Return of the Emblem Chapter Fourteen: Nine

[-Cynthia-]

Lysandra quietly stepped into the mess hall alongside Anna and Kenta, observing the group silently for a short time before deciding to speak up. Well, they're certainly well armed. Hopefully their hearts and minds are up to task as well.

"I realize that this mission is of great importance, so I will save my longer introduction for later. For now, you should know that I am a mage and that I am here to help. My name is Lysandra." She raised an eyebrow at the pink haired woman. "You must be Raquel Valcyn? You look a lot like your mother," she said with a smile.

Where did Anna and Axel even find these people? That old woman looks more like a librarian than an adventurer...but the more the merrier I suppose, Veronika thought to herself.

[Phoenix]

Mess Hall

Chip grabbed two of the fingers on Robin's hand and began grappling with her hand, not sure what she was trying to do and wanting to regain control of the situation. Zachary was curious about the familiar capuchin on Robin's shoulder, but more curious about her question. "Enchantment?" he echoed. Not the most common term for what he assumed she was talking about. "Do you want to start using an imbued weapon, or something, or is this just curiosity talking?"

Raquel's face lit up with surprise. "You know my mother?"

Meanwhile, Anna walked up to Gabbie, prompting the lancer to open her eyes and face her expectant superior. She didn't have a clear answer for her, not yet. "He was there last time I checked," Gabbie assured her.

"How long ago was that?" Anna asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"Not that long ago. It couldn't have been longer than twenty minutes ..." Long enough for Samael to cover some ground, but not necessarily far enough to get outside of Gabbie's range without warping. Anna didn't seem sure how to interpret the answer, either. They didn't have enough information to make much more than reasonable guesses.

"Okay, then," Anna sighed, "we'll shift our focus to Zerac-" "One other thing," Gabbie interjected, "I headed norther earlier to check that part of the city and I did catch a whiff of Lois."

"Is she with Zerachiel?" Anna's head tilted slightly.

"When I was out there, yeah. She was."

"Then that's the new target."

[KentaEzren]

"Alright then. I've got a map." He tosses the map he had to Anna, then turning his attention to Raquel, putting his hand out. "Lady Raquel Valcyn.... A pleasure to meet you. My name's Kenta Ezren of Kigen." He told her. "If I see the Darksider while we travel... I will have my vengeance once and for all." Kenta thought deeply, going back to what Gaston and Amanda informed him of.

Edited June 18, 2016 by KentaEzren

[Snowy_One]

"A bit of both." said Robin as she let up on Chip, looking to the monkey as he grabbed her hand. "Sorry Chip. I do not know if 'imbued' would be a good choice for me even if I sought to start wielding such a thing. You know I am less magical than last nights dinner or Nico."

[-Cynthia-]

"Cat came to me looking for a magic teacher for Reina- though sadly we had to suspend lessons for a time due to outside factors I imagine you are more than aware of. We have a lot to talk about dear, but for now just know that I am on your side. We have friends in common as well as enemies," Lysandra said at Raquel. .

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Kenta," Veronika responded with a nod. I guess he's a new employee of Weyland Enterprises then? All the way from Kigen...

[KentaEzren]

"Were all on the same side here... Right?" He asked.

[Phoenix]

Mess Hall

Anna shrugged after catching the map. It wasn't as if she hadn't brought several of her own to the fortress during the previous operation, but it also wasn't worth mentioning. She caught Gabbie's glance and frowned at her. Confirming that Lois was still in the city was a good thing, but not knowing where Samael was meant there was going to be a dangerous unknown at play when the mission started, and Anna really didn't like that.

It took Raquel a second to remember that Reina was ten years old now, and not seven like her memories kept telling her. The girl was plenty old enough to start training to become a mage. Seven wasn't too young, however it wasn't an optimal time, and early results were inconsistent at best. Kenta's formal greeting nearly made Raquel chuckle. She wondered if he was planning on asking for something later, like a favor, perhaps. "Nice to meet you both," she said to Lysandra and Kenta, raising her palm in a microscopic wave.

Zachary shrugged at Robin's answer. He imagined it depended on how the weapon, or in the case of arrows, ammunition, was designed. Imbued weapons in general were made specifically for non mages, so Robin's inexperience shouldn't matter in theory. "It could be worth a shot, no pun intended, but I don't think we've got anyone around who knows how to do that."

"See?" Olga said, alluding to her previous statement. It wasn't common for a combat mage to know anything about imbuing weapons.

"You might need to look for someone who can do that while we're in town and see what kind of compensation they'd want." Zachary stealthily glanced at Raquel for a split second. "Alternately you could see if Raquel can do it, once she's no longer occupied," he added quietly. Given what she'd pulled with that massive sword not five minutes ago, magical arrows seemed like child's play by comparison.

While Anna was moving toward a nearby table, she caught Kenta's latest question and turned to face him. "I'm more suspicious of you than anyone else here, right now," she admitted, thinking back to the encounter. She was quite familiar with nearly every other person here, after all. "If you really want to help, then there's nothing to worry about. No one else here is a spy or anything like that." Not a spy for their enemies at any rate.

[KentaEzren]

"Well I promised my mother i'd do whats right before she was assassinated. This isn't a wanting to help, its that I need to help... It's the right thing to do." He told her, sighing. "I know your suspicious of me, because of where I come from, and who I was before we met, but that's the past, and not today."

[Snowy_One]

"Thank you Zach. I... Wait. Raquel can do that? I should speak to her anyways since I found Chip for her, but she can do something like that?"

[-Cynthia-]

"Your mother was assassinated!? Dear boy, we really need to talk about your past some time it can't be healthy for you to be carrying all that around," Lysandra said to Kenta with a worried expression.

Veronika made her way over to the map Anna was looking at. "So, do you know where we should go? I think this is about as organized as our group is going to get, given the circumstances. I'd like to have Gar around, but I have no idea where he is and I doubt we can find him if he doesn't want to be found."

[Phoenix]

Messy Hall

"I'm suspicious of you," Anna explained, "because of how eager you were to join us. If you're convinced helping us is the right thing to do, great, but be ready for people to wonder if you're up to something nefarious."

"Someone overly suspicious about a random newcomer that's not me?" Zachary feigned amazement, "that's new." He turned back to face Robin. "Maybe she can do it," he shrugged, "I'm not quite sure but she did just make a new sword for Nika out of emblem energy or something like that, so ... yeah, I wouldn't put it past her."

"What are you guys talking about?" Raquel approached, slightly annoyed she was being talked about while she was in the same room. She made mental note of their passengers and was almost amused by the monkey on Robin's shoulder. The infant in Zachary's arms seemed to be dozing lightly.

Anna set her bag down on the table and began pulling out some of her maps of the city, which had certain areas marked in red or black. She motioned Gabbie over. "I need an estimate," she said, turning to face Veronika, next. "We can pick up Gar on the way if he's nearby," Anna said, figuring Gabbie shouldn't have too rough a time tracking him if he was anywhere in the area. They needed her for other tracking work right now, though, so Gar was likely going to miss most if not all of this final planning phase.

[KentaEzren]

He handed her a small purse of coins, not saying anything.

[Script]

"I'm nearby enough," said Gar as he swaggered in, lime in his mouth.

[Snike]

I doubt Samael will be able to interfere with your group for the time being. He's in Purgatory.

***

Lane decided to let this more random and more suspicious newcomer take the center of attention while he listened in on this rescue plan.

[KentaEzren]

He looked at Lysandra, a tear rolling down his face, as he was still silent.

[-Cynthia-]

Lysandra gingerly patted Kenta on the shoulder and gave him a small nod of acknowledgement. So this group is suspicious of outsiders...that is wise in this day and age I suppose.

"Oh, good to know," Veronika replied to Gar's arrival. Part of her wondered where he had went, but it wasn't important to ask about really. "So what's our plan for dealing with a hostage situation? I know rescuing Lois is the goal here, but we can't just walk away from a fight after everything that's happened," she said with a sigh.

[Phoenix]

Ze Planz

"Well that was easy," Anna glanced over at Gar briefly. "As for the plan, we've got two goals. The first is to rescue Lois, and the second is to capture or kill Zerachiel." The goals were equally important to Anna, but she moved Lois' rescue up to priority one since it was what Weyland had specifically tasked them with doing initially. Once I get that estimate from Gabbie ..." she paused, glancing expectantly at the lancer, "we'll know what the environment's going to be like and how to approach."

[Script]

"Wait," said Gar, "when did leaving Lamael's reckoning get dropped from the plan?"

[Phoenix]

Mess Hall

"We're not sure where he is, anymore," Anna said bitterly. She didn't blame Gabbie, but when it came to a city the size of Ursentius, the girl's strange ability sure had some inconvenient limitations. "If she finds him again before all hell breaks loose, we might be able to hit them both, anyway. I just hope he doesn't show up while we're fighting Zerachiel." It wasn't a worst case scenario, but it was in the neighborhood.

"Somewhere around here," Gabbie tapped her finger a couple of times on the map of the capital. The northern suburbs. Anna leaned in for a closer look, and then glanced at Gabbie with an unspoken question. "I'm pretty positive that's the area," Gabbie assured her.

"... alright," Anna leaned back from the table and crossed her arms. "No base like structures other than Fort Truth in that area ... which means they're probably holding up in a large house, somewhere ..."

[Snowy_One]

"Raquel! It is good to see you are feeling well. I found Chip for you. I do not know if you want him back though but he is yours should you desire it. As for what we were talking about I was curious as to enchantments. I am less magical than stones. However I had the idea of some enchanted weapon letting me cast. Maybe with my keen eye I can make up for my lack of magic with precision."

[Script]

"Shoulda brought more limes," Gar mumbled. "So, he vanished without a trace. Lovely. Just means limes to coconuts he'll show up right at the worst possible moment. So just kill the other one fast as possible to prevent that." Gar shrugged.

[KentaEzren]

"... He may be harder to find, since his little disappearance makes him harder to seek." Kenta finally said.

Edited June 25, 2016 by KentaEzren

[Phoenix]

Mess Hall

"That's the plan," Anna nodded at Gar.

"He won't get the drop on us," Gabbie assured them, "at least as long as I can keep an eye on things." Admittedly if she had to fight the same as everyone else, that would be almost impossible. "I won't be that much help in the scuffle, though," she warned.

"I need you to help us pinpoint Lois during the attack anyway, so that's fine. We've got enough manpower to deal with whatever they throw at us, we just have to be careful. Since they're probably holding up in one of the houses in the suburbs, there's no shortage of angles we can hit them from."

Raquel was surprised that the apprehensive capuchin was for her. From the sound of things, he already belonged to her. A monkey of all things. The dam holding back the flood of questions she'd so painstakingly put up had suddenly burst, and she wanted to know how her life had changed so much in just three short years. "When and how did I get a monkey?" she asked, her face completely blank.

"It's Jethro's," Reign clarified from the table. That made a little more sense, Raquel admitted to herself. Her mother wasn't likely to approve of exotic pets, especially not ones with opposable thumbs that could get up to some serious mischief.

"Raquel," Zachary spoke gently, "do you think there's a way you might be able to bond Robin's arrows or give them special properties or something?"

Raquel's face went blank again as she considered it. "I doubt it. I don't have any training whatsoever ... though I did just make a Lilith-proof sword so maybe that doesn't matter, anymore ... I don't know ..."

[KentaEzren]

Kenta listened as they discussed this. "If you were to do that, you would need a magician... or a hunter. I am neither of those."

[Script]

"You have my fullest confidence," said Gar in spite of a lime-soured face. "So when he shows up without announcement anyway, I'll blame it on him cheating or circumventing the rules and not any fault otherwise."

Xenia

"Ha," Xenia barked. She'd kept quiet out of lack of care until now. "Don't let slip a Lilith-proof sword in earshot elsewhere."