Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Mercakete]

Adding to Haythem's greeting, Gytha gave a friendly wave to those gathered.

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

When Suzume leaned in to ask her question, Norbert nodded a "yes," but that was really all he had time for before Siv made it known that she really was a noblewoman. Well, that didn't help his opinion of the Finnian.

"Great, so you're a self-important bigot who steps on the backs of people trying to scrape by in a world of stupid rules that don't accomplish anything. Really something to be proud of," Norbert retorted, somewhere between angry and disinterested before adding less scathingly, "And you're not attacking me because you can't. The people here won't allow you to. So stop pretending to be something you're not. You don't even realize how much I don't care about what you say or do. You have no power here and that makes you powerless. I bet that if I took a shot at you right now you couldn't even defend yourself. So why waste my time and energy? Like I said: I'm not afraid of powerless people. That includes you. Maybe I'd take you more seriously, though, if you weren't such a brat."

Edited December 14, 2013 by Mercakete

[Snike]

"The southern gate is the closest to our location, so we will enter from there, Prince," Eve said to Athrun, pointedly ignoring Weyland. Once Steinn spoke up, though, the royal guard jumped right on him. "You, no doubt, have some idea of what we're facing. Do they have any specific weaknesses?"

Well it looked like the estate was going to get trashed. Again. Ethan let out a small sigh as the conversation advanced. Why was it his boss that was always the target around here?

***

"It might be, if you're from around Urcenter," Blake said, as he threw the other two hound bodies down the stairs. "Well that's that, for now. Well met, Private Linnet and Private Baker. We saved lives with what we did here today. And to be fair to the job, this is far from normal. Those things shouldn't be in the city, at all. Anyways, Private Linnet, as much as I can understand how you're feeling, now is not the time to be focused on the future. We need to keep calm and focus on the present, if we want to get out of this mess."

The 'blasted wyvern riders' remark stung a little, but this wasn't the time to be ignoring his own advice.

[Balcerzak]

Giddy up

The whole ball affair had not exactly been what Sinbad had been hoping. The atmosphere felt cloying and oppressive, and there heat from too many bodies had started to bother him. The dancing was of a most peculiar sort, and the food was quite strange in its presentation, aroma, and taste. He hadn't any luck in chasing down leads either, as everybody's chief interest in conversation (unsurprisingly enough) was the princess and her engagement.

So the cowboy had soon excused himself, and gone outside to lounge against the front entrance and enjoy some chew. When the hustle bustle of folks departing had caught him by surprised he'd wrapped that back up and replaced it in his pouch and began looking around in interest, trying to take in the situation. Spying a group of familiar faces, he moved his way over, and tried to catch up to speed, "Howdy Gytha, reckon I missed out on some of the details here. Mind filling me in on just what's what?"

Judgement Day Night

Well, the sudden interruptionby the king, no lesscut short the evening's revelries, and left the competition judging results slightly unfinished, but as the word of the developing situation because fully known, there was no bitterness or anything to be had. Just a weighing of the proper course of action. Theodore knew he was pretty decent in a scuffle, and there was more than enough reason to volunteer, even if it wasn't the damned Skotians responsible. Despite his earlier point of amusement, in trying to get himself an in with, and look into this group that had arrived with Weyland, the man had attached himself to what was becoming Athrun's group of detachment. Serving with the prince in these efforts would actually be quite the honor, and hell, his fellow judge Shadrak had even mentioned that his date for the evening was in with the group, so it's not like he couldn't pursue his original evening's entertainment at least somewhat, should whatever wild beasts be dealt with quickly and easily. In fact, such a multipronged approach may prove beneficial, even. Then there was the fact that Morgana Wyght would also be present, and Theodore had to admit to looking up to the professor, so there was that too.

As they'd exited, though, Weyland and company also appeared to be gathering to launch themselves into the fray in their own manner. There was just something about the situation, seeing Weyland frustrated, at a loss, and irritable, that was simply soothing to the soul. By Truth if this wasn't a moment to be savored and remembered. As difficult as it was to resist the urge to either gloat, or to somehow add to the rival company's president's suffering, there was simply no place for that behaviour, and no need to draw undue or negative attention to himself, so Theodore merely continued to be ready to follow along as the situation developed.

[Mercakete]

Gytha was a little surprised to see Sinbad there. Had he been among them the whole time? Well, it's not like she was upset to see him and there was no reason she could see to delay relaying what she knew, so she set right to it, indicating verious people as necessary with a nod in his or her direction. "Well, I don't know what ye know n' what ye don't, but here's what I know: Th' dance judgin' was interrupted by th' king who came in and said that th' city's under attack by somethin' but not th' Neviskotians n' both militara n' civillian people 'r dyin'. We're all headin' back t' Weyland's, but we still don't know where some o' our people are, that bein' Gar n' Erion. Th' lady o'er there says that Erion alreada left, though, n' Angelica's goin' with th' prince o'er there."

[Ether]

"Aye, it might be for th'best." Arietta replied, as Nadine out her ruse into action. Only time would tell what would result of it.

***

Seemed Weyland was playing with fire... of course, now wasn't the time to act on it so it wasn't really of much consequence, but Angelica was impressed... she supposed it took balls to get that far up the corporate ladder in the first place, though. Then the rest of their people showed up, causing the area to become notably crowded.

"We probably all shouldn't just hang here in the entranceway, people won't be able to get through."

***

Eventually, along the way, they came across Sinbad... he had been attending as well? Faatina couldn't recall seeing him but that didn't really matter.

"What Gytha said... we're just heading back to regroup for now."

[Phoenix]

Main Entrance

"No no, please, keep clogging up the entrance. It'll keep those nobles from packing up and running away like I thought Weyland was doing, earlier," Amber said after Angelica noted the crowding. It was difficult to tell if she was being serious or not, though ...

"Either way, we need to get going soon, so we should head over to where the carriages will be picking us up. Also, Evelyn, could you ask them to get some of the ready for us?"

"Hmm, this many people leaving at once could be problematic ... though I suppose without the formality involved, we won't have to worry about a long lineup," Steinn mused aloud.

"Right, we just get in the carriages and get a move on," Gabbie affirmed.

"As for their weaknesses, I can't say for certain. Few architects are foolish enough to design a perfect demon; the risk of such a monstrosity being turned against them is too great. If you want advice you can rely on in a fight against any of these creatures, I offer only this, sever their spine."

Athrun made a mental note of that one since flanking was never an issue for him and he wouldn't need to fight defensively. He also noted the term 'demon' which was a far cry from 'animal' in his mind. Steinn definitely knew quite a bit about what was going on here and he was beginning to consider openly questioning the man while he still had the chance.

Dining Hall

"Grrrrr-now I'm going to brand you," Siv loudly threatened, cradling the infant with one hand and raising the other to control a fire spell that was just beginning to form in the other.

She's going to put a brand on him? That definitely sounds like something a 'noble' 'fallen' would do ... I guess. I'm not going to let that happen, though. Raising from her seat about half way and supporting herself with her hands firmly placed on the table, Suzume said, "Just try it, you'll be on the ground in an instant."

"Your thunder magic does not scare me one bit," Siv noted, her fire spell reaching normal casting levels. If she used it now, she could easily inflict horrible burns on someone. Suzume knew that, so she planned to act if it even looked like she was about to hurl that thing at Bert. She wasn't sure what to do about the infant, but since it was a fallen, at least in appearance, she had to admit that its safety wasn't exactly a priority.

Gate Tower

"Alright ... the present, then. Focusing on the present. What are we going to do? If we just sit here and wait, we might be safe ..."

"Relatively," Jessica amended Ken's statement.

"Right, relatively. I mean, they could always come in through a window or something. Though, if we're going to try and go somewhere we should head up further and out onto the wall. There's a long walkway leading from post to post shooters and casters can use in an emergency. We can either leap down to a nearby rooftop or keep going until we reach another place to get down."

Squinting, Jessica asked both of them, "You don't think those monsters can head us off that way, do you?"

She received a shrug from Ken. He certainly hoped not, but he liked the idea of getting a move on better than holding up here.

Carriage

Right as Nadine was expecting, and only a moment after she shut the door, the driver slowed the horses down and began to turn the carriage around . Nadine grabbed onto Raquel, pretending to keep her steady as they began heading off the dirt road and onto some rougher terrain. Hopefully the extra contact would distract her even more. If she sensed them still turning after a time, the ruse would be up and she'd have to just knock her out or something.

In the end though, as they pulled back onto the road, Raquel was still calm, and still staring off into space. The glow around her body began to slowly fade away. as well. Reign was certainly confused, but since they weren't going back the wrong way, he only stopped long enough to see them coming his way again, and then got Sandrock back up to a good canter.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Brand?" That was just plain offensive, but the offense was quickly replaced by moderate surprise as she actually started to form a fire spell. Huh. I thought they would've kept that magic seal on her or something. Guess she's not as helpless as I thought.

In spite of those thoughts, however, his primary focus was on Siv as an opponent. He wasn't about to let her just cast a spell at him without a fight, so he readied his maces while getting to his feet. Staying seated was just stupid at this point. Like heck he was going to make the first move, though -- not when she was holding that infant. That was about when Suzume stepped in and made it clear that if Siv tried to cast that spell, she would defend Norbert. That was appreciated, but he was worried about what that would mean for the baby.

"Normally, creature, I would've attacked you by now," Norbert informed, his red glare fixed on the fire-wielding Fallen, "and I'm still going to defend myself if you attack, but I'm giving you this chance to give the kid to someone else so we can take this somewhere where it won't get hurt. But if you attack now without leaving the baby out of this, I will break your arm off and give it to someone else for you then continue beating you into a bloody pulp. Do you understand?"

The threat of beating Siv into a bloody pulp was exaggerated (not that he wasn't going to continue the fight), but the threat of breaking her arm off was quite sincere.

[Snike]

"Yes, sir, and thank you for the tip," Evelyn said to the human and Fallen princes respectively, after hearing the latter's advice and the former's order to prepare the carriages. She quickly made her way towards the carriages, frowning heavily as she passed the professor. It seemed his invention wouldn't come in handy, tonight.

***

"Well, the other tower went quiet, right?" Blake asked, upon hearing about the walkway. "They might've found their way onto it, if it's accessible from that side. Not to mention, depending on how wide that thing is, we could easily fall off. I'll leave it up to you two, to decide, though."

[Phoenix]

Secret's End

"Steinn, was it?" Athrun began his own inquiry. "What do you know about this? I want to know everything."

"Well all I can offer you is my assessment; I'm not the one behind this attack, only one of several targets," Steinn answered.

"Please, continue."

"Very well, then. This attack is being orchestrated by my own people, the 'fallen' as you call them. The attack in the city is a diversion, and perhaps a gauge of Ursians. It cannot possibly be anything more than that. As for what the diversion is for, well that's simple. Their true targets are myself, and two captives of mine, both of which are being held at Weyland's estate. Certain areas have been rigged into deathtraps, but we must be there to oversee the estate's defense, or most there will die. Worse yet, we don't have long to get back."

"Urgh, why didn't you or Weyland tell anyone else about this?"

"We're telling you now. Before you wouldn't have taken us seriously, not with several dragons roaming the lands and neviskotians knocking on your front door. There's no harm in telling you now; the threat is right in front of you."

Wit's End

"Stop talking and accept your punishment," Siv shot back before preparing to hurl the fireball at him.

That was it, Suzume wasn't going to chance letting her throw the thing and started charging up a quick spell to try and stun the fallen. Something was wrong though. For some reason, she couldn't even get a basic charge going. That's when she also noticed Siv's flame dispersing toward the door.

Siv looked at her flame only to see long paper-thin streaks of it racing away to the woman standing at the entrance to the dining hall. The spell was seemingly swallowed up by her palm, but upon closer inspection, she was definitely holding something in that same hand.

Once the fireball and all of the nearby magic had vanished entirely, the woman lowered her hand and said, "That will be enough of that."

Road's End

Finally, the estate was in sight. Reign sighed in relief, not realizing the place was a battlefield in the making and road on ahead of the carriage to the front gate. "Hey, open up, we've got a carriage coming through here."

"Hey, are you that nomad from earlier? What happened to your eye?"

"Long story short, some really awful stuff is happening in the city right now. We're trying to get Raquel inside before anything else happens."

"Alright, but where are the others?"

"Still at that party I guess, but I'm sure they'll come back too once they realize what's going on."

The guard nodded and he and his partner began to open the gate to let the carriage through. By that point they had recognized the driver anyway, and he didn't look to be under duress.

Wait's End

"Well if we're going to leave, we should probably leave soon. There are only two ways in here and one is obviously a no-go," Jessica explained. "If they cut off the other exit, we'll be trapped in here."

"Let's go then. The wall's for siege defense, so walkway's wide and sturdy. There shouldn't be any problem unless there are flying monsters out there," Ken added. "Besides, I want to find a bigger weapon. These swords are barely cutting anymore."

[Ether]

"Looks like w'made it back t'Boss's place." Arietta noted as they closed in on Weyland's estate. Hopefully everyone would gather before too long.

***

If there were demons in the city, it meant that Valdimarr was trying to get Siv back, most likely. That meant that until Steinn returned, it would be up to her to keep an eye on the girl. Making her way over to one of the nearby guardsman as soon as she arrived, Annelise got to work.

"Where is the other Kestrelli-... fallen girl? The one commonly cavorting as a maid?" She asked... the humans would know them better that way, she supposed.

***

"Go for the spine, huh? So that would mean the neck and head isn't necessarily a kill shot on these things?" Angelica asked... best not to take any chances here.

***

"Anyway, looks like Nadya got some carriages prepared already. We shouldn't wait around here." Faatina chimed in.

[Mercakete]

When Siv told him to "stop talking and accept his 'punishment'", that did it for Norbert. He knew now that she wasn't only not going to back down or set the infant aside, but she also was treating him as a lesser being. It was as though she had some sort of twisted right to deal out punishment -- as though he was, for whatever reason, obligated to cow before her. He certainly would not and he planned on shattering whatever illusion she had of it.

First, there was the fireball and the infant to deal with, though. The fireball began taking care of its self, however, and Norbert saw that as his chance. He didn't even wonder just why it was dispelling -- he was too focused on his immediate goals. Just before the woman spoke, the pegasus rider leaped at Siv, aiming to clear the table between them at best and landing atop it at worst, having belted a mace to free his hand. "You have no authority over me!" he roared with all the ferocity of the attack he'd warned her of just before.

With his free hand, he reached out, even as he advanced. He reached around, turning as he cleared the table to wrap his arm along Siv's and firmly but carefully curled his arm around the baby and grabbed the Fallen's wrist. Then, he twisted his torso around and raised his mace to break off Siv's arm at the shoulder, planning to bring Splinter down hard. The girl, however, had already tried taking off backwards when Norbert began his attack. Now, she kept enough of a distance that he had to turn further than he'd planned, delaying his bringing his mace down a little longer. There was no mercy in him, though; he was furious. He wasn't overly fond of Fallen to begin with, but not only had she insulted him, she'd endangered the little one's life by refusing to let it out of the fray.

[Phoenix]

Main Entrance

"That's right. Don't assume you've defeated a single one until you've separated its head from its shoulders," Steinn replied. Apparently when he said to sever the spine, he meant sever the whole head. He had good reason for that, though. The more experienced the architect, the more likely their demons had innovations fashioned into them to help them survive seemingly fatal wounds, or at least persist a while longer in spite of those injuries.

"Are you one of these 'architects'?" Athrun asked with suspicion in his eyes.

"No, though in hindsight, my life certainly would have been easier with skills like those."

"I have the tomes and the staff," Eugene said as he approached the group from behind. He indeed had a staff and two tomes., though that made Athrun wonder at something. Before he could ask where the third tome was, Eugene added a quick, "Miss Wyght met me on the way over here. She isn't far behind."

Now, before Athrun could even respond to that, Morgana appeared, dressed in her usual attire, an elaborate gray long coat, a vest, gloves, cravat, form fitting pants, and slim boots. She had a tome in her hand, but so much energy was coming out of it into her opposite hand that the tome was beginning to be incinerated. "I'll go off ahead and see what the situation's like," she explained as she approached.

"On foot?" Eugene asked her.

"I can move faster on foot than in a carriage. In fact, if we had a warping staff on hand, I would recommend using that on our group instead. Going by carriage will take a little too long."

Athrun agreed that going by carriage would take some time, a bit too much by his standards, but he wasn't certain there was a warping staff on the premises. He and his father used warping stones in emergencies, which wasn't the same thing, and wouldn't do any good here.

Dining Hall

As soon as Bert got a hold of her arm, Siv's first instinct was shift her body and bring up both of her legs to kick Bert's face in so she could free herself and get to a distance. What ended up happening instead, though, was far less exciting. The woman who had given Bert his opening, had also quickly closed the distance with a full sprint and came between the two. "I said that's enough!" Siv's double kick option left when her feet came back onto the ground, and so she just began tugging while the woman acted as a kind of shield between them.

By this point, Amon and the others were on their feet too, though they were too far from the fight to prevent anyone from getting hurt. "Urgh ... that escalated quickly," Amon muttered.

"You're telling me," Fizza said with a frown. "I hate it when fights get started while I'm not looking. It's so easy to miss the good ones."

"If either of you wishes to continue this pointless fight, speak now, and I'll gladly knock you out. Otherwise, be seated," the woman calmly, but angrily spoke to the two.

Other Main Entrance

"Weyland's estate?" Raquel echoed in shock. "I thought we were headed back to the gate!"

"I lied. I lied and pulled some elaborate crap to make you believe me, now just sit there and wait for us to pull up to the front. If you want to go back and help him, at least change first," Nadine scolded her.

While the carriage pulled up to the front entrance, Reign dismounted and began leading Sandrock back toward the stables.

Meanwhile, one of the guards shrugged at Annelise and said, "I'm not keeping track of that girl. She's either inside somewhere or ... well she's definitely inside, at least. Not sure where, though. Ask one of the servant girls."

[Snowy_One]

"Indeed! What she said!" said Tia, following up Fizza's remarks. "As my teacher once told me, I don't care who started this fight or why, but if you don't stop it now, I will be the one to finish it!" she said, a distinct glower of annoyance and disdain upon her face as she looked to the two fighting. She honestly hadn't cared too much at first, but now, now things were simply too heated to ignore.

"Bert! Shame on you! You're acting just like Robin. If this maid is treating you badly, just ignore her and focus on something else! Something productive and useful!"

[Ether]

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." Angelica replied... that made things a little more difficult, but these things were expected to be more sturdy than humans anyway. That was when the guardsman appeared with weapons. Taking hold of a wind tome, the adept began flipping through it quickly, feeling the energy flowing back into her.

"Ahh... that's much better... though I have to echo her, I can get there faster without a carriage as well." She commented, though unfortunately the man hadn't seemed to come back with any knives.

"Didn't have any knives about, then? I'd like to have a sidearm with how dangerous these things appear to be, but I suppose it can't be helped." She concluded with a sigh.

***

"Very well." Annelise replied, as she began looking for one of the maids, as instructed,

"Where is the young fallen girl? Siv." She asked flatly, as soon as one of them came into her sight.

***

"Just relax, Raquel. If this's as wide spread as it seems, th'others'll be headin' back pretty soon if their not on th'way already. Regroup before y'head out and do somethin' that'll get ya killed." Arietta noted, as Raquel became wise to their ruse... she might have worded earlier statement better.

[Mercakete]

Well, that certainly didn't improve Norbert's mood. He was already in a fighting fury and so angrily demanded as he tried to at least muscle the child away from the girl, though he did relent her wrist, "She tried to throw a fireball at me, brought a baby into a fight and started talking like she was somehow superior and had a right to brand me like cattle! Out of my way -- I'll teach her! Just who do you think you are, anyway?!"

Towards the start of his accusations, Norbert realized by her increased, clawing grip that Siv was even willing to hurt the baby to keep a hold of it, so he let go, stepped away and, while stepping, turned to face the woman who'd gotten between him and his target.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Mercakete

[-Cynthia-]

Outside the Ball

Nadya saw some of their group making their way outside. She decided to wave her arms up and down in an attempt to direct their attention towards the carriages she was standing near. Well they at least showed some hustle...

Outside the Estate

Veronika finished cleaning her sword and placed in back into its sheath. Looking outside towards the estate entrance, she saw a carriage arriving. Looks like people are back from the ball- I should see how it went. She re-entered the estate and made her way towards where she thought she was likely to intercept the arriving group.

[Snike]

"Thank you, sir," Ethan said, as he took the light tome and staff from Eugene. That was the ticket. He could absorb some of the energy on the ride over.

"Stay safe, Professor," he said, as Morgana stated she'd scout ahead. It wouldn't do to have her be unnecessarily be injured.

***

Well, as much as this argument escalating into a fight between Siv and the new blood was interesting, Axel didn't particularly feel like sticking around to watch Ernesta come in and beat them all into submission. He instead opted to head over to the front entrance and wait around for any arrivals, however long that may take.

Incidentally enough, a carriage had arrived by the time the man had made it over there, and a man was already on his way to the stables.

"Awful early, are we?" Axel asked the driver, from a distance.

***

"Don't curse us. But alright, Privates," Blake said, as he wiped the blood from his blade. "Lead the way."

Winged enemies, should there be any, had obvious weak points, at least.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Snike

[Phoenix]

Main Entrance

"Hmm ... in that case ..." Morgana did some of her musing aloud. I might be able to-huh?! She had to stop focusing on her plan to have Angelica take her place as a scout so she could link up with the others when one of them, Ayano, got her attention by touching her. It was only a flinch, but Eugene still noticed it.

Before that though, he answered Angelica. "I wasn't looking for knives, I'm afraid, but I also didn't happen upon any." Now, then. "Something wrong, Miss Wyght? You didn't burn yourself did you?"

"A little bit ..." she said before looking to her hand to see if she actually had been burnt or not. The palm of her gloved hand was covered in soot, but that was about it. By then, the tome in her hand was little more than ashes and it crumbled away as the last of its energy was pulled into her palm, creating an intense orange sphere. "If you're faster on your feet as well, then you should report back to the prince once we figure out what's going on there. I'll stay at the scene and make sure that no one else dies." With that, she took off running and just before leaping into the air, she reached out with her right arm so Ayano could grab on.

"Wait ... you're going to lau-" Athrun didn't get to finish his statement before Morgana blasted off of the ground, carried ever skyward by a pillar of flames. "I suppose you'll be catapulting yourself on the wind, then," Athrun said to Angelica with a helpless expression on his face. Hopefully the carriages were fast when they needed to be ....

Haythem meanwhile smiled and waved back at Nadya before deciding to head on over. There was no need to wait in line really, so he would just hop into the closest Weyland carriage and wait to get a move on. About halfway to Nadya, and after brushing his hands a bit to clear away some of the smoke and mist left behind by Morgana's takeoff, he waved back to any stragglers, encouraging them to follow.

Dining Hall

"Control yourself, fool. My name is Ernesta." As soon as Suzume heard that, she sat down and straightened her back. "You must be Bert the Crusher. Well, there'll be no crushing here, so you'd best calm down. I'm here to show you two to your rooms, but if you keep this up, you'll just be sleeping in a cage."

"A new brand is a small punishment compared to what usually happens to disrespectful humans," Siv argued.

"This is Master Weyland's home; fallen culture has no place here. Keep this up and I'll force feed you this seal. Take that little monster somewhere else while you're at it."

Other Main Entrance

Inside the main building, one of the maids was approached by Annelise, who hoped to learn the whereabouts of Siv, their part timer and prisoner of war. "Siv? I haven't seen her around. She could be in her room. Otherwise she's probably in the dining area. Unless she has work, there are few other places she would bother going, hmhm."

Outside, the driver gave a small wave to Axel and said, "Bit of an emergency, unfortunately. I'd steel myself for battle if I were you ... it's looking to be a long night." With that warning, he stepped down from the driver seat and opened the door to the carriage, at which point, Raquel came flying out like a bat, nearly toppling over during her landing. Even mid length heels were a bit much for her, and she was still exhausted from her struggle earlier.

"Axel! Blake stayed behind at the gate! You've got to tell everyone that's still here; we have to go back and help him!"

"Well, at least you're not trying to run back there on foot, alone, and with no wrathdamn plan of action," Nadine muttered as she stepped out of the carriage. Her next thought was Reign, though. She glanced off to her left, where he had vanished to, wondering if she shouldn't try to chase him down while she had the chance. It wasn't the best time to catch up ... or beat up, whichever, but that didn't mean the urge wasn't still there.

Tower

"Right, I'll take the front ... I just hope nothing's locked right now. We'd be screwed if the hatch is locked shut," Ken noted. Why he intended on pointing out every little thing that could go wrong and doom them on the spot was anyone's guess. Still, like he said he would, he took the lead, so if anyone was going first, it'd probably be him, and he knew this. He came over to a staircase that seemed to lead up into another area of the tower. At the top of the steps was dark room with a door leading out onto the walkway, and a ladder leading to a hatch that would take them to the top of the tower. Ken assumed from the get-go that the door would be locked, and it was, but the hatch might have been another story, so once they arrived at the top of the stairs, he immediately began climbing the latter to get a closer look. "Whew, I don't see a lock on it, so I think we're good! Unless it's locked from the other s-" "Don't say it," Jessica cut him off."

"Oookay then," he conceded before giving a firm push to get the hatch open. It worked. It wasn't locked from either side, and they could get out this way. Though, getting onto the walkway would require a bit of a jump, nothing too dangerous considering what they had just survived. As Ken climbed out onto the roof, he took in his surroundings. The city wasn't burning, but he could hear roaring and screaming in the distance, as well as gunshots. There was no telling where it was all coming from, though; he couldn't see anything actively happening from where he was. "Uh, okay I think we're clear, but there's still plenty going on in the city."

"Not much we can do about that right now ..."

[Mercakete]

"Come on; let's get back t' Weyland's," Gytha told Sinbad before following after Haythem. She figured she'd be riding back with him and Nadya like before, but she didn't think it was that important if it changed.

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

When she said her name, that was enough to at least distract Norbert some and that gave him the chance to think about his behavior a little more carefully. He was still quite angry and he didn't try to hide it, but he quietly paid attention while the woman was talking. He nodded when she guessed who he was and rolled his eyes in annoyance at the "no crushing" policy, but he did belt his remaining mace. Her threat of putting him in a cage was a little more anger-inducing than usual, if only because it was counterproductive to the point he'd been trying to make to Siv: that humans weren't pets or livestock they could do whatever they wanted with.

Almost right on cue, Siv spoke up and Norbert just about took up his maces again for that, but Ernesta jumped onto it before he could, thankfully. He couldn't help the sneer that forced its way onto his face as he pictured it. That'd show her. It'd be for the best of everyone else here, too. His twisted grin completely vanished with Ernesta's last demand, though. "That 'monster' is a vasilus," he insistantly snapped, pointing to the infant, "and belongs with Raquel's group -- that's who Lilith entrusted it to. She shouldn't be holding onto it. Even besides that reason, she put it in danger, even when I gave her the chance to give it to someone else before the fight started. It's not safe with her! I don't care who takes watches it -- this kid's far from responsible enough to take care of it and I'm not about to let it get killed just because she's a greedy, little numbskull!"

Edited December 16, 2013 by Mercakete

[Ether]

"Guess I've been commissioned, Prince Athrun. You've got it~" Angelica replied with a smile and a wink, launching herself towards the sky with a jet of air to follow Morgana. As much as she had tried to go the night without flashing anybody, between the dress, the amounts of air being moved about, and her proximity to Athrun... it was likely inevitable unless he had been purposefully looking away. She wouldn't know unless he brought it up later, either way.

'Damn, she's fast.' Angelica noted... she supposed she should expect nothing less of the famed professor Wyght, though it made trying to keep up a bit of a pain, especially since she wasn't quite as proficient at platforming as she would like, yet. However, after the first little while, keeping up grew easier... it seemed as though something was slowing Morgana down... and she certainly didn't seem the sympathetic type.

***

Following along with Haythem, Faatina looked back at the two mages hurling themselves into the sky with their craft.

"Must be convenient, being able to leap about like that at a whim..."

***

"Very well, I'll check the dining hall." Annelise replied, as she propelled herself towards the area. Despite the size of the manor, she was quick on her wings, and managed to reach the dining area with little delay... probably a good thing, as there seemed to be a bit of a conflagration occurring.

"Is it really impossible to leave you to your own devices for even a moment without you causing trouble, Siv?" The older Kestrelli chided, before noting what she was holding.

"Where did you obtain that hatchling... you're far too young to be mothering eggs." She continued, her tail finally making it's way out of it's bindings and finding fresh air... oh how it had been missed.

***

And with that, Arietta exited the carriage, and noting Axel was nearby, she wouldn't necessarily need to go too far, he seemed to know his way about fairly well.

"Aye, Axel, shit's hit the fan. Help me find the damn zeroes so we can get battle positions manned!" She barked out, maul already slung over her shoulder. Boss wasn't back yet, but they had to get things ready for when he was.

[Snowy_One]

"Based on what Bert said, I'd assume she took the egg from Raquel. How is she too young to have an egg though? Even babies can have eggs as they come from chickens. This one just happened to hatch into one of your kind, right? Nothing odd about that. Either way, it doesn't matter really. If she took that egg from Raquel, and it hatched into a baby, than doesn't that mean Raquel is now a mother and not Siv? It isn't Siv's egg after all." offered up Tia.

---

Alex watched by the front gate as he noticed that several of the people, including Raquel's companions, were getting ready to leave. He wasn't sure if now was the proper time considering that he had yet to see his actual employer again, but it was worth asking anyways.

Approaching Haythem who appeared to be gesturing to the others he, in as calm a tone as he could manage, looked up to him and asked "Excuse me? Are you a member of the lovely dame Raquel's grouping? If so, I would very much appreciate it if my deal with her, to enter into her service, could be honored in the least for a quick ride? If not to her location than to someplace where I can find rest for the night?"

Edited December 16, 2013 by Snowy_One

[Phoenix]

Main Entrance

[spoiler=OoC]Alex's location jumping aside, none of these guys are at the front gate right now. I think you mean front door?

Being much closer to the group than Morgana was during her ascent, Angelica's takeoff kicked up enough dust to assail those nearby. Athrun guarded his face and missed the common view as a result. With the vanguard and scout on their way, Athrun moved forward with his guards to board their own carriages.

Haythem meanwhile was on his way to a carriage when the takeoff occurred. "Eh, I'll just stick with Isis when it comes to flying. I just wish I could have brought her. I could have gotten at least four of us back in no time." Next, he was intercepted by the painter, Alex. "Afraid not," Haythem answered with a pitying smile. "I suppose I did come here as a 'guest' of hers, or something to that effect, but I'm in a different group altogether. Try Gytha over here. She's with her, I think." So is Nadya, but I'm sure she'd rather just get a move on than get into a random talk so I'll just spare her that for now, heheh.

"We're ready to get going now," the driver closest to Nadya spoke up. "If you'll just step inside, I'll have you back at the estate in half the time." Fifteen minutes? That wasn't bad timing, though it wasn't going to be a smooth ride with the horses doubling their efforts.

The City

Morgana decided to land on the inside of the gate rather than the outside. There wasn't much risk for her or Ayano landing in the middle of a hornet's nest, after all, so once she was ready to descend, she compressed the remaining energy and began to fall toward the streets. As she came close to the ground, she switched from fire magic to earth magic and slowed herself down. Ayano released her a safe height from the ground, landed, and moved away from Morgana's landing area. Morgana meanwhile kept slowing down until she was floating just a few inches above the ground.

The instant her feet touched the ground, several hounds came charging at her. "What are these things?!" It looks like something straight out of nightmare ... As the small pack reached her, she leaped into the air, escaping their reach. As she floated about twenty feet above them, she muttered, "Urgh ... no wonder the guards are being overwhelmed."

One of the hounds yelped and curled up in agony as blood squirted inexplicably from its neck. A long cut materialized around its neck as it toppled over, and as the other hounds backed off in confusion, the injured hound's head came clean off. "The fallen prince's advice holds up. It's dead," Ayano reported.

"Heh ... I'm not sure why it wouldn't be dead ... you just beheaded the blasted thing. Only Volya could keep whinging after something like that." That was when she remembered that she had another person following along, Angelica. Ayano didn't seem to mind revealing herself at this point, at least her voice, but Morgana had accidentally mentioned Volya by name. Well that was amateurish of me. Look at all these bodies ... only a few are even soldiers ....

Dining Hall

"I don't know what a numbskull is, but you're the numbskull, not me," Siv countered.

"Shut up, both of you. I'm not inclined to believe that this ... thing is a vasilus. Even if I was, vasili are little better than the fallen; I find the combination of the two a little disturbing, frankly," Ernesta replied irritably. "As for who holds it, that is not my concern. If you truly cared so much about this 'kid's' safety, you would have avoided a fight at all cost, but I can see you prefer to mouth off until its too late. Hopefully that can be fixed, but for now, I want you and Suzume to accompany me." Glancing at Tia during her comment, Ernesta raised and eyebrow. Apparently Tia didn't know much about ... well ... anything egg related.

"You're own of Lord Steinn's warriors, right? Here," Siv quickly passed the infant to Annelise. "I know I'm too young to care for her, but she shouldn't be raised by humans. I took her from one of the humans earlier. I think it was the one that went into the kitchen a little while ago," she explained. She didn't like the idea of handing over a potential aid to Valdimarr to one of Steinn's people, but she was more concerned with its immediate well being. Valdimarr could just take it back once he came to rescue her and the princess, she figured. Oh but she wasn't finished yet. Turning to Tia, Siv said, "Eggs come from the womb, human. Except for yours ... humans don't make eggs for some reason."

Ugh, she says that like we're weird, Suzume thought to herself.

Stables

After arriving at the stables, Reign took off Sandrock's saddle, undid her tack, and made sure she didn't have any lingering injuries from the fighting. Hopefully the stable hands would look after her and see to it that she was fed. Fortunately, she just wanted to get some sleep and didn't appear very hungry, so Reign quietly thanked her for getting him back in one piece, and then left the stables.

Other Main Entrance

"So, this is Weyland's estate. It sure doesn't look like a defensible location, but I guess we'll see," Nadine mused aloud.

"What do you mean man battle positions? We need to help Blake and Bert," Raquel spoke up.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"Thank ya, glad we can get a move on," she said to the driver, managing to make her way into the carriage with a moderate amount of difficulty. If we get in a fight, I'm ditchin' these fancy shoes first thing. Pretty, but useless.

Veronika

As Veronika approached the main entrance, Arietta barked out something about finding zeroes, which made no sense whatsoever, and Raquel mentioned something about helping Blake and Bert.

Well, asking how the ball went seems like a stupid question now. "Bert's fine, he's in the dining hall acting like his usual idiot self. What's wrong with Blake?" Veronika asked, deciding to get to the heart of the matter given the sense of apparent urgency.

[Snowy_One]

"Alas, if I must ride back with the fair dame, I shall." said Alex in mock depression as he slowly sauntered over to Gytha. "Fair madame, I have been told that I must tarnish thine ride home with my presence so that I may fulfill a contract to work for Raquel. Would you be willing to have me travel along?"

---

"Well of course we don't. Why is that weird? Ah well, not really worth the bother anyways. Biology is only interesting when it involves magic of some form. Otherwise it's just all icky and squishy body parts all pressed together. I guess humans just don't have those 'womb' things then to make the egg. Still, if the egg was given to Raquel, and if what you say about how, if Siv really cared for the baby, she wouldn't have gotten in a fight is true, than Siv should probably give the baby to Raquel when she gets back. Otherwise it's a… what's the term, 'baby-napping'?"

Edited December 17, 2013 by Snowy_One

[scorri]

Lumi

Noticing the commotion in the courtyard, Lumi considered flying down to see what was going on, but decided against it. For one thing, she still didn't really want to deal with people, and for another if something big was happening, she would be of more use keeping watch up here than being down there being useless. She did, however, loosen her sword so that it could be easily drawn, and reformed her tonfa so that it was ready to be used.

Erion

having arrived back at the manor not long before the chaos started, Erion had been practicing knife throwing outside the manor. Spying the carriage coming in, he sauntered over, hoping to see Jam so that he could apologize and instead found what appeared to be preparations for battle. Frowning, he quickly headed to the carriage in time to overhear Nika's remarks about Blake. Rather than interrupting, he waited for the chance to offer his services however they might be useful.

Hoshi

Rolling her eyes at Tia's lack of understanding of... well... most things involving human interactions it seemed, Hoshi headed out of the dining room. Heading outside for a breath of fresh air, she found herself in the midst of what appeared to be chaos, including someone yelling about needing the Zeros. That meant an attack on the estate was likely. Rushing back into the mansion, she headed for her room, planning to get her tome.