Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Revelations

[Phoenix]

Changing Room

Let's see, Connor's still working, Weyland's still thinking, Gabbie's getting food, Ernesta's with Weyland ... Anna went over her mental checklist of certain people while waiting around.

Hall

Gabbie made for the dining hall again, figuring Uniter wasn't far behind. The whole way there, she was trying to visualize everything, figure out how it would play out well in advance. The best she could hope for for the moment was sated curiosity.

Main Gate

"Alright, well let's go," the guard said, "I'll point you to the stables then help him get those into storage."

Armory

"I'm fine, yeah," Cassandra replied. Her host had returned to find she'd removed some of the weapons out of place and was examining them closely. She'd planned to put them all back ... eventually, and even made note of where each one went, but for now the only way she felt she would really benefit from studying them was to get a feel for each one. Among the weapons were lances, short swords, daggers, and rifles. Rather than simply increase the kinds of weapons she could conjure in a fight, she was hoping to create something new to go along with her whip/blade.

[Snike]

Uniter, while he was following his ally, was hashing out his cover story in the meantime, in the event that someone asked him before he arrived at the dining hall. So far it amounted to being a mercenary looking for work, but he still had time to improve it.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Yeah, let's go," Gar said.

"Lead on then," Xenia said.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Script

[Eail]

Perhaps it was the vodka starting to take effect in his system, but Zach was rather amused by Kat's advancing stage of intoxication, obliging the green haired woman, he refilled her glass as well.

"I can't say I miss Ohka too terribly... nothing for me there, but returning home might do you some good Robin. See your parents and brother again and be able to relax for a while."

[Cevian]

Cherish's head popped up from over behind one of the rows of clothing. "Oh, Anna! Do you know where I can find any hair dye? I think it's a good idea to change my hair color for this."

[Phoenix]

Changing Room

"Change it to what? Blue?" Anna replied, mostly on reflex. "Come to think of it," she began musing to herself, "there aren't a lot of blue hairs in that group so you would stand out more." Not that it mattered either way ... "We don't keep salon stuff in any particular room so we'd have to ask around."

Three ... two ... one ... Anna turned to face a maid that had shown up out of the blue. "Good timing; do we have any hair dye around?"

"All this interest in hair dye lately," the maid gave Anna a perplexed look. "Well, we have plenty, but since it's not something we generally need, it's not a part of our actual 'inventory'," she explained, choosing her words carefully.

"Yeah that's what I thought," Anna nodded at her. That meant the dyes belonged to someone in particular living in the estate and weren't just for public use. Of course given the past interest in dyes, it was likely this person had already lent some out at least once, so Anna didn't see much harm in asking again. "Well, if she's still interested, I guess tell us who has the dyes so we can go talk to them."

Dining Hall

Things looked pretty much the same as she'd left them, but that only went so far when trying to predict the outcomes of revelations like these, and with people like Gytha and Robin around, there was no telling how the conversation could turn out. She thought an alliance was inevitable, but for some reason, the idea of an alliance didn't really sit well with her. She did concede that she'd lose any reason not to treat these people as allies. Until she had her own reasons for caring about what the group was fighting for ... it just didn't feel right either way, though.

"Well ... here we are ...." she said, stopping only a few feet past the entryway.

"Oh, can I get you anything?" the woman asked Uniter. "By the way, DW, the paninis are almost done," she noted with a smile.

"... that's ... that's good ..." Well that was a telltale sign if ever there was one, thought the woman/waitress.

Storage Building #4

Directing Xenia to the stables once they were close enough was a simple matter, but getting into the storage building turned out to be harder than the guardsman originally thought. His key got stuck a couple of times. He never got it out before deciding to just head on in. The door was unlocked by that point, so he figured he'd worry about it after the bomb issue was dealt with.

The storage building was full of junk, mostly deformed armored plates for both tanks and men, bent cannon barrels, and other useless looking materials that might as well be melted down, but not so full that it was difficult to navigate, and there were even some spare workbenches for just the kind of safety testing some poor sap would likely be tending to come sunup. "I'll leave a note for the guys to make sure the bombs are still safe to use ... they'll get to it sometime tomorrow morning, probably," the guard explained. "No one's going to be interested tonight, and with half the staff still down about the people we lost, I don't think Ernesta's going to force the issue. Just set them on that table and then you can head on inside. Then I'll pray to whichever of the four gods deals with key crises to give me a break here."

[Cevian]

Cherish made her way a bit closer to the entrance of the room as the convenient maid appeared. "Blue? I was thinking something more in the Green range. It would go a bit better with the theme I'm thinking of."

[Script]

Xenia

Deciding to wait outside the stables, Xenia entertained herself by giving her bulwark tome and heal staff a few whiffs through the air to keep her arms in shape. Also to make sure she wasn't drunk enough to do this. Things seemed fine. But that's always what the drunk said.

A Man Called Gar

Well if they got reallllllly into checking out the innards they might figure it out but Gar had time, the truth and a whole pack of lies to work through in case anything came back on him. "Alright," Gar said before beginning to pick them off one-by-one and carefully settled them in on a table. "This shouldn't take too long..." He kept going...

[Snike]

"No, but thank you for asking. And thanks again, Gabbie," Uniter said, as he scanned the dining hall. No sign of Veronika, but that green-haired wyvern rider from the complex was present, along with a handful of other mercenaries, drinking. This could get complicated. The man quickly made his way over to their table.

"Where's your second in command?" he asked the wyvern rider, though the question could just as easily be answered by one of the others.

[scorri]

"Interesting combination of things you've got here," Gatekeeper said with a wry grin. Picking up one of the lances, he gave it a few halfhearted thrusts before putting it back down with a shake of his head. "Nope. I'll stick with my tomes and runes. Leave this sort of thing to Burke and Seeker and them."

[Snowy_One]

"I know you hate me now, Zach, but enough to wish me to be around my brother again?" Robin's eyes narrowed a bit at him in resentment before breaking slightly to a simmer of annoyance.

"All he would do is laugh at me and call me a hypocrite for even talking to people from Ursium. I am glad he left home as he was an utter... utter disgrace to life in general. When I think back on him all I can remember is the cold mockings he gave me for not despising everything in my homeland while thinking Ursium was the best nation in the world. Remember all the times he would slip millipedes and frogs down my shirt?"

Robin's hands suddenly went up to her sides as she gave such a heavy shudder that she almost shook free of Kat's grip and fell onto the floor on her own just from the mere thought of what had happened and how horribly her brother had treated her in her life.

"Still, to return home, to return to being alone in my life with only nature around me as I hunt, maybe start a family, it does sound nice, right?"

[Eail]

"You're brother is a shithead, yes, but he's still your family, and you should treasure that you have one, because I don't." Zach replied in a rather even tone, taking a long hard drink. "But let's not focus on how everyone I've ever loved has died shall we? Going home would be good for you, you still aren't comfortable with killing and it's only going to get worse from here. This isn't a little mercenary group anymore that's just trying to find Raquel's Father. We're at war, and even if it's just myself and Veronika, I'm going to Neviskotia with her to get people prepared, raise the army on my own if I have to."

He was about to drink again, but some guy that Zach didn't recognize came up, asking for Veronika. "She left to take care of something, she should be back in a few minutes or so. I can probably help you though, if something is needed."

Edited September 18, 2014 by Eail

[roymbrog]

Kat frowned a bit and her grip on Robin loosened. “Of course I miss home. I miss my guild, and my dad, and Neviskotia, and… and…” Katrina looked about ready to tear up when Zach graciously poured her another cup. She downed it all at once. That might have been a mistake, as right then Uniter addressed her, and she nearly sputtered it everywhere when she noticed the man there. “Y-You’re that guy!” she shouted, pointing accusingly with her empty glass.

“Hey he’s that guy! The guy I told you guys about! Uuuh, where is Veronika though? I dunno. I think the kitchen?” The combination of excitement and alcohol nearly had her pitch over herself when Robin shuddered.

---

Synthia’s sense of direction wasn’t quite what she had hoped it would be, and while she was quite certain she was near the dining hall, ending up in a courtyard had not been planned. In truth she was going in the right direction, just from a different direction than usual. She didn’t realize that though, and fretted over if she was going the right way as she crossed the outdoor space. That worry had her glancing around the area, which led to her noticing someone in a tree. What on Sardius were they doing up there?

OoC: i ran out of muse \o/

[Snike]

Well, this was awkward, in the sense that he had apparently stumbled into the middle of some personal issue being spoken about by the orange-haired Neviskotian. Luckily that wasn't enough to distract the others at the table completely, as first the brown-haired man, then the wyvern rider -who was certainly drunk- noticed him.

"No thank you, I'll wait. It's not time-critical," Uniter said, to the former, before looking back at the latter. "Yes, I am 'that guy', if that means I was at the complex. Here to speak with Veronika, and whoever listens in I suppose."

[Phoenix]

Changing Room

"Heehee, green is so popular these days," the maid chuckled while Anna stood there looking distant. "I wonder if it's a Naturan fad."

"Well you're going to be stuck with whatever colors are available so don't get your hopes up either way," Anna warned the actress. "You could always head into town and see if anyone's selling green if we don't have any here, but I'd wait til morning if that turns out to be the case."

Dining Hall

Robin was apparently considering going home ... or at the very least Zachary was talking her into it despite some disliked relative being there. Gabbie couldn't care less about Ohkan affairs, though not for lack of trying, but what really irritated her about this whole conversation was Zachary's random discounting of everyone else, save Veronika. While of the two of them, it seemed she was the only one with a snowball's chance in a rexian summer to convince the 'skotians to do anything whatsoever, there still were others here just as committed to saving that country as either of them; there was no way it would come down to just the two of them. Not a chance. Robin was probably among those committed as well, despite currently being caught up in the huge distraction that was her personal problems ... again.

Gar had said something that irked her for similar reasons earlier, but the point of the irritating remark had been more to the point; he had his own goals and they only involved Raquel and no one else in the group. A group consisting of Raquel and Gar or Veronika and Zachary ... both seemed pointless to her just the same, though, at least without any of the resources anyone in those two man groups could potentially call on. The one who really needed warning was Raquel, warning never to do something that dangerous again. Her 'allies' weren't perfect, but they weren't here to just sit around and wait for results, either, they were here to help get them. It wasn't pretty, but direct conflict was how this group got things done. In hindsight, a few casualties never should have changed that.

In the end, she couldn't bring herself to say anything, not to Robin's personal problems, not to Zachary's self centered quip, and certainly not to what Uniter was going to bring up once they found Veronika. Not yet. She decided to head into the kitchen for the time being and point Veronika back to the dining hall if she found her there. Then wait for dinner to be finished.

Kitchen

"Here you are," Erica returned and handed the 'skotian noblewoman a bottle of red wine. "I'm not the best at spotting quality wines, but I can't imagine why we'd keep anything else in the cellar," she noted, somewhat to herself as well.

"To scare off the undesirables," Johnny half joked ... okay, quarter joked.

Armory

"I'm trying to see if I can make something that handles like a shortsword, but has a gun in it and has a lance's reach, but I'm probably just reaching for the impossible now," Cassandra clarified with a sad smile. "I guess I don't need the reach because of my main weapon, but it's really easy to see that one coming so I want to put together something with ... deceptive reach." That was the only way she could think to describe it. It was something that could strike an enemy in a pitched melee without them realizing they were in range. That would give her a nasty edge, especially on top of having a gun attachment, which was itself could function as an opener, finisher, or struggle breaker in an emergency ... and that was the whole idea, really.

[-Cynthia-]

"Looks pretty good to me, thanks," Veronika said, examining the wine quickly and taking it back towards the dining hall. When she arrived back at the table, there was an unfamiliar armored figure- probably a man- nearby.

She set the bottle down on the table. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Veronika," she introduced herself to the armored figure. Meeting a lot of new people recently- wonder who this one works for?

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Picking off the bomb's one by one while standing up was a complete pain in the ass. Or feet. He had Rakesh and his goons to help last time, but now it was all him. Getting the ones around his back were the worst really, even when he cleared enough to pull off the harness. He even had to make a little "mountain" of stuff to make sure nothing rolled off and killed them all!

But eventually that was done. Gar was clear of any bombs, grenades or explosives and damn did it feel good! The stretching right after felt even better. Too bad his poor sore body desperately needed a rest. It'd be a pain sleeping somewhere actually comfortable but he had to risk it for once. Well, the rest of his gear could always play safe.

Still, he needed to confront the inevitable bitching sooner or later. And he'd rather risk that then waiting here on the off-chance it'd be suspicious. He got as much as he could out of one final stretch before leaving and heading on over to the stables to pick up Xenia.

She was waiting, bored obviously, but still only grumbled at his sight. "Finally, that's bizarringly slow for you."

This really wasn't what he wanted to deal with considering he knew exactly what he was gonna go into. "Right well, give me a pas with that heal staff of yours first. My feet hurt."

'Baby," he said but complied anyway. A quick feeling of relief took hold. But it was quick and things still hurt a bunch. "Pay me next time I don't like giving freebies."

"Take if outta the fat sack you're carrying then."

That got her to give a bit more than one swing and Gar was feeling damn-near perfect right after.

"This is taking it out of her care fee you understand?"

Not his problem. "Let's move."

Gar took the lead this time and headed towards where he was sure would be the most troublesome spot of all: the dining hall. He entered quietly, didn't announce his presence at all—even while taking stock of who was there—and proceeded to sit down at the end of a table and begin to prepare his own food. What was about to commence would be hilarious.

Xenia followed, and seemingly figured out what he was about to do so she sat down and kicked back for the impending storm about the happen.

[Snike]

Aand Gar had arrived on scene shortly after the other stranger, accompanied by some sort of healer. This was going to be good. Axel all but kicked up his feet, and settled in to enjoy the fireworks.

***

Before much more could happen, Veronika stepped out of the kitchen, with a bottle of red wine. Hopefully she hadn't drank too much.

"I wouldn't be so certain about that. But anyways, I am Uniter," the man said, as he looked around the dining hall. The blue-haired menace hadn't shown up, but the man with the explosive vest certainly had, along with an older woman. He was probably indirectly responsible for Lilith's arrival, as well. "... On second thought, perhaps our discussion should wait until you talk to your bomber friend."

[Phoenix]

Dining Hall

Veronika showed up before Gabbie actually reached the kitchen, so she decided to head back over to the table. That was when her attention was also brought to Gar, who'd been absent since they got back. He seemed to have a 'friend' with him, too which was just downright suspicious. Again, she opted not to say anything for the time being, lest it come right back on her.

[scorri]

"Hmm so sort of a telescoping baton, only a sword. That'd be interesting for sure. Well, as long as you're content to stay here, you're welcome. Good luck figuring that out. I was thinking I might jump back to our world, grab some food. You want anything?" Keeper grabbed a new tome from his shelves while waiting for the answer, not even bothering to look to see which one he grabbed.

---

Erion had been lost in thought when he heard someone moving nearby. Looking down, he saw the healer from before and grinned. "Well hello there. Fancy meetin you here. I would get down an' great you like a gentleman should, but I'm not one of tjose an' also I'm pretty sure I'd end up fallen down not climbin down... But what can ya do?"

Edited September 19, 2014 by Balcerzak

[Ether]

"Hmm... I suppose so..." Faatina replied with a sigh... things were getting complicated again, it seemed. Giving her head a shake, the paladin turned back towards Reign.

"Well, thinking about it won't do us much good unless you find that guy again..." She concluded, before letting out a sigh and sitting next to the mage on the guest room bed.

***

"Ahh, Uniter." Isabella noted quietly, as the man arrived, with Gabbie in tow. Seems he had been moved to the kitchen area by Gatekeeper, most likely.

***

Well, locating Steinn or his retainer had been a no go, so far. Though, finding herself at the dining hall, she may be able to find a clue, if earlier talks were any indication... may as well deliver Ernesta's message, as well. Walking up to the red haired swordswoman, Arietta cleared her throat before speaking.

"Aye, Veronika. Message from Ernesta... she ain't got a problem with y'all hittin' the drink or anythin', but try to keep in check, aye? It ain't gonna be good for no one here if she's gotta come to down to discipline one fucker who gets too rowdy... but that aside, I don't think she really wants t'do anythin' like that, so y'all should be fine. Though, I was wonderin' if any a' ya had seen Steinn or that other bird that's always followin' 'im around?"

[roymbrog]

“Whoever listens in, huh?,” Kat started saying as Veronika returned to the tables. “Well count me in too, I-“ Wait, what? The conversation had gone on without her, but she did pick up on one point very acutely. “Bomber friend? You mean… YOU!” she shouted across the hall, finally spotting Gar.

Katrina released Robin, revealing her current coordination for what it was as she nearly tripped over the bench in her haste to close part of the distance between them. “You should be dead! How are you not exploded?!”

---

On further inspection the man in the tree was the same who had been arguing with Blake over transporting Raquel, which really should’ve been obvious. Synthia had been much more concerned with the ‘whys’ of someone in a tree than the ‘whos’, however. She stopped briefly when he addressed her, and said “Hi” and waved with a distinct lack of enthusiasm to both. “You can stay up there,” she replied. “…But why would you climb up there if you can’t get back down? Also, do you know the way to the dining hall from here?”

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

The speed at which he got accosted was incredible. But how to play this... hmmm... complete asshole or utter asshole? "Why would I be dead?" He went with utterly baffling jackass instead.

Xenia just grinned from across the table.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Script

[roymbrog]

“You got warped into the air with an armory’s worth of explosives on your back! And front! Can you fly? I don’t think so!” Katrina shouted back, using her cup as a pointing utensil once again.

[-Cynthia-]

"That's fair, I'll try and make sure things don't get out of hand. I think I saw Steinn's bodyguard? leave with Blake a little while ago," Veronika answered Arietta. The mysterious man calling himself Uniter appeared willing to delay his explanation until the matter with Gar has been resolved.

If Raquel ends up being fine, then we will have rescued Jethro without anyone dying, Veronika thought to herself, feeling absolved of some guilt. "Good to have you back Gar. What happened back there?" she asked him bluntly. Kat already asked how he died and Gar was...evasive, but that was his nature.