Tensions in the Storm

Tensions in the Storm
Date of Scene:	16 December 2012
Location:	Cornelia
Synopsis:	Immediately after the Shard Seekers had a tense discussion, Reize sought to have a private chat with Faruja regarding a certain bounty placed on a person that he considered a friend.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Faruja Senra

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Reize Seatlan has posed:
It is the mid-afternoon in the approaching winter. Cornelia has a dark cloud over its head. With the Temple of Fiends about, that darkness spreaded a dark forecast. Not only that, but the air of the prince's well-being highlights the melancholy of the people. To give the appropriateness of the atmosphere, a bit of rainfall spatter down the ground.

At the top of the castle, Reize is just standing at the upper chambers of the castle. They are outside within the courtyard area. Some of the residents have gone inside. The guards have kept watch of the area, keeping the defenses up.

And Reize just looks up at the sky, holding onto the pendant.

"...Riku... What is going on...?" His cast low, looking closely to his pendant. The pendant that his father gave him has been his guide. He could use more of that guidance by now.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Rain. Cool, comforting rain. In the past, it would be a heaven sent balm on his soul. But now, after seeing so much, and being involved in things glorious and low, it does nothing but remind Faruja of the home he'd lost. At the highest point of Cornelia's Castle, the rat stands and weeps in the darkness, strength nearly spent. Manhattan. The Temple of Fiends. Garland. Riku. It pushed the rat to the brink, before a wide chasm he wasn't sure he'd be able to avoid plummeting into.

Wiping his eye, the Burmecian leaps, landing with the gentle tap-tap of his claws on the ground. A glance. Reize is there. Faruja watches the boy silently, as rain slicks his clothes and fur.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
...

Reize did not want to believe Faruja would do a thing. He did not want to believe that a person that he trusted so much, the faithful knight, would be the one to put a bounty on Riku. There is so much the boy doesn't know, and he doesn't know why. Deep down...

...It just feels wrong.

The sound of thunder crackle in the air, the rain drizzling down. The boy slowly turns towards Faruja. It is not a hateful glare, but it is more or less a pleading look. Reize wants answers. Why did he find out from another person? In the middle of a fight.

"...Why did you do it?"

*CRACKLE* The snap of lightning strikes the air as the boom of thunder comes after. Through the storm, the young adventurer can only level his gaze at the nezumi as the rain run along his features.

Faruja Senra has posed:
'Why did you do it?'. The question comes, and lightning crashes, rain pouring around them. Faruja's tail stills, not even flinching at the crash as he stares itno the boy's pleading gaze. His jaw sets a moment, and then he opens it.

"Riku is working with /them/, Reize. The ones who caused the fall of Manhattan. Nay. He is directly responsible. /That/, Reize, is why I placed a bounty upon his head. I cannot allow him free reign. He must be slowed, harried, and unable to operate in the open, to ensure no other homes fall." Conviction is in his voice. The meaning is clear; the Templar has no regrets.

At least, when it comes to Riku. His conviction fades. "...But that is not the true question you have for me. Why did I not tell you? Simple. I know you, Reize. Hardly do I think you would believe Riku capable of such. Evidence. I sought evidence to convince you, and the rest...but it seems I acted too slowly." In this, there is regret, that he had not spoken with the boy, the rest of the Seekers. A sigh.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
There was a story that Riku revealed to him not long ago. It was the day that he found Riku as a blind who needed a guiding hand. The voices from weeks ago, a shared conversation between friends ring in the boy's mind as the boy reflects back to Faruja's statement. Working with them. Causing the fall. The Boy of Darkness. And yet, the distant voices of the week's past returns.

~"Can you keep a secret?" ~
~ "Pinky swear." ~
~ "What? ... Alright." ~

That tale that was trusted to him long ago lingers. The boy tightens his fist. The anger that was held in for the sake of keeping face with his friends, that outburst that he withheld for the sake of keeping the peace... finally shatters. It is a scream, a tearful scream that roars from the boy.

"Shard Seekers do not put bounties on Shard Seekers!"

His focus locks onto Faruja, the eyes becoming tearful. "...Whether or not he is the reason for it... Putting a bounty on him... on ANYONE, is wrong!"

Silence passes, allowing the drizzling water to fill the gaps. The silence is broken when Eize looks at the knight, "...I know your conviction... And I know that I cannot stop you from..." Killing Riku? ... Reize doesn't want to utter those words. "...One day, we will have to fight Riku..."

The eyes look towards Faruja pleadingly. "...I ask you... I plead you, not as the leader of the Shard Seekers, but as a friend... to remove the bounty."

Faruja Senra has posed:
The boy screams, agony caused by his own actions; a boy amongst those whom he had come to see as friends, and family. A small part of the Templar's soul dims with it. Not once does he look away, or turn from the young leader of the Seekers. So much innocence. It truly breaks the tattered and frayed heart of the nezumi.

Rain falls, punctuating the silence after Reize's pleading words. Finally, Faruja turns his head to the sky.

"...You truly believe that?" A ghost of a smile. "I do not know if you are a saint, or simply a naieve fool, Reize. Perhaps..."

His eye closes, the ratling falling silent once more. It opens, and bores into Reize's own; searching, almost desperate, for the reason behind it all; such good-hearted beliefs, an idealized knighthood that Faruja had long seen shattered even before his world's fall.

Faruja's knees weaken, the toll of so much catching up. The butt of his spear lands, and he leans on it. There's none of his usual fire. He doesn't have the strength. "...I swore an oath to oppose such Darkness, Reize. To do all within my power to stop anyone, no matter whom, that would threaten to create another Burmecia. An oath I swore before the Church, the Holy Son, and Faram himself. I have no intention of doing otherwise."

One final, long pause, and he nods. "But...I do not know why, but, I believe in you, Reize Seatlan. This...this insane idea of 'Shard Seeking', forming a Clan, banding together...with just children!? 'Tis absurd, if I look at it any other way. And perhaps..."

"...I will remove the bounty. If I have a Sin, Reize, more than any, it is wrath. I have seen far too much, my friend. I still remember the screams. The screams of my fellow soldiers being torn apart, sacrificing themselves for someone so...so useless and WEAK as myself? DAMNIT. He...I swore! Never again would I see another's home fall! That none would know the terror, and, suffering, and death! I fought. We all fought! We did our best, and yet, we FAILED! If I had been but stronger, better able to...I should have seen him as the traitor he was! 'Tis not your place, Faram-damn it. You, and Shiki, and Lily, and...and..."

Faruja falls to his knees, outburst finally bringing him low. "...You are but children. I cannot stand the thought of losing any of you. Lord in heaven, 'tis naught but the Church, you all, and a knight's honor as best I know it left to me. I just want to protect innocent people through what little strength I possess. To see all of you at peace, happy."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Maybe so... but I go by what I feel is right and what is wrong! Just like you do!" To Faruja, perhaps putting the bounty is not wrong, but to the simple boy, it feels like something that only a deceiver would do. It is that sort of action that feels... cowardice? It feels.. manipulative? Something is wrong about putting a bounty on a person for them to be killed!

Worst of all... to Riku.

The rain continues to drop down on the boy, the head bowed low as the running water rip and fall on his head. His head lifts up, looking at the shorter knight with a leveled look. The boy always looked up to the burmecian. To Reize, Faruja was the shining example of how a knight should be. But a bounty...

And Faruja speaks.

Reize walks over towards the knight when he falls on both knees.

He collapses on both of his knees. Both arms move over to embrace Faruja. It is the embrace of that of a brother. The boy lowers his head, shutting his eyes.

"...I know. I know why you did it..." Through the rain, those tears form. The boy offers a faint smile, "...But... we're getting pulled along as it was... We will make sure nothin else falls together..." Then, he slowly rises to his feet, offering a hand to Faruja.

"...And if it does..." Manhattan.

"We will find those shards to restore it." He offers that beam of light. The Child of Light, as an individual called him, can only offer his friend a hand.

"...It's why the Shard Seekers were made. All who have been displaced from their homes, because of the Heartless, are set to find the restored worlds. Whether it is their own or everyone else's... that is why it was made." A smile is given.

"Knight's Vow #02: Let's all work together for a peaceful world."

Faruja Senra has posed:
Foot claws dig into the ground. For a brief moment, Faruja faces not a young boy, but a fellow knight; conviction and strength in those eyes. Humbled, the Burmecian has no response. It shakes him, as worn down and vulnerable as he is.

Arms wrap around him. The Burmecian, who so tries to be the very thing Reize has always thought of him as, weeps. Walls, masks he keeps around himself to appear so strong and true crumble for but one moment as he listens to not a boy, but a friend and Brother. When his strength is finally spent, he pulls away; and stares into the face and hand of a boy so full of pure, innocent hope. That kind that he, a zealot Knight so full of hatred, could never possess. The thought strikes him, but he feels no jealousy. He takes the hand, slowly standing. Weakly, Faruja returns it. "...Yes. I...damnit, how could I have forgotten something so important? Reize..."

"Forgive me, my friend. Perhaps you are correct. Nay. Such work as bounties are truly for Inquisitors and brigands. I am a Knight. If I am to face him, I shall do it myself. No tricks, merely tactics and strategy worthy of the title of a Knight." A shake of his head.

"Those vows of yours. Reize, they are ones of fairy tales and story books. In the end, a knight is but a person of conviction who does as he believes is right. But...I must say. The knight of your story books, Reize, 'tis one I would fight beside gladly. May I one day be half of what you would have the calling be, and I should die a satisfied nezumi."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
There is a faint smile that is given.

When Faruja finally takes his hand to rise, Reize looks over the burmecian. His head tilts over, brightening a little more. It feels like the two are becoming closer. The boy brightens a little more, firmly gripping the hand with a nod.

Of course, the vows of his, Faruja pokes at it with calling it fairy tales and story books, "Oooi! My father told me those vows! They're true!" Even if his father did make them all up, Reize still believes them! THe boy tilts his head over towards the nezumi, then he nods.

"...It's storming..." He looks up towards the sky, the drizzling rain pouring.

"Let's go back in." The boy starts to make his way towards the door, opening it to lead to the stairwell that should lead back into the castle grounds and the guest room.