Cynan
Thief
Fighting without reason is pointless. Stealing's mostly fine though.
Posts: 17
Profession: Common Thief
Affinity: Wind
Profile: Cynan
OoC Alias: Guira
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Post by Cynan on Sept 2, 2018 13:08:17 GMT -6
Elijah's answer perplexed Cynan slightly. He had taken the man for an experienced sellsword, but the reasoning he gave for why he was taking up this job seemed rather insincere. For one, he didn't seem as though he was all that concerned with money unlike the verdant thief, who would usually never consider something like this without an incentive. He more than likely had an ulterior motive. He's a father? That's probably the reason why he took this job. He relates to Yuta's plight or something. The mercenary's mood also seemed to change upon mentioning the fact he was a father, however, not wanting to pry into the personal life of a stranger, Cynan didn't comment on it. He didn't particularly want to get too close to these men, especially considering he didn't want to feel guilt if this entire mission fell to pieces. He wouldn't want to feel an emotional responsibility to stay behind and fight to the death; when the going got too tough, Cynan would head in the opposite direction.
On the other hand, he didn't want to come off as cold and responded to Rickard's question, even if the nickname of "boy" was really starting to grate on him. "Truthfully? Yes. I don't really find much work, and if I get paid to do this one job then I'll have peace of mind for at least a few days." This claim was nearly an entirely true representation of Cynan's reasoning for taking this job. He valued his survival above all else, feeling as though he owed it to his mother who gave so much for him and the reward money from this job would surely be enough for him to reside in comfort and safety for a short while. However if Elijah hadn't volunteered, he would've more than likely cut his losses and never entered Yuta's manor to begin with; the job simply wouldn't have been worth the risk. He had originally expected more people to have undertaken the task, which would've given him an opportunity to just fade into the background while the rest of his group did the work, but two veterans helping him seemed acceptable for the job.
He thought back to Elijah's words, and his curiosity got the better of him. "So... do you have a son or a daughter?" It seemed like a common theme of this little adventure was fatherhood, and Cynan was quite interested on seeing if his assumption about Elijah helping because he knew how Yuta felt was correct.
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Post by Elijah on Oct 2, 2018 9:49:01 GMT -6
Rickard let out a low hum at Cynan’s answer, the only sound to come out of him save the cranking and clanking of his armor, the knight’s expression hidden beneath his helmet. Whether he approved or disapproved of it was a mystery. Elijah, well, he didn’t really like Cynan’s response - mostly in that the young lad was stuck taking dangerous jobs for survival. Still, even if his situation was not his choice, his solution certainly was. Elijah had done the same even when his survival hadn’t depended on it.
Though the man did his best to keep an ear focused on the sounds of the forest, he still gave Cynan an enthusiastic smile. “Both, actually. A son and a daughter! Artorias, my son, is the elder of the two, but they’ve both become mercenaries like I used to be now...”
The blonde’s enthusiasm fell for a moment. Mhm, that’s right. Their paths had been their own choice. Of course Elijah knew full well his past, and the past of their mother, heavily influenced their decision. If...something had happened to Astraea, then the fault belonged to her and him alike - and the responsibility was his. Yet he had no evidence of any serious danger, nor was he certain of her whereabouts...and so he found himself helping people on his search.
“Astraea may actually be about your age, Cynan, but Artorias is certainly older. Geez, that makes me feel ancient when I say that, haha…” Elijah pushed his worries to the back of his mind with some good humor. He hadn’t had a chance to talk about his kids too much since he had hit the road.
It wasn’t to last, though. Over his own mirth Elijah was able to hear what he had been waiting for - not a specific sound, but a lack thereof. He held a hand up and stopped in his tracks. Indeed, the birds had stopped chirping. The forest was still, quiet. Elijah had been operating off of some sage words from a woman far more familiar with the wilderness than himself.
“Bandits are sloppy. Loud. Destructive and chaotic. Some of them do all right out in the woods, but most of them disturb nature even more than we do. Animals don’t like to stick too close to them - hell you’re more likely to find them near hunters and trappers.”
Though brigands oft were forced to live in the wilderness they were rarely in tune with their surroundings. If these bandits were particularly gruesome the gentle cooing and sharp chirping from earlier would have been replaced by the raucous cawing of hungry crows, eager to peck at the poor victims of their violence and cruelty. No crows was a good sign for the boys, but Elijah was certain the bandits were up ahead.
“Wait here, Rickard. Wait about five minutes for us to get ahead of you. We’re going to scout the area and see if we can find an in without being detected. Distract the brigands at the front of the fort, and we’ll handle the rest of them.”
By ‘we’ Elijah mostly meant himself. His plan for Cynan was to have the young man find the boys and escape with them. If Elijah had his way Cynan could come out of this without drawing a blade.
Rickard nodded, and Elijah turned down to Cynan and asked the lad, “Ready? Then let’s move out. Stick to the brush and step lightly.”
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Cynan
Thief
Fighting without reason is pointless. Stealing's mostly fine though.
Posts: 17
Profession: Common Thief
Affinity: Wind
Profile: Cynan
OoC Alias: Guira
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Post by Cynan on Oct 14, 2018 11:38:34 GMT -6
Cynan wasn't exactly sure what to make of the hum that resonated from the knight's mouth, but quite frankly he didn't really care about Rickard's approval or disapproval... although he wouldn't tell the man that, obviously. However, he could feel himself warming up to Elijah a lot faster than the other stoic man, perhaps it was his jovial nature or maybe just the fact that he actually responded to things in a way other than just humming. "I guess that means that mercenary work runs in the family." the thief spoke as his eyes wandered across the verdant shrubbery that surrounded them. He tried to wrap his brain around the fact that Elijah apparently had a daughter - his age in fact - that willingly chose to do mercenary work; it didn't seem like something that would appeal to young girls.
He kicked a small stone alone the woodland path as they continued to walk, trying to think of something else to say to break the shroud of silence that cloaked the forest. Huh, silence. That's weird. His eyes traced back across the forested area, wondering why everything seemed so... still? He didn't exactly spend much time in forests, but he knew of the common sounds you'd hear such as birds chirping or the occasional rustling of leaves. Pressing the pebble into the ground with his foot, he briefly thought about something lurking in the absence of sound, waiting patiently for its chance to pounce upon a band of unsuspecting mercenaries. ...That's stupid.
Elijah's voice broke the quiet air, and rather than talking about his offspring, he instead gave Rickard the order to hang back, and remembering the discussion earlier, the boy knew what that meant. Cynan ran both of his hands through his knotted curly hair and breathed in deep. Showtime, I guess. Although he thought it might be a tad dangerous to leave Rickard alone, he certainly wasn't going to complain about having Elijah with him instead and he knew that he definitely needed the man's guidance in whatever scouting truly entailed. Nodding with some uncertainty, Cynan decided there was no point in delaying entering the belly of the beast. "Lead the way."
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Post by Elijah on Nov 6, 2018 11:24:37 GMT -6
“Aye, it does seem that way doesn’t it.” Elijah had never intended mercenaries to become the family business or anything. Really Elijah would have preferred Artorias and Astraea to live more comfortable, safer lifestyles than tread down similar paths to his own.
The journey was silent otherwise. Elijah couldn’t gauge how close they were to the bandit camp, and he wasn’t about to risk giving their position away with more banter. The mercenary worked off of experience and a bit of intuition, so after he led Cynan down the forest path for a few more minutes he decided to break off of it and head into the bushes proper. “Keep low and step lightly.”
The path was an obvious route, one the bandits would no doubt have eyes on once it crossed in front of their fort. They were far less likely to have guards in the woods that surrounded it, and even if they did it would be easier to evade detection from the cover of the woods. So as Eli carefully pushed low-hanging tree branches and bushes out of his way his eyes constantly scoured the area for any sign of a guard.
“Ah.” He didn’t find any, but instead he found quite the lucky sight. He held up a to signify that Cynan should stop, and then sharply pointed it forward. Beyond the brush and trees there was indeed a stone fort. They could only see one side of it - the back further blocked off by the natural cover of the forest while the front faced the path they would have otherwise come down.
Elijah almost made several quick hand gestures, though he didn’t catch himself until the second. They weren’t things Cynan would understand, just...old habits from an old time. Instead Elijah turned his head towards the young man and whispered.
“Gonna need your help here lad. Can you scout ‘round to the back of the fort? Keep low and move slowly, but see if you can spot any guards atop the fort. Also gonna need you to see if the fort has any openings in the back. Watch for possible guard rotation on ground level. I’ll keep my eye on you, so don’t panic if you get spotted - I’ll be right there.”
Cynan was smaller and had dressed better to match the forest, whether that had been intentional or not. This also seemed to be closer to his area of expertise. Elijah had experience in stealth and scouting but it had never been his strong suit, so it was better to let the boy prove his worth a bit.
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Cynan
Thief
Fighting without reason is pointless. Stealing's mostly fine though.
Posts: 17
Profession: Common Thief
Affinity: Wind
Profile: Cynan
OoC Alias: Guira
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Post by Cynan on Nov 28, 2018 19:44:23 GMT -6
After Elijah's response, Cynan puffed his cheeks awkwardly as they walked their rest of their journey in complete silence. Sure he didn't really like getting to know people and his social skills were atrocious, but he still had an overwhelming feeling of awkwardness. It took for Elijah to warn him about keeping low and quiet that he realised the purpose of this lack of conversation: the jovial man hadn't turned frigid, it's just that he was smart enough to know that pointless banter when they had no idea where the encampment was was probably an awful idea. Shaking off his inadequacy but still engrossed in his thoughts, he jolted and came to a sudden stop as the mercenary stuck a hand out in front of his path.
Following the direction the man signalled, Cynan soon saw a small stone fort. Whispering to the man, he began to speak "I'm guessing that's the pla-" but he was soon left utterly confused by whatever Elijah was doing with his hands. Was he trying to cast a spell or something? He didn't look like a mage. The boy's mouth hung slightly agape in bewilderment as if he were catching flies, but the situation soon became clearer when Elijah switched to verbal communication. Rubbing the back of his head and seriously doubting himself, Cynan responded with a very unconvincing "Y-Yeah, I can do that. For sure."
Quickly scurrying off before he could make his inexperience any more blatant, he began crouching through the woods whilst keeping a close eye on the base. It wasn't long before he spotted a man with scarce hair and a bushy black beard guarding the front entrance - although he more than likely wasn't the only one. It also wasn't long before he hit himself in the face with a stray branch as he focused so much on the fort that he failed to look directly in his path. I... hope Elijah didn't see that. It was hard to see if there were any men on top of the fort, but upon reaching the rear side of the base, Cynan finally spotted a bandit with long brown hair sat atop it, with his back to the back of the fort. The wall had clearly been poorly maintained, as although there were no cracks, a majority of the wall was covered in thick green vines. It seemed like a good area to sneak atop the fort if they could get rid of that ruffian... Although I'd also need some sort of ladder to get up the-
Smacking himself in the forehead, his attention was drawn back to the ridiculously overgrown vines. They look quite sturdy, I'd bet even Elijah could get up there! Although he had found a potential spot of entry, he was still too unskilled at scouting enemy bases to figure out anything more about the possible positions of the hostage takers... and there was also the fact that he was incapable of seeing through stone walls. Realising the futility of staying for any longer, the verdant thief carefully but swiftly returned to the elder swordsman. Keeping his voice hushed, he spilled out everything that he had learned.
"There's at least one guy guarding the front entrance, but I doubt we were going to just walk straight in anyway, right? Around the back I also saw a guy leaning against the top of the fort with his back to it, but there were also these tough vines we could probably climb to get to the top." He made a squeezing motion with his hands to emphasise the fact that they could climb them, but quickly stopped when he realised how stupid it probably looked.
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