Fire Emblem: Adventures In Aldevrant

She looks up at him, unsure of what he's trying to do.

"Silver Falcon? You don't look like one, though..."

Her default tone of voice is a bit bored-sounding so it's hard to tell if that was a joke or not, though her previous nervous bout indicates it's a genuine comment. She's currently twiddling around with a bit of loose cloth on the robe, possibly trying to take her mind off the situation she's in.

"I don't look like one now do I? Actually this little band of people here are the Silver Falcon Mercenaries, but enough of that you lost or something? Not many people approach a camp like this without a reason to do so, so what's yours?" Cyric says with a bit of a laugh gesturing at himself and at the girl taking him a bit too literally.

She sighs, taking off her hood and revealing the rest of her face, including her long, flowing hair and pointed ears.

"...To be honest? Looking for family. A while ago I took a nap, and when I woke up everyone had vanished from where I'd been living. I don't know where they went, a-and I thought maybe... m-maybe..."

She's gone from nervous to just plain sad by this point, seemingly on the verge of crying from having thought of it too much.

Alessa just shrugged. Worrying about sheltered, entitled nobles wasn't her concern right now. Resting one hand on her sword pommel, she followed after Hadri. Matthew seemed to be accosting some travelling merchat, but Hadri had asked the only question that Alessa cared about right now. It would certainly make their lives easier if she did. She tried not to show her anticipation on her face, instead merely stating flatly, "Wouldn't that be convenient."

Sigmund turns to the mysterious figure. His eyes widen.

"You... You're another manakete!"

"That's great!" Matthew said in reaction to the merchant having coffee available. "How much for the entire can?"

The word 'manakete' instantly triggers memories of home, from moments long since past... and now she's just flat-out crying, not even having noticed the 'another' part. In fact, she seems to have completely overlooked every other part of Sigmund's statement as well.

Small Town, Adtrian

If Fel seemed a little surprised at Byrn decided to actually agree to stick around, he certainly wasn't showing it as he wasted on time in shaking her hand.

"Fel. It's nice to meet ya. ...And I dunno if I'd consider it 'fun', guess it'd depend on how many decide to show up and they suddenly decide they're in a mood to cause trouble." The young man gave a shrug of his shoulders.

"Sorry to disappoint, there ain't much left to do aside from gettin' a few extra supplies for the journey ahead and maybe shop for a weapon just to be safe, considerin' the rumors about the Empire which MIGHT make traveling just a 'little' dangerous. Or more than usual, anyway."

Nyx sighs and shakes her head. "Great, you made her cry. Fix this, now. I'm gonna go eat."

Nyx saunters over to her tent and stands in the door(?)way eating some cold bacon.

Small Town, Adtriyn

At the mention of weaponry, Bryn gave Fel a quick once-over, curious more than anything else as to his pick of poison. She wasn't clever, she'd be the first to admit that, but having fought for so many years had given her a general idea of what weapon went with what person. Fel didn't have the muscle for anything too heavy, and the hand that shook hers had been too smooth for the likes of a bow. A sword, then, or some other form of blade?

Bryn's own weapon was on clear display, a mighty axe held against her back by a leather loop. Its metal head tapped against her shoulder as she walked in tandem with Fel. "The Empire, huh?" Bryn ran a hand through her mane of hair. "Yeah, been hearing rumblings about it. Folks over in Shairin been getting antsy, especially those near the Leifhrwyn border. Can't say I know much more than that, though."

"Still, Empire or no, an extra weapon or two is always good to have on hand." She added, her grin re-appearing.

"W-wait, don't cry, don't-" Sigmund started to say. He looked around wildly, looking for someone to help.

"Help her, please!" he said loudly as possible.

Oh, good, he bought it.

Adia puts on the salesperson smile and slips her backpack off. She rummages around in it for a bit, before pulling out what's presumably a cannister of coffee.

"That'll be 7G."

"I'll take it!" Matthew said and handed the merchant seven pieces of gold. He then raced back to camp. "Hey people, we got some coffee for now!" He announced, only to be startled by seeing a girl crying. "What's going on? Are you okay, lady?"

Glancing at Byrn trying to figure him out, the young man folded his arms, yet he couldn't help but smile.

"...I know I'm a bit easy on the eyes..." Fel joked, keeping up that playful smile. "But there's more to people than how they appear, you know. For example, I COULD be a powerful mage. ...Although in reality, it's more that I'm good at fighting with my feet. I'm after something like a knife just in case I actually need to finish someone off."

He wasn't exactly sure if Byrn would believe him so Fel turned his glance back to the marketplace and took a bite out of the apple with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Good to know some people are worried about the Empire. Let's just hope that's nothing more than just just rumors."

Outside the Mess Tent

"Here, I'll get the coffee on, you handle the child. Make sure to file a reimbursement for that coffee." Hadri said, nabbing it from Matthew. She said both parts of that with equal seriousness: if even one of them started going out-of-pocket with expenses then they all might be expected to! Maybe even more importantly she wasn't fantastic with kids. Not like she'd need to be; once she was siring an heir she'd have the tutors and servants to care for the kid better than she ever could.

"Do you still want to go into town once we're done with the coffee?" She asked Alessa; Hadri turned around and held the can up so she could see it. "Buying bulk in town once I'm juiced up might be nice."

Well, they had coffee for now. And Hadri had put her in charge of keeping an eye on the... precocious young prince. She sighed, readjusting how her hand rested on the pommel of her sword. She gave an appraising glance at the coffee tin that Matthew had acquired from the travelling merchant, before giving a firm nod. "That will last us a handful of days at best, if we ration it. Besides, we might hear something interesting in town that could lead to work." They were near enough to the border with the Shairin province, the forests there notably home to two different types of groups: Bandits, and Laguz. Sometimes Laguz bandits. And there were the rumors flying around that the Empire was paying bandits to probe at the defenses of their border nations - Alessa had no concrete evidence, but from what she knew of Imperial High Command, she suspected them to be true.

Fortunately, it seemed that the young prince's attention was drawn to the crying woman, who had shown up... when, exactly? Who was she? Well, since Hadri was making coffee, it meant she didn't have to occupy herself with doing that. Thus, she walked over to the group rapidly assembling on the outskirts of the camp, surrounding the poor woman. She stopped a few paces away, scanning the approach to the camp behind her. 'Faux-innocent maiden in need of aid/rescue' was a classic bandit tactic, after all.

Cyric is surprised when the girl in front of him bursts into tears as soon as Sigmund mentions manaketes. Crouching down he places both hands on her shoulders and says in a calming voice, "It's alright now, no need to cry. Are you a Manakete like my friend Sigmund here? I've not met any other Manaketes other than Sigmund"

"Y-yes... but he isn't someone I k-knew."

She wipes the tears from her face and looks at the others for a moment before looking back at Cyric.

"I'm, uh... a-an Ice manakete. I normally live w-where nobody but we did, but... I can't anymore. If I follow you, do you think we'll find who I'm l-looking for? S-sorry, shouldn't have asked..."

She looks away, seemingly reluctant to ask anything of the group. It's highly unlikely she'd be with a group of bandits, though, given not only that most of the others easily outsize her but that what she's wearing is far too high quality material-wise.

"It's okay, maybe we can help you!" Matthew said, then turned to the rest of the group gathered there. "Anyone in favor or anyone who objects?"

Small Town, Adtriyn

"Was I bein' that obvious?" Though caught in the act, Bryn didn't look embarrassed, and instead seemed to share Fel's playful energy. "Honestly, never met a mage without one of them fancy cloaks... but you're right, that sort of thinking'll get me killed one day."

"Still, even if you were toting around one of 'em books or staves, it never hurts to have a blade for extra protection. That or a decent right hook." She slammed a fist into her open palm, then dropped both arms to her sides as she continued. "If something were to break out though, Leif ain't the best place to be unless you wanna get tussled up in it. Your group gonna be moving on from here soon?"

"Maybe just a little. No shame in checkin' out a potential enemy or ally and figuring out what they could do, so you DO have the right idea. Just expect they've got some trick up their sleeve and you should be fine."

Fel couldn't help but give a slightly nervous chuckle in response to Byrn's agreeing with his advice...that and her slamming a fist into her palm. Sure, she'd hadn't punched anyone but he did his best to regain his composure. And with them chancing upon one weapon stall, likely the only one which had finally finishing setting up shop, a glance revealed...little variety, a few weapons of reliable iron and ones slightly less so given how light and slim some of the others looked.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely be taking that advice of yours and buy something. A-And I did already say they'd be leaving after they take what I owe them. If they ARE mercs, though...that depends if they know the Mayor here might have a 'problem'."

Small Town, Adtriyn

"Haha, you might just outlive me with that sort of thinkin' Fel." Any morbid implications behind Bryn's remark were entirely unintentional, her demeanour as cheery as ever as she glanced over Fel's shoulder to the weaponry set up in the stall. Seeing nothing that could rival the axe upon her back, she turned her attention back to the green-haired man, her interest peaked with his last remark. "The Mayor, huh? What sort of 'problem' might they be having?"

Edited by whizzerd on Feb 2nd 2020 at 1:08:00 PM

"You can probably stay with us, yeah." Sigmund said.

His brow suddenly creased a bit.

"Though... We ARE a mercenary group. We fight people. You can fight people right?"

"Fight? U-uhh... yes? I don't like to, b-but if I have to..."

She reaches into a pocket hidden under her robe, pulling out a small but noticable green stone of some sort. It shines with a hidden power in her hand, and she looks at Sigmund almost expectantly.

"You said you were a manakete too, right? You know what this is, then. Y-you know what we use it for..."

Her voice almost seems to get a bit sullen for that last part, making her disdain for combat readily apparent.

Small Town, Adtriyn

"What? Aheh, nah, not likely. In a straight fight, I'd lose every time. 'Course, you can only die once but you get the idea." The young man's smile returned as he picked up the Iron Dagger, keeping up the act of inexperience as he awkwardly held it with one hand and put down payment with the other. The fact he seemed was surprised at it being somewhat lighter compared to the last dagger he had helped.

"As for the mayor's problem, they're worried about something. People didn't pay much heed to it but the taxes...tribute were raised only recently. Sure, taxes are a part of life. But not if it's been the first time they've been raised in several years. And especially with such a...lackluster autumn harvest so the most likely reason behind it would be..."

Fel trailed off, intentionally going quiet. There was several potential answers, he seemed curious if Byrn could figure it out what it might mean.

Edited by TheRealWren on Feb 2nd 2020 at 4:15:30 AM