Solo Situational Control.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

2nd of Winter, 514.

Patrols, in Arch's mind, meant a casual stroll through some of Syliras with just his patron beside him. They might stop here or there, have a conversation with one of the passers-by, and they might even offer their services to anyone who looked like they needed it. This was as far as one of those as he'd ever seen before - then again, Winter had arrived, and it didn't look very pretty. Even within the thick stone walls of the castle, the chill struck to the bones - in Arch's case, the nexus. People were growing restless, tensions rising. They'd been called up along with several other knights and squires - it looked for all the world as though two wings had been brought to the small, crowded corridor to discuss their spread. At the head of them stood Titus, muttering with an unfamiliar Sergeant before finally turning back to the rather large group.

"Alright, listen up!" His voice, as usual, easily carried over the chattering of knights and squires alike, drowning them into submission with merely a few choice words. "We'll be splitting into three teams. Each team takes a different area for the day. You don't have to stay together, but if you spread, you keep in contact. You all know the drill by now." Soon, he was rattling off names and gesturing to knights and squires alike, pushing them together into small groups. Barely managing to yell over the Sergeant, Arch turned to the crimson Akalak who's shoulder had become his seat.

"Wait, if there are two wings here, why are we splitting into even smaller groups?"

"Because we need to cover more ground. It's unorthodox, but then again, sometimes it pays to be."There were only ten knights, and about fifteen or twenty squires between them all. The sergeant knights added their own to the mix - a handful each. Instead of the groups being mixed between knights and squires, the knights were split up into three groups of three knights that would take on the 'more dangerous' areas, even if those were only marginally worse than what the other six or seven groups of squires were taking. Since there were only three knights left to monitor all of them, soon squires were being appointed as 'leaders'.

"Alright, we still need one more squire to lead the group." Titus glanced over the small crowd of about four other squires, and many of them flinched. It wasn't Ser Titus that broke the silence, however, or even one of the squires. Ser Iros broke in and interjected. "I think I've got the perfect candidate." He carefully reached up and offered a hand for Arch to ride straight to Ser Titus' face. At least he didn't seem surprised or insulted at the offer. Instead, he scrutinized every inch of the squirrel with meticulous vision and judgement. "He's preparing for his Knighting Quest," Ser Iros added almost casually.

"Oh? Well, I'll have to take your word for it.. for now, you're leading the team. You'll be taking the eastern corner of the Nettle District." He had to hide his excitement, and barely managed to flash the crimson Akalak knight a grin of thanks before hopping down from the hand and into his new group. None of them showed anywhere near the same amount of enthusiasm, but that was alright. They just needed a little coaxing, was all. Hopefully.

"Right then, gang! Let's go!" The other teams were already making their way down the corridors and towards their assigned destinations. He could even see other groups of knights and squires - some mixed, others segregated - beginning their patrols too. It was going to be quite a busy day for the Order, and only one of many more to come. For some reason, he both loved and hated Winter at the same time - at least he wasn't going to get bored, with everything going on at once.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

It wasn't very long before they were strolling down through one of the few open-air districts in the entire castle. For once, the squirrel could actually walk on the ground. The small group of squires got a decent-sized berth from the civilians trying to push past, and there was more than enough space between them for a five-inch squirrel to squeeze in. One complaint he could make was that none of them looked even remotely close to as happy as the squirrel felt, although whether it was the freezing temperatures they kept complaining about or the fact that their superior for the evening was going to be a small clay rodent was unknown, as of yet. "Why did we have to get the one place out in the open..." one of the squires, likely a female human, moaned for about the seventh time in the past bell.

He said 'likely' because he honestly didn't know. Her face and voice were both cloaked and muffled respectively because of the visor she wore over her face. All of them had it. Partial or full plate-mail, with at least a helmet and the visor pressed down over their faces to cover them from the freezing cold. The squirrel could feel a numb chill, but that was about it. Even if he wanted to, there were never any clothes around that fit his size, and he wasn't going to wear them. As long as he kept moving, kept stretching whatever clay he had to avoid it freezing up, he'd be fine. Wasn't like he had any blood to freeze up, or anything of the sort.

"Because they knew that you'd hate it, and that you'd complain about it for bells on end, and they wanted to make your life miserable." Apparently the other squires couldn't sense the humor in his voice - or maybe they couldn't hear it through those thick, padded helmets of theirs, stuffed with cloth and other things to try and make the metal warm up faster. He couldn't really tell. Either way, he continued. "Besides, I know a much better way to spend that breath, instead of whining. You should try and move those muscles a little bit more, get some warmth in your bodies." One of them glanced down and gave the squirrel what he could only guess was a cold hard stare, but the visor ruined the effect and he couldn't even see the squires eyes through the thin gaps.

"Maybe we should all go back to the Dorms and spend the rest of the evening in front of a nice, warm fire." There were a few murmers of agreement, but nothing more. They were all tired, they were all cold, but they weren't stupid. They had a job to do, and they were going to do it.

"Enough talk about that stuff, you'll get it soon enough. Besides, there's nothing stopping us from a brief drop-in at a store here or there, make sure everything's running smoothly." That should have cheered the group up. The shops and the bars were all warmed with fire pits and torches scattered around the insides - they'd be warm, possibly cozy. Moments later, the squires were almost pushing one-another over in the attempt to press through the front doors and into the very next shop they passed. What luck they had, to be so close to the Rearing Stallion. At least Syna was still high in the sky, so hopefully there'd be less trouble around than the place was famed for during the evening and night.