RedMageCole

"Orchid, no. We jump out of the bushes now, the entire operation is blown. Wait for Mink and Marvel to give us an in..." Ethaniel looked at Famine with disgust, as Famine gave a goofy shrug. "Jeez, what the heck has been going on here!? I just wanted to do my job, man... you heard her, guys, put the weapons away..." The bodyguards obey. Famine gives a small, insincere laugh as they do. “Cool! She deserves nothing less! Anyway, about the Asthéneiatoxin... well, I don't need it! Business rival or not, Herman will do some good work with that toxin, eh Herman?" Famine claps Lysander on the back with a laugh. What an asshole. “C'mon, Ethaniel, you know Herman— he'd murder you in the blink of an eye for failing to supply him, riiiight?" "..." Ethaniel said nothing, but he wasn't jumping to deny it. “So what's all the fuss abouuut? Herman gets his Asthéneiatoxin, Ethaniel gets his payment— oh yeah, you do got the payment, riiight?" Famine looks at Lenore and Lysander, patiently waiting.

"Sh-Sheesh, alright, lemme..." Ethaniel went to the back of the wagon, and hurried out with a small box of some kind of bagged white powder. "See, it's all here! The, uh... you called it something, right...? The... Asth... uh..." "The Asthéneiatoxin!" "Yeah! That!" Ethaniel looks straight at Lysander for a moment, before blinking. "Uh— Who's that?" "...!" Lucy had been keeping quiet in the bushes, but a little bit of rustling from her shock almost would have blown the plan had everyone's attention not been turned around. "Fuck...! Nobody move...!" “Heyooooo! Herman, man, why didn't you tell me we were moving all the way up here? I'm only like, your most important guy or whatever! How's Lily? You know, my niece?" Famine gave a laugh, a question that clearly didn't need an answer. "Anyways! Asthéneiatoxin, yep, that's it alright! His face may be poor quality, but his product isn't!" "Damn it— he's sharper than this guy— wait, he knows about you...!?" "I-It's only him...! Brother and War don't know a thing and he promised he wouldn't..." "Wh-Where do you think you're gettin' off, talkin' about my face when you're wearin' that stupid-lookin' head coverin'!? Herman, do you know this punk!? I ain't never seen him before in my life!"

Ethaniel was now in a mixture of both confused and angry, while simultaneously trying not to trip over the line of 'pissing Herman? off'. "Wh-whuh? What are ya talkin' about!? The stuff's all here— what more could ya possibly want!?"

Ethaniel looked awkward at Lysander's response, but wasn't about to go questioning him. "Uh- uh- yeah, feel free." He says with a look to Lenore, ushering to his bodyguards to move. Kane, meanwhile in the bushes, gave a small sigh. "I don't like striking in the same place twice either, but something's just plain fishy to me. You don't just reestablish a merchantry in a week after a huge caravan gets robbed and the most notable vendor gets killed. Especially with the amount of confidence they're displaying— just look at the two bodyguards. Something is up."

"Yeah, Mink and— hm, that's an interesting tactic, but I trust Marvel and Mink... Wait to see if he takes the bait..." As much trust as Kane had in Lysander, he wasn't sure at all of if this was going to work— Kane didn't even know if Lysander knew this Herman or not... "Oh, shi- sorry, Herman!" The guy quickly turned to Lysander with a frightful look, even giving a bow of respect. "You change your hair? Yeah, uh, white streak looks good on ya! And— uh— you here for the pickup, yeah? You know it's, uh... the stuff you need," Kane awkwardly paused. "Somehow, I don't even think we'll need to steal it. Stay on standby for now."

Lenore's attempt at convincing... completely fooled the guy— down to her mannerisms and confidence. Looks probably had a bit to do with it too, but one could never tell with these shady types. "Huh... Damned brats. We had a slight altercation back in Ceda, actually, but nothin' really noteworthy anyways..." He pauses, before looking over the group with a dumbfounded look— he clearly wasn't a very sharp eye. "Wait a minute, where's Herman? Ain't he with you?"

Kane gave a nod to Justine. "Thank you, Minstrel. You're a great smooth talker, I'll leave you to your job. The supplier is all I can note off of the top of my head, but if he says anything particularly interesting feel free to pry into it." Another nod to Baldur and Lenore. "Good— you both will be a huge help. First order of action— stop the wagon. Shouldn't be hard, as long as you were on the road. Get them to stop, get them talking, and we're in the clear. Places, team!" Kane ducked behind some trees. The horse-drawn wagon came, and predictably stopped. "What are we stoppin' for!? We're on a tight schedule!" The man who yelled came out, two bodyguards in tow... "What're ya doin' here, standin' around?... You the suppliers or somethin'? I don't recall the pickup being this close..."

Pinecone tilted his head in slight confusion. "Well! I wouldn't want to if it made you uncomfortable knowing that I knew. But at the same time, I enjoy the song for what it's worth!... So I suppose that again, I wouldn't want to like you said because I want to try and forget them..." Pinecone definitely looks like he's in the middle of confusing himself.

Chapter 4x Ticket to Ride A week has passed since the incident at Ulux. Queen Stella has agreed to take King Darcy as prisoner, while tensions in the group run high due to the appearance of Lucy Belial, who has revealed the motivations of the Icons of Sin as well as Death's true identity; Lucifer Belial, the rightful Prince of Perus. Despite all of these complications, Kane continues to push forward with Virtuous. Reconnaissance missions were common in the past days for the heists of the next kingdoms, but Kane had no intention of stopping with Virtuous's agenda. His next plan takes the group into familiar territory, where it all began... "A few of you might recognize this road," Kane gestured to the road where they stopped, a couple of minutes walk away from where they parked their wagon in the forest. Indeed, it was the same road in Perus where they thwarted the trade route. "as Diezel's drug trading route. Thankfully, Diezel is gone and buried and so is his product... However, I've gathered intel during our occasional trips to Ria about Perus— seems the trade route cropped up again pretty quickly. Someone else is running the whole thing this time, someone named Ethaniel. Whatever his business is, it's pretty out in the open despite it being just as bad as what Diezel was dealing. I want to take a different approach this time— where Diezel went for quantity, Ethaniel goes for quality. He doesn't have guards outside of a few men and himself, so what I'm thinking is this— since the guy's not only tough and we can potentially get some decent information off of him about Perus, we'll avoid the violent approach. One group is going to stop Ethaniel on the road and get him talking, long enough that he spills some beans and makes way for the other group, headed by myself, to steal everything within the cart and store it. How are we feeling about that plan, team?" ... Meanwhile, at home, Simeon led the charge by leaning back in a chair and yawning. "I tell ye, it's surprisin' to me that we've gone a few days without somethin' exploding... Well, Kane only wanted volunteers and let everyone else stay here for some rest, so I think I'm gonna do just that. Been workin' on some new prototypes but I could stand to get some relaxation while that kid takes over for a bit..."

Pinecone blinked a few times. "A 'song'...? Well, it was quite memorable to me! Tell me, do you have any more of these 'songs'?... Perhaps nothing from your craft so that they can be ones that I do not have to forget in order to keep you comfortable."

Pinecone immediately stopped once Faith yelled at him. For a brief moment, he didn't register it, before standing at attention. "Please forgive my poor attempt at forgetting. I have not heard such a memorable... string of words before in my life!" Pinecone sounded like he genuinely did not know what a tune or even a song was. "It sounds like it might go well with dancing— I used to dance quite often when I was forced to go off-duty. It would help the time pass quicker! But right now, I am currently on duty, so I will stop. Once again, I'm very sorry." ...After a few moments, Pinecone briefly dips into red is for fire before straightening himself out once more. He seems to be struggling despite really doing nothing but just standing in one place.

Lucy looked very relieved to see that things were okay. Especially with how difficult things had gotten before, how she was unwelcome from the very start... Looking to Mim as well as back to Baldur with his proposal, Lucy had just a brief flash of a smile before she went back to her normally mildly nervous appearance. "Thank you... w-well, I mean- it's no problem, really... it might be difficult getting information out of Famine, but... hopefully things will be okay. Um... should we head back in, then...?"

Lucy followed, and then paused at Baldur's question. She tried her best to think, think as hard as she could. However, she shook her head. "I'm sorry... I don't know. I know for certain that me or my brother wouldn't, though. My brother doesn't do poisonings, he just does, um... assassinations... but I'd know if he poisoned them."

Baldur's willingness to accommodate made Lucy look less nervous and loosen up a bit, especially with the knowledge of Kane not knowing. "...Then... I'm willing to listen... a-and I'll try to answer as best as I can," Lucy responded with a new affirmation. "...I... I hope I can be of some help. I don't really know that much about the others outside of myself and my brother..."

With Mim's interruption, Lucy was able to collect herself. It seems Mim has already become somewhat of a positive space for Lucy. In any case, she was able to see the pain on Baldur's face— it was similar to her own. "N... No. It's okay, I'll listen... a-as long as Mim can come with...?" Lucy sheepishly asks.

Lucy jumped at the sudden approach, fiddling with her hands. "I- um... uh..." Lucy continued to stumble over her words. She was still a bit in shock after the Ferdiad incident— even Baldur's tone of calmness wasn't able to calm her down completely.

As if Pinecone completely didn't go through the entire ordeal yesterday, dealing with pain for the first time and damage to his armor, he continued his cheerful and uplifted expression overall. Even when he was berated by the bug with green antennae he did not respond with anything less than a diligent smile. During introductions, he looked to everyone with a smile. "Greetings to you all— Brilliant Deduction, Curiosity, Mercy Harefoot, Secluded from Illumination, Faithful Diligence..." Pinecone read off everyone's names as if he were reading from a script, full names and all. "I am Pinecone, soldier bee of Sunflower Hive! If there is anything I can do to aid you, I will do it with only my greatest of efforts!" With that, Pinecone also obediently turned to the one who mainly spoke... not turning to Mercy; he didn't want to recount yesterday's events. "I actually heard everything starting from 'red is for fire', but I will do my utmost to forget it!" Despite his stature and smile continuing to be the same, watchful as ever, Pinecone could be faintly heard humming 'red is for fire, green is for wind, yellow is for blasting thunder'. Over and over. It didn't even look like he was aware of it himself.

Later that night... While Lucy was allowed to stay, Kane wasn't one hundred percent trusting of her just then— she was allowed to come as that was a preferable alternative to leaving her at home with only a few of the group. Everyone else who wished to go to Stella was allowed— Arthur among them. And with one reluctant visitor in tow... "...You wish... for me to keep King Darcy as a hostage...?" "Utterly outlandish! Of all the things I didn't expect you all to do— this was probably on the lowest! Could you not just take the Relic and go!?" "...Our reasoning was that we had seen the corruption facing Ulux firsthand. This filth was conspiring with an abusive owner of a brothel to take advantage of impoverished women off of the streets of Ulux, giving them no other option but to be playthings for him. Would you like to deny these claims, Darcy?" "I long for a painful death for all of you, soon..." "There you go." "...I do not have a problem with this... I think. Ulux doesn't have any allies..." Stella gave a small yawn. Albert looked ready to object, but abstained. "...The rest of the Relics... will be difficult to obtain. You might wish to take more time to prepare..." "Sounds like the plan I was going for... We'll be busy until then."

Even with Shin and Baldur's entrance making things noisy, things immediately got quiet. Kane and Ferdiad's glares continued to meet each other; Ferdiad's with fury, disappointment and even hurt, while Kane's teemed with an uncertain courage. Without another word, Ferdiad turned and left, no one able to stop him. Lucy could only continue to be afraid, especially with Baldur's exclamation. "...Hopefully he will be back soon. If not... then that is his choice." Kane crossed his arms, furrowing his brow and looking over to Baldur. "...Pestilence— Lucy is here and willing to give us information on the Icons of Sin, as well as allow us to take her prisoner. No harm is to come to her until there is reason to. Now, if you or Snowbird or Rose if she's awake— if someone could just heal Scarlet, that'd be great." Kane moves to the kitchen to finish the last little bit of breakfast preparations as Arthur just deeply sighs and lays back down. Lucy, on the other hand... "..." Without another word, Lucy hurried past Baldur and Shin to the back door, curling up in some nearby bushes to hide and provide a spectator for Shin's laundry.

Pinecone had given into the new feeling of pain, but was brought back up thanks to Bend attempting to try and get him back up. Pinecone stood up on his own to alleviate the pressure that Bend was attempting to put on to lift this very heavy bee. "...I do not deserve your kindness. Regardless, thank you." Pinecone turned to the group, a somber expression filling his face. "...I failed all of you in this battle. I promise that it won't happen again... Please do not think any less of me. I assure you all that I have nothing but everyone's best interests at heart..." Despite all he had done in that fight, he was definitely beating himself up.

Hoping that the end was in sight, Mercia marched forward and took a slight gamble, hoping that the bowmen would be quickly disposed of. Mercia to I5, shoot the Wisp, canto to J4

Automated Movement Lotus move to E7 and attack Seeker Bend move to E8 and perform for Lotus Lotus attack Seeker again Ebon attack Elite A and canto to F8

The storm continued to rage in the house, Kane determinedly pressing his knife against steel out of desperation— his eyes were filled with doubt, an inkling of guilt as he indeed knew that he was breaking, and yet a resolve that would not allow a chance like this to be exposed. His arms began to weaken, but just as it seemed too late— the rest of the team began to cover for him. Kane caught his breath— Lucy only watched as to... what was happening. If Kane was filled with doubt and guilt, it was nothing compared to the torrent of emotion that Lucy had been experienced. Both waves of pain and waves of hope crashed against each other, battling for control over her fight or flight responses. Arthur had all but backed away— he wasn't sure of what he could even do in this situation. Kane looked fiercely back into Ferdiad's eyes after breaking his eye contact with Lizaveta and Ferdiad— too late to stop what might have been a murder right then and there. But before he could answer— "No!" Kane didn't even turn around to face her. Though doubt had previously existed— Kane was never one to go against the majority. "Yes. Whether you're willing to hear her out or not-" "You don't know what we've done to him...! He has every right to..." "You'd beg for your life to be taken?" "I... I can't stand watching you all fall apart!" Tears began forming in Lucy's eyes, but a resolute expression burned behind them. "You all... You all showed kindness to that dancer and saved her life! You were willing to throw yourselves in the path of my brother's arrows or even sacrifice yourselves just to try and dissuade him! Why is it fair for me to show up and- and expect you all to accommodate your enemy...!? You're a team and my presence- it's making you all fall apart like this! If... If I need to die to- to make you all work well together again, I... I'll accept it... I just need to say... one more thing... L... Lucifer... L-Lucifer... That's... That's my brother's name. Lucifer Belial. Now that you know that... Please... I've accepted my death, there's nothing else that I can do... so if my death will bring any sort of end—" "Stop," Kane cut Lucy off. "Your death isn't going to bring tensions down, even if what you're doing is assisted suicide— don't you see that Snowbird cares about you as more than just a prisoner or source of information? The tension won't die with you, Lucy, it'll only continue to grow." Kane's breathing steadied as he focused his attention back on Ferdiad. "What I promised you was your chance at revenge against the Icons of Sin. I won't go against that and tell you something like 'killing Lucy won't solve anything'— you know yourself better than anyone else. However, from a practical standpoint, Lucy may very well be the only lead we will ever have to the King of Perus aside from combing every damned building in Perus for a glimpse of the Relic, and by extension the rest of the Icons of Sin— three ruthless killers pushing around a girl to aid in their assassinations working under said king. For that, I hardly consider Lucy a member of the Icons of Sin anymore. But if that will not dissuade you... then my final answer is still yes."

Mercia listened to Korinna's rallying cry and felt the washing of healing magic pour over her, feeling a bit more motivated as she pushed forward to open fire! Mercia to K4, shoot the Demon, and canto to K5 Argos to K8

As time seemed to slow to a crawl, something had struck a nerve with Lucy. Tears began to fall down her face once more— not because of her life flashing before her eyes for her stupid decision, why hadn't she thought that it would be him...? His fury when driving his lance through her brother— who else would have struck with such killing intent? She felt so foolish for not considering it, perhaps it was her fault for being so forgetful despite having taken a backseat to a man's life... And yet, she watched as the snowbird who had been so willing to protect her, and someone who she had minimal interaction with outside of a brief cover-up story before Famine had intervened... she didn't understand. Why...? But she knew it was futile. Her hubris was to catch up with her in this moment. She closed her eyes, whispering... I understand... CLANG It wasn't much, but Ferdiad having to exhaust his energy on Fey and Mim left Kane just enough time to dive around Lucy and parry Ferdiad's block with his knife. It wasn't quite a swordbreaker and it was clear that a knife wasn't going to hold against a sword for much longer, but it would buy him some time— Kane was banking on the idea that someone would quickly intervene as he blocked, an awed Lucy opening her eyes to see one of her main hecklers defending her... "Knight, I won't... pretend... to know why... but Pestilence— Lucy... is willing... to separate from those murderers...!" Kane looked like he wanted to say more, but his grip was beginning to shake... "But... He... He has the right..."