Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Phoenix]

The Chill Dragon

<"You should meet rest of unit,"> Sonya said, <"none of them even bothered to learn common. I'm the only one who speaks it, though clearly not very well. I need more practice.">

"We'd already be in trouble for not attacking 'Sonya' on sight," the guard captain confirmed, "but the situation's a little more complicated than all that. We're not outfitted to fight a dragon, so our instructions at this point would be to report this to command and try to stay alive. I don't know the regulations for actual interactions like this, though," he readily admitted.

"Send man back for reporting, and rest of you are helping with bandits," Sonya shrugged, "this is working, yes?"

"... maybe ... if we can figure out how to smooth over everything else that's happening, right now.."

Doran quickly pointed his pistol right at Norbert's head after the pegasus rider's remark. "Shut your hole! You have no idea what we've been through since the empire and these wrathdamned brigands started killing and kidnapping our people! This isn't some business transaction for us, we're here to avenge people, friends, family, other soldiers! We're not here to point our finger at a base and then run off to collect some prize, you spineless mercenary scum! I don't want anything to do with this imperial elitist, either, but it's not my call ... it's his," Doran nudged his head toward the guard captain, who was reluctantly meeting his subordinate's gaze. "If he orders us to work with this thing, then he's the one that's going to take the fall for it, but until he decides one way or another, I'm still weighing my own options. I've already had to work with scum like you for a day; I can't imagine working with this thing to be a whole lot worse than that, so forgive me for not ranting and raving like you do when the situation was unbearable from the very start."

Suddenly Doran's gun managed to pull free from his hand and gently holstered itself. The hammer returned to its half-cocked position immediately after that. Doran himself, as well as some of his fellow patrolmen would have been beside themselves if not for the earth dragon making gestures with her paw nearby. "Be saving wrath and bullets for bandits," Sonya said as she lowered her paw. "Maybe you are listening to me and bringing everyone, instead, hmm?" Sonya looked to Norbert expectantly.

Playing Catch Up

"Well I doubt Ursians would miss someone like Isis, who could easily be mistaken for a dragon at a distance, but the real issue might be all those trees," Haythem replied. It was why they had to follow the road; for one, it was one of few landmarks and the only one they knew about that the scouting party had been anywhere near. "I'm thinking we probably should have brought Joanna along ... just to keep track of where they were headed."

"It might be a bit late for regrets," Amon said, "we can still find them, we just need to have some signalling methods ready for them when we get to that area. There's plenty of time until then, so I'm sure we'll come up with at least a few more good ones."

[Mercakete]

"Oh boo-hoo! This is your job, moron! You should've expected to deal with the Imperials and with bandits! Yeah, it's terrible, and I wish these sorts of problems never came up, but they did and they will keep coming up so long as there are threats out there! And just because I'm a mercenary doesn't mean I haven't had my fair share of problems! So we were hired to help you find their base -- big deal! We're not supposed to be doing your job for you anyway! And besides that, I was against taking the job, myself! No one else had experience against bandits, though. So you're not the only one not entirely happy about the company!" Norbert snapped back at Doran. He didn't feel particularly threatened by the man; he didn't believe Doran would actually shoot him, especially since the dragon seemed to be putting the gun away.

What the pegasus rider said next was in a calmer, less snappish tone, but he was still annoyed and he felt no need to hide that. "And this may surprise you, but I'm just glad to hear you're just as upset about this as I am...and that you're bold enough to say so instead of cowering behind a commander's decision. And you know, that's just why I worked alone for so long: so I wouldn't have to take orders and do whatever I'm told, even if it's something I whole-heartedly disagree with. I get to make my own choices. And you know, if you were a mercenary, who knows? You might've actually been allowed to shoot me just now."

He cast said dragon an annoyed glance as he sighed, "But she's right about that, at least: better to save the fighting for the bandits." He focused back on Doran. "And depending on what your commander decides, we'll see if we have anything left for a real fight afterwards; I'm not afraid of you and don't count me out of this battle yet. I can't and won't guarantee I'm going to just 'point my finger at a base and then run off to collect some prize.' I want to see those prisoners rescued, by Wrath!"

He glanced to the dragon again, still quite disgruntled, but at least he was a lot calmer now. "And I still don't know what I'm going to do regarding you. I don't want to work with an Imperial who's actively trying to take over Ursium...but it's also true that we have a vaguely common goal here. I can't and won't stop you if you want to obliterate some bandits, but that's not really the problem right now."

[Nanami Touko]

Eva sighed, putting a hand on her head and trying not to join in the shouting. This is so stupid. Why are they even arguing? Girls, you're both beautiful. Eva shot Jam an apologetic look; the poor girl was probably just as tired of this as everyone else. Maybe she could chat the dragon up until things calmed down between all the testosterone. "<So, what if I wanted to meet the rest of your unit? I'm Neviskotian; it wouldn't be a problem, right?>" It was a neat thought. Eva had seen and heard of dragons before, but this was honestly the first time she was talking one up. "<Maybe I could teach them something about Common. My only problem is when people start implying stuff. Otherwise, I'm practically fluent.>" Sasha was definitely calm by now, looking curiously as Sonya, rather than angrily. "<Might be able to give you a pointer, or two.>"

Edited August 27, 2015 by Snake Mom

[Phoenix]

Concerns Abound

"Listening is what you should be doing," was Sonya's retort to Norbert. Her eyes squinted as she contemplated Eva's idea. She personally didn't have a problem with introducing her to the unit, but there was the matter of their mission, which was mostly covert, and on top of that, her commanding officer was the kind of overbearing, irate bastard that could give Norbert and Doran a run for their money even on their best days, or worst days depending on how you looked at it. She could knock the man's head clean off with a flick of her wrist and still he had the guts to talk down to her like a misbehaving human toddler. Other than him, the rest of the unit were varying degrees of amiable, perhaps too amiable, since Sonya herself was the only one among them willing to try and find a way to deal with the bandits. Of course, she was exploiting a loophole in her commander's orders to do so, which is why she needed the help of this third party for the actual bloodshed.

<"The unit's full of good people, but our commander is itching to undermine Ursium by any means necessary, so he's a real hard ass, best avoided. If we're all still alive when this is over, I wouldn't mind introducing you to my unit. Normally I wouldn't, but what I'm going to have to do to make sure those bandits are dealt with is going to expose us. We'll have to leave this area."> She glanced down at Norbert and Doran to see how the argument was progressing. It didn't seem to be 'progressing' at all, really.

Shadrak wasn't sure how much more of this back and forth he could take. It was one thing to argue with the dragon, but Norbert and Doran had the exact same stance on this issue and they were still bickering. He had half a mind to blast them both with flux spells and the other half was still considering less effective options, like joining in the argument and shouting them down. The indecision left him standing there pinching the bridge of his nose, instead.

"Like I need permission to bury you," Doran hissed, reaching for his gun, again. It wouldn't unholster, though. He gave it a few tugs as he continued, not noticing Sonya making her gestures, again. "'No one else had experience', what a crap excuse to suddenly decide you care about any of this! Now the prisoners being alive, that I can understand; we assumed they were dead. But if you're so experienced with bandits, why not just go and handle all of this yourself? Surely you can handle who knows how many grunts and rescue whoever's still alive. I work with other soldiers because we all know strength and numbers will always prevail in the end. Wrathdammit, what's g-" Finally, Doran noticed Sonya out of the corner of his eye. He shoved his pistol back into place in annoyance when he realized that she was more attentive than he thought, and that he'd never get a shot off if she didn't let up. Really, the only thing stopping Doran from at least shooting Norbert once, other than Sonya, herself, was his reluctance to make a lot of noise with the thing. The healer could always patch up the hole in Norbert's chest and he'd be back in fighting shape in no time, and an eardrum shattering reprimand from the commander would be worth it, in his eyes. "And yeah, don't be afraid of me; I wouldn't want you to run away after this mission's over."

"I'm going to rub deer droppings in your faces, later. Listen to this before you decide what to do, next," Fizza inserted herself roughly between Norbert and Doran, though the two were far enough apart that it could be seen as merely moving into a better speaking position. "She's under strict orders not to fight the bandits, and she's not going to, at least not directly. Her commander thinks that if they let the bandits do what they do best, the local garrisons will get whittled down enough for them to actually take Ursaea before the bulk of the army realizes how much trouble this region is in. So far so good, looks like. Obviously, Sonya doesn't have a problem with claiming Ursian land for the empire, but she doesn't like lazy tactics like hiding behind and promoting banditry. She knows a way for you to reach the bandits without getting spotted, and without running into the 'skotian mines they've got scattered around the areas near the base. Furthermore, she's going to play decoy for us so the defenders will focus their attention on one side of the base in order to give us an opening. While you're preparing here, I'll be going up ahead to try and head off the ones that escaped this fight ... no way there were only two of them. So, if you think four or five people is going to be enough, flying low to avoid the ballistae ... and yes they do have quite a few ballistae, apparently, then have fun dying when you get there. If you think you're better off taking your chances in the minefield ... again, have fun dying on the way there."

"Surely there's some way to spot these mines," the guard captain interjected, though he was more curious about how in the bloody hell these bandits got their hands on mines, and in large enough numbers to make them a reliable layer of defense. Fizza called them ''skotian' mines, which was a little unsettling. Most mines were military grade anyway, which meant you'd never walk again if you stepped on one and set it off, but that was assuming you survived at all. Maybe they got the mines from the 'skotians.

"I know how to get past them ... but it's Sonya's information," Fizza shrugged, "she can tell you."

"Is there even anything to decide? Tell me I'm not the only one that thinks the imperials are arming these bandits and that Sonya over here's just trying to lure us into a deathtrap." Doran held out his arms and looked around for some sort of reply from the others. "The honorable dragon just happens to have the information we need and is willing to 'play decoy' for us so we can sneak up on the bandits ... I'm not buying that."

"Ugh," Sonya groaned. "If this is trap, why sending dragon and not charming salesman or big-chested girl in short skirt? If you are fearing trap, making sure you are sending back report of almighty earth dragon, big minefield, and part saying 'is probably trap' in big eye-catching letters. I am not caring about trust, I am caring about bandits and punishing them once and for all. 'Likely story,' yes, also true story."

[Mercakete]

Welp. That's what he got for trying to deescalate the conflict between himself and Doran. "Let me make something clear, piglet," the scathing remarks weren't over yet, but he did have a much firmer grip on his temper, now. "The reason why I decided to go -- the reason why no one else having experience in this mattered to me -- is because I know how dangerous this job is, and if I have the ability and knowledge to help them, I'm going to. I wasn't about to sit back and let them head out here with no experience and blunder the mission and get themselves or anyone else hurt or killed. I have experience and I have knowledge, but I know full well that that doesn't mean I can take on a whole base myself -- especially one this big. ... And yes, you do need permission to drop me. I doubt it's your good will holding you back." After that, a little reluctantly, Norbert responded to Doran's trap theory. "And actually, I believe the dragon."

He'd already thought it over enough to decide on that. It was just the principle of working with an Imperial that was bugging him. He may not have gotten along with his sisters much, especially growing up, but they were still family and they were still out there fighting for people's freedom...at least, the ones who chose to be in the military. It almost felt like he was turning on them...but this plan actually made a lot of sense to him, especially knowing now that the Neviskotians were helping these bandits...which put the prisoners at an even bigger risk.

"I think I said it earlier: I understand wanting to get rid of the bandits. It's one of those things that doesn't matter where you're from. If you don't like people exploiting and attacking others, it's something you deal with. She's looking at the long term and was honest enough with us about her opinions; there's no reason to suspect a trap here, at least not from her. We still might have to deal with 'Skotians at the bandit camp, though, if they're supplying them or something. And it's looking more and more like..." Norbert's face twisted in disgust and frustration as he said the next words. "like the Imperials aren't the right enemy to be fighting right now." With that out of the way, the rest of the statement was easier. "We'll have to deal with them later, but right now, those pegasus knights and their pegasi are in danger. And if we want to rescue them, we might have to work with this Imperial for a little while...but after that, there's nothing forcing anyone to keep that sort of alliance up. And if it is a trap, we'll be fighting the same people as we would have otherwise, so... Well, you should know what I'm saying by now! And if you don't, then your head must be full of rocks!" The least he could do was not admit that he was suggesting they trust the dragon for now. He was also internally cursing logic and reason.

[Nanami Touko]

Well, we already have our big-chested skirt girl... I guess, sans skirt right now, but still. Eva couldn't help but muse over that was the dragon joked about it, thinking about the other dragons as Doran and Bert kept going on-- at least one of them, the one she didn't expect, was trying to stop the fighting. But she still had to be careful about what she said to the dragon. With Fizza and Angelica still in earshot, she wasn't the only person around that knew how to speak Neviskotian, so any opinions that were far too strong to hold (like sharing sentiments with miss imperial conquerer) were best left inside her head. "<I dunno, I get to deal with a real hardass on a regular occassion now, so I think I'd be fine. It's not like I'd be trying to start something with him. Sorry you're going to expose yourselves over this, but it'd still be nice. Really, you've no idea how nice it is to talk to a native after all this time away from home. Really nice.>"

And as was said, at least Bert was trying to stop the argument, wow! Eva clapped her hands together, smiling a bit. "Great! So, now that everyone except Mr. sourface over there," she said, motioning to Doran, "is fine with this, let's all be 'friends', and get rid of some bandits, okay? This posturing back and forth is wasting a lot of time."

[Ether]

And there was Norbert, eventually coming along in his own way... that one was always careful to never admit he had mis-spoken, even in the middle of his admittance of such a thing. Well, no matter, it hadn't blown up in their faces, so things had worked out well enough, as far as Angelica was concerned. But really now, those two quite obviously had some sort of history, but...

"That's enough out of both of you. Now then, with our biggest detractor out of the way, our group, at the least, seems to be willing to go on ahead. If the city guard is unable to parley with our friend here, then it seems best that you remain on standby for now, no? It will certainly smooth things out if we can make use of her information." The adept noted, giving both of the bickering men a rather exasperated look.

"<I should hope that is acceptable... Sonya, was it? I do hope that my Neviskotian does not offend the ears, I don't have all that many chances to practice it, around here.>" Angelica concluded, craning her head a bit to look back at the dragon. Well, so long as she wasn't quite so disposed to attempt to tear them limb from limb, like the last one, she didn't particularly care about such things.

[Phoenix]

Alternative?

<"Well this hard ass likes to get physical very quickly,"> Sonya explained, <"Human punches are like gentle pokes to me but for other humans they hurt, right? Either way, if you're really interested, I'll see what I can do."> She wasn't sure if the Ursian guards would actually manage to reach a consensus on the issue, but if they did, that would make dealing with the bandits a whole lot easier. <"Sonya, yes, and your neviskotian's better than my common from what I can tell,"> she smiled at Angelica. Of course Doran was quick to speak up almost as soon as she'd replied.

"If you're so eager to shut me up, then attack me, both of you," he glared at Eva and then Angelica, "otherwise, you should just shut your holes. I'll be burned alive before I'm ever friends with this worthless piece of orphan trash who calls himself a bandit expert, or this damn dragon," he turned away slightly. "... and as for working with this imperial scum ... that's necessary, anymore, not after what we've already heard." Doran's comments had some of the other patrolmen paying close attention to him. Many of them had been trying to come up with alternatives to what they considered to be very close to treason, but none of them had come up with anything, yet. Clearly, Doran had.

"Oh boy," Sonya frowned, "you are thinking you are having enough information? You are dying soon if that is true."

"I told you there were mines," Fizza added, "I didn't tell you how to deal with them, and I'm not going to, because I like watching people make tough decisions~" she smirked. She could feel the glares directed her way as she'd said that, but what was of greater interest to her was that one of the guards that was nearby was slowly approaching her from behind. Without her training, she might not have noticed until he was close enough to do whatever he was planning to do. She figured that in the best case scenario, he would try to reason with her, and place a hand on her shoulder ... and in the worst case scenario, he'd try to take her as a hostage. These city guards didn't seem bold enough for that in general, but she'd definitely be impressed if someone actually tried. She was almost hoping that was what he was up to back there.

Doran noticed his fellow closing the distance, too, though he was trying to be casual about it. He had bad feeling about this, though. Still, he had to explore this alternative or none of them would ever be able to live this down. "That's right," he nodded, "you know about the mines, so you're the one that needs to tell us, that way there's no direct link between us and this imperial. You do that, and this whole situation might actually resolve peacefully."

Peace was highly overrated in Fizza's eyes, but she was personally itching for some action, so that might have been coloring her perspective at the moment. The guard that had been approaching her finally reached her, and to Fizza's slight disappointment, it really did just turn out to be a simple hand on the shoulder. She turned to face him. "Please ... don't make us traitors to our own country," he pleaded, looking quite sincere. "I know this seems petty, but the empire's put us through hell, more hell than these bandits could if they carried on for another decade.

[Nanami Touko]

Eva smiled. She could feel that recklessness in her welling up again, even if it wasn't enough to go up against a dragon, especially solo. "<He sounds fantastic, not gonna lie. I'd appreciate it, a lot. Thanks~>" At least she had something to look forward to, now. And, hey, there was Angelica speaking her 'Skotian. "<Aw, you should speak that more, around me... It really reminds me of home; it'd be nice.>" She pouted slightly, before her new, least favorite person spoke up. "Juuuust shut up." This Doran seriously was worse than Bert. At least Bert could, eventually, see reason. He could have a conversation without turning into an insufferable cunt. This guy... She sighed. And now, now he thought he was about to weasel his way out of this.

So did one of the guards. Eva thought he was about to try something on Fizza (which would've ended poorly, from what she'd heard of the woman), but he tried the ol', sincerity thing. Eva rolled her eyes. "<Fizza, I dunno if you can speak Neviskotian-- er, scratch that, you brought the dragon... Anyway! Don't do it. Especially not after this blowhard's been going on. At the very least, he doesn't deserve to know.>" Eva was starting to regret working with these Ursians. The captain wasn't that bad, but Doran was awful, and the guards didn't seem to be able to see the logic in this.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Snake Mom

[Mercakete]

"Hey, I never said I was 'fine with this!'" Norbert hastily corrected Eva when she called Doran a sourface. He did agree that they should get to rescuing those captives, but the captain still hadn't made a decision on it and they couldn't really move forward until he did. When Angelica spoke up, he sent her a mild glare, but otherwise didn't complain...out loud. Yeah, sure, pipe up after we've already settled it as though you actually did anything.

He also disagreed with Angelica's proposed plan, but not strongly enough to offer anything up but a grimace and a glare for now. You accept the dragon's help "because we'll need it" and then just flippantly dismiss the guards? I'd rather work with them than her, and if we need the dragon, then we need the guards, too. If they really didn't want to work with the dragon -- not that he did -- though, then maybe having them stand by would work well enough...especially if it caused the bandits to underestimate their actual numbers.

Then, Doran started talking again. Well, the dragon spoke first, but he couldn't understand a lick of what she was saying, so he dismissed it. He really wished that she, Eva, and now Angelica would stick to Common, though. He really didn't want to deal with suspicion of working with the bandits or the Neviskotians to be turned onto him and his fellow mercenaries.

Regarding Doran's challenge, he had to respect it. He, himself, would have said something similar a couple months ago, but he'd since tried to be more cordial, little effect as may have been apparent. He was also a little surprised to hear just how much Doran didn't like him. Evidently, he was just as passionate about his dislike of Norbert as he was about working with an Imperial dragon. It could've just been posturing or exaggeration, but...why did Doran hate him so much? Was it because he stood up to him? Doran was the one who had abused his position to give Norbert an extra beating. Norbert himself hadn't so much as laid a hand-- ... Well, during the interrogation, the rider had bitten Doran's hand, but that was the extent of it, and the Ursaean was wearing gauntlets anyway. Regardless, Doran's talk about an alternative to working with the dragon had piqued his curiosity. If it was valid, he was certainly all ears. He was a little concerned about what Sonya had to say about that, though. Evidently, there was more that they hadn't told them. It did make sense. After all, information was the primary leverage she had in getting them to agree with her plan.

Then, Fizza opened her mouth...and gave the dumbest reason for not telling them anything more. This immediately put Norbert on edge. Sure enough, Doran and another of the guards began closing in...and the guard captain was keeping his up his infuriatingly passive silence. Would he ever speak up and rein in his subordinates? It was generally bad to have physical infighting just before attacking an enemy base...and Norbert was sure that Fizza could handle herself, but... Well, Norbert's hands were drifting over to his maces as he carefully watched the situation unfold. Greta might miss out on her wagon and she wouldn't be happy about that, but he wasn't going to stand for one of their own being attacked. Enough was enough...and Doran certainly implied violent intentions with his wording to the Rexian woman.

The other guard, at least, turned out to be just pleading with Fizza, and explaining the prospective of the Ursians, himself included. That relaxed the rider a little, but he still kept vigilant for any hostile movements on Doran's part. Was he bold enough to attack an ally? Maybe... No one seemed to stand up to him, at least from what he'd seen. No one except that one pegasus knight who had survived the dragon flight with him...and she was either captured or dead.

Thinking like that reinstilled a sense of urgency in Norbert, albeit a relatively mild one. Just dashing in was explicitly out of the question, primarily because the guard captain hadn't given any orders yet, let alone whatever plans they'd have or have to formulate depending on his choice. Of course, after the guards' words, Norbert had some of his own.

"Is it more treasonous to use an Imperial dragon as a decoy to get shot at," he actually calmly asked his fellow Ursians, "or to potentially leave Ursian soldiers imprisoned in a bandit camp just because we didn't take every advantage we could get in their rescue? That's how I had to look at it before I decided to at least try the dragon's plan. I don't like working with an Imperial any more than you do, but if what they're saying is true and if we go with their plan, then what do we have by the end of this? Priceless information on the location of Imperial invaders, their dragon potentially wounded, rescued aerial Ursian soldiers, and a rooted-out bandit stronghold. Doesn't sound so bad to me."

He didn't like putting it that way in front of an Imperial, but she didn't seem to mind so far and, well, there wasn't really any other way to put it. His face hardened from passive-serious to something with a bit more fervor and more heat entered his tone, too, as he went on, "And even if Fizza gave us the information, if we refused to work with the dragon, then we'd suffer more losses and the Imperials would have a completely healthy dragon that you Ursaeans would have to deal with when they decide to take over your homes. Now what do you think is the smarter move here?"

[Phoenix]

Possibilities

"Way Bert is saying this, I am thinking being decoy is ... maybe not so good," Sonya mused aloud, scratching her chin with one of her massive claws. "I am not nimble like wind dragon, so surprise bolts are bad."

My men wouldn- the guard captain thought, but he couldn't finish that thought. They would. They most definitely would. If Sonya played decoy for them, and they took over the bandits' hideout, the ballistae would be theirs for the taking, and with her guard lowered, Sonya would be an easy target for those newly acquired ballistae. The guard captain suddenly realized the true depth of this tense situation. This dragon knew she would be making use of at least a few ursians to take out the bandits, bandits she wasn't fully equipped to defend herself against. They would come home as heroes if they managed to take her down along with the bandits. She wasn't only willing to risk her life as a decoy for their attack, but she was also opening herself up to a betrayal that could quickly turn fatal. All they had to do was use the bandits' ballistae against her. She seemed like she was just only now realizing this, but the guard captain suspected otherwise.

The rest of the guards seemed to be leaning against working with Sonya, but after Norbert's comments, and Sonya's musing, most of them immediately changed stances. Doran could feel the shift; he could almost see it. He didn't feel quite the same way they did, but even he realized that working with Sonya would present them with the perfect opportunity to kill her. It was exactly what they all wished they could have accomplished against Schwartz, but he was long gone, and this dragon was right here, twice the size, and just trusting enough for this to actually work. Doran himself knew how big an accomplishment it would be, but this realization made him want to work with the dragon even less. In his mind, backstabbing was just too far, and too likely, so they were better off just sending Sonya away and facing the more uphill battle that awaited them. He knew what the others would prefer, though, and it made him grimace. This was going to turn ugly very quickly if the mercenaries got too attached to Sonya ...

The guard captain sighed. "I doubt a decoy's going to make things that much easier, kid, but it's a fair point. We're not prying the info we need out of Fizza, so we'll get it from Sonya like they want." Time for some good old rationalization to keep the men in line. "Now the truth is ... in war, we often hear things that the enemy happens to be on about, and that's information worth having." Shadrak and Doran both cocked their heads curiously at him. "That's exactly what happened here. We overheard two 'skotians discussing the bandits and decided to put that information to good use," the guard captain gestured at Sonya and then to Eva. "Now, we did see a dragon ... it was trying to get close to the base, but the ballisticians chased it off and that was the last we saw of it. We waited for a while just to make sure it didn't return, then we got our people out of there and came straight home."

"I am loving this bad reporting because I am playing two characters in it," Sonya gently clapped her paws.

"Does anyone have a problem with this plan?" the guard captain looked around, eyeing everyone at least once.

Observations

Joanna blinked a few times, the confusion on her face only slightly obscured by the golden light erupting from her irises. She'd decided to at least see if there had been any new developments with the scouting group while she and the others had been deciding who would and wouldn't go to help them. She was not expecting to witness a tense discussion between the scout party's various members, and the second largest dragon she'd ever seen with her own eyes.

"Well," Greta gave Joanna an impatient look, "we're waitin'. What's goin' on over there? Bert didn't do somethin' nuts did he?"

"Uh ..."

Greta barely resisted a chuckle. "Figures. So what's goin' on, Joanna?"

"They're ... speaking with a dragon," Joanna said it plainly, figuring there was no point in being anything but direct about it, now. Greta was stunned, frozen, clearly worried this scouting mission was about to turn into the wrong kind of massacre.

[Mercakete]

"Yeah! It's not the truth!" Norbert replied, irritated once again. Granted, he probably wouldn't be around to give his version of it, but hearing this retelling made him wonder just how many other reports had been rewritten to make things sound more favorable for one person or less for another. He wasn't even thinking about what lies he'd told to protect Raquel and the rest of the people he;d worked with since meeting the woman, but that was partially because he didn't see what was wrong with just explaining exactly what happened in this situation. At least it sounded like the guards and the dragon would be working together, but he was already onto the next issue and so didn't have time to be happy about that little victory. He also didn't bother with dwelling on the fact that he'd been called "kid." Why did this sort of thing keep happening?

Edited August 29, 2015 by Mercakete

[Nanami Touko]

Eva smiled. "You've no idea how glad I am that you're here, Captain." If it had just been Doran, things would have been awful. It was nice that they had a sensible Ursian on their side. What did it matter if there was a white lie or two, heading back to headquarters? What mattered was working together and getting these bandits gone. And if any of the guards tried to make a pin cushion out of Sonya afterwards, well, she'd do her best to get in the way. While Sonya might have been thinking about it for a while, the thought hadn't dawned on Eva until she mentioned surprise bolts. They'll get more than an angry dragon if they try that...

[Ether]

"We're not getting anywhere like this. There's obviously not much trust here, and that makes this whole decoy idea absolutely impossible. I think I saw a twinkle in every last one of your eyes when you thought about it, honestly..." Angelica noted with a sigh... at least the Captain seemed sensible, but once again Norbert was throwing his outrage around.

"Does it really matter to us, whether it's the truth or not? You're not involved with the Guard, Norbert. Why do you care what goes to their superiors? Personally, I've no problems with it... little lies are just about everywhere nowadays... sometimes the truth is just flat out inferior." The adept continued, deciding to passively play about with one of her knives, flipping it absentmindedly in her hand.

"And it works out for everyone involved. The Guardsmen get to go back, and not be tried for treason, Sonya gets to not be stabbed in the back for just trying to help, and we, as a whole, get to put these bandits to rest. Honestly, if your moral code, or whatever you want to call it, won't let someone else tell a harmless little lie to make everything work out... well, maybe it's for the best if you sit this one out, instead." Angelica concluded, still casually spinning and flipping the blade in her hand, figuring the current situation was a tad too tense to give Eva a proper response in 'Skotian. That said, the light wink, and vague blown kiss that she threw the rider would hopefully suffice... assuming that Eva noticed, that is.

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, at least they had the sense not to attack the dragon outright. I thought that Ursians had killed all the dragons within their borders though," Liam said in a quizzical tone.

[Mercakete]

Norbert gave Angelica a glare. He was really beginning to dislike that woman. "The captain asked if anyone had any problems with the plan, and I have a problem with people lying about things like this, okay? So how about you stop telling me to shut up and keep my thoughts to myself when I'm just answering a question? Or even when I'm just saying what I think? What, are you the only one who gets to have an opinion?"

[Phoenix]

Opinions

"The commander put me in charge for a reason," the guard captain replied to Eva. Indeed, there weren't a lot of officers around who wouldn't have let their men steadily steer a conversation like this toward a direct confrontation. That would have been an awful turn of events considering Sonya's goal was the same as theirs. There was a time and a place for anti-dragon sentiments and duties, and this was most certainly not it. He did wish there was some way to keep her from attacking them later on, but for now, at least the bandits could be dealt with.

"I'm fine with it," Shadrak added, "It'd be ironic if the ones sent to attack the bandits wound up sitting the fight out because of a dragon and the scouts sent to find the bandits wound up being the only ones involved in the fighting, also because of a dragon."

"I don't like this plan," Doran shook his head, "we shouldn't be working with this imperial at all, but if our dear leader here is going to force us all to go along with this lie," "I am," the guard captain nodded. Doran rolled his eyes, "then we might as well play along and do what we came here to do. Every ... fiber of my being wants to vomit at the idea of working together, so let's just ... get it over with, already." Doran looked physically ill just saying that.

"I am not approving of bad reporting, normally," Sonya chimed in, again, "but today I too am forcing hands. I am willing to be punished by superiors for greater good, but maybe Ursians are not. If bad reporting is only way ... is only way," she shrugged lightly, "and I am accepting this. At least lie is ... entertaining."

Third Party Interests

"It's probably a dragon from the Neviskotian Army," Greta frowned. It easily reminded her of Schwartz, and his band of merry ambushing bastards. "They're just ... talkin' though, right? The dragon's not threatenin' them, is it?"

"She seems very passive to me. The dragon, Sonya, she wants them to attack the bandits on her behalf." Joanna winced as she explained, wishing she'd gone with them. With a dragon committed to destroying the bandits, there was little chance of them even getting the opportunity to surrender. "I should have gone with them ..."

[Mercakete]

Norbert nodded. "I don't like lies floating around official reports like this... Makes me wonder just how many soldiers are really doing their actual jobs, as a non-military Ursian myself," he elaborated. Oddly enough, he could relate to Doran the most right now. Like heck he was going to say that plainly, though. "That's all I have to say about that, though. The longer we wait here, the more danger everyone's in. Let's just get going, now that we have a plan."

[Nanami Touko]

"Well! Glad that's all settled. Took long enough." Eva clapped her hands together, glad that everyone (except Doran but who cares) was fine with the plan, now. Eva was fine until she caught Angelica's gesture, a faint blush forming and causing her to shrink a bit, albeit still smiling. "<A-Anyway, Sonya,>" she said, slipping back into 'Skotian, "<where are we off to, then? You've got the information about all of this.>"

[-Cynthia-]

"I understand how you might feel Joanna- but keeping the emblem piece out of the hands of people who might misuse it is also very important. By keeping yourself safe, you may be preventing thousands of people from suffering. It is something to keep in mind," Liam reminded her gently.

[Toogee]

Jam wasn't thrilled about working with a dragon, but not enough to stop the mission over it. From the rumors she was hearing from the soldiers, the bandits were holding hostages. They didn't have time to squabble about the politics of their temporary alliance.

That didn't mean she was about to fraternize with their latest ally. The dancer stayed back, preferring to hang around the other soldiers and listen to their thoughts on all of this.

[Ether]

"Honestly, for how much you two argue, you really are similar. Just hurry up and fuck already so we can drop all of this angst and pretense." Angelica prodded with a snicker. With any likelihood, she'd have to dodge some sort of projectile, but... she was already prepared to deflect it, were such a thing to happen. Speaking of deflecting...

"As for you, you're more than welcome to your opinion. That doesn't mean I'm not going to call you out if it's a silly one. What occurs in the Ursian chain of command is of no concern to us, so don't pretend like it's some personal issue to you. If honesty was paramount in court and military, we wouldn't have our lovely nobility, after all. It's just a fact of this... or all human countries, rather." Angelica replied casually, shrugging her shoulders.

"But that's neither here nor there. If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that sitting here is not helping us any. <So please, if you would, Sonya.>" The adept concluded, grinning at Eva's reaction to her prodding, and walking a bit closer to both the rider and the dragon.

[Nanami Touko]

"<Hey, don't come over here, you don't like flying with others, remember?>" Eva said, sticking out her tongue a bit. As much as she appreciated it, now wasn't the time for her flirting. That wouldn't exactly stop her, but maybe Sasha would, poking his head over as Angelica got closer, giving her a sniff. Much to Eva's probable chagrin, he was entirely fine with her now, causing her to sigh. "<Silly wyvern.>" Oh, well... Maybe I'm worrying too much over her.

[Mercakete]

"If you really think we're that similar, then you don't know either of us at all!" Norbert snapped back at Angelica, "And what happens in the Ursian chain of command effects everyone in Ursium, so of course it's important to me! They're supposed to be protecting us Ursians, but how can we rely on them when there's these unseen problems?" Come to think of it, he wasn't entirely sure where Angelica hailed from. Maybe she was a Neviskotian, like Eva. She could speak the language, anyway, and seemed to have a similar stance with regard to Ursium as non-Imperial Neviskotians seemed to have. "And just because flaws like that are normal doesn't mean I'm content to let them sit around and make people's lives worse than they should be, just because someone got lazy! ...But that doesn't mean I'm willing to delay this mission over it; those can be handled later. And even if they don't do their jobs, I'm sure as the Gate going to do mine!"

[Phoenix]

The Nose Knows

Doran's fists clinched so tightly as his frustration built that every muscle involved was crying out in pain. If she'd been close enough at the time, Doran would have smacked the adept with a closed fist for making such an infuriating comparison as that. He didn't manage to convey just how much it bothered him, though, since Norbert started on it and even brought up more concerns about the deception the guard captain was planning.

"OKAY, is everyone being finished with venting? I am hoping to be explaining things," Sonya spoke up.

"You go ahead and take care of that," Fizza said as she started off northward, "I've given the stragglers enough of a head start, I think. I know how to avoid the mines, so I'll see if I can keep them from reporting in." She waved over her shoulder and then broke into a jog, beginning the hunt.

"She'll never catch them in time," Doran shook his head, "we've been standing around for too long."

"Mines," Sonya quickly interjected, "mines are hiding very close to bandit base. You are not finding them, but finding clues, instead. Be searching for small animal tracks. Large animals are avoiding mines because of strange scent, but small animals are moving around them. Humans are not picking up mines' scent, so you are looking for paths taken by small animals. Gaps in minefield are also option, but I am not knowing where they are, exactly." Frankly, Sonya was too large to get anywhere near the mines without having to contend with the trees, and if she stumbled upon them by accident ... well ... the numerous explosives going off around her might be enough to end her, if not leave her severely injured and vulnerable to the bandits, whose base was very close to the mines.

The guard captain grimaced. They really would have died trying to go straight to the base if only the animals had the sense to stay the hell away from the mines. The problem with that though, was that with no obvious sign of trouble, impatience, frustration, or some combination of the two would eventually lead to some heading in anyway, likely his own men. There would have been casualties, regardless. By that point, Norbert might have suggested flying over like he did during the argument, but if Sonya and Fizza were to be believed, they wouldn't be able to bring enough force to bear to defeat the bandits this way.

"I can kind of see why that bandit figured we were 'dead,'" Shadrak crossed his arms and nodded once, "but if he was that confident, then we now have a major advantage. Once we get past the mines, I doubt the rest of the bandits will be expecting us, especially not in full force. Throw in a possible distraction from Sonya, and we might be able to take them in record time."

"You are needing to breach wall, first," Sonya held up a claw, "I will be drawing attention away from whichever wall you are attacking so you are maybe getting in unnoticed." They had a wall? Both Doran and the guard captain immediately pictured a palisade wall, something surprisingly serviceable but easily breached without defenders present.

Choices and Consequences

"Right," Joanna's gaze fell, "I just ..."

"We hear ya," Greta said, "ya don't wanna give less than your all when it comes to principle and helpin' people. Just don't forget, people've got choices to make and consequences to deal with, those bandits especially."