Completed Experiments of the Mind: Rituals With-in [3]

[Collin Ashcroft]

It was hard to miss the trio practicing with daggers; a young women and two young men, one of which he was sure he'd seen around the castle before. Initially he was just going to pause and watch for a few chimes until his patron beckoned him to return, but things at the Pit went from normal to unusual quickly. A strange, momentary silence fell over the groups of people practicing with their preferred forms of combat and Collin looked around, curious of the hushed hesitation. A small collection of Knights and Squires stood observing the arena, looking serious and displeased.

It seemed to be the two young men they were looking for, and he was indeed right in thinking he had seen the dark-haired one before; he was a fellow Squire. Supposedly his patron was missing in action and there was a patrol in the makings to search for him. Collin felt a hand on his shoulder and jerked in surprise, turning to see Ser Blackburn's face hovering close to his ear.

"I'm going to go speak with them a moment. I'll fetch you when I'm done and let you know what's going on."

Collin nodded and the Knight left to speak with his peers. They greeted him with a mixture of handshakes and respectful salutes, making it easy to guess who might be of lower rank or otherwise. He turned again to listen to how the bald young man was being berated openly by a majority of those around them, and watched as he lashed out at the woman he was sparring with. It was a messy attack, but she went down. She seemed the fierce sort despite her sweet appearance, and looked to be holding her own against him.

While it could have been interesting to watch them duke it out, Collin was drawn to the other Squires as they began to spar. He hovered on the fringes of their battle, watching closely as the black haired defender took several hard blows to his shield. He looked uncertain with it strapped to his arm, and was clearly distracted by his previous companions.

"Pardon the interruption," Collin spoke out during a lull in their swordplay. "Would you care for another blade in the mix?" He'd never battled against two opponents at once and it would the perfect distraction that Ferrin was unknowingly searching for. "I hate to just stand here and watch. It seems my patron has business with yours, so I think it's only appropriate I put myself to use as well." He began buckling his shield tightly to his forearm as he spoke, making sure the padding was in place along his arm and the straps were secure. "The name is Collin, if you're wondering. I'm Ser Blackburn's Squire." He motioned to the Sergeant atop the wall speaking in a low voice to the other Knights.

[Shimoje]

Shimoje was entranced in the battle. He was enjoying it far more than he probably should, and his intentions almost were a bit more excitable than he would ever care to admit. The fight didn’t end on the terms that he would have liked, but he did learn a lot through the process of losing. He happened to grab a hold of Jade’s hand firmly and quickly got helped up to his feet. Despite the whole process Shimoje was smiling and almost couldn’t help himself from still wanting to fight a little bit.

This woman, whoever she really was didn’t have much restrain, and with that thought he almost veered down a dark path of thoughts. He however helped himself from not doing such a thing. “I knew it” said Mona. “Shimoje won’t be of much use to us. We will have to leave him behind.” She continued on almost scoffing at the bald headed Zeltivian. “Zulkar says we give boy chance.” Said the red headed brutish looking knight.

With all of the commotion and final defeat of Shimoje Ceryl Tewel got up and in his own stupidity came up to the group of knights. “Shimoje is weak, weaker than girl, but smarter than I. Perhaps smarter than you.” He had said to them. “I just wanted to see if his smarts still gets me killed.” Ceryl had stated to the group of knights and squires once again.

Some replied with a smile, but Mona, oh she replied with a scoff and pushed Ceryl away as if he was some sort of peasant asking for food. “I do not care.” She said harshly. “We are here to recover a knight, and I doubt that even in the state that he is in that he could help.”

Shimoje remember back to the situation he was in, and how he made marks on the trees to tell of where he is was going. Shimoje looked over to Ferrin for some help but he had already engaged in a battle of his own with one of the other knights or squires. Shimoje couldn’t exactly tell which to be honest. Shimoje almost needed his help to deal with the closed minded knight who seemed to be just edged on the fact of not bringing along Shimoje.

“Ma’am, I am the only one that knows the way to where they were and perhaps even where they are now.” Shimoje had stated with a wry smile. “Nonsense, aren’t they holed up on kabrin road?” she quarried toward the Zeltivian. “No.” Shimoje said honestly. At this point he knew that he could weasel his way into the situation, but some part of him wondered why it even mattered. He felt like he just met Ferrin, so surely his interactions with him didn’t hold too much value, but at some part of him he knew that they had bonded in their mishaps. It just wasn’t something that you could take back. Plus, he felt responsible, and at this point Shimoje was not completely cold hearted to not care.

“Besides, without the knowledge of gadgets, you may surely die. Even with my best attempts I struggled to reset a trap, which surely would have killed us and we never would have known if I didn’t notice something strange. I doubt your armor could withstand a spike the size of my arm with the force of a fast cascading wave tearing it through your body.” Shimoje spoke almost enjoying the gruesome fantasy of seeing this rude woman ripped apart, but alas he was just daydreaming.

“Shut it, Shimoje” Mona demanded. She turned towards her peers and started to speak quietly. At this point Shimoje started to hate dealing with the knights, and seriously started to envy them. They surely were disciplined, but the way they treated him just made him feel obsolete. He simply walked away. At this point another one of the knights was introducing himself as Collin and wanted to join in on Ferrin’s fight. Shimoje looked at him and recognized he was the one he had bumped into earlier.

As the two or three would fight, Shimoje went over to Ceryl and started to speak to him. “Ceryl, I think a saw Yargul out there. He was tied to a spike that came out of the ground. There were three others or so others and the other had already been lit on fire. I don’t know if Yargul lived or not, we were quickly chased out of the area by a bunch of drunken bandits.” Shimoje spoke to him as if concerned for his feelings.

“Drunken, you says?” Ceryl’s ears seemed to stretch outward at the word “me remembers Yargul drinking with a bunch of weirdos the other night!” he had continued on before finally continuing on into a frown “I donts remember much cause I was drinking too that night, but I think I remember him walking off with one saying that they were going to go introduce him to Rhysol.” Ceryl’s face went almost blank and the memory of the name. He knew it meant something bad but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. “Ugh, why can’t I remember this Rhysol.” Ceryl had continued on finally before just slumping his back against a wall and giving up. “So I suppose we wait for the knights to finish their fight. Why don’t you get back at that female?” Ceryl proposed almost cockishly.

“But how?” Shimoje asked. “You are smart, figure it out.” Ceryl explained with a smile. Shimoje looked around and saw a variety of different weapons. He didn’t want to maim her, just perhaps play a joke on her. She had been distracted perhaps watching Ferrin fight. In result Shimoje stalked out the area and found a bucket which was filled with some sort of murky water attached to a rope. Shimoje decided to pick both up fairly quietly. Though it didn’t matter anyways, everyone was distracted by the fighting.

He went over to Jade with as low of a profile as he could and snuck up behind her trying not make a single sound. He took the free end of the rope and gently set it above her ankle and the proceeded to wrap it around three times before letting the rope very lightly drop onto her foot still attached to the bucket. With the twist of the rope should Jade move the bucket would surely kick up as she would fall and splash at her. Shimoje laughed at the thought and quietly attempted to escape before Jade’s eyes of love towards Ferrin. Least, that is what Shimoje perceived. Why else would she sleep in the same house as him?

[Ferrin Al'Mandrikan]

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Ferrin shifted his stance as he prepared himself for the next blow of Cameron's lance. The metal reverberated through his body. Ferrins hand, the one that was holding the shield felt a bit numb. He couldn't know how much longer he should be in the defensive side. Then, as if Cameron were going for a bash with his shield he was, Ferrin managed a quick dodge, but stumbled a bit as a stone was in his way. He swiped at the squire before him after he regained his stance. Squire Tamson was waiting for this moment and blocked with his lance. Ferrin scoffed and took a few steps to rethink his strategy. Just hitting him won't work. Obviously. So there must be a weak point.

Ferrin and both Cameron were caught off guard as another squire had came into play. His name was Collin, he'd asked if he could for sure join us. Ferrin looked over at Cameron with his breathing a bit heavy, but not to bad. After a moment, his breathing became more calm and he turned his head over to Collin. "Aye I don't see a problem with it. How about you Cameron?" Cameron pondered for a moment himself as if he were thinking how to organize the gameplay.

He looked around and waited, maybe to see if anyone else were to join, but simply sighed as he turned his head back at Ferrin and kicked the dirt beneath him. Ferrin looked at him weirdly as if giving Cameron a look that mostly registered as, what's wrong. A look of worry, but just only did Ferrin smile reassuring the squire Collin and nodded his head. The Kenashian readjusted his shield with his sword in hand for a quick tick, but it was quite complicating.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ferrin could see Shimoje walking past with a bucket of some sort of liquid inside. Ferrin grown curious, but left Shimoje at his own resources. He moved his eyes back facing Cameron. "How do you propose to go about it?"Asked Ferrin with a wry smile that crossed his lips. "You and Collin face me. I want to test the both of ya. Can he handle it?"Asjed Cameron with a grim smile over his dull and death like visage.

Ferrin nodded and looked over at Collin and wvmaved him in whilst still holding the hilt of his short broadsword."Don't just stand there Collin, come on mate."As Collin prepared. Ferrin noticed Cameron shift his gaze from the both of them, back and forth. He smirked and figured that he could just as well take both of them on. If Collin was ready, Cameron decided to go for him first, swiping with his Lance as best as it would allow him and aimed mainly to try and hit both, Ferrin and Collin if he can. Ferrin dodged, but triped over a stone that had gotten in his way.

Ferrin stood up quickly, but as he took a swing with his short broadsword, Cameron jumped and doged his attack and thrusted the spiky Lance at him. Ferrin parried it with his short broadsword. He thought he heard Sera Reeves speak, but decided to leave it be as it would distract him. It was after, Cameron had attacked Ferrin that he had had locked his near full attention to Collin. Hoping to get a few reactions from him as well.

"My Speech."
My Thoughts.
"Your Speech."


CREDITS: Go to Firenze for making this wonderful template!

[Collin Ashcroft]

There was a long moment of pondering as the two other Squires considered his offer. Perhaps he was being rude by interjecting, but Ferrin offered a reassuring smile that eased his doubt. Two against one they decided, and Collin smiled as he entered their circle.

"I can handle it. Can you?" It would be a challenge for any Squire to hold his own against two focused opponents. Any Knight, even, depending on the combatants. This would push all three of them. Collin took up a neutral position that would allow him to transition into either an attack or defensive maneuver. He hefted his shield, braced with his right leg back and left shoulder forward. The Squire smiled over the steel rim of his defenses and hammered the flat of her sword against its face, openly taunting Cameron.

The other Squire stepped forward to attack, swinging his lance at he and Ferrin. Compared to other weapons it was slow and cumbersome, requiring great coordination to wield. Normally a lance was used by cavalry, but Cameron chose to use his similar to a spear. Collin scoffed as the swing rapped his shield. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ferrin stumble out of the way but quickly recover and retaliate. They exchanged a few quick parries before Cameron turned on him again.

This time Collin initiated. Trying to be mindful of his feet, he quickly closed the gap the lance could reach, and as Cameron tried to turn the handle on him, he punched it away with his shield. Trying the same trick from his previous fight the Squire struck out with a swift kick in an effort to connect with the side of his knee and knock him down. The other Squire saw it coming though, relaxed his leg, and neutralized the force of the kick. To Collin's surprise he tried to counter with a headbutt and he stumbled backwards quickly to avoid a broken nose.

"Very nice," Collin praised, and the two shared adrenalin fueled smiles. Cameron shrugged, feeling cocky. "Ferrin? Flank him. Let's see if he's as confident when we're coming from both sides." He leered over the rim of his shield, moving carefully to Cameron's left, but there was a fiery delight burning in his concentrated stare.

[Ferrin Al'Mandrikan]

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Ferrin regained his balance. The spar almost turned into a skirmish as Ferrin and Collin fought side by side. As Cameron kept his eye and lance at Collin, Ferrin regained his position. It wasn't his defensive position, no. He sighed and adjusted his hand comfortably on the hilt of his short broadsword. The three have been nearly at it for chimes now. It had to be soon now that this spar shall have its end.

Of course, as Collin explained to flank the adversary. Ferrin nodded, Cameron noted and glared heavily once at Ferrin and he turned his head oclcer to Collin. "Don't doubt my movements. ""Scoffed Cameron.

As Ferrin and Collin inched closer. Cameron had doubted Ferrin and turned round to face Collin. Ferrin took advantage and swiped his blade at the feet of Cameron to swipe him under. It was a vague success, but Cameron landed with a thud over the dirt ground and coughed.

Ferrin looked over at Collin with a smirk of acclamation. The Kenashian sheathed his blade and let out a hand towards his defeated adversary. "You did good." Gasped Cameron as he rolled over onto his back and grabbed his hand. Squire Tamson patted his pants and shifted stance. "You too Collin. Ferrin you need to work on your surroundings."Said Cameron simply.

Sera Reeves stood on her heels, one handed under her chin resting ontop of her other hand. "You two. Ferrin and Collin. I need more, but this is good enough. Keep your arms up and make sure you stay alert. I think you can manage to not get killed by a group of drunken bandits."Retorted Sera Reeves. Ferrin smirked and nodded his thanks over to the Knight. "Thank you Sera Reeves. I'll work harder on that next time."Replied Ferrin simply. The Kenashian stood aimlessly, wondering what to do next. "You've done well. The lot of you should prepare for the trip ahead. I expect a full scale of equipment at hand. If we so mean to go out and search for Ser Xervos and this Yargul. Time is of essence. Don't forget that."Sera Reeves said. "we'll be waiting at the main gates. So don't be wasting anytime, especially you Shimoje."Sera Reeves scoffed and headed out, storming her feet on the dirt ground and didn't wait for her fellow Knights to follow her. The others did of course, and the squires, including Cameron. "Well, we should get a move on then. Meet you all at the Gates?"

"My Speech."
My Thoughts.
"Your Speech."

[Jade Laken]

Jade watched them end the fight. Looking over she wanted to volunteer to go with them on the search, but was still unsure. Still not noticing the bucket that was tied to her the leg the blonde took a step. Suddenly the bucket flew forward spilling the water every where under her feet. The bucket slammed into the back of Jade's ankle.

"Ow!" She said when the pain shot up her leg.

Looking down Jade knelt down and untied the bucket and put it aside. She rubbed that back of her ankle knowing that it was likely to bruise. Standing up straight the woman walked forward or at least tried to. The sudden mud under her feet made her extremely unstable. Gasping the woman landed flat on her arse in the mud. A roaring laughter sounded in the pits. A certain bald headed man's voice caught her ear when he called out above the laughter.

"What Ferrin doesn't do a good enough job?" he called and another round of laughter sounded.

Jade growled and got up pushing past everyone. She walked up and punched Shim square in the jaw. When he landed on his arse the blond quickly left the pits trying to hold in the tears of embarrassment. Jade had never been so humiliated in her entire life. Once out of the pits the woman raced down the streets towards the apartment. She went into the apartment and locked up before going to the bathroom.

[Collin Ashcroft]

Ferrin gained the upper hand when the two of them attacked Cameron together. The Squire had to split his attention and it was his downfall. Collin felt ample satisfaction when the young man ended up in the dirt and likely a little more humble. After Ferrin pulled him back to his feet Collin smiled.

He couldn't decide whether or not Sera Reeves actually approved. Her abrasive attitude set his teeth on edge. Luckily he wasn't looking to impress her although it seemed he'd been pulled into the group's business anyway, and he still wasn't quite sure what it was all about.

"Thanks for letting me join in. It was a nice change of pace." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ser Blackburn approach, so he offered his hand for the other two Squires to shake.

"It seems we've been conscripted to help them search the wood," his patron explained.

"Aren't there specific wings that already patrol out there?" The Knight shrugged and nodded.

"There's no arguing with Reeves. Gather your things and come along, we have to prepare." Ser Blackburn left without waiting on his Squire, and it was about the time Collin fetched the last of his stray belongings that Jade ended up in the mud. He shared the same incredulous surprise as many of the other onlookers in the Pit. He hadn't seen Shimoje set up his trick, which was fortunate for the bald headed young man because Collin would have been apt to give him a few welts with the flat of his blade.

Jade fled, mortified, before he could say a word. Collin's disapproving glare focused on Shimoje instead. He wasn't sure what would possess anyone to play such a ridiculous, terrible "joke" on a woman.

"A sore loser it seems," he snapped. Collin would only grow angier though if he stayed, even with the satisfaction of seeing Jade knock the boy off his feet, so he left to follow his patron back to the dorms.

[Shimoje]

Experiments of the Mind: Rituals With-in [3]

Shimoje didn’t much care for what other’s thought. He did what he wanted, when he wanted to. At that particular moment he was making a point, and hard lesson learned at that. As he stumbled from hit across his face, Shimoje merely smiled as the woman stormed off in a classic fashion. Throwing a shrug from his shoulder he overheard the conversation between Sera and Ferrin and almost wanted to bite back at Sera’s utter isolation of Shimoje. He was a hard worker, so why she would state such an accusation without knowing him only made him want to prove himself more.

With newfound energy from his sneaky prank, Shimoje was going to perform another, but decided that perhaps now he should just head towards the gate. He had all he needed, and knew that the group would probably bring ample enough supplies, if not he could always scavenge like he usually would. Though, he didn’t particularly enjoy showing that side of him to others.

Shimoje noticed Collin staring at him and properly responded “I am not the one that stormed off. Winning takes more than just a victorious battle.” He said with a wry smile before walking off. He had perhaps left a bad impression on himself, but in his own mind he was right. Shimoje didn’t kill those bandits and save Ferrin’s life on a test of his blades, he did by his wit.

To be honest, Shimoje couldn’t stress his previous words enough. The thoughts dwelled inside his mind as he walked off by himself, leaving all of the knights and squires to play their games of power. If he was to survive this whole ordeal he would most likely have to avoid combat, and act as a support to those with much better skills.

Reaching the gates, Shimoje sat down and started to whittle on a wooden stake he normally kept with him. He carved it to a very sharp point, and in turn put a notch at the other end of it. Soon enough the group of knights and squires arrived with a few horses carrying an amount of supplies. Shimoje didn’t pay attention to really what they were doing, just sat there continuing to perfect his wooden stake. Sera stood there arms crossed, tapping her foot. Realizing that Shimoje was not paying any bit of attention the knight approached Shimoje and dare touch him to try and notify him that she was there. He amply in reflex took the stake and swiped upward at her arm which was reflected by another knight’s sword. The sword caught onto the notch end of the stake, and Shimoje in shock pulled downward on his stake, causing the wood to be sliced through.

“Great, there is a reason I craft alone, I don’t like being disturbed in crafting. Sorry for that.” Shimoje frowned and looked at his wooden stake, now shortened from the reflex that he carelessly allowed to happen. “Now look at it.” Shimoje stated and a scoff from Sera soon sounded. She held her breath about to say something when Zulkar interrupted her “Best watch it.” He said with a deep voice, retracting and sheathing his sword.

“I take it you are ready? Fine, we won’t disturb you while you… play with your wood.” Sera let out. Shimoje for a small instant smiled and held out the stake “Rather you play with my wood than me.” His smart remarks were getting out of hand, but for some reason Sera laughed in response. It was as if Shimoje’s retort had showed her something she didn’t see before.

Shimoje then continued to fix the stake and started to carve another notch in it while waiting for the others to arrive.

oocSorry for the short post. Needed to keep it sweet and simple for the next posts coming up.

[Ferrin Al'Mandrikan]

"Speech" -- Timestamp -- Thoughts

"Thanks for letting me join in. It was a nice change of pace." Said Collin as he sheathed his own blade. Ferrin nodded. "It was quite a change in pace. Though, I've been in worse situations than this." Said Ferrin in response as he as well, sheathed in his blade with a slight smile. The cool brisk wind shifted. Though, the slight feeling of gratitude changed as he'd seen Jade fall and trip from a rope that was tied round her ankles. She fled, feeling a bit guilty. Ferrin didn't know at that momwnt., what was going on.

The Kenashian scoffed a bit roughly at Shimoje and gave him a slight smile before putting the shield away. Ferrin had left his shield at the barracks room. Ferrin would have a talk with Shimoje after he'd gathered his hunting gear, he thought he would be needing some practice with it today, but it seemed that hand on training was something he needed to work on more. As Ferrin was closer to the racks, HD gave a stern look at Sera Reeves when she was not paying any attention at him. She had turned her attention towards Shimoje, bit Ferrin wasn't quite sure. After putting the shield back onto the rack, Ferrin hurried over to gather his hunting gear.

Ferrin walked over to Shimoje and heard him complaining about his loss and the prank that he had pulled on Jade. "Shimoje, there is a time for avenging a loss, but it wasn't nice to prowl around and play that prank on Jade. She is a Drykas after all,, and winning is something they do often." Ferrin said matter of factly. He was merely admonishing Shimoje for his actions. In words, Ferrin felt like the eldest adult of Shimoje while Shimoje was the kid. Ferrin knew that it probably wouldn't be the best to confront Shimoje like that, but he wanted the balded man to understand.

It was either a good thing that Ferrin hadn't confrotlnted the Zeltivian in anger after the incident, or it was a bad thing because now Shimoje was in a crossed mood as he was playing around with his pieces of wood. Ferrin stood impatiently tapping one of his feet as he waited for Sera Reeves and Shimoje to finish up the little confrontation that the two have been having for the past few chimes.

Ferrin smirked at the little remark Shimoje let out to Sera Reeves. "Well, I'll meet you at the gates then. I have to do some things first." Ferrin nodded his leave to his fellow Knights and Squires as they were to, taking their leave and heading out. "I'll meet you at the gates Shimoje, unless hoi want to tag along?" Said Ferrin as he started to walk back towards the Traveler's Row, if Shimoje would follow him hopefully there would be room for apologies, otherwise it is going to be a fairly long night.



Credits go to Aislyn

[Jade Laken]

Jade quietly worked on cleaning the apartment growling still fuming mad. She would get back at the little bald man if it cost her an arm or leg. No one makes a fool out of a Drykas. Popping her neck the blond looked over when she heard keys rattling. Stopping her sweeping she watched the door open to reveal Ferrin walking in.

"You're little friend is going down," Jade said with the growl still evident in her voice of how pissed she had become while alone.

Alone time when she was mad had never been a good thing even growing up. She held a grudge against people that had grown up with her for years. To this day Jade could tell anyone exactly what happened, who is was, and where they had been at. Sighing gently Jade knew she had to calm before going with the knights if that was why Ferrin had indeed returned to the apartment instead of continuing his training before heading out on patrol.