Jack now changed the direction of the conversation, now preferring to ask Ren about his past and mention his own. Probably an attempt to get to know his guild mate better, which was reasonable enough. From what Jack had said of his past it sounded like he had been able to help a lot of people in his travels. “I travelled around a lot as well,” Ren told Jack when he had finished. “For quite a while, actually. It's been... twelve years, since I left my native country. I travelled east from town to town, doing the odd job every now and then to earn my keep and save up for those times when I need to go by sea. After a while I ended up on this continent, eventually heard about Sapphire Eclipse and its reputation, and so decided I would try it out. “So, what about you?” Ren continued, now switching the focus of the conversation back to Jack. "You say you travelled a lot. Where did you come from, and why did you leave? Did you get sand in your boots like me?” he joked. “Ah, but there's something wonderful about seeing new places, isn't there? For a moment, you feel like there's no worries in the world, and everything is new. Have you ever felt that?” After walking away from Evanora and not receiving the somewhat expected reprimand, Mizuki was left furious and uncertain of what to do next. Angrily she made her way to one of the training rooms and began decimating the training dummies there. She was done with Evanora, the woman wouldn't listen and Mizuki wasn't in a position to do anything about her. She stabbed the dummy viciously through the chest. Stupid *****. A thought struck her then. Why the hell did she even care that much? This guild was nothing in the grand scheme of things, and nothing to her. The whole place could go to hell as far as she was concerned. The only reason she was here, the only thing she had to be concerned with, was that man. The next blow to the dummy sliced it completely in half, and she left the training room to reenter the Guild Hall. Mizuki was calm now, and focused. Scanning the room, she saw Him. Unfortunately he was talking to someone else... that idiot Jack. She felt a faint sense of irritation arise, but she quickly suppressed it. Emotions wouldn't help her right now. Lurking along the edges of the Hall, she positioned herself in an area where she could keep an eye on her target and follow him discretely when he left the room. Settling down on a chair pulled up against the wall, she drew her sword and began to oil it. When the time came to kill, it would do well to have her blade well maintained.
Listening closely to Jack's more detailed account of what had happened on the mission, Ren was able to draw up some more conclusions. It would seem that Thea had killed those fairies by accident, somehow induced to do so by a snow fight. Perhaps she had become frightened and lashed out? Whatever the case, it was clear that Thea, while still a threat, was not an enemy, which was a very important distinction to make. He also mentioned Alessia in relation to the prince again, and how they had been close. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen her around. He felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. Who knew how she was dealing with this. A more immediate point that Ren felt he should address was Jack's feelings of personal failure. The man once again mentioned how he thought things had been partially his fault, and how he should have done more. He also asked Ren to go on a mission with him some time, reminding Ren that the kid had previously mentioned how he hadn't made any friends. Smiling at him sympathetically, Ren responded. “Sure Jack, I'll go on a mission with you when there's a chance. And you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened on the mission. It sounds like there were so many circumstances completely out of your control that things were going to turn out badly no matter what you did. So cheer up, thing will go better next time.” It really did sound like the mission had been hell. A heap of innocents dead, and anyone who had gone on the mission coming back either depressed or angry. Which brought him back to something else that was bothering him... why had Evanora left? From what could be inferred from Mizuki's statements, it seemed as if the Guild Master had left with absolutely no warning. Granted, it could have been for perfectly acceptable reasons that she had left her subordinates, but that she wouldn't communicate this to them show a lack of judgement. Worse than that however was Evanora's handling of the aftermath. She had lost the respect of various new members when she should be doing her utmost to cultivate it, and she didn't even seem to care. He would have to think about what he thought of this very carefully.
Name: Rennette (Interestingly, Rennette means 'reborn'.) Age (Min of 14): 28 Description: Lazy link for lazy people like me. Personality: Happy, carefree, never holds a grudge against anyone. Wants to help those who need it most. Weapons: Mages Staff Armor: All of the armor (but seriously, is this going to be a thing in the rp?) AS: Barrier surge Fire Surge Aero Cure Esuna Strengths: Never gives up. Weaknesses/Fears: Afraid of not being needed (note: different from not being wanted. :P ) History: Hah, history. Something something tragic, like every other character in this rp. (Ok, I'm generalizing and I'm horrible for it, but there is some shade of truth in this, and I include my own characters!) But seriously, I'll come up with something later here. Or I might just reveal it slowly throughout the rp. Or, and this is the final alternative, I could just be really lazy and say she did pretty much nothing with her life until turning up at Sapphire Eclipse. Other: Smokes weed like, all the time. Character Build Chosen: Defense Character Build Weakness: Strength Also, since I think it's safe to assume that she'll be starting at level 4, I'll be putting all three points she has into Erza Magic.
With Mizuki now gone and Evanora having decided that the matter was dealt with, Ren had a chance to reflect on what had just happened. The mission in question had been a disaster, that much was certain, and Mizuki seemed to feel that it was entirely Evanora's fault. While this was undoubtedly an exaggeration, and perhaps an attempt by Mizuki to put all the blame on the Guild Master, the way Evanora had met the other woman's accusations was... disturbing. To Ren response from her was wrong, in a way. Not at all how he would expect a Guild Master to act. Or at least, not what he wanted from a Guild Master Jack now began speaking to him again. A more disjointed and seemingly random leap from thought to thought, Ren had never heard in under twenty sentences. Frowning in concentration, he managed to gain a few basic facts. First, he seemed to think that Mizuki was really dangerous. From what Ren had seen, she indeed seemed to have quite a temper, perhaps a violent one, but any indication that she was any more dangerous than the average guild member was negligible. He could disregard this point for now anyway, it wasn't of particular interest to him. Second, that the mission had resulted in the death of a prince, murdered by what Ren assumed was the enemy, but more troubling than that was further confirmation that the child, Thea, had indeed killed several fairies. Lastly, Jack seemed to be feeling sorry for himself. He repeated a few times his need for friends, how he should have been better, and something about him being a guy being to his disadvantage, somehow. It was the details of the mission that interested Ren right now. Everything else was superfluous. He felt the need to establish how and why the the fairies had died, and whether it had any link with the death of the prince. Jack might not make that easy, but he would try. Ren gave Jack an encouraging smile. “It's ok for you to tell me your troubles, I don't mind. I'm sorry things went so badly for you. It sounds like it was pretty rough, for all of you.” Having established himself on a friendly footing, Ren launched into his own inquiry. “Do you mind me asking, how exactly did the fairies die? I keep hearing that it was the child, but surely not?” Very likely, she was a dark guild member less than a week ago. “I mean, how did she hurt them, and why? It just seems very strange to me.”
Ren Purchasing 2 Gaia Bangles for 800 gold total. That's it for him for now. Mizuki Putting 1 point into Juvia. Purchasing and equipping 1 Omega Arts for 700 gold. AS: Blitz, Sliding Dash, Esuna, Cure, Quick Blitz.
At this point in the conversation, it was clear that Evanora wasn't prepared to taken any responsibility for her guild members. Figured. Right now Mizuki could only looked at her with contempt, both at her total disregard for her duties as Guild Master, and her paranoid fear that Mizuki was actually trying to overthrow her. Fool! “You frightened little bitch,” Mizuki spat out. “You actually think I'm so egotistical that I believe I'd be capable of taking on both you and your S-class puppets? And that I thought even for a second that I should be Guild Master? Fool! I haven't said one word this whole time about my own abilities, my capacities as a leader. I have been criticizing yours! And if you for one second managed to be a competent leader, you would have listened! But no, instead you would prefer to harp on about how only we should judge ourselves, how that isn't your job. And yet, with every enemy we face, are not we, are not you, casting a judgement upon on them, and condemning them to their fate? Hypocrite!” Mizuki was enraged now, but not violently so. She had honestly never seen a more incompetent person posing as an authoritative figure before. And the fact that the woman didn't even seem to care about what her new guild members thought of her, instead relying on... what, some future event? to increase their respect for her. “Fool,” Mizuki finished quietly, this time her tone betraying merely disapproval. She turned away, having given up on arguing with the Guild Master. She walked slowly enough though, in the event that Evanora have anything else to say to her, whether that be a mere verbal attack, or a disciplinary action against her in punishment for the way she had spoken to her. Much as it would hurt her pride, Mizuki wouldn't fight Evanora and her S-class mages, and whoever else decided to join her. She would prefer to live on, rather than die in a mere dispute over incompetency.
“Bullshit,” Mizuki snapped at Evanora, completely disregarding her explanation. “We didn't need you to hold our hand. We were safe. It was the fucking fairies that kid murdered, and the fucking prince that got hurt. Do you understand that? Do you think they now care about how you feel we should grow stronger? Fuck no.” “When the people hear of this, and the name of this guild is cast into doubt, who do you think they're going to blame?" She aimed a finger at Evanora. "You. You're the Guild Master, the one responsible for running this guild. And when that happens, are you going to explain it away in the same pathetic manner as just now, or will you instead shift the blame onto us, and prove that you aren't a good leader? Take your pick, or give us a new reason to believe in you, because right now you're treading on thin ice.” Ren had been following the conversation so far closely, and what he heard so far was... troubling. A dead prince, and a group of fairies murdered by the little kid. And Evanora just kind of bullshitting out an excuse. Whatever had happened on that mission was not good, and nobody was happy with it. Well, aside from Jack who didn't seem particularly upset about things, seeing as the first thing he had done was come over to chat. But enough of him, Ren had other things to think about, like how Evanora was going to deal with the inevitable backlash generated by the terrible outcome of that mission. There was also the matter of the little girl. Thea was her name, right? And a killer from the sounds of it. Ren looked long and hard at her, trying to see whether those tears were real or not. They seemed to be legitimate, and yet, she had stilled killed. At the very least, she was dangerous.
Well then. Apparently they had come all this way to find some guy that Vex actually didn't seem to know all that well, and then just kinda released him. Based on the promise that they'd see him in a few days in a hidden village that may or may not exist. Lovely. Regardless, standing around deep in the Kings dungeons probably wasn't a good idea, so Alec figured it would be best to follow after the other three. A slight tap on his shoulder and a shifting of position alerted him to Koko's need to tell him something. He slowed down, falling back far enough way from everyone else so that they wouldn't hear the little cat talking. “What's up?” Koko leaned in towards his ear and whispered. “What are you going to do about the girl that's following us?” Alec merely shrugged. “Nothing. She's not our problem, it's Vex and that other guy from the cell that need to worry about people following them. If it's really us she's after, we can easily deal with her.” “So you're not going to tell them?” “Nah.” After a few moments of silent following, Alec spoke out again, this time addressing Vex. There were a few things he felt should be answered. “So, Vex, that guy we just saved, you don't know him, do you? In fact, it seems that it was somewhat of a whim that led you to bust his ass out of here.” He then added in a more serious tone. “A whim that left several guardsmen dead. So, Vex, how do you justify ending those lives like that? Or do you just like fighting?” There was no anger or accusation in Alec's voice. It was all said in a neutral, questioning manner, and Alec really did want to understand Vex's motives, whatever they may be.
Back at the guild hall, Ren was in a thoughtful mood. He was thinking about Astedia, the Kingdom, and the monarchs that ruled it. The team had completed the task they had been handed, exceptionally so, to be sure. And yet, Ren wasn't completely happy with how things had ended. The Kingdom, while now safe from an immediate threat, still faced a slow decline due to the faults of it's ruling family. The King and Queen hadn't changed much in their attitude, which was to be expected since there had been zero chance to discuss things with them, even if it had been welcome. There were still some unanswered questions as to how Wenlock, their own family member, had been allowed to run loose in the first place, or how the monarchs hadn't made much of an effort to put an end to his deeds. But perhaps that didn't matter any more, and they could lead the Kingdom to greater prosperity now that Wenlcock was dead. The greater concern was Annika. She had started out as a frivolous, scatty girl with no concern for her subjects or their cares, instead preferring to spend her days ice skating. And during her time with them, she hadn't particularly grown wiser. This was evidenced by the fact that the last action of significance she had taken when in their company was to try to utterly destroy Wenlock with a tool not meant for that purpose. In a word, the princess could be described as impulsive, and the entire experience had done nothing to curb that. When Annika finally came to power, the precipitation of the kingdom might soon follow. Ren would have preferred to have stayed to help prevent this danger rather than the threat of Wenlock, of which the former was probably of the most concern. However, they had only been requested and hired to deal with the immediate threat to the kingdom, and they had done so. Grudgingly, and uneasily, Ren decided he would have to settle with that. The Guild couldn't be expected to fix the domestic politics of every small kingdom. He was roused from his pondering by a young man asking about how the mission had gone. His name was... Jack? Yes, it was Jack. Ren hadn't really spoken to him before, but he seemed friendly enough, and he was a guild mate too. Chatting to him for a bit wouldn't hurt. “Yeah, it went pretty well actually. Nobody was seriously hurt, and the bad guy basically walked right into our hands,” he grinned. “So yeah, it went pretty well. Not so sure about the future of the kingdom as a whole, but not really our problem I suppose.” He was about to ask Jack about how is mission had gone, but he was distracted by Thea's sudden outburst in front of Evanora. From the sounds of it, the mission hadn't gone too well, and the child seemed to blame herself. Ren frowned at her, wondering what she meant, and what had happened on that mission. Come to think of it, Jack had been on that mission as well. He was about to ask the other man what exactly had happened during their mission, when another voice caught his attention. Arriving back from the mission, Mizuki was pissed. As in, very much pissed. More pissed than usual. And the focus of this anger was the Guild Master. “Evanora,” her voiced boomed demandingly. “Where the fuck were you?” With long strides Mizuki marched up to the Guild Master, a black frown plastered across her face. “Where were you when everyone in the entire fucking mansion were reduced to the size of mice, and had to fight the fuckers? Where were you when the child killed all those fairies, and burned her team mate? When half our team was caught in that trap? And where were you when the Prince was tied to the stake, burning to death?” Finally stopping a few feet away from Evanora and Thea, Mizuki thrust a finger at her accusingly. “You're supposed to be the leader of this guild. And you left us with a child that you should have known could flip out at any time. Explain yourself!”
“Oh,” Ren said in a surprised manner. “Oh dear me.” He was staring at Wenlock's upper lip, slowly shaking his head from side to side. “I mean, that moustache was bad, and I mean really, really bad, but now that I see you without it... you did what you could, dude. Kudos for that. But still, you suck.” Turning away from the defeated enemy for good now, and putting him out of his thoughts, Ren now addressed Lucia. “Good job there, Lucia,” he grinned holding up his hand to high five her, “that was some smart thinking. Thank goodness we have someone like you on the team, or we would have been screwed!” He then glanced at Thomas and smiled mischievously. “Well Thomas, looks like you've got a date! Treat her kindly, now. You've just seen what she does to creepy dudes.” Ren allowed himself a few more moments of celebration, chuckling at a few of the comments the others made. It was a luxury he couldn't indulge in for long though. Soon his mind turned over to more serious matters. Wenlock, while currently immobilised, would have to be transported to the Royal Court and have his sentence passed on him by one of the monarchs. The pegasi could probably help them in that matter, thankfully. Then there was the matter of Ferris. Brietta had seemed to believe that he was responsible for alerting Wenlock to their plans of creating the Wand. If he had the chance, Ren would like to pay the man a visit, assuming he didn't high tail it out of there in the meantime. An information broker like Ferris might know some very interesting tid bits that he would be willing to exchange for his life. And then there was Ollie, the troll they had ditched. Poor guy. “Hey, you think we should pop over and see how Ollie is doing?” Ren suggested to the group. And while they were doing that, Ren could pay Ferris a visit. “Before we go back to the Kingdom and all. He might want to come with us!” Inviting a troll to the royal court. Was this a smart idea? Probably not. Mizuki continued to walk away, ignoring the continuation of Thea's tantrum and her melodramatic exit. Children were such fools, but they had some justification in that they were still learning the ways of the world. The next idiot to irritate Mizuki, however, did not have such a justification. Jack was once again launching an, to put it kindly, attack on her, declaring that he would defend his friends, which he seemed to think he had, and that she should not threaten people, because it made him very sad or something. Mizuki could have ignored him, and continued walking. That would have been the best thing to do, as it was clear that no amount of straight facts could alter his stubborn point of view. However, Mizuki was starting to feel that the place they were in right now was safe enough, and that they wouldn't be suddenly attacked. This was why she now deigned to give Jack some of her attention. She stopped, looked straight ahead for a few seconds, and then turned around, heading straight for Jack unwaveringly, her hand playing dangerously upon the hilt of her sword. She didn't slow her pace when she got within a comfortable speaking distance, or even when she was two feet directly in front of him. She only stopped when she was toe to toe with him, looking directly into his eyes with a cold stare. She grabbed his collar, twisting it with her fingers in a vice-like grip, but she restrained herself from pushing or pulling him. For now. If he opened his mouth too soon, a headlock would soon follow. “If I wanted to hurt anyone here,” she told him in a quiet, firm voice, “I would have done so by now. And if I ever wish to do so in the future, then there is nothing you can do to stop me. You can't even stop your tongue from spluttering out your half formed opinions.” She let the silence hang for a moment to let Jack process this. He was the sort that needed a little time to think. She gave him one last look, and released him. "I'm done with you now."
As Thea started pounding on her chest and yelling at her, Mizuki frowned at her uncertainly. The girl was upset about... what exactly? That she wanted to move on from this place, and finish things quickly? Or was it something to do with the Nutcracker's death? "Don't you care that he is dead? And it is my fault too! Just stop it, stop it, stop it!" Ah. Here was the answer. The girl thought that it was her fault that the Nutcracker had died. How curious. The girl was obviously wrong though. “Did you build the pyre?” Mizuki asked the young girl simply. “Pour on the oil? Light the tinder? No, you didn't. So don't take credit for the handiwork of others.” Silly, inconsistent, selfish girl, Mizuki remarked to herself. When someone she was familiar died, she was so quick to grieve, but after burning all those fairies, Mizuki didn't remember the girl being particularly affected by it. It was plain to her that Thea only cared about certain people, and valued certain lives differently. Ah, but she was young. In time she would hopefully learn that a comrade died just as easily as an enemy. Mizuki turned away from Thea and walked away, leaving the girl to continue her tantrum. If she listened, that was good, she would have learned something. If not, well, Mizuki didn't particularly care, as long as she didn't get in the way of things. They still needed to get out of this predicament, find fucking Evanora, and return to the guild. Once there, Mizuki could further her own plans of ending a life. "By the way," She added, calling over her shoulder. "Don't hit me ever again."
Mizuki was unmoved by the Nutcracker's death, or the revelation that Clara was the Sugar Plum Princess. It was completely irrelevant to her. With that damned mouse dead, it was now time to get things back to normal, and find out where the fuck Evanora had got to. Once the Nutcracker had finally stopped blabbering out his final words, Mizuki spoke up. “We should get a move on. He has said all he's going to, so there's no point spending any more time with his corpse. Mourning can wait till later, should you need it.” What anyone felt for the guy, Mizuki didn't really understand. He had done little to nothing in the battles along the way, and had barely spoken to them either. Besides, they really didn't need to spend much more time here. They were still smack in the middle of an enemy castle, and while there wasn't any immediate signs of any enemies about, that didn't mean there weren't any. Mizuki for one wouldn't let down her guard, anyway.
Mizuki used Blitz, thankfully for the last time.
Mizuki used Blitz. Yup. So exciting.
The fight so far had been going well. Mizuki had personally managed to deal out a decent amount of damage, as had a few of the other people on the team, and she herself had taken minimal damage so far. The mages, on the other hand, had struggled to keep on their feet, let alone attack the mouse. Weaklings. Ideally they would have stayed back away from danger and supported the warriors up front, but alas, the rp's combat system didn't allow for this. Perhaps one day. Regardless, Mizuki was ready to launch another attack now. The Mouse King had taken a beating, and looked like he would go down before too long. That suited her just fine. Taking a moment to pause in her movement to get a firm footing and run at the Mouse, Mizuki suddenly broke into a charge towards the enemies flank. Stupid ass mouse, taking on this many enemies at once. He deserved to die. Mizuki used Blitz. Despite Wenlock's large amount of health, and seemingly strong attacks, the effect of his spells had been negligible. Ren himself hadn't taken any damage, thanks to the effects of barrier surge, but even those of the team who had taken damage had pretty much shrugged it off. Perhaps Wenlock wasn't such a strong enemy after all. More likely though, Ren was completely underestimating him. Not only had he quite a few more attacks up his sleeve, they were also fighting against the clock with Annika trapped under the snow. The girl couldn't last very long, that much was for sure. But for now, to focus on the fight. As already established, nobody had taken much damage, so Ren's services as the team's healer weren't needed right now. That left him with the opportunity to smack Wenlock's face with something. Huzzah. Ren used Aero.
Mizuki used Blitz. Ren used Barrier Surge, and blocked for Lucia.
All of a sudden, Wenlock was before them, at first cowering at the sight of the Wand, and immediately triumphant when he realised that it wasn't working. The fool actually thought that he had much longer to live. No matter, it would soon be made known to him what his fate was. Ren paced towards him casually, his hands in his pockets, with a mildly interested look on his face. “Well, Wenlock, looks like this is it. You should have made a run for it when Ferris told you we were after the Wand.” Ren began to pace around Wenlock slowly, maintaining his calm demeanour. “You didn't seriously think that you could defeat us all on your own, did you? You're not that powerful. If you were, then we would have heard your name before. But no ones outside this small kingdom has heard of Wenlock before, have they? You're an insignificant man who, even if you were successful here, would have absolutely no impact on the world. In fact, the only reason we haven't come to kill you sooner is that we were keeping you as a last resort. If we couldn't find the Wand of Light or some other means of reanimating all those people you turned to stone, then we were going to force you to do it. But now, you have no further use.” Ren was slowly getting closer to Wenlock as he paced around him, his eyes boring into him emotionlessly, leaving no room for doubt in the other man's mind that he meant nothing to Ren at all. And yet, a part of him actually wanted to help the man. An evil person was often just one that needed the right person, a second chance. Wenlock, however... Ren didn't see any hope for him. The man was just too twisted. So, to Ren it seemed that his only real option was to continue his verbal attack, to torture Wenlock in his mind. He would show no mercy. “And here you are, having moved on from your vile longings for one woman, to another. I wonder why that is? Let me guess, you want someone to love you. And yet nobody ever will. You're a twisted, sick man longing to be accepted by someone, and the only way that could possibly happen is for you to kidnap them and force them to fake a demonstration of some affection. Perhaps you have the futile hope that some perverted form of Stockholm syndrome will set in and make the woman actually like you.” Ren was standing directly behind Wenlock now, talking quietly into his ear. “Even then, you would know deep down that it was fake, worthless. You know that will never happen. Nobody will ever love you.” Mizuki whacked the Mouse King with a sword, again, using Blitz.
Ren had, for quite a while now, kept quiet and to himself. He was tired, not just physically but mentally as well, and so he took the opportunity to just ruminate over a few, inconsequential personal matters, such as what he wanted for dinner tomorrow, what his stance on the new water tax was, and where the hell all his socks could possibly be going. Someone was probably taking them in some malicious bid for revenge. Probably someone called Danny. Fuck Danny. As riveting as the possibilities regarding Danny's heist of his socks, Ren had to come back to the present sooner or later. The staff had been forged, Aiden had taken his leave, and Peggy had lost a pair of legs or something. That wasn't what caught his attention though. What caught his attention was the massive rainbow hanging in the sky. The most curious thing about this wondrous rainbow was that it had formed without any significant amount of water in the atmosphere. There hadn't been any rain recently, and since Ren's knowledge of meteorological phenomena was somewhat limited he didn't know what else could possibly cause this event, so he had to conclude that the rainbow was magical, or caused by magic. He tended to believe the former, because the only magical event he had seen recently was the Peggy thing, and there was absolutely no reason why the transformation of some random winged horse should cause the refraction of light through water droplets that weren't even there in the first place. Ren stood up to get a better view of the rainbow, admiring it. “Wow, now that is a rainbow,” he commented to the others. “A mighty fine rainbow indeed. I think I'll name it. Something like Bartholomew, or Carl, or – ooh, I know, Danny! HEY, DANNY!” he called out to the rainbow, “HOW'S IT GOING? NICE WEATHER WE'RE HAVING! WAIT, ARE YOU THE DANNY THAT KEEPS STEALING MY SOCKS? YOU ASS. FUCK YOU DANNY.” Deciding that Danny wasn't worth wasting any further breath on, Ren sat back down and turned his back on him. “My socks, they always go missing,” he explained to the rest of the group. “I'm pretty sure Danny is the one behind it.”
Mizuki used Blitz. I am so great at coming up with these amazing points, aren't I?
Mizuki used Blitz. Yeah, I said I'd make a proper post later, but I guess that wasn't true? Fighting is fighting, and I'm not sure what to do with Hasu right now. So I'll just go to sleep instead.
