. That just leaves Gar, then, right? Everyone else is either accounted for or left with Raquel?" Haythem asked the group.

Putting a hand on his chin to think carefully on it, Shadrak replied, "Blake should be with Raquel, and even if Arietta didn't go with her, she should be right outside, so that should be everyone as far as I can tell. I could be forgetting someone, though ...."

Main Entrance

Once Weyland's group arrived outside, he thought to call out to one of his drivers to get ready, but he noticed each one that was in sight was already doing so. "Hm ... well then, I suppose the sooner they're ready, the better."

"Mister Weyland, hello. Is something the matter? You seem to be in an awful hurry," Amber noted. She hoped the famed professor wasn't trying to skip town or retreat to his likely impenetrable bunker at the first sign of trouble.

"Yes, we're in a hurry and need to be heading back, now," he answered while waiting for his drivers to get the vehicles over. Amber frowned at that, which prompted another response from Weyland. He cocked his eyebrow asking, "What ...?"

"Well, sir ... the situation is being taken care of. There's no need to panic."

"Oh for the love of-I am neither running nor hiding."

"Oh! Are you going to get a tank to deal with the wild animals?"

"A tank seems excessive ..." Chie noted.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Weyland replied to the beast master.

"I would like to have my 'wild animal' back since we're here and on the subject."

Dining Hall

Since Bert wouldn't say anything, choosing instead to glare at her, Siv focused in on his thoughts instead. Seeing this as a great time to relieve the boredom that had been putting her to sleep, she carefully rested the infant on her lap, and then raised her hands up, positioning her fingers like rending claws, and then hissed at Bert like a cat a couple of times, then once at Suzume. Once that display of power was over and done with, she giggled to herself and went back to cradling the infant. "If a maid scares you so much, you should be even more scared of a kestrelii maid," she explained to Bert, both looking and sounding serious that time.

Suzume sensed some semblance of a decent point in there, but Siv herself didn't look like much of a threat, and she wasn't dressed for maid work, either; all she had on was some white dress shirt.

Kitchen

"Yep, that's right. Now then, if you want something to eat, place an order and have a seat with the others. Otherwise, I'll see ya tomorrow, I guess," Johnny replied.

Gate

The injured hound let out a yelp and lost its balance while leaping away, causing it to trip and tumble over. The other two guards rushed into the room just as it happened and both pulled out their sidearms and fired on the other two, each scoring a headshot. One of the demons survived being shot in the head, but it was in a complete stupor from the trauma and fading by the second. The tumbler quickly recovered and dove for Blake with complete abandon.

Carriage

"Raquel, snap of it," Nadine demanded as she began to lightly shake her friend by the shoulders. Raquel was staring off into space with a hopeful expression on her face, and the glow around her body was only getting brighter. "Urgh, what's going on here ...?"

Outside the carriage, a group of horsemen appeared in the opposite direction. They were hoping to reach the gate and get control of the situation, but Reign wasn't sure if they really stood a chance. They would fare better than the foot soldiers at any rate, but what the gate defenders really needed right now were some mages.

[Mercakete]

Since they'd heard the news of the happenings in the city, Cecelia had found it difficult to keep focused on her present task. It helped to remind herself that if the animals made it to their location, she and the others needed to be ready to defend those inside, but she still worried about the soldiers that were having difficulty controlling the beasts and about Nadine. Part of her regretted not sending more than one officer with Valcyn, but then again, she felt she'd followed procedure to the best of her knowledge at the time. It didn't change the fact that it was up to Nadine alone to protect those she'd been sent with if they were attacked, and entire groups of soldiers were having difficulty.

A woman with Prof. Weyland -- whom Amber had just recently been talking to -- then asked for her "wild animal." It took half a moment, but Cecelia then realized that she meant the snake they'd been holding. She'd forgotten about it a while ago what with all that had been going on. So, she picked up the box, opened it, and presented it to the woman. So, she's the one who tried to sneak a snake in here. How odd.

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

When Siv rested the child on her lap and raised her arms, at first, Norbert's brooding shifted quickly to worry. Was the baby really safe like that? Was it going to fall? But Siv almost completely derailed that when she started hissing and making claws with her hands. The first time was confusing enough, but the second time just froze his face, with his upper lip half curled up, his head somewhat to the side and his brow heavily furrowed in the emotion. She also hissed at Suzume, but that didn't really matter what with just how confounding the first two had been. ....What...? The girl seemed to be done, though, and went back to not endangering the little one, even giggling about what Norbert had no clue.

And then she clarified what she was apparently trying to get at. Well, that cleared up the confusion, but it did cause his temper to flare some. "Hey, stay out of my head!" he demanded, before adding, "And by the way, you don't scare me one bit. You're just annoying. And what makes you think I'm scared of the Fallen, anyway?"

Edited December 14, 2013 by Mercakete

[Snike]

Blake thrust his blade at the diving hound. That should do it, but if it didn't he was in trouble. Which didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, as the other two could easily lower the gate without him.

[Phoenix]

Main Entrance

"Thank you," Chie replied, letting her viper climb up onto her shoulder. Before long it had begun to slither down into her dress. As it returned to its hiding place, the puffy part of her dress' left sleeve, Amber squinted at Chie.

"Heeey, how many snakes could you hide in there, lady?"

"About four at the most. After that, they begin to get cramped and uncomfortable. Of course, I only brought this one with me," she explained.

"Well ... we sure messed up if she's lying," Amber concluded.

Dining Hall

"Oh really?! We'll see how scared you are when I'm wearing the maid outfit tomorrow," Siv yelled back, as if Bert was on the other side of the room. That aside, her eyes had shifted for a moment. Suzume couldn't help but snicker at that. She took the fallen seriously, of course, but Siv was just being silly, now.

Deciding to make a jab, she said, "Why don't you go put the costume on now? You could use some clothes."

"I have clothes on. You can see them," Siv irritably noted while glaring away from them. The attempt to annoy her was successful, but the attempt to get her to go and change or at least leave in general was a resounding failure.

Gate

Rather than try in vain to abandon its attack, the hound opened its mouth wide to try and bite down on Blake's skull but ended up with a blade in its mouth instead. The blade slide back and pierced through the hound's neck. The hound didn't lose any momentum, despite the blade, and forced Blake to the ground with its death lunge.

While one guard jogged up and began stomping on the head of the hound that had survived a head shot, the other ran up to Blake and ran her sword through the side of the demon's skull. It struggled a bit more, trying to somehow force Blake's sword all the way through its jaw and neck just so it could get at him, but it lost consciousness and died before the hilt entered its mouth.

"By the gods ... tenacious bastards, aren't they? I wish our front line troops were half that ferocious."

"Die you son of a bitch! Die! Die! DIE!!!" The guard was stomping on pulp and still going at it.

"Idiot! Lower the gate!"

"Urgh ... r-right ..." He quickly ran over and began pulling on the lever but he could have sworn the blasted thing was jammed. Deciding it didn't matter since the gate was already sabotaged on the left side, he began cutting the ropes supporting the gate mechanism. As soon as he cut through the first one, a tremor filled the room and the gate came crashing down. "... whew ... well ... we're trapped in here with the demons, now, but at least they won't escape. Once the pegasus knights and mages show up, they can put an end to this, I'm sure."

Edited December 14, 2013 by Phoenix

[Ether]

"Shit! Aye, driver! Be ready to make a bloody u-turn on my signal, y'got that?" Arietta called out as the golden glow began to encompass Raquel, obviously in a bit of a panic.

"This s'gonna sound right dumb but y've gotta take me at face value here. Raquel does some whacky shit when she gets glowy like that, and the most common is spontaneous warpin'... if she pops outta here we double back like we're about to run into a fuckin' platoon a'nothin' but bloody dragons." Arietta stated to Nadine, as she nervously watched whatever movements Raquel might be making.

"Try and keep a grip on 'er... she can move other people too and if ya are on top of 'er y'might get pulled along... atleast someone'd be able to keep 'er safe 'till we got back 'round, that way."

***

"Not much for it, I guess..." Faatina replied with a sigh, as they eventually made their way outside. She only hoped that whoever was left had managed to get to safety on their own...

***

"Are we going to try and gather any more reinforcements, or are we just waiting for equipment, and leaving?" Angelica asked, looking towards Athrun as she did so.

[Mercakete]

Technically, we didn't, but I'd be disappointed if the Lieutenant Colonel allowed something like that to get by our forces. If one can smuggle snakes into the ball, I'd had to imagine what else could have gotten through... Cecelia thought at Amber's comment.

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

"The outfit doesn't change a thing, birdbrain," Norbert replied, but at this point it was getting difficult to take Siv seriously. Now she was just more of a bother and he was considering just ignoring her again. "You see, inside all that you're just a little kid and frankly, you're powerless. Powerless people don't scare me. You don't seem too bright either, so it's not like you pose any sort of threat, even tactically."

[Snike]

Blake wrenched his sword out of the dead hound, pushed the corpse off of himself, and got up. After he sheathed his weapon, he picked up the monster's body and threw it down the stairs.

"Thanks for the assist," he said to the guards, as he went for another hound cadaver. "I take it we'll be here for a while, so I may as well introduce myself.My name is Blake Frode, and I suppose it is a pleasure to meet you both, though I wish it could've been in a better situation."

Hopefully the door would hold for a while.

[Phoenix]

Ballroom and Main Entrance

"I suppose we can wait for Eugene and Morgana outside," Athrun answered. "Let's go." He began leading the way and before long they caught up with Weyland's group, which for Athrun was a bit of a surprise. "Where are you people going? My father encouraged the guests to stay put."

"He encourages peace between the countries too but that's certainly isn't happening," Weyland irritably countered. Any other time Weyland, and you'd be in trouble for that line. He went on to actually explain. "We're heading back to my estate to finish preparations for our own battle, that should hopefully bring a swift end to yours."

"I'm clearly missing some context because that makes little sense to me ... but at least you aren't running away, I suppose."

"It wouldn't do us much good, I'm afraid," Steinn noted with a sad smile.

Haythem's group wasn't far behind, and the main entrance became noticeably more crowded as a result. "Uh ... hi," Haythem awkwardly greeted.

Dining Hall

"Birdbrain?!" "Powerless?!" Siv echoed whenever Bert served up a new insult. "I am far more powerful than you, human! You can't even use magic and your aura is as weak as a child's! I ... I could probably burn you to a crisp if I felt like it. You should consider yourself ... ff ... fortunate. Yes, fortunate."

"She really gets pretentious sometimes, doesn't she? She reminds me of a noble," Suzume quietly said to Bert, while leaning closer to him. She wasn't trying too hard not to be heard, but she didn't want to make Siv think she was deliberately saying it to get to her either. It didn't matter though, because Siv heard it and went somewhere Suzume wasn't expecting.

"I am a noblewoman," she clarified in that same dignified tone, looking away from the two of them in mild disgust.

That explains so much and yet ... also brings up so many more questions ... like ... there are noble fallen? That doesn't make any sense at all.

Gate

"Frode, huh? Sounds familiar. Private Ken Linnet," the male guard answered with a somewhat pointless but also clumsy salute. He was tired and shaky ....

"Jessica Baker, Private First Class ... though after all the heads that rolled tonight, we're both likely to be promoted by tomorrow if we survive."

"Are you kidding me? If they won't let me resign after this massacre, I'm deserting!" Once Jessica sighed at his antics, he added, "I don't care if they label me a coward. If I wanted to fight things like these, I would have joined the actual army and taken on those blasted wyvern riders. You may have signed up for this insanity, but I sure didn't ..."

"Just shut up, please. I don't disagree with you, I just don't want to hear it right now. It's depressing to see other soldiers losing their nerve and there's only three of us right now."

Carriage

"Urgh ..." Nadine wasn't sure what to make of this warping business but if it followed the same rules as normal warping, they would just get caught up in it if they tried to restrain her, so the best option was to get her to calm down ... but how? That's what Nadine was trying to figure out. Well ... she's a habitual liar, so she won't have much to complain about if I do this .... "Raquel ... look ... if it's that important to you, we'll turn around, okay?"

"... turn around ...?" asked a now confused and still dazed Raquel.

"Yeah ..." Nadine then turned to Arietta and shook her head, letting her know that wasn't the real plan at all. She then opened the carriage door and called to the driver. "Listen, I need you to circle around." Knowing he'd be confused about that, she drew a wide circle with her arm for him. If this was going to have any chance of working, Raquel had to at least feel the carriage turning. Going in a complete circle might fool her if it was done right, but it was still a gamble, and Nadine's last resort before conking her friend over the head.

"A circle?"

"Yeah circle back." Figure it out, would you?

"So turn around, and then keep turning until we're going forward again? That's a little strange."

"Yeah, I know but it's for Raquel's sake. She'll be a mess if we don't do this," Nadine explained, figuring Raquel could only hear her half of the conversation.

"Hurry," Raquel pleaded. It seemed she really had only heard Nadine's half of that exchange.