HereComesTheSnow

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

I don't believe be able to post for at least another week due to family affairs. There's a very small chance I could squirrel away some time somewhere, but please don't wait on me if anyone is.

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

Received bad news today. Will notify you guys if I cannot post for this round

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

Gerard Segremors

@JessieTargaryen@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

Their ranks crumbled beneath the crushing surge from the knights, and they began to turn tail at the behest of their blackguard officer. One by one, by two, by five, then by tens— the Boars were in full retreat, scattering and melting into the trees, out of the reach of his silver-stained crimson. His own breaths now filled the deafening void in the wake of clashing steel and spraying blood. The Knight-Captain's high and clear call reached his ears to confirm it:

The night was won.

"Victory," he managed, lost beneath the stronger cries of his fellows with fuller lungs.

Gerard... didn't know how long it had been.

Even with the resolute desire for presence within the chaos, time was a wind that slipped between his fingers, even had he wanted purely to grasp it. To throw oneself in the melee as he had, lost within the swordplay, it was a fool's errand. All he knew was that his condition hadn't failed before their morale.

Though, as he stood there panting, it may have yet been a close-run thing. Following up the Zweihander might not have exactly been tip of the spear, but acting as the weight driving behind it was tough work in its own right— like sprinting up a mountainside. All momentum— the moment he lost pace or focus, he would have been gutted like a fish. Their training had seen to it that they could exploit the opportunity Fleuri and Runa had created, but, equally, the Boars had their own— and it allowed them to get halfway to regrouped.

He took a step forward, waving to the two he'd wedged himself betwixt—

On the individual level, at least, their counterattacks had been sound right at the end. The better fighters, more experienced of the Boars, had for all his distaste of them been cut from the same cloth as he— thinking and acting on their feet was pressed into them on the anvil of the war campaign. The knights had won on a formation level handily with the snap judgement made by the Doppelsoldner routine.

—"Good work, people,"—

But on the individual, man-to-man combative level, it was much closer in the thick of it. The knightly pedigree had certainly not come unfounded— as a mercenary, Gerard wasn't sure that he'd have not lost anyone like this. There was a reason you were paid double, as the name implied.

—And found the world to drift out of and back into focus, catching himself as he staggered.

Well, shit.

That wasn't right.

He grunted, shaking his head and forcing his vision straight again. With a furrowed brow, the knight wiped sweat free from his face only to find himself suddenly aware of a deep, burning sting down from his cheekbone to his jawline, fading back into his senses as the last of the fight left him, and he was brought down to earth.

He grit teeth as more of those same lines of angry, dull flame began to draw themselves along the gaps in his armor, the folds of cloth where he moved. His armor had begun to feel heavier, now, and he imagined he was beginning to look a little pale and sluggish. Was the air always this cold?

Well, it being nighttime, maybe it was just the atmosphere. Long days asked for long rests, and the moon was high among the stars tonight, drowning them beneath its soft white glow. Tired and aching were familiar enough...

He checked his palm, fearing the result. A pull in his arm didn't make matters any better...

Red.

No trying to convince himself otherwise now.

He sighed inwardly, as two thoughts hit his mind at roughly the same moment as he marched forward again, this time with a pointedly steady stride.

Guess that was a long time coming.

"Fleuri, Runa. All good?"

Ow. Ow, okay. Ow. Dammit. Ow.

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

nothing today, it valentine

an idea is formed for later in the week though

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

I think we're making some progress on it. Luckily, I've been very careful with it and caught the twinge early enough that it's not developed into something serious.

Happy Lunar New Year, to those celebrating!

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

Gerard Segremors

@JessieTargaryen@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin

And roughshod over the Boars, the crushing thunder chased the piercing lightning.

He recognized this.

As the man ahead of him charged forward, drawing his zweihander into a whirling, deadly cyclone of silver, Gerard caught his intent in that shared glance all but perfectly— and it seemed the more things were to change, the more they'd stay the same. How to reconcile his reforged commitment to grow beyond his past with this perfect position to draw upon the experience it gave... he could not begin to scratch upon it. The irony registered in his head, passing as a flicker, before the crash of steel on wood blew it away. He could ruminate when there was time for it.

"For Reon! For the Roses!"

"For Reon! Their lines are broken!"

His voice echoed Fleuri's, a coarse bellow that doubtlessly reached the ears of all on the field.

His legs had already begun to move as the call resonated in his ears, body acting even while the mind had jammed. As a mercenary in the Black Regiment, he had played this role so many times as to beat it into the very fiber of his being, surging towards the Boars' second line in Fleuri's wake with longsword held ready. As an emulation of a Doppelsöldner, his senior's primary focus was acting as a shock troop— hitting the formation hard and fast, with intent to disrupt just as much as kill. The Zweihander he held had tremendous cutting power thanks to its length, mass and balance once it got up to speed, and he plainly wielded it amply, utilizing himself as fulcrum and maintaining that hewing, smashing momentum as much as he could without overextending his balance.

And smash it did. Ahead of him, in the second and a half span between their charges, Gerard saw him bring all that velocity and force down upon not the boars wielding the spears, but a comet crashing down onto the hafts themselves. It knocked them loose from their grips, the sudden force down past the center of the weapons' balance sending them in a jumble as their thicket of spearheads were knocked aside, past where they could be kept facing Fleuri, Gerard, or the troops yet behind.

The ghost of a smile crossed his face. Such a misplaced pride, given the circumstances, and yet...

The torrid, bright yellow-orange of a surging bonfire burst to life in his peripheral, and he realized that Runa was making her own stab at the idea, a few paces away. The sword she carried served as something of an intermediate point between his own and Fleuri's Zweihander, not quite so plainly smashing as the latter but still enough to amply knock the spears off line— and if any of them caught the flame, so much the better.

Two pockets of discord in the formation ahead, on either side. Two of his compatriots extended outward, ahead of him, and potentially encircled once the enemy regrouped from the sudden disruptions in formation. Already working their way into the meat behind the spears they attacked, the concept of attacking the weapon to split the guard as the enemy was forced to retreat or recover. Step upon the enemy's sword, and you have his throat without fail. They had maybe seconds.

On their own, that was.

He had to keep his head about him. The rush of combat was inevitable. It was the body readying itself for doing whatever it needed to survive. Like stepping into a roaring river, it was not a force you stopped. He couldn't hold it down. He would ride the current. Let it carry him, but not toss him about.

In his final steps, Gerard centered his resolve.

"DON'T LET 'EM REGROUP!"

And then he was upon them, and let the flow of swordplay take his movement.

The former mercenary brought his longsword down through the collarbone of the nearest Boar in a tight oberhau while they scrabbled to bring their formation back to proper regimenting, to reassert their control over their weapons. It bit deep, drawing a spray of crimson— and with a firm boot planted in the chest, Gerard wrenched it free again, shoving the dying man into his fellows behind. He drew it up to his brow, entering ochs guard, before stepping forward in a lunge and ramming the tip into another as they tripped over the sudden body in their feet.

Having caught himself between the two, his role was crucial now— the more he capitalized on those moments of disruption, the safer he would leave his two fellows as those moments passed. He fell in upon both groups simultaneously from their fringes— the areas that were also most likely to survive the initial clashes with Fleuri and Runa without him.

A senior and a junior knight. A respected mentor and one of the first wave of recruits newer even than he.

Both ends of his relationship with the Order, and his status within its members. Two very different sets of responsibilities a man could feel, but both ended at one duty: He would not let them die for this.

All rank fell away in the melee. They were fellow soldiers knights now, no more and no less.

For their courage to amount to nothing would be the lowest thanks he could give— no honor to be had. No justice.

He would answer them rightly.

Cutting,
whirling,
thrusting,
swinging,
parrying,
fighting,
killing. killing all who would do harm.

Gerard felt the rhythm, the ebb and flow, hold him again, guide his hand through motions it knew. His skirmishes with the Boars would serve a grander purpose here than he had ever known they would within them. He trusted the memory of his body, and let his mind clear.

Need not rage.

Purpose.

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

looking at tomorrow

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

been dealing with a minor knee injury, pushing post back a couple days. luckily, also been a couple days to hunt down literature on landsknecht stuff to help me get an idea of what i’ll have Gerard do here

Secundi Lux

---

"True enough," she replied simply, subtly adjusting her steps as to account for the change in partner height and respective role. It wasn't too terribly often she got the chance to follow rather than lead— proof positive that there was some merit in taking up the offer, if for nothing else. Practicing on her weak areas was far easier when it came to dance than in her studies— speaking of which.

"As for classes, well." she rode the twirl tightly, taking care to mind her close proximity with everyone else on the floor. As much as she did enjoy a good clothesline every now and again, there was a time and place— and clubbing what may well have been a noblewoman in the throat with a back elbow because one decided to get a little too samba in their waltz was a step far, even for her.

Get it?

If anything, this Hyun boy's confidence surprised her; albeit less so in gamely chatting up a fun-loving tree and potential future coworker (that all made a certain amount of sense), but more in his foot position and rhythm, how he comfortably lead her along in their wheel within wheels. All things considered...

"I can't imagine they're that boring, if they're finding time to drill a little clean dance in as well. You'd be surprised at how much theory they throw at us with Nox concentration, diffusion, manifesting your Parma, blah blah blah..." she replied, smirking down at him, wry edge to her voice. Sounded like school was the same no matter where you went— in a way, it was comforting. While she often dreaded some of the drier lectures they'd all politely endured day in and day out together, it was a kind of stability she knew she'd one day no longer have. A bedrock block of schedule, a clear goal and task for each day.

In a way, having something to throw herself towards was a part of how she stayed even-keeled. Something to fall back on.

Kind of ironic, given how that choreography kept breaking every time she tried to picture it. What was the word, again? In English, it was supposed to be self-exemplary— an oxymoron, riiiiiight. That was a fun word. She ought to use it more, really keep their literature professor on her toes.

Regardless, though, the charming young cadet had mentioned something that piqued the taller girl's curiosity, and a raised eyebrow atop a face that was falling back into a curious frown. Not malevolent, not discontented, but mildly puzzled. A familiar expression, given all the talk of their schooling.

"So what exactly have you guys over at the Officer Academy heard, anyway?"

She had to wonder. The examinations were on a video feed, and had dozens of eyewitnesses present, so the C-Class manifesting on top of poor Chie's run was probably a lost cause to cover up in full.

The subway too, though? As far as she'd known, the four of them that came out of it, thick as thieves, had kept it to themselves.

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

love the image of him just a step to Fleuri's back and right, nodding like fucking Jack Nicholson