| Trouble on the Way | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Fri Sep 10, 2010 12:21 am (307 Views) | |
| Seed | Fri Sep 10, 2010 12:21 am Post #1 |
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Knight of Fire
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After wandering around L'Renouille for a bit and checking on his family, Seed started to grow increasingly bored and agitated. Although it was good to see that his dad was getting some passable business at the forge and his little sister was making some money doing housecleaning for some of the nobles they still couldn't quite get away from the edge of the Hastings District slums. Thankful that they hadn't been robbed, but not sure what else to do, Seed checked a nearby clock and grinned when he saw the time. "Nice! Sam's place should finally be open!" Seed exclaimed with a grin, waving down a carriage and telling the driver "To the Bloody Claymore, pronto!" A short ride later Seed walked into the tavern, greeting several familiar faces as he walked up to the bar and took a seat, saying "It's been a while, Sam! Got anything good in lately?" "As a matter of fact, we just got some Kanakan wine in," the bartender replied with a smile, cleaning a beer mug the best she could with her remaining hand. "Since His Majesty sent word of the peace ball as far away as the Toran Republic we've been getting more imports from the south recently." "Sheesh, word sure does travel fast," the red-haired man grumbled, shaking his head in disgust. "War's a pretty ugly thing, but holding a big, fancy ball with foreign visitors after a border standoff of all things?! Damn, you'd think His Majesty and the upper crust would want to save that for an occasion like the big war 30-odd years ago. Or better yet, save it for when Jowston starts messing with us again and we finally conquer their sorry asses!" "Well said," Sam remarked, putting the clean mug aside. "Anyway, do you want to try some of that Kanakan wine, or do you need to save some money for formalwear?" "Go ahead and give it to me," Seed responded with a mischievous grin. "I think we officer types can just show up in our dress uniforms anyway. Besides, I'm still tempted to fake being sick or something like that." "Oh, why's that?" the bartender asked with a smirk, pouring the fiery officer a glass of the expensive foreign wine and handing it to him. "I mean, there's going to be all those nobles' daughters in their finest clothes there. Besides, the 3rd Army regulars have told me that Lt. Anya seems to have caught your eye and she'll be there." "Oh, she'll be there all right," the red-haired man grumbled before taking a swig of his wine. "With her fop of a boyfriend. I was going to look her up earlier today and saw the two of them holding hands at the Bifrost Cafe's outside tables." "Sorry to hear that," Sam replied, unable to suppress a giggle. "She's not your type anyway, Seed, trust me. She can barely tell the difference between beer and whiskey and thinks this dress is absolutely scandalous." "Damn, talk about an uptight freak!" Seed remarked disdainfully, drinking more of his wine before continuing. "She's probably jealous she can't fill out that kind of dress the way you can anyway!" "Well, thank you very much, good sir." the bartender remarked with a saucy grin before refilling his wine glass. Although she fit in with him, Solon, and the other officers of the 4th Army so well they often called her "Sam" instead of the proper Samantha, the Bloody Claymore's proprietor was known as one of the army's great beauties back in the day. With her shoulderblade-length dark brown hair, fair skin, deep brown eyes, and curvy frame she was still extremely attractive, though the right side of her face was marred by a burn scar from a magic wound that took her eye and she was missing her left hand from another battle injury. These wounds forced her to retire from the 4th Army early, but she made the best of the situation by opening up the Bloody Claymore tavern to cater to the Highland soldiers in L'Renouille. She was still proud of her ability to pull off a low-cut dress and she wore her hair over the right side of her face to cover up the burn injuries. The ex-officer still kept her magic skills sharp, too, and had a gift for using her old skills to evict surly drunks and rude smartasses who thought her injuries made her a pushover. Before the former 4th Army Captain could return with a flirtatious remark of her own something outside caught her attention, prompting her to say "Hmm, that carriage that just pulled up looks familiar." Turning around in order to take a look at it, Seed replied "That kind-of looks like Old Man Leonard's carriage, but a lot of nobles of his standing have ones like that. Besides, when has either he or Culgan ever come here willingly?" "Point made." Sam conceded with a smile, as she and the fiery officer continued their conversation. |
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| Culgan | Tue Nov 2, 2010 8:18 pm Post #2 |
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"You planned that, didn't you?" Culgan said into the palm of his hand, rubbing the sides of his nose. "Well we can't just have Seed show up stag, and in his military uniform!" Leonard said amongst the bumps of the street going through the carriage. Culgan couldn't really object to it, he could picture it with ease. "That's true, he seems to have a strange way with the fairer sex." "Strange? That boy's traveling through the marsh without a compass! Almost all of his 'encounters' are with women looking to spite their boyfriends, fiances, or husbands. He does nothing but ruin his own reputation. He's your friend and I feel I have to watch out for him, or our own family will be thrown in the mud." "Well just don't tell him that. I want to help him too, but if he knows we're trying anything, he'll storm off in a fit. We have to be subtle at the very least." Culgan said as he opened the window of the carriage to peer out at the locale just as the carriage would come to a stop. "I'll get him." he added, and stepped out of the carriage. Culgan took a moment to prepare himself, not entirely sure how to approach the situation, but he didn't have time to linger. He took a step, pushed the door open and entered one of Seed's favorite haunts. It didn't take long for him to catch the red and white outfit of his friend, sitting there at the bar. "There you are." he walked over to sit next to his friend. "So... You are going to the ball tomorrow night... right?" he asked. |
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| Seed | Tue Nov 2, 2010 8:46 pm Post #3 |
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Knight of Fire
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"Well I'll be damned, it was him after all," Seed remarked to Samantha as he saw Culgan enter the pub. "Think he's finally decided to loosen up a bit, Sam?" "I don't know, he looks as serious as ever to me." the barmaid replied, stepping away from the officer briefly to pour beer for a White Wolf who just sat down at the bar. "That's just how he is," the red-haired man stated with a shrug, grinning at his old friend as he approached, saying "Hey! What brings you out here?" Culgan asked Seed if he was going to the ball tomorrow, seemingly hesitating about something. Seed took a swig of his wine and said "What, did Gregor tell you I was planning on calling in sick and skipping it? I thought he knew I was joking, but the guy apparently wouldn't know one if it jumped up and bit him in the ass! So yeah, I'm going." "What's with you coming all the way out here to ask that, anyway?" the fiery officer continued, raising an eyebrow at his old comrade. "Don't tell me Old Man Leonard and Lady Laura set you up with some brat you need me to take off your hands for the night." |
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| Culgan | Tue Nov 2, 2010 9:55 pm Post #4 |
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"No, no one talked to me about it. I just wanted to check in with you about it." he let Seed continue before answering his next question. "Well... I wouldn't put it like that... Leonard, without my consent of course, set us up on a double date for the ball." he paused before continuing. "They're twins, recently moved here from Harmonia. Aside from that though, I don't know anything else. I'm afraid he's pulled a fast one on us friend." Culgan turned towards the door in his stool, leaving an arm on the bar. "I wanted to come warn you and pick you up. We should get fitted for formal wear and well, Leonard is buying. But I also figured we could make a day of it, see how far he's willing to be loose with his purse strings. Maybe we could grab a bit to eat, shop, scout on the Halvern estate and see if we can get a glimpse of what's in store for us. You in?" He turned back to his friend, offering what he felt, was an awkward, yet friendly smile. |
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| Seed | Wed Nov 3, 2010 9:21 pm Post #5 |
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Knight of Fire
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"The old man did what?!" Seed shouted upon hearing about the double date. "That sneaky... You guys really need to see about getting him some crazy pills or something." The red-haired man grumbled into his wine as Culgan explained the situation, wondering what he had done to deserve this mess. He had managed to deal with that crazy girl with the even crazier stalker ex well enough before he got shipped off to the border, hadn't he? Culgan and his family wasn't even that heavily involved in that particular mess, either, leaving the temperamental Highlander even more annoyed. To top it all off the old man apparently didn't want him there in his dress uniform, either, increasing the fiery officer's irritation even more. "Formal wear?! You're kidding, right?!" Seed spat disgustedly, regretting that he hadn't asked Sam for anything stronger. "Some of that crap I've seen the nobles wear would be too fruity for even that Oppenwhatever flower boy Toran travelers keep going on about! The old man doesn't need to worry, anyway. I can get a respectable date if I need to. Like... Sam! You can leave the bar to the staff ball night, can't you?" "I already told Annette she's in charge that night," the bartender replied with a slight smirk, looking up from refilling the White Wolf's beer. "But that's because I already have a date for the ball." "Seriously?!" the fiery officer exclaimed, not expecting this. "Don't tell me you finally decided to go with Jake just to get him to leave you alone..." "Please, I'm not that desperate," Samantha replied with mock indignation. "I'm going with a mercenary from Toran. He seemed interested in the ball and I couldn't let him be Blair Marriott's guard that night, after all. Who knows, maybe I can charm him into doing some work for Highland." "Ugh, don't remind me about that tramp," Seed grumbled, resigning himself to what was shaping up to be a bad day and worse night. "Well, good luck with the merc, Sam. I guess I don't have a choice, then. You'd better believe I intend to get my money's worth out of the old man's wallet, too..." Sighing, Seed paid for his drink and left the tavern with his old friend, giving Leonard an irritated glare when he saw him. "For all the trouble you're putting me through these Halverns better be some serious beauties, old man." |
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3:40 AM Jul 11