Faeris Scherwiz--Taejin's Army

Falling To Pieces | Queen and Faris

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:01:59 -0400

When she closed her eyes, she could still hear the falling debris around her, the sound of crumbling earth and the clash of metal against metal as her sword and Lightning’s sword made contact. The soldier had matched her strike for strike, parrying each of her blows with ease and experience. Despite being a newer recruit, she had put up a fight unlike any Queen had ever been in before.

Perhaps, the difference had been in their resolve; though stubborn and narrow-minded, there was no doubt that Lightning’s strength had been a result of her desire to protect those around her. That in itself was enough to make Queen feel even more guilty about the situation and her inability to act. Had she been stronger - had her resolve been as strong as Lightning’s - the outcome may have turned out very differently.

However, there was no point in dwelling about the past now. She needed to look forward towards the future, no matter how painful it was to let go. Rising to her feet, she took several deep breaths, blinking the tears from her eyes. She needed to be strong; she couldn’t let anyone see her weakness.

Having lost track of how long it had been since she left camp, Queen thought it best to return. There was still much that needed to be done in regards to treating casualties and foreseeing the wellbeing of survivors. As chief medic, she needed to be there to assist Faris and Serah. Taking one last look at the ruined landscape, she squeezed her eyes shut and spun on her heel, refusing to look back.

Times like this, I’m ‘specially grateful I’m just a Commando. Faris wiped a slight sheen of sweat off her forehead and lowered the water bottle she had been drinking out of. Their mission of establishing the camp complete, Faris and Serah had parted ways. The medic had other duties to attend to now, like caring for the countless victims of the disaster.

Faris had been assisting with moving boxes of supplies throughout the camp as well as setting up some more of the makeshift medic facilities and so on. It was mostly physical labor, nothing that required higher thought. For that she was grateful. After the trying circumstances of Agardon’s crisis, the strenuous task of setting up camp was a welcome way to occupy herself.

Throughout the camp there was still some panic and discord amongst the citizens, and even some of the Army members. People were naturally upset and people were crying over loved ones as well as their way of life in general. Faris sighed and leaned back against the tree she was sitting next to, placing the water bottle beside her for now.

Scanning the area around her, Faris spotted a familiar face making its way back to camp. Indeed, knowing Queen had been out there in the chaos as well had been a great source of comfort to her. A weary smile finding its way to her face, Faris lifted a hand in greeting to Queen.

“Queen!” she called to the medic to make sure the other soldier would spot her, and gestured for her to come over. After lifting heavy crates and all sorts of equipment for the past hour right after the mission, there was no way Faris was moving from her resting spot.

Her smile faded a bit when she spotted the other’s rigid stance and posture. Something didn’t seem right.

First Steps | Ingus and Faris

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:47:40 -0400

ingustaejin:

A smile began to form at the corner of his lips, as the battle began to unfold according to plan. Clash after clash Faris’ nimble form was pushed further back into the linear darkness of the cave. Light was soon becoming a problem for Ingus, so much so that he couldn’t make out her exact figure when it came time to deliver the skyward strike. As soon as his blade met the thinness of the air, he braced himself for a counter attack. Due to the position of his arms and blade, blocking was out of the question, so Ingus simply tightened his whole body. A swift and sturdy kick met with his lower obliques, delivering sharp yet minimal damage.

I tensed… If she had decided to sweep my legs, I would have buckled like a frightened goat. But if I hadn’t then I could have sustained much more damage to my midsection. It’s this light… I can’t predict, or plan in this environment. Not to mention my opponents speed and flexibility.

To his dismay, Faris began to back quickly into the darkness. A clear lure, of course, one that Ingus would have to follow. He could just spark another fire, perhaps make it portable this time, but decided to rise to Faris’ challenge. Innovation would be required.

Ingus placed his palm on the face of his blade, and closed his eyes.

“Blizzard.”

As the word parted his lips, chilling wisps slithered from his palm, and engulfed the length of his sword. Translucent crystals coated the dim steel, until it settled into condensed layers. A moment or two after this happened, whatever light was left from the fire grew intensely brighter for a second before going out completely. Darkness.

If Ingus could boast anything, it would be his control over magic. Under normal conditions, bigger and stronger was the usual use of magic. Ingus however took a different approach to the art. Rather than using it for damage purposes, Ingus liked to limit it as to use magic as a tool. For example, the fire back there was able to stay lit for so long because Ingus stretched the amount of energy it took to cast it. Instead of costing him a lot of energy at once, it slowly fed away at him until he no longer needed it. Hence the flare of light before being extinguished.

As for the sword, Ingus simply wanted the presence of ice in the already cold cave, rather than use it as a weapon. Ingus had many layers of clothes, which insulated body heat very well. Faris on the other hand was far more exposed. And once he was finished with it, he could explode it into an attack.

I have to watch my energy. Even though maintaining it costs less, the little things tend to add up. Plus, if i do decide to release the Blizzard spell in mid swing, that would cost even more.

Ingus began to advance slowly on Faris, his attention briefly switching to the 4 or 5 ethers that were nestled safely against his body.

“Getting chilly, aye?”

Although it was nearly impossible to see Faris, thanks to the linear construction of the cave, Ingus knew where she was. Without another thought, he lunged forward, and aimed a horizontal slash at the dark form in front of him.

He’s getting better, she thought to herself, as he managed to take her kick rather well. He’s relying a little more on instinct. Good.

This training session with Ingus, evalutating his skills or whatever it was she was tasked with, was rather impromptu on the whole. However one of the things that had struck her during their meeting was his rigid posture and even tight-laced personality. That was all well and good but he needed to loosen up a little. At least enough to keep up with the ever changing and unpredictable circumstances of missions.

At his intonation of “blizzard,” she grinned to herself while feeling her way through the maze of rocks. She was pleased with his use of magic. Obviously, it wasn’t her area of expertise but even she could tell that Ingus had demonstrated great ingenuity with his Ravager skills so far.

Silence ensued after his spell, and she welcomed it. Faris continued roaming through the maze of rocks; it was almost predatory, the way her boots gripped the rugged surfaces of the room silently as she slowly made her way towards Ingus, waiting for a glimpse of him and a suitable angle.

His taunt took her off guard. That was surprisingly playful and devious talk coming from the new recruit. Still, she remained silent. A feral smirk appeared on her face. Faris had just made out the outline of Ingus’ hat just beyond another rock formation; he was facing the other way.

She realized what he was about to do an instant before his iced blade met the somewhat (roughly) humanoid looking stone in front of him. As the loud clang echoed throughout the room, Faris took the opportunity to rush forward past the last rock formation and straight at Ingus.

A loud bark of a laugh escaped her followed by, “Don’t ye worry about the cold! I’m turning up the heat starting now.”

That was the only warning Ingus got before Faris charged at him from behind, unleashing a melee of sword attacks and combinations. She kept up a relentless barrage with the goal of pushing Ingus to his limits. He would either have to keep up with her blow for blow, magic his way out of it, or find some other creative escape.

Speaking literally, Faris aimed to have his back up against a rock by the time she was done.

Birds of a Feather | Bartz and Faris

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:09:04 -0400

bartztaejin:

Bartz smiled widely relieved by her response. “Glad to hear. I like being straight forward if possible. And of course you are also welcome to be as straight with me as you wanna be.” He stole another glance at her and grinned to himself. ‘Well, maybe I should hold back a few compliments for later. Don’t want to overwhelm her or anything… Okay, just one more.’ “‘Though, I really have no idea why you’d not be used to getting complimented. If anything, shouldn’t you get more now that you’re open with your identity opposed to earlier? Unless you are like, a real bully towards the other soldiers or something.”
As they stood in front of her house Bartz considered the surroundings. ‘A house at the beach? Nice. It sure has it’s perks to be a more veteran soldier in the army, I guess.’ When he was about to follow her into the building she jumped in front of him and blocked the way. The sudden movement startled him and he looked at her in confusement.

But after Faris had given him her next warning he couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud. He tried to restrain himself and after a few deep breaths started to explain: “So, you are telling me,” another giggle escaped him, “Faris, you are saying, the little princess,” he paused for another moment to take a slow, deep breath and contain the next wave of laughter, “the highborn lady who ran away from home to escape all the pomp got herself a crew of pirates so she didn’t have to take care of the cleaning herself?!”

With amusement all over his face he kept looking at her and continued: “And when she loses her personal army of battle hardened, sea robbing butlers she is unable to get the housework done on her own? Oh, that’s so precious!” It might have come off harder than he intended but he couldn’t help pointing out the irony or what seemed to him quite ironic. “I hope you didn’t use your charms on me just so to bring me home and get me to clean up your mess. Because, you know, that would totally work if it’s you doing it but,” and he emphasised that last word distinctly, “it would be very malicious!” Bartz kept looking at Faris and just couldn’t wipe the evil grin from his own face no matter how hard he tried.

She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly, “Guess other soldiers in the army got their priorities in different places than yours.” She laughed at this.

His reaction to her totally called for and necessary warning was not what she’d expected. However, his laughter was infectious.

She chuckled along, “Well when ye put it that way, it is a sorry state to be in.” She laughed again and added, “I know ye aren’t the deck boy, it’s my mess and I’ll take care of it.”

When Bartz continued laughing, she smirked and slapped him upside the head, “Oi, there!”

Placing her hands on the hips, she assumed a more “captain-y” pose and stared him down from the small step leading to the front door of her house. She quirked an eyebrow at him and took on the voice she used for administering orders.

“No laughing at the Captain in her quarters!”

Dropping the pose, she opened the door to her small home and stepped inside. She held the door open for Bartz, gauging his reaction to the mess that lay inside.

A couple of books were strewn around the room but the vast majority of the mess lay in her clothes which were laying about. On top of that, there was equipment scattered everywhere. From miscellaneous weapons, cleaning rags for said weapons, stones for sharpening a blade, and so on and so forth. And then there was the matter of dishes. Faris cringed a bit at that. Dishes.

“I did warn ye,” she said, scratching her nose sheepishly, “Careful where ye step and sit now. There’re some loose daggers around here somewhere.”

ooc: school + timeline business

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:52:00 -0400

I hate to be adding so much ooc to the dash lately but alas the semester was a busy one and I felt the need to keep you guys updated. That being said, I finished my finals last week and got home from school a couple of days ago.

Currently, I’m still unpacking and getting settled back in at home however I am officially done with the semester and am on summer break so I will have a lot more free time now.

Replies:

I have the reply to Bartz drafted and will get to Ingus as soon as I get one reply on my Riku account done. Once those two are done, I’ll be free to reply to Queen’s starter whenever it goes up. [other matters to get to include bugging zack for my reply heheh]

Admin duties:

I’ve been fairly slack on admin duties seeing as I’m mostly functioning as a placeholder until actual admin gets back; however I think the timeline is beginning to fall a little too far behind. As that was one of my duties as co-admin anyways, I’m gonna take it upon myself to update as much of it as I can this week.

Once I’m beginning to feel satisfied with it, I’ll put up a post and ask all of you to take a look and let me know what’s missing.

Thank you all for your patience!

Birds of a Feather | Bartz and Faris

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:51:03 -0400

bartztaejin:

Bartz couldn’t help noticing her blush even though she apparently tried to hide it from him. ‘Why is she embarassed?’ he wondered and frowned a little. ‘It can’t possibly be the first time someone told her she’s charming. Even if she was hiding her true identity all these years there must have been the occasional person she revealed her true self to, and surely they would have told her so. If no one else, the men she took into her cabin occassionaly.’
He started following her and picked up her pace. “Ah, don’t worry. I might not be a Medic but as a Saboteur I know a thing or two about hazardous environments. I think we’ll be fine, somehow. Worst case I’ll see to using Veil to give us a better survival chance.” He grinned at her and then looked ahead along the surrounding buildings. “Though if you think we’d better do some shopping rather than eat whatever digestable we can salvage from your kitchen you better say so.”

“… You know,” he began hesitantly after a while, “I don’t mean to make you umcomfortable. I know I’m kind of more straight forward than people are comfortable with most of the time. I guess I should be glad at least in front of my superiors I can keep my mouth shut.” ‘Well, most of the time, anyway.’ he reconsidered. “What I’m trying to say is, if I’m too blunt and you’d rather want me to hold back and not tell you how beautiful your violet hair is, just tell me. No need to be embarrased about it or think you offend me.” He smiled at her and gave her a friendly jab. “After all, we’re buddies from way back, right, Faris?”

Get a grip, Scherwiz! she yelled internally. This was getting out of hand and in was time to get her head back on straight. Slapping herself mentally, Faris hitched a grin back on her face and joked along with Bartz.

“Well, I recently took up a Sentinel position myself so I’m sure together we’d be able to protect against most of the perils of cooking.”

She scratched the back of her neck and thought over her kitchen back at home, “Hasn’t been too long since I went shopping. I think we’ll be fine with what’s there.”

They continued making their way to her house, passing through the residential area. That was when Bartz finally broke the silence again, tentatively. She blinked and looked over at him, fighting off another blush that threatened to rise up.

“Don’t worry about that!” she said, making a point to not stutter, “I’m just not used to… This kind of talk anymore! But straightforward’s better than beating ‘round the bush!”

They rounded a corner and Faris’s home and the beach came into view simultaneously. She darted in front of him, pausing in front of the door to warn him of what lay ahead.

“It’s, ah, my house is a mess,” she explained, “ye see, the ship always had a crew to do the cleaning and I’m not, ah, one for keeping things spick and span myself.”

Taejin Mission 043: Establishing Sanctuary | Faris and Serah

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:22:33 -0400

serahtaejin:

Serah looked around the wreckage, hoping to find any sign of this being a good base camp, hearing Faris’s words, she moved her pale pink hair from her face, and turned to respond.
“Yeah that sounds like a plan, anything to help these poor people” Serah sighed with signs of worry leaping from every breath. They weaved themselves around the danger. Serah’s keen eyes studied the surroundings for every detail, whilst they circled the town looking for the most appropriate area to set up camp.

Listening to Faris’s every word, Serah’s blue eyes scoped the area occupied around the mountains.
“Definitely, we need all the cover we can get from all this!” Serah cried, as she took a deep breath listening to the screams of the innocent in the distance.
“We definitely need an area with a clean supply of water, to keep everyone clean and hydrated” she said sternly with a hint of authority, whilst giving Faris a convincing smile.

The rays of sun beamed down on the pair, which had a clear juxtaposition with the screeching sounds of terror, which haunted Serah. Her watering eyes glanced over to Faris’s strong stature; then turned away closing her eyes from the disaster.

An area with water… Faris thought this over. They were in a valley surrounded by mountains. It seemed like a rich environment but still… Clean, fresh water was a tall order in these circumstances. But Serah was the medic and Faris had to pay deference to the pink haired girl’s expertise.

“Alright,” she called back, “Clean water, we’ll see what we can do!”

They were slowly starting to reach the northern edge of the town and the sun was finally high enough in the sky to illuminate the whole horrible scene. Faris glanced behind her to check how Serah was doing and saw that the medic seemed to be averting her gaze.

“Serah,” she kept her voice sympathetic, knowing how hard this must seem as a first mission to her companion, “there’s no time to be sad. We have to focus on our job so we can help these people.”

The chocobos kept galloping forward, and Faris grit her teeth in impatience. They needed to find a good space quickly, there wasn’t time for all this running around. She slowed her chocobo down and looked around.

Directing her voice at Serah while continuing to scan the area, she said, “What do you say we branch out a little further? Let’s try a little more to the west.”

Faris turned her chocobo in said direction and pushed it forward at a trot. This area didn’t seem particularly hectic. The screaming was starting to get a little more distant. Just as she was thinking it was time for them to turn back, she caught a glimpse of blue up ahead.

“Water…” She turned to Serah and grinned, “We found water! Alright,” she looked around again and finally turned to Serah fully, “I think this is the best space we’ll find. What do ye say?”

Birds of a Feather | Bartz and Faris

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:23:27 -0400

bartztaejin:

While working Bartz listened to her complaints about her families pompous behaviour. He smirked but decided to leave further discussion on that for another day. It just wouldn’t be right to talk back to a lady now, would it?
Finally, once she had told him her name as well - Faris, quite a cute name if it seemed a bit boy-ish - Bartz felt somewhat relieved. He’d wondered if he should have recalled her name from their common trip long ago but she didn’t make any remarks about that. ‘I guess she’d be hard pressed to recall the names of all the passengers she and her crew ever had on board.’

He couldn’t contain a giggle at her further remark. “Ah, of course we would not want to upset m’lady’s stomach, especially when lunch is due soon. In return for the invitation I’m more than willing to forgive your Highness’ distinct lack of courtesy.” He grinned at her and stuck his tongue out teasingly, then turned around and started walking towards the stable doors.

When his new (or actually old) acquaintance commented on her own lack of cooking skills he turned to face her again and realized she seemed quite a bit less composed than before. Did his comment get to her like that? Or was she just so insecure about her kitchen skills? He decided to try to cheer her up. “Though, if I may be so bold, when you’re flustered” - Well, I think you are flustered right now - “you are in a certain way even more charming than your usual composed self.”

Returning to her question he replied “About the cooking, don’t worry. I’m like a lobo, I’ll eat anything as long it doesn’t taste of garbage. Okay, I like my meat cooked, usually, opposed to most lobos I’ve encountered. And I’m trying to stay away from chocobo… for certain reasons.” His mind raced for a moment back to a girl who once tried to serve him chocobo eggs and he had gone rather pale then. It had kind of ruined the day.

“But I’m sure you’re more sensible than trying to serve me that.” He laughed. “But if push comes to shove, I credit myself to be not too bad a cook myself. If you live of the land regularly you either eat poorly or you learn some decent skills to make the food edible so I guess I…” He stopped mid-sentence and came to the conclusion his father didn’t always share his taste in cooking. He started to scratch his chin and tried to remember what food he and his dad could agree on was good enough to eat. And failed. “Well… I guess I’m good enough to make something… Only if you need my help, of course. Otherwise I’m perfectly willing to enjoy your hospitality.”

He said- what- but she wasn’t- what did he mean by char- but-…

If Faris had been flushed before, she was beet red now. This was not what she had signed up for when she joined Taejin’s Army, meeting people from her past. She’d thought her past was over but somehow it had kept coming up. That mission with Zack to meet with pirates had dragged it up again. Bartz was dragging it up again.

And now Bartz was being the epitome charming and what was going on? Maybe I should grab a drink with Queen and talk this over tonight. Faris quickly dismissed the thought; she couldn’t really see Queen drinking. But perhaps they could talk it over another time.

Still blushing furiously, she averted her gaze and tried to get back some of her bravado when she spoke again, “A lobo, eh? Well I do have some meat that hasn’t been cooked yet. S’not chocobo meat so ye don’t need to worry about that.”

She started walking to the door, following his lead, and stepped outside before continuing.

“I don’t have a particular stomach myself. Ye get used to eating anything when you’re out at sea for months,” said Faris, picking up on his hesitation about his cooking skills, “maybe together we’d be able to come up with something good. It’ll be a collaboration. I’ll warn ye now, my kitchen’s a mess, but if you’re willing to brave such hazardous conditions, I’d appreciate the help.”

She turned left and began heading towards the residential area by the beach.

Just Around the Riverbend | Faris and Yeul

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:34:01 -0400

yeultaejin:

Yeul’s calm green eyes rested on Faris, and she nodded, her expression remaining exactly the same as before. As if, why yes, she had indeed been waiting to meet one such as her this entire time. Whether or not that was true could be disputed, but the fact that there was little that could cause a shift in this petite girl’s countenance was hardly up for debate.

“I am Paddra Nsu-Yeul. I work as a Medic.”

Carefully, she put the flower crown away, tucking it safely into the pouch that lay folded in the pelts that hung at her back. Her treasure now restored, she seemed much less distressed. Her expression was clear, as usual, even of the sadness that had shown itself during the crisis earlier.

At Faris’s remark on her safety, Yeul’s eyes moved away from the Commando to slowly take in the woods around them, other birds joining the one she had been following in a chorus that chimed along with the leaves rustling in the gentle breeze. The lake glistened, the water lapping at the edges of the land enclosing it.

“It’s all right,” Yeul confirmed softly, a tenderness softening her features.

She had neither Caius nor Noel with her here. But she had made a vow to herself to offer what little assistance she could. Her visions as a seeress had been foggy and inconclusive as of late. Before, her utility had been her glances at the future. Now that they were becoming increasingly unreliable, she wanted to offer herself in other ways. She would fight, as well. To protect those she cared about.

While Faris had little doubt in the girl’s ability to work as a medic, she had to admit the idea of Yeul being sent into combat was a troubling notion. Even if her duties didn’t place her in the direct line of combat, she was still liable to be in danger at intervals.

She was a really quiet one and Faris wondered if this was normal for the soldiers in Taejin’s Army. The commando was still new after all and had met very few other soldiers.

Turning her head to take in their surrounds and brushing purple bangs out of her eyes, she asked, “What were ye doing out here anyway? Just enjoying the scenery?”

It was a nice spot to get some peace of mind. The thought occurred to Faris that Yeul might want privacy. She looked at the blue haired girl’s expression. It didn’t scream for a desire to be alone… But then again it didn’t tell her much of anything one way or another. Good face for poker this little girl has.

Struggling to find a way to discern what Yeul wanted, Faris finally asked, “Is there anything I can help ye with?”

OOC:

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:14:57 -0400

Just a quick note since there are currently three replies waiting for me, I have four papers this week, two projects and work at Coldstone Creamery [this is a new thing and is exciting but also means less time for me so yes]. I do plan on getting to the replies but it’ll be sporadic. Thanks guys!

Birds of a Feather | Bartz and Faris

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:41:11 -0400

bartztaejin:

Bartz was actually quite surprised by her reaction. He had antitcipated some laughter, and possibly some flushing. But then he had expected her to banter and tell him to stop it because this was what she was running away from.
Getting invited to dinner while definitely not unwanted was a surprise though. His eyes widened for a moment while he wondered whether it was just a jest or a sincere invitation. Anyway, he decided to play along. If he had mistaken her intentions she could always tell him.

“If that’s what m’lady asks for I am of course in no position to deny her request,” he replied with another amateurish bow and a smirk on his face. “Though, I first need to finish my lowly peasant work but it will only take a moment, if you’ll excuse me.”

He hurriedly cleaned up the tools he had used, prepared Boko’s food and petted the bird goodbye all the while feeling a strange nervousness creeping inside him without being entirely sure where it stemmed from. It definitely wasn’t about feeling uncomfortable around her or women in general, far from it actually. But he felt uneasy nonetheless. Possibly it was merely the idea of him still being little more than a recruit and her being his superior at least to some degree. That was probably it. And then he realized it…

When he was finished he turned back to her with a smile “You know, I just now realized it… My dad might not have spent much time teaching me about living with other people but he taught me you shouldn’t go home with strangers.” He cleaned his right hand by rubbing it at his shirt and was about to extend it when he reconsidered. ‘Maybe I should stay in character.’ He did another bow this time a bit more elegantly with one hand behind his back and the other on his chest. “Bartz Klauser, at your service, my lady.”

She folded her arms, and shot him a more imperious look while smirking, “Ay, and ye better get to that. Important folks like me aren’t accustomed to waiting.”

Faris wrinkled her nose a bit, “That’s the kind of stuff they’d say back home. Couldn’t stand it, all that pomp.”

The former pirate kicked up some of the stray hays lying around on the stable floor, watching him work and take care of the birds. They seemed to really like him. He must spend a lot of time down here. It made sense, he and his own chocobo seemed quite close.

She blinked at his next words, go home with a stranger…? And then he bowed and introduced himself and that’s when she felt like a royal idiot because of course they hadn’t actually introduced themselves.

“Faris Scherwiz,” she replied trying and failing in her attempt to not flush again, “I’d curtsy but I don’t know if my stomach could handle another.”

Her face heated up and she looked to the side, a little embarrassed by all this play acting. Bartz had brought out some fairly unusual behavior in her and the fact that she was inviting him over for lunch was even stranger.

“Er, well,” she coughed and tried to regain some of her bravado, “We should get going. You have any preferences for food? I’m not much of a cook.”

Birds of a Feather | Bartz and Faris

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:47:15 -0400

bartztaejin:

Bartz listened to her story and nodded once in a while. “Joining a bunch of pirates must have been pretty hard for a thirteen year old girl…” He shuddered for a moment when all kinds of horrible things that could have happened flew through his mind but then made himself smile at her “Well, I sure am glad you made it and made a pretty good life of it!” He hesitated for a moment. “Or… at least it seems to be you were enjoying your life as a buccaneer.”
He seemed to feel much more self-conscious than usually and just couldn’t find the right balance between (not) staring at her and looking at the other attractions in the stables - chocobos, pitchforks and straw, mostly.

“Yeah, I’ve been to Tycoon, I think, a few years back.” He recalled how he came to the city and heard from the townsfolk how years ago some high-born young lady had gone missing and her father tried everything he could to find her but without any success. And how they told him about how there still seemed to be a dark cloud about what was left of the family since they could never find out what exactly had happened to her. He even seemed to remember hearing about the younger daughter trying to leave to search for her sister but being held back by her responsibilities towards her family and home. Bartz was just about to start talking when he thought better of it. Surely she would not enjoy this story.

Instead he went on: “Well, never had anything to do with any royals or such, to be honest. I guess you might say a home- and rootless guy like me is as far as you can get from some high-born lady like you.”

Bartz knew what it was like to lose what family you have and for her it was two at once - how little of a family the one might still have been. He felt bad for bringing up bad memories…

He got up and stood in front of her with a wide grin. Straightening up he cleared his throat and said as serious as he could muster: “So, would m’lady like the low-born peasant to do any service to her? Serve a cup of tea or a few biscuits? M’lady’s wish is my command.” He could barely keep his face straight and to top his act of he tried a little bow which probably looked really stupid but that was the point of it after all.

So he had been to Tycoon. That was interesting. Upon hearing the words leave his mouth, Faris wanted desperately to ask him if he’d seen her family, heard anything about them, or even just what the state of the town had been. But she silenced those impulses and curiosities almost as soon as they swelled up.

It doesn’t matter, she told herself harshly, the town’s gone. It’s over. Doesn’t matter what happened there since you left.

Rootless, homeless… It must have been hard for him too. It was interesting that they had both had practically the opposite problem growing up. She was suffocated by his home, while he had probably had his own troubles growing up without one.

These solemn reveries were shattered by Bartz’s next move however.

Faris blinked in rapid succession at the words leaving Bartz’s mouth. When he added an awkward bow to the end of it she let out what was probably the least womanly guffaw possible. Her face flushed bright red. Nobody had spoken to her like that in, well, ever!

She never got such flattery or treatment from her crew or fellow soldiers in Oerba. And while people had waited on her in Tycoon, it had never been with that friendly, joking air.

When she had finished laughing, she smiled at him, still flushed bright red in the face from embarrassment and… well, whatever else was going on with her. Chuckling a little bit, Faris did her own clumsy curtsy back at him.

“Seein’ as how the low-born peasant is new to these parts,” she began, standing up straight and sticking her nose in the air comically, “the lady finds it more prudent to invite the peasant to her residency for a meal.”

First Steps | Ingus and Faris

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 02:27:54 -0400

ingustaejin:

Anger and determination riled within Ingus, coursing through his veins and heating his muscles. Once back on his feet, Ingus heaved a deep breath and focused his eyes on Faris.

Just like Father….

The phantom of his dad flashed before his eyes, along with the nostalgic smell of sweated bodies. This woman was no beast, not by a long shot, so fighting her would require a little more than expecting an opening to present itself.

The tip of Faris’ blade poked at Ingus’ defensive zone, teasing the borders in which he decides to dodge or block. He allowed the first jab to pass, while merely shifting his waist from danger.

Whether it was impatience, or simply a shot of adrenaline, Ingus deemed his analytical phase effectively over. Now, it was time to party. He lunged forward at Faris before she could prepare for another thrust. Ingus focused all of his weight onto his toes, as to increase speed and evasiveness. To accentuate the burst of speed, Ingus gripped his blade with both hands to amplify power, thus sacrificing defense on both planes.

The First strike was diagnol, hip to shoulder, as he had previously done before. Whether hit or miss, it was followed by another diagnol slash going in the opposite direction, and again with a horizontal slash. The directions of the attacks didn’t matter as much as the power put behind them. With every clashing of steel, Ingus found himself drawing closer and closer to Faris.

Once our swords lock, and our wrists touch, I’ll feign pressure and lean all of my weight into my right shoulder. I aim to smite her chest area, though shoulder or stomach would suffice. Once we are both considerably off balance from the blow, I’ll reach my left leg out past her and plant my foot on the ground. From there I can force my blade into a skyward— or rather ceiling-ward— slash to knock her back. Our blades would still be in contact off to the side, which would assure her safety.

As soon as Ingus moved out of the way of her jab, Faris’s feet tensed and she began shifting her weight backwards. Lightly, she jumped back and away from his first attack, though because he was swinging upwards it did pose some threat of hitting her in the middle of her jump.

She landed in time to block his second attack and regained her footing enough to push back by the third horizontal swipe. He put more force into it and Faris found herself pushing the Brave Blade further to try to force him back. Faris was thrown off balance when Ingus’ weight suddenly shifted and he stepped forward.

After throwing her off balance, he proceeded to thrust upwards. Throwing her unbalanced weight, Faris ducked down, bending forward and to the side in order to avoid the attack while pulling her sword down with her.

With any luck, Ingus’ sword would continue in its intended direction. Hoping to take advantage of this, she leaned backwards and aimed a kick at his stomach, rolling over and back up on to her feet regardless of whether or not it hit.

“Heh, not bad,” she said, fairly impressed by his tactic.

He went through the trouble of lighting that fire by the side of the room near the entrance… What happens when that doesn’t help him see me? He might just light more. Either way…

That thought in mind, she proceeded to back away quickly, turning and going further into the room filled with rock formations and crevices. It was time to test out hide and seek with the new recruit.

Physical Therapy | Basch and Faris

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:41:15 -0400

baschtaejin:

Nodding in understanding, Basch sighed and said “There’s similar stories everywhere Faris. Pulse has changed, and it appears for the worst.” Stretching his neck, he stared straight ahead as if in a trance. “Both my parents died long ago, my father raised me and my brother for a time before he too passed. The highlands are a different place than it is down here. You hunt to survive, and you honour the old ways. My father was a blacksmith, forging weapons for a living. I guess that’s why I’m adept at handling most weapon types.”
He shrugged and continued, “One night a pack of lobo struck into our camp, much deeper than they had before, and killed the herd of sheep… and a newborn child. I guess that was our first warning of the monster waves.”

Standing, he picked up the axe and tossed it around in his hand a few times, “What solidified the theory though, was when a behemoth attacked a travelling party of refugee’s. They normally kept to themselves in the highlands, only attacking if threatened. 10 refugee’s with barely 2 weapons wouldn’t count as a threat to a behemoth. My brother and I defended them, distracting the behemoth for them to get away…” He roared and swung the axe with such force it embedded itself in the stump, “it killed my brother. There’s no doubt in my mind now, Monsters are getting bolder, tougher, more brazen.”

Pulling the axe out of the stump, he sighed and said “It needs to stop before more innocents get hurt.” With a shrug, he turned to Faris and said “Well… should we continue or call it a day?”

Another soldier, another sad story… Faris sighed, everyone who had come to Oerba, to Taejin’s Army, had been brought there by horrible circumstances. In a better world, none of them would have met.

But here we are, she thought to herself, working together, helping out, becoming a team… She was starting to get sentimental about it all.

“Sorry about your family,” she said, “looks like Oerba’s just full of orphans. But we’re all doing our part to try to stop more stories like ours from happening.”

She stretched and yawned widely at his offer to turn it in.

“Some rest sounds good but first I’d like to get some of this wood into to town by my place. Think I saw a couple places with some carts for transporting loads on the edge of town before we came here. Mind making a quick trip back to grab those?”

She began heading towards the direction they’d come from and looked over her shoulder to see if Basch would follow.

Birds of a Feather | Bartz and Faris

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:32:43 -0400

bartztaejin:

Bartz listened to her explanations and absent mindedly kept patting Boko’s head.

“To be honest, pretty much all I know about pirates is hearsay” he started to explain. “I mean, I never actually saw any of them burn towns or any of that. And I don’t think I ever met any either - well apart from you guys. But I guess you know the rumors. With the eye patches and stuff. Did any of your crew have eye patches? I forgot. But then again, other people have eye patches as well. And other people burn towns as well. Well, bad people, anyway.”

He paused for just a moment. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t do any of that pillaging and robbing and burning down towns when we were on your ship.” He hesitated for a moment before he added: “Or that other stuff pirates are said to do to helpless people, though I guess girls need to be more worried about that on general.” He had the sense to stop talking there but in his head added ‘Though, if it was you doing it I might have not minded that much…’ He hastily shook his head to get rid of that train of thought.

Boko either decided he had gotten enough attention or was dissatisfied with the half-hearted attention he had gotten. Anyway, he decided to stroll off and mingle with other chocobos in the stable. Bartz walked paced for a short while thinking and then sat down on a bale of straw. Looking up at her he continued.

“I don’t think I can really comment on the ‘feeling free’ since this is probably my first time being not free since I was a child. And even then, the worst my dad did most of the time was keeping me from getting myself killed.” he smiled unsure on how to continue. “So, no, I can’t say I understand, to be honest. Yeah, I can see how you’d feel free as a pirate but then I hardly know what it’s like otherwise. Maybe I should be grateful for it and appreciate it more. But to be truly free I’d dare say you really need to have no ties to anyone… which means being all on your own. Well, obviously as the captain of a bunch of pirates you could pretty much do whatever you wanted, for the most part. But then, a good captain if nothing else is responsible to his crew, isn’t he? Or she, in your case, of course. So you’re not entirely free. But of course, there are much more… not free ways to live. Like being here, with the army. Which raises the question why you decided to give up on it.”

He noticed he had started to ramble again and gestured to cover his mouth with his hand. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I’ve been talking and talking. Sometimes I just can’t stop myself.” He tried to smile apologetically.

“We had one bloke with an eye-patch,” Faris said and barked a laugh, “he was an interesting guy, little strange to be honest.”

“We didn’t generally do much pirating when we were running transportation, no sense in getting third parties like yourself in trouble or concerned,” she went on in answer to Bartz. The Syldra’s captain before her had done his best to minimize violence towards other humans, and Faris had always made it a goal to stick to that.

“S’alright, you’re not the first talkative person I’ve met here. Or in general.”

His rambling speech about freedom raised a lot of good questions which she decided to indulge. Despite his fumbling way of talking, Bartz was surprisingly easy to talk to about all of this.

“Did ye ever pass by Tycoon?” she began with a question, “That’s where I’m from. My family was aristocratic, lotta stuffy pretension and expectations getting held up like they’re what’s most important. I couldn’t stand it. Ran away when I was thirteen and that’s how I eventually ended up Captain.

“I didn’t exactly give it up, that life,” she glanced around self-consciously, pretending to be really interested in where Boko had gone to, “when I returned to Tycoon with my ship, that was the day it was attacked by monsters. The whole town went up and the ships in the nearby waters didn’t do much better.”

She shrugged in a “what-can-you-do?” kind of way to try to write it off, forcing her voice to remain casual, she continued explaining, “There wasn’t anywhere else to go. Both my homes were destroyed, if Tycoon ever really was my home. So I came here to help out with the monster epidemic goin’ on in Pulse.”

Back from hiatus! Sorry it took so long guys. ^__^’ Beginning of break was busy and I was...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:32:18 -0400

Back from hiatus! Sorry it took so long guys. ^__^’ Beginning of break was busy and I was exhausted. But I will be getting through all my replies now.

Just letting everyone know I am alive despite being relatively inactive. Sorry about the wait for...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:40:25 -0400

Just letting everyone know I am alive despite being relatively inactive.

Sorry about the wait for some replies. I know a few of you have been having to be patient. ^__^’ Unfortunately I have to ask for more patience. >.<

I’m gonna go ahead and call this week a hiatus for me. After that I will be on spring break and replies will come out at that point.

Thanks, guys!

First Steps | Ingus and Faris

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:44:01 -0500

ingustaejin:

Ingus wasn’t surprised to see his attacks met with skilled blocks and forceful parries. When their blades finally locked, Ingus concentrated most of his strength into his legs, and made a show of his strength. Despite this, Ingus still found himself trying to maintain his foothold as he was pushed back. Once recovered, Ingus observed as Faris raised her blade above her head.

“…….”

Ingus probably saw that motion about a million times when fighting beasts. Whether small or tall, it seemed that every monster had raised their right paw in anticipation to come down on their prey. After a while, Ingus had developed a technique to counter it.

Once her blade becomes parallel to my ear, I’ll swipe it aside with my mid-shield and aim a shallow slash at her calf.

Ingus could hear the clatter of her sword on the ground, and could feel his blade slide across her skin—

“….!?!?”

Her blade came down fast. Very fast. Faster than anything he was used to. Not only that, but her reach was longer than he had anticipated. Between his surprise and deluded thoughts, Ingus hardly had time to react. What would have been a masterful counter, turned into a sort of awkward evasive maneuver. His shield tipped the edge of her blade, but couldn’t stop its course from slicing into his upper arm. To add to the failure, Ingus’ posture was still preparing to go offensive after contact. So he opened himself up further by cumbersomely swinging at her waist. The whole fiasco overloaded his senses, causing him to loose balance, and fall back on his butt.

“Ung….”

Speed seemed to be in her favor in this fight, she noted, not without a touch of smugness. Still Ingus had strong force behind his swings and blocks. That much was promising. She grinned, this was going to be an interesting one.

His swing at her waist was sloppy and she deflected it easily enough. That was when Ingus fell flat on his butt. She frowned.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that if ye want to keep up,” she said, giving him a light kick with her foot to prompt him into a standing position.

As he righted himself, she continued speaking, “You got to pay more attention to your feet and balance. It doesn’t matter how strong or fast or smart ye are if your opponent’s going to be able to knock you back like that.”

She took on a fighting stance again and paused as a signal to let him know the fight was resuming now.

“Don’t expect me to give you another free pass like that. Next time I’m not waitin’ to strike.”

That said, she took a couple of paces towards him and jabbed forward with her sword. It was a strange starting move and not one she would usually try but she wanted to test out Ingus’s response to multiple attacks and situations in battle. The jab was aimed straight at his abdomen, and she get her stance tense, ready to jump back if he took a swipe at her.

Taejin Mission 043: Establishing Sanctuary | Faris and Serah

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:27:56 -0500

serahtaejin:

Serah smiled at Faris when she realized they were almost there, she hunched over her chocobo to stop the wind getting to her, Serah pulled her chocobo forcing it to slow; responding to Faris’s orders.
Serah watched Faris’s purple hair glisten in the sunlight, as she slowed down, “That sounds like a plan, I hope everybody is okay down there!” Serah said with a sigh of sadness.

Serah stared at the town, squinting her eyes to see if she could see anybody. The town looked terrible! “Have you seen any places you would like to set up camp? That would be central enough to help everybody quickly?” Serah gasped as the sun beamed into her eyes.

Serah’s eyes looked extremely worried, she wondered how the two of them were to help such a devastated place? She had to ignore all these thoughts, and focus on her mission, and devote herself to helping Faris.

“Okay lets go then!” Serah shouted with a weak tone to her voice. With this she pushed her chocobo forward, and they began to speed up once again.

Faris scanned the surrounding area, “It’s hard to tell what a good spot might be from here. Let’s try to do a lap around the perimeter to find a good spot.”

She sped up as well, and followed just a little bit behind and to the right of Serah. They ran their chocobos in a curving trail around the perimeter of the town, making sure to stay out of harm’s way while they skimmed the area for an appropriate space. Looking forward, the former pirate noticed the way the mountains north of the town were staggered.

Faris called ahead to Serah, “We should try over by those mountains! They might provide some extra shelter!”

With that goal in mind, she sped up and pulled alongside Serah. She asked the pink-haired medic a question, “Aside from shelter, what else do you think we should look for in a good spot for the camp?”

The morning air was brisk now, and the screams from the town echoed distantly as they made their way around the danger zone. Faris gritted her teeth. All of her instincts made her want to run crashing into the battlefield. It was through sheer force of will that she reminded herself over and over again that her job was not to take part in the main fighting, she and Serah were here to find a safe place and help the people in need.

Birds of a Feather | Bartz and Faris

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 02:27:43 -0500

bartztaejin:

She seemed satisfied with his explanation and started to pace through the the stables. And he couldn’t stop himself from watching her, even when Boko apparently started to feel neglected and nudged him slightly all he did was pet the birds head to satisfy him not taking an eye of the woman in front of him.

She turned back to him and inquired what he remembered about their mutual journey from before. “Uhm, that’s bee quite a while…” he murmured and began mimicking her scratching his own stubbly chin. “Well, I think we set sail somewhere around… Wutai? Maybe? No, wait, I think I’d have remembered if it was Wutai… uhm, Figaro? And then heading for… Crescent? I’m not sure, I think we headed for some island or other because I seem to recall I had to get Boko on another ship soon afterwards. But why would I head for an island with Boko?”

He paused and stared at the ceiling for a while trying to recall the events surrounding one of his rare travels by sea. “It might be were just making a stop on the way to the Yaschas Massif or so… Does that sound reasonable? I’m kind of lousy when it comes to geography.” He grinned slightly selfconscious.

“Anyway, you seemed pretty civiliced for a bunch of pirates, if I dare say so. Is all that pillaging and burning towns just a bad rumor about them… you… ?”

“We did a lot of business around Wutai,” she said, “great weapons made up in those parts. Good trade. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where we were takin’ ye.”

She rubbed her neck sheepishly at that and sort of half met his eyes, “Glad we made a good impression but it wouldn’t be fair for me to let you think we were much better than your standard pirates.”

She glanced at his bird thoughtfully. Hm, how to put it…

“Guess ye could say, it’s about breaking the rules, but-… Hnn, s’about more than that too,” she frowned thoughtfully, “we mostly took from rich ships and we didn’t burn towns or anything like that. To me being a pirate always meant being free.”

She glanced away nervously.

“If that makes sense.”

It was weird talking about her piracy with Bartz. Unlike other soldiers, he already knew basically upon meeting her what her past was kind of like. But the Faris from the Syldra made a strange comparison when held up to the Faris from Oerba. Trying to reconcile the two of them was always awkward and difficult. Bartz was more aware of those sides of her than anyone, the only person to have really seen them both (though, in a way so had Zack).

First Steps | Ingus and Faris

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:59:15 -0500

ingustaejin:

Ingus nodded, and trained his eyes on the captain.

Based on her stance, and weapon, it is reasonable for me to assume that she will be very light on her feet. Given that this area strictly limits movement, one might assume that I would have the upper hand. Judging by the numerous factors that put her above me, I’ll just go ahead and deny that observation.

Ingus slid his half-shield onto his wrist, and gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands. In most fights, given a lot of room, the intensity starts off mild and slowly rises to a pinnacle of attacking. But, in an area as this, any sort of physical aggression requires a certain amount of ferocity from the start.

I’ll start off by declaring a light source. I’ll place it behind me, so that I can see her figure clearly, and blacken my own at the same time. From there I’ll start low. I need to make sure all of my attacks end with a slash going to the right, so that the shield on my left arm can cover any openings that I’d yield.

Happy with his deductions, Ingus didn’t hesitate a moment longer. He whipped one hand back, blasted a ball of fire into the ground behind him, brought his hand back to the handle, and lunged forward at Faris. Ingus kept his knee’s bent, and body condensed, as to decrease his hit frame and increase his defensive capabilities. Once in a satisfying range, Ingus opened up with an oblique slash, aimed to start at her right hip and end at her left shoulder. (Your left/right, not my left/right.) After another step, Ingus dug his left foot into the ground, pivoted his wrist, and shifted all of his body weight into his sword.

Faris grinned as he readied his own fighting stance. At least he wasn’t backing down from her challenge. A small part of her had been just a bit concerned he would decline the battle on account of not wanting to fight his captain or just severely misplaced chivalry. Now she just hoped he’d follow through and give her a good fight.

His first move was to cast a fire behind him, adding some light to the cavern they had found themselves in. Faris was pleased to see he was already taking her advice to rely on all skills available, including her magic.

That was when Ingus bunched himself up before springing forward at her. It looked like defense would be to his advantage between the shield and his more cautious fighting style. But she could get around that.

As the attack came, Faris instinctively brought her sword up in her right hand to block it. She reinforced her arm and girded her body against the strength of the blow, absorbing the force in her stance.

She was pleased with the strength behind that attack, and she grinned as she pushed him back. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a matter of cutting down her opponent after all. The idea was to come at Ingus with whatever she could to see what he was made of.

After pushing Ingus back she brought the Brave Blade up and then down in a vertical slash aimed at his left shoulder. While swinging with her right hand, her left hand reached over to a nearby rock formation and she placed it flat against the rock, ready to use that arm to push more force into her body.