Fire Emblem: Wretched Whispers, Act 1: Three Days

[Xinnidy]

Magali joined the shamaness at the table. And honestly didn't expect the question she brought up. "Hmm? Well, now that you mention it... you could, but it takes some dedication. I don't know how far you could go while we're in this kind of job, but if you give it a try, I think you'll get somewhere. Maybe you could even impress someone you fancy~." She winked playfully. "It's a healthy exercise too, and yeah, it is fun. It's nice that you're interested."

[MRDRHAWK]

Declan had reached an area of clearing, shaking his head as he did so. Was he really unable to shake his old self, and be able to mould himself back into the decent person he once was? Sighing, he drew his swords, looking down at them with a mix of relief and disgust. Sure, they'd saved his life quite a few times since he'd joined this group, but... They were still tainted, as he was. Tainted with the blood of others, as he'd wounded and even killed a fair few people. True, he'd gotten a lot stronger since then, but what was the point if there was nothing worth giving his strength to? "I suppose... I'm not gonna be able to shake the past after all... Maybe I should have just given into those soldiers from before and had them arrest me... who knows? Maybe I'd have felt better about my life then..." The swordsman sighed, placing his swords back into their respective scabbards. Just like old times, right? So why am I so disgusted with life compared to back then?

[Nanami Touko]

"Vraiment!?" Mel asked, almost jumping out of her seat. A quick check of what she'd just done put her back in her chair, more embarrassed. "I juste see 'ow 'elpful eet is during ze battles, and I sink to myself, 'ben, eet would be great eef I could 'elp out like zat as well'. I know zat my magic and 'ealing ees useful, but I worry zat I ah'm bringing down ze group, sometimes." She slumped onto her hand, elbow on the table. Fancying someone simply made her face red, though you couldn't tell well through her freckles. Not yet. "Non, I sink I ah'm far too young for anyone 'ere, and I do not 'ave anyone back 'ome... Ben, I will be dix-huit soon, so maybe I will be old enough zen... B-But even zen, I do not sink I like anyone like zat." She began to slump her head into both her arms, face becoming near as red as her hair. "Franchement, Magali, now you 'ave me sinking about zis..."

[Xinnidy]

Magali couldn't help but giggle at the girl's reaction. "Well, you are at that age after all~." She said playfully, but returned to her calm composure quickly enough. "I don't know if you'd be able to dance for that purpose quickly, though... but you're certainly not doing bad. I'm pretty impressed with how fast you picked up how to use staves, really." She returned a honest smile to the girl. "I don't see how you're bringing down the group."

[Nanami Touko]

"Franchement..." was all Mel could start with. It seemed to be becoming her favorite word. "Zat age. Sérieusement. I do not know ze first sing about romance. All I 'ave ees zis book," she said, producing it from her robes and thrusting it over the table towards Magali, "and I ah'm starting to sink eet is not ze best exemple." She did perk up a bit at the reassurance, though she shook her head. "Eet is très bizarre. I feel like my magic ees juste fine, and I know I ah'm good wis ze staff. I juste feel zat I might slow us down because I am si petite, tellement jeune. I 'ave...'ow you say, mixed feelings. I ah'm not sure 'ow to manage zem in my 'ead." She made a slightly confused face and started drawing circles in the table with her finger.

[Xinnidy]

"Hmm? I think you're doing well, you're impressive with magic, and even if you're not perfect, nobody is. We are a mercenary group, we can and should back each other up." Magali attempted to comfort the girl, she truly seemed insecure. She placed her hand over the girl's and continued "Perhaps you're taking your flaws too seriously. If you make them to be too big, you might get scared of facing them. And that book... well, if you're not sure, maybe you could let me take a look." She stopped for a moment, processing the rest of what Melanie had said. "And... Mixed feelings, what do you mean by that? Anything bothering you? Well, you're free to tell me if you're okay with it." Edited March 12, 2014 by Xinnidy

[Nanami Touko]

Melanie chuckled. "My size is un big problem. C'est drôle." The chuckled turned into an actual laugh as Melanie thought it over. "Vraiment, I really should stop sinking about zis so much. I 'ave been doing well so far, non? I should juste take zat confiance sur my magic and apply eet to moi. Zat ees a sound plan." She nodded her head as Magali placed a hand on hers for some more reassuring. It was certainly nice to have someone that cared. "Bien sûr, you can take a look at eet. Eet is very interesting, I must say. All about débauche and la tricherie." She thought for a moment. She didn't quite understand the phrase, 'mixed feelings', so she tried to word it in her head as best as she could. "Ben, I juste spoke to zat person I told you zat I found, and she 'ad some very... Strong? Significative words, I sought. So now I am mulling zem over in my 'ead. Zey were not bad words, I would sink." Melanie giggled. "Maybe I should juste fall for you, Magali. You seem to care so much." She laughed, but, suddenly worried, put on a semi serious face. "Ehm, zat was une blague. A joke. Juste want to make sure."

[riariadne]

Heading into the inn quietly, Sheikah sat at an empty table near some of the others in the company. She rummaged through a satchel with her until she procured a pair of non-magical books, a feather, and a bottle of ink, quickly going to work and writing in one of them, pausing every once in a while to think. "Oh, dammit," she cursed at one point, her expression intensifying. "Hate this..."

[scorri]

Taima wandered into the inn, spotting both Diana and Sheikah. Stopping by the boss's table first, she paused and then asked, "Hey boss. Need me to do anything, or should I relax?"

[riariadne]

"Do what you like," Sheikah replied without looking up from her writing. "Don't need to be concerned with doing anything until everyone's here. I need to work at this, anyway."

[Xinnidy]

"There you go, that's a better attitude. I'm sure you'll do fine. Better than me, even." Magali replied, a little proud of cheering the girl's mood. "Well, if you want to share their words or not, I'm not opposed. If you think they're not bad, then it probably just needs some time." And then she stopped moving for a moment as Melanie joked about her confession, but before she could react, it was seriously dismissed, which brought a giggle to Magali as well. "Oh my, aren't you a little joker. Here I thought I had yet another admirer. You'd have some fierce competition for that prize, you know?" She winked back, and her giggle became a more audible laugh. "Sorry, couldn't help myself. You're a good girl, and I like helping." She nodded, and drew her attention to the book.

Seemed she had unfortunate luck with the page she opened at. It described some milkman in a bar, seducing the woman of what seemed to me the main character of the story... oh my! "This is... well... This can certainly happen, Melanie. But this story makes it a bit... well... over the top. It's funny, because it's too passionate." Magali giggled as she continued reading the story.

[Nanami Touko]

"Non, I shall not do better, you 'ave votre danse. Even eef I could master all ze magics, I would never be able to do zat. Bien, take some pride in what you can do too." Mel went back to sitting, wondering if she should spread Magali's cheerful words to everyone in the group. Maybe it'd be a pick up after such a battle. For now, she just laughed with Magali as she played along the joke. "H-Hon...Honestly," she struggled out, "I wonder where you get your niceness from. You must've 'ad an easy life, growing up. Eef not, you must tell me your secrets. I would love to know."

Too passheeonate? Qu'est-ce que? "I ah'm not sure of zat word, but eet is probablement a good sing, non? Zere was un particulier funny scene where ze man, 'e walks in on ze milkman and 'is wife een 'is bed. I never saw ma parents do somesing like zat, zough. Eet must not be commun." She flopped back onto her hands, finally beginning to wonder how credible the book was.

[Xinnidy]

Magali smiled and nodded as it seemed to be her turn to be comforted, the girl picked up on her words well, that was good. "Well, I think my life was easy. I was born in Sloktan, but that place was overrun by monsters. So really, I lived in Angala when I was young. Most of my time, I used to spend at the church, but I never really complained. I could sing there with other kids, and that made me happy, it made me realize how I loved to sing and dance. I also learned I had a knack to use healing magic thanks to the priests. Outside that, my relationship with my parents were never bad, but... we were never awfully close as a family, especially when I grew older. My dad worked at a farm, and it seemed he liked telling me about that place, about the landlord's family and his son... I wasn't very comfortable, I thought he wanted me to marry him. I left home because I wanted to be free, and wasn't sure what to do about my future."

She took a deep breath. "It wasn't easy, but I ended up not regretting it, there's a lot of the world to see, and I guess like being a free spirit. It also let me focus on my singing, and dancing. I was really happy, and made quick friends a lot. Many people said I was really kind." She turned to look Melanie in the eyes. "I guess that never changed, hmm? Not everybody was honest, though, but I learned that when I got scammed of almost every coin I had saved, I'm more careful than people think, now." She paused for another breath. "Thankfully, it was just my coin they wanted. Since then, I'd also travel in groups with other freelancer and perfomers." A faint smile appeared as she closed her eyes. "I've also spent quite a long time travelling with a certain sorcerer, he was pretty level-headed and calm, wise, not much younger than me. I think some of his personality rubbed off on me. He was very knowledgeable, and taught me a lot about magic in details. Remember what I told you about staves?" Magali looked at Melanie again, but quickly shifted her look sideways. Uncharacteristically enough for Magali, her face was certainly flushing a bit red.

"He was a... pretty great guy." She quickly looked at the book again, thinking of Melanie's words and trying to change the subject. "Passionate is... it means it's a bit too intense about it... that scene you mentioned... um, it's a bit more common than that." Her face was definitely a hue of red now, she brought a hand close to her mouth and lightly chewed on her thumbnail, avoiding all eye contact now, weird. "People just don't usually get walked in on it. You'll get it when you're older."

[Nanami Touko]

Seems it was story time. Mel kept quiet whilst Magali brought out her life's tale, or at least the gist of it. It was a fairly interesting tale, something far more entertaining than the book she'd been reading. Maybe I will juste leave eet 'ere when we leave... Zat might be for ze best. "Ben, you sing, Magali? You must do so sometime, I ah'm sure eet is wonderful. And zis sorcier you speak of, I wonder what 'e could teach me. What 'appened to 'im?" But then, Melanie heard the dreaded words. It had been Magali, though, and she did seem flustered by something, so Mel didn't take as much offense as she would've. But, that was something she couldn't stand. Time to press ze issue! "Ecouter. Eef I ah'm old enough to fight wis mercenaries and, oserais-je dit, kill people, zen you can explain what you mean to me. En outre, you can not tell me to not worry about mon âge ou ma taille, and zen say I ah'm too young for somesing. Zat will juste make me worry more." She put her hands together and leaned closer to Magali. "S'il vous plaît? Eet can not be zat 'ard to say."

[Percivalé]

"Ehhh..." Vale paused for a moment to organize his thoughts. "I ended up around here because I heard there was more work to find in this area. My last employer up and died on us and it was through the generosity of the villagers I got dinner that night. I was too drunk to remember the details, it was probably sad or something but I don't get into those things. Some guy pulled my hair and I nearly killed him though." He scratched the side of his face, half-grinning. "Anyway, a lot of the mercenaries down there said they were headed north and I went with them." He glanced in the direction of the inn. "About those bruises of yours, did you want to get inside with the others and sit somewhere? I don't really like standing around for too long, anyhow."

[Grace]

Realizing she had no more moves available in her draw, Diana scooped up the cards and combined them into one pile. She took a moment to look up, seeing many more people in the inn now. She shrugged, then proceeded to shuffle the cards thoroughly, then redealt.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Curly Brace

[Bluedoom]

"Well Vale, since you say you're looking for work, why not join the Hollows? I'm pretty sure Commander Sheikah will be willing to take you in, and besides..." he paused, shifting his tone to a milder one,"You seem fun to talk to and you're brilliant with the sword, as far as I can tell."

"Yeah, maybe we should head back to the inn. I'm kind of tired and it seems pointless, standing amongst dead bodies and the undead." he replied casually.

[Percivalé]

Vale continued their conversation on their way to the inn. "The Hollows, huh? Is it just the few of you that I spotted together when I joined the fight, or are there more? Either way, that sounds promising. What do you guys plan on doing after the whole incident that happened here?" He thought about the grotesque and twisted forms of the monsters.

[Bluedoom]

" I think you've met the whole group, but I'm not sure if the Commander has other members running errands elsewhere. In the last battle, I was working for this Irksan unit and then these same creatures came and attacked us, but Sheikah and her mercenaries came to our rescue. I've been traveling with them ever since. I'm not really sure where she's heading too." Wolfgang replied.

[Xinnidy]

"I might sing if I have the time, didn't have time or chances lately, I suppose. About the sorcerer... Cleon, that's his name. Maybe you could learn something too, he was good with dark magic. We separated in south Anglana, he said he needed to go to Velms, and I was heading for Irska... we parted ways since then. ...it's a shame." She sighed deeply, and somehow her face wasn't any less red.

She looked uneasily at the girl as she pressed about the other topic, though. "Eh... It's not that... people usually wait one more year or more until they know that... ah, well, I guess I can explain." She shooke her head and wondered how to put it in the best way possible. "Um... when two people want to feel good together, they go to bed together, and... do things. Nobody really talks about it openly, though. And generally rude to do it with another person if you're married. It's considered an intimate thing." She sighed, her face visibly red still, her eyes shifting away from the girl as if she was thinking about something as well. "It's a shortened version, but I hope this explanation works for you."

Edited March 12, 2014 by Xinnidy

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, 'e even knows dark magie? I 'ave been meeting so many new people zat can use eet, eet is so wonderful." There was a small twinge of sadness within her, hearing about all the people that used dark magic, but she ignored it. If Magali was any indication, now wasn't the time to be getting upset over things. Speaking of Magali, her face wasn't getting any less red, and Mel figured out why when she started to discuss what she'd meant. "Oh, rapports," Mel said, nonchalantly. "You 'ad me worried, Magali. I sought you were talking about somesing mysterious, but eet was juste sex. Not zat I 'ave ever 'ad eet, but my parents, zey gave me ze talk a while ago. I do not sink zey were very worried about anysing 'appening, I did not leave ze 'ouse very often." And now it made perfect sense as to why Magali was so embarrassed. "Donc... What about you?" she asked with a sly smile.

[MRDRHAWK]

Declan strode back into the inn, still tired and heavily thinking. Seeing Diana sitting all alone, he went over to her table and plopped down on the opposite chair, hoping that he could just rest. But he knew it wouldn't be that easy. There would always be someone who tried to drag his past into things, regardless of how much he'd tried to put it behind him. Maybe I should head off elsewhere... but this group accepted me... But then again, this kind of shit will just keep happening if I stay, so... What should I do...? he thought, letting out a deep sigh.

[Xinnidy]

"Oh." Magali felt a bit silly after going through all the trouble of trying to think of how to give 'the talk'. But that works. Really.

What didn't work was the question she asked later, making Magali's eyes wide open. "Eh... m-me? Er..." She couldn't look at the girl straight. No way... that's not something I want to share, Melanie, no. Nope.

"Oh! I think I should go see if the vendor is open again, seems like a good time, doesn't it?" She tried to stand up from her chair, not quite as gracefully as when she came to the inn. "I'll be back in a bit, okay?"

[Oersted]

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" was Lugos' response to frying the enemy leader in one go. Sheikah seemed... displeased that the man was dead, though Lugos could easily understand why. Information was a valuable thing. Speaking of valuable things, Ivan was apparently giving him 'tribute' in the form of the axes belonging to the now fried corpse of the armored man and some bandit. Though Lugos could hardly lift axes for the life of himself, let alone fight with them, he could always sell them. "Ivan, right? You did good job, yes," Lugos said as he took the axes, surprised that they weren't quite as heavy as he remembered them them to be.

[Refa]

"Huh, so that's why you're out here reading," Peter said wryly. "I like hunting, and have used that meat to help pay for my rooms, every now and then," he added. His brow furrowed when he saw the soldiers fill the streets. "Ah, but where are my manners? This is hardly the place to discuss such things. Shall we head back to the inn?"

"That's pretty neat, having a hobby that can make you some money on the side. Generally my interests tend to do the opposite and suck it away," Artemis replied. Peter's invitation to go to the inn and relax was tempting, but looking over to Sigurd, she realized she had other things to be doing first. "Sorry, I need to take Sigurd to the stables first before I go anywhere. Rain check on that?" She said, waving goodbye to Peter before mounting her steed and heading towards the stables.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Refa