Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Revelations

[Snike]

"Alright. Gatekeeper, send me into the room Seeker's in," Uniter said, turning towards his fellow disciple.

***

"Exactly. We'll see how it goes," Ethan said, continuing to heal up some of Jethro's more minor wounds.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Snike

[Snowy_One]

"They... Cause... Trouble while sober?" asked Robin, trying her best to decipher Gytha's accent. A short while ago she had trouble speaking in Urswine, and even now, after a decent exposure and becoming more fluent, it wasn't the easiest. Gytha's accent laid upon an extra layer of difficulty to say the least.

"What was a town like that like? A place where you had to carry a gun or else be attacked?" she asked, shuddering a bit and pulling the arm a bit closer, hoping for a bit of comfort.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Gar carefully began walking back to Weyland's.

Xenia

Xenia threw herself up on good old XANTHIPPE, patted her a bit and gave a quick whip of the reins to get going. Weyland's Estate was something even the most yokel commoner knew of so she didn't need to ask directions.

She probably should have asked Raj who she was treating however.

"Dammit," she cursed. Enough money to bludgeon a man to death had blinded her to actually getting details. Usually these kinds of things were frowned upon but someone as prestigious as Weyland getting involved with Raj meant there was something of actual merit here. So again, "dammit."

Well, she could just mosey on anyway. Not like getting held outside for a bit was an inconvenience to her. Maybe if Raj blew up along the way, but the hey, she wasn't under any obligations to help if that happened.

[roymbrog]

Kat doubled over a bit and guffawed at Robin’s story, which was a bit awkward with her arm still around the other girl’s shoulder. After Gytha mentioned how her mother handled rowdy customers, sobered a bit and whistled. “Damn, your mother sounds scary. Maybe not as scary as the town, though,” she said. When she saw Zach filling glasses again she held out her own. “Hey, you’ve gotta give me some more too! And I’m not gonna have that much, I know where my limits are… I should be able to walk, anyway. Or stumble, at least.”

[Mercakete]

"Aye, that about sums it up," Gytha somewhat thoughtfully replied to Kat with a nod. To Robin, she answered, "Th' town's full o' no-good bilge rats, just waitin' fer whate'er fortune happens their way. That includes unarmed folk who might have a bit o' coin on 'em, so it's always good t' keep a weapon on ye. Selfish lot, though not e'eryone who lives there's all bad. Just have t' watch yer back is all, n' be smart about hidin' whate'er valuables ye might have on ye."

[scorri]

Keeper grinned. "Right then, lets go." Placing his hand back on the man's shoulder, he concentrated. They appeared in Weyland's, a few feet away from Gabbie. "Hey there Seeker. Did you miss us already?"

[Cevian]

That was a bit of a sudden order for Cherish. Slight changes to her base personality were easy to do quickly, but having to assume a whole new identity took a bit of time, even more so when she was still trying to figure it out herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to prepare herself and gathered the thoughts of who she was going to become.

When she opened her eyes, the thief's demeanor had changed, as if she was a different person, which was as true as it needed to be. Her eyes were wider and brighter, and her disinterested and cynical glare was nowhere to be seen. "Hey!" She exclaimed, her voice even being a bit different, with a lot more cheer and energy placed on top. She moved to be in front of Anna instead of having her look back, as if she had just run over to her. "Nice to meet you!" She said, giving a bit of a wave. She pulled some random name out, something that would fit such an excited and bubbly girl. "I'm Melony!"

[Script]

Xenia

Since Raj wasn't going to arrive in anytime resembling soon and being pestered by Weyland's guards didn't sound like a fun time. Xenia killed time by restocking her own provisions in the markets. Give a little charity out here and there. Eat something nice and filling at a high quality restaurant. Get XANTHIPPE a new brush.

After a significant amount of time had passed, she hopped up back on her trusty mare and set off. She'd still beat Raj by any sense so she took it nice and slow.

A Man Called Gar

Gar was still walking. It was starting to hurt his feet a bit too.

[Phoenix]

Hall

Hooolyyy crap. Maybe this would be Veronika's reaction if she knew what I knew about this girl. Just maybe ... "Ahem, it's nice to meet you, Melony. It's good to have you with us," Anna replied, offering to shake Melony's hand. Hopefully she wouldn't get the waves shaken right out of her hair leaving herself so vulnerable.

Storage Room

"This isn't a mission ... you guys can drop the toitles- ..." she stopped a moment to look at the two for a moment, "... nnnever moind." Some of them could go with ordinary names, others were best left with their titles, she reminded herself. "Anyway, I still think this is a bad oidea ... or at least a bad toime. Veronika just got enough answers to back down for now and now you wanna stir up the situation again? Also, any progress you make with the whole 'Burke' thing is going to be wasted the moment he shows up again. Why even bother?"

Come to think of it, where was Burke? He wasn't anywhere nearby, she could tell that much. She, at least in part, wished he had been nearby, if only because she wouldn't have had to have almost been choked out, and she didn't much care if Jethro had to have a few limbs reattached afterward, either.

Dining Hall

"Ah, she must be the one," the woman told herself as she approached the table with all the drinkers and not drinkers. "You were the one who ordered this fish, am I right?" she said to Gytha, trying to be as polite as she could. She had nothing on the maids but it was an honest effort.

[Script]

Xenia

Still, her being slow could only buy enough time and soon enough Weyland's outskirts came into view with no Raj in sight. Of the few things she knew about the unlikable bastard, it's that he was fast on his feet. Sure he was strapped to more bombs than even she'd seen in her life, but she was really expecting him to be in sight by now. He was probably alive since there'd been no enormous explosion behind her(and hopefully nowhere near her). She couldn't mill about too long or else they'd probably start getting dangerously suspicious and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with.

"Cripes you're slow."

She looked around to see Raj lumbering up behind her.

"I was the one wasting time," she pointed out. "And I still beat you here."

"And my feet are bleeding raw let's get this over with," Raj grumbled and took the lead back. For about half a second before one horse step took her further up.

"I shoulda slept off this hangover first," she ribbed him.

"And I should of bought someone not drunk but those are past problems now aren't they?" he snipped back.

Eventually the too of them slowly got to the gates of Weyland's place and it was Raj's time to shine. "Finally!" he expressed his relief. "Let's get me to the armory and her off to Raquel. I'm sick of lugging these damn bombs around," he whined to the guards.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Script

[Cevian]

Cherish, or rather Melony at this point, grabbed Anna-as-Veronika hand with both of her hands and shook it up and down vigorously. "I hope that I can be of help to everyone!"

[Snike]

"Alright, what would you like me to call you? Gabbie? Gabriella? DW? It is not a problem for me," Uniter said, shrugging as he opened the door for Gabriella. "As for your other concerns, I want to get this situation explained now instead of having it come back on you repeatedly later, especially considering the Wrathite. Less effort and less trouble for you in the grand scheme of things. As for Burke, we will see about that. The last thing anyone wants is the group flipping on us because of his devotion to antagonizing everyone."

[Phoenix]

Hall

Hope had proven utterly insufficient and Anna was left trying to hold her hair in place with her free hand while the opposite one was shaken, and her along with it. Well that was dumb of me ... "I'm sure you will be," she forced a smile, a rather convincing one given her mood. "... aaaand scene. I'm satisfied with that performance." Or at the very least didn't want to set herself up for anymore jostling interactions. She quickly took out her hair tie and put her hair back up. "You should do fine, I think."

Storage Room

"Whatever won't remind people that I'm a tracker," Gabbie mumbled, wondering if he knew that she was well beyond tired of being asked to keep an eye on entire areas on a whim. "Anyway ... thanks ... for trying to keep them off my back. I still don't think this is a good oidea, but ... thanks." She wasn't sure about heading back to the dining hall, or wherever they were headed next ....

Main Gate

"Bombs?" one of the guards echoed after listening to Gar's rambling for a moment. "So there really wasn't an explosion. Still, better those don't come back into the main building til they've been inspected." Safety first. "I'll show you the way in a minute but-" he quickly shifted to Xenia, "you I don't recognize."

[Cevian]

And just as quickly as she had assumed the persona, Cherish returned to her normal self. She let go of Anna's hand and moved back behind her. "Thank you for not prolonging that. I didn't want my new personality's cover blown so quickly."

[Snike]

"No problem, Gabbie," Uniter said, evenly. "And I understand your concerns, but it can't be helped. Just go with me to the dining hall, and after that I will deal with them while you can go back to what you were doing. See you later, Keeper."

Edited September 17, 2014 by Snike

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Crap. "She's an independent healer I hired to help heal Raquel," Gar replied.

"That her name?" Xenia grinned just to make this more unbearable than his damn feet. "Well, they probably got a guy of their own doing it anyway. So if they feel like shooing me away I'll feel free to take your money for nothing."

"Yeah, like you're keeping that if you don't do anything."

"Like you could stop me."

This... this wasn't what he needed at all. Well, whatever. Not like anyone would care to dig things up.

[Snowy_One]

Robin looked down at the table as she tried to think of such a place, a nest of scuzzy figures and villainous monsters, something she had never seen in a city. "Sounds like a bad place to live. I do not understand why people would go to such a place. Where you can be shot in a moments notice, stabbed in the back, or have all things of value stolen. All of you have more knowledge of the outside world than I, so... How does the world work like that?"

[Phoenix]

Hall

"You're welcome," Anna replied, trying to focus on where they were currently headed. Once they reached the top of the stairs, it was a short trip westward to the changing area. There were the usual outfits lined up for generic occasions, and several changing rooms beyond the rows of outfits, not unlike a store, but a bit more formal looking. "Just take what you need and try not to lose any of it. If for whatever reason you can't get anything back to the estate, just turn them in at any of the branches and tell them where it goes," she explained while standing by the open door.

Room

"Foine," Gabbie conceded. She gave a small wave to the armory's keeper before stepping out of the room. Hopefully this would be over quickly. She was about to learn something about hope ....

Main Gate

The guards listened for a moment to the back and forth. Eventually one of them turned to the other. "This is an 'Anna problem', too, isn't it?"

"I'd say it's more of a Craig problem, but he's not here."

"After getting stabbed by the soon to be Mrs. Vasquez and tracking blood all over the place, I can't blame him for wanting to lie low for a spell. Ernesta was furious," the other noted. "Anyway," he turned to face the returner and the visitor both, "let's get those into one of the storage buildings ... carefully, then you can head inside."

A look crossed the other's face. "You can go'head and stable the horse if you need to, just don't mess with the others." It was practically an offer to go in ahead of Gar but it wasn't meant to be. It just seemed awkward, if not stupid, to bring the horse around back with them to the storage building for no reason, and then all the way back to the front of the main building, and around to the stables.

[Mercakete]

"Ah, aye," Gytha replied to the Weyland employee, accepting the food she'd requested, "Thank ye."

As she set the fish down on the table and made ready to dig in, Robin voiced her thoughts. Gytha pondered it for a moment before speaking her piece. "It's th' most chaotic place I've been yet. The whole world isn't like it. N' aye, it's not th' safest place, but I've fond memories just the same." Evidently, a few of those began playing in her head, if her expression was anything to go by. Then, she gave a light chuckle, and as she cut off some of the fish and raised the piece up on her fork, she added, "Guess it just goes t' show that no matter where ye go, there's always some good t' be found if ye know how t' look fer it." And with that, she began eating.

[Snike]

Uniter stepped out of the room shortly afterwards, closing the door behind him so nothing would look amiss. Furthermore, he adjusted his cloak to partially conceal his bow and quiver. Better to minimize how menacing you look, if possible.

[scorri]

"Hmm, guess I should check on my guest then... Heading back to Purgetory, Uniter." Two quick warps later, Keeper arrived back in his armory. "Right then, sorry about that. Had to drop Uniter off. You holding up ok?"

[Snowy_One]

"Do you ever miss it? Being home? Any of you? Kat? Anyone? I... I have been thinking of Ohka a lot of late. I cannot get it out of my mind as I miss my home a lot and..."

She took an audible gulp. She knew what she was about to say would be huge no matter the outcome, but did she even have to say it? Would they understand, or just pass it off as her being stupid?

"I have been thinking about returning home."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Finally," Gar said, relieved. "I've been on my feet way too long."

"Don't worry," Xenia said. "She's a good old girl. Won't cause anyone any trouble unless they start it." Xenia lowered herself from the stable and took the reins to lead XANTHIPPE in. "So should I wait for you lot or go in to take care of what I've been hired for?"

Gar shrugged.

[Cevian]

Cherish's eyes widened in excitement, but in an entirely different way when she was displaying the persona she was about to adopt. For someone with such ingrained longing to obtain things, the sheer amount of things laid before her that she could take was as good as gold to her.

Without saying anything, she slipped into the room and started to weave through the rows of outfits as she started to grab things, mostly that might work for her new persona's outfit, but there were a few things she wanted to look at.

[Mercakete]

Gytha nodded at Robin's question and swallowed before answering, "Sometimes I think about home. I wonder how Mother's doin', n' th' others. I wonder what's changed n' what's th' same. I know that if I r'turned, though, even if ev'rythin' else was th' same, I wouldn't live th' same as I did growin' up. I'm an experienced sailor now, n' I can take care o' meself. Th' way people treat me will be different, too, so I don't expect th' same sort o' memories I had b'fore t' be what I'll experience again. It's been five 'r six years now since I've been home, after all."

Robin's next statement didn't garner much of a reaction from the mariner. She just answered casually, "Well, whate'er ye d'cide t' do, good luck to ye. Nothin' wrong with goin' back home."