((Hi! Just quick clarification - at some point Wiegraf says that Zalbag probably knew about the whole hire-Gustav-to-kidnap-the-Marquis business, but does he in this case? I can go either way))
Gustav wandered into the Sorting Room in quite a good mood. He'd discarded the filthy clothes he'd arrived in, and now he wore a set of sweats which were... well, fairly dirty, but more out of neglect than anything else.
He stopped short at the sight of the new applicant. "God," he breathed, and almost ran, but he was sure Zalbag had already seen him as well (Gustav failed to consider the possibility that the commander of the Hokuten might not recognize him right off), and now the castle - though undeniably extensive - didn't seem nearly large enough to keep running. Might as well have it done with now.
Could be worse, he told himself. Could be much worse... but right now, this seemed quite bad enough.
((Hmm... tough choice. I'd say that he was aware of the plot regarding Elmdor, since the game really hints towards it in that chapter. Hope that helps.))
"Hmm?" Zalbag saw a flurry of movement in the corner of his eye. Turning slightly to get a better look, he saw that a scraggly-looking man, about his age and dressed in dirty sweats which looked like a Marlboro vomited on them, had wandered it.
Zalbag sensed some familiarity with the man, but shrugged it off. Perhaps this man is here to tell him what's going on? He waved to get his attention.
"Excuse me," Zalbag called out, "Could I ask you something?"
((Okay. So for now I'm going with Zalbag knowing, but Gustav not knowing he knows. Random chatter - I blinked for a moment at the age guess, but then I realized that Gustav's thirty-five at game start and Zalbag usually ends up around there, at least on my runthroughs, so... well. You paid more attention to that little detail than I would've))
That... seemed like a good sign (he again failed to recognize the lack of recognition).
Gustav gingerly essayed a salute that was meant to be carried out with a sword. He'd left his sword back in Gryffindor, so his hand was empty as he sketched out the rough motions. "Hello there, Sir Beoulve."
Was it him, or did Zalbag look a chunk older? Had the Death Corps managed to aggravate him that much where the war hadn't?
((o_o I... actually didn't think about the age thing at the time I wrote that. Hurray for blunders?)) "Ah, a fellow knight from the hokuten. God be with you," Zalbag said, returning the man's clumsy salute with his own. He cheered at the recognition - he had almost given up on finding anything resembling "normality" here - but he still couldn't get rid of that nagging feeling in the back of his head. Where had he seen this man before...?
He shook his head. Enough of this, now for information. "By any chance do you know what's going on here?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.
"Fellow knight" gave Gustav pause, but hey, maybe Dycedarg had told him something of it already.
"It's a school for magic," he said. "Seems folk come in from all over. Sometimes even right when they figure they're dead. I mean, all over. There was one I ran into who'd heard of Ivalice, but his geography was-" He waved vaguely. "Hadn't heard of Romanda and had Ordalia in the opposite direction."
"Hmm, must be from Valendia," Zalbag nodded. "Still, there's one thing that's bothering me..."
Zalbag gave the room another look over, a suspicious look crossing his face. "Why did they bring us here? Surely there must be some reason they summoned us to apply for this school," Zalbag said. He shook his head. "Nevermind that. Thank you for your help, Sir...?"
Gustav stopped short at Zalbag's last question as he finally caught on that no, he hadn't been recognized and yes, now he likely would be. If ever an occasion called for kicking himself, this was it, but knocking himself off balance in front of an armed man would only compound his problems.
He'd already given his name to others. If he got it out and over with now he wouldn't be looking over his shoulder, waiting for Zalbag to find out. "'s Gustav Margueriff," he finally replied, tensing as he spoke.
Time stopped as the name registered in Zalbag's mind, and all the pieces to the puzzle finally slipped into place. Civilizations rose and fell during the uncomfortable silence as realization dawned on Zalbag.
"Oh. Hrm..." Zalbag grumbled, folding his arms and slumping visibly. Dycedarg is going to burn alive for this. Oh, the horrors he is going to bestow upon him and that Goddamn goat of his when he finds them again for forcing him to go through this
( ... )
((Now all we need is a Dycedarg application...*waves to other muns*))
"Er, no." Though somewhat mystified by the range of emotions Zalbag had just expressed (especially as it ended in that smile), Gustav extended one of his own hands and shook, using his free one to sheepishly rub at the back of his head. "Actually, it was Wiegraf. Caught up with me at Sand Rats, see."
"Right, right. My apologies, it's been so long since the Death Corps. that my memory's gotten a bit addled as of light," Zalbag replied, forcing his smile a bit more. Better turn up the charisma so Gustav doesn't catch on. How did Dycedarg manage to do this everyday?
"Though I wouldn't be surprised if Wiegraf heard about the kidnapping because of Dycedarg. You know how my brother is when it comes to things like that," Zalbag forced a chuckle here, sounding a bit hollow. "Speaking of which, you haven't, by any chance, seen him around, have you? Perhaps with some large, mutated goat?"
"Sure I know how he... wait, what?" Realization began to hit. Damn damn damn. He'd never thought well of Dycedarg to begin with (or at least hadn't for an exceedingly long time) and in retrospect it really figured that when Gustav tried to jump off of Wiegraf's wreck he would've been done over again, ended up flattened between both of his erstwhile commanders.
"... haven't seen them about here." He had that much to be thankful for. "No goats either."
Something else Zalbag had said caught his attention, and he latched onto it. "So long? How long?"
"About, oh..." Zalbag paused, humming in thought. "Hmm... about 5 years or so. Why do you ask?" Zalbag asked, tilting his head confusedly. Now that he thought about it, Gustav hardly looked a day older than 35.
Then again, Zalbag added mentally, he's also supposed to be dead, so it was a miracle he still looked human. Most dead people don't look that well, what with the rotting flesh and all. That was something Zalbag knew firsthand.
"I didn't think it's been five years!" Gustav blurted. He hadn't even gotten around to going to a class yet. True, there didn't seem to be many, and he'd never been particularly keen on it, but managing to go five years in a school without one class, even one spent staring out a window or passing notes or sleeping with his eyes open, seemed to be pushing it.
But then there were some of the old stories, weren't there? Some of the not-churchy ones they had in the villages, about people going into the woods or into a hole in a hill and wandering out around the time all their loved ones were dead of old age. Off the top of his head he couldn't think of any loved ones to be dead of old age, but... "Five years."
There was a long, awkward silence between the two of them. Zalbag, not having dealt with someone five years out of the loop, wasn't sure how to console Gustav. Should he pat him on the shoulder? Console him?
He settled on changing the subject. "So..." he began, scratching his arm nervously, "have you met any nice women lately?"
Zalbag slapped his hands on his mouth as soon as the words left his mouth. Oh shit.
All right, so the sexual harassment question hadn't been some sick joke of Dycedarg's after all, but this... literally right from the Beoulve's mouth, and Gustav didn't think this one was particularly funny, either.
((Unlike the mun. AHAHAHA))
"Why, yes, as a matter of fact!" he shot back, in a tone that tried to be arch sarcasm and mock good cheer, and came off with more than a touch of hysteria. "I've met some very nice ones! Don't s'pose you'd like to be introduced?"
Not that Gustav wanted to introduce them, especially now he was somewhere he could, well, if not exactly start fresh at least drift amiably along.
((Heh, Gustav is a little sensitive about his past, isn't he :P?))
Zalbag quickly started to backpedal in the hopes of salvaging the situation. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" he apologized swiftly, waving his arms frantically, though it seemed to be failing in it's job of subduing the angry death knight. "Really, I didn't mean to imply you still, y'know...."
Gustav wandered into the Sorting Room in quite a good mood. He'd discarded the filthy clothes he'd arrived in, and now he wore a set of sweats which were... well, fairly dirty, but more out of neglect than anything else.
He stopped short at the sight of the new applicant. "God," he breathed, and almost ran, but he was sure Zalbag had already seen him as well (Gustav failed to consider the possibility that the commander of the Hokuten might not recognize him right off), and now the castle - though undeniably extensive - didn't seem nearly large enough to keep running. Might as well have it done with now.
Could be worse, he told himself. Could be much worse... but right now, this seemed quite bad enough.
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"Hmm?" Zalbag saw a flurry of movement in the corner of his eye. Turning slightly to get a better look, he saw that a scraggly-looking man, about his age and dressed in dirty sweats which looked like a Marlboro vomited on them, had wandered it.
Zalbag sensed some familiarity with the man, but shrugged it off. Perhaps this man is here to tell him what's going on? He waved to get his attention.
"Excuse me," Zalbag called out, "Could I ask you something?"
Reply
That... seemed like a good sign (he again failed to recognize the lack of recognition).
Gustav gingerly essayed a salute that was meant to be carried out with a sword. He'd left his sword back in Gryffindor, so his hand was empty as he sketched out the rough motions. "Hello there, Sir Beoulve."
Was it him, or did Zalbag look a chunk older? Had the Death Corps managed to aggravate him that much where the war hadn't?
Reply
"Ah, a fellow knight from the hokuten. God be with you," Zalbag said, returning the man's clumsy salute with his own. He cheered at the recognition - he had almost given up on finding anything resembling "normality" here - but he still couldn't get rid of that nagging feeling in the back of his head. Where had he seen this man before...?
He shook his head. Enough of this, now for information. "By any chance do you know what's going on here?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.
Reply
"It's a school for magic," he said. "Seems folk come in from all over. Sometimes even right when they figure they're dead. I mean, all over. There was one I ran into who'd heard of Ivalice, but his geography was-" He waved vaguely. "Hadn't heard of Romanda and had Ordalia in the opposite direction."
Reply
Zalbag gave the room another look over, a suspicious look crossing his face. "Why did they bring us here? Surely there must be some reason they summoned us to apply for this school," Zalbag said. He shook his head. "Nevermind that. Thank you for your help, Sir...?"
Reply
Gustav stopped short at Zalbag's last question as he finally caught on that no, he hadn't been recognized and yes, now he likely would be. If ever an occasion called for kicking himself, this was it, but knocking himself off balance in front of an armed man would only compound his problems.
He'd already given his name to others. If he got it out and over with now he wouldn't be looking over his shoulder, waiting for Zalbag to find out. "'s Gustav Margueriff," he finally replied, tensing as he spoke.
Reply
"Oh. Hrm..." Zalbag grumbled, folding his arms and slumping visibly. Dycedarg is going to burn alive for this. Oh, the horrors he is going to bestow upon him and that Goddamn goat of his when he finds them again for forcing him to go through this ( ... )
Reply
"Er, no." Though somewhat mystified by the range of emotions Zalbag had just expressed (especially as it ended in that smile), Gustav extended one of his own hands and shook, using his free one to sheepishly rub at the back of his head. "Actually, it was Wiegraf. Caught up with me at Sand Rats, see."
Reply
"Though I wouldn't be surprised if Wiegraf heard about the kidnapping because of Dycedarg. You know how my brother is when it comes to things like that," Zalbag forced a chuckle here, sounding a bit hollow. "Speaking of which, you haven't, by any chance, seen him around, have you? Perhaps with some large, mutated goat?"
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"... haven't seen them about here." He had that much to be thankful for. "No goats either."
Something else Zalbag had said caught his attention, and he latched onto it. "So long? How long?"
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Then again, Zalbag added mentally, he's also supposed to be dead, so it was a miracle he still looked human. Most dead people don't look that well, what with the rotting flesh and all. That was something Zalbag knew firsthand.
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But then there were some of the old stories, weren't there? Some of the not-churchy ones they had in the villages, about people going into the woods or into a hole in a hill and wandering out around the time all their loved ones were dead of old age. Off the top of his head he couldn't think of any loved ones to be dead of old age, but... "Five years."
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He settled on changing the subject. "So..." he began, scratching his arm nervously, "have you met any nice women lately?"
Zalbag slapped his hands on his mouth as soon as the words left his mouth. Oh shit.
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((Unlike the mun. AHAHAHA))
"Why, yes, as a matter of fact!" he shot back, in a tone that tried to be arch sarcasm and mock good cheer, and came off with more than a touch of hysteria. "I've met some very nice ones! Don't s'pose you'd like to be introduced?"
Not that Gustav wanted to introduce them, especially now he was somewhere he could, well, if not exactly start fresh at least drift amiably along.
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Zalbag quickly started to backpedal in the hopes of salvaging the situation. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" he apologized swiftly, waving his arms frantically, though it seemed to be failing in it's job of subduing the angry death knight. "Really, I didn't mean to imply you still, y'know...."
Reply
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