The Best Mistakes

[Ramlock]

The Best Mistakes

Continued from [http://www.xeneth.net/urpc/index.php?topic=2681.105].

Danyr wasn't one for polite combat. He preferred not to kill, but he didn't like the banter, either. Banter was just for stroking egos and wasting time. He'd immobilized the main threat to be dealt with later, but for now, there were plenty of other threats. Really, it was sort of nostalgic. Angry young men, armed with whatever blunt or sharp implements they could find, about to kill each other... Cute. Danyr had hoped those experiences would be gone once he severed ties with his brothers. Instead, Presmodia was sucking him into the business again. He was definitely opposed to killing here, if only so they could go turn Presmodia in to whoever they seemed to all answer to...

Danyr didn't yet move, taking advantage of his increased height. Unless they had ranged weapons of their own or came up to strike him, he need only worry about the safety of the other three. Drawing a blue-colored arrow from his quiver, Danyr would take aim at one of the few shade-men who bore an actually weapon, letting loose at the person's head with skillful aim. The arrow he was using was blunted on the end, bearing only a weight. It was capable of causing concussions or serious damage, but wouldn't usually kill...

[Nayt]

Fortunately, even while avoiding killing blows, the four of them were more than enough for the group three times their numbers. Whereas, the group assaulting Christoph, Daniel, and Presmodia were only armed with their weapons and makeshift weapons, and seemed to only possess abilities in such--rather, a complete lack of abilities entirely. Three in the street, though--against twelve. That meant roughly four per person.

Four for Daniel, four for Presmodia, and four--

Danyr's rough arrow hit the back of the skull of the first man to charge, a particular sword-wielding Ersatzshad that had headed his "group" against Christoph. With nothing more than a "GUH!," he fell to the asphalt, his conscious thoughts shot away. That was one out the picture, and very quickly, at that.

--three for Christoph. He would be able to deal with those three as he saw fit. Each of the men were purely defensive, moving in slow, so not to experience the same fate as the one that wished to rush. They were all at an equal pace, and cautiously stepped forward, mindful of Christoph's increase in range.

Daniel, on the other hand . . . was momentously better than he had been when traversing the dark city with Zera. Then, he knew nothing about his sword, and any sort of knowledge of how to use it. He had just been swinging it around mindlessly and hoping for the best, believing that luck was a substitute for talent.

But it was proof to himself that he had changed. It hadn't been that long since went up close and personal in a fight against another person; in fact, it had been a frequent occurrence during his and Danyr's wanderings--and the experienced showed: as soon as a sword-wielding Ersatzshad was upon him, he blocked blade with blade, but only as a distraction. In truth, his sword wasn't meant to be used like any other type of blade. Blocks, parries, and the like were inconsequential--optional. This blade was made for single swipes. It was unnecessary for this; the only reason he had it was for the purpose of defense. Straining his weight all back on his left leg, he hesitated for a moment, before reaching out, grabbing the man by the shoulder, and pushing forward with all his strength. This stumbled him back, back into an ally, causing a bit of confusion amongst the four that seemed to be focusing upon Daniel.

The adolescent vaulted forward, ramming shoulder first into the off-guard swordsman. This knocked him back even more, causing he and his ally both to stumble and fall onto one another. As the other two darted towards Daniel from both sides, the boy jumped ahead, landing boots first upon the guts of the two Ersatzshad--both had been laying down almost next to each other following their "trip." They coughed individually, and could do nothing more than roll onto their sides, hacking in loss of breath, when Daniel jumped forward, off of them. This left two more, both of whom were approaching Daniel with much caution.

Two men with pipes. Good. Daniel rushed for the first one, the one on the left. He seemed to charged right back, winding up his arm, drawing his pipe back, ready to throw it down on the boy at any time. This was followed up with the second Ersatzshad left for Daniel to take on rushing after the boy, quite faster than him, just enough to catch up at the right time. As they closed in on each other, the Ersatzshad threw his arm down, swinging the pipe down at Daniel. Unprecedented, Daniel let go of his blade entirely, letting it fall to the concrete. The other one was right behind him, and he was going to need both hands. Without so much as a second thought, he brought his right forearm up over his head, and closed in enough that he was blocking the man's hand, not the pipe--it was past Daniel's head, over-reaching.

The Ersatzshad was notably surprised, but could do little as Daniel practically tackled into him, as well, but not to throw him off guard. With his left hand, Daniel reached up for the man's armpit, all the while drawing his right hand back to grab the Ersatzshad's wrist. Daniel leaned back and down just a bit, and with one heave, using the momentum of the Ersatzshad's rush, he rolled the man over his shoulder, turning to throw him to the ground behind him--which entailed throwing him into the other Ersatzshad's legs, who had just caught up, inevitably tripping him. He fell face-first beside of Daniel, and experienced no more than a subtle kick to the head.

It was short work of the four, testament that even though Daniel carried a sword with him, he really didn't need it. Essentially, it was nothing more than a just-in-case weapon.

Which left Presmodia. Christoph and Daniel, occupied as they were, saw nothing of what happened with Presmodia. Danyr, on the other hand, would see it all. Four men charged, almost simultaneously, and almost yelled at the same time, too. A yell of surprise, followed by shouts of pain. All Presmodia had done was swipe out his arm, taking each of them off of their feet. Without even a lapse in the physical movement of Presmodia, the four men were sent back first into the steps across the street, those that ascended to an otherwise abandoned establishment. It wasn't a killing blow, but they certainly weren't in fighting condition after that.

[Zach Kaiser]

Hmph, am I the one he thinks needs the most help? Christoph thought as one of his opponents was downed by an arrow from Danyr; he supposed it made sense, as when they'd found him he'd run his magic dry and been rather helpless, but he could more than take care of himself.

While Daniel acted on instinct to beat his foes and Presmodia put on a show of force that would have made him think twice about dismissing him had he seen it, Christoph opted to place careful jabs at his foes. To an untrained eye it would likely seem as though he was just testing their resolve and footing, what he was really doing was getting them to move a little--against such unskilled opponents, predicting where they would step if his weapon got a little too close to them was easy. Like a chess master he let them think they were in control and avoiding attacks when in reality they were moving just where he wanted them, which was with the two on the sides just a little closer to him than the man in the middle, with enough room for him to get between them.

And then he struck without warning, not letting the smirk he felt on the inside show even a little. He stepped forward and in one fluid motion brought one end of his weapon up to strike the hands of the Ersatzshad one the left with flat of the blade and simultaneously brought the other end down in a similar manner on the one on the right. By brandishing his weapon as he had, he made them consider his range first--especially as these two were wielding knives. But by grasping the middle instead, it was speed and not reach that was the key.

The dual hit also served to balance the move, leaving him ready to immediately make another strike at the one directly in front of him, moving and switching his grasp as he swung to get more power out a single swing, which was needed as the last one was wielding a pipe. Again he aimed for the hands with the flat of his blade.

To finish off the move he crouched and spun, now in between them and capable of reaching them all with a single, powerful sweeping strike to the legs, being sure to connect with the pole of his weapon rather than the blade. Assuming all went according to plan (and he was sure it would) he'd wave the Silver Nova threateningly at the prone figures. "Don't get up," he commanded calmly, surveying how the others fared out of the corner of his eye and was pleasantly surprised to find them all down...or rather, eight of them down and the other four just plain missing. He found them a moment later in a clump across the street and couldn't help but wonder how they got there--but even without seeing what happened, only one man had been available to take care of them.

Still, outnumbered four to one (three to one if he counted Danyr on the roof) they had taken care of all their opponents in a manner of seconds. Not bad at all.

[Nayt]

((Skipping Kevin.))

And in the end, all enemies had been dispatched--all paralyzed or otherwise unable to move. Thugs, really. It was the only way to describe them--thugs that were going to need reinforcements if they were going to even hope to dispatch a group like this. Even without Presmodia's supernatural abilities, the crew would have been too much . . .

"B--bastards!" cried a pained Greiz. "Don't you see you're being used?!"

None of the human men had the opportunity to respond, though. As footsteps clicked from Presmodia's slow steps, the haughty Ersatzshad replied, "They already see that. It's a mutual use, really. I'm using them and they're using me. It's called Stockholm Syndrome [1]."

"Stockholm . . . what . . .?" growled a pained Greiz.

"It's not important," Presmodia replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "All that's important is that they're going to get as happy of an ending as I'm going to get. You, on the other hand, dearest Greiz, are not going to have yourself a happy ending--you and everyone like you."

By this point, Presmodia was standing just feet from Greiz, right out of range of the man's fists, just in case Greiz was going to swing at him. The older Ersatzshad seemed unwilling to do so, though. With Daniel, Christoph, and Danyr still there--the latter having him totally immobilized, for that matter--he wasn't about to swing at any of them, knowing he didn't stand a chance in hell . . .

"Hah!" Greiz lifted his head to the sky, laughing--despite his obvious pain. "Sinir's completely outnumbered! Just what makes you think you people can do anything?!"

Presmodia shrugged again. "Knowledge. Intellect. Information."

The haughty Ersatzshad lifted his hand, and likely to cause surprise within his "companions," pointed his index and middle fingers at the middle of the cord that had Greiz connected to the ground. It quickly fell, with Greiz momentarily confused, but in less than a second, Greiz found his body squeezed by the cord, painfully choked and constricted as it tightly wrapped about his body and throat--the latter of which wasn't nearly as tight as everywhere else, leaving him barely enough space to breath.

"Uh, umm . . . o-oi, Presmodia . . ." Daniel called out, trying to get the man's attention, "oI think there's a better way to do this . . ."

"Information that I'm going to get from you right now," Presmodia, seemingly ignoring Daniel, continued while halfway forming a fist with his right hand, immediately deriving a choking cough and wheeze from Greiz as the cord around him tightened even more--especially around his throat . . .


__________________________________________________________________
[1]. Presmodia's interpretation of Stockholm Syndrome is botched. In actuality, Stockholm Syndrome is a social phenomenon wherein a captive agrees with and fully supports his or her captors.

[Zach Kaiser]

"You are just making that up," Christoph muttered, though he doubted anyone was listening, and it really wasn't important at the moment. What was important was that Presmodia was probably going to kill Greiz, and that wasn't something he was keen on letting happen--not that he particularly cared about the man, but he didn't want to leave the impression that Presmodia was in charge, and if the man died he had no doubt he'd somehow be blamed for it.

"Presmodia, stop," he ordered. "Daniel is right, there is a better way to do this." Though not a way he'd probably be happy with either. "Besides, if you crush his throat he cannot tell us anything."

He dragged one of the Ersatzshad he'd downed over to him, holding him up by the back of the collar with one hand and with the other he set one of the blades of the Silver Nova against his throat.

"Alright...Greiz, was it? We were nice enough to leave your men alive. If you would like them to remain that way, tell us what we want to know. You can start with why you want to kill Presmodia so badly." This probably wasn't what the haughty Ersatzshad wanted to ask, but he could wait a minute to get his information; first, he wanted a better understanding of their situation. The way things were going, it might be more dangerous to keep him around than to simply let him go.

He was counting on Greiz not realizing that he had no intention of killing anyone, information or not, but unfortunately Daniel and Danyr would probably think he was serious too--he hoped if he explained to them later it was a bluff, they'd believe him.

[Ramlock]

Danyr was just as happy allowing the battle to proceed as it did. It gave him a chance to learn a bit more about their foes, and more importantly, his allies. Daniel, he knew well enough already. He wasn't a complicated man. Christoph and Presmodia, however, were good to watch because he hadn't seen their abilities. He didn't anticipate fighting Christoph at any point, but he had already fought Presmodia once, and there was a fair chance of it happening again...

As the battle quickly wrapped up, Danyr would grip the end of the cord, jumping down from the corner of the roof to approach the rest quietly. He would just watch, not yet saying anything, as Presmodia talked to Greiz. Perfect. Presmodia wasn't even a lone rogue agent. He was part of some sort of faction, and they were stuck in some sort of power struggle. And now, the three of them were stuck right in the middle as well...

Christoph wasn't helping either. Threats never worked against a group. Especially a group like this. There was no way to make sure they didn't lie unless you took them with you, and they couldn't exactly handle another "hostage." This one was doing enough to get them killed. As Presmodia wrapped the cord around Greiz' neck, Danyr would step forward, deliberately gripping the cord near the man's neck, not pulling it away too but keeping it from moving closer and actually choking the man.

"Nobody is killing anybody here. But that doesn't mean we're all walking away with the same friends. Stockholm Syndrome? You seem to have a high opinion of yourself. We need you to find Usurii's house, and no more, and I bet this guy Greiz will take us there with fewer problems and less ego..."

Danyr was just as happy to get what they needed from Greiz instead, Presmodia be damned. He could fight his own battles if that was his desire. They just needed to stay out of the middle, if possible...

[Nayt]

Not walking away with the same friends, huh? Greiz would sell you out quicker than I would. I, at least, don't plan on that . . . Presmodia thought to himself, altogether annoyed. It may have helped if he said that much, but he was actually comfortable with it as is--minimal trust shared between them made it all too amusing. There was no real risk here, either--they needed him as much as he needed them, and he was the best person for the role they needed filled--and vice versa. It was just . . . much less boring this way.

"Yeah! No one's gonna die today . . ." Daniel, headstrong, remarked stubbornly as he folded his arms over his chest--attempting to appear more intimidating than he really was.

Truth be told, Daniel was phenomenal in close range combat, but he was about as intimidating as a small rodent--a small rodent with a powerful bite, at least. When he spoke, he was simply ignored and/or laughed at by the majority. It didn't matter how many times Danyr (for example) saw Daniel fight--if Daniel tried to intimidate him, it was likely that Danyr would have been more amused than anything else.

"Ugh. Don't you people understand this type?" Presmodia sighed, "There's no love between thus. Threatening Greiz's life is the only way to get any answers . . ."

"So--no go," Daniel shook his head.

"Whatever. I'm asking my questions next, though," Presmodia grumbled, and then, just to speed things along, demanded: "Talk, Greiz."

Greiz, confident now that his life was no in danger, shook his head. "No."

"See?" sighed Presmodia, "Why don't you amateurs let me do the talking here? I'll ever get some answers you want."

Which may have been for the best, in the end. As it was, Danyr, Christoph, and Daniel weren't familiar with these types of beings. They were human like, that was for sure, and the way that Presmodia described "no love amongst thugs" was the same as humans, too. It just so happened that Presmodia had been around these people much longer, and as one of them, had much more information than the others. Allowing him to do the interrogation would actually be much more fruitful than doing it themselves. He even promised superfluous information. There was no loss, right?

[Zach Kaiser]

Christoph sighed in annoyance. He'd expected Daniel not to catch that he was bluffing, but it seemed like Danyr didn't as well. More than the information, he was trying not make it seem like Presmodia was in control of the situation. If Greiz thought the Ersatzshad was more or less running the group, chances are they would all become targets of whatever organization he was apart of.

At least it wasn't a total loss--he learned that Greiz valued his pride over the lives of his subordinates. Christoph hadn't asked for any information that Presmodia couldn't give himself. (Though, whether he'd give an honest answer was another question.)

He dropped the unconscious Ersatzshad he was holding and dispelled his weapon. It took him a moment to figure out what to say next--clearly Daniel and Danyr weren't going to follow his lead, but he didn't want Presmodia running things and they weren't stepping up and taking control.

So he'd have to be a bit more subtle, and he figured he knew who could take charge with a little push. "It doesn't really matter to me," he said nonchalantly, turning to Daniel, "but can you watch a man get tortured even if he won't be killed?"

[Ramlock]

Danyr shook his head as well as Daniel. He could hardly believe either of his two new companions. Rather, he could believe Presmodia, but wasn't happy about it. Christoph, though... He advocated killing and torturing so he could find someone he cared about? Danyr was trying to find someone important to himself, as well, but how could he live with himself if he killed and tortured people to save his sister?

"No torture, either! That's pathetic! Torture and murder and threats to murder are the worst way to communicate! What is wrong with you all? Daniel is the only one sane here! You!"

Danyr turned his attention to Greiz, his voice still outraged. He wasn't going to specifically chew out Presmodia or Christoph, but if Greiz wasn't so difficult, they could move on and get closer to being out of Presmodia's influence. He didn't release the cord to allow Presmodia to continue choking Greiz, but he was very unhappy with the man.

"Just start talking! We'll let you go after that, then you can wait 24 hours and come find Presmodia, because we'll be away from him, then. And you two can fight each other to your heart's content. Just talk now..."

[Nayt]

"Hopefully twenty-four hours," Presmodia added with a lifted finger, "You can't be too sure, you know! We could always run into thirty-six hours worth of trouble."

And you do still need me and all. Besides, it's not like you're going to run into less trouble on your own. Humans aren't particularly liked here, you know . . .

It went without saying that Daniel wholeheartedly agreed with Danyr. Both of them were on the same level on this kind of subject--though, for different reasons, and with a slight few variations. Daniel wouldn't outright torture someone for information (a notion that had him sigh when Christoph mentioned it) . . . well, not physically. Poke, prod, and verbally annoy the living hell out of a person until he or she would have rather died than exist there for a minute longer . . . that was fair game. And it had happened before. No pain, just pure annoyance. Not even the passive-aggressive type like Danyr and Presmodia directed to one another, either. In fact, during the last time they needed to gather information, Daniel had put forth the effort to say "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey~" over and over again for nearly fourteen hours to a tied up captive that they had stationary, all while prodding him in the ribcage in a non-painful way, albeit ridiculously annoying. After so long of that, they had their information.

And here they were.

Nonetheless, their reasons were slightly different, too. Moral standards, for Danyr, seemed to constantly (consciously) be held above that of his brothers and father. Daniel, on the other hand, wasn't rebelling against his family or anything--he just didn't like needlessly harming.

"Bite me," Greiz growled, "I'm not going to help you people."

Presmodia sighed. "Ugh. Anyone else have any ideas?"

[Zach Kaiser]

Christoph shrugged--seeing as he was apparently not making the decisions, he wasn't terribly concerned. "Well, we could take him with his, spread the rumor that he has joined us and thus put him the same position we are. He might be more amiable if they want him dead." That was a guess, and essentially served as sort of a hidden way of getting some information. If Greiz reacted as though that was possible (or even likely) that would tell them a bit about his organization. Same if he acted as though it couldn't possible happen. And while Greiz was stubborn, Christoph wasn't betting on him being very smart.

"Or we could just leave him here all tied up and be on our way." Which if his bosses weren't the merciful type might be the last of him, but he doubted there were any such storybook villains around.

[Ramlock]

Danyr practically growled in exasperation at Greiz as he refused to help. Things were hard enough as they were. Danyr was patient, usually. He'd waited days for things to occur before. This, however, was enough to wear out his patience. People doing bad things just for the sake of doing them, and trying to make his life more difficult in the process? It was just too much.

"Fine! Christoph's right. We should bring him with us. And Presmodia can take care of you. And when we get to Usurii... She can do things with memories, right? She can make this guy forget he ever existed, right?"

Greiz was less harmful to the world if he was a babbling moron, most likely. Danyr was willing to live with that on his conscience, anyway, though he wasn't willing to resort to torture or murder...

[Nayt]

"Wh-what?!" Greiz felt like he'd just choked on his tongue.

"Hmmm, that's not a bad idea," Presmodia said with a smile. "Danyr! I never knew you had that good of a head on your shoulders! Good thinking."

And for that moment, it almost seemed like Danyr and Presmodia were working together. At least, they were mutually using each other. Danyr using Presmodia as a means of getting information out of Greiz, and Presmodia using him how he had since they got to the house earlier. Amazingly enough, it worked. Greiz became nervous, no longer sure of himself--ready to talk? The two may very well have had more uses for each other than just a twenty four hour bit--especially if they all got into another situation like this.

Presmodia tapped his chin in thought. "Come to think of it, we could even have Usurii fix his memories up for us so . . . something mysteriously happened between us all that made him good friends with us all~ . . . and . . . a devoted follower, spilling every little secret and offering to be one of our loyal butlers until death by old age. How does that sound? Which of you would like an able bodied servant?"

Daniel was pretty much ignorant to the goings on here. No one was going to die, no one was going to get tortured--all was well. Though, he had to entertain the thought of having an able bodied servant. What would he even do with one? Greiz looked pretty strong, though. Maybe he could lift heavy boxes or make fantastic food if he learned. It wasn't a bad idea, actually. He'd first need a large house . . .

"That'll never happen!" Greiz shouted.

You mean--I won't get a large house? Oh, bullocks . . . Daniel sighed.

"And why is that?" Presmodia cocked a brow.

"Because Usurii is with us! She's been loyal to Sturm since day one!" Fortunately, Danyr and Presmodia had struck a powerful chord in Greiz's mind; he was definitely talking, now. "She'll never support any campaign of Bricriu's!"

"I see," Presmodia stood up straight, staring past Greiz, "Well, that's certainly good information to know."

[Zach Kaiser]

An odd thing happened following Danyr's suggestion: Christoph laughed. Not a small chuckle, either--he had to stop and clutch his stomach until Presmodia and Greiz were done with their banter, though he he made note of much of what they said.

It struck him as too funny, though obviously no one else thought so--no one else even batted an eye. So he turned to Danyr, amusement in his eyes. "You won't kill him, but you'd take away all that makes him who he is? How would that be any different than death?"

He was forced to turn away lest he start laughing uncontrollably again. He wasn't protesting the idea, but it was funny how killing a person was such a rotten idea to them, but doing something that was going to destroy all that he was just as assuredly was just fine.

Calming down, he thought over what the two Ersatzshad were speaking of. Apparently there were two factions fighting--Greiz and Usurii followed a man named Sturm, whereas Presmodia was loyal to someone named Bricriu.

"...Are you still certain you want to meet Usurii with us, Presmodia?" Christoph asked at length. "If she and Hazker are as dangerous as you say, you may be in danger. You could simply lead us there, then leave with Greiz." He doubted it would be lost on Presmodia what that meant--he could do whatever he wanted to Greiz without anyone to protest it.

And it would get the haughty Ersatzshad out of their hair, something that he was becoming more and more convinced was best for their group.

[Ramlock]

Danyr seemed annoyed at Christoph's laughing, though he understood the point. He just happened to think it was a ridiculous view. Apparently, Christoph hadn't seen Greiz's type before. Greiz would go on to kill, hurt innocent people, and all manner of terrible things. Danyr didn't believe in killing, but if he could change people like Usurii could... He knew of a few people that deserved it straight away...

"As a matter of fact, Christoph, it's better than he deserves. A guilt-free second chance. A chance to do genuine good with his life."

Danyr was, unfortunately, stuck now. He'd have to know more. It was only going to endanger him. He didn't want to act on any information he got here, but... He'd have to know the story, who these people were... He had a good idea why they were fighting and how in a general way, but it wasn't the same. It could wait until Usurii's, though...