FE on the Forums: Scarlet Crown [IC]

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

"Well if you ever want to fight, just know that you can. If the men of the village are anything like the men in the Allied Guard, you'll be doomed if you the women don't pick up arms." Naomi giggles as she takes the staff. "Thank you for your gift. I had a dream this morning about men with snake arms that were attacking, and I woke up with an urge to buy as much counter venom as I possibly could. Weird how coincidences like that can happen huh? You've been very nice for a human, if I ever stop by this village again I'll come visit your shop once more! Bye bye!" Naomi waves, staff and tome hugging against her chest and she leaves the store back out into the street. 

[Aurorix]

The cry, that was no ordinary cry, it was a sonorous war cry. Argos, without hesitation, placed his right hand on the grip of his sword that rested on his back.  "Awwww yea, didn't even need to seek out an opponent here." When he turned to the source of the cry he was able to see the boy just as he began tumbling down the grassy hill. He couldn't help but snicker at the boy once he stopped rolling.  "He's fine Dulcibella, the guy only rolled down the hill." Argos walked towards then squatted down, getting more level with the red-head boy.  "Ya know, you should really be more careful with how you swing your sword. Heh, and that shop owner called me green."

[aliettite]

She... No, she had to be kidding with him. Snorting, Flynn just shakes his head with a humoring smile, crossing his arms and resting his elbow against his sword's grip. "Just because you say you're not much of a lady now doesn't mean you can't become one, and I probably shouldn't help you dig that hole deeper, huh?" She was... kinda pretty, he supposes. Maybe without that armor, and cleaned up a little bit, she might actually make something of a fine Village lady of herself. But, even if she wasn't, that didn't make the fact that raising a sword to a woman, or even aiming to strike her, was something a man was never meant to do. Only lowlifes and cowards did that, and Flynn was positive he was neither of those. "Plus, fighting a woman is kinda unfair, don't you think?" Men were just... bigger and stronger by nature. Fighting someone you knew couldn't beat you in something naturally inborn was just low.

[ElfCollaborator]

Michi, for their part, leaves Dulcibella and Argos to their business. They didn't need a bow, and Michi was still curious about the Warriors' Village. Instead, they wander off, looking for something intriguing to watch for the moment. To take their mind off last night. And also because that blacksmith's words were more grating than Michi cared to admit.

 

And they find it, in the form of Flynn and Rhian facing off. Specifically, right after Flynn suggests a fight against Rhian would be unfair.

 

Michi, of course, is mildly amused.

 

 "What's this now? Are you rejecting a challenge? I'd have thought a man  so proud of your skills would have risen at the chance to prove yourself."

[Chevaleresse]

"Didn't hear the part where I said I wanted to be more ladylike." Her scowl only deepened at the rest of it. Typical. Some hick, thinking women were all fragile, delicate creatures that needed to be protected. She sure as hell felt more confident about the ability of a suit of plate and a solid weapon to protect her than some beardless boy. "And no, I don't think it's unfair. Considering the relative amounts of dirt-eating going on between you and me, it'd be unfair for me to fight you." Rhian cracked her knuckles, as if to emphasize the point. 

 

[Powder Miner]

Johanna's extremely simple question stunned Ceridwen for a moment (she'd been certain not only that Johanna thought of it as the result of her actions but that she was going to get a talking to because of it) but eventually she started speaking.

"Oh... well... you know, the only reason you got hurt like that is because you had to follow after me when I charged in front of that last knight, especially because he just didn't care about me and went after you. And I... and... after you told me not to, too."

 

...and she kept speaking despite having answered the question, surprising even herself...

"I just... I really wanted to protect the villagers. It's the thing I'm supposed to be doing, since it's the thing I can think of that I'm supposed to be able to do better than the others to be here in the first place, and,"

 

...and speaking, her voice getting shaky...

"I kept trying to protect people but they just kept going around me or ignoring me and some of us got hurt, and you got hurt, and-- and I tried to save those two villagers but I-- but it just didn't matter, and I really... I just... it's... it's the one thing I was trying to do, and they died anyway, I couldn't help anyone, not really, except maybe at the very end, and I just got people hurt and killed, I think and..."

 

Ceridwen trailed off, stopping to breathe, having stopped walking, her expression suddenly turning to one of shock -- she hadn't intended to say most of that. But once she'd opened her mouth, it had all just come tumbling out.

[Swordstar]

Kerr had arrived at the training ground just in time to hear the last few bits of the exchange between Rhian and Flynn. He smirked, leaning against the wall, slowly shaking his head.

 

"I can't tell if you're an idiot or just oblivious, but you're sticking your foot in your mouth royally right now, kid. She's got a dangerous way about her, and you're liable to find out if you keep insulting her. Though that would be amusing for me so... Keep on doing it actually. This should be fun to watch."

[aliettite]

"It's not a matter of skill or insult, it's a matter of honor," Flynn replies seriously to the newly arrived figure bedecked in full armor, and the other man. He turns back to Rhian, seemingly unintimidated by her display of threatening body language and gestures. He straightens up as if to prove his point of being bigger (and therefore an unfair opponent) than her, leveling down a frown with a touch of a condescending air. "I'm sorry miss, but I'm not going to fight you. You're a woman, and a man doesn't raise his sword to a woman. It's just not right. Why don't you spar with this, uhm, this person." He jabs a thumb in Michi's looming direction. "They're an outsider like you. Maybe they've got the same morals as you too." Or lack there of, really, coming from a land that carelessly sent their women out into battle with their men. Who stayed home to guard the villages? That was just as important a job as a man's, if not more in some ways.

[BlueCalibri]

Somewhere, Verden's thoughts poke at him. He closes his eyes, deciding to try a prayer to figure out what he might be needing to do. Once he opens his eyes again, he's fairly sure he knows where to go in spite of not having much clue how to navigate this village, and so he soon wanders all the way to the training ground. Once there, he takes a look at the scene - namely, the exchange between Rhian and Flynn, as well as the other spectators Michi and Kerr. He continues watching for a moment, then turns his attention back to the main focus of the scene, this being Rhian and Flynn. At least now that a healer is here, if anything like a fight breaks out, it should be somewhat safer...

 

"Pardon me, would anyone care to explain what I have missed? I only arrived here recently."

[rokubiraijuu]

"...never gonna get to meet Flik in person at this rate."

 

Muttering under his breath dejectedly, Fless gets to his feet, waving off Dulcibella's offered hand and turning to face Argos again. Only to realize he'd dropped his sword in the tumble. Shoulders sagging, he walks a few steps to pick it up again, ears burning. If Flynn saw him now, surely he'd groan. 

 

"Aw, shut up!" he protests at Argos' teasing. "Just... wasn't putting my back into it, that's all!" That's what Flynn always said, right? At least the times he tried to help him train before inevitably getting fed up or Fless gave up, whichever came first.

 

"You're... the swordsman, right? I heard you call yourself the Invoker of Mayhem in there! Just wanted to see how cool the Invoker of Mayhem could be!"

 

---

 

Johanna simply stands there patiently, fully turned around again to face Ceridwen, listening as she talks, the words tumbling out of her in a deluge. She doesn't say anything or express any impatience, but simply listens to everything she has to say.

 

Only after Ceridwen's cut herself off does Johanna nod a few times, slowly. 

 

"That's understandable. You're right, I did tell you not to be reckless. And there's some improvement you can make there. But you wanted to protect the villagers, and you don't have to be ashamed about that."

 

"As for whether you succeed or not, there's only so much blame you can take for that. I don't think it's useful to beat yourself up over it. Sometimes the enemy chooses to act in ways that even a perfect strategy with every contingency in place can't predict. Not that we shouldn't try our best, but you're only one person, Ceridwen. That boy lived because of your efforts. And who knows how many others would have fallen if you hadn't arrived. Don't just look at what you didn't accomplish." She shakes her head. "Don't worry about the injury. I'm going to get hurt in battle. We all are. You can't blame yourself every time. And you shouldn't."

[Chevaleresse]

"Honor? Not right? I'm not a man or a woman, I'm a damned soldier. Or are you saying it's dishonorable to fight soldiers?" She pulled off both of her gauntlets. "You think that my being a woman's gonna save you from me beating your ass?" She recognized what he was doing, and all it did was incense her further. Rising up to full height and looking down his nose at her. All it meant was that he had a higher center of gravity and was thus easier to knock over. "'Cause that's what's about to happen. Unless you're not man enough to set a weak little girl like me, huh?" She was very near the point where she'd just swing on the boy, fair fight be damned. 

[Swordstar]

"You're really not getting it, huh? Two things here for you. One, honor doesn't have nearly as much a place on the battlefield as you think. Honor gets good people killed. But second, and more importantly, a woman can belong on the battlefield just as much as a man. And if you can't fight women, you're going to be killed by one some day. Here, Rhian, I'll spar you if the kid's too much of an idiot to see what a fighter you are."

[Aurorix]

"H-he thinks I'm... cool. No one ever thinks I'm cool..." Argos was a bit speechless for a moment,

 

"Why yes, I am indeed the swordsman of the allied guard. All folks tremble when they hear the name of... ARGOS THE INVOKER OF MAYHEM!" He draws out his wooden sword from his back and twirls it above his head like a helicopter before having it quickly come to a rest on his shoulder.  "...Or at least they will in due time!"

 

"Sooooo, uhhhh, who the heck are you and who's this Flik you were muttering about?."

[aliettite]

The hot prickle of shame begins to creeping its way up his spine to his ears as Flynn finds himself not only being threatened by this bizarre armored woman, but lectured by this man who seemed to suddenly think he knew everything about warfare, and fairness, and fighting, and being a man of the Warrior's Village. His frown  sinks into an unbidden scowl at Kerr as his cheeks flush, hand now coming to grip his sword tightly as his voice rises with poorly restrained indignant frustration:

 

"This isn't a battlefield. This is a training field to hone your skills, not a simulation of actual combat. Of course I'd be able to fight a woman if I had to -- I'd kill one too if I had to! But I'm not going to fight just because some outsider broad thinks she can--"

 

The swift fist connects with his jaw before he finishes the syllable of 'can', sending him stumbling a couple of feet as he's nearly knocked off his own. Staggered, Flynn clutches at his mouth, eyes wide as a startled deer's as he stares at Rhian. She...! Gingerly taking his hand away, he feels at his lip with his fingertips -- wet, blood -- and spits red into the dirt at his feet.

 

"You... you hit me." The dumbstruck deadpan of his statement would probably have been comical if not for the way his expression darkens along with it. He reaches up to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, succeeding in not doing much more than smearing the evidence of Rhian's damage across his cheek and glove. Shame's tendrils now coil themselves tightly in his chest, and betray themselves brilliantly across his face. "Alright. I see." Code of honor be damned. This was personal now. "You wanna fight, huh?" Flynn brandishes his sword with a flourish, grip white-knuckled, and gestures towards Kerr with his other arm with a growl. "And you stay out of this."

[rokubiraijuu]

All folks tremble when they hear the Invoker of Mayhem. "They do?" he asks, tilting his head. At least, he'd never heard it before.

 

"You've never heard of Flik before?? No way. If you were really famous, then you'd have met him before, right?" Fless completely ignores the first question, stunned by the idea that the name could be a mystery to anyone. "He... he's only the coolest man to have ever existed. Everyone knows he was one of the founding members of the Liberation Army in its earliest days. He's a big reason the Liberation Army even existed! And. Odessa Silverberg was his lady. Even after she died, he helped Tennan Dohl rebuild the Liberation Army and saved Caliss! And everyone knows him. He's the Blue Lightning, because he does thunder magic too while being an awesome swordsman!"

 

The more he talks, the more excited he gets, eyes lighting up like he's talking about his personal hero. Which he may as well be. "He's one of our own. Grew up in this village just like me. He left on his journey to manhood and hasn't come back yet... but he's definitely worthy to by now. He's probably just busy being a hero. There's rumors that he's in the City-States somewhere! Flynn is leaving on his journey to manhood soon and I'm going to go with him, and we're going to find Flik and talk to him in person! It's going to be so cool!"

 

When he finishes, his cheeks are flushed, and a big grin's on his face. But then it falls, and he scuffs the grass with his boot. "Well, we're going to go as soon as I'm ready. Flynn keeps saying my sword arm's not good enough. But I'm better than all the other boys with my bow."

[Swordstar]

"Ohhhh, don't worry. I wouldn't risk her wrath for interfering."

 

He leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. This would be interesting.

[Chevaleresse]

"Ayup. You wanna see it again? 'Cause I liked that a lot, I'd be glad to." She backed up slightly, taking up a proper fighting stance with arms raised. She hadn't expected him to keep the sword. "What, the honorable warrior can't fight this outsider broad without his sword? You gotta make up for your other sword, or are you just less sporting then you're tryin' to say you are?" Rhian took a breath. Angry as she was, she was aware that she was at a pretty clear disadvantage, with her fists against the reach of a sword. She was waiting, waiting for the inevitable wild swing. "Well, come on then, I've got better things to do than paddle your bottom for you." When he swung, she would sidestep, trying to press the sword out of her way with her right bracer and go in for a quick jab with her left hand.

[Aurorix]

"The Blue Lightning huh..." Magic does sound it'd be fun to use, but he's never touched a tome in his life. Noted though to never use thunder magic, this Flik guy's already got that chosen. What kinda magic could he use? Well snow is super common in the mountains, maybe ice? Oh, but fire could be cool to! Bah, he shouldn't worry about that now though. It's not like he knows the first thing on how to use magic. 

 

"So your marksmanship is better than your sword arm huh? Have you ever considered using both in battle? Create your own sort of battle style?" The lad said putting his free hand on his hips while leaning forward.

[rokubiraijuu]

Fless blinks at Argos like he'd just suggested that maybe the sky was in fact green instead of blue. "I mean... I guess, but first I gotta get good at the sword before I can do anything else. Anyway, bows're just for hunting and stuff. I don't... really like... fighting..."

 

His voice trails off in embarrassment, and he averts his eyes again. It's clear that in his mind, he might as well be admitting that he still wets his bed. "B-But I'm gonna get used to it! I, I have to, so..."

 

After a pause, he continues, a little more hopefully: "... maybe I can protect Flynn with my bow, while he uses his sword. It's good to have someone at your back, right?"

[aliettite]

The swing, he'd claim, was aimed less to hit and more to serve as a warning -- but the end result was still to have the blade knocked aside, and Rhian's fist connecting sharply with his side, right beneath the ribs. Coughing, Flynn takes a stumbling step, then another more solid one and rounds on her, drawing his sword out in front of himself in a practiced stance. "Draw your weapon! I won't fight you like a coward unarmed!" It was humiliating enough to be stooping so low as to willingly fight a woman, but to fight her unarmed would be sinking to the depths of river muck. He takes a deep breath, wheezing on the exhale as he continues: "You said you wanted to train like a Village man, didn't you? Then get your real weapon and fight me like one!"

[Sentient Bowtie]

“Don’t be silly. A bow is just as capable at killing a man as a sword is; the only difference is how far away you can kill him from.”

 

Dulcie pulls back the string to her empty bow as if to fire it (pointing it safely into the distance), all the way to her cheek. The tension in the bow’s arms and her own is visible as she strains to keep it readied.

 

“See that? How hard it is to keep the string pulled? That’s because a bow is actually even stronger than a sword. It has to launch an arrow with enough force to kill all the way from the start to the ground.”

 

With a quiet grunt, she slowly releases the string. Dry-firing a bow was, of course, extremely dangerous at worst and carelessly stupid at best. She never forgot that after the first time.

 

“You could protect Flynn and yourself and a few other people with that bow if you wanted to. They are powerful tools of war. Hunting is only one thing you can do with them.”

[BlueCalibri]

Verden's expression remains unchanging as he watches the fight inevitably break out, although if one listens closely they'd hear the faint sigh of an exasperated healer coming from him. Still, since he feels it would be best to have a healer on hand, he decides to stick around and watch the fight. He seems to be smiling ever so faintly, given he's quite sure Rhian's got the advantage here... He decides that now is, for once, not the time to apply his usual aura of charisma into influencing the battle. It seems unfair enough to him already. Instead, he just comments on what he's seeing, letting out a quick "I see now" before silencing himself once more.

[Chevaleresse]

"I'm an archer, you dolt, you think I came here with a sword?" She darted inward, feinting towards the side she'd struck him on once, then swinging her right fist hard toward his gut. "I ain't gonna stop because I don't have a weapon, boy. At least have the balls to fight back." Truth be told, she did want him to fight back; beating some sexist ass down was satisfying in its own right, but it'd taste sweeter if he had to honestly admit to himself that he got beaten by a woman without a weapon at all. "Unless you like the taste of my fists that much."

[Aurorix]

"Well you said Blue Lightning uses both Magic and Blade, so I don't see why you can't use a bow and blade." Argos gave a nice smile to the lad,  "Many good fighters don't like to fight, there's not shame in that. We take up arms to defend the things we care about. Whether that be family, property or honor. At least, that's how I always saw combat." Argos paused for a moment before he thought of a great idea, "If you're so curious about using your bow in battle we can have a sparring match if you really want to. What do ya say, your bow verses my sword?"

[rokubiraijuu]

Fless watches Dulcibella's demonstration, but still doesn't seem wholly convinced. "I know a bow can kill... I mean, I've killed a lot of animals bigger than people with it before. But..."

 

When Argos talks again, he looks back up, then smiles slightly. "Yeah. What I care about is... my brother, and the Warriors Village. I want to help protect this place and its traditions that're really important to me." He shakes his head. "I can't do that. It's not honorable to fight with a bow. A real warrior doesn't take cowardly shots at enemies that can't fight back. He gets in there and clashes blades with the rest of his allies. And if he has to take a life, then he feels it against his own hand, not from far away."

 

It's clear he's reciting something well-taught. But he seems to feel better, and smiles up at Argos. "Like my brother. Or you! But... hmm. Maybe the sword thing isn't really working for me right now. Hmm... hey, you said something about swearing your sword to protect something. We have that too! Does your sword have a name yet?"