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Post by Vincent on Dec 26, 2015 4:12:11 GMT -6
Bleary eyed Vincent yawned and trekked through the city. He stayed up through the night in anticipation for the new day, and it cost him now. He headed to a man that was going to give him merchandise to sell in Bern. It was the first risky trip Vincent was making, but he had his own name and the name of his new guild on the line, not say anything of the integrity of his wallet.
"Ah, good morning," the supplier was up just as early, setting to work loading the goods into the cart. Vincent greeted him with a half-hearted wave and another drawn out yawn. Pulling his cloak closely around him he began to grow curious.
"I hear you got these fruits from that new island, Vinland, is it true?"
"Aye, true as it gets. Gotta sell 'em quick, but the exotic flavors really draw them attention, and paying customers."
"How good can these still be if they came across the sea, AND so far inland, oughten they have spoiled by now?" Vincent skeptically took a fruit and bit into it. It was... sweet, and delicious. It was soft, yet firm in its form, the perfect specimen. "I take that back. THESE ARE SOME HARDY FRUITS!!!" he exclaimed.
The supplier smiled awkwardly at the boy's outburst. "Glad you approve of them. I take it, you'll have no complaints then?"
"I suppose not." Walking around to the front of the cart he set about prepping his horse to draw the cart. He pat Shade on the side and pet the long of its face. The horse was strong and sturdy, but not the type to ride into battle. This was just fine by him. "Alright then, if there is nothing else we need to tend to, I will be on my way."
The supplier agreed and Vincent was off. He hopped into the seat of the cart and grabbed the reins. In a short moment he was headed back to his house; he still needed to grab his weapons. Inside he looked around for a bit. It went from a dilapidated mess, to a functioning home, and guild front. He even had decorations, and a vase of flowers. Wilting flowers sure, but flowers all the same. He grabbed a small box, tucking it under his shoulder, and his lancereaver, he carried his dagger on him regularly; just in case.
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Post by Mila on Dec 26, 2015 17:42:37 GMT -6
Mila looked around at the City of Heroes, happy and relieved to finally be here. She walked through the roads and looked around at the landscape. The town was busy with people doing a variety of work. She frowned lightly at the amount of construction that was underway. It seemed that parts of the city were still recovering from Hargus' attack. Even though that event had been months ago. She wondered if people would even be willing to talk about Hargus after so much time had passed. They might think his name to be cursed.
The sage had been through so much in the time between Hargus' attack and now. She fought gargoyles in Bern. Her trip to Eturia had taught her how to better wield a staff. Her trips throughout Lycia had brought her closer to her friends. She traveled across the sea. She helped to fight giant monsters on Vinland. She saw beast-men with her own two eyes. All of the adventures she had up to this point were written down carefully in her journals.
She continued to walk down the road. Her clothes, speech, and poise gave her away as an outsider. But that didn't bother Mila, she knew large cities like this had outsiders coming and going all the time. Hopefully, some of the more traditional Sacaean's wouldn't give her such a hard time. She looked at the address she had written down from one of Vincent's letters. She stopped to ask for directions twice and eventually managed to reach the door towards Vincent's home. I hope this is the right one. She knocked on the door hoping the Mercenary would answer.
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Post by Vincent on Dec 27, 2015 20:31:59 GMT -6
With his hands full he was ready to start heading out. Just before leaving he heard a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" He wondered aloud. Opening the door he was less than enthusiastic until he saw the face that stared back at him. The mercenaries eyes widened in surprise. "Cl-Clover!?"
She could have sent him some warning! Gah! What if he had already left? They would have missed each other. As these various thoughts crossed his mind he stumbled about trying to figure out what to do. Ultimately he ended up twisting his body about while trying to figure it out. "It's great to see you!" He dropped his lancereaver by the door and set the box on the table.
He looked back at the woman and paused thinking of what would be proper. "Ah... Come on in, excuse the mess. You like tea? I have some local stuff. Got it as payment for a job. I can't say getting paid in tea leaves is a really good payment for a job but it does help send out word of mouth; ya know what I mean?" He was babbling.
Opening a pantry he grabbed a kettle and looked inside the lid. It was... dark inside, and turning it over powdered mush fell out in a powdered explosion. "Okay, maybe we don't want any tea. Or, if you really want it, I could just..." He frowned at the kettle and rubbed his face. He had not given Clair a chance to even get a word in yet. "I'll just clean it." Finally being silent he set about scrubbing the kettle in order for it to be used once more.
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Post by Mila on Dec 28, 2015 15:43:07 GMT -6
Mila heard someone at the other end of the door and suddenly it opened. Mila was releived to see Vincent on the other end. Oh good. I didn't just interupt some random Sacean. She blinked lightly at Vincent's reaction. Oh right. We're still using my pseudonym. She lifted up her hand to wave at him.
"Hi Vincent." She greeted him with a warm smile.
"It's good to see you too. How ar ..oh is this a bad time?" She watched him as he spun around a bit. Eventually, the mercenary managed to put down the things he was holding up. It was still a bit until the mercenary finally gave her permission to enter the home. To which Mila happily obliged. She stepped inside and closed the door.
"Ah. Is that the desk with the broken leg? The one from the letter?" She asked as she looked around the home. Mila wasn't one to judge the state of houses. She recalled her time in Eturia stuck in a tiny room surrounded by books. Good Gods that was before the cave in. She was lost in her thoughts for a bit until Vincent brought up the word tea. Those who knew the sage knew she was quite fond of tea. She would go into markets to gather dried tea leaves, herbs, spices, and make her own blends. But before she could answer "yes" to wanting tea she saw Vincent pull out a kettle with some foul looking black stuff.
"Uhm.. I'll get the tea." She went ahead and made her way over towards the cook fire. She lodged a few logs into the pit, then lit it on fire with her fire spell. She found a spit to hang her kettle on and gently put it on the fire. From her bag she grabbed a small blend of tea and threw it into the pot. She then filled up the kettle with water and let it sit.
"Tea is taken care of. Please use my real name, Mila. Clover's what I use when I write things.. or have to go on uh.. not so favorable jobs... or avoid jail." She scratched her head.
"So how have you been?"
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Post by Vincent on Jan 3, 2016 9:08:05 GMT -6
"Oh, yeah, it is." Vincent was no carpenter and for all his trying he never managed to fix the blasted thing. As of now, the table leg clung on by the whimsy of the gods. It was only a matter of time before the whole table came crashing down. He found himself glaring at it, as though trying to put it down into submission. It was planning on falling apart on Mila he suspected. "Careful of too much weight, I don't expect it'll hold up long."
"Blast this kettle to bits!" Vincent scrubbed with everything he had but it was unyielding. His brush was turning black as night and yet the kettle was still dark. He smelled the fire. What was that? Looking back at Mila he realized she had set about making the tea herself. He suddenly felt embarrassed and his face flushed. He was trying to be hospitable but he really left a mess for a guest. Blast! He was stupid.
The tea was on the way but still Vincent scrubbed, at this point he could not bear to leave it half done. He would see it through to the end. "I'm sorry, Mila. It is just a habit for me. I will stop though; Mila is far prettier anyway." What did she mean by not so favorable jobs? What kind of work did she get herself into? He wanted to ask her but thought better of it.
Vincent laughed at Mila's last question. How had he been? "Well... where to start?" This was a hard questioned and he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I did it. I started a guild... it's just me right now though." He shrugged. "At the very least it does not hinder my work, and I still get the benefits of a guild." So long as the buyers did not realize and retract their offers, blast, that had happened far too many times to count already.
Vincent managed to deal with the kettle as the tea began to scream, "Perfect timing." Vincent joined Mila at the table now, noticeably keeping his arms off of it. "Well, aside from a wardrobe change and the like, I got a lot stronger on my trip." Both physically and mentally, but he was referring to his skills with a blade. "Unfortunately Phoenix Heart broke." He tapped the box.
Ugh, all he knew how to do was talk business! Why did he not have silly stories about random mishap adventures or tales from the farm? Oh yeah, if he had farm stories, they usually ended with the neighbor kids beating him up and Ash intervening.
"I'm making ends meet, the guild pays for itself, and I have a delivery to bring to Bern!" He was so exited at the job he was practically yelling at Mila. He blushed again. Why was it so hard to talk to her without worrying about judgement?
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Post by Mila on Jan 3, 2016 14:49:04 GMT -6
Mila listened in as Vincent spoke and scrubbed the kettle. She listened to the troubles of the table and of his kettle woes. The sage’s mind had a small remedy for fixing a truly blacked kettle pot. Get a new pot. She looked over at the table and tilted her head. She wanted to present Vincent with a housewarming gift. Hm.. well I have two options. either a new kettle or a new table. Carefully the sage walked off towards the table and took a look at it. The table already had the box full of the broken pieces of phoenix heart. This caused her to frown a bit.
“I’m sorry to hear about Phoenix Heart. I’ve been told.. that magic weapons bond with their wielders. Sometimes.. they could hear the weapon talk. It’s something to do with the spirit bound to the weapon.. the mechanics of it seem to be a bit different than that of a tome. But.. I.. feel.. kinda bad for it.” She put her hand over the box and closed her eyes. Maybe she could feel something from the broken sword. Nope. Nothing.
“Although.. now i’m kinda curious.. to know what it’s feeling. Do the spirits housed within weapons even feel.. if the spirit even knows if it’s.. broken. Ah.. i’m sorry.. that thought.. sounds like a.. well it sounds pretty insane?” She shook her head.
“Magic is weird sometimes. But if magic weapon spirits do ‘feel’ something I hope the spirit in your blade isn’t in any pain. It might even be asleep.” The sounds of the screeching tea kettle filled the air and Mila went back towards the fire. Carefully she put the pot down on the floor and replaced the pole. She pulled out two mugs from her pack and gently poured out the tea into the mugs.
She held the mugs of the warm drink up by their handles.
“Uhm.. i’d put these on the table but.. I don’t think that’s safe.” So she went ahead and put them down on the empty chair instead. There was a soft smile on Mila’s face as Vincent spoke about his new job towards Bern. She had to close one eye a bit as Vincent was pretty loud.
“A guild is fun. I grew up in one! The same one that you met back in Taras! Uhm.. I wanted to get you a house warming gift.. but i’m not sure what you needed. So I guess… either a table or a kettle? I’ve been practicing a bit with a Gaea tome.. so maybe I could make a garden. But if your going to Bern shortly.. maybe not. A guild mate of mine and I we managed to tackle a job there involving gargoyles. We met plenty of brave and strong people in that encounter.”
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Post by Vincent on Jan 7, 2016 17:47:01 GMT -6
Vincent could not help but grin like an idiot at how astute Mila's observations, and learning of magic weapons were. He had never shown her his brand before and here, she already knew of the bonding. To feel bad for the blade, now that was funny to him and he laughed out loud. Loud and hard. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he apologized. Wiping away a tear of laughter he removed his cloak and his left gauntlet, "Allow me to clear up a few of your theories? I can't speak for all magic weapons but I can speak for mine."
Vincent stood by Mila's chair and showed her the back of his left hand. Sure enough there was a mark of a phoenix that had a faint blue glow. "This is the mark of bonding. The spirit and I forged a contract over time and this is the proof. I did use to hear it speak to me in my mind. It would always judge me, and sometimes encourage me..." He shook his head, "But I realized something about it." He sighed, "it has a strange enchantment. It never spoke to me. It dug deep into my soul and relayed to me all my doubts and thoughts in another voice. When I had finally realized I was worthy of the blade it fell silent. Drove me mad for a while, but I learned the truth." Strange thing, magic.
As for if it felt pain? His eyes fell to the box in a somber face. "It was screaming. It screamed in pain as it was broken. The flames exploded out from it violently and burned the Illian ground..." He rubbed the back of his head. "Well, what's done is done. It is simply shards now, the magic and life is there, just... unusable until it is fixed."
Vincent gave an embarrassed grin at Mila's placing of the cups. "Glad I have three now." Vincent's eyes lit up at the prospect of a garden. Perhaps he could start his own small farm, er, garden. He always wanted to be able to return to some semblance of the life he left behind. He smiled weakly. "I would love a garden."
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Post by Mila on Jan 7, 2016 20:36:07 GMT -6
Mila took a sip of her tea but stopped abruptly.Vincent’s laughter took her back a bit. She was not expecting it especially on a subject regarding magic. Although maybe he was laughing at her idea? Well that’s not nice. Mila’s knowledge on magic weapons wasn’t that great. Sure, she knew the basics. She knew how some weapons bonded to their owners. She knew how some magic weapons had charm and personality. She knew a whole lot about Xigshaw and how finicky it was. But that was about it. Tomes and monsters she could talk about with plenty of gusto and knowledge.
But then Vincent showed her his brand. Mila couldn’t help it, she sat the mug down and pulled Vincent’s hand close. Her eyes studied the mark. She could swore she felt it as being warm or maybe that was because it was Vincent’s hand. She let go of it and continued to listen to Vincent talk about bonds.
“My brother.. ironically enough.. would tell me something like that. He’s a swordsman. He would always go off about how.. swords had their own personality.. and on how they move.. how they feel… er felt. None of them were ever enchanted like Phoenix Heart. But.. I think… the same principal applies.. but to a lesser degree. You.. learn and grow with your weapon. Find faults. Work on those faults. Eventually until you and the blade move as one.” She shook her head. Mila mind flashed towards her brother’s younger years. How he would spend hours swinging the training sword around until he got his swing perfect. How he would yell at the sword and arm. She grabbed the mug of tea and took another sip. She tried to drown out the thought of her brother. That Dummy.
But then Vincent spoke about his sword screaming in pain. Mila’s gaze fell to lowest point it could, which in her perspective was Vincent’s shoes. She set the mug down on the chair got up and hugged him. She didn’t realize it then but she was crying.
“I’m so sorry. Vincent. I’m sorry. So.. sorry.” She pulled away from him after a while. Her face wet with tears.
“Ha.. ha.. I’m sorry… I-I..probably look like some.. sort of freak. I-I wasn’t expecting… to cry.” She tried to wipe the tears from her face with her palms.
“I.. k-know.. how.. hard it is..” She could barely choke out the words. Her mind was a haze of memories. Bad memories. She remembered when Duma got his scar as a child. She remembered his body curled onto the ground holding his face and screaming in pain. Another memory was of her.. in the cave in in Nabata. And how the screams of her comrades filled the air until she passed out. She was never quite the same after that. There was a chill up her spine at that.
“I.. know.. how.. hard it is.. to stand there.. while someone you.. care for.. is screaming.. in pain. And.. you..can’t.. do a damn.. thing about it.” She shook her head. She was quiet for a while until she calmed herself down.
“I’m.. ok. I’m.. ok.” She breathed in deeply. Eventually re-cupping the tea mug and downing the rest of the hot drink. Get it together Mila. Vincent changed the subject and spoke about a garden.
“R..right. You.. want a garden right? I can do that! We.. are going to need some seeds.. and some horse poop. So to the market?”
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Post by Vincent on Jan 7, 2016 21:18:02 GMT -6
Vincent had not prepared himself for Mila to take his hand and he had to resist the instinct to jerk it back in a hurry. "Uh, erm, um." Well, that was eloquent. "M-M-Mila?" She was just inspecting it, he reminded himself. How stupid to act like that over something like this; then again, this was the first time a woman had ever held his hand. Blushing he had to look away from her. He noticed the wilting flowers were nearly out of petals completely. The moment Mila had let go he instinctively covered his left hand with his right, and regauntleted.
Who was Mila's brother anyway? He sounded like quite the passionate swordsman to talk like that. Although, Vincent found he had to agree with the thought process. His weapons were ever changing with him, he made modifications to his reaver and even Phoenix Heart changed as it opened its power to him. "I think I'd love the chance to meet your brother. He sounds rather, erm, passionate about it. I expect he ought to be pretty strong too." Vincent offered a reassuring smile.
Suddenly Mila started to cry. "Mila?" Where did this come from? What did he do? What should he do? He was dumbstruck. It's okay, really. He wanted to say it, he wanted to reassure her, but it soon became evident she was not referring to the sword, but someone else." It dawned on him, she was speaking of her brother. She had changed the tense of her speech when talking about him after all.
Vincent had begun to extend his hand to wipe away Mila's tears but retracted, what was he doing? She described her powerlessness and something in Vincent broke down unexpectedly. His every image of Mila was an incredible and hardy mage but suddenly she was just like everyone else, and he knew her feelings all too well. He watched Neil consumed in Nether and he struck him down. He held his best friend's broken body while he weakly tried to say his last words. He had not thought of Neil for so long, but suddenly it all came back to the surface.
"Mila! I-" He had no words to console her. As if his body was acting against his own better judgement he grabbed Mila by the shoulders and embraced her in a tight hug,but only if she did not refuse. "It's okay." He whispered to her.
Blasted garden! That seemed too unimportant now, unless; yes, he could use it to help get her mind off of everything else. "Right, uh, the garden." By now Vincent had let go and was feeling ashamed of himself for shamelessly holding a woman like that. He should have gotten on the road, not setting up a garden, but he could not leave Mila like this. "Yeah, let's hit up the vendors. I know a few reliable guys."
Stepping out of his house he looked over to his horse and cart. "Hey, I'm sorry. I'll be back soon, I promise."
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Post by Mila on Jan 8, 2016 10:22:13 GMT -6
“Good luck. I haven't seen my brother in over five years. He's a bit of a reclusive git. Instead, of coming home to check up on the family every once in awhile he's off doing heaven knows what.” There was a tinge of anger and frustration in her words. The sages hands curled into fists. She was furious at Duma for up and essentially abandoning the guild family. If they were to ever reunite she was going to make sure he was going to regret doing that.
Mila let Vincent hug her. She was accustomed to hugs especially after an emotional outburst. She closed her eyes for a moment and fought back the urge to cry again. The thought of anyone screaming in pain while another was helpless and forced to watch did not sit right with her. This along with a whole host of other things that Nabata traumatized her with. She couldn't sleep well, she was claustrophobic, she couldn't stand a thunderstorm, and certain shadows dancing across the walls seemed to cause her to be frozen with fear. There was no way for Vincent to know of these things presently. As a matter of fact few people knew of her traumas, she had to keep it that way. What good is a monster researcher if she's afraid of all these other things.
“Thank you. Vincent.. I'm alright now. I.. just don’t like the thought of anyone being in pain.. and being useless to alleviate it. Anyone apparently can mean magic infused fire swords.” She placed her hand back on the box with a somber frown.
“I've been on that useless side... Too many times to count. And each time it's been.. difficult to recover from. I.. also know how bad it is from the ‘screaming in pain’ side.” She shook her head. Not the time for this.
“Told myself a long time ago I wasn't going to let my past weaknesses slow me down. Ha.. I.. still need to work on that.. it seems. Maybe I'll tell you the stories.. about it someday.. But not now. W-we have a garden to make.” Yes! Garden! Distraction! Whoo! The sage got up, dusted herself off, and put the empty mugs aside. She would have to wash them later. Eventually, she followed Vincent out and saw the horse and cart.
“Oh? Is this your horse? Hey, that's free fertilizer if it is. Wait.. he's all prepared to go. Oh.. oh.. Wait were you going to do that delivery now? Shoot. I'm sorry I DID come at a bad time. Hey Vince listen it's alright if you have to do what you got to do. The garden can wait and such.”
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Post by Vincent on Jan 14, 2016 22:25:23 GMT -6
"Oh, I'm sorry about him then, although, I'm also relieved, I was worried he was, ya know, dead." Was that too blunt? He was not dead right? So, was there a problem? Vincent briefly rubbed the back of his head while he contemplated it.
"I realized that it is good to keep looking forward." Vincent began looking at the city before him as if to stress his opinion. "You see this city? Just a few months ago it was attacked by monsters and bandits and pirates! Now?" He pointed to a small flowerbed below a house window. "It is renewed, and even stronger than it was once before." He looked at the cart and Mila then back to the city. "This city has put Sacae on the map. It is only here because of the war with Hargus, and respected because of the siege." Vincent pounded his chest with a fist and smiled wide. "So, no matter how bad it is, life goes on and you get stronger for it. You just have to talk louder, laugh longer, and do everything to the fullest. Let go of your slights make the most of your hands, scars are just proof of survival and reminders of the hard lessons." He looked her from head to toe, "Judging from what I can see, you're already a lot wiser than I am, my face is not as pretty as it once was!" He laughed. When he stopped he tilted his head and gave a sidelong look at Mila, he hoped to cheer her up a bit.
"Yeah, his name is Shade. A bit dull, so the seller said, but I don't buy it. After all, people said I was dull all the time and here I am!" Vincent merely shrugged at Mila's observation and worry. "Don't worry about it. You take priority over a bunch of fruit. Besides, this is less about a garden than it is just spending a bit of time right?"
As he got closer to the cart he caught the sound of rustling in the back. Animals!? That could ruin the whole venture! "Blast" He muttered. "I'm sorry, gimme just a sec Mila." Opening the back flap of the cart he set to inspect the damages and saw something unexpected. His shoulders felt weight and suddenly he was toppled over falling flat on his back. "Woah!"
A small framed figure took off running with an armful of fruit. They quickly wound through the streets and were gone.
"Hey!" Vincent reached after them from the ground, "Get back here! Those aren't yours!!! ...And their gone." Vincent looked annoyed and disappointed. Standing he brushed himself off and assessed the damages. To his horror he simply closed the back in an attempt to keep Mila from seeing. "Not too bad, they just made off with a handful..."
In truth the whole shipment was in shambles, the thief had taken bites out of several picks and muddied boots had trampled all over others. The thief could have at least showed a little courtesy? Was that too much to ask? "Heh, well... what is anything without a little setback right?"
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Post by Mila on Jan 19, 2016 17:51:19 GMT -6
Mila went up to inspect the horse. She brushed with her hand onto the side of it's face. Shade was a nice looking horse. Then again Mila wasn't exactly the best at judging horses. She knew the difference between a stallion and a mare. And the difference between a healthy horse and a sick one. But if she were to have two different horses in the same corral and someone told her one was a thoroughbred and the other wasn't she wouldn't be able to tell the difference. She smiled softly at Vincent's comment. It was nice to be prioritized.. just a bit.
"No worries take all the time you need."
And suddenly Vincent was startled by something. Mila turned her head to see what it was that her companion had been startled by. A human figure leaped out of the wagon and took off running. Mila couldn't see what the person had in it's arms but judging by Vincent's reaction it was probably the cargo that was in the wagon.
"Hey! Stop!" She shouted and saw the figure head into the streets.
"Oh no you don't!" Mila grabbed her Gaea tome and took off after the thief.
"Stop! Thief!" She shouted once more. But the thief was illusive, dressed in a cloak, and hiding among other folks dressed in cloaks, weaving around people, until Mila lost sight of it. Damn. She shook her head. The sage couldn't help feeling partly responsible for this. If she hadn't shown up Vincent would have been on his way already. The cart would still have it's fruit and the thief would have gone hungry. The only sensible thing to do now was to return back to Vincent and help repair the damages.
The sage managed to find her way back to Vincent's home. After a bit of talking Mila decided to return another day.
{Exit's thread}
(Ooc- Vin you vanished on me! PM me when you get back and we shall work on a part 2)
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