Mavick
Seer
Little Strategist
"The Darkness... It consumes me."
Posts: 208
Etruria Fame: -2
Sacae Fame: 1
Affinity: Dark
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Post by Mavick on May 4, 2011 0:10:09 GMT -6
Mavick had just expected Marle to still be at the Inn. A logical assumption. But she wasn't there. None of her soldiers were there. And after a minute or so, he'd learned from the Innkeeper that she was already heading towards the gates leaving the city.
"WHAT!?"
While the Innkeeper was recovering from his sudden bout of hearing loss, Mavick had already ran to the stables and mounted his pony. Normally he wouldn't be so urgent, but really, the fact of the matter was, Marle was his only chance of being saved from being stuck here without any job whatsoever. "Damn my stupid morality!" he muttered to himself, his pony off at a quick trot. Even if he was in a hurry, he wasn't going to gallop. Besides, she had a troop of her own, and she wore heavy armor. She couldn't have gotten far.
Actually, she hadn't. And it wasn't that hard to find her contingency. Mavick slowed his horse as he saw the troop come into view. He didn't want to look desperate. His pride wouldn't stand for it. Mavick dismounted his pony and lead it by the reigns towards the front of the marching little band. To his dismay, he still had to walk faster than them even if they were at a uniform pace. At last he saw that blue armor. "Lance-Captain!" he called, trying to catch her attention.
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Post by Richter Abend on May 4, 2011 18:13:28 GMT -6
The commander stared sternly at the mercenary as he spoke, hearing the obvious nervousness in the boy's voice. Richter was impressed, however, with Garith's ability to ignore his nervousness and present himself to his future employer with confidence. The pink haired Ilian admired that in a mercenary.
On pure efficiency, Garith seemed like a good hire. Richter knew that Arphen-trained soldiers and mercenaries were some of the best, and it sounded, at least to the commander, that the training had stuck. The boy said he'd follow orders and sounded like he had meant it, much unlike a certain black-haired punk that had seemingly disappeared once the force had reached Edessa. Garith hadn't said much about battle experience, so Richter assumed he probably had very little, but that didn't rule him out in the slightest. Clair herself had been nothing but a pegasus knight in training when she had met him. Technically she still was, but Richter never cared much for technicalities.
The only thing that bothered the older Ilian was the boy's revenge kick. Garith was openly admitting that he'd drop all obligations to kill the mystery man who had scarred his face and, Richter assumed, ruined his life in some way. The commander empathized, knowing exactly how Garith probably felt, but because of that knew the hazards of hiring such a person. Richter had never exacted his revenge. He had left home without the ability to act against his family's murderers, and hadn't returned since. If they were still there, which Richter actually doubted they were, he wouldn't really know what to do. By now, he had let go of the hate, but evil men would always need to be dealt with.
Before the commander could respond to Garith, however, Clair chimed in. "Can you fight girls?" she had asked. "Is... Is that a problem a lot of people have?" Valcrist had stuttered. "I have no issue fighting a woman, if I have to I will I'd prefer finding other ways of dealing with situation like that with any gender by ending it peacefully but if I have to I will fight with no regrets," Garith had responded surely. The question, a bit odd at first, was actually highly appropriate, and as far as Richter was concerned, the blue haired mercenary couldn't have answered it any better. On the battlefield, everyone was a threat, and if you stuttered for a moment, you'd be risking your life.
"Sounds good enough for me," spoke Richter finally, a tone of authority in his voice. "You're hired, Garith Valkyrie. Make sure I don't regret it, now let's go, I'm ready to get back on the march." With that, Richter began walking again for the inn, hoping this time he wouldn't be sidetracked. It was odd. For the past two years, he had been fighting and marching so much, it felt weird not to be on the road. Before he'd have been happy to sit around and stew between jobs, but now the inactivity annoyed him.
As he walked past Valcrist, however, the commander attempted to shoot his new blacksmith a reassuring look, but it came out looking like his usually hard gaze. "As for you, you shouldn't need to worry about fighting any women," spoke Richter, assuming by the tone of the craftsman's voice that Valcrist had problems with the idea. "But if it does come that, I'd expect you to fight back regardless." Continuing down the road, the commander then turned his gaze to Farlus, motioning his dark skinned companion towards him with a finger. "Now Farlus, come here. I need to speak with you before we get moving."
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Farlus
Mage
[M:0]
You had better hope I can make use of you.
Posts: 67
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Post by Farlus on May 4, 2011 19:18:16 GMT -6
Farlus did best he could to not scratch his head at the conversation at hand. Why would anyone have qualms with fighting women? He supposed that not everyone had a stalwart defender like Harriet showing them their first examples of how women are. In fact, all of the female members of the Rangers were fairly rowdy. Their fair faces and feminine figures were just about the only things that could tip someone off that they were actually women.
Farlus shrugged off his thoughts after Richter motioned for him to speak privately. His brow raised itself in anticipation, betraying his otherwise apathetic act. The mage stepped to his commander.
"Here I am." Farlus said with a confident coolness.
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Post by Clair Feldsky on May 4, 2011 21:15:00 GMT -6
Clair nodded at Garith's answer, smiling just a bit. He'd said the right thing. Fighting wasn't always the best answer, but when it was, you couldn't let yourself get stopped by a little detail like whether your opponent wore a skirt or not.... He'd said the right thing, but the cold look he'd given her while saying it could be giving off the smell of trouble for the future.
That was that. Commander Richter hired him, and then decided it was time to move on again. She watched, pleased for Farlus, Richter called him aside.... She'd recruited that one.
"Well, that's that. I'm Officer Clair Feldsky, the Commander's second, so we'll probably be dealing with each other often enough. Welcome to the troop."
Her gaze turned to the young, blond haired, dark skinned man nearby. "And you're going to be our blacksmith? I would have preferred to get your name this morning, but things didn't go that way, it seems."
She gestured that they ought to follow Richter, as they spoke.
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Post by Valcrist on May 4, 2011 21:50:14 GMT -6
Was she talking to him? Hrm, well it made sense as he was going to be traveling with them, it still took him a bit by surprise. He was sure she'd go off with her commander or something. "Oh, um, I'm Valcrist. Valcrist Terris." He smiled and went to go hold his hand out for a handshake, but he found it very difficult with the bundle of cloth and steel he was holding. Instead he sort of shuffled awkwardly as he realized it wasn't going to happen, following with a small chuckle. "Yeah, I'm the blacksmith. Nice to meet you Ms. Feldsky."
His second? That was... That was good right? So, erm, she's a lieutenant or something along those lines? It was called lieutenant right? Or was it Major, or Private or something. Major sounds important since it's Major, Lieutenant is some word he's never heard of outside of military things and stuff. What was Richter then? A commander or a captain? General? Marle was a 'Lance-Captain' which is cool sounding but didn't tell him much. Ugh, it all hurt his head. Still this all wasn't the important bit, the important bit was the fact she looked not a day older then Val himself. That was... impressive. And intimidating. And a bit depressing when the homely blacksmith stood next to her.
"It seems like everyone was in kind of a hurry this morning." He tried to make some small talk. "I was talking to Captain Marle one moment and then I haven't seen her since. I hope I can catch her before we leave town, I have yet to give her the drawing I promised." Chances were in favor of that not happening though, because that was how it usually worked out for Valcrist. He felt a bit embarrassed, and looked over to the mercenary who apparently just joined the outfit. He didn't have anything in particular to say, but it would be better to say something rather then nothing.
"So, you're a swordsman?" He wasn't really sure where he was going with this, but he already went and screwed everything up by talking so might as well wing it. "I am too, kinda."
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Post by Richter Abend on May 5, 2011 1:12:39 GMT -6
Richter maintained his longer stride while occasionally glancing at Farlus as he spoke. "Good," replied Richter with surety. "If you haven't noticed, which I'm sure you have, my little group no longer has a tactician, nor a staff officer. They both ran off in that little purple package called Mavick." From the tone in the commander's voice, one could tell he was far from happy from this fact, but that he was trying his best to hide it. "From what I've gathered, you've got quite a bit of non-combat expertises. I'm sure you wouldn't be fulfilling exactly the same roles Mavick did, but seeing as it's not the most formal position in the world, I'm fine with whatever you bring to the table."
"Mostly you'd be managing the group," continued the pink haired Ilian. "Keeping track of supplies, controlling rations, managing funds, that sort of thing." Richter ran a hand through his hair. "We managed to fill both our coffers and our supply bags with loot from the Etrurian fortress we raided about a month back. I'm going to make the run to the quartermaster myself this time out, but in the future that'll be your job."
"I'd prefer it if you could serve as my tactician as well," said Richter, still continuing. "I'm no slouch when it comes to battle strategy, but I need someone to bounce ideas off at the very least. I'm also sure your investigative skills will come in handy." The commander turned his gaze fully to Farlus. "Are you up to it, or am I asking too much? Not everyone can pull that much weight, and I'd rather you just turn it down if you're not up to snuff rather than screwing it up later."
Some might question Richter giving so much responsibility to a man whom he had just met that morning, but Clair had recruited Farlus for a reason, and the commander trusted his second's judgment. Besides, he had picked Mavick up right out of the ruins of Ostia without a second thought. That had turned out to be a risk worth taking.
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Farlus
Mage
[M:0]
You had better hope I can make use of you.
Posts: 67
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Post by Farlus on May 5, 2011 2:13:45 GMT -6
A fount of enthusiasm that hadn't been tapped for many years flowed freely in Farlus after Richter's proposal. He could barely keep his composure as his commander spoke. The mage cleared his throat after Richter made it apparent that he was finished speaking and placed a hand on his hip.
"Actually, my fair commander, I do have experience in battle strategy. My days in the Rangers, which I may need to explain to you. Were you around when I told Clair of my past as a freedom fighter?" he shook off the question, realizing that he needed to get to the point, "Well we had a policy that there needed to be two individuals trained for each job in our band of louts. I was fortunate enough to be chosen for alternate strategist under my mentor Samuel. Now that was some time ago, but I never forgot my lessons. I never forgot anything that happened in those days." He did his best to continue sounding cool and charismatic during the last sentence. He was referring to the Iron Soul Rangers' final hours with it. Farlus hoped that Richter wouldn't pick up on the pain in the words he spoke.
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Post by Richter Abend on May 5, 2011 11:00:17 GMT -6
The commander noticed his new comrade spoke with a certain sadness in his voice, but he knew better than to pry. If Farlus wanted to talk to Richter about whatever troubled him, then he would do so when he felt like it, or he may never do so at all. It mattered not to the pink haired Ilian. Everyone had things they didn't like to talk about.
"I'm glad," replied Richter. "Mavick was always able to provide a tactical head when I got incensed, so it's good to know you have a background in tactics and strategy. Perhaps you'll be able to provide a perspective my previous tactician couldn't." The commander nodded affirmatively. "But in any case, you're our new staff officer. Good to have you on the team."
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Farlus
Mage
[M:0]
You had better hope I can make use of you.
Posts: 67
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Post by Farlus on May 5, 2011 18:17:57 GMT -6
"Well, how could I say no to that? I am honored." Farlus graciously accepted. He bowed to his commander and turned to face the street his house sat upon.
"If you do not mind, I now have a few more things to take along with me. I will be back outside the inn soon." With that, Farlus walked down the street, spying his home in the distance. He thought to himself about what to take. Let's see. I will need my pen and ink, whatever parchment I have left... I suppose it would not be a bad idea to bring those aroma candles imported from Etruria. I was saving them for a special occasion, but I may never come back. And then there is...
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Post by Garith Valkyrie on May 5, 2011 19:51:04 GMT -6
Garith smiled a bit when Clair introduced herself he could tell they would probably get along well. Well it would probably be better than how he would get along with Richter, mainly due to the fact that he was too timid to talk to him. Garith was quiet the entire time he followed and while the dark skinned one talked. Valcrist Terris he had said introducing himself, that’s a cool sounding name Garith had thought as he slowly walked behind. He got more interested in what Valcrist was saying when he mentioned Marle, Garith then remembered the fight he had went through with Orrith and the other Hellbreakers luckily it was all behind him and he probably wouldn’t have to worry about anything unless someone could tie him to them and get him arrested but that was highly unlike as Garith wasn’t ever part of Hellbreakers. Thought he still wanted to apologize to Marle since the whole ordeal was confusing and troublesome but if he would ever see Orrith again he would kill him in an instant. Valcrist’s a blacksmith maybe he could make Garith some armor in the future if he ever needed any.
As Valcrist asked his question Garith looked over his shoulder to Fenrir which was resting on his back. The question kind of came out of the blue and Garith was surprised Valcrist said anything to him. What did he mean by kinda anyway is he not as skilled as he wished to be or something else. Garith really didn’t think about it hard he focused more on what to say. A swordsman yeah, but a good one well that wasn’t something he could tell the only people he had really fought that was at “his level” where a bunch of bandits who weren’t very skilled. The other people he had fought were all much more skilled then him so he really didn’t know if he could be classified as good or not but that wasn’t really the question and he was getting sidetracked in his thoughts. He then looked toward Valcrist.
“Yeah I am a swordsman and what do you mean you’re kinda?” Garith asked as he folded his arms curious at what Valcrist meant by “kinda”.
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Post by Valcrist on May 5, 2011 20:25:41 GMT -6
"Oh, um..." He didn't really expect to be called out on that. While he could easily just go ahead and say something along the lines of 'I was just mumbling' as that would be mostly true, something about the question provoked slightly deeper thought. Was he really able to call his self a 'swordsman' with all confidence? Was he a swordsman or still just a novice? He could fight, that was true, he's defeated more then a few enemies now. Some of them significantly more skilled then the average thug, one of them was a clan leader who had a lifetime of experience...
Despite that, somewhere he couldn't help but feel like that boy who couldn't even swing his blade when confronted, who just stared at that man and choked. The boy who was constantly scolded by Yaen, has he really gotten better? Maybe... It was weird. When did it happen? Undoubtedly he was more skilled then when he was swinging around his weapon like a toy in the desert, turning cacti into little chunks.
"I... Suppose I am a swordsman." He said, more to his self then to anyone else. It was as if he was desperately trying to convince someone, and that person was none other then the tan boy from Nabata. "I guess I'm just not all that confident in my self is all." He had a small smirk on his face, somewhat self-depreciating in nature.
"Maybe we should spar some time? If I can see your fighting style first hand, I can make weapons for you even easier." Everyone fights differently, that was something he's learned first hand. The way Selibas fought, the way the clan chief fought, the way Yaen fought, and the way he fought were all different despite all of them being sword wielders. "Oh, I don't think I caught your name." He said it earlier, but Val wasn't really paying attention. "I'm Valcrist Terris." He repeated. "I would shake your hand, but I'm kinda..." He nodded towards his package. "Unable."
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Post by Garith Valkyrie on May 5, 2011 21:04:39 GMT -6
By Valcrists’ first response Garith felt that Valcrist didn’t think that he would say anything about what he had said. When Valcrist mentioned that he had no confidence in himself this made Garith think about himself for a moment. He had just received two new swords Fenrir and Uprising. Garith probably would fail miserable at using both at the same time so he decided to just use Uprising for now and use Fenrir later. Was he even ever going to be skilled enough to use two blades at once? Maybe but he wasn’t concerned with that now he was just eager to use Uprising in a fight.
Now his mind went back to the whole confidence thing it bugged him a bit. If Valcrist didn’t have any confidence in his abilities what was his purpose for fighting and what’s to say he’ll get any better. If he has nothing driving him to excel and eventually become the best he can be what is the point in swordsmanship at all? That was Garith’s opinion on the matter anyone in any form of fighting technique whether it be used for war or just for protection, magic or weapons, everyone should have a reason to fight and always believe they can do their best. He felt he would sound really corny if he said this out loud but it was what he felt at the time.
He stared at his open hand for a moment thinking what his drive was. He just wanted to get better so he could get revenge on those who wronged him and to protect anyone in need. Garith figured that Valcrist probably had plenty of fighting experience in his past and knew how to use a sword and how to use it well. The idea of the two of them sparring would be a great training experience and a lot of fun. He chuckled a bit at the whole shaking hands part.
“My name is Garith Valkyrie, nice to meet you Valcrist Terris. I think you should have more confidence in yourself because if you don’t who will I mean if you got nothing driving you to get better what’s the point? Anyway sparring with you would be lots of fun, just tell me whenever you are ready,” Garith said to Valcrist with a small smile on his face, he was being for friendly and talkative then he had been in a long time.
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Post by Clair Feldsky on May 5, 2011 22:02:31 GMT -6
Clair listened, content to stay quiet as Garith tried to give a quick pep talk to the southlander. He was right. Confidence was something needed for anyone who intended to get better, but it didn't always come naturally. The pegasus knight remembered the first several months of her duties as assistant officer. Frequently, she would question whether she was up to the task during those weeks. Of course, then, she'd been having to handle a fair bit of organizing and paperwork as well. They hadn't had a staff officer at that point, and she'd picked up whatever slack she could. No longer did she question if she was capable or not. She simply did everything she needed to do, to the best of her ability, and trusted her Commander to make the assessment of her skills.
"Valcrist, I'll be needing a new weapon soon, so you can expect to hear from me when the time comes." Clair said to the smith.
"And actually, sparring sounds like a good idea. Commander Richter expects all of his troops to be capable enough to look after themselves on the field of battle. Often times, one of us will hold training exercises at the camps we make. I'd be glad to see the two of you there from time to time."
Garith was, of course, expected to go, as he was a fighter in the army. She'd never dealt with a blacksmith who could fight though.... Well, most smiths could probably smash things with their hammers, but if Valcrist was a swordsman, then he'd be more capable than an untrained smith. In theory. While Valcrist might be able to slip the practices, she'd still prefer to see him there, and see what he could do.
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Post by Valcrist on May 5, 2011 22:35:37 GMT -6
"Oh, um, sure. Just drop by my forge once it's up and running and tell me what you want. As long as it isn't too difficult I should be able to make it just fine." He decided to answer Clair instead of Garith, she was Richter's second whatever that meant. Plus what she said didn't make him feel all uncomfortable and depressed.
"I'm used to training, I make sure to make time for it any time I can. Usually I try to do it in the morning, but lately I've been having troubles because until just recently I was out on the streets and starving." He said relatively quickly, and in a way that made it all seem like it wasn't a big deal. He was so close to pawning his sword over and over, but he always resisted. He could never do that to Fang. "My master made sure I trained everyday." He smiled lightly, thinking of the bruises from all the tumbling he did back training with Yaen. Well atleast something stuck.
"So what I'm trying to say is... erm... unless I'm swamped with work I'll do my best to make it." Surely his job as a blacksmith took priority over his training, still it felt odd to put it like that. Shifting his self slightly, to get a better grip on his parcel, he began to run off at the mouth again. "Anyways, like I said, just stop by the forge any time you get the, um, time, Ms. Feldsky." He felt his self repeat. Why didn't he know any better words for time? That felt totally redundant.
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Post by Clair Feldsky on May 5, 2011 23:18:17 GMT -6
"You might end up fairly swamped, but it's good to hear that you value your training." It implied that he was, in fact, at least a little capable. She'd have to watch and see what came of him.
"At least you're employed now, right? Illia isn't the most frendly location to someone without a job." The pegasus knight brushed a fallen lock of hair back and hooked it over her ear as she spoke. She idly noted that her hair was getting long. Probably longer than it ever had been before. She wondered if it would get in the way in a battle now....
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