Frontier - Act One, Chapter One

[Ether]

"Collingwood. Alexander Collingwood." A man who as of yet had been silent replied to the Captain. His dress was notably more regal than those about him, a well kept mantle about his shoulders, both weapons and armour free of the expected rust and severe wear... they could almost be mistaken for standard military gear, if not for the blatant crests of a now-defunct house adorning them. These plebians he had been placed with did not seem all that, the calls of rif-raff and trash likely held true to most of them. Such fools even now sweltered under the heat... anyone familiar with these lands would find it mild if anything, the true hellish depths of this world's heat would send maggots such as these scampering for the underside of a rock... where they rightfully belonged.

If nothing else, there seemed a decent assortment of lasses to claim as his own... none so fair as to accompany him to the mainland in his triumph, but they would suffice for the time being. At the very least they were not the grisliest of hags.

[Xinnidy]

Understanding his position in this land and assignment, Inge sighed quietly. "It can wait, whatever." He muttered to the woman as he went for the line. It'd be clever to just get things done with, without getting on the captain's bad side, or so he thought.

"Inge, sir." He spoke, a bit of an effort to make his voice not sound as mute or tired. He'd get complaints from higher ups for his quiet voice before, and expected something of the sort if his brand new captain had a problem with his voice.

[Oersted]

"Water? Where in the hell am I going to find water?" Hash thought to himself as he did a half-assed scan of the surrounding area, the need to make a good impression evaporated by the heat he knew was waiting for him outside the shade. It was then that Hash remembered he had a full canteen on his person. However, by the time he realized this, Kearney had arrived and ordered them into a line and asked for their names. "I suppose I can give her the water after the captain's done yelling his lungs out."

"It is Hash, Captain Kearney, sir."

Edited October 26, 2013 by Oersted

[Jaybee]

"Julianne, sir," she said with some level of enthusiasm, quickly getting into line.

I'll respond to quiet dude soon enough. In the meantime... Who's this rich young man? I like him. I think I'll get him to like me too.

[Rothene]

Su San stood upright to his full height in formation and declared loudly with a stern look on his face, "Me, Su San!"

[scorri]

Bekka stood in the line, her hands clasped casually behind her back and quietly added, just loud enough for the others to hear, "Bekka sir. Ready for duty."

[Snike]

"Marlowe, sir," a tall, blond-haired Tascaran said, frowning as he stood in line. Just get on with it...

[Parrhesia]

Kearney nodded as the rest said their names. "Right. I'll not forget that."
Cliving shot a glance at Sherry.

"Anyway," continued the captain, "I assume the gossip from the rest of the choccos has filtered down to you, more or less, that your duty is to take care of the brigands in the south. This is accurate. They've taken food, they've taken supplies, and gods preserve us some of 'em even have weapons worth a damn. But that's fine, 'cause they're cowardly wretches not fit to crucify. They'll go down easy enough.

"We move out in an hour. Assemble back here and we'll start the march to Marling's Crossing. It's our southernmost outpost - well, complete outpost - and it's been hit pretty hard recently on account of a small garrison and a lot of supplies. For now, use the time as you see fit - anyone who ain't here by the time the sun starts to set is due for fifteen lashes. Dismissed!"

[Jaybee]

Captain seems a little rough, but he's not as bad as I thought he'd be. Oh well, there's still an hour to go, so... to go for the dreary guy, or the rich kid in those amazing clothes...

"So, what were we talking about again?" she asked, dashing up to Inge as soon as the captain left. "I can hardly hear you if you're gonna speak so quietly."

[Xinnidy]

Seemed they were just going to handle some outlaws, no cannibals. Sure. There was still one hour left, Inge started to think on the amount of supplies and medicinal salves to take --until an unfortunately familiar chirpy girl came his way as quick as the captain dismissed them, joy. With a complaint to his quiet voice like the one he tried to avoid, what a lovely bonus.

Starting to lose a bit of composure, Inge cleared his throat briefly, though a bit hesitant to raise his voice much, he tried to comply with it in some way. "Yes, I was wondering if you've been in this kind of climate before. There are some who complained, but you act as if it's not bothering you." Or you're trying really hard... Hard enough for me to not to tell, annoying. "Are you experienced in exploring this land, by any chance?"

[Nanami Touko]

Another hour in this weather? If I don't talk to someone I'm going to go insane. Ugh, I hate this... "Hey, big guy," she said in Su's direction, "I noticed your reaction earlier. You don't like talking to people or are you just playing scary?" At least I'll be able to relate if it's the former.

[Rothene]

Bored, Su San was about to walk up to the archery range and practice his dagger throwing on some dummies when he was interrupted. Taking but a short moment to digest Sherry's words and process them, the man understood the Selarian language quite well. Speaking on the other hand was a fair bit harder.

Su San shook his head and answered slowly, "Hard talk. I not scary," the myrmidon tapped his chest gently and grinned showing off surprisingly complete set of teeth, something he took pride in reflecting his fighting prowess and durability, "Just not happy. Hot."

[Nanami Touko]

"So, what, you dumb or you just never got taught how to speak?" she asked, as she walked past him, moving towards the archery range herself. "Like, not stupid, but have some sort of brain problems. Ahhh well, I don't hold it against ya. At least you've still got all your teeth, yeah?" She waved for him to follow, not entirely against having a wall to talk against. Are we even allowed to fuck around with these dummies? Whatever, shooting something will get my mind off the heat, at least for a bit.

Edited October 27, 2013 by I have opinions

[Rothene]

Being called stupid made Su San's temper flare immediately, as it was one of the few words he learned early on when entering Selarian lands. But...a man of the warrior's caste did not simply strike a woman. Not unless she was armed and fighting. The myrmidon closed his eyes and took in a deep breath to calm himself. It was not easy and he did not succeed much. Thankfully, there was the practice dummies nearby and thus the foreigner tossed a knife at it with all his might, venting away most of the anger.

There was a satisfyingly loud thud as the blade embedded itself in the dummy. Calmer now, Su San proceeded to answer as he went to the dummy to retrieve his knife that was embedded very deeply, "Su San self learn. Selarian not own words. Su San from far away."

[Oersted]

"Hmm, I expected far more yelling from our most esteemed captain. It seems he knows the futility of going into unnecessary detail. Perhaps he's not so bad." As soon as the captain left Hash took out his canteen to offer it to Sherry only to find her speaking with one of the more intimidating men Hash had seen in his life who was coincidentally had a name that sounded like Susan. Taking it as a blessing rather than a curse Hash chose to take a drink from his canteen, just in case Sherry decided to be a complete bitch and drink everything in it when he handed it to her. If she did he'd have to actually go find water and it wasn't to most appealing thought. When he saw her heading for the archery range he let out an exasperated sigh. It seems he wouldn't be returning to the shade just yet. At least he could get a feel for his crossbow again.

"He-," he began to call out when he saw Su San beginning to throw one of his knives into a practice dummy. After the man had quite skillfully hit the dummy Hash found his voice again. "Hey, do you still want the water?" he asked as he walked upto Sherry..

[Nanami Touko]

Well, he's got a temper. Good to remember. "Oh, you're from the orient. Alright. Sorry for callin' you stupid or something." About to string up an arrow and start shooting, the Dracian boy from earlier brought the water she'd asked for. Hey, he's useful. Good to know. Probably shouldn't push my luck too much, though. "Uh, sure, thanks. I won't drink it all, promise." It was a hard promise to keep, as even lukewarm liquid was good in this weather. But, she stopped herself after taking some, handing the boy back his canteen. "Should've brought my own. What a joke this place is." She strung up an arrow, and let it fly into the dummy. Feels good and all, but maybe I shouldn't be doing much physical activity in this heat.

[Jaybee]

"You mean you can't tell from my tan?" Julianne smiled, flicking her ponytail lightly. "Iunno. Comes naturally, I guess. To be honest with you, I haven't seen much of the world at all. Mostly Dracia, a little bit of Othidia, and then when I heard this place needed some manpower I hopped over immediately."

Not a complete lie - This heat is pretty terrible, though I don't seem to be taking it as badly as everybody else. Inge also seems to be decently annoyed. Great.

"What about you?" she asked, sitting herself down next to Inge. "How much have YOU seen?"

[Xinnidy]

"Some people's tan is only worth not getting burned under the sun. But, when the heat comes, they complain all the same." Inge replied, a bit reminiscent of cetain people back in his home. Though not as experience as he'd hope, at least the girl did seem capable for something, and resistant to this heat, maybe things wouldn't be terrible.

"About me?..." Inge wasn't qiite pleased when the girl came closer and started to ask about him, hoping he wouldn't get stuck there for too long. "I've lived in Camenica. Sometimes I'd hear from other lands from the doctor I studied under, but I'm afraid I haven't been anywhere else until now. At least I did get used to the climate and landscape, I feel I can handle this place." The woman managed to draw quite a small speech, Inge figured he might just raise another question as well. "...We'll be fighting outlaws, so I'm expecting everybody here to have some fighting potential, or be like me. When combat comes, what will you do?"

[Jaybee]

"You'll have to tell me more about these places, then," she winked, fully aware of how annoyed Inge was. "I'm not really... useless, you know. Don't really care too much, as long as I'm alive."

Hopefully only a few of you manage to follow me out. Get rich, run away, burn a few bridges while I'm at it.

[Oersted]

"Yeah, you'd think a place like could at least supply something simple like canteens," Hash said as he took back his canteen and stowed it away, thankful that Sherry hadn't fulfilled his expectations. He watched with silent respect as she strung up an arrow and.fired it at one of the dummies. "Nice shot," Hash said before loading his crossbow and firing at the same dummy. "Looks like I'm fine with my crossbow but I'd rather test my throwing hand. Probably not the best idea while we're at the fort."

Edited October 27, 2013 by Oersted

[scorri]

Bekka relaxed as they were dismissed. Glancing around and seeing that most people were busy, she shrugged. Walking over to an empty space, she drew her sword and slowly started going through different combat forms. The pattern she was using was one that was purely for exercise, but the different stances each had a use in battle. Parries, attacks, whatever, each pose was something that if done quickly and correctly could save her life on the battlefield.

[Nanami Touko]

"They're probably stored away somewhere that we can't get. Or this place is so rundown that they actually don't have any. What was your name again, boy?" She almost smiled at his comment. At least he can appreciate archery. Most people think we're cowards sitting in the back, who just want to vulture over the battlefield once everyone's dead. Well, alright, I'm a bit of a coward, but still. Her half smile turned into a scoff as he produced a crossbow. "Really? You use one of those point and click toys? What's wrong, y'don't have the strength to string a proper arrow?"

[Oersted]

"My name's Hash," Hash said, hoping she would cease calling him boy now that she knew his name. "Yours is Sherry, right?" He was tempted to just walk away from Sherry when she brought up the fact that he used a crossbow rather than a longbow; it was why he left for the new land rather enlist in Dracia after all, but thought better of it. "Yeah, actually. I wanted to be archer like you and wield a longbow but it turns out I lack the strength to use one. But I can compensate for that easily enough... Say you ever see what a Molotov can do?"

Edited October 27, 2013 by Oersted

[Nanami Touko]

"Hash, right. Do my best to remember that, but, probably best for you to try to get used to 'boy'. I'm not too great with names. And yeah, Sherry." At least give an attempt to remember it. It's four letters long, for God's sake. Hash. Not too hard. The heat wasn't about to let up soon, so instead of breaking a sweat shooting arrows into a dummy, she let her bow down and sat herself on the grass. "If you didn't have the strength, all you had to do was make it. Menial labor, not that hard and you'd get paid for most of it. It'd give you muscles quick enough. And yeah, I've seen plenty. What of it?"

Edited October 27, 2013 by I have opinions

[Xinnidy]

"...I suppose. I. could." Inge said, he almost rolled his eyes in frustration, but held his gesture and was content into looking into the sky. A bright blue calming sky, at least there was a good point for that mighty hot sun. "The doctor I studied under would mostly speak of his meetings with other enthusiasts from Othidia and Bernicia, talking of some promising researches or another, but never imparting the full story with me. Sometimes he'd also speak of their landscape, mostly complain of the surprising cold he'd face in Othidia, or praise Bernician fish. He would also speak of the orient." Memories awash, Inge quickly put his hand over his forehead and sighed. "Nothing would get him shut then, he'd speak of their plants, then praise their warriors, their women, their food... and would still complain of the winters." For once, Inge smiled as he reminisced of the old man. Something to get himself comfortable in this conversation, at least. "To be honest, he made me curious of the place. Though I don't see myself getting there easily, if I live this through, it's something to look forward." He said, turning his face to the chipperbird, then quickly turning his face to the floor beneath him. Figures he wasn't all that comfortable with the annoying girl, naturally. "I'm certainly useless in combat, though. But if I'm getting out of here alive, at least somebody else will have to, as well."