Fire Emblem: Wretched Whispers, Act 1: Three Days

[riariadne]

"Thank you. Are you alright?" Mina asked, extending a gloved hand to help Melanie up, but withdrawing it as she seemed to have gotten up okay on her own. "Hmm. How rude of him. But yes, you may take a look." She turns it towards Melanie, then took another book from a bag by the floor. "This one is much less complex- I am sure you have seen one like it before, as you know at least some dark magic- but it still harbors many oddities in its pages. There are still some things beyond my understanding in how it really works. I have looked it over many a time, and I am not quite as young as I look, but tomes certainly have their mysteries." Edited February 23, 2014 by Reinfleche

[Nanami Touko]

"Ehm... 'Ow old are you, madame?" Mel asked, wondering how someone smaller than her could be older. She then picked up the complicated book, looking it over. She understood some of the words that the magic contained, but most of them were foreign to her. If she tried to use something like this, it certainly wouldn't end up going over well. "Donc, uh... Do you sink about zese sings often? I mean, ees it not enough zat ze spell works? Not zat I sink you are wasting time, non, far from eet. I am juste cur... Cureeous." She struggled on the last word, it coming out fairly awkwardly. She frowned a bit. Perhaps zere ess magic zat will allow me to learn zis dieu abandonné langue.

Edited February 23, 2014 by I have opinions

[riariadne]

"That is a bit of a rude question, is it not? Well, I would rather people think of me as my proper age than as a little girl. I am twenty four. And I think it is important to know how magic works, personally. If we do not, how will we hope to progress further with it?" she asked. "The strongest of spells can be used to shape the world around us and even minds. We could, for an example, build more quickly and with better structure. Enchantments are a start to this, but they only go so far. And besides that, I just think it is interesting. We still are unaware of much about magic, after all. Is it only confined to tomes, or are they just a method of using them? Things like that." She paused a bit after her small rant. "How much of that are you understanding, anyway?"

[Nanami Touko]

Vingt-quatre!? Sainte merde... Quite surprised by the age of someone so short, she held back visual reaction and kept it mental, still wondering how that came to be. Peut-être 'er parents were really short... Zat would be épouvantable... Thinking about height aside, Mel found herself agreeing with what Mina was saying. "I guess I 'ad never sought about eet like zat before, mais, you are quite right. I can eemagine what could be done eef people could understand magic better... And what could be avoided, particulièrement wis dark magic." Mel frowned for just a moment, before letting the expression go. "Eh? Zis? I must admit, eet is very complicated. I can only read some of eet, and I do not sink anysing good would come of me trying to use eet." She paused for a moment. "Oh, and, ehm... I ah'm dix-sept. Seventeen."

[MRDRHAWK]

Declan was quickly growing bored. It seemed as if the others had better things to do than pal around with him - understood, given his generally foul nature, but still... "There must be someone in this god-forsaken inn who's just as bored as I am!" Declan yelled out, as he sprung out of his chair. Looking around, he spied Melanie speaking to some strange woman, which only made him curious. "Oi, Melanie. Who's this girl?" he asked, unaware if he was interrupting a conversation or not.

[riariadne]

"Most people have not thought about it, and therein lies the problem," she spoke. "To them it does not matter. Magic is merely a convenience for them and they only see it as such- mundane or for battle, thought is rarely put into the inner workings of the words and how they interact with the world around us. It is frustrating... it is not enough to use it, but to interact with all kinds of it, and understand it. That is how I feel, and why I pour hours into it. This tome- Shadowblade, it is called- is still far beyond much of my own comprehension. Some of them are much simpler. I have almost created a Flux tome, myself, but I have still not really met success with that, either. It will take a while yet for me to know how the inner workings of these shadows work. But even so there are more kinds of magic- anima, light, staves, and even those strange tomes that seem applicable to all schools of magic." She sighed. "Well, I am sure much of that means little to you. You have many more years ahead of you, so perhaps it would be best to think nothing of it." She took back the tome she called Shadowblade, putting it and her other tome of away in her bag. "Hmm... I must go. I have much to do today, and am shorter on time than usual. Farewell." Mina glared at the man shouting at her from across the room as she stood, exiting the inn quietly.

[scorri]

Rolling her eyes at Declan, Taima turned to Diana. "No, you're right. I was just hoping to settle things down after Mel went and called them sacks of shit. Even if they were messing with monsters, there was no reason to do that. Heck, it's even less reason to do it. Don't want to get on their bad side." She sighed, rubbing her hand across her eyes. "Uh, Peter, no not much. The group that just left had been talking about monsters, but Mel had to go and attack them from the start without even waiting to see what was going on. Even if they are involved with monsters, doesn't mean we should verbally attack them before getting information." She shook her head. She's too young for this... Doesn't understand.

[Nanami Touko]

Sansass... Despite what Mina might've thought when she was finished, Mel was fairly entranced in her rant, making sure to take in all of what she was saying. She pulled her own Flux tome out, and gave it some thought. Maybe I should be using zis for more zan juste fighting. Zis woman, she is right... Wanting to ask at least ten more questions to her, their conversation was interrupted by Declan, and Mina said she was leaving. "Non, s'il vous plait, stay a bit longer..." But she was already gone, leaving Mel alone at the table with Declan shouting across the inn. She sighed and sunk into the chair. "Sacrement... Most of zese mercenaries, zey are fine, but ze seul personne I can talk to, seriously, about dark magic, and she leaves." Slightly dejected she turned her head to Declan. "Eh? She said 'er name was Mina. We were talking about somesing zat I ah'm sure you would not like to be a part of."

[Oersted]

"Yeah, I was thinking I should head down to the stables soon. Even if he's already up he still needs to be fed; I don't want him going after something that isn't mine." It seemed Artemis wanted to go to the stables as well. Lugos had no reason to go out of his way to go alone so he figured he might as well tag along with Artemis. Besides, if he was going to try and train her pegasus he'd have to actually be present to train it. "Sure. I was gonna head there anyway."

[eclipse]

"I suppose that's one way to shoot ourselves in the foot," Peter grumbled. "I doubt they'd appreciate me pressing them, after the impression Mel seemed to have left. Gathering information and not pissing off people for stupid reasons are mercenary basics. Pah." The woodsman took a deep breath and let it out. He took note of Diana, alone, at another table. "Sorry for rambling. Is Diana okay? She clams up when she talks to me, and if she's not feeling well, I think the last thing she needs is my ugly mug."

[scorri]

Taima shrugged. "I think she's just a bit... skittish around the men of the group. I think Wolfgang... not scared her but put her off or something. She's still a bit shy around me and the other girls but less so than what you seem to be saying."

[eclipse]

"As long as she's not skittish on the battlefield, I don't mind. If she can get along with everyone else, it'll work out." Peter's lips worked themselves into an ever-so-slight smile. "Ah, Wolfgang. Don't be surprised if he talks to you. He really does mean well, but I think he needs some. . .uh, life experience. Promise me you won't impale him."

[scorri]

"Well, from what little I saw of her during that last fight, she can take care of herself. As for Wolfgang..." Taima sighed and scowled slightly. "From what I've heard from DIana, he needs to be able to take no to mean no. If he can do that, he's perfectly safe around me. Otherwise... Well, I won't impale him."

[eclipse]

"I, uh, had a word with him about that. No guarantees if it'll work, though." Maybe I would've turn out like him. . .maybe if I hadn't seen one of my clients butcher another man another over a woman. . .ugh, that wasn't a pretty sight, but it was a good lesson. Peter did his best not to blanch at the memory. "But enough about other people. Where'd you get that lance from? It looks really fancy."

[scorri]

Taima blinked, and pulled Firefly out from the back sheath she'd stored it in. "What, this? Oh. Yes. It's a gift from my family. When I told them that I was joining a mercenary group... Well, my father made it for me. He's been making weapons for most of his life and... He said this was his masterpiece." She smiled with a faint hint of sadness as she stared at the lance. "I haven't seen them since I left. I... I hope they're still all doing well."

[Bluedoom]

Wolfgang sighed when Declan interrupted a conversation between Melanie and a stranger, loudly. My oh my, why is it that my infatuations are always with those who are most likely to be incompatible with me, personality-wise? He watched as Peter and Taima started talking, noticing Diana moving to an empty table. Perhaps its best for me to leave her alone right now. Maybe I'll buy a drink and try getting new ideas for my magic...Say, I wonder if the same would happen yo that little girl. An idea popped up in Wolfgang's head. Quickly, he bought two drinks from the bartender and took them to the table where Declan and Melanie were sitting. This is going to be a fun experiment!

"Hey Melanie, here, take this drink. Did the vendor tell you anything more about that poison tome you've got there? And that mysterious woman seemed to be highly knowledgeable, what did she say?" Wolfgang asked the young shaman.

[Nanami Touko]

Mel had dove straight back into her novel, as Declan hadn't said anything to her answer, and taking her mind off the unfortunate lack of a conversation partner seemed the best idea at the time. Suddenly a drink was in front of her, and the magic man, Loup, was standing near her. Mon dieu... Ees 'e flirting wis me? Zis seems very much like when ze milkman came up to Victoria in ze book, and offered 'er a drink... Stunned for a moment, she slowly reached her hand for the drink. She'd seen drinks like it before, things her parents had drank while she was growing up, but she was never allowed any. Something about being 'too young'. "Bien, what could eet 'urt?" She took a large swig, swallowed, and immediately started coughing, not having expected the taste at all. "Merde...! Zat ees... zat, well..." She couldn't say it was awful, just unexpected. She drank some more, still coughing a bit afterwards, but a surprising phenomenon was happening. Eet tastes better ze more zat you 'ave? Tellement bizarre!

With a small hiccup, Mel set the drink down and pulled the contaminate book out of her robes. "I do not remember anysing else. Eet just poisons, zat was what I was told. I 'ope eet is not too bad, I do not want to torture, oui? I would 'ope no one would want to, what kind of person would torture someone, franchement." She drank a bit more, starting to get used to it. "Zat woman, 'er name, eet was Mina. She was incroyable! She knew so much about magic, and I was 'aving ze parfait conversation wis 'er. But she 'ad to leave. Tellement terrible."

[MRDRHAWK]

Declan cocked an eyebrow at the events that had transpired before him. Was Wolfgang trying to get the girl drunk? he thought to himself as he looked around. "Wolfgang, that seems like a horrible idea. She's a bit young to be getting into alcohol, and you're a bit of an airhead from what I can tell. Besides, this smells of desperation, even for someone such as you." Declan said to the male dark mage as he looked over at Melanie. "Her name was... Mina, was it? I wonder why you didn't ask her to join the Hollows if you hit if off with her that quickly."

Edited February 24, 2014 by Mango Sentinel

[Nanami Touko]

"If I ah'm old enough to fight against people and monstres, zen I should be allowed to 'ave zis...zis fizzy drink." She ignored whatever comments Declan was making about desperation, as the word didn't quite register in her head. Accursed language barrier. But then, she almost spit out the drink she'd started having again. "Patienter, I can do zat!? Calice, I should've asked 'er to come along! Ahhhhh, merde..." Mel was disappointed now, knowing that she could've actually done something like that. She thought that Sheikah was the only one who could make choices like that, but apparently that wasn't the case. "She said she was busy anyway, donc, I do not know eef zat would've gone through eizzer way..." Her quick excitement fizzled back down as she slumped onto the table.

Edited February 24, 2014 by I have opinions

[Grace]

Diana watched the others from her position. Seeing Wolfgang give Mel a drink, her brain started thinking. Really? How... that's low. I cannot believe this. I just... Diana rolled her eyes in disgust. Not wanting to see the events unfold, Diana sifted through her belongings for a pack of cards. Dealing the cards face up in a pyramid shape, she delved deep into thought.

[Bluedoom]

"Do you have a problem with that Declan? You have no idea what drinking does to your mind... it makes you creative! Come up with new ideas! Besides, you heard her! She's old enough to fight monsters, why not drink then? If you're angry, why not buy yourself a drink, it will calm your nerves!" Wolfgang replied casually, turning back to Melanie, seeing her slump on to the table. Oh no, please don't ruin my plans! I need to see how much more you can do with your magic! Not get sick!

" Well that's too bad, I wanted to know more about how the tome actually works. Its also too bad you didn't ask this Mina person to join us. No matter, I need to ask you, how do you practice your magic usually?" asked Wolfgang.

[MRDRHAWK]

Declan stood up, throwing his hands in the air. At this point, those two were a lost cause. Moving over to the similarly disgusted Diana, he sat down across from her. "Honestly, those two... They really would belong to each other if not for the fact that Wolfgang seems to be incredibly pathetic when it comes to the opposite sex." he said to the woman as he leaned back in his chair, hoping that she was at least more stimulating than the other two.

Edited February 24, 2014 by Mango Sentinel

[Nanami Touko]

"Well, 'ow could I tell you 'ow eet works eef I 'ave not tried eet yet? Unless you are le volontariat for ze first use." Mel wondered for a moment, that, since Diana was around, if testing it would actually be a good idea. Probablement pas... "Mon magie? I juste...read ze books, sometimes cast ze spell at ze trees, a rock. I 'ave never practiced on somesing living," she hiccuped, "because I do not sink zat, unless I ah'm being attacked, I should use mon magie on someone else!" She leaned back in her chair from the slumped position, in time to watch Declan throw his arms up like he'd done the other day. "Plus grand, I 'ave upset ze man again. I must 'ave some skill for zis..." Melanie was obviously not turning into a happy drinker.

[scorri]

"Ugh, alright, give me a second Peter." Walking over to Mel and Wolfgang's table, Taima grabbed Mel's drink. "Right, that's enough of that. Wolfgang. It's true we're on a relaxing day, but that doesn't mean we can just completely forget where we are. We barely escaped ahead of the enemies earlier, we don't know when they'll catch up. And you're giving a young girl alcohol? When you have no idea how well she can handle it? What if you got her drunk and then we were attacked? Would you take responsibility for us being a man down? Or what if she decided to fight anyways, and hit one of us instead of the enemy? It's so early in the day! Learn some restraint."

Edited February 24, 2014 by scorri

[Grace]

Diana, while sifting through the cards in an orderly fashion, placing them aside in pairs, heard someone sit down in her nearby vicinity. Declan was talking to her. She turned her attention from the cards to him, in short order. "I don't think I need reminding... of how awful that man is. Just like... how can you do that sort of thing. It disgusts me..." Her voice trailed off. Diana returned to fiddling with her cards.