PM to join Easing into a situation.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

The trek back to the tank wasn’t anywhere near as frantic as the initial escape attempt. Alex coughed lightly and sucked won a breath, trying ti fight back the build-up of exertion in his muscles. Every so often the criminal fought in his hands trying to wrench himself free. Eventually Alex got fed up with that and pressed the point of his finger into the small of the criminals back. A cold calm word followed.
“Try struggling again and I’ll make sure the next time you do it’ll be your last.” An empty threat but not entirely. If he kept it up Alex would just bring the hard lower edge of his hand to a swift meeting with his temple.

The walk wasn’t too long back. Handing off the criminal to one of the knights Alex just smirked as the escapee turned to see Alex’s fingers pressing into his back. The look of shock which followed was one that easily satisfied Alex. However a few ticks passed and Poppy still hadn’t returned. Perhaps she’d gotten lost? Or had the criminal somehow evaded her and she didn’t want to show her face out of embarrassment? Thankfully neither was the case, the escapee had simply managed to outpace his compatriot by taking a more direct approach.

Still she trundled back with an out cold escaped jail bird. Had she knocked him out cold? Or had he done it to himself? Until he knew more about her he couldn’t say one way or the other for certain. But still either way he couldn’t in good conscience leave her to struggle carrying the dead weight. He stepped over lifting the other arm of the less than conscious escapologist and helped her haul him to the tank.
“Sorry about that, never a dull moment it seems within the city.” He finished his words with a soft s mile and helped her hand him off to one of the guards making sure that she got full credit for the capture of that one.

“Still, nice work Poppy.” A small chuckle and Alex stretched out feeling the soreness along his spine pulling against him. “I’ve got to ask did you knock him out or did her do it to himself?” Alex spoke with a calm evenness. He wasn’t unsure about his own skills but he was unsure about the ones of those around him. From what’s he’d seen of the slight woman she didn’t seem like a powerhouse of untold skill but given the fact he’d been used as floor polish by a bunch of clay, he’d given up taking things on appearances, at least fully.

[Poppy Blackburn]

Dragging the cart containing the tied-up prisoner behind, Poppy occasionally threw some glances behind to ensure that the man was where he was supposed to be. Not like he could escape without any visible sound, for his feet were bound by rope and his hands manacled. From the look of things, he was still out cold. It didn’t matter, he’ll be up soon enough. Now that the excitement of the last bell was over, she could afford a slower, more leisurely pace back to the Tank, where there would be no doubt be knights waiting to take their prisoner back into custody.

The journey back didn’t take too long and soon, both cart and girl arrived in vicinity of the prison. It was there that she saw Alexander and Poppy gave him a brief and relieved wave. The lass let loose of one of the hands handling the cart to jab a finger back at the cart to let him know that she had caught her target as he had told her to do. Not bad for a new squire, eh? Father would be mighty impressed, she knew it.

As her fellow brother-in-arms came over, she mouthed off “I can manage.” But didn’t exactly stop Alex from helping either as he raised the prisoner’s arms over the man's shoulders, and together the both of them lifted him over to the guards at the Tank. Alex then apologised, but the reason was lost on her.

She had no clue why he had said sorry. Puzzled, she said “What for? Now, that was fun! Thanks for making my day interesting.” Poppy was definitely not expecting this to be this fun or interesting. This was already a whole lot better that she could have wished or asked for. He then commended her on the job well done, and she chuckled as she returned his compliment. “You did a great job yourself!”

The next thing that amused her was him asking if the man knocked himself out or was she the culprit. “Both, actually. Well, I tackled and tripped him, causing him to fall and hit himself on the head which knocked him out, so I guess you can say it’s a bit of both.” Poppy grinned as she finished, still immensely proud of what she had done earlier, catching the fleeing criminal. Just wait until Ser Ramsey hears about this.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

What was he apologising for? And that she had fun? Perhaps this was the right place for her to be after all. With the sheer amount of things that escalated in this city it would be the best place for her then. Having said that Alex didn’t enjoy violence. Talking people out of a situation was what he preferred to do but unfortunately sometimes that just wasn’t an option. But the words of praise from her felt a little undeserved.

This was just a regular day for him. Stopping an incident or training, over the last one hundred and twenty days it was how everything felt. Still there was a small silver lining to know that she’d not done the full reprimanding to unconsciousness. She’d tacked him and he’d smacked his head. Alex folded his arms and sighed.
“Well seems like you’ll fit right in. I’m still kinda learning the ropes to be honest. I’m only a season and a half roughly as a squire.” Alex gave a small honest smile glancing over at the tank briefly. One thought nagged at him. How did they get out of the tank?

Alex made a small motion for poppy to follow him, despite knowing the location of the tank he hadn’t checked it out too much. Glancing around the building Alex spotted something. Nothing too large but still it caught his eye. A small hole. Judging by the size it was large enough for someone to fit an arm through. If that was the case then what exactly had they fished through into the cells? “Poppy, can you spot anything around here that looks out of place?”

Alex was intentionally trying to keep his mind occupied. Something was nagging at him something didn’t quite feel right about things. Scanning over the ground and the walls Alex looked over the walls of the surrounding space. Something was out of place.

[Poppy Blackburn]

Something told Poppy that Alex didn’t quite agreed with how happy she felt or how she was in such high spirits. The compliment she gave to him was met with an equally lukewarm reception which puzzled her, as in normal cases, people were usually pleased to receive compliments. He had then sighed, for reasons that were unknown to her, but her best guess was that he was upset about something. While she agreed that talking aggressors out from using violence should usually be carried out before using any form of violence of one’s own, there was only so much one could do, when their particular target refuses to back down from mere talking.

Poppy wouldn’t say that she necessarily reveled in the use of violence, but being both pragmatic and realistic, she understood that when the situation calls for it, there is no backing down, especially on a whim. As he mentioned about her fitting right in, she simply muttered back “Well, I do hope so…I’ll like to fit in...That’ll be nice.” She cocked her head as he then told her that he’d only been a squire for a season and a half. He certainly seemed more experienced than that to her, perhaps he was the hardworking sort, those always tend to be more productive than your average squire.

Alex then gave her a smile, and it was a good honest one that looked good on him. “You look good when you smile, you should do it more often.” She mused, flashing him a sincere smile of her own. He then motioned for her to follow him, and that she did, trailing behind him as he glanced around the building that was the Tank. “You’ve got something in mind?” Silence. Probably thinking.

He then spoke up, asking if she spotted anything out of the ordinary, which prompted her to start looking deeper into the surroundings and the building that housed the Tank. Poppy soon discovered the source of his attention as her gaze landed on the sight of a small hole in the wall, with just enough space for an average sized arm to fit through to the other side of the wall. That wasn’t all.

As Poppy peered closer into the surrounding vicinity of the hole, she saw a web of cracks, before spotting one lone crack that seemed to snake out from the rest, and she traced her finger all along it as it stretched all across the length of the wall. Then it dawned onto her. The window. They couldn’t have done anything to the door as it would have been guarded, but the window, with its sturdy iron bars in place looked to be deterrent enough for there to be no one taking care of it, something these prisoners were sure to exploit.

Living a life in Sunberth, especially as an ex-thief, one was always thinking of an escape route, this time Poppy put her knowledge to use, putting herself in their shoes. If she was in the Tank, and she wanted to escape, doing any form of thing to the window was her best possible chance of escape. Once they got through the bars, all they had to do was to crawl through the window and make sure that there were no knights or guards around. Those two goons didn't quite nail that step.

Gesturing for Alexander to follow, she said “Come. It has to be the window.” She wasn’t exactly tall enough, so she pointed up at the iron bars at the window. “If my guess is correct, those bars are now loose, having been removed and place back before.” Her guess was as good as any.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex stepped around the tank and waited to see if Poppy could cotton on to what he’d found. Thankfully it hadn’t taken her more than a half chime to spot it. And then she’d spotted something which he’d missed. Trailing her finger along the wall he leaned in and saw the source of the trail, a long crack scaling the entire wall. Looked like the construction of the castles infrastructure wasn’t as fully repaired as people would have liked it to be from the events back in winter. Alex hissed out a sigh through his teeth. Thoroughly dissatisfied with this, Alex shifted his footing and looked up.

She was onto something and Alex was onto it too, the moment she gestured for him to follow her Alex shook his head.
“If the bars are loose, what better way to test them than from the outside?” Alex smirked lightly before turning to look up at the window again. The height difference wasn’t much more than a half human higher than himself. Looking at Poppy again he sparked an idea. Interlacing his fingers he offered his hands down for her to stand on. “Right I’ll help you up, stand on my shoulders and check out the window, and those bars.”

Alex gave a small smirk having completely missed her comments earlier being too deeply lost in thought and searching for a reason as to why the escapologists had made their exit. Now that both he and Poppy had a good chance to test it out they should, at least before disrupting the events or proceedings within the tank. But if this was the case and this was an issue, then which person had made the hole to help the crack span the wall? That was the question, because judging from the shifting of earth around the hole…It had to have been made from the outside. Having a second set of eyes often helped, and a second head did more so. He’d just thought it was a contra band tunnel and someone had slipped them the keys to their cell, this made much more sense.

[Poppy Blackburn]

Testing the bars. Alexander’s idea was to now test the metal bars on the window after agreeing with her suggestion. He remarked about how there was no better way to test if the bars were loose or not from the outside. Poppy cocked her head, trying to see the reasoning of his words, but came up with nothing. Giving him an unsure smile, she glanced back at the window just as he did so. He then piveted his gaze back down to her, and she returned his gaze. Poppy wasn’t an expert when it comes to reading people, but she was pretty sure that look meant that he had an idea forming up in that head of his. She watched as he then interlaced his fingers and offered her to step onto his hands to use them as a boost to stand on his shoulders which would allow her to reach the window up ahead.

She gave him a brief wary look before that vanished, replaced by a playful mischievous smirk. Moving closeer to him, Poppy stepped onto his interlocked fingers, her body dangerously close, inches away from his face as the lass leaned onto him, scrambling up his shoulders, one leg at a time. Poppy wasn’t fat, so she shouldn’t be all too heavy, but she wasn’t that light either, and Alexander must have been pretty strong to bear the burden of her weight on first his hands then his shoulders. With her newly boosted height, she reached for the metal bars.

As she had expected, the metals bars obstructing the windows were loose and shaky, no longer securely fastened like they should be to prevent any escape attempts. Shaking them slightly with the sound of the loose metal bars clinking-and-clanking loud enough for Alexander to hear, but soft enough to not draw any attention or even disturb any proceedings happening inside to their little test. Announcing that she was going back down, Poppy dismounted his shoulders carefully, taking it slow and steady to prevent any potential injuries from happening. Standing on the ground once more with her two feet, she remarked confidently.

“My guess was right. Someone must have loosen the bars somehow, probably on the inside, done in the dead of night when the activity and alertness of everyone is low." Turning around and motioning to her fellow squire to follow, Poppy said “It’s best we tell the knights what we found out. Can’t have them or anyone else attempting that again.” A smirk then appeared onto her face as she continue, ending in a soft chuckle. “This time we might not be around to save the day.” As they made their journey back to the main entrance of the Tank were the knights would be, Poppy pointed towards the windows, tell that what she had found, and suggested that they’d had best send someone to fix both the bars in the windows and fill up that hole in the wall, before someone tries to escape once more.

Two of the knights beckoned them to follow as he went to confirm what she had reported to him, grabbing along an inked quill and parchment in hand to record down any details. As one knight recorded down the details of what he observed, from the hole in the wall, to the cracks, the other headed to the window to inspect the bars before his partner came over, providing a similar type of boost to allow his colleague to inspect the bars. When the one of top was satisfied that the bars were indeed loose, he came back down and recorded his findings and observations in the parchment, his quill scratching away furiously.

He then informed them. “Very well, your report has been noted. The order thanks you for your vigilance and your good service. I’ll pass this along to the knight commander in charge of the Tank. You may go now.”

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Seemed as if she was on the same page as he was. Shortly after he laced his fingers together she pressed her boot in to his hands. With the positioning he’d taken he could haul her up and help her to stand onto his shoulders. A short climb and she was up there. With him anchored in position the wobbles and rocking motions were kept to a minimum. Primarily thanks to the flat boots she wore he didn’t have to worry about any heels digging into his shoulders. And oddly enough she didn’t weigh a lot at all. If anything he felt like he was simply carrying the full load of his armour and weapons on him again.

Keeping his balance here was the bit which took the most effort. Standing crouched with a person balancing atop you often did that. Still he could hear the bars rattling in their places, which was not a good sign. Poppy’s initial though was right and that meant there was a beach in the wall.
“Well.” He paused trying to hold his balance. “It’s a good thing you found it then. There would be a much bigger issue if we suddenly got a large influx of criminals all tossed in this particular cell.” He attempted t a chuckle but realized that would shake her balance and potentially have her fall. With a shifting of his standing he helped her back down onto the ground.

Alex let her go off first and in the meantime took the opportunity to check the surrounding areas. Half that and half the fact that hauling her up there had sprung a pain in his upper back. Not her fault really but still it was sore. Perhaps he’d need another visit to the soothing waters? Alex spied a few boxes at the back of the tank. Odd because nothing was supposed to be hidden around here. Stepping over he looked behind them to see a pile of discarded clothes. All black. Strange, and unexpected.

Scooping them up he followed behind poppy towards the main entrance of the tank a few seconds after, having heard her get praised for the finding the cracks and the fault. Alex then stepped up behind her the bundle of discarded items under one arm.
“Excuse me sir but I found these behind the Tank. Perhaps it would be a good idea to station someone behind the building until the breech is fixed?” Alex spoke in a calm and even manner much more formal than the one he’d been using with Poppy.

“Very well Squire I’ll take your advice into consideration, now leave those here with me and off you two go.” With a small nod Alex placed the clothes on the desk and headed out. Hopefully with Poppy in tow. Alex stepped out of the tank and took in a deep breath before exhaling slowly.
“Well, I think that went pretty good.” A visible shed of relief rolled off of Alex. “Being in there always makes me antsy.” Still Alex turned to give Poppy a smile. “Nice spot there by the way. I doubt I coulda spotted it.” Alex gave an offer for a handshake but wasn’t sure if she’d accept it. After all displays of affection and shows of gratitude weren’t exactly his forte. He could apologize and sound like the perfect gentleman when the situation called for it but showing anything other than a reserved nature, or an apologetic one wasn’t something he was at all used too.

[Poppy Blackburn]

Poppy wasn’t the only one who found something amiss. Alexander himself managed to nab himself a suspicious finding, noticing a bundle of discarded clothing lying in a junk pile near the vicinity of the Tank. Looks like the both of them would be getting commendations after all, be they official or not.

Now that they were done with this rather peculiar incident at the Tank, she supposed that their tour had officially came to an end. This had been rather interesting day so far, more so than she had ever expected it to be. The lass had expected a dry, boring tour, despite her ever-present optimism, and to her surprise, what she got was an exciting conclusion to the tour which ended up with them catching fleeing criminals and carrying out investigative work. Highly intriguing, to say the least.

As the squire pair finally left the Tank, Alexander seemed to relax significantly, as though the tension around him had dropped down several notches. Poppy agreed with his sentiment that their little ‘situation’ there had gone down rather well. “Yeap, pretty good indeed. We were pretty lucky I would say.” He then turned to give her a smile followed by a compliment, and she accepted it with grace and a smile.

“I’d say, you did pretty well yourself.”

Alexander then offered her a friendly handshake, but she brushed it away casually and went for a hug instead, embracing him gently. “It’s good to see that you have lightened up a tad.” Retreating from the hug, Poppy asked. “How are you going to spend the rest of the day?” Twirling her finger in the air as she mused, “Perhaps, I’ll pay a visit to the Soothing Waters, I could use a bath.”

Pinching her tunic up, she caught a whiff of the dried sweat on her. Urgh, that doesn't smell too good. Now that their unplanned agenda was over for the day, she had perhaps taken up enough of her fellow squires time already and would be unreasonable to take up more. But then again, if he chose to follow, then she wasn’t going to object either, after all it’s his time and his choice to make.

The other option was to go back to the dormitories and wash-up there, but Poppy didn’t quite feel like going back there just yet, especially not all dirty and sticky like she was now. Today was a good day, she could afford herself a little luxury in the the baths, now couldn’t she?

[Samuel Longwell]

Grading Complete Please edit your grade request thread so that it's obvious that it's been graded. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/problems with your grade. Name: Alex XP Award: Interrogation 1 Socialisation 3 Observation 4 Leadership 1 Running 1 Brawling 1 Endurance 1 Intimidation 1 Subterfuge 1 Bodybuilding 1 Lore: Poppy: Excitable New Squire Twas Just A Finger Shield Points:+5 Catching the escapee, shoring up security and showing Poppy round the city (Helping Citizens) Name: Poppy XP Award: Socialisation 4 Observation 5 Interrogation 1 Running 1 Acrobatics 1 Wrestling 1 Endurance 1 Flirting 1 Lore: Alex: Tall Friendly Squire Location: The City Of Syliras Shield Points: +4 Catching the escapee and shoring up security (Helping Citizens) Notes: A good meeting thread, nice and interesting all the way through. Well done both of you, enjoy your grades.