Fire Emblem on the Forums: Stellar Margin [IC]

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"It's just a means to an end. A tool for a certain mission. A matter of convenience. Nothing more. The fact I'm still here is proof that nobles aren't very good at keeping up with their word. As soon as they finally do though... I'm gone. As the smoke from this pipe. I'll hang in the air until it is done. But once it is... I shall vanish. Blown away by the wind." she huffed out another puff of off-white smoke, as if to punctuate her statement.

[InnocentSerenity]

“This place certainly looks better than some cheap inn.” The red-haired man left his belongings, a quiver full of arrows, a modest bow that seemed standard issue, and a heavy bag full of books to pass the time and spare clothing, by the closest door, wordlessly claiming it as his own. “Hopefully the inside doesn't prove disappointing.”

 

Having overheard a few bits of conversation between the Commander and the man with an interesting choice in hairstyles, Rokan stepped towards the one still around, the man with the dark-green hair. “Seems like you’re not exactly unfamiliar with the place.” The man looked at the man’s belongings, not noticing anything rather sharp that could be used as a weapon. “Not enough armor to be in a scrap, either." Rather than go with any assumption in his head, Rokan thought to at least ask. “You don’t exactly look like anyone on the front lines, though. Magic user?”

[Zetaark]

"Really now? Guess we're similar in that regards. I've got my own mission that I've set out on, and this guard was a good way to go about it. It also has the perk of letting me travel around a bit," Marcus states. While being in the guard gave him an excuse to travel around, that simply aided in his search for information on a particular subject. He had yet to find any good leads for the information that he was looking for, but he was a patient man.

[Twinwolf]

20 minutes ago, Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~ said:

Arthur laughs deeply, shaking her hand and smiling. "I guess it's not! And here I was scared of being rude." He crossed crossed his arms still chuckling a bit. "I'm not sure what will be asked of us today, but we'll just have to do just fine. Thieves won't be much of an issue, we'll have to keep our cool and be kind to the citizens. Have you been to the city before? People in Lorelle can be strange folk, but they are nice deep down I think." 

"Can't say I've been here, no. They seem nice enough, although maybe a bit bloodthirsty if the biggest attraction is a gladiator ring. I guess you've been here before? 

 

And yeah - I don't think this is going to be a problem. Seems easy enough."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"Hmmm, another wanderer. Interesting. Hopefully you find the means to complete whatever this task of yours is. One going incomplete... has a tendency to eat at the back of one's mind." I know that mines does. Akane never really gave the man her name. She didn't intend to. She wasn't going to be here permanently why would she? Names were merely niceties. Sounds for which people would call you by. She supposed some of the others might think it rude that she never gave him hers in turn for his. However, she hardly cared for the societal norms of this country, or any of them for that matter.

All of this.... really just got in the way of her mission. What her life was now dedicated to fulfilling. Being stuck here, having to play nice with a pack of those of questionable competency. It was quite harrowing. Luckily for them her rage boiled quietly. It had for nearly 20 years. She wasn't about to lose it anytime soon. The only time she did was on the battlefield. She wasn't known as the "One Armed Demon" for nothing.

[aliettite]

Hmm, and there he went, just like that. Perhaps he'd overdone it a touch with the flattery. Shame. Wren's pulled from his thoughts by the voice of another man, Rokan, approaching him now. This one, the archer, right? True, judging by the quiver near his pile of things at least. Puffing himself up slightly, he puts on a confident smile, shoving aside his worries about Lord Fenway for the time being.

 

"Me, magic user? No, not yet," he replies with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm a mere bard. Entertainment, morale, documenting our heroic knightly exploits... that sort of thing. No need for armor." Leaving his luggage where it sat on the floor (someone would come and gather it to his room, wouldn't they?), he turns to walk back towards the man and the door before pausing again. "You too don't seem to be a frontline fighter yourself, being one of archery and the sort, hmm? Ro...van, was it?" It was hard keeping track of those beneath his social station, but Wren's convinced he's at least half right in the name department here. "I'm headed to the markets myself, if you'd like to tag along for interesting company and conversation." Both of which being supplied by himself, of course.

[rokubiraijuu]

Just as Wren is about to step beyond the door, the relatively low sounds of life going on outside suddenly spike -- there's a scream, then another, followed by the sounds of alarmed cries and a horse's shrill whinny.

 

"Get out of the way!"

 

Rapid, heavy footsteps dash by outside, followed several seconds later by the clanking of armor and weapons.

 

"There he is! Don't let him escape! Lord Fenway's orders -- surround the upper residential district, block all exits!"

[Zetaark]

"Well that didn't take long to escalate," Marcus sighs. At the very least, it sounded like the guards were at least trying to handle the situation.

 

"Well then, at the very least I'll get to see firsthand how competent the guards are. And realistically, we're probably going to get called in anyhow," Marcus remarks as he goes outside to survey the situation.

[Sutoratosu]

6 minutes ago, rokubiraijuu said:

 

 

"Get out of the way!"

 

"There he is! Don't let him escape! Lord Fenway's orders -- surround the upper residential district, block all exits!"

"Huh, well then..." before the rider could really get an answer, the ruckus outside drew his attention away. He turned towards the hallway before briefly glancing back at the girl "sorry to cut this short, but like I said, I should be going... and probably checking that out." with that said, he turned on his heels and started off towards the doors outside, not quite knowing what mess he'd find beyond...

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"Told ya so... Marcus, was it? If there's anything I'd always bet on... it'd be guards being awful at their jobs." Akane laughed at the prospect. It had happened faster then she thought. She dumped the remaining contents of her pipe onto the floor and ground them out with her foot. She slipped the pipe into her upper half of her kimono, and placed her hand on the hilt of a strangely styled sword on her hip.

 

She quickly followed the rest of those going to go check on the situation.

[InnocentSerenity]

 

“Bards on the battlefield, huh?” The man looked at Wren with a look of slight surprise. Rokan couldn’t say that Bards of all things were the first thing he’d expect out of someone to be in combat, but he was open for surprises. “Guess morale is a pretty good thing to have around here. Hope you can still take a few stray arrows without any armor, though.”

“As for me, frontlines really shouldn’t be my thing, but.” Rokan slammed his fist onto his pauldron, the armor chiming a dull tone back. “Sometimes you just happen to have a few things up your sleeve. Thanks to that, I’m probably tougher than your average archer.” The man gave a smirk as he complimented himself, quickly turning back into a dull expression as he took the bard's offer. “Roh-ken, by the way. Guess I’ll join you, though. I got nothing better to-”

Hearing the sound of a scream in the distance, the man dashed back to the door, taking his weaponry lying on the ground. “We’ll have time to have fun later. We got things to do, bard boy.” Rokan dashed out with the rest.

[aliettite]

So much for pleasant conversation and company on a simple trip to the markets... As the red-haired knight rushes off, Wren sighs, fixing the strap of his bagged belongings about himself, and with a quick "Apologies -- I agree," and a small dip of a bow in Rokan's direction, he runs out after them. Goddess, what an awful way to begin the day -- he'd already felt off since their river trip, and now he was running. He'd gripe that he was going to need to be paid extra for this, but that's not a luxury he knows he'd be afforded.

 

Keeping the red-headed younger knight and the archer in his sight, Wren does his best to keep up, following the sounds of the pursuit. He'd yell after them, but he's certain his voice would crack from being out of breath already and that would be less than intimidating.

[rokubiraijuu]

A unit of armed soldiers rush by as Marek and Marcus step outside, followed by their apparent Captain, who is still directing orders from the back. They manage to overhear him mutter "if the damn little fox keeps escaping his pen, we'll just close him in a bigger one . . . " before he moves off to join the rest of the men.

 

Several seconds later, the startled townspeople begin to settle back amongst themselves again. Though they'd been caught off guard, from the looks on a few of their faces, they don't seem very surprised.

 

"Again? Right before the Games too. That's just embarrassing."

 

"You'd think it wouldn't be so hard . . . "

 

A minute later, once the coast finally seems clear, a young man emerges from behind a few stacked barrels, brushing hair out of his eyes.

 

"Phew. Now just to find my way -- " Turning, he nearly walks right into Marek and Marcus and steps back with a scoff, looking like he's about to say something, then pausing when he sees their clothing. His expression falls.

 

"O-Oh. Queen's -- oh, shit."

[Zetaark]

"Hello there," Marcus says as he quickly apprehends the man, lifting him off the ground and doing a check for weapons. "Now who might you be, and what exactly are you doing hiding around like this?" he inquires.

[Sutoratosu]

"I'm just gonna take a wild guess and say he's the one those soldiers thought they were chasing" Marek remarked as the monk manhandled the ruffian. "Man, that's just pitiful though, if you managed to trick them with oldest trick in the book..."

[rokubiraijuu]

It wouldn't take long for him to frisk out a hand axe, though the boy immediately begins protesting the check, trying to reach to get his weapon back. "H-Hey! This isn't -- you can't just -- ! Put me down, you old geezer!"

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"Hmmm looks like this is under control. Guards can't handle a small brat. Amazing... even I'd given them more credit than that but these ones must be a special brand of shit at their jobs." Akane thought to herself. She had caught up to Marcus. Seeing as he was literally holding the source of the problem in his arms... Akane figured there wasn't much she needed to do. She kept her hand firmly on the grip of her sword and kept an eye (her only one.) peeled in case this was just a distraction.

[InnocentSerenity]

“Well, seems like the commotion's nothing major.” Seeing the commotion run off away from them, he prepared himself to strap the bow right back onto his back before hearing the voice of someone to the side, quickly lifted one of their allies.

The red-haired man spoke to his allies. “No need to be so rough on him, he seems like your average pickpocket, really.” Rokan glared in the direction of the rather small boy, his bow not drawn but clearly visible with an arrow ready, silently telling that he was ready for a moving target.

[Zetaark]

"Hah. I'm not that old just yet," Marcus replies, taking the hand axe and handing it over to the other man nearby. He continues checking for any hidden weapons or some such as he continues his questioning. "I'll put you down once you tell me what you were doing. Or should I just hand you in right now?"

 

[Sutoratosu]

"...."

Marek took the handaxe without a word, holding onto it as he waited for the boy to answer the question.

[aliettite]

Finally catching up, Wren trots to a stop behind the rest of them, catching his breath for a few moments bent over his knees before peering over the to see what all the focus is on. Some... street rat. Was this who had given those guards so much trouble? But they were nothing but a child, and a ragged looking one at that. Why on earth did something like that warrant such a commotion? Frowning, he hangs back and listens in.

[rokubiraijuu]

He has half a mind to snap back: Yeah? How about you put me down first and then I'll talk? Is this how you guys treat people, hefting them over your shoulders like dead animals? But then he remembers that -- well, yeah, actually.

 

And also, he doesn't really have much room to be bargaining. These are Queen's Knights, and he knows better than to mess with them. On top of that, they're fully armed, and just took his only weapon away.

 

"Can you at least stop feeling me up, old man?" he protests, wriggling.

 

"Look, I'm just some dumb Gladiator, running away from his master because just maybe I don't like being sold off to the highest bidder, risking my neck for some stupid blueblood just for the privilege to eat his table scraps. Happy now? So you might as well turn me in."

[aliettite]

"Well, that settles that," pipes up Wren from the back. "We're going to turn him in, aren't we?" What else were they going to do, help the kid escape? That would be theft, and he's pretty sure the Queen's Knights would be opposed to such actions, even in the case of this... reprehensible brat. "He's rightfully his master's isn't he? We aren't going to keep him." He says the last words as if he was speaking about the suggestion to keep a dirty, flea-ridden alley cat, and isn't sure if the asker is serious or not.

[Zetaark]

"Sorry, but where I come from people tend to have all sorts of hidden weapons on them. Force of habit is all," Marcus replies before thinking on what the boy said. "A Gladiator eh?" he muses to himself. "I wasn't aware that running away from such a post meant a jail sentence. And here I thought you stole some important trinket or something," Marcus sighs before hearing the other man speak. "Is that how things work around here? I can't really say I endorse the buying and selling of human beings all that much," Marcus asks the man.

[InnocentSerenity]

“If you guys wanna pretend we never saw him, I’m up for it.” Rokan had no problems letting the boy continue on not having to fight for his life, but he sure wasn't entirely willing to risk his own head, either. “Leave him around, maybe an actual city guard will find him.” Rokan waved his hand around as he spoke, letting his hand off of his bow and returning his arrow to its quiver. “I don't think the Commander would look too kindly on us keeping one of the Gladiators around."

"Now, if you want to help him escape..." Rokan closed his eyes, his lip quivering as he spoke against his station. "At worst, maybe the Queen won't take too kindly to bad things happening to her Knights." Rokan didn't bother saying more, waiting for the rest to say anything.

Edited May 23, 2017 by InnocentSerenity