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| No title. |
| (2013-07-22 - Now) |
| No description. |
| Beatrix | It had been a few days since the attack on Archades. The general had a few disapearances of her own since then. Something was not right, it didn't sit well with her, and having met with the princess only seemed to confirm that. Its not something she can do on her own though, and that's why she sought to see what someone else, that was nearly forgotten about, had to say about the situation. No other than the captain himself, Steiner, the one she considered a rival for so long, and still cannot be downplayed when it comes to swordmanship, even if his attitude and personality seemed to differ. His loyalty was not to argued. Despite her disapearances, the General has been seen and active around the castle, so there's no questionning whens he shows up at the prison, saluting hte guard "I am here to visit the prisoner, Adelbert Steiner." She guard salutes in return, and opens up the gate. It only takes a few moments for the general to move over to the cell. No bird cages this time for the captain, just a plain cell. |
| Adelbert Steiner | There was still a darkness that plagued Castle Alexandria, and it wasn'tjust a black glowing eyed creature that swarmed the worlds lately. Captain Adelbert Steiner was relieved that the Princess was alive and well, while at the same time deeply concerned about the state of the Queen. Once the Princess was deemed to be safe, he surrenered once more to the guards and allowed himself to be caged up again. And that's where he's been for the past several months. News trickled from time to time about the goings on in the outside world, but he didn't get a whole lot, which was probably to be expected. Time would only tell whether Steiner would be released or not, but he suspected Kuja didn't care for interference in the manipulations of the queen, even if it was an insignificant captain of the guard. His eyes open up as he hears footsteps approaching his cell, and the captain sits up from his meager resting spot. His arms and armor had been confiscated this time around, so he was just sitting in plain civvie pants and a tank top. He didn't waste his time while in the cell and kept in shape as ever, in case he was ever released. Gotta give the ladies a visual, don't we? "General Beatrix." The captain gets up from his spot, and snaps to attention with a fist to his chest in salute, a routine that he doesn't allow the fact that he was a prisoner to take away from. |
| Kuja | /She looks like a slut./ /Oh my, that's not a word you hear often around.../ /KNOCK KNOCK/ Someone raps upon his chamber door. There is the sound of hinges creaking as a random female soldier who drew the short straw enters Kuja's chambers. He's sprawled out on an elaborate couch, one hand upraised to hold his temple as he lays on his side. The sound of his silence is almost deafening. There's the sound of the soldier clearing her throat, before she states, "Advisor Kuja...." Silence. Another clearing of the throat, "....General Beatrix is visiting Captain Adelbert Steiner..." Silence. "....You stated that she might find cause to..." Kuja finally speaks up in a low voice, as he looks forward at the screen, "That isn't my title.." The female soldier sounds taken aback, "...begging your pardon?" Kuja speaks up again, "You have made two errors here. If you can name them both then I might find cause to allow you to walk out of here in one piece." The soldier is silent for some time, before Kuja states in a bored voice, "Tick Tock. And time that doth gave his gift confound.." The female soldier appears to be sweating, before finally speaking up, "....for addressing you with the wrong title. And... for presuming to address you at all?" Silence. Then a corridor of darkness forms in front of the door. A low growl, as a misshapen Heartless that looks not unlike a crustacean with a misshapen head crawls out of the portal. The soldier screams, draws their sword.. moments before it bowls into them, knocking them to the floor. There's a sickening crunch, a stain of blood upon the walls. ".....for disturbing me during my favorite show. And for not addressing me as the Angel of Death." He sits and reaches for a decanter of brandy, pouring himself a glass. It was a game Garland frequently played with his disappointments. However Kuja.. never played fair. There was no chance the soldier might have known his title. Kuja lets out a long-suffering sigh, before laying himself back down on his side. He taps a hand against a linkpearl above his ear and states, "Set up a token resistance at the likely routes of egress... if our Pernicious Rose does decide to turn coat, then we already have a replacement." |
| Beatrix | Beatrix crosses her arms. While she appreciates the salutation, she can't help but think its out of place right now. No, not because Steiner is a prisoner and saluting. More like because of what she feels about Alexandria right now. Her loyalty to the nation is unshaken, but she's been harbouring doubts that the Queen really is acting for the benefit of it, and not her personal gain. She takes a look around, flipping her hair as she so often does, jsut making sure noone seems to be in hearing distance at least "... Adelbert Steiner." She dropped the 'captain' part for now, because its really not of circunstances "I am not sure how to go about this. Do not take offense either, I want clear answers on your thoughts, not from the captain, but from the man that was the with the princess before her capture." She stands there, not even willing to take a place to sit down either "... What are your thoughts are on the queen, the princess, and the kingdom. Do you think everything seems normal? |
| Adelbert Steiner | The Knight of Pluto blinks for a few moments, his eyes moving up and down to try to get a read on the General, before taking a breath and glancing away, "Though it goes against my duties to think this way of the Her Majesty, I feel that she's in terrible danger of the manipulation that Kuja must surely be causing. The Princess..." Steiner trails off a bit, gathering his thoughts on her. "Despite my fears, the Princess has turned out to have been of sound mind and was perhaps, loathe I am to admit, on the right track when she left the castle in the first place, even if the means and company with which did made her escape was less than favorable..." The Knight scratches the back of his head, and says, "There's something wrong in the Kingdom... A darkness creeping away at Kingdom, at the Princess, at the Queen... I don't want to think that the Queen has been swallowed up by it..." After a moment of leaving his thoughts at that, her turns his eyes back to Beatrix, and asks, "Is there news of the Princess? Tell me she's alright..." |
| Beatrix | Beatrix stays silent the entire time, just listening. It takes a moment for her to speak up even afterwards, as if weighting her words as well. Its probably the first time Steiner will have seen Beatrix being rightfully 'shaken' by what's going on. "... It pains me to admit to it, but your concern echoes my own right now. I thought it would be the case, so I came to assure myself of it first hand." She looks down the row of cells, toward the entrance. Guards do their usual rounds, although most of the cells are likely to be filled with people that are more or less innocent in the process, perhaps simply said something about the Queen and got arrested for it. That's why she's troubled so much, the Queen is not acting like her usual self. "The princess is safe, she has been trying to meet with Archades. She also voiced her concern for the kingdom and the Queen. Something is afoot..." |
| Adelbert Steiner | Steiner lets out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in, and utters in relief, "Thank goodness... I would rather not have left her by herself, but until I'm released, I must stay put." He returns his eyes back to Beatrix, and asks, "I don't suppose you have news in regards to that situation?" The Knight glances out of his cell and into that of others who were arrested for some crime or other. "The dungeon has never been so full... Even with the underbelly of the city, there have never been that many criminals at imprisoned at once... It's kind of unnerving.." |
| Kuja | A linkpearl sounds in his ears, from someone monitoring the bug in Steiner's cell. Kuja states in reply, "Boring, boring, boring... even their treasonous conspiratorial talk is so very boring." Kuja lets out another long-suffering sigh, his show was almost back from commercial break. TNT's commercials were so insufferable. "...Use the nine hundred series prototypes." He takes a sip from his brandy, just as his show came back on. |
| Beatrix | Beatrix lets out a sigh of her own. She doesn't like this situation at all. "Most of those people have done nothing but voice their opinions about the state of the country. We might not live ina democracy, but it is the sovereign's task to listen to the voices of its people to make a better place to live. It is something that the Queen used to do, but not anymore. Only more hints that she is not being her own self anymore." She looks back to Steiner "Alexandria has multipled attacks against various nations. Archades being the latest one. The motive? Getting rid of the governing heads there. The reason for that? They would not tell me. I was sent on the front line, none other of my trained troops, only an army of soulless black mages to follow." She punches the bars with the underside of her fist, clearly looking hurt "The Queen would rather put her thrust in those puppets than in us. What am I supposed to say about it. |
| Adelbert Steiner | "It's Kuja's poisonous dealings, It has to be! Surely you must suspect him as well!" Steiner states out his often repeated accusation at the advisor, his fists clenched and eyes filled with anger at the situation. "How is it that he continues to roam free in the castle, I'll never understand!" The Knight slams his fist into the wall, gritting his teeth in pain from the self-inflicted damage, and growls, "I feel completely useless! The man cannot go unchallenged, and yet I can do nothing but rot in this cell, because he has advised the queen to imprison me!" After a while of seething in frustration, he glances back up at Beatrix, and asks, "General Beatrix, I do not doubt the Queen, but I doubt in the advice she has accepted from him... We must do...." He looks for a word, before shaking his head, "SOMETHING!" |
| Beatrix | Beatrix is also looking very frustrated at this. She shakes her head "We are limited while we stay in Alexandria. As much as it pains me to." And then she turns around, moving toward the guards. She exchanges a few words with her it seems. "Retreive Captain Adelbert Steiner's equipment." "... General?" "Captain Steiner is being released of imprisonment." "But I have received no words from..." "I had the task of ascertaining his loyalty, your knowledge could have hampered the procedure." "Oh, yes, right away General." The guard salutes, and then moves away toward the keep of all of the personal effects. The general moves back to Steiner's cell, waiting "... So we shall get out of here." |
| Adelbert Steiner | The Captain of the Knights of Pluto goes wide eyed at the sudden announcement of his release, and rightfully so. Steiner's eyes follow the guard, and then looks back to Beatrix and asks in a hushed tone, "Get out of here? General Beatrix, you cannot be serious! This isn't a release, this is a prison break!" He looks back and forth, keeping an eye out to make sure nobody actually hears him, though it's kinda hard for him to not be at least a LITTLE excited. "As much as I want to be out of my cell, there is a correct way to do this! The Queen will eventually see reason, with some persuation perhaps from your wisdom, and I'll eventually be released!" Steiner is bordering on hopping at his spot, as he is wont to do when trying to convince people that his way of doing things is probably better. "If someone finds out, you'll be in even more trouble than me!" |
| Beatrix | Beatrix crosses her arms "Steiner!" She says sharply to get his attention "As much as it pains me to do it this way... How long have you been in prison? How many times did you try to appeal? How many times do you think I tried to appeal for your sake?" She runs a hand through her hair "I did not come to this conclusion hastily, or easily, but that is the only way for now. You said we needed to do something, that is that something right there." She looks for the guard's return, but its not time yet it seems "And you said it yourself, you cannot do anything while rotting in this cell. I am aware that this will look like treason, but obviously we cannot act from the inside anymore. We will need to act form the outside." |
| Kuja | The linkpearl sounds in his ear again, while his show was still going on, Kuja rolled his eyes, "It took them long enough for seditious speech to become action." Kuja sighs, "...and yet the the Knight's blind faith and loyalty is as tin-plated as he is. Inconsequential." He puts a hand back to his ear, "Send word to Colonel Pete, tell him he's receiving a promotion to General." The time it took for Pete to reach his chambers could be measured in seconds. Pete was dressed in full World War II American army regalia. He looked like a rotund dog-faced version of General Patton, complete with a sash, round helm and riding crop. Pete states, "Reporting for duty, Lady Kuja!" Kuja looks up at the ceiling briefly, he truly did want to murder this dog. But unfortunately he had both the favor of Garland and Maleficent. That made him immune to reprisal. "Let's get started on the invasion plans for..." /Fade to Black./ Down below in the dungeons, several columns of Black Mage dolls start to converge towards their position. Slowly toddling up the steps. While another column comes down. Both columns are facing towards the door of the Gaol that both figures are present in.. just waiting for them to come out. |
| Adelbert Steiner | It's usually the sharp interruptions that really gets Steiner to shut up and listen to what someone has to say, so the loud knight actually stands there quiet, listening to the General without stopping her. It really takes everything BEatrix says for it to sink in, before the knight finally nods. "Understood." After a moment more, he glances about, and asks, "Best to get the cell open as soon as possible, I don't expect Kuja will simply let us out of here... Where is that guard?" |
| Beatrix | On cue, the guard comes back with Steiner's armors, on a trolley because the small girl wasn't able to carry all of it. Yeha, she's strong, but its a big armor and there are many pieces. Plus the sword. "Here you are Captain Steiner!" She salutes, and opens the cell door as well. Beatrix dismisses her with a salute as well, turning back to Steiner "Just act naturaly as we move out. There is no need to alert or inform anyone else, we will simply vanish." She leans against the wall next to the door of the cell "Just so we are clear, we are not traitors. I cannot say what is the true reasons, but consider that our queen died with the king. That is when it seems everything changed, does it not?" She looks down the hall as she talks, waiting for the captain to equip himself up. "We are using our oath as knights to protect this nation, but we will be doing so with the princess, if that puts you at ease. We are going to rejoin with her. I am to beleive that Princess Garnet is the one that will restore this nation now. At least... that is where I have decided to put my chips on now." |
| Adelbert Steiner | The Captain spies the guard, and grins to try to not look suspicious, before shaking his head and giving her a salute too, and then just picks his armor, proceeding to put it on as quickly as possible without making a whole lot of noise. Yeah, that doesn't work out very well. Soon enough, Steiner fits his helmet back on, genuinely feeling pleased that he's back in form, before picking his sword out of the trolly, and slings it over his shoulder. "If it is for the best of the Kingdom... Understood." He nods and follows after Beatrix, clanking after the General as quietly as possible. That doesn't work out very well either. He does pause just long enough to get Beatrix's attention, "General Beatrix?" Before giving her a salute. "Thank you." |
| Beatrix | Beatrix nods to Steiner "Save your thanks for the princess, and once we get out..." Of course, it wasn't going to be that simple. As soon as they took the steps up, and out of the gaol... the whole division of black mages are there, and waiting. She mutters a bit at the reception "See what I mean..." She takes a step up "I am under orders to free Captain Adelbert Steiner, let us pass." She waves a hand toward the soulless magicians. That usually doesn't work very well with them, but if they can avoid a strife before leaving the castle, its a chance she is willing to take at least. If they won't listen, there might be someone that does listen. |
| Kuja | Oh well of course General Beatrix we'd be happy t... Yeah no. That doesn't happen. As one the front lines of each of the columns raise their hands and purple lightning streaks out from them, arcing out in endless streams as if they were some Sith Sorcerors rather than soulless magicians. Lots of darkness lightning. Pew Pew. |
| Adelbert Steiner | While Steiner has been accused of lacking an imagination, the captain doesn't need a whole lot of it to guess how the presence of a bunch of Black Mage drones cutting their escape off was gonna go. Black Lightning flies down the stairs from their hands causes the Knight of Pluto to react with reflexes that defy his hefty armor, and places himself in front of Beatrix, his sword drawn and pointed out in order to catch the lightning to his blade. Steiner grits his teeth as he plants his feet into the ground, feeling the force of the blast shoving at him. "I don't believe they're following your orders anymore, General Beatrix!" |
| Beatrix | Beatrix pulls out her blade, Save the Queen. It seems that the sword has regained some of its luster since she made up her mind at least. Steiner is there to intercept the first blade, but the general doesn't sit idly either. In a flash, she's moved under Steiner's arm, ducking the lightning, and giving no mercy as she slides diagonally, through the foremost trio of black mages standing there. The might of the general you could say, they slump down lifelessly. "I never expected them to." She huffs, and turns her back to Steiner, closing in the distance as they face up the dozens of them "How strong is your will to protect the princess, Steiner?" |
| Adelbert Steiner | Steiner huffs a little, taking a moment to pop his neck joint as he gets into the groove of the fight. "I followed Princess Garnet from Castle Alexandria, through the Mist, to Lindblum and back, protecting her from every creature and horror to cross our path... Now that I know what I must do, there is nothing that can stop me from keeping her safe." With that said, he roar and dives into the next row of Black Mages, his blade cleaving through a huge swath in order to clear a path. "There was never a chance to vanish silently, it seems... In that case, let us break through with a roar!" |
| Beatrix | The general stares ahead. If she is formidable to face on the battlefield, it is reassuring to have her watching your back, no doubt. "Then no hesitation." She moves forward, a small leap, unleashing the power of her magic sword attacks. Not unlike Steiner, she can imbued her sword of holy power, dodging the spell casting thrown at them and cutting through the row of black mages incessantly "Slice down all who bar our path to the princess!" The commotion of course caught the attention of several of the guards... who aren't sure who to side with in this case. On one hand, its the general and the captain who they trust. On the other side, the black mages that have invested the castle along with Kuja, the queen's advisor. Beatrix throws them a look, and points her sword at them "I will not ask you to follow us, only to keep the castle safe until we return." She kicks an inert black mage that she impaled on the end of her sword, and reaches back, pulling Steiner in her direction "This way, Steiner!" Moving aside, she ducks the next blast and shoulders the black mage down, as she leads Steiner to the gondola at the river between the castle and the town. The boat is already there. "Let's get on and move away quickly!" |
| Adelbert Steiner | The Knight gets pulled to the side and nods as he CLANK CLANK CLANKS his way following the General, spotting the Gondola ahead. "Well prepared as always, General Beatrix!" He compliments, just before spinning around as Ice Volleys fly at the two of them from behind, catching the Ice in his blade. Steiner grits his teeth and imbues his blade with magic, returning the Blizzard spells with a swing of his blade, Freezing the magic golems in their own magic. "They're relentless!" |
| Beatrix | Beatrix jumps on the boat, waving Steiner to come over rapidly "That is why we need to escape, they will never give up, and we are likely to get the entire castle's worth of black mages on us if we stay here. Keep your strength to fight another day!" Once Steiner hops in, she kicks off the pier, before the Black Mages can try to pounce on top of them. A few of them try, but she cuts them down, making lifeless bodies fall into the waters below the boat. |
| Adelbert Steiner | Yeah, diving into the boat seems like the sensible thing to do at this point. And so Steiner does, turning about and leaping into the boat for the sake of getting the heck out of there as quickly as possible, rocking the boat a little, helping to push it some. Once in, gets back up and eyes the mages that are chasing after them, sword in hand, waiting to see if they'll chase further. Once the escapees get enough distance, Steiner lets out a breath. "Let's hope the Princess is not having a difficult time as us..." |
| Beatrix | Beatrix takes one of the oars, and starts pushing away faster, nodding "She is with Zidane. I know you do not hold him dear to your heart, but he can be trusted when it comes to keeping the princess safe." She looks back to Steiner "And we will be meeting with her shortly, we are going to Archades." |
| Adelbert Steiner | Steiner nods slowly, eyeing the shore a bit to make sure there is no further enemy, before turning back and sheathing his sword. With that, he picks up an oar to row with. |