Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Mercakete]

"Hm?" Gytha was just about to head back when Synthia said that. She looked back into the kitchen and, after spying the feline, she responded, "Ah, so she is." I guess she's not botherin' anaone since no one's tried t' chase 'er out. This place's pretta clean, so maybe she can't find ana vermin t' eat. So, to those working in the kitchen, she asked, "Hoy, d' ana o' ye care about th' cat bein' in 'ere?" If they don't care, I won't bother with it. If she's causin' trouble, I'll have t' see what I can do t' geet 'er out. Maw didn't like being held, but Gytha figured leading her out with some food would work.

[Nanami Touko]

It took Eva a moment to shake away that Raquel apparently had a spirit floating about her head, but Al had spoken to her again, so she tried to bring herself back to reality. "Ahem... Yeah, that's what I was told it was. Barrier whatever. Though I'm not sure about standard, it's stronger than other weapons I've tried." She leaned a bit closer to him, "to be honest with you, I was supposed to sell this to someone, but it was so good, I kept it for myself. I mean, they didn't put it on hold or order it, I just had it in stock when they wanted it." Leaning back, she laughed a little. "Glad I kept it. It's save me a few times."

Oh, wait. He asked something about languages, didn't he? Hmm... " As for helping your linguistics, I could, but Erion speaks both Neviskotian and Kigenese, as I found out. Sorry that I keep going back to him-- he was quite the charmer --but, surely, speaking all the languages you know, he'd be able to help more. You do know him, right? He was right outside on a tree earlier..." her grin turned into a coy smile, "<unless you're just trying to get some alone time with me.>"

Edited January 29, 2014 by I have opinions

[Snike]

Well, he had obtained a couple of apples without much notice from the other , which was a good start. And Raquel was even busier than before, so, it was probably now or never. Blake made his way towards the exit, as if he was a man on a mission. Hopefully his luck would hold.

[Phoenix]

Dining Hall

"He said he's still 'shy'," Raquel explained to Gar, not hiding how lame and overused the thought that excuse was. It showed on her face and in her tone. Next she sighed and looked at Eva. "I'm not kidding; 'spirit' is the best way to describe him, and he's not really floating around me, really. He's in my head for the most part, commenting on things almost at random."

I was just about to point out that a certain someone is making for the exit, but you seem busy right now. Pay him no mind.

"... yeah just like that," Raquel muttered under her breath as she glanced toward the entrance to the dining hall. Hypnos wasn't kidding either, Blake was on his way out as Robin and someone Raquel didn't quite recognize came in. Not even a passing greeting?

"Learn as much as you possibly can from these interactions," Steinn instructed Annelise.

Kitchen

"Well she's not close enough to the ingredients to bother me, at least," Erica shrugged while glancing over at Maw.

Johnny was of a similar opinion but did have one thing to get some confirmation on. "So she's yours, then? Well that's one mystery solved. Poor thing's been waiting around for scraps from the looks of her, but I'm not giving a cat oats. You should probably get her something if you haven't already. I'm too busy making sure there's enough breakfast for everyone."

[Snowy_One]

"Hey! Raquel!" shouted Tia, jumping up happily and waving her hands, trying to attract pinky's attention. "HEY! Listen! I don't wanna sound pushy, but wearing clothes like this is... I feel weird. Please! I know you can't fix my old dress, but can you help me now? It's a brand new day after all!" said Tia, practically running over to Raquel as fast as she could, her bare feet slapping against the ground.

---

"Ahhhh... What a beautiful morning Madame Employer." said Alex, practically entering in a moment after Tia started to run over. "Oh my, what's this? Do you have a twin sister? Two such lovely ladies as yourselves, and that's not to mention the rest of you, even the men. I hope you are all faring well after yesterdays attack. I did my best to try and heal people, but, alas, I barely know who you people are, despite all your beauty."

---

"<Who the hell is that guy?>" asked Robin, clearly confused at Alex and what he was saying. What was he even saying? Was he trying to flirt? Compliment? A young girl? Huh? What? "<Where is Rook when you need him? Would be interesting to see him try to call Rook beautiful.>"

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Raquel said the head-guy was just being shy. Which was around 90 different ways stupid and hypocritical but whatever, roll with what you got. And speaking of that, little young collar girl came running up, asking Raquel to repair her dress. This was something Gar was amenity qualified to handle. "Oye, girlie, there's inevitably going to be some big shocking grand-stage reveal in discussion of plots soon that will no doubt leave us slack-jawed and the very earth itself shattered in surprise. So your request can wait after that when everyone will need some downtime to think over what was just said."

[ReformBlade]

"Well, I'm from Kigen, born and raised there. Have a brother, but he... we had a falling out." He coughed, slumping forward and resting on his hand. "He was in some deep shit, so after he left, I wanted to leave that place and get a fresher look on things." shrugging, Jericho smirked. "Honestly, I'm here now just to try and find him again and... well, I'm not sure what I'll do when I see him. Last I know though, he was, as I said, involved in some really bad stuff, so hearing that you guys were after some big criminal organization? That honestly sounds therapeutic to me." No idea where he could be, nothing to go on, I doubt he'd be so careless as to leave his name anywhere like that...

[Balcerzak]

"What kind o' damn fool promise is that?" Sinbad raised an eyebrow, now thoroughly curious and confused. "Listen, I don't know what yer circumstance, nor yer history neither, but something like that seems a giant waste. Most folk who sing find it relaxin', upliftin', enjoyable. Reckon you're just depriving both you an' yer listeners of a good time, but then again s'pose it ain't none o' my business."

The cowboy clapped a comforting hand on back of the distraught girl's shoulder for a moment. "Weren't no disaster near as I can see it, though, don't pay it more mind than it deserves. Say, you want I should get ya anything from the kitchen, just realized I went an' sat down by the first friendly face without actually goin' an grabbin' the grub I came here for in the first place."

Edited January 30, 2014 by Balcerzak

[Eail]

Alphonse gave a small chuckle at the woman "Always keep the best stuff for yourself but never let the customer know, the first rule of arms dealing. I like it." His good mood was broken in two though, when she mentioned Erion. A sigh escaped and Al pinched the bridge of his nose "That... would be an incredibly bad idea to say the very least. Erion and I are on just about as bad terms as possible. Long story but it's related to Jamilla, the two of us have just had a really bad relationship ever since we met. When we were at the Ball yesterday he took her as a date and ended up walking out so I spent the rest of the time with her... not looking forward to our next meeting."

So focused on that, he hadn't even noticed the girl he was talking about come through. When he caught onto the last of what Eva said now in Skotian a small blush creeped up on the swordsman's face "Err... not the intention sorry. I... think you might be able to tell a little bit about how my affections go towards a certain someone. Stupid affections, that won't result in anything, but there anyways."

[Nanami Touko]

Back at Raquel-- Eva, the master of balancing conversations that she was --the spirit was explained in better detail. "Well, with magic and demons around, I don't think it'd be right to call you crazy. So I'll believe you until your shy spirit friends decides to show up and make it concrete, whenever that is. With how many people there are hanging around, I'm not surprised he's shy right now. Maybe I can catch you sometime alone, and you can show me him." Eva mused over this possibility, but any musing was cut short by two grand entrances, one being a small child, and the other a rather creepy sounding man. "So... You've got children in your group too, huh, Raquel?" she said, loud enough for it to be heard by the child. "Think she should be sitting at home instead of hanging around a bunch of adults tryin' to fight demons." She didn't bother to comment on the man.

But there was much conversation to be had with someone worth talking to, though it seemed she had bothered the man with her constant mentioning of Erion. "Ahh, sorry. I hit a nerve, didn't I? Promise I won't bring him up to you again, alright Al? But, uh... I know I'm still practically a stranger, but maybe talking to him would sort things out. I know I wouldn't want to end up on bad terms with someone. I guess I shouldn't expect people to act like me, buuuuut..." She offered him a sincere smile, "maybe you'd feel better, y'know?" Of course, this sincerity went back to coy as the man turned the faintest shade of red, causing her to laugh. "<It's cute. Keep those affections.>"

Edited January 30, 2014 by I have opinions

[Ether]

"I know it's silly but... I used to sing for my brother's squad, when he was in the patrol... after he died, I just... it didn't feel right, to just continue on without him." Faatina replied, her tone sombre. When Sinbad offered to fetch some food, the paladin gave him a smile.

"Sure, that'd be nice. No use in moping... sorry for dragging down the mood." Faatina concluded, bashfully rubbing the back of her head as she spoke.

***

"As you wish, Lord Steinn." Annelise replied, preparing herself for learning in the most direct way possible. That is, staring down the nearest human and observing their actions to the most minute detail.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"I'm sorry to hear about your brother. There will be plenty of fighting criminals, that much I am sure of. So, do we have an agreement then?" she asked Jericho.

Alastor

"I agree that this was probably not sanctioned- I will file a report with my superiors. Thank you for this information, though in the future I would suggest that you do not leave a guarded area when it is dangerous outside. You and Lady Joanna are fortunate that you are still alive," he commented to Valter.

[Mercakete]

"A'right," Gytha agreed as she stepped back into the kitchen, "Just show me where ye keep yer meat so I can get 'er some poultry 'r fish." Then, she twisted around to tell Synthia with a smile, "I'll take care o' this real quick n' meet ye back at th' table -- ye don't have t' wait fer me if ye don't want to."

[Phoenix]

Dining Hall

After being ambushed, Raquel was definitely listening, but Tia's timing definitely could have been better. Gar had a point, but it was buried under some oddly phrased rhetoric. She supposed Weyland and/or Steinn might have some big revelations for them, but she wasn't expecting anything more than a debriefing and some tactical advice going forward. "He's right, Tia ... can this wait? I haven't even had a chance to eat, yet ..."

She sighed again when Eva reminded her that they were using some semblance of a child soldier, mage or not. "We don't keep her out in the front, but I'm not sure I could talk her into staying in the Dauntless, either. Though," her now concerned gaze fell on Tia. "If you had stayed behind cover you probably wouldn't have damaged your dress in the first place."

Greta took note of that, figuring it probably wouldn't be a good idea to stick with Raquel's group in the end, since they were heading straight into danger, and willingly so. That wasn't exactly her idea of a good journey. Having decided on that, she made for the exit behind Blake and began thinking of some tips and other extremely obvious things she could write down for Raquel. Just because she didn't want to be directly a part of ithe business didn't mean she wasn't willing to give the 'merchant's assistant' some useful advice.

She didn't make it out of the dining hall before Alex began commenting on all the beautiful things he saw, though, and stood there for a moment, looking drained and uncomfortable. "... did he take a hit to the head that nobody got around to or is he always like that?" she asked no one in particular. She was also unsure of whether to stay and see what happened, or just get the hell out of there before something happened. The choice was maddening. Not really. She turned to leave without waiting for an answer, figuring she'd better just focus on her note-taking for now.

"Uh ..." For some reason, nothing resembling a response was coming to Raquel after all the beauty talk.

It's alright, Discovery. I don't have anything for that, either, Hypnos admitted.

"Urgh, okay can we save the ... compliments? It's a little awkward right now," Raquel cautiously explained.

"Haaah, Malik? Beautiful? You're too much, healer guy," Fizza burst out laughing in an exaggerated way. "He's so grumpy he looks like an elephant sat on him."

"Hey, Amon ..." Haythem leaned closer and spoke quietly to his friend. "You don't think he's ... attracted to us too, do you?"

Amon blushed slightly and then shook his head. "I seriously doubt that; it's probably just flattery," he quickly shot back, hoping Haythem would let the matter be.

"Hmhmhmheheheh ... ahem," Steinn cleared his throat after a short chuckle. He was entertaining the idea of seeing what would happen if the awkward healer tried his hand at flattering Annelise for awhile. He spared her a glance to let her know that he wasn't being serious about that, though. She had a lot to learn about human society still, but that wasn't the ideal place to start.

Kitchen

"I could prepare something for her if you'd like," Erica offered, her voice noticeably more gentle than last time she'd chimed in. "It was a little rough at first but Johnny's managing with the porridge on his own which leaves me with just the dishes and any special orders."

[Mercakete]

"Oh, aye, that works out much better! Haharr!" Gytha happily replied to Erica, "Thank ye vera much, ma'am! Maw's not too picky -- she usualla hunts fer 'erself. So it doesn't have t' be anathin' fancy."

[Balcerzak]

As the Rexian paladin mentioned the death of her brother, the hand that Sinbad had been giving her a reassuring pat with unconsciously squeezed down a little too hard. The cowboy's eyes also took a bit of a faraway cast, if anyone were watching his face. Soon enough though, he realized he'd gotten a little overzealous and released his grip. Then, standing up, he intended to carry through on the offer of bringing back some chow. He couldn't leave without offering an apology, though. "Well if that don't just clear things right up... Powerful sorry about your loss, miss; reckon I can understand a bit of where you're coming from. I done said some things that were properly out of line there, and I'm feeling like a cad. I'll be right back, see if I can't try to get ya something special from the chuck, try ta make it up ta ya."

When Sinbad had moseyed his way on up to the kitchen, he saw a couple more familiar faces. "Well g'morning ta the both of ya," he offered with a smile to Synthia and Gytha. "Must not o' seen ya when I stepped inta the hall. If you're just gettin' started, reckon you'd be more'n welcome to join us at my table. Iff'n y'already got your own, or you're all finished though, well I s'pose that'd just be my bad luck, huh." The cowboy finished with a bit of a chuckle, as he looked around, checking out the fare.

---

It had taken Theodore a few minutes of walking, some of it outside in the fresh air, as he made his way from the main building to the extension that housed the master workshop. He'd be willing to put good coin that that would be where he'd find Connor and the 'big project', and he hadn't anything more important to attend to at the moment, so he'd been planning to sate his curiosity on the matter.

When he stepped into the workshop, the first thing Farnesworth noticed was what appeared to be an armored personnel transport. Under construction of course, and the work was being supervised by the young lad he could only assume from reputation was Weyland's nephew. Catching sight of Connor brought about a pair of passing thoughts, neither of them particularly pleasant. One was worry for Lois, who was just about Connor's age actually. 'No news is good news' didn't really seem to apply as far as that situation was concerned, and honestly Theodore wished there was something he could do about it. The other was a envy. Raw talent can only get you so far, and even trained talent still suffered if one lacked in connections. And the young Weyland had one of the strongest connections there was, blood, giving him a huge leg up. Still, such was life right?

The adept wasn't entirely sure just what was revolutionary about the project in question here, but just standing around and looking wasn't going to figure that out either, so he went ahead and approached the young man, hard at work. "Well that looks kind of daunting," he began, before moving into an explanation that would hopefully be believable enough. "Thought I heard something going on in here while on a morning stroll, figured I should take a look. You need a hand with any of that?"

Edited January 30, 2014 by Balcerzak
finished adding theo

[Mercakete]

"Ah, ahoy, Sinbad!" Gytha cheerily greeted, "Synthia n' I were just takin' th' empta bowls back 'ere from our table. We were just about t' head back -- I was goin' t' tell 'em about yesterday's ball. If ye've got some other people yer sittin' with, I can just tell ye later, if ye'd like."

[Toogee]

Erion sighed and leaned against the trunk of the tree. This wasn't a conversation he had been looking forward to exactly. "Yeah. We can talk. First off, how are you? I heard the fight got pretty rough here. How'd you do? Kill any monsters?" He smiled at her slightly, before having the smile break. He quickly settled his expression back into a neutral one. How do I tell her I'm considering asking Raquel to hire me instead of continue to work with Greta. I mean... best case scenario is that Greta will work with Raquel and then Jam can come with us. But... then I'd have her white knight policing my every move. Ugh.

"Um..." Jam looked down slightly, a bit embarrassed about her performance. "I was the first one down. I was trying to distract some bear thing while Alphy sneaked in to finish it off and...well, it got me." She put her finger in the hole in her vest to show the results. "I didn't come to until after everything was wrapping up. Some fighter I turned out to be..."

The dancer looked back up, remembering why she was here in the first place.

"Anyways, I wanted to say I'm sorry about the ball. I shouldn't have pushed you away like that."

[ReformBlade]

"I appreciate the sentiment." Jericho stated rather plainly but politely, appreciating that she didn't seem put off or wanted to know each and every single detail of why his brother is on his blacklist beyond the vague description. "And yeah, we have an agreement." He said, smiling and holding his hand out, hoping to not get left hanging.

[Snowy_One]

"Hey! I wasn't just waltzing out onto the front lines unprotected. I was riding with Eli on his flying pony... errr... Pegasus. He kept me safe for most of the fight too! It was only at the end when that bad demon cat decided to use me as a scratching post that I got hit." said Tia, adding in a small 'hmph' at the end for emphasis. "And sure, I can wait. I haven't eaten either, but I don't eat too much anyways. Master said it was bad for the body to eat more than breakfast and dinner."

---

"Mmmmm... Maybe so, but if an elephant did sit upon him, should we try to make him happier, or have a second elephant sit upon him? Though, I suppose, if he is as grouchy as you claim, a second elephant sitting upon him would make him happier as he could then be grouchier."

[MRDRHAWK]

(Elsewhere...)

Bianca was beginning to get tired again. It wasn't an unknown feeling for her by any means, especially over the course of this journey, but it still hit her hard nonetheless. "Gah... I really need to get some sleep..." she said to herself wearily as she leaned herself against a nearby tree for support. She was coming into Europa, which was a huge boon for her since she figured that some key information could be available there. As well, she had made arrangements with an important figure with connections to her family to rest at their mansion for the night, which pleased her greatly. When she kept walking slowly toward the mansion, though, she noticed a large cavalcade of supplies, which confused her somewhat.

"Hmm? What is such a large group of people doing over here...? Are they maybe spies from the homeland out to execute me for running off?!" Bianca flew into a panic and drew her lance hurriedly. By her logic, she couldn't die if these people who were coming to attack the mansion's owner were dead first. Before she could start running, though, a pair of servants came from the mansion towards Bianca, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Milady Lobera? We've been expecting you. Please, if you would just follow us..." one of the servants began, before pausing for a moment to look at her lance. "... And do try not to skewer the other guests with that lance of yours." The servants motioned towards the front door, which Bianca began walking to meekly, though she did wonder about these 'other guests' the servant was referring to.

(This is open-ended, so anyone can kinda welcome her into the fold, I guess)

Edited January 31, 2014 by Flan-kun~

[Ether]

Faatina had been about the reply to the cowboy, but he had swiftly made himself scarce... why had she gone and brought that up, now? Every time that night came up, it seemed yet another thing was bound to go awry, she decided, with a sigh.

***

With Steinn abruptly clearing his throat, Annelise was pulled from her intense staring contest with one of the random humans... not that the human had even the courtesy to participate, what an unhumdingerlike specimen.

"If this is not the route to take, Lord Steinn, how should I proceed?"

[roymbrog]

Well the cat situation was being taken care of, mostly, and Gytha said she’d meet her back in the dining hall. Synthia had started walking out of the kitchen about the same time Sinbad was entering. She answered his greeting with a slighty-more-cheerful-than-earlier “Morning,” and decided to stick around a little longer to hear the outcome of the mariner’s semi-invitation.

---

Upon arriving at the dining hall, Kat was surprised at how many people were down here already. Had she slept in that late? She didn’t know what the drill was with regard to food procuration this morning, so her first though had been to find somewhere to sit down, and as soon as she saw Aneda she made a beeline right over before waving Zach to follow. “Goodmorning, Aneda, mind if we sit with you here?” she asked.

---

At Alastor’s piece of advice, Valter’s first inclination was to retort about attacking civilians in holy places, but wisely held his tongue. He was done here, and there was no reason to bring that up. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the help,” he replied instead, before making to head off. He was planning to check in on Joanna and say his farewells before heading back to the manor.

[scorri]

Erion

Slumping further against the tree, Erion shrugged. "I said some truthful things that you weren't ready to hear. I then saw I wasn't going to be able to continue to spend time around both you and Al and so I left. It wasn't your fault, don't worry about that. Speaking of which though... Are you going to continue along with Raquel? What about Greta?"

Lumi

Lumi had been fiddling with her porridge, barely eating it, when someone came and sat down next to Aneda. Looking up, Lumi smiled slightly at the woman. "Hello. I'm sorry, if I've heard your name, I've completely forgotten it. I'm Lumi. You are?"

[Eail]

"I might try to talk it out.... was never much on the people skills though." Alphonse admitted, averting the gaze when she told him to keep the affections he had. Switching over to the other language to hopefully get rid of at least a few ears "<I'm not sure what to do though... Or how she even thinks of me. I'd rather just remain friends than ruin a relationship because her honorary big brother likes her that way.>"

______

Sitting down at the table as well, Zach gave a wave. "Heya 'Neda." While the question wasn't really directed at him, he felt like he might as well answer the blue haired woman. "I'm Zach, she's Katrina, we just call her Kat most of the time though. Nice to meet you."