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Post by Gaius Balmung on Feb 1, 2016 21:55:23 GMT -6
Another day and another job for the duo of the Black Rider of Bern and his wyvern Phantom, both were quite curious about this job. They had made a long trip to Ilia and to be more specific to Carrhae. Gaius was familiar with the city, though he couldn’t say he was quite fond of being in it. Being in Ilia overall was a strange feeling for the rider as he was once in a war with the nation so stepping foot in it felt wrong. It beat the alternative of being in Bern however, that would probably cause his blood to boil more than it already is now.
Gaius had come to this city to finish a job, a simple delivery mission that paid rather nicely. He was going to be on his way out of the city after resting for a couple of days, Phantom deserving some time off though being in Ilia wasn’t exactly easy for him either. It was on his second day that he met a man that had proposed him a job, one that was going to pay better than any previous or future job. Interested Gaius took the bait and asked the man what the details were.
Much to Gaius’ annoyance the man said he would learn more about the job later at some sort of meeting. Apparently the client was planning this job with someone else but wanted more people for it and Gaius just so happened to be the first person he spotted. They were supposed to meet at the man’s home at the edge of town during the night. It was certainly different from most of the job proposals Gaius had received but he was no stranger to this kind of way things were being handled. Now all he had to do was find a way to kill time until then.
He spent his time wandering about getting familiar with the city. Spotted a tavern he decided to spend some time in, having a drink or two. He couldn’t have too much fun as not only did he have a job that he was going to have to go to, he wasn’t too keen on getting drunk in an Ilian city. Being a wyvern rider in Ilia did get him a few glances here and there but luckily he didn’t get into any confrontations. Last thing he needed was to deal with stuff of the past.
Once nightfall was coming Gaius made his way toward the house that was supposed to be the meeting ground for the client and whoever else was going to be working on this mission. Gaius wasn’t thrilled on having to work with someone else, mainly due to the fact that he didn’t have the best track record with that. As long as they weren’t dead weight Gaius would deal with it. He wasn’t in any rush, this whole thing might have been a scam seeing how weird all this was. Or perhaps this whole thing was pretty illegal, regardless Gaius wasn’t in a rush to get there but the house was only a few moments away.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Feb 6, 2016 23:08:51 GMT -6
Syana was waiting for this thing to get started already. It felt like she had been waiting for a week already, when it had only really been a few hours. Still she was antsy. She wanted to know what she would be doing and who she would be doing it with. Her client had assured her that he was an equally qualified mercenary, but she wasn't sure if she trusted that. She had heard people described like that before only to be severely disappointed.
Having grown tired of killing time walking around the town, she had headed to the client's house early. Her client had let her in despite this, allowing her to await inside. She sat at a table inside his house as the man himself moved around, theoretically getting things ready for the reveal later. In her boredom, Syana had taken out her knife and was playing with it. She went from twirling it between her fingers, to seeing how long she could balance it on a finger, to using it to pick at her nails.
Eventually growing bored of all of these, Syana took to simply sharpening the knife. It had become her tried and true way to kill him, sharpening her various weapons. Plus it was good for business. Didn't want to be on a job only to find out you had a dull blade. As she sharpened, her eyes drifted outside. Night was falling quickly, and that was when the client had originally asked her to show up here. So, in theory, whoever she was partnering with should be here soon. Hopefully.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Feb 14, 2016 12:22:04 GMT -6
As Gaius was about to enter the house he felt a strange feeling surge through him. As if as soon as he opened the door he was going to see something he didn’t want to. Strange, Gaius wondered why he could possibly feel like this but shrugged it off and made his way into the house. He had heard some shuffling around outside and figured it was just the client and whomever he was going to be working with moving about in the house. Gaius was quite curious as to who he was going to be working with on this mission so it was good that he was getting to meet them now.
”Nice little place you got here,” Gaius would say as he walked through the door and looked around. The first person that he had spotted was the client, who looked busy getting things together for something. ”So who’s this other mercenary I’m going to be working with?” As he asked that question his eyes wandered about the room, assuming that whoever he was working with was already there. Who he eventually ending up seeing was someone that he didn’t think he was ever going to cross paths with again.
Syana Flamberge, an oh so lovely mercenary that Gaius had the greatest of fortune of running into a few times before. Not once did the two ever get along that entirely well, which was probably an understatement, and every time they would run into each other it was like an immovable object meeting with an unstoppable force. He was starting to think he had the best luck ever seeing how he was going to have to work with her. There was no way he was going to be getting paid enough for this.
”Oh man look at my luck,” The blue haired man would say with an obviously sarcastic tone as he rolled his eyes. ”Always a pleasure seeing you Syana,” reunions like this were always great weren’t they? Seeing how he had agreed to take on t he mission and needed the money Gaius wasn’t sure if he could back out just yet. If he had to deal with her then he would but he didn’t plan on pretending to be completely happy with it nor would he be a complete grump either. Though he might have fun messing with her a bit.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Feb 14, 2016 16:39:46 GMT -6
As Syana stared out the window, she finally saw a figure moving outside. Finally. Within a few seconds, the handle on the door more and the door itself swung open. Syana's cautious optimism immediately turned to disgust. Not him. Seriously? Why did it have to be him. Gaius Balmung. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Not him again. How did she always seem to run into him!? She didn't deserve this. She should have just brought Loreley along with her for this. Sure, the girl was still new to the profession and rough around the edges, but anyone would be better than Gaius.
She wanted to slam her dagger into the table to vent some of her feelings, but it was her client's. And while she wasn't happy about this, she couldn't blame the client for it. Instead, she shoved the knife away before she threw it at Gaius. She should at least wait until they were in the field for that. Make it look like an accident.
"The pleasure is all mine, Gaius," Syana responded, making sure to match his level of sarcasm. "It's nice to see you've kept up with your ponytail." She knew that was tweak him at least a little bit. She had made no secret of the fact that she thought his ponytail looked ridiculous. And now she was going to have to spend another entire job having to look at it. Ugh. She hoped that the job involved some sort of violence. She'd only been in the room with Gaius a few minutes and she already felt the need to vent.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Feb 28, 2016 15:14:36 GMT -6
Straight to the ponytail huh? Well it seemed like Syana wasn’t wasting anytime going into their usually little quips about each other. Gaius was trying to remember the last time he fed Phantom and wondered whether or not the wyvern was in the mood some red head. It didn’t help knowing that Phantom wasn’t on the same page as Gaius when it came to personal opinion on Syana. Gaius thought that the damn traitor probably liked her, enjoyed seeing someone rile its rider up every now and then. Despite Phantom’s outward appearance the wyvern was a bit of a softie much to Gaius’ annoyance at times.
Gaius could have easily made some comebacks, one about her family he really wanted to say but he kept it to himself. If he was going to have to be stuck with her the entire time it was better to not get into a fight from the get go. ”Glad to see that you haven’t lost that sharp tongue of yours,” Gaius quickly noticed the client just staring at the two of them after he said this. The man probably regretted his decision to hire the both of them for this job. Though now it was probably too late, he was stuck with them.
”Alright so what’s the job?” Gaius wanted to snap the man out of whatever trance he was in watching the two of them and get to whatever it was they were going to be doing. The man quickly grabbed everything he had been gathering and practically tossed it on the tab, motioning for Gaius to come over toward the table. The pile consisted of books, papers and a map that was covered in scribbles that Gaius couldn’t understand from a simple glance. What this mission was it was clear this guy had been planning it for a while now.
The rider took a seat, not taking his eyes off of the pile that was on the table. It seemed he had made some X’s on the map, perhaps those were some locations that needed to be checked? Was this some sort of mission where they’d have to go to multiple locations? Sounds like a long drawn out mission if that was the case. Moving all about in Ilia? Not exactly how Gaius would want to spend his time but if the pay was nice enough then he’d suck it up, he was already working with Syana.
”This isn’t going to be a problem is it?” The man spoke up, staring intensely at the two. ”This mission is of the utmost importance and you’ll have to work together,” Gaius almost felt like they were being scolded like playground children not getting along. ”We’ll be fine, your mission well get done and with flying colors,” He wasn’t lying. Despite their animosity towards each other they always got the job done and did a rather good job at it. Though Gaius would probably add in the fact that he was pulling all the weight and did most of the work.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Mar 5, 2016 0:45:16 GMT -6
Syana wanted to roll her eyes at their client. Everyone thought the job they needed done was of the utmost importance, and it rarely was. Sure, every once and a while it was actually a big deal. But more often than not, it was something menial. The last 'job of utmost importance' she had taken ended up being following a man's wife to see if she was cheating on him. Important to him, sure, but not to her. It was a waste of the time. The wife hadn't even been cheating, so it was all for nothing. It annoyed her even thinking back to it.
As much as she hated it, she was forced to agree with Gaius. "Don't worry about us. We may not get along, but we're professionals." She may not like the man, but she had to admit Gaius was a professional too. His record was impressive, though she'd never admit that to his face. "We've never had a job that we didn't finish. And I think I can speak for the both of us when I say we don't intent to start now." Again, it pained her to compliment Gaius, but it was true. The pair of them worked well together, even if they couldn't stand each other. One of life's great jokes, as it were. Sure, there were plenty of people Syana both got along with and worked well with. Loreley. Saturos. Marle. But of course the person she seemed to work best with, save perhaps Saturos, was Gaius. Hilarious.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Mar 13, 2016 0:54:38 GMT -6
”Good,” the man said before he started to organize the table a bit, having his marked up map in the middle of it. ”The reason why I stress the importance of this mission is because the nature of it,” he would point to an x on the map before he would continue. ”Here is the location of a fort belonging to that of a mercenary group known as The Blood Hawks. They’re your run of the mil group of scum. They’ll steal, murder and pillage. Do anything for money and they have the moral integrity of an Etrurian politician,” Gaius recognize the name a bit, maybe having had heard it in passing a couple of times.
From what he had heard they weren’t a group that he’d want to get tangled up with so what did this guy do to piss them off? ”They had attacked my caravan, killed my bodyguards and stole everything. I want you to get what t he took from me,” There was a fierce look in the man’s eyes as he spoke. ”I’ve hired some people for this job before and all they could do was find where their base was. They were too cowardly to finish the job and face those bastards,” The way the man spoke and the obvious anger growing within him made Gaius believe there was more to this story.
”You want us to go to their base, infiltrate it, hope that we don’t get discovered and have to fight our way out for treasure? I don’t believe you’re giving use the full story,” Gaius responded, feeling like he hit the nail right on the head as the man sighed and would then tell the full picture. ”What I told you was no lie but yes it wasn’t the complete story. I am a noble who managed to get on the wrong side of some people who decided to hire The Blood Hawks to assassinate me. Instead they saw this as an opportunity to get more money out of the situation. They set up a trap for me, taking out my guards and stealing everything. I barely escaped but those scum kidnapped my wife and child! They want a ransom that I can’t even imagine to pay now but I’m sure if you handle them all the treasure and riches they have will be yours! And I can put together everything I have left!” The man was practically in tears at this point but at least Gaius had gotten everything out of him.
Probably avoided the man playing them with how they were going to get paid. The man had nothing at this point besides probably this house and whatever was left inside of it. Definitely not enough money for Gaius to feel like was worth the trouble of this job. Though the idea of being able to take all of the treasure and gold gathered by the mercenaries was a enticing thought but Gaius did find it funny that an Ilian noble was asking HIM for help. He wondered if this man knew who he was speaking to right now. There was a point in time that Gaius would probably have been ordered to either kill or capture people like him. To say that Gaius held a bit of resentment toward people like this client was putting it lightly.
”What do you think Syana? Do we help this guy out on a mission that sounds almost like suicide? Infiltrating a fort filled with mercenaries to rescue people won’t be easy but sounds like one hell of a story to tell afterward,” Gaius was obviously not thrilled by all of this. Helping nobility, and ESPECIALLY Ilian nobility, was not on the top of his to do list. Perhaps there was a part of him that thought it wouldn’t sit well if he just ignored the scenario. But at the same time there was a part of him that would rather let the Ilian deal with his problems and find someone else to help him or turn himself in.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Mar 16, 2016 15:15:35 GMT -6
Syana listened quietly and intently as their client explained the situation to them. Something didn't seem right, though, and it seemed she wasn't alone in thinking so. Gaius spoke up about it before she had the chance to and said pretty much the same thing. Sometimes she hated how in sync they could be. Her eyebrow raised as he continued the rest of his story. He managed to escape, but left his wife and child behind? Or were they captured first and the Blood Hawks let him escape so that he would be forced to pay the ransom. Something still didn't seem right, but Syana kept her mouth shut. That was something to discuss with Gaius away from their client.
She could help but smirk as Gaius' question. The guy was a pain in her butt, but they often seemed to think along the same lines. Maybe that was why they got along so poorly; they were a little too much a like. Regardless, Syana nodded. "Suicide mission seems like something right up our alley. Besides, anything else would be boring. And I've always wanted to see how good the Blood Hawks really are." She had always held a resentment to the Blood Hawks. Besides the fact that they've been known to take work away from her, they also had never asked for her to join. That she took as a personal slight, as all of her brothers had been asked at one point in time but turned them down. This would be her chance to throw that in their faces. The only downside was, to do that, she's have to help prove that Gaius was better than them as well.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Mar 17, 2016 11:40:18 GMT -6
Something about this entire situation and it still rubbed Gaius the wrong way. He doubted this guy was being straight forward with them and was hiding something. For now Gaius would keep his suspicions to himself, and he was pretty positive he wasn’t the only one having suspicions about this guy. Though Gaius couldn’t lie, tangling with the Blood Hawks might be a fun time. Would be interesting to see if they were worth all this time as it seemed the only guaranteed reward was the chance the fight them and to do something good. This was not the normal sort of mission Gaius was normally down for.
It seemed like Syana was on the same page as Gaius, which was good because they were sure in for a hell of a lot. ”Well it looks like we’ll take the job,” the rider would say with a bit of a smile on his face. The noble seemed pleased and started handing the two of them what Gaius figured was the information gathered on the Blood Hawks. A few books riddled with notes in them and the map that had been laid across the table. At least they wouldn’t be going in completely blind.
”Oh thank you! Thank you! Here take all of this you’ll need the map to find the base and these are the notes the previous mercenaries wrote down about the Blood Hawks. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask!” that was definitely smart thinking on the part of those previous mercenaries but it was strange that they did that. Most would have probably just called it a day and came back from their trip not write down notes on the target. Things looking suspicious were just continuing to pile up but Gaius continued to keep it to himself for the time being.
For the time being Gaius would have to get everything in order and make sure Phantom was doing alright. That wyvern definitely didn’t enjoy being cooped up for too long and the last thing Gaius needed to deal with was an angry wyvern. ”Got to go make sure I’ve got everything in order and go check on my friend,” Gaius stood up from his seat, honestly just wanting to get out of here and try and put everything together. Whether or not Syana wanted to stay and ask more questions was definitely up to her, Gaius had enough of this guy.
”We’ll meet up at the stables later,” Gaius would then make his way out of the building. Once outside he would start making his way toward the stables to check up on Phantom. He’d then make his way to the inn to pick up some equipment he would need for this mission. He would be going in on this with a lot of skepticism. There was no way Gaius was going to get killed over some phony mission giving to him by some complete liar.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Mar 22, 2016 14:41:25 GMT -6
Syana gave Gaius a nod as he left. She assumed by his friend that he meant Phantom, his wyvern. Now Phantom she liked. If only his rider could be more like the wyvern, they might actually get along. Oh well, that was another thought for another day. Standing up to leave, she pulled her now sharpened knife once again. She tapped it on her hand a few times before pointing it at the client. "Know this. If you're setting us up in any way, shape, or form, I will find you. And this knife will find your heart. Got it?"
With that, she turned on her heel and strode out of the house. She might not like the guy, but Gaius was now once again her partner. She wouldn't shed a tear if he was killed during this, but she would be angry. No one messes with her partners during a job and gets away with it. Especially if one of those people is their client. If he was setting them up for something, Syana would return and put him in the ground.
Making her way to the stables, she slid the knife back into it's holder. No need to draw suspicion by strolling around with a knife out. She had nothing to do in way of preparation before heading out to take on the Blood Hawks, so she figured might as well head straight to the stables. Her nose crinkled slightly as the smell of horse overtook her sense of smell. Looking around inside, she didn't spot Gaius. She did, however, see Phantom. A smile grew on her face as she took a few steps towards him. "How's my favorite wyvern doing?"
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Mar 29, 2016 20:48:48 GMT -6
Gaius had gone to speak to the owner of the stables to let them know he’d be taking Phantom and pay them for the stay. Meanwhile at the stables the wyvern that had been resting in his stall perked up at the sound of someone coming towards him. Much to the wyvern’s surprise it was a familiar face but not that of his rider. In fact it was someone that Phantom was more than aware of his rider wouldn’t approve much of, so it was a pleasant surprise for Phantom. Unlike his rider the wyvern actually enjoyed the company of this person so when she came up to his stall the wyvern moved toward the wooden door that separated them and let out a bit of a grunt.
Not the most elegant way to say hello but it was Phantom’s way of doing so. It didn’t take long for Gaius to come to the stables and find the two. ”Fraternizing with the enemy are we?” Gaius joked, making a jab at Phantom as he unlocked the door. The wyvern quickly made his way out of his stall and nuzzled up against Syana. ”Traitor,” Gaius figured the reason why Phantom liked Syana so much was just to spite him. Phantom never showed the same kind of affection toward Gaius which was sad seeing how he was Phantom’s rider.
”We’ve got a mission and this one sounds a bit fishy though your best friend will be coming with us,” Gaius and Phantom were no strangers to taking on missions that didn’t seem to hold up under scrutiny but they always managed to pull through. The wyvern was glad to hear that Syana was going to be coming with them. Perhaps his rider would focus more seeing how there would be someone to keep him in check. ”Speaking of which, all that did sound a bit off. You certain about this? Could always chicken out and decide not to go through with it,” Gaius wasn’t even possible of showing a bit of concern towards Syana without being a bit snide about it. He’d never admit it but he did care under his rough exterior.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Apr 5, 2016 21:01:02 GMT -6
Syana grinned as Phantom made his way over to him and nuzzled against her. Rubbing his head, she turned her attention to Gaius. "He's not a traitor, he just has good taste." She gave the wyvern an extra rub on the head for that. She had certainly noticed that it bother Gaius that Phantom seemed to like her more, so of course she would use it against him whenever she could.
That being said, there was a serious matter at hand that they needed to attend to. Letting her hand slide off Phantom, she turned back to Gaius. "You know I don't like to agree with you, but to use your word, there's certainly something fishy here." She didn't know what it was, but there was certainly something off. "I'm not certain of this at all. I wouldn't be surprised if we were walking into a trap. But then again, I do love a good trap. It makes those who set the trap so upset when we ruin it for them."
"And besides," Syana continued, "The only job I'd not go through with would be some sort of undercover thing where I had to pretend to be with you. Could you even imagine that." A shiver ran through her. "Us, being a couple? Nightmare fuel, that is." She had actually had a friend once suggest such a thing. Something about the two of them always going at each other because they were so alike and would probably make a good couple. Syana had had a good laugh about that one.
The mercenary clapped her hands. "Moving away from such ridiculous topics, back to the matter at hand. What's that map he gave you say?"
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Apr 11, 2016 12:53:16 GMT -6
Gaius scoffed at her when she said that Phantom had good taste seeing how he actually enjoyed her company. If anything the wyvern was crazy, or was holding a grudge against Gaius. Honestly either one of those would make perfect sense for Gaius. He’s probably given that wyvern more than enough reasons to want to make his life a living hell. Granted Phantom has done the same to Gaius, they had quite the strange relationship all things consider. But it was most likely what made them an impeccable team together. You don’t get named “Black Rider of Bern” for nothing.
Gaius had figured that Syana probably had her suspicions to about this mission but it was nice to hear it out loud. Things certainly weren’t looking all that on the up and up if you asked Gaius. There was something about the man’s story that didn’t hold up to scrutiny all that well. Whatever it was, Gaius was sure that they’d run into the problem eventually but it was best that they prepared for the worst. Running into a trap not prepared could lead them to an early grave and Gaius didn’t plan on dying anytime soon. Though if you knew him during his early days you’d think otherwise seeing how reckless he was.
A brow raised on Gaius’ face as she brought up the idea of them having to do some undercover job of having to pretend being a couple. Well that didn’t really sound all that fun, probably wouldn’t get paid enough to deal with that. Luckily she had changed the subject and to something more relative to their mission at hand. Gaius took out the map and laid it out on Phantom’s back, pointing to some of the markings on it. The map looked a bit like a mess but it was still eligible.
”Looks like they’ve got detailed a route to the base.” Gaius began as he pointed to some X’s on the side of the detailed trail. ”Here are some areas where they either ran into the mercenary group or found an outpost of theirs, probably best to avoid these spots. It looks like on foot it would take a couple of days to get there but with Phantom we could cut that in half easy.” He smiled at the wyvern that had looked at him when he finished speaking. Phantom knew that probably meant a while of nonstop flying, oh boy.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Apr 14, 2016 22:27:28 GMT -6
Syana peered down at the maps as Gaius pulled them out. His observations about them seemed to be accurate. There were a number of areas marked on them, as he pointed out, that indicated enemy locations. Discounting the outposts, as those would be stationary locations, she focused on the locations where their predecessors ran into the mercenaries. Using those, she could rough out a potential path that guards could be taking around the base itself. It would help with exact troop locations, but it could give them a heads up on where to be on their guard.
Gaius drew her attention away from the maps. The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Are you offering to actually let me ride on Phantom with you? Well, be still my beating heart. And here I thought you were going to fly ahead again and leave me to walk like last time." Syana had nearly killed him after that. A week. It had taken her a week to walk there. By herself. While he got there in no time and killed the time until she got there enjoying himself. And he wondered why she liked Phantom leagues more than him.
Turning her attention back to the maps, the mercenary scanned them over once more before a disappointment grew over her. They had maps to get to the base, but nothing inside of it. It made sense, as the client implied that no one had ever got inside before, but it was still frustrating. Sure, she had blindly infiltrated places before, but to do so was far more complicated than those places where she could memorize the layout before. Well, this just kept getting better and better. At least it wouldn't be boring.
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Post by Gaius Balmung on Apr 23, 2016 21:06:25 GMT -6
Gaius smiled, remembering his little act of desertion from all the time ago. He definitely got one hell of a laugh from it and even her well founded anger at him didn’t sway him from thinking it was completely worth it. Why the change of heart now? Well Gaius didn’t like this whole situation, it still reeked of them getting played so it was better that they stuck together than split up. They couldn’t take the both of them together that was for sure. This wasn’t the sort of mission to be playing games with anyhow; one of them could easily end up dead if they fooled around.
”Well if you’d like you could walk again. I’m sure Phantom wouldn’t mind just caring one person.” Gaius laughed, though in the past he probably would have meant what he just said. ”Though I guess it makes more sense that we stick together seeing how this whole mission reeks of foul play.” He added sort of revealing his true reasoning behind them riding together. He didn’t think she could really object to that and honest he wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t have much experience riding wyverns and wanted to see what it was like.
”Besides, I’m pretty sure softy here wouldn’t let me leave you.” Gaius joked, laughing a bit at hearing Phantom’s annoyed grunt as a response. He would then notice her staring at the maps, noticing that she seemed a bit bothered by what she was looking at. ”If you stare at it for too long you’ll end up getting a headache. We’re basically going into this blind and I’m full expecting anything. And what do you know about the Blood Hawks?” If they compared notes maybe it would lead to new insight on their enemy.
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