The Otter

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@Raineh Daze

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Fionn had sharp eyes, and neither the twitch nor the barest bit of reticence in moving didn't go unnoticed. "Listen, even if you're holding it up for me, that's still an awkward position for both of us if I sit on the floor," he grumbled, carefully transferring both plates to one hand, rolling up his sleeve, and walking over to sit next to the diminutive vampire. It sounded like the most she'd be taking would be about a pint, then; that shouldn't be too hard to deal with. Rest up, drink a lot of water or something else minimally intoxicating, stock up on the red meats and organ meats at dinner.

And probably the spinach, if they had any.

"Ever develop any preferences for specific people's blood? There's gotta be taste and texture differences, like, same as with a cow depending what it's fed on lately." Might at least satisfy some of his random curiosity if he was going to experience some mild exsanguination by Tyaethe's fangs. He glanced forlornly down at the cake and the pie, neither of which he could really eat with a single hand without making some sort of mess.

Hopefully it wouldn't take her too long, otherwise he'd wish he had a book or something else to occupy his attention.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@Raineh Daze

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It made sense. They couldn't well afford just to have a small pool of knights constantly left unable to fulfill their duties just because of constantly feeding Tyaethe, nor would it be particularly feasible to hire in servants just to have their blood drawn when the First and Youngest was feeling peckish. If anything, the latter would probably massively harm the reputation of the order in the long run if news of it got out; sure, it would be all well and good if those who were hired for it knew full well what was expected of them and agreed to it whole-heartedly, but such a tale would massively decrease the hiring pool if anybody who wanted to work in the keep thought they might be expected to give blood. Neverminding that it could be spun as the Iron Roses preying upon the poor and needy, paying them just to feed the local vampire.

Yet it was his blood. He needed it. She said that it wouldn't be too much, that it would only put him out of any strenuous activity, heavy exercise or the like, for the rest of the day; what if she was wrong? What if she accidentally drank too much? It was a silly worry, but it was one that existed all the same. He'd lost decent amounts of blood before, and while the wounds that led to it helped, he was still nearly bedridden afterwards. Surely she wouldn't take that much, though, right?

"How much do you need, and do you prefer to just bite in, or rather cut it open and let it flow that way?" Neither was particularly comfortable to imagine, but sitting there with her teeth sunken into his wrist seemed the less comfortable of the two. "I get to sit down for this, right?" Surely she wasn't so mean as to declare her dedicated spot off-limits even when draining his veins.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@Raineh Daze

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He started to withdraw the desserts with a small bit of surprise, before reflexively answering "Fionn's fine, honest—"

And then the rest of what she was saying sank in. He blinked once, twice, and raised an eyebrow in morbid curiosity. "There's veins right at the surface in the wrist, and it's easier to bite them open without killing the person anyways. Why would you go for anywhere different?" A simple, clinical fact; anywhere else trying to reach the blood would probably need more damage to be done to the surrounding flesh, and would be harder to stop the bleeding after.

He blinked again. That was probably the wrong outlook to take on this.

"Wait, is this the normal protocol for having a conversation with you, or do you just ask every knight this eventually?" Probably only the clean ones, actually; he couldn't imagine biting into one of the grimier, unwashed fools among the knights would be a particularly pleasant experience. Beyond the extent to which being a vampire probably wasn't the most pleasant experience to begin with.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@ERode @Psyker Landshark @Raineh Daze

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Common soldiery might even have been a stretch, as Renar put it; mercenaries often carried a strange blend of professionalism and outright terrible discipline that set them well apart from the common soldiery and the noble men-at-arms and knights alike. "Maybe make sure one of those letters you send out is a request for some instructional tomes on tactics to add to the library, then," he said as he turned, walking out the smithy with one hand lazily waved at them in farewell. Though, as he walked on towards the main dining hall, the joke seemed to make more and more actual sense to him.

Certainly, most of the knights in the order knew more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery, but if nobles the country over had the same opinions that Renar was suggesting they did...he'd rather the order as a whole have more than a smattering of elemental strategy.

After their ride into town, the talk in the smithy, and all, by the time he'd made it to the dining hall much of the food from the recent meal was going cold; the servants and staff that kept the keep running were gathering up what was left untouched to give out as alms to the poor and such. While he could take advantage of his status to have the cooks whip up something small and fresh for him, it suited him far better to take something from the leftovers that he could find. Some crusty bread, a few slices of roast something laid atop it with some cheese and the gravy from the roast that hadn't congealed, and whatever decent-looking vegetables he could find made a decent and fast late lunch for him; for dessert, a slice each of cake and pie that he could find.

One for him, one for the next target of conversation for the day, assuming she was in a good enough mood to converse at all; hopefully the dessert would be good enough to bribe her into it. Smuggling the two desserts he'd taken past any of the staff near the doors to the dining hall, he quickly made his way toward the paladin's usual spot—one marked by a collection of pillows, one of which looked suspiciously like the one he'd noticed had gone missing from his bed before they set out on their little mission—just to find her bespectacled red eyes already placed firmly upon him.

"Can I help you?"

He held out the desserts.

"Sambocade, dame Tyaethe, or a spiced pome tart?" He glanced back down at the pie slice. "Oh, the tart has dates in it too."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@ERode @Psyker Landshark

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Luckily, none of them seemed to want to turn any of the conversation into a full argument. "I won't stop you from complaining, just don't start wishing ill on him," he replied, his expression remaining serious for a moment longer...before breaking into a sly smile.

"It doesn't really fit the aesthetic you've tried to cultivate to look like you care so much about what he does, anyways."

As for the matter of Fanilly, Serenity's truest thoughts weren't hard to guess at on that matter, but the fact that she took care to remain diplomatic delivering some of them was worth a bit of relief. "She's not the worst captain I've ever dealt with, at least. She had to have some training before taking the reins—a lot of the free companies, you get made leader just because you're of noble birth and felt like jumping in, regardless of any experience you have. I once had to deal with one who strapped his cuirass on backwards. She's already far better than that, so I've no doubt that she'll manage in time."

He might've said something about drilling out a hole and pinning the spear head rather than just nailing it onto the haft after seeing Serenity's choice of attachment, but decided against it; hafts would still break all the time, and it didn't look or sound like the ash pole she'd found had split or cracked near where the head was attached. The bardiche would be fine in the hands of the smith and his apprentices and assistants to polish out the nicks and scratches, and then he could mount it back in his quarters as a souvenir from his first full-scale battle with the Iron Roses; he could go train, but there was something more pressing that he could feel gnawing in the pit of his stomach.

Before long, the other two would be just as likely to start hearing it as he could feel it. It had been a while since breakfast.

"Well, I think it's high time I go and find something to eat. I'll see you each on the training grounds bright and early, unless you have any more questions for me?" If it was more about the Captain, he honestly hoped they didn't. "Maybe I'll even pester Tyaethe, and see if she knows why they let Lucas in, just to satisfy your curiosity. Or get some more tales of Iron Roses unit tactics rather than champion antics."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@ERode @Psyker Landshark

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"Renar."

His tone was recognizably sharper than it had been with Serenity moments earlier. He understood where Renar was coming from, of course, but he couldn't—wouldn't—hide the disapproval he felt at the man's words. "It isn't our choice to judge, nor to feel insult at. Clearly they saw something in him, we should try to keep him alive and grow his strengths into a worthy knight. If we're lucky, he and Fleuri will both realize their mistakes in that absurdity of a fight."

The formality was fully dropped in that moment; in the face of such clear ill-wishing for one of their own, Fionn's own temper would take precedence over his paying lip-service to propriety. The attempt to so quickly change the topic, especially after saying as much as he just had, didn't go unignored either; if anything, it just contributed to his willingness to immediately reprimand Renar's attitude.

Same actual rank or no; friends or no. Some things just shouldn't be allowed.

"The captain, for her part, was managing to hold out until we arrived, and doesn't seem too worse for wear. She'll manage fine, I think, so long as we can keep her from walking into any more ambushes." The flickering glance at Serenity didn't go unnoticed either, but he wasn't about to let her thoughts on the captain stop him from delivering his own. He'd just have to hope he wouldn't have to get in an outright argument with either of them when all he'd been looking for was confirmation that the battle was as insane on their ends as he'd thought.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@ERode @Psyker Landshark

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At Renar's rolled eyes and explanation of himself, Fionn couldn't keep the smile off of his features. "Your altruism never fails to astound," he said after a moment of stifling a small laugh. "Nobody ever does think about the headsmen, or the people that have to maintain the gallows in all this, do they?" He ought to try and reinforce the point that some of the others had made, likely, if only from the standpoint of personal faith...but he had a sneaking suspicion that trying to do so wouldn't have the intended effect.

Taking the opportunity to poke fun at Renar, however, was a path that should always be taken when presented so clearly. That wonder answered, it was back to the more pressing topic. Disquiet about Jeremiah could wait, wondering just what had gotten into Fleuri's head could wait. The other...

"I don't know that Lucas will ever be cut out for this, at least not the way we are. He wasn't raised to it, he isn't inured to it, and his skills don't suit the knight he's trying to be. That could change with some hefty training, but..." He glanced around, nodding at a growing pile of arrowheads that one of the apprentices was forging. "Someone ought to impress upon him that he could better serve in a different role. He could be a capable scout, I've got no doubt that he could make a fine archer. We just need to make him realize it, and make him actually think before he rushes into the middle of things, otherwise he will get himself killed."

Easier said than done, of course; Fionn wasn't even a full decade older than the youngest of the knights, but even that time was enough for him to look back and recognize just how little sense or planning went into anything he did.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@ERode @Psyker Landshark

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"Mmm. Most true enemies have something to aspire to, in my experience, or at least something to learn from." If there was one decision he'd made since he first set out from home, it was that he'd never underestimate any opponent. That was the path to complacency, and complacency meant a dagger between the ribs. "But I don't know that such was really his goal. More of a consequence of everything else that transpired."

Even Fleuri attempting to jump on the griffin and ride it...it was ridiculous, and well beyond his own penchant for ridiculous action. Maybe the Flower of the North still had a love for performance in him after all. Lucas doing such was, of course, unsurprising, if a bit worrisome. The lad shouldn't be in the front lines like us. He'd been sure of it for a while, he was more sure now after Lucas had finally tasted combat. He'd just have to find something to do about it.

Of course, considering the front lines: "Probably more than seven, if I had to guess...but did I hear right about the offer you gave them as they were surrendering? Trying to pad the numbers a bit, lad?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@ERode @Psyker Landshark

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He'd have to ask if they could drop the constant formality at some point. Honorifics were all well and good in certain situations, but being a peasant from Velt raised to the knighthood for his ability, rather than by virtue of his birth, the constant sirs and dames and such were starting to get grating. The presence of the master smith and his crew of apprentices and servants (among all the others in the keep), all of whom would likely be somewhat shocked if the formalities were entirely dropped in their presence, notwithstanding.

"Or to carve through a man's armour as easily as I could drive my knife through butter?" he rhetorically asked back, his tone level but with a clear undercurrent of disapproval. "I wouldn't make light of the title he called himself by. The man was proper beastly, like; I'd heard tell of the Terror of the Red Flag, the Three-Hundred Man Slayer with the free company, but I didn't have a name to attach. Seeing him in person..."

Fionn rolled his shoulders slightly uncomfortably, giving one last look at the bardiche before setting it against the wall. "It's a rare man who makes me feel small. Rarer still can wield a blade like that. Then you consider that he went in bare-chested, and even with only one hand was still mounting an effective defence against three of us, even if only for a short time? I've little doubt the reputation was well earned."

And yet he didn't fight like a man who intended to achieve his goals. He should've expected that this disquiet would return, even after the effort he'd done to push it away on the return trip. Thinking too much about Jeremiah and the fight, however, brought it back quite easily. "There'll be a lot of work before any of us—excepting the First and Youngest, of course—can singly match up to his level, I think. There might have been some things I could try were I fighting him alone and uninjured, but as it was, it seemed most prudent to take advantage of the situation, force him onto the back foot, keep him unable to attack back. Eventually Gerard put his point between Jeremiah's ribs, and before he could lash out one last time the captain did the same from the other side as I moved to constrain his blade."

How much to reveal of his inner thoughts, though? What reaction might it be met with? From Renar he was certain he'd receive some understanding, but Serenity might prove more of a risk. Still, if he was going to work alongside them so often, he might as well put a bit more trust in both. "His removal is a worthy achievement, I think, but I don't feel much satisfaction in it. Even if he was singularly focused on revenge against the order for defeat suffered in the past, he did not fight like a man who wanted or planned to win, nor did his band, and I have trouble reconciling his reputation with his actions." He nodded at Serenity, once.

"Dropping the tree. Unleashing the griffin. Endangering his forces and cutting himself off from them, with no heed to the concept that the captain wouldn't be similarly cut-off, that her forces might join her far sooner than his might him. The show of going in with no armour...even trying to send a message by killing or breaking the captain, whether he ultimately won or lost, doesn't seem to fully fit. No doubt, in some way, he wanted to express his sense of superiority, but I can't help but wonder that he might have just been trying to choose how he died, in some corner of his soul."

A concept that, unsurprisingly, did not help Fionn feel in any way good about the success he'd helped to achieve, protecting the captain and Gerard while enabling them to finish off such a foe as Jeremiah. He shook his head. "But, enough of my reservations over the results of that particular part of the battle. What of yours? And more importantly, what were they even trying to do jumping on that griffin?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@ERode @Psyker Landshark

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Luckily, Renar, Tyaethe, and Sergio hadn't needed any back-up by the time he got over; those few who were rejecting any offer of surrender quickly rounded up and dispatched by the time he got back over the burning log. Afterwards, he'd done his part in rounding up the prisoners, disposing of bodies, and the trip back had been relatively uneventful. Taking turns with Gerard to display Jeremiah's sword as another symbol of their victory as they passed various villages, or after re-entering the capital city, was the most work that really came to them as their column rode along.

Otherwise, he stuck near the back of the pack, riding alongside the cart that carried Rickert's corpse rather than making conversation with the others. The satisfaction he'd felt at helping fell the bandit king had rapidly diminished as he thought more about the rest of the battle; less due to the losses they'd sustained, which were themselves rather minimal, but more the nature of the battle itself. Surprises could never be avoided, they were almost to be expected, but the fact that a griffin had been unleashed upon them as it had was beyond anything he'd experienced before. Beyond that, though, was the general disregard the bandits seemed to show for each other, from using their least equipped and experienced to try and man the ambush, to Jeremiah callously dropping a tree atop his own forces in his mad search for some sort of vengeance against the knights.

To his estimation, to his understanding of tactics, they didn't fight like they wanted to win. Their leadership, at least, fought like they wanted to die, and that fostered nothing but disquiet in his soul.

By the time they made it back to the capitol, however, he seemed to have reconciled the events with his understanding and feelings well enough, starting to make his gregarious rounds through the ranks of the knights when not taking duty holding aloft the bandit king's oversized blade. Once back in the keep proper he'd quickly run to doff his traveling clothes and find something cleaner and more comfortable—and stow the singed and tattered cloak he'd have to figure out some way to salvage—before retrieving the bardiche he'd purloined from the bandit forces and starting to make his way down to the armoury and smithy...

...Utterly unsurprised to spot someone else along the way, who he'd already spotted moving to corner their bard just as he'd been making his way to his quarters. Normally he might let her pass along uninterrupted, but given they seemed to have the same general destination and Fionn was hoping that the conversation might go better than their last:

"Finished cowing our compatriots for the day?"

Why not call out to her, and see if some of her humour might start to show again now that they were free of battle?

"I think I saw Renar gathering his things to come this way as well. Care to wait for him?" He flashed her a small grin. "I don't know about either of you, but I think it would do me good to hear the unofficial recounting of your parts of the battle, and I don't think either of you are the type to shy away from giving that unofficial truth."