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[SirAston]

"I do not plan, nor do I desire, rebellion. However, I have sworn to bring back the child into safety. The words I speak bind me to action, otherwise I would be no better than a scoundrel."

Djedre glances to Akira for a moment as she speaks that last line, a mix of anger, sadness and desperation in her eyes.

"Hence, by my honor and blood, if there is a glimmer of doubt that the boy will not leave Praesidium unharmed, I cannot allow him to be taken away like that!"

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"If I may ask, what does the Praesidium have to do with one such as they? I suspect that if they really could separate they would have done so and escaped even before now. Ahilta are not usually weak regardless of origin. I have come recently from Evrae, so I really do not understand any of this."

Arnvidar gestures apologetically.

As one who has heard stories of the Phoenix, mistreating them and not listening seems strange. Is that how things are done in Corothis?

"Now is neither the time nor place to solicit education on the nature of lucid crystals. If you seek to enlighten yourself vis-à-vis the nature of your "Ahilta", you are welcome to inquire any unoccupied alumni while they are not at work."
"Speaking of, what are you all dawdling for, men? Seize the crystal!"

The patrol began to surround the group; you couldn't get a full count of them in the dark, but Arnvidar could count fifteen at least. All of them were armed.

"I do not plan, nor do I desire, rebellion. However, I have sworn to bring back the child into safety. The words I speak bind me to action, otherwise I would be no better than a scoundrel."

Djedre glances to Akira for a moment as she speaks that last line, a mix of anger, sadness and desperation in her eyes.

"Hence, by my honor and blood, if there is a glimmer of doubt that the boy will not leave Praesidium unharmed, I cannot allow him to be taken away like that!"

"A troublesome lass you are. If you claim to not seek to defy us, then you shall not defy us!"

One of the soldiers, armed with a small mace emitting a fell glow, approached the boy on his chocobo, before swinging against the back of his head! An energy coursed through the boy, before collapsing silently.

[TricMagic]

"Very well then. I was heading in that direction anyway. I'd be happy to learn more. For now though."

"Afraid you're on your own lass."

Arnvidar steps up next to Akira.

This puts a bad taste in my mouth. However...
Being captured here is not in my interest, they are far too well equipped. Best to later make inquires at the Praesidium.
I don't think they would take well to anything that peaks there interest.

[cronos5010]

: "Tch."
Akira stared silently at the crumpled up form of the boy, partly out of shock at the sheer audacity of it, and partly because he couldn't quite decide what to do next.

Yes, it was a hopeless quarrel, it didn't take a room full of tactical genii to glance at his wounds, the unconscious state of most of the party (one of whom had already chosen to flee when they were still conscious), and the unquestionable nature of the enemy's advantage in both numbers, and morale to come to the honest conclusion that they were screwed.

And yes, his family's honor would be on the line if he did something to step out of line, but....it wasn't just his family's honor at stake here. The fair knight had a point, as hopeless as it was, they were honor bound to bring the boy, Noah, back to his family unharmed, (By a promise made to a pack of mewling children, but still) and it was quite clear now that giving the boy over to the corisian soldiers and magi would not fulfill that promise.

And that really, unless he wanted to be known as 'Akira, the samurai who stands idly while a child is clubbed into unconsciousness for being in the wrong place and time' from now on, there was really, only one thing he could do.

: "And that's enough of that."
He declared, while he briskly walks away from Arnvidar to approach the prone form of Noah, very quickly drawing his blade as he put on a defensive stance.

: "I, Akira Akiyama have sworn an oath to bring this boy back to his parents unharmed, and I'll be damned if I just stand here and let you lot make a sport of abusing his body."

: "_{That's what I think he would have said anyway.}"

[SirAston]

Djedre was in complete shock as Noah collapsed. A shock that slowly but surely made way for anger as she stared at the one leading the squad and made careful steps towards the boy.

"I defy those who would inflict wanton harm on an innocent boy! How heartbroken all your parents would be if they knew they raised childbeaters! Shame on you all!"

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"...Seize them all. They were warned. Their words cannot be trusted."
Immediately, the surrounding patrol closed in on the search party, restraining them all (including Arnvidar), with excessive force if necessary. Another soldier picked Noah up, healed his wounds to a limited degree, and restrained him to the back of her chocobo, still unconscious. The others were to march on foot.

[cronos5010]

Finding himself marching behind Djerdre after the just, if ultimately futile struggle against the Corisian Patrol, the wandering samurai found himself with only one thing left to say before he steeled himself for the long march to Praesidium.
: "Now never ask me for anything ever again."

[SirAston]

"I will not, Akira. I am at fault, too. My family name may have made a difference, even if just a minor one, but I did not invoke it for the sake of my selfishness and fear."
"Please forgive me..."

[TricMagic]

You try and reason with a man. Here I was hoping he'd let his guard down. But I can't do much with the focus on all of us.


Try and keep my weapon concealed in my Deep Pockets.

"I suppose our next travel destination is the Praesidium. I hope this can all be sorted out sir."


Preferably with us richer, free, and innocent. And you with a bullet through your skull.  sigh.
She is way too rash, but I suppose people's personalities can't be helped. Better than the alternative.

At least he was used to long travels from his time with the clans.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

~Chapter 1: Institute of Incarceration~

Praesidium. The institution has stood for 47 years, and though significantly younger than the walls which house it, it has already become not only a respected place of learning and research, but by far the most well-defended prison and fortress in the entire empire. Sitting on the western edge of the Chocobo Forest, for the vast quantity of soldiers tasked with enforcing peace and civilization throughout the immensely valuable woods, their jobs would be impossible without the central No one within its dungeons simply escapes. And it is here that the search party found itself.
The march, blessedly, was not a long portion of the journey. The patrol stopped in Cadin to acquisition a carriage to hold the prisoners, as well as to confirm with the wizard witness that the crystal inside of Noah was, indeed, what they were looking for. By the time the prisoners reached Praesidium, it was already shortly past noon the following day. No breaks or rests were required for this journey, as the patrol was swapped out for a second one midway through. Another change of guard would occur right outside the gates themselves.

As the prisoners arrived at the gates of Praesidium, they couldn't help but notice that some of the guards waiting to escort them in did not look like experienced guards. One of them wore what looked like the accoutrements of a noble, only much less expensive, while the other had some bizarre head accessory. Perhaps recruits or scholars pressed for lack of manpower during the search for Carbuncle? Hard to believe that such a situation could leave even Praesidium strapped for soldiers.
"We shall wait a moment longer. Lunch hours are not the best occasion to escort prisoners through the halls."

And so, the prisoners waited, and waited. Noah still had not woken up since being knocked out the night before. Ivoh'to had been relocated from the bag to a small, sturdy animal cage, and of course, the prisoners' weapons and equipment had all been confiscated (save for Arnvidar's, which he had quite adeptly managed to hide on himself). Around ten minutes later, a second patrol arrived to contribute prisoners.
"Sir, patrols have picked up two additional criminals, a highwaywoman and a pirate. Their operations seem to be unrelated, to each other and to the present situation."
"Bring them regardless. Prisons exist for a reason."

The wait resumed once more, only now with two additional prisoners.

//Claus Palermo, Blodeuyn, Viverna, and Lenn'art are now active!

[Chevaleresse]

". . . How inconvenient. I was hoping we would return soomer, not later." The woman frowned in the direction of the prisoners. She didn't like this situation, though she was smart enough not to say why aloud. The fact that a cat of all things was a prisoner too had her on edge. It couldn't really be the same one, could it?

 Her gaze continued as if it were trying to bore a hole in the cat's cage - or, perhaps, its occupant.

[kj1225]

Lenn'art hadn't really understood what happened to get him into this mess. He'd been drinking away his money on the way to someplace that wasn't on Coris one night and the nest... Blammo, arrested with a hang over, and it wasn't even for something he did while drunk! In fact, it wasn't even for something he did.... technically at least. He was a pirate depending on where you asked, but that certainly wasn't anywhere in the empire! So of course, when he was brought out to meet the people who would be his traveling companions, he took offense too the accusation of piracy.
"Oi! Privateer, not pirate. _{I'd like to see you make that mistake when I wasn't tied up you lousy...}"

Lenn'art trails off as he turns to glare at the others, his expression slowly softening as his anger fades.

[Aurorix]

The cat lied in the middle of the cage curled up in a ball. He was neither surprised or angry that he was captured, only slightly annoyed. It was bound to happen eventually, he's just surprised it took these humans this long to actually do it. He didn't really feel in danger either, this cage's lock was easy to access and looked just as easy to open up. He just needed to wait for the right moment to spring out of here... Though he can't just leave that kid here either... Damn his good nature. Escape would be so much easier alone too. Oh well, he's waited in worse environments for longer periods of time so this is nothing.

However, he felt... a familiar presence. One that shook him to his very core with anxiety. Opening his eyes he had to force himself not to react as he saw her. She lived through that and when did she learn to shape shift!? Shit! Shit! Shit! M-maybe she doesn't know it was him who blew up the lab. This just makes things millions of times worse. Humans he can evade no problem, but dealing with her is not going to be fun... Why me?

[rustytengo]

Blodeuyn was pouting as she was dragged to the prison. Annoyed that she let her self got capture by these idiots. Especially after they took all her stuff stlave for one of her many guns. Seeing the people that really didn't look like a guards she got an idea.

 
 "Don't listen to this meanie. I'm not any highwaywoman. I'm just an adorable girl who just happen to be in an area that a carvan was attacked." she said giveing the two figures her best puppy dog eyes .

[RedMageCole]

When Claus arrived at Praesidium, his hopes were high that he would begin to find some knowledge on time magic and perhaps some more advanced level magic beyond his current prowess. What he did not hope for was getting saddled with guard duty when he already had a lot on his plate. He wasn't even allowed to properly study— like that stopped him. Whenever it looked like the other guards weren't looking, he would quickly look over his notebook. He didn't even pay the prisoners any mind if they were looking— only giving them an occasional glance that said 'I'm still technically watching.'

"Usages of Protect— easy, to fortify spellcasters and their allies with barriers against physical attacks, also useful for large-scale protection of..."

Immediately once the new prisoners arrived, the notebook was stashed away and Claus just looked plain tired seeing them come in.

"Er. I'm sorry, but is this really necessary?" Claus gestured to the prisoners. "We're guarding what was once two separate groups merged into one easily watched group, one that includes an actual cat and another one that includes a girl that would dislocate her arm trying to fire any sort of bandit's firearms... No offense," Claus looked to Blodeuyn as a note. "My father just always made it a point to dissuade me from doing so for that reason. My point is, I highly doubt that the prisoners will be able to actually escape and logically we really don't need to guard them, so can Viverna and I go at least within the next half hour? We have a test in three days and I've only been able to get about two hours of studying today." While the tone could easily sound complain-y and downright insulting to the prisoners, Claus actually spoke with mild mannerisms that mostly spoke more to panic than anything else.