Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Nanami Touko]

For her own safety, Eva began whistling as loudly as she could right as they were warped. And a good thing, too. When she felt gravity start to tug on her, she realized something had gone wrong, and continued to whistle, until her momentum was stopped by none other than Norbert. She let out a bit of a groan at being so suddenly grabbed, and shot her arms to Hoshi to make sure the jolt didn't knock the poor mage off.

The ground showed up quick enough and Eva resisted the urge to roll, lest she roll right over Hoshi. That made the landing a bit hard on her legs, but from Norbert's groaning, she had no room to complain. She shouted "thank you!" up at him as he flew off to help if anyone else ended up in the air. After that, she let bent over and let Hoshi off of her back, letting out a sigh. "Sorry about the rough arrival. And it looks like we're still too into the city for Sasha to have even heard that... That's a bit of a scary thought." She didn't bother trying to whistle again; she couldn't even see the edge of the city down the street they were on. They'd be on foot for a while.

----------

Tia watched in slight astonishment when the other group was warped, wondering if they'd be alright. But since the dark staff lady was done, surely the other man would step forward now, and take care of their warp! It'd be fine and no one would get hurt. "W-We'll go too!" Tia said, voice cracking a bit, as she dragged herself and Jam next to Valter.

Edited August 26, 2014 by I have opinions

[-Cynthia-]

Liam gently laid Joanna down on the ground as the next group was warped in- their arrival was a bit messy, but others seemed prepared to stop them from falling to their deaths. He watched them regardless- prepared to fly in if there seemed to be any issues.

[scorri]

Lumi glanced at Pete, gave a half shrug and stepped forward. "I'll go too. May as well."

Hoshi meanwhile had let out a squeak when they'd appeared in midair but thankfully the angry pegasus rider had caught them. As she slid off Eva's back, she shook her head. "Not... not your fault. Uhm... Thank you. I'm... uhm, sorry that you had to uhm carry me like that. I uhm... hope your wyvern is ok and everything."

[Nanami Touko]

"What? It's fine. You'd collapsed and I couldn't have one of the most impressive mages I've ever seen getting left there, could I? I mean... Angelica or Amon could've picked you up, but I've got a bit more carry capacity than they do. And Sasha'll be fine. If he can't hear me, then he's just waiting outside the city with that other rider. I doubt any Wrathite would go near that Dragon of a Wyvern. Was seriously scary... Oh!" Eva realized something rather important, during her little wait for the last few warp groups. "I've never asked you for your name! I've just been calling you tiny mage. I'm so sorry!"

[Toogee]

Jam was feeling a bit apprehensive about warping; there was no word on whether the others made it or not. Still, it was the only way out for them. The dancer allowed Tia to drag her along to be part of the third run. Hopefully, they would end up in a safe location and in one piece. Horrible thoughts crossed her mind of possible fates.

"What if we're warped but we come back inside out and explode or something?"

She kept a brave (though troubled) face for Tia as she awaited their warping.

[scorri]

"I... uhm... Hoshi. Who... who are you?" She winced, not really liking being called tiny mage but feeling too indebted to the woman who'd saved her to object.

[Nanami Touko]

"Hooooshi. Hoshi. That Kigenese? Hard to say that..." Eva groaned as she struggled with her common. She'd get around it eventually; better than repeating tiny mage all the time. "I'm Evangeline. Just call me Eva. Full name's really pretty and long and hard to say for some people. Eva's easy. Makes life simpler." She looked about really quick, to see if anyone else had been warped in yet. "I sit around and take hits so you get stabbed less. But I didn't really do that good of a job, that damned Alastor. Need to get a bit quicker on my feet."

[scorri]

"I, uhm, yes, it's Kigenese. I am from there originally. It's, uhm, why Weyland set me as the leader for the, uhm, trip to Kigen. Evangeline is a pretty name. As, uhm, is Eva. Yes, I saw you fighting. You, uhm, did a good job." She shrunk back a little as they started talking about the fight, not really wanting to bring back those memories. Casting around for a new topic, she stuttered, "Uhm, uhm... Is... uhm, is your wyvern male or female?"

[Nanami Touko]

All these uhms... She seemed nervous, but this is... I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume her common just isn't that good. Then it hit her. "Wait, you're the leader? Not Amon? Huh..." That was really odd to hear. This shy mage was in charge? She must've been really good with her dark magic, in more than the hitting things way. I'll ask her later. She could even look at my sword, maybe. "Sasha? He's a guy. Why d'you ask?"

[scorri]

"I... I was just curious. That's all. I've, uhm, never really seen a wyvern up close. So, uhm, that's all." Hoshi shrugged and continued. "I... yes, I'm the leader. Though... I'm not sure I should be but... that's how it is."

Edited August 27, 2014 by scorri

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, alright. But don't get too curious if I'm not around," Eva said with a small grin. "He's trained, but if you're alone, he might think I sent you as a snack! It's a bit of a problem, but he hasn't eaten anyone yet, so..." Eva wondered if she should try to get that thinking out of him, but it might be too much work for how much free time she wasn't about to have. I'll think about it. "What can you do with your magic? Is it just good for throwing at people or can you do something else? Might be why you're the leader." Guess I'll ask now instead of later.

Meanwhile, Tia looked up at Jam's face. It did not help circumstances.

Edited August 27, 2014 by I have opinions

[Phoenix]

Third Batch

The quiet acolyte stepped forward with his light staff, looking a little bitter about the whole thing. There was no twirling action this time. "Come close together, he instructed," the frustration evident in his voice as well. Once they were in position, he began focusing hard, trying to compensate for the difference in elevation. It would have been much easier were they outside, but ...

"Here," the first acolyte came closer and began pointing his finger at the wall.

Leaning close to look along the arm, the quiet one said, "Is that the direction?"

"Yeah," he replied with a nod and a smile. "Just aim riiight there."

Third Landing

Shadrak didn't really trust Angelica with his safety, or most people for that matter, but he didn't really want to have to endure a hard landing after what he'd already gone through, so he complied with the wind mage.

Meanwhile, Joanna dried her tears and took in her surroundings. Liam had gone to help with the blind warps that were going on, and with no one injured yet, she didn't have much to do, herself but wait. Suddenly, she felt a surge of light energy converging right where she was. She leaped backward to protect herself, almost purely on reflex, and the next batch of vigilantes appeared right there in the street. The light energy that brought Valter from the cathedral in particular, had nearly dropped him off right where she had been standing, which if she hadn't moved when she did, could have resulted in her getting knocked over or winding up with someone roughly twice her weight on her shoulders. "That was a little close. We should probably spread out a little," she advised. The warpers were getting dangerously accurate.

Preparation

"Oh whoops!" The first acolyte grinned guiltily and shook his head. "Don't aim exactly at that point, just aim very close to it. We're trying to get them out of here, not make a human pyramid."

"Now you tell me that," the quiet acolyte hissed.

<"Well well ...> are you guys trying to escape all those guards?" Amon recognized the woman's voice and quickly turned around to see Fizza peeking in from outside the room. She was wearing one of the robes typically found on acolytes of the Order of Truth, but she hadn't seen fit to ditch her old bandana or her combat gloves, so the disguise was lazy at best, and shoddy at worst. It had apparently worked so far, though. "You might want to hurry ... they're already tearing the place apart trying to find the 'murderous villains' responsible for the violence in the Hall of Wrath."

"Where ... have you been?" Amon struggled with his words.

"Around the cathedral."

[Ether]

With the shaman's compliance, Angelica grabbed a hold of him, and platformed the duo down to a nice, soft landing on the street. Just in time to watch Valter nearby be warped into Joanna... in quite a literal sense. Letting go of the dark user, the adept sighed.

"How can they go so quick from flinging people into the air at random and nearly perfectly skewering the first bunch they sent using the third...?"

[Mercakete]

Well, it seemed like he hadn't needed to rush very much after all. To his surprise, Shadrak was rescued by the doll mage from before, who seemed to be able to...walk on air? ...Weird magic. Well, at least the next group seemed to appear on the ground. Valter was among them, too, which brought some relief to the pegasus rider. He hadn't realized he'd be so glad to see him and Joanna out of that place.

There are still others inside. This was no time to watch the warping antics below. His focus shifted back to warping antics above.

[scorri]

Hearing Joanna voice her concerns, Lumi moved a bit away from where everyone else was then asked, "Can someone help me with my shoulder then? I'd really like to stop having a shooting pain in my arm and all."

Hoshi shrugged and said quietly, "Uhm, I do alchemy. It's really my main focus. I don't really fight besides the last two days, but, uhm, alchemy is something I've studied for years, so, uhm, that's my strength I suppose."

[Ether]

Now closer to ground level, the conversation was easier to read, atleast. Walking over to Lumi, Angelica looked the rider over, more specifically her arm.

"It was dislocated, wasn't it? If that's the case, I can get it back in the right place but... you'd want one of the healers to help bring the strength back to par... luckily Joanna and Shadrak should both be capable of that, so take your pick." Angelica replied, circling Lumi slightly as she spoke.

"Anything else we should take care of while we're at it, that you know of? Or does it seem to just be the arm?"

[scorri]

"Just the arm. Don't need a healer, I'll put some ice around it and it'll hold up fine. They're all tired after the battle anyways." Lumi concentrated for a second, removing the ice casing that had sealed her arm to her side and then nodded. "Right, lets get this over with."

[Ether]

"If you say so... alright, here we go." Angelica replied, before re-aligning the dislocated joint and pushing it back into place, quickly erecting an air pressure bubble around the area to apply a light, constant pressure, so as to help keep the limb steady.

[scorri]

"Gah... ah. Right." Twisting her shoulder slightly, Lumi nodded. "That's that, thanks." Holding her arm close to her chest, Lumi quickly formed a sling of sorts out of ice, holding the arm in place to keep stress off the shoulder. "That should do the trick. Any idea how much longer til we can all get out of here?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Alchemy? Oh, cool! I can ask you about my sword later," Eva said with a rather satisfied look on her face. "That's probably why you're the leader, really. You've got such a unique talent that no one else here can really do... Besides, if you can do alchemy, you can probably solve any problems we come across just by making something to fix them, right? That's how alchemy works, yeah? With the...making things...?"

----------

As Tia felt the warp happening, she closed her eyes and prayed for nothing to go wrong. When she felt solid ground underneath her feet once again, she opened one eye, and let out the breath she'd been holding. They'd made it, and onto solid ground! No roof, no air, no problems. She immediately let go of Jam and collapsed onto her knees.

"That... That was t-t-t-too stressful..." She started to feel herself crying as the entire ordeal suddenly hit her all at once, looking around. Spying Gelly dropping off Shadrak, she sprung up and ran at him, throwing her arms around his waist in a hug. "Sh-shadrak! I-I-I was so scared! I... I didn't know what to dooooo..." There were the waterworks.

Edited August 27, 2014 by I have opinions

[scorri]

"I... uhm, I can look at your sword, yes. Uhm... it's not quite like... I mean, yes, it's making things, but it requires turning one thing into another, so I'd require material to work with and, uhm, I don't..." She blinked, not sure how to explain that alchemy wasn't the solution to everything and couldn't solve things like her shyness or someone's refusal to listen or work with their group.

[Ether]

"Depends on how many more rotations we need to go through... if they can keep them up at that pace, it shouldn't be too long but... I worry for the dark warper, we were tossed about two stories in the air, ourselves... if we need to start tending to more wounds, we'll be here for a while yet." Angelica replied with a sigh, as Tia shot over to Shadrak and began crying into him... figures.

"Well, I should be keeping my eyes open in case anyone else gets flung onto window sills like Shadrak was... someone needs to get them down if they do..."

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, sorry. I meant, like, making physical things. Like, if we needed to trade for something, or get something for someone. You'd be the first person to turn to, right?" Maybe Hoshi had been confused by what she'd said, but Eva hoped that would clarify things. She then looked over at the new group warping in, nodding. "Seems we'll be able to move soon. From the looks of things, it's only Amon and that new guy left... Unless I'm miss-- Nadya! Right. Almost forgot... Probably shouldn't, since she's the healer..."

[roymbrog]

If the situation directly before the warp was disconcerting, Valter wasn’t sure what to call the situation afterward. Had they nearly managed to warp him right on top of Joanna? ...In Joanna? How would that have worked anyway? “R-Right,” he replied to the avian’s advice, and took a few steps away from where he had appeared to stand next to her. Which in some respects was the opposite of what she advised, but he wasn’t entirely listening.

Apparently the second group had been transported into the air though, according to Angelica. That certainly caused him to rethink his earlier frustration. At least he’d landed on the ground. Things could be worse...

[Phoenix]

Final Batch

"She's not from the Order of Truth," the quiet acolyte said, staring down Fizza.

"My disguise failed already?" the woman said, with narrowly a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, it looks like it's my turn again. Are you ready? Iii think we can get the rest of you in one go," the first acolyte said, seeming overall confident in his own words.

Amon nodded gently, trying to let the surprise and stress flow out of him. All things considered, they had succeeded. The guards wouldn't get here soon enough to stop the first acolyte from warping them out unless they were handy with a gun. A thought occurred, and he quickly turned to face Evelyn. "Thanks. I'm really sorry about what happened. We won't trouble you or anyone else here again," he promised, though he wasn't really sure what the future had in store for them after that mess.

Landing Area

"They're taking turns," Shadrak irritably noted, "I'm guessing the girl who sent us is a complete and utter failure and the other two are at least decent enough to hit their mark ... they should probably have been a bit less precise, though." And then he was nearly cut off by Tia rushing over and attaching herself to him. "Well it's alright now," Shadrak gently but seriously reminded her. He wasn't sure how else to respond; girls prone to crying weren't ones he had much experience with. He was more familiar with the immovable rock, Chie, the slumbering tree, Chelsea, and the voracious predator, Siv.

"Where are we going?" Joanna said, her eyes squarely on Valter. She wasn't too concerned about the long term at the moment, but rather exactly where they would be going after the groups arrived. She'd spent nights outside before during her travels but she usually had equipment with her ... and she usually wasn't out on an empty stomach like this. She had no intention of bringing up her hunger until her stomach betrayed her and cried out in protest, however. "It seems like you were all planning this, but after what happened, I can't imagine it's safe to stay in the city until morning.