HereComesTheSnow

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Just spread a little thin creatively right now. I’ll see if I can get something up by the end of wednesday.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

gerard has never once been an intimidating man who looks capable of violence

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

happy new year gamers

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Merry Christmas everyone!

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Gerard Segremors

They were right there, reeling from the first charge. One more would break the line entirely, scattering them like the threshing winds of a storm...

A grimace, teeth baring themselves upon a tight jaw, had made its way to his face without his knowledge— revealed to him as he felt his lungs draw the chilly night air through the grate of bone. Like a starved wolf, ready to pounce upon hapless meat...

And no knight.

He drew in another, deeper breath, this time through his nose. More than anything, he wanted to make good on his plotted assault, to play the role he'd hammered into himself for years—

"Phew."

And more than anything, he saw the wisdom in Fleuri's words, and knew that he was right. In the beginning of it all, this was the exact reason he ceded his action to the more tenured knight. He held the same aggression in his training, the same zeal for cutting down a wicked foe and pressing an advantage for all it could be worth— but his head was yet cooler, and his mastery of himself far more complete. That man's mind was finely tuned for knighthood even in the heat of the battlefield, in ways Gerard wondered his own ever could be. Tempering himself like this was one such.

And that made it paramount.

He cast his gaze anew to the scene before him as his fellow rode off, and saw what he hadn't before. They had reeled from the first pass, yes, but were now rallying, bringing their spears to the fore and tightening their ranks. Had he swept them up in another run then, he would have himself been caught in a net of their spears and shields. They were still within a relative near position to the treeline... and well beyond the primary objective. If their vanguard caught caught extended so far from the center, others could push in from either side and penetrate to the inner lines. They were encircled already— it'd only be a matter of time that them pushing out and detaching would weaken both resultant groups of the knights. This was how you lost a defense point.

And that was what this was.

Protection, not Assault.

"We don't want the Boars to separate us from her."

"Do not overextend yourselves."

"It's important to think, even in the face of a storm."

"Cool your head, Segremors, you impetuous—"

"Remember, this is first and foremost a rescue mission."

... If I cannot heed my fellows' words, what am I? A simple fighting dog, who goes mad at the scent of blood?

Every time, that has been what I do. Fight. Rage. Kill.

I chased an ideal to get here. I joined this order to embody that image.

To ignore it all now would be to have never left what I used to be.

Take action, you damnable fool.

He gripped the reins in his left hand and tapped his horse's flank, bringing him 'round to start a canter towards the center of the clearing. From his throat ripped a call, a growl of dissatisfaction turned to more useful end. Rough and boisterous, he caught the two-toned gaze of the newbie and jerked his head in the selfsame direction, beckoning her with his jaw as they rode.

"Runa, you heard the man!" He turned fully once he was sure she'd heard, his lungs having done a fair job of cutting through the noise. In his eyes, he felt the flames of anticipation recede and give way to the steel of determination. It wasn't important that he hadn't bothered with his usual attempts at polite speech— what mattered was far deeper set in the context of the battlefield."We're tightening the main line! Let's move!"

Urging a burst of speed from his horse, he thundered down the clearing and dismounted some dozen feet out, a roughly similar distance as Fleuri from Maritza's protective coils, and the Cal heiress's monolithic protector. In terms of the defense, he was certainly still on the front end of their main forces, and poised to meet their frontrunners head on—

But not nearly so projected as to get himself killed, or worse still, offer the Boars the opening in the Roses' ranks they were likely waiting to exploit. It was the difference between being the advance force, the very same first waves that he had just chopped through on horseback, and the main troops proper. He realized that he'd been, subconsciously as the rush of swordplay took him, regressing right back into that old role, with no regard for its place. Falling back on simple familiarity.

For a man who supposes his greatest strength is experience, how amateur can I be before it explodes in my face?

He held his longsword in both hands, setting himself in a tight ochs guard near the rear echelon, opposite Haelstadt and Fleuri. Chances were that the massive knight would soon be something the Boars saw as an obstacle to avoid entirely— thus funneling themselves wherever he wasn't after his butchery made itself obtrusive.

There, they'd run into him, and he'd put his money where his proverbial mouth was regarding their combat training. To cut them down would be no small amount of personal revenge, as he'd clashed with the Boars many a time under the banner of the Faceless, and lost his share of comrades already—

But I am a Verlorene Haufen no more. I'm a Reon-damned Knight. Time to act like it.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Tonight.

Secundi Lux

---

A few minutes more passed, as the two Ars Magi floated through the hall, a wheel within a wheel within a wheel as they, now comfortable with eachothers' pace and the waltzing rhythm of the orchestration. They spent it in relative silence— at least, what counted as it for Selma, stuck in a crowd of people and with a dance partner in hand. Idle chatter floated between them in undertone, mostly championed by the leading conifer as she commented upon a pair there, a step here, a minor tip every now and again as Chie settled into her burgeoning proficiency.

It was a comfortable one, at the very least, that not-silence. Where the pressure of standing out, of being shown off within and unto the many unfamiliar present, may have weighed upon the pair before, Selma could feel it easing off of her strong shoulders as it melted atop the solid bedrock of friendly company. She knew it had to be the same for her roommate, to focus solely on matching the steps and learning the technique rather than worry herself with the stiff, alien atmosphere.

But such things didn't last forever. Every song had to end, and every dance needed its denouement. The pair slowed when the crowd slowed, and stilled when the crowd stilled, locked in place as the murmur of changing hands and changing faces surrounded them. Selma, for her part, smirked as she performed a small, courtly bow, shading of her prior chivalry returning to her expression.

"And so, my dear student, you have passed this test." she spoke in grandiose, lordly tones, those that served to very poorly beguile, barely disguising a simple mirth in the act of the facade itself. "I am honored to have taught you, and to have had this dance—"

A tap upon her folded bicep came from the crowd, before she could continue pushing that bit any further than she'd really planned it. Nice timing, come to think of it, that tended to spiral out of control when she wasn't looking.

“Excuse me,” a voice began, “As a member of the Officer’s Academy, I have to make a formal complaint. It’s not fair for the prettiest Ars Magi to only dance with each other.”

Rising and straightening her back, Selma turned halfway to face the young man who spoke, part of an almost picturesque pair. Two handsome gentlemen, clad in the navy blazers of the officer's academy (much like the one she wore), stood, having emerged from the bubbling mass of unrecognizable faces, almost perfectly set against eachother. One dark and stormy, saying nothing, a looming tower of mystery and intrigue. The other offering her the same hand he'd caught her attention with, outstretched in request as a charmingly easygoing grin set itself upon a pretty face.

So, this was what their sister school had been up to, then. While she and her team had been training for Battle day in and day out, these were the young men who had been training for War, without nearly the glamour or such storied prestige. These would be her future commanders— perhaps in the vein of Captain Wei, back on the train. The cool and efficient woman's directions seemed so distant now, as though it'd been years since she'd heard them.

Hopefully she was getting on alright. As much as Selma and Rivka had both been ragging on the whole rail itinerary for losing their stuff, the good Captain was A Real One in the eyes of Rosmarie.

Selma, beneath her raised eyebrows of mild surprise, met his almond eyes with her own in appraisal, taking a moment to search for what she saw ticking...

"My, my." she then crooned faux-coquettishly, breaking out into her characteristic broad grin barely a moment later. Fair play to him, he definitely wasn't backing down an inch! The sure could do a hell of a lot worse than a confident operator, if every battle was as chaotic as the ones they'd survived already. "They teach you guys flattery over there too? Color me impressed!"

She tossed Chie a cheeky wink as she took the shorter officer's hand, miming a curtsy as she pulled against the hem of an imaginary dress, far removed from the gold of her slacks. For all they knew, the girls would be working under one of these gentlemen's command in the future. Way she saw it, it certainly didn't hurt to play along with a little cheesy routine to break the ice. Plus, it'd give her an excuse to practice the lady's perspective of the dance, which occupied what Selma knew as the Cool Zone of proficiency:

More than you'd think, Less than I'd like.

"I think I can spare one, if you'll have me. I'll warn you though—" Selma spoke more quietly next as she stepped in, position practiced as ever in spite of her stature as she inclined her head towards the young man, halfway expecting a sudden burst of Rivka-flavored orchestration to switch them up from Waltz to Samba. "I just got done leading the pretty one through the steps. I'm gonna have to be a li'l selfish and kick the ball in your court, Herr Offizier."

Where had that thunderhead of purple gotten off to, anyway? She hopefully wasn't accosting the poor band too roughly... Then again, none of the brass had begun a startled squawk through their pipe instruments, so she'd probably be fine.

Well, anyway—

She'd be more than willing to give the dude a chance, but for both their sakes, she hoped he'd stay true to that cavalier attitude he'd approached with, and forgive her her directness. It'd be a lot easier to get along when everyone was speaking within their comfort zones.

"Name's Selma, by the way."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

hell week, holidays are definitely coming down hard. i'll try to get things up before i fly out on the Eve, if not i'll open up a gdoc while i'm in the air and kill the 3 hours productively. I would tonight, but all the caffeine i've had to get through the past two days is pulling my brainstem down into my scapulae

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

AGGRESSION [X]
BATTLEFIELD EXPERIENCE [X]
PHYSICALITY [X]
SELF-PRESERVATION [ ]

MISSION FIRST, COMRADES FIRST, ME SECOND

I've beaten the "seeing self as expendable" drum since the word go, him only getting by on a combination of ferocity, serviceable technique, and hard-baked instincts as well as, thus far, more than a little luck. I can likely mine things further— such as the most recent post with him not liking fighting on horseback terribly much. He gets the idea, he gets why it's a good idea, he gets how the idea works— but it feels much less comfortable than he does as an infantryman due to being almost exclusively on the very front lines in his mercenary career (to say nothing of how his innate desire to go in and fuck 'em up would get his poor horse hurt, and that wouldn't do at all).

That's one thing for certain. He's also not scamming his way out of consequences of his bullshit self-concept forever.

I could probably find more still if I keep looking after this post. Such as, technique is serviceable, but it manifests just as much in applied principles as it does specifically honed form— he's cognizant of it and working on tightening things up, but it's still rough-around-the-edges, gritty swordplay. In a dueling setting, if he can't impose his front-running momentum and physical attributes on a better technician, he ought to have a rough day.

I've been thinking about this dumb angry dude a lot over the span of the game.

Regarding posts, I'm looking to let @Crimson Paladin go first.

Hope all's well, @JessieTargaryen.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

@HereComesTheSnow Should we keep moving for now?

@Raineh Daze

sure

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!