Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Phoenix]

Not Camp

<"Are those lights?"> Haythem asked aloud as Isis took off. Well, at least it would be easy to find his way back rather than relying on luck. <"I could see them from the ground just fine, so hopefully Malik can, too. I hope no one else out there decides to come and investigate, though. That would definitely be bad.">

Also Not Camp

"I considered that," Greta irritably admitted, "but I'm not gonna be happy if that's what it takes." The thought of having to wear some guy as an accessory just get an ear with her potential customers was both baffling and infuriating, so she wanted to save that as a last resort if at all possible. "I'd rather see if good ol' charm works first but I get we might not have a choice ..."

Joanna's gaze fell slightly, her thoughts on what would happen if this Malik person did run off with the box. She supposed it could be even worse ... he could head back into Europa, be discovered by Desmond at some point, and then the box would fall right back into wrathite hands, and a siege would be necessary to retrieve it, something this group wasn't prepared for in the slightest. "I don't know but ... I want to believe he didn't. I want there to be another explanation."

That's exactly what Amon wanted, too. A small breeze picked up, and normally he would have been startled, but quickly thinking over the possibilities, he concluded that Isis must have been landing close by. The sounds of beating wings, too large to be something conventional, and a large black silhouette covering the stars, were all the clues he needed. "Hey, are those lights to guide us back? Huh ... good job," Haythem noted.

Well, that's intimidating, Shadrak thought to himself as Isis came from seemingly nowhere only becoming visible as the light reflected off of her stomach and wings. Fortunately he'd only landed close enough to call out to them, remembering how spookable Norbert's pegasus was. Still, sooner or later that problem was going to have to be dealt with; there were almost infinitely worse things out there than his humble, overgrown Isis.

As soon as Haythem was on the ground, Isis wandered away from the lights and laid down, curling up and tucking her head beneath her left wing. "We should probably only go a little farther tonight ... and just to find some place to use as cover. If we wander around in the dark like this, we might draw some unwanted attention."

"We have to ... we need to at least move until Europa's out of sight, though I agree that finding some cover before settling down for the night is a good idea," Amon nodded. "Patrols on the main road might figure out who we are if enough time passes."

[Nanami Touko]

Eva felt the breeze of Isis descending and smirked. "<Hey, Sasha, why don't you grow up as big as that one? It sure would make flying entertaining.>"

Sasha whined and flopped onto the grass. Eva almost fell off, but she laughed a little. "<It's a good thing I'll always have you, no matter what, eh, buddy?>"

----------

Tia quickly came back over to the group once she'd placed her lamp, and stood there staring up at the adults. Seemed something was happening with this Malik fellow. Instead of bother Amon again, as he seemed preoccupied with Haythem, she slowly made her way over to Shadrak, pulling on his sleeve. "What are they going to do about this Malik? Did he run off with the emblem piece?" she asked, straightforwardly.

[Toogee]

As Al left the wagon, Lumi sighed quietly. "I'm... I'm sorry if I spoke out of turn. I've just seen too many men try and treat women like objects that they want to own as opposed to like human beings to trust someone's intentions when they try to force someone to do something they don't want or talk about how they need to protect women and such things. I should have trusted you know what you're doing. I hope you sleep well." She laid down herself, closing her eyes and hoping that in the days to come, she'd be able to make friends and not just get into more arguments like this one.

Jam also laid down in the corner under a blanket. Though exhausted, she found the best sleep aid was a bit of conversation.

"I was a runaway from a convent, before all of this. I planned on being a traveling dancer making my way back to Rex Avaz. Turns out that's a very dangerous road by yourself. It was Alphy and Greta that took me in. If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have made it this far. I owe them both quite a bit, so forgive me if I'm a bit protective."

[scorri]

Lumi shook her head. "No, like I said, I was in the wrong there. I made an assumption because of my past that I shouldn't have made. If you want him to protect you, then you should be allowed to do that. Just because some men would try to own their women and protect them because they view them as their property does not mean that that is what is happening here." She sighed. "Anyways, sleep well. I hope that you feel better in the morning."

[Phoenix]

Speculation

Shadrak frowned, stealing a glance at Joanna and Liam. "They don't seem to think so," he gestured to Amon and Haythem, though the former still looked a little worried. "Either way it's real pain to deal with right now, with almost no light to guide us and the authorities probably scouring the streets just a few miles from here. It's just a bad time for disappearing acts like this one," he said, stopping himself from ranting beyond that. Not to mention the avians over there will probably be even less trusting after this.

[-Cynthia-]

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess. Gotta make it to Kigen without the army skewerin' us first," Nadya said candidly.

"I will be searching for this Malik at first light if he does not show himself before then," Liam announced, almost as a warning. He was unsure if these humans were genuinely confused or just trying to distract him from the emblem piece, but it didn't really matter.

[Nanami Touko]

As content as Sasha had been to sit on the ground and relax, his nose picked up something curious, and he stood. "<Whoa... What's wrong, Sasha?>" He didn't make a noise, simply trotting along the campsite towards Valter and his horse. <There's no way... He isn't going to try and eat that horse, is he?> "<Sasha, Sasha, stop!>" She said, sternly, but quietly. He didn't stop. He was in fact very focused on this horse, and continued to slowly trot towards it.

----------

"Well, what do you think, Shadrak?" Tia asked up at him. She didn't really know this person, this Malik, but if he was going to cause problems by not being here, perhaps they should just leave him. Then there was the whole emblem business, but if they all got caught again, would it matter? Tia furrowed her brow and thought hard.

Edited September 8, 2014 by I have opinions

[roymbrog]

With the lights set up, and two thirds of the missing people returned, Kimiko considered this a job well done. She walked back over to join Greta and Nadya again. “Erm, excuse me. If we are going to use this wagon for my goods, we should perhaps move them over before this Malik returns. My cart will not be easy to carry much farther, I’m afraid.”

---

Phyllis was a timid horse, but not normally reactive to other animals in the area unless they got too close. This wyvern though, was definitely getting too close. Valter had started to wake up when he felt the horse moving, but hadn’t been at all prepared for it when Phyllis leapt away with a squeal. The horse bolted several meters away to stare at the carnivore in case it continued approaching, and, unable to right himself, the horseman fell straight back into the dirt with a grunt.

[Nanami Touko]

"<Sasha! Stop, bad wyvern!>" When Valter's horse sped off, leaving him in the mud, Eva hopped off of Sasha's back and ran over to him. "Hey, sorry! Are you alright? Need some help getting back up, there?" She reached a hand out to him and glanced over at Sasha.

The wyvern was enjoying himself, as he shook gently, and then sped off after the horse. He had smelled it and was extremely curious about it. He didn't want to eat it, of course. But how could the horse know that?

[Mercakete]

The discussion about Malik continued, but at this point is seemed like it was getting redundant, with, essentially, the same question being asked and answered over and over again in different ways. The one variation was Liam's announcement, which Norbert nodded at. "You won't be alone," he commented to the Avian man.

About then, one of the wyverns began walking around. Norbert was only mildly concerned about it at first, but then he heard one of the horses cry out, the sound of hooves, a thud and a human guttural reflex. That certainly drew his attention to the conflict that was brewing between one of the horses and the wyvern. And now the wyvern was chasing the horse. Welp, there went his relative calm. "HEY!"

This was a normal-sized wyvern and Norbert was on her back. Plus, that horse was one she knew, if her ears and nose were correct. So, Rizen had no qualms about it when Norbert had her speed after the rapidly lumbering wyvern, pull between it and the horse -- which was definitely Phyllis -- and rear up in defiance, pawing at the air and fanning her wings in defiance as she loosed an aggressive whinny, warding away the attacking predator. Norbert himself had his poleaxe ready. He'd also recognized the horse by now, and angrily demanded, "LEAVE PHYLLIS ALONE! HEY, WHOSE WYVERN IS THIS?!"

He wasn't going to jump right to using force to stop this wyvern, but he sure was going to move with it to block it from chasing Phyllis any longer. He'd worked with the horse and knew just how timid she was, and if the wyvern tried to bite or claw at him or Rizen, he wasn't going to hold back his axe.

[roymbrog]

The large carnivore had in fact not stopped, and so neither did Phyllis. She sped off as fast as her horsey legs could take her.

Meanwhile Valter was definitely awake now, with a smarting head from his fall to boot. He’d managed not to lose his glasses, but that was probably the only positive in this situation. He clasped Eva’s offered hand to yank himself up, but barely paid her any mind as he watched the two silhouettes run off into the darkness with a look of pure horror. “…C-Can you call him back?” he choked out. There was no way he was catching up to either animal on foot, especially with that head start.

Thankfully Bert was on the case, and the horseman sighed in relief as Rizen caught up to block off the wyvern. At that point Valter ignored Eva and started running after them himself. He had some choice words for her later, but right now he needed to recover Phyllis before she was gone for good. If Sasha was stopped the horse probably wouldn’t run much farther, and he could catch her and calm her down.

Edited September 8, 2014 by roymbrog

[Phoenix]

Red

Liam's words had Joanna slightly worried. She trusted Liam, but she didn't trust most here not to leave him with any other choice in the end, not where the emblem was concerned. Hopefully Malik would just return and save them the trouble. The more people were around when any emblem related issue happened, the less likely it was to come to blows.

... no, that wasn't quite true. Quite the opposite, actually. Joanna loosed a barely audible groan as she thought the matter over.

"Gettin' to Kigen alive ... right. I mean it shouldn't be that hard ... just gotta keep our celebrities out of the public eye for a bit, not stir up any hornets' nests on the way south, and then find someone willin' to take us over the strait ... or build a huge raft, I dunno 'bout that last part, actually," Greta shrugged. Kimiko's mention of her soon to be retired cart made the merchant wonder if they had time to make the transfer before the group set out again. There was only one way to find out, she supposed. Not wanting to hold the others up with cargo troubles, she said, "Alright, let's get that taken care of right now." She glanced around as stealthily as she could, but from where she was standing ... "Crap ... where's Alphonse?"

"I'm a little hard pressed to care, this early," Shadrak muttered, "Either he's running or he's just taking a while to find his way back. Either way, we're just sitting here. There's nothing out here but a city full of guards who are probably all going to know about what we did by morning, and endless plains where there's nowhere to run or hide, so unless he can make himself invisible or something, we're going to find him eventually. It's just a matter of time," the shaman irritably explained. Just as he crossed his arms, Valter's horse bolted and the red headed archer toppled over. "And apparently this is now happening."

<"What are you people doing?"> came a low growl like response.

"MALIK," Fizza feigned her joy as Malik walked with heavy steps into the pseudo camp. He had half a mind to sidestep Fizza as she rushed up to hug him, but knowing her, she'd take him down to the ground with her if she lost her footing, and if she didn't lose her footing, she'd get a hold of him anyway and the effort would have been for nothing. Even as she hugged him and slid around to his back like a snake, her arms coiling around him in a way that could only be described as 'suspicious', he sorely wished he'd found a way to avoid her somehow. "So, I notice you don't have the box with you. Taking matters into your own hands? I approve~"

Amon frowned. First the animals started taking off and Malik only returned once that whole thing got underway. Apparently he wasn't running, but if he didn't return with the box containing the emblem piece, that meant something was still going on. Either he lost it or ... "I buried the box along with Lady Aisha's sensing trinket ... for now. I need to have a word with the avian over there," Malik said, his eyes focusing like a hawk's on Joanna.

We really don't have time for this, Amon winced.

[-Cynthia-]

"All right, I guess I'll help ya lift," Nadya offered Kimiko. This alchemy stuff better pay off in the end...

Liam was surprised at the pegasus rider's eagerness to help, but perhaps he had his own reasons. However, the matter of finding this Malik was resolved as the man had arrived and had buried the box apparently. So Lady Aisha is seeking the emblem piece as well- and no one else is surprised by this. They did not think to tell me this sooner it seems, Liam thought, glaring at Amon suspiciously before turning to Malik.

"If you wish to speak to Joanna regarding the emblem piece, I insist on coming as well," he declared. He may try some sort of violence or other coercion- clearly he does not simply intend to hand it over after going through all this...

[Nanami Touko]

Sasha was not threatened by the pegasus. He did stop, but mostly just to stick his tongue out at the creature. He only wanted to play with the horse. What was the big deal with that?

"<SASHA. STOP!>" came Eva's voice over to him, and he lowered his head. He knew the tone, and she was not pleased with him. Between having to deal with running around this bird horse, and having to deal with getting scolded, he relented, and slowly trotted back over to her.

"<You scaly scumbag! What is your problem!? I know that look, and I know you weren't going to eat the damn thing, but you're a wyvern! You can still hurt it just by being big! You idiot...!>'" she scolded, accusingly pointing her finger at him. "<I've got half a mind to turn you into a sack and wear the rest of you on my feet... I do not need this right now...>" What made things worse was Bert getting involved. She was sure he was going to have some choice words for her, and right now, she didn't want to hear any of them.

At this point, Sasha whined again, and settled onto the ground. He probably wasn't getting any treats any time soon. "<I swear... Need to take you back to Ma and Pa and figure out why you even do that.>" She leaned onto him with her elbow, and he grunted. "<Oh well... Let's get this lecture over with. And you're right, you're not getting treats. None. Not for weeks. I didn't even get to talk to Valter, outside of picking him back up. What a great first impression...>"

----------

Some sort of commotion was happening over there with Phyllis and that Neviskotian woman's wyvern. Tia tried not to pay attention; it looked really stupid. And before Tia could ask anything else, Mailk came back, with some less than pleasant news... "So... Now, what do you think?" Tia asked, almost sarcastically. He buried it? Does he know we have to leave, like, now? What's he doing? Were a few of the thoughts that came to Tia's mind. Suddenly the deal with the wyvern seemed a lot less stupid... At least, by comparison.

Edited September 8, 2014 by I have opinions

[Mercakete]

The creature's tongue was out. Rizen had half a mind to stab it, fearing that this predator was thinking about eating them, even with her rider in the saddle. But then another human barked, and that seemed to have an effect. Some humans had an even stronger power over these things than others, not only being able to ward them off, but to control them. The thing walked away, the fight seeming to have been drained entirely out of it. That both satisfied Rizen and allowed her to breathe a bit easier. Her sigh of relief came out in the form of a bray. While the pegasus wanted to walk over to see how Phyllis was doing -- and she even began to do so -- the one with the reins directed her elsewhere. Though she was a little annoyed at the disagreement, she figured she could just check on the horse later.

When Norbert saw it was none other than Eva who owned the wyvern, quite a large part of him wanted to give her a loud talking-to. However, during the course of this fiasco, Malik had returned, and brought with him even more reasons for the pegasus rider to be angry. He'd been right to expect that the Rexian had buried the emblem box, and under normal circumstances, he would've just been irritated and addressed the issue its self with him. However, right now, he'd just dealt with an out-of-control wyvern that belonged to a Neviskotian idiot attempting to eat Valter's horse, the whole group was in danger of being discovered and detained if they didn't set out again soon and Malik was delaying that with his unbelievably stupid stunt, and he still had a sharp chunk of metal digging into his side and grinding away at his flesh with nigh every move he made. Needless to say, he wasn't in the best of moods. In fact, right now, he was so angry that his mind kept jumping back and forth with trying to deal with both issues: Malik and the wyvern. And so, he wound up being unable to focus on either.

Normally, he would've had Rizen leap into the sky and circle so he could cool off and focus his mind. However, the more he rode, the more painful and damaging his defective armor was. And that, in and of itself, was aggravating. In the end, he had Rizen walk over towards Malik. His eyes blazed as he demanded, "Just what're you trying to accomplish here, Malik?! Stop being an idiot, go get the box, and let's get out of here!"

Next, he turned his attention to Amon and Hoshi, shifting his attention back and forth between them as he spoke. "I'll take him back to get the blasted thing myself since it'll go faster by air, but if he doesn't, let's leave 'im! He'll go back and get it eventually, and we're all going the same way, so odds are we'll run into him again anyway. It's not worth sticking around here arguing and waiting to get captured...or recaptured, in some cases." Again, his fiery glare rested on the red-haired Rexian, though he wasn't addressing him. "We can take the box back after he's had a taste of defending it alone, since that seems to be how he wants to do things."

[roymbrog]

The wyvern did stop, and returned when Eva called him, meaning Valter actually had a chance to catch Phyllis now. He owed Bert for this later. Unfortunately for the horseman however, this was also the time Malik finally returned as evidenced by Fizza’s yelling. If he turned around to deal with that, it would take even longer to find his horse, so he kept running.

Phyllis, meanwhile, had slowed after realizing the large creature had stopped chasing, but was still quite a distance away. She wasn’t going to come back on her own either, not with that wyvern now back at the pseudo-camp.

---

“…I am not sure where Alphonse went,” Kimiko admitted. “There is not too much to move though, perhaps two trips with the three of us. Most things are packed in crates,” she explained.

She walked over to the cart and pulled the tarp all the way off, revealing several boxes, two bags with their personal effects, a few longer items wrapped in burlap, and a sleeping Elliot curled up in the corner. “Come on, Elliot, time to wake up,” she said softly, poking at the avian.

Edited September 8, 2014 by roymbrog

[scorri]

Hoshi winced as the man started yelling at her. She wasn't in charge of the emblem part of the journey but... She did her best to stand up straight and said as sternly as she could manage, "Uhm, it's... it's not your job to yell at us to tell us how to handle things. This... this is Amon's job, it's what he's in charge of. The, uhm, emblem recovery and Joanna rescue. So calm down."

Lumi had been starting to fall asleep when there was a loud commotion outside. Peeking her head out, she saw that Norbert appeared to be in the middle of it. Quietly exiting the wagon, she stood quietly to the side, watching what was going on.

[Phoenix]

Golden Leverage

"Oh boy ... Malik's back, and looks like he's ready to start somethin'," Greta noted, only sparing the cart's a glance at first. Once the sight of the sleeping avian boy finally registered, she turned back toward the cart and resisted laughing to the point of making a face. "Does he do that a lot?"

"I'm not thinking; I'm listening," Shadrak gently retorted. Not that he wasn't trying to read Malik and figure out what his angle here was, but at this point, it seemed he would be finding out in a moment, anyway.

"Avian, I don't care who overhears as long as long as they're quiet when it's Joanna's or my turn to talk," Malik glared at Liam. "I was going to discuss it right out here in the open, anyway, but if some people are too stupid to agree to that fair and simple request," he glared at Norbert this time, "then find the thing yourselves. I never had any intention of taking it by force." As Norbert spoke to Amon and Hoshi, though, his irritation intensified. Assumptions about the situation were one thing, but assumptions about him were something else entirely, and insultingly inaccurate to boot. "I'm not going back for the box unless I can speak with Joanna first, and even then I'm not going back for it unless we come to an understanding first," he shook his head. It was a bit difficult to be this serious and look the part with Fizza draped over him like she was, but Malik made due, hoping she would eventually let him go. What he didn't realize is that she had already figured out part of his plan by stealthily checking his inventory; her overly familiar behavior was little more than a smokescreen for the maneuver. No hands reaching into pockets and pouches or other obvious signs would betray her practiced ruse.

"What do you mean by 'coming to an understanding, first'?" Amon asked, deciding it was best to focus on Malik for the moment. Hoshi had more or less dealt with the authority issue, though Amon feared that issue could come flying back in both their faces before all was said and done here. As he asked his question, Joanna stepped closer to the ordeal, trying to figure out what Malik wanted without turning to his thoughts. It was much more difficult to resist than usual, but she managed.

"I'm not trying to coerce her ... if that's what you're wondering, but just the same, I'm not going to let you lead us through a bunch of meaningless battles only for us to walk away with NOTHING ... not again. This time we're going to be heard from the very beginning," Malik replied, with just as much sadness behind his words as anger.

[-Cynthia-]

"Yeah, our group has a habit for drama. Fair warnin'," Nadya said to Greta and Kimiko casually. I just hope they aren't so loud we end up drawin' attention...

"If you wish to speak to Joanna, then speak," Liam said simply. If Joanna wanted to reach some kind of agreement, then Malik's...requests could at least be heard. So at least some of them have been after emblem pieces before and failed- rescuing Joanna was definitely not a purely altruistic motivation...

[Mercakete]

"I addressed both of you because both of you are in charge," Norbert snapped back at Hoshi, though his volume was at a normal level, "Amon of the Rexians and you of Weyland's. But I guess either I was misinformed or you don't want to deal with problems that come up. Fine! I won't refer to you as the leader, then, or treat you like one."

Then, he returned his attention to Malik. "You don't have the right to go stealing what belongs to Joanna, even if someone else stole it first! But we can deal with that later. We're not safe yet; you should've waited until we were if you wanted to talk to her about it. We've waited long enough. At least make it fast." I doubt it will be. "If we all get attacked because of this stunt, Malik, know that it was because of your stupidity!"

[scorri]

Hoshi grimaced and quietly said, "That's... that's not what I said. Amon was put in charge of the emblem recovery so that we could avoid having someone who works for Weyland in charge. I am... I am in charge for the Kigen portion of the journey. And you will, uhm, you will listen and respect that. I..." She hesitated and glanced around, looking for Angel, trying to remember the conversation the two of them had had earlier, same with Eva. "I was given this position. I don't care what you feel like, you will listen to me."

[Ether]

Well this was going... swimmingly. Malik had arrived, having buried the box with the emblem in it, and with the darkness setting in, Angelica couldn't make out where he might have done so... and now infighting was beginning because of it. Just lovely... they were going to end up doing something incredibly stupid at this rate, if left alone, no doubt... she'd simply have to scare them out of it forcibly, if need be.

Atleast the lanterns lit the camp up decently enough for her to keep watch and maintain her aim, as she kept watch on the camp through the sight on her rifle... a warning shot with the sound diverted to appear to be coming from the city, should at least get some butts in gear if they kept being so indecisive... that was the plan, at least.

'It's a good thing they set those lanterns up or I wouldn't be able to do this without risking hitting anybody... with night setting in they won't be able to see me, so I can meet up with them later if they force me to do this...'

[Nanami Touko]

As it turned out, Eva's bracing for their most pleasant group member had been pointless, as Bert decided to unleash his wrath upon the rest of them. She sighed in relief. Perhaps he'd been knocked about by a Wrathite during their fight and entirely forgotten who she was. Wouldn't that be convenient? No matter, she still had to speak to Valter, and receive some deserved ire. She made Sasha sit, enough so that he would not follow her, and ran after him.

"Valter, slow down! I'm really sorry about that!" It took her a bit of pushing to catch up to him-- Gods, he could run --and even when she did, he was still a good ten feet in front of her. "Hey! I've got one of the lamps that alchemist handed out! Let me help you get your horse back!"

Edited September 8, 2014 by I have opinions

[Eail]

Alphonse had ended up leaving the wagon for the girls to use, climbing into the driver's seat to try to catch a bit of shut eye there... naturally nothing ever went according to plan for the swordmaster. Grumbling a bit as he had just managed to doze off, he grabbed his sword and attatched it to his, before jumping down from the wagon, walking around to the back in time to catch an earful of Norbert's rant.

"I suggest you watch your tone Boy, but if you've got frustrations to work out I'll gladly work them out for you." Al called out to Norbert, placing the palm of his left hand on the hilt of his sword where it rested at his hip.

[Phoenix]

Talks

"Hey, Alphonse, come over here and help us load Kimiko's things into the wagon," Greta called over now that she spotted the swordsman. Could she lift? Sure, but if Alphonse could be convinced to help then she could keep a better eye on what was happening between the two subgroups.

With a deep grunt, Malik roughly shook Fizza off of his back. She in turn loosed a surprised yelp and quickly righted herself. "I don't care if they come and find us before this is settled. You probably had to kill plenty of people breaking her out, already, so that's your concern; I'm content to leave the emblem right where it is for good and be on my way ... once that becomes necessary, at least. Now stop talking to me, Bert, unless you want to go and dig up that box yourself ... ... I dare you to try and find it, actually."

Fizza glanced sideways, trying to imagine how long someone could actually be at that fools errand.

"But why? Why leave it behind?" Joanna finally spoke. Even she had to admit that the sudden disinterest in the emblem was strange, even though she didn't know Malik or his particular interest in the artifact. He was the one that risked his life to pilfer the thing, so even to her, something just seemed off about his current stance.

Malik glared at her for a moment, then his gaze softened toward her. Eventually he explained. "Joanna, I know what Amon's trying to do and ... this goodwill approach isn't a bad thing, but it's not worth the risk on a mission like ours. We were brushed off last time and I won't let that happen again. That's why I buried the emblem before everyone got back; I wanted to be able to explain our situation to you, first, and without anyone threatening me if I didn't hand the emblem over on request. I've had a lot of time to think about this and as tempting as it is to just keep the thing and have our mission end here, that's not the kind of person I am. I'm not unreasonable, I'm just sick of us sticking our necks out like this, and helping anyone and everyone but the person who should matter the most to us ... just hoping for a return on all of that goodwill, someday. We're in the middle of a war ourselves and don't have that kind of time anymore."

Joanna frowned several times throughout Malik's explanation, beginning to suspect he wanted something other than the emblem piece. He didn't sound like someone trying to get someone else to part with something, to her, and he'd already made it clear he was content to abandon the thing under some ... rather mild circumstances. "Well, I'm listening. What is it you want from me? You said you wanted to reach an understanding."

[spoiler=OoC]Breaking the post here to help keep the post's size and the passage of time to a minimum; there is no significant delay between what Malik will say in the following post unless something happens that would cause that. Stuff like 'What are you waiting for? Say it!' shouldn't be a thing.