Return of the Emblem Chapter Nine: Consolidating Forces

[Ether]

"So, as long as the main target is left in as close to a single piece as feasibly possible, we may do as we please with the others?" The Director confirmed, a gleeful smile growing on his face as he finished his first glass and began on the second.

"I suppose I can follow that order easily enough. Though I do have to wonder what a girl with some mercenaries means to the mighty hand of Org... you do have a debriefing prepared for me, no? I would like to know just what it is I am up against, just what it is that I may so delectably plunder." Cervantes added with an excited chuckle, his eyes gleaming again.

*********

After Norbert left, Faatina found herself with very little to do. She opted to just stay near the Dauntless for a short while, enjoy the sea breeze, what have you.

That is, until Aneda found her, appearing quite gleeful and brandishing what appeared to be a rather hefty sack of coin.

"Oh? What did you have in mind?"

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

Well, Norbert seemed happy enough with his armor suit-even if parts of it were below Connor's standards- so he pondered on what to work on next. There was Gabbie's project, but he needed more input from her so he decided to work on the helmet for his own suit instead. Hmm full plate helmet would be great protection...but also really heavy. he pondered, looking through his raw materials.

Veronika

"Well you could eat venison stew with your bare hands- messy but doable. I didn't think you were the kind of woman to care about appearances anyway- or are you more worried about Robin's cooking?" Veronika asked Gabbie inquisitively, raising an eyebrow in her direction.

Nadya

Nadya made her way down the ramp on Luca, encountering a familiar figure on her way there. "Hey, where ya goin'?" she asked Robin out of curiosity, stopping for a second.

Arrival

"Do we have to get a mission right away? We just got here and I think Perseus is a little tired," Clara complained, patting her pegasus on the nose.

Cloe, meanwhile, had already hitched up Thadeus. "Sooner we talk to Sardis, sooner we can get this over with," she said. Maybe one of us can be left behind...being on a mission probably won't give much insight into whatever the hell Layla's looking for.

Edited April 29, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Snowy_One]

Robin stopped as she reached the dock and looked over to Nadya. "I asked Raquel if I could cook dinner tonight for the group to make up for my fighting with Gytha. I need to get some things though to make the stew. Venison, carrots, potatoes, and something green, possibly peas, to make it with."

[ReformBlade]

"Weeeeeeell.... we could go do some minor shopping, we could get something to eat, we could go relax for a bit, there's a lot we can do!" Holding herself up to Hannah, Aneda continued. "Or perhaps we could go take a small trip in the sky? If you're ok with it. Though I'd reccommend that first if you wanted to eat anything. Just in case is all~. I figure you're not one to get motion sickness, but who knows? Anyway, treat this as a... welcome to the gang present for ya! Whaddaya wanna do?"

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"You're makin' food for everyone...because ya fought with Gytha? Are ya gettin' paid extra to cook for everyone?" Nadya asked Robin. This group doesn't seem to have an official cookin' person...hope Robin didn't beat me to it.

[Snowy_One]

"No. I am not being paid extra. I am doing this to try to atone for the stress I put the group through. Why? Do you think I should not try to do nice things for others?"

[-Cynthia-]

"Seems like you're a bit of a sucker to be doin' somethin' without get much back, but hey it's free food I'm not complainin'," Nadya said. "I'll come along if ya like, I was plannin' on goin' into town anyway...sellin' some 'acquired goods'," she said to Robin, urging Luca to slowly trot towards the market.

Edited April 29, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Raquel and Gabbie

"Yeah don't worry. I'll fill ya in on all the details later." Gabbie replied. Veronika then inquired a bit further than Raquel ever planned to about Gabbie's 'reasons' for declining the free dinner. She wasn't all that amused with the stew eating comment. "You came up with the oidea, so why don't you try it and tell me how that goes. As for Robin's cooking, I don't really care if it's good or bad. She's not making anything I want to eat, so I'm not interested. That reason not good enough?" she asked, giving an annoyed and suspicious look in return.

Messenger

"They're a particularly tough group and recover quickly, even in the midst of battle. Swords and lances make up the bulk of their physical strength. Magically, they seem to rely on anima and dark magic, as well as healing magic." he explained.

Cecily

"That's up to Sardis." the man replied simply.

Cecily sighed. She then noticed Cloe hitching Thadeus already. Probably best to do the same and head inside to greet their new boss ... or target ... or whatever he was. "Time to get this over with, then ..." she brought Proteus over and hitched him as well. The man who had greeted them turned around and headed right back into the tavern.

[Snowy_One]

"Oh? Goods... You have stolen I assume?" asked Robin, subconsciously gripping her own items tighter. "Or do you merely mean the items you acquired through normal means on our journey? Either way, you are welcome to come along. Always nice to have someone willing to help out. Maybe you could tell me a little about yourself as we walk? I am afraid I am not the most sociable person, so I do not know much about you."

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"It's not stealin' when they're dead- not that I won't necessarily take from the livin', but that tends to be riskier. As for not knowin' much about me, that's because I don't go around spoutin' off my life story all the time. I figure if people wanted to know they'd ask," she said.

"Hmm, about me...well grew up in Kigen mostly, eastern Kigen where there's a whole lotta grass and not much else. Ya see, the Kigenese don't really trust or like my people, so we tend to live away from their cities. Good for avoidin' conflict, not so good for gettin' resources," she explained.

Veronika

"I think a group meal might help camaraderie, but forcing people to go would defeat the point I think. I don't understand why the prospect of venison stew makes you so defensive, but to each their own," she said to Gabbie, shrugging.

Edited April 29, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Snowy_One]

"Might it have something to do with your willingness to steal? Or is that just you? I do not know much of Kigen. Until recently I did not know much about the world outside of Neviskotia, or more specifically, Ohka to be honest. What little I knew came from the travelers and listening to their tales. Merchants, people looking to live in Ohka, and such. Forgive me if I do not know much about your homeland."

Robin slowly walked down the dock as she headed for the market streets, being as sure as she could to not leave Nadya in the dust. "What was the land like? Ohka was surrounded by nice, thick, forests and had mountains to the north. I can recall many a happy hunt into those fields, especially when I visited the lakes and rivers. Those were always the best even when I did not catch anything. What did Kigen have?"

[-Cynthia-]

"I dunno what Ohka is either, so no harm done. And we wouldn't have to steal in the first place if the Kigenese weren't so opposed to workin' with foreigners. Ya gotta take care of your family somehow, and if that means stealin', then that means stealin'," Nadya said simply.

"Kigen's got mountains, forests, rivers, plains- bein' on horseback we spent most of our time on the plains of course. When huntin' got scarce, we'd move. Eventually we ended up pretty close to Ursium- and really most people in Ursium were about as happy to see us as the Kigenese were," she said, shrugging.

[Snowy_One]

"A perpetual nomad then? You must feel right at home with this group, considering all the traveling we do." said Robin as the pair started to approach the marketplace. "Now, I need several things for this stew. Keep your eyes open for vegetables or venison."

[-Cynthia-]

"Not really- this group seems more interested in gettin' into fights rather than gettin' out them. Besides, y'all are pretty strange to be honest," Nadya commented, looking around for something resembling a pawn shop.

[Snowy_One]

"I am strange? How... Ummm... I promise not to be mad. Now why do you think I am strange?"

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, ya spent a lot of time confrontin' the angry pirate lady who shot ya instead of just leavin' it alone- lucky ya didn't end up gettin' shot in the head. And I don't really get why you're with this group either, ya don't seem interested in gettin' paid and ya don't seem to have any problem with Raquel's enemies as far as I know," Nadya said, shrugging.

[Snowy_One]

"Well, Raquel saved my life. As such I have sworn to do my best to protect her. It is not terribly complicated. I guess a better way to explain it is that, as a hunter, you have to be able to trust your fellow hunters when working in a group or else no one gets food and people end up hurt. So for me, trust is a big thing and I trust Raquel since she saved me, and I do my best to make sure she can trust me in reply. That is also why I keep confronting Gytha. She is not trustworthy and it is something that must be dealt with... would have to be dealt with in order for her to survive in my world."

[-Cynthia-]

"I don't get why ya have to stick around Raquel just because she saved your life. If someone saved my life, I'd probably just say thanks and go on with whatever I was gonna do. Do ya really want to be shootin' things for her sake, or would ya rather be home huntin' rabbits or whatever?" Nadya asked Robin.

[Mercakete]

It sounded like there was talk of a group meal being prepared by Robin. Though Gytha didn't entirely trust the huntress not to poison it or something, Veronika did make a valid point. She didn't say anything, but she did start thinking it over. She realla is a puzzle, that Robin. She did genuinela try t' help me b'fore. Least I think so... Maybe I'll try some o' her cookin'. 'Bout time we started actin' like a right crew n' stew's good stuff usualla. I'll be there, I suppose.

Thinking about trust reminded her of something Captain Bogdan had said the previous day, which was that he suspected Raquel didn't know about Gytha's past. It's probabla safe t' tell 'er... She can keep a secret. She's proven that. Not like she's not alreada bein' hunted down. Can't think o' a reason she would tell anyone either. She's me employer, doesn't usualla even go t' th' ocean, n' I've been workin' fer her fer about a month. ... But then again... She r'placed me. 'R Blake did n' she listened. That mean I'm r'placeable? I...can't risk that. I don't trust 'er enough yet. It's too risky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he was passing the meeting, Norbert's own thoughts were elsewhere. That is, Valter's condition. He was still sick, which was a bit worrying. What if he'd caught a foreign disease or something deadly? The thoughts only surfaced as he'd just been thinking about how nice it'd be to wander around town with Valter and Ranyin. The latter was busy and the former was still ill, after all. Pushing those thoughts away, Norbert decided to just take a flight on his own. Normally in a town like this, he'd rather be on the ground, but this time he wanted to get a basic idea of the city's layout and he wanted to test flying in his new armor. So, rather than walking down the ramp into town, he mounted Rizen and rode into the sky, trying to gain some altitude so he could get a better view.

[Snowy_One]

"I would not mine some rabbit meat if that is what you are asking, but no. For one, I would have had to travel across Ursium, alone, as a Skotian. You know I lack the diplomatic skills to make it out peacefully. I would be caught and killed before the second day." she then took a deep sigh. "I hope the people who brought me into Ursium in the first place are well... I do not know if I hate them for setting me up as the fall-girl for their theft, or if I should feel sorry for their likely capture and deaths by now."

She approached a stall offering carrots and potatoes. She picked up several carrots, inspecting them to make sure they were good, before offering up some money for them.

"That does not answer your question though, does it?" she asked after a moment. "I guess... it is simpler to say that she has saved my life, so I now consider my life hers to command and to use to protect her own. It may just simply be that our cultures are that different. I can even hear it in the way you speak. You use common far more than I do."

[Ether]

"Oh? Sounds troublesome. Well, my followers are quite numerous, and they do take up mercenary work to help fund our organization... they are not hopeless in a fight, to be certain." The Director responded, taking another swig of his drink.

"Tell me something, messenger. Do you know why it is that my organization has this debt to Org?" Cervantes asked with a smile, curious as to the answer.

********

"I seemed to do okay on the Ocean... I don't think I get sick to the stomach very easily... though you're probably right, Aneda. If we're going to fly, we should probably do it first, and I do want to try it." Faatina replied enthusiastically.

"So let's start with that then, right Aneda?"

[-Cynthia-]

"Yeah ya probably would get bashed by some Ursian soldier tryin' to cross borders," Nadya replied to Robin, laughing.

"Common's not my first language either actually, but if ya want to talk to anyone foreign ya gotta use it. Maybe devotin' your life to Raquel is some kinda cultural thing, I don't risk my life for total strangers but ya gotta do what ya gotta do."

[Snowy_One]

"Then why have you come?" asked Robin as she picked up several small potatoes, each small enough to fit two or three easily in the palm of her hand. "Do you have some grudge against one of her enemies? Payment?"

[-Cynthia-]

Observation ain't this girl's strong suit, eh? "It's really my love for justice that keeps me with Raquel. I just can't bear to see criminals abusin' the law like that, so I take it upon myself to purify the souls of the wicked by blastin' their asses with light magic. I'm Wrath in human form basically. The huge payouts we get from Weyland totally have nothin' to do with me stayin' with the group," Nadya replied to Robin, barely resisting the urge to laugh.

Edited April 30, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Snowy_One]

"So money then?" asked Robin, looking up at Nadya. "If we were in Ohka, I might complain, but I have seen a lot more of the world now. Which of these potatoes do you think people would like in the soup more? The big ones in chunks, or the small ones that can be cooked whole?"