Get Going {Closed}

[Eris Coulson]

Escort Sergeant Eriksson en route to Lucerne. Simple enough assignment. A courier had a made a trip from the Bernese/Sacaen border all the way to Lucerne, but had been wounded when he was nearly robbed by highwaymen. Unfortunately couriers were not something the rebellion had an excess, so rather than risk the life and safety of another one, the sergeant himself was assigned to retrieve some documents from the courier.

Should have been simple. Eris was selected, along with five other soldiers, to accompany the sergeant on his way to Lucerne. A small force, but this was all supposed to be covert as it was. Not to mention a simple escort would only have been a waste of good soldiers had more been assigned. Still Eris was "happy" to be selected. It was better than sticking around Macendew, sparring with the same old partners and rounding up more child thieves for little to no reason.

Except this simple assignment got rather complicated just outside of Lucerne. Eris had absolutely no idea what the whole bandit issue was in Bern as of late, but the sergeant inevitably uncovered an attempted raid and decided to take action to stop it. Eris had taken two of the swine down herself, but didn't come out of it unscathed. An arrow had found itself between the plates of her thigh armour and wound up just above her knee, making walking ungodly painful even after the arrow was removed.

She fared better than one of the swordsman assigned with her: an axe wound up half-buried in his torso. Despite the severity of the wound the soldier did live, but he'd need plenty of healing and medical attention. Apparently the brigand's axe wasn't quite sharp enough to finish the job.

A good analogy for all bandits, really.

In light of their loss and success, Eriksson decided that they should take a three day break in Lucerne. It gave him time to properly receive the documents he had come for and write back to his superiors, gave Eris time to let her leg heal up in earnest, and gave the rest of the soldiers time to drink away their woes.

Of course, on their first night there, Eris had done the exact same thing as they did...after she got some staff-work done on her knee of course. Got into a bar fight with some blonde harlot, unfortunately to the great entertainment of the drunk men in the tavern. Evidently Eris won this fight before passing out, and had to get carried off to her bed by two of her comrades.

So much for that starling reputation of hers.

Needless to say Eris wasn't exactly "feeling" the morning, and after breakfast decided to step out and walk around Lucerne. She had never had the luxury of visiting the city before, and since her knee felt well enough, she couldn't think of a better time than to do just that. Staying cooped up in her room would only make her restless anyway.

[Lugan]

Lugan's day, from an outsider's perspective, may have appeared as mundane as any other. For her, however, today was practically a vacation. While she was only running errands, this was one of the rare occasions that her Father sent her out to the market hall. She had of course been there countless times, but not often without his company. This was one of the few times she felt independent, if only for a little while.

A wicker basket hung from her shoulder as she peered at the stalls on either side of her. Even though it was a common sight everything seemed to sparkle in a new light. She stopped occasionally, sometimes to quietly greet a familiar face or to grab something from her mental list. Things were going smoothly, until a loud clang rung out in the middle of a conversation with an older woman she knew.

The passerbys that were near the open bar jumped at the commotion and briskly walked past. Lugan inconspicuously meandered by to shoot a wayward glance inside. A rather husky man was now standing and talking in an aggressive and hushed tone to the barkeep. She could make out 'where' and 'coin'. The keep was trying to talk him down when a man began to get up, presumably to get away from the situation. The husky man quickly shouted, "NO ONE leaves until I found out who. Stole. My. Money."

Now, were Lugan's father with her, they would have continued walking without a second thought. But he was at home, and Lugan saw no one even attempting to stop the man. The man was still shouting, and getting only getting angrier. Lugan did something that she'd later admit was very stupid.

She set her basket down and slowly entered the bar. She felt confident with her training lance affixed to her back. She figured even a drunkard would come to his senses at the risk of getting a whack. She was wrong.

"Sir, I'm sorry," She began, gripping the wooden rod with one hand tighter as she began to understand the true massiveness of the man, "But you should come back when you're les-" Without so much as looking the man turned and delivered a heaving kick straight into Lugan's stomach, sending her right out of the stall. Another man began standing up only to be shoved to the side by the passing brute.

A thick club emerged from the man's cloak as he stepped out into the open air, slowly approaching where Lugan now lay. "This is a damned city of thieves!" He roared, mostly to to himself. "Everyone of you, THIEVES!" Lugan's wind was knocked clean out of her, and the pain in her torso was more than enough to keep her from hearing anything except for a slight ringing in her ear. The man continued his approach.

[Midori]

"Well.. that.. was an interesting night." Lady Lucy commented towards her young pink haired pupil. The pair of them as well as a few other members of the Chaklai were in Lucerne on a delivery. A local baron was interested in some of the Chaklai's unique pottery and distinct ink brush art. And they were here to deliver the goods to the Baron. Upon their arrival and successful delivery of said artwork the Chaklai were roped into a bit of a situation. A large group of people, guards, had arrived in town injured. Apparently this group of people were attacked by bandits on their travels.

Midori had spent her time helping to tend to one injured swordsman and a woman who had an arrow in her knee. Lady Lucy took the more difficult job of tending to the red headed woman and her knee injury. The seasoned, blonde, former Ilian had healed the red headed woman's knee well enough so that she could continue on her adventure. Knee injuries were tricky to heal due to their ligaments. She had instructed the red haired woman to stay off her leg for a while. But it seemed that that wasn't the case. From what she heard the Red head seemed to have gotten into a bar fight during the night. Lucy spent a good portion of the evening healing the minor injuries of the blonde who was on the receiving ends of the Red head's punches.

Meanwhile, Midori was busy tending another one of the men. A swordsman who had an axe lodged into his chest. Midori and a small team of men were successful in removing the axe. They had to hold down the man during the whole healing process. Midori had to carefully clean the fresh wound with anti-sceptic before healing it with her staff. The whole ordeal was rather painful for the swordsman. The flesh would be mended in time and the swordsman would live to see another day. When he awoke she apologized for causing him such grief, but he seemed to be understanding of it. The man's wounds were still red and tender. Despite the magic of the heal staff the man would need time to fully recover. By the time she had washed up, gotten back to her room at the inn, it was nearly morning. She slept until noon and then headed off to the market. Lady Lucy who was still sleeping said she'd catch up with her later.

[Eris Coulson]

When one is hungover, they discover just how powerful their five senses truly are. Eris' sight was constantly burned by the glare of the sun, which caused her to grumble in discomfort while she walked and occasionally raise her hand to cover her eyes. Her sense of touch was bombarded inside of herself. While her stomach and innards had definitely settled, there was some sort of illusion that made her feel as though they hadn't yet. She already stomached breakfast, but every few minutes she felt like she was going to heave.

To be fair, nothing terrible assaulted her sense of smell aside from the occasionally poorly washed man that walked past her. That was normal, of course. Taste was fine enough as well.

It was sound, however, that caused her the most ire. The sound of people chattering away by the market drove her away from that section of Lucerne rather swiftly. Just past it, of course, was the very same tavern where she had resigned herself to this pain and misery in the first place. Part of her wanted to waltz in and drive her fist into the bartender's throat for not cutting her off, part of her wanted to commend him for seeing an easy opportunity to make money and entertainment by getting her sloshed, and the other part of her wanted to go and buy another damned drink.

No part of her, however, wanted to hear the rampant raging cries of some massive oaf. His very voice scraped her inner ears like rusty knives, and caused her fists to tighten in anger. She glowered over towards the tavern and could see that a scuffle had erupted inside. It was that loud-mouthed behemoth of a man, and he was pummeling...wait, was that a young lass?

"Oh hell no. Not today."

If that man wanted a fight, then he'd picked the best and WORST time to go hunting for one. While he was carrying on about thieves Eris stormed over to the tavern like a demon fresh out of her, trusty lance in hand, and held the tip of it to his back.

"Listen and listen good, you big bastard." Eris growled, forcing her spear forward just a tad to emphasize her 'point'. "You've got to the count of five to drop your weapon, step away from the girl, and get onto your knees."

She sneered, desperate to provoke his anger so that she could just gut the bastard. She's a soldier, after all. He swings at her anything she does is "self-defense".

"Oh, and don't worry if you can't count that high. I'll do it for you." Eris tensed, ready for the big man to turn around and swing that club her way. "One...two..."

[Lugan]

His assault was cut short by a pointy interruption. His figure slowly shifted around to lock eyes with a woman holding a lance, this one with an actual blade, towards him. There was a short pause, and by this time only a few timid onlookers peeked out from stalls. He mumbled to himself, perhaps reaching a moment of clarity. Well, he may have, given a few moments more. He wasn't afforded these, however, when a wooden rod came down on the man's back.

Lugan was standing now, and extremely upset. With pain still running up and down her entire body, she fumed,

"I was just gonna' ask you to come back later y-you-"

She interrupted her own sentence with another thwack to the back of the man, weaker this time.

"Donkey ass!"

She finished. "Wait, isn't that redundant?" These thoughts were quickly replaced with with regret as the the man, completely unphased by the blows and ignoring the woman that had caught his attention, made a sweeping arc with his club towards the girl. Sheer instinct made her drop out of the way, which allowed the club to continue and turn the items on a display they were near into splinters.
"Oh lords what have I done." This phrase would play on repeat for the rest of the day in her head.

The momentum of his swing turned him to face the redhead woman once again and his focus shifted.

"This your little THIEVING sister or something?! Hope it was worth it!" He raised the club once again and brought it down towards in her direction.

[Midori]

The Bernese market had plenty of things for sale that she could not find back home. Armors of different colors, shapes, and sizes. Some meant for wyverns, others meant for horses, and people. There were intracate blankets and cloth for sale some depicting wyverns in flight or apples in an orchard. She had heard a rumor that Bern is famous for it's apples and apple baked goods. Perhaps I can convince the others to buy some seed and start a small orchard back home. There was jewelry made of a plain iron and fancy silver. Some of which had gems in a color she had never seen before. A green gem caught her eye. The vendor told her that the gem was called an emerald and that they came from elsewhere hence the price. Midori sighed softly and continued her way through the market. I should not.. be looking at jewelry. Those things.. promote vanity.. which promote jealousy.. and greed. She tried to remember the teachings of her clan but her thoughts kept revolving around wanting to wear the necklace. No. Midori stop. Remember piousness.. generosity..

There was a small commotion up ahead. A long haired redheaded woman was defending a small white haired child. The child was on the ground in some sort of pain. This upset Midori. The child got up and yelled something at the man with a club. Midori took a step forward from the crowd but she was behind the white haired girl. The pink haired healer held her staff up in front of her. The glass gem glowed in a soft white light and helped to ease the white haired child's pain.

"No child should ever suffer in pain."

[Eris Coulson]

Eris was almost disappointed. Almost. Her threat and harsh words had actually shaken some sense into the big brute, and rather than turn to swing at her like she anticipated he instead relaxed his muscles and even seemed to breathe easier. Huh, guess even Eris managed to have a 'woman's touch' on men...of course it'd only be dumb apes like that one who succumbed to it. She would have enjoyed kicking the big man's ass but she'd take a peaceful surrender as well. She was, after all, still hungover.

However her apparent bid for peace was swiftly ruined by the idiot girl she had tried to save in the first place. Apparently this girl lacked an understanding that the situation had been dealt with and felt the need to strike the man with her...what was that, a stick? Either way it didn't necessarily hurt the big oaf, but still shocked him enough that she managed to get another strike in. Eris, utterly shocked that the girl in question was as dense as she appeared to be, merely stared at her with a baffled expression, before her face twisted into fury.

"Damn it girl! What are you, stupid?! I had this handled!" She screamed, just as the big ass decided that violence was, once again, the answer. Luckily for the white haired girl she managed to avoid the wide swing the man made in her direction, but he still did heavy damage to the property he struck. Cursing under her breath Eris immediately drove her spear into the man's thigh, just as he turned round and accused her of being related to the brat.

The big ass groaned out in pain, cursing loudly, while Eris shifted her body to avoid the swing from his club. Unfortunately his balance was now out of whack, and he stumbled towards her. This made it difficult to pull her lance from his thigh, so Eris was forced to compromise and dive out of the way as the large man fell forward, just outside the tavern doorway.

Had Eris not been hungover and pissed off, she might have noticed the presence of a pink-haired healer, working her staff magic on the white haired girl. However she was far more focused on retrieving her lance and making this idiot man suffer.

Eris stepped towards the fallen man and attempted to withdraw her weapon from his leg, but she nearly had the wind knocked out of her when the big oaf kicked at her with his good leg. Eris staggered back, grit her teeth, and practically snarled at the man.

"Oooh hell no! That's it, you giant sack of wyvern shite!" Frankly, calling the oaf wyvern excrement was likely offensive to wyverns everywhere, but Eris didn't give a damn. She went for her lance again and, rather than pull it from his thigh, twisted the pole tightly and yanked it upwards, tearing and grinding the spearhead up the fallen man's thigh, eliciting yowls of agony from him. "You going to yield now, you son of a bitch? You going to calm down!?"

"Y-yes, damn you! I yield already, just take the damned thing out!"

Eris sneered at him. "With pleasure." And with that she ripped her lance out and took a step back as the man howled again in pain. Damn did that feel good.

Eris, high on adrenaline, was barely feeling her hangover at this point. Instead she glanced around the small crowd that had formed around her for anyone useful. A town guard to arrest this buffoon, or...ah hah, the pink haired healer!

"Hey, healer lady." Eris gestured towards the healer with her bloody lance. "Mind doing what you can with this man's leg? And can someone get the damned guards already?!"

At once several bystanders ducked their heads and ran down the street, and Eris could finally take a breath and calm down. She set the base of her lance on the ground and leaned against the door frame of the tavern, taking one more breath before gazing over at the reckless girl that escalated the whole situation in the first place.

"Next time someone saves your ass, girl, just let them save it."

[Lugan]

Lugan was certain the last thing she'd get to see was a second swing from the man coming down on her head. Instead, a flurry of interesting events followed. Opposed to the thunk of her skull caving in, a wail of pain erupted from the giant. She saw him fumbling with a woman now, who was shouting something at her. She couldn't make out the words over all the commotion. The next thing she registered was repeated waves of relief started washing over her still aching body.

She scrambled clumsily up off the ground to see yet ANOTHER woman, this one using one of those staffs to relieve her. How did she mange to rope so many people into this in such short time? She may be able to help them out but if the healer got so much as nicked by this guys club it could be bad news.

"You shouldn't be here it's to-"

She was interrupted by when a thud made the ground shudder. The man was now on the ground, a lance buried into his leg. Lugan finally got a full look at the woman. She was far from elegant, sure, but it was an impressive display. He only managed to land a kick on her before he was quickly subdued with a (rather excessive) twist of the aforementioned spear. She barked something at him and he surrendered.

She was floored. She was well aware that her father's 'training' was far from formal but the simple discipline and control this woman had was enough to make her face turn red that she thought she had even a chance of taking the man down.

She didn't get to enjoy this for long though when the woman scorned her. Lugan was almost shocked but then remembered that she was pretty much fully responsible for the escalation and with a quick glance around, property damages. To top it off, the man had been brought down directly on top of her food basket, effectively turning it into powder.

"I uh- um... I..." She fumbled, feeling a confusing mix of respect, gratefulness, and fear for her 'savior'.
"Thank you, ma'm. Sorry." She managed, avoiding eye contact. "Ma'm." She added weakly at the end.

[Midori]

The child she had just healed tried to caution her on the fact that it was dangerous to stick around here. The priestess smiled softly and stood her ground. She wasn't afraid. Midori watched as the girl with red hair shoved her lance into the portly man's leg. The man fell and Midori was called by the red headed woman to heal the man she just wounded. Not sure why.. you want me to heal the man you just beat up..but I'll oblige. Midori slowly made her way over to the man. Once, she was close enough she crouched down closer to the sir. His leg wound was grizzly looking but not impossible for her to patch up.

"Sir.. I need you stay still while I work. If you move.. there might be pain." She spoke in a calm reassuring voice. She raised the staff over the man's leg and focused. The glass gem atop her staff glowed in a faint white light. And slowly but surely the open flesh of the man's leg started to mend itself together until there was nothing to show for it but a light scar. She let out a soft but tired sigh. She had healed two people in a short time.

"I.. have.. healed your leg sir. Please.. be careful with it as you walk. There might be some light soreness.. but it will pass in a few days." She got up and dusted herself off. The guards had arrived to take the man away. Midori noticed the basket. The thing had gotten crushed by the man's large body. Any food or belongs inside the basket were also thoughly ruined. She walked back over towards the two women.

"Pardon.. but are you two alright?"

[Eris Coulson]

Eris was satisfied that the situation, from that point onward, seemed to go her way. The pink haired healer looked a bit confused, for a moment, but eventually she tended to the man quietly, mumbling something to him. Probably something along the lines of "you're going to be all right". Which was true, Eris hadn't punctured an artery or anything. She just wanted him healed so the local guards didn't have to deal with all that blood. Plus it was a deep, open wound. If it got infected he'd lose a leg.

As much as the idiot might deserve such a harsh fate, his death would have been an unnecessary gripe that Eris would have on her hands.

Rather than focus too much on the downed man and the healer, Eris refocused on the idiot girl who started the whole thing. Her response to Eris' statement was submissive and weak. At first it was enough to satisfy Eris, but now she found herself feeling sorry for the poor girl. Not in a good way, either.

"So you have the courage to smash a man in the back with a stick, but not enough to look me in the eye, huh?" That was the military training in her. The 'I can't hear you, soldier!' coming out. Perhaps she was being harsh to the girl now as well, but the fact that she couldn't even look her in the eye bothered her. Worst part was Eris didn't even understand WHY it bothered her, just that it did. Eris sighed and brought a hand to her forehead, messaging it gently before continuing on. "Look...okay, you do have guts, and after the beating he put down on you I'm surprised you had the strength to do what you did. But can you actually tell me why you did what you did?"

Her hangover was starting to kick in again. That was when the healer approached the two of them. Eris regarded her and gestured towards the girl. No way was she admitting that she was hungover, unless she had to.

"She's probably worse for wear than I am. That was nothing for me, really." After a moment Eris decided to add. "Thanks for that, by the way. Would have been a pain in my ass if he suffered some sort of infection or bled to death because of me."

[Lugan]

After scorning her one more time, the woman seemed to soften just a bit and afforded her a small commendation for her stupid bravery. Then she posed an interesting question, 'why'? What made her do this? She started to consider when the healer made her way over, presumably after tending to the man, as guards escorted him away. Her and the soldier had an exchange which again directed the attention to herself.

"Yes, thank you again, healer." She gave a small and polite smile. The sight of Troubador's brought universal comfort, and Lugan didn't want to underplay her gratitude towards this woman as well. She regarded them highly, but this was the best she could muster in her flustered state. Full body aching pain and a few small cuts still prevailed, but she made no mention of it. She had caused enough trouble for others for one day. Her pride suffered the greatest injury.

There was a brief and uncomfortable pause as Lugan thought about the soldier's question.

"I don't..." She started unconfidently, and paused for a moment. No. No more 'scared little girl' act. You might be a fool, don't be a coward. She steeled herself and spoke.

"I mean at first, I was just trying to get him to calm down and leave the keep alone. I didn't mean for it to become a fight." She paused as she fetched her 'stick' which laid a small ways to the right, and began reaffixing it to her back. "But then he just... tossed me to the side. Despite all my training he brought me down without so much as a struggle. I just... it's frustrating being powerless."
There was another pause before she perked up with a question of her own. "You're... not a guard, correct? If you don't mind my asking, how did you become so capable?"

[Midori]

“You are both welcome. Though I am afraid I could not save the food basket.” She spoke with a bit of a sigh towards the end. She wasn’t sure why the man was so intent on trying to hit the young girl but she was glad that the redhead was able to prevent anything from happening to her. Midori then left her own empty basket by the young woman’s feet. It was a simple basket made of grasses and bark but it had two little plum colored bows fashioned on it’s sides.

“Allow me to give you mine as a replacement. Don’t worry I’ve got like three more of these and failing that they are easy to make.” She smiled softly then turned her attention towards the red haired woman.

“Worry not. Your spear did not puncture an artery. Fortunately. Other wise I’d be covered in more red than usual. His flesh is fully healed though I imagine his pride will take more then a staff to mend.” She gave a soft nod. Then turned her head over towards the child. She stood there for a moment letting the two of them speak. While Midori knew it was rude to simply stand there and listen in on another’s conversation she wanted to make sure the child was ok. She had healed her previously but she wasn’t so sure if there were any other pains or damages. But the young lady seemed to be talking and acting alright.

“Well then. If both of you ladies are well.. I shall take my leave then. If you will excuse me.” She bowed softly and returned to the market. Hmm.. Now do I back track back and get another basket or do I just wing it.

{Midori Exit's thread}

[Eris Coulson]

The pink haired healer seemed upset that the younger girl's food basket had been crushed by that oaf. Honestly, Eris hadn't even noticed the food basket, let alone make the connection that it had belonged to the girl in the first place. Either way the healer took it upon herself to offer a replacement, even though the destruction of the basket was more Eris' own fault than anyone else. She didn't care for the basket itself, but she did make a quick, mental criticism to pay more attention to her surroundings in the future.

A basket today, a soldier tomorrow.

Eris gave a smirk when the healer turned to her and mentioned the man's greatest wound was likely dealt to his pride. "Good. If he's lucky he'll think fondly of this day the next time he raises his hands against a young girl." As much as Eris still put blame onto the girl in question, this was some karmic justice she had no qualms with taking pleasure in. And what was it he had been crying and screaming about in the first place? Thievery? Pathetic, if a crime was committed against him the worst course of action was commit one against an innocent as an outburst.

Eris didn't dwell on the small pleasure for long, though, and instead gave an appreciative nod the healer while she bowed and took her leave. She had been helpful, to say the least, so acknowledgement was the least she could do. If the healer had wanted some sort of compensation or reward Eris actually would have been fine to pay her some coin for her troubles, but alas she did not seem concerned with payment.

With the healer walking away Eris returned her attention to the girl, who had stayed put and given an answer to Eris' earlier question. Apparently the girl had thought she was ready to take on an opponent such as that man. Sure, he was clearly untrained in combat, but he was still twice the girl's height and weight!

"You thought you were ready to take on a man twice your size. With a stick." Eris snorted and rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, fair enough, but listen: training only helps so much in combat. You have to have experience, and understand your limitations. Even if you're trained to use that stick, or whatever, you have to think that about if you were to swing that stick at the man, would he even feel it?"

Why the hell was she imparting this advice to the girl anyway? Maybe it was that small expression of reverence or admiration in her eyes. The girl had called Eris "capable". While Eris had initially been satisfied with her take down of the man, the more she thought about it the worse of a job she actually did. Was she really all that capable?

No, don't wander down that train of thought.

"As for how I got my experience and training: that'd be in the military. I'm a soldier for the rebellion, and I've trained with and fought alongside experienced knights for years." The latter was a tiny bit of a stretch, but Eris had racked up some solid combat experience considering her age. "Now, compared to that, what sort of training have you received, again?"

Eris didn't intend for the question to sound smug or condescending, but even she noted as an afterthought that it did. Still she saw no reason to reword it, and awaited a response.