To Enlist or Not to Enlist? [open]

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Aria nipped at Shy’s fingers when the girl went to go pet her; it was a soft nip but it would be felt through the gloves. She let the woman go and clacked her beak. Her head turned to Garrett as he growled at her. When he turned to her she made her wide cross eyed goofy face, before bopping him one the nose with her beak. She found she liked teasing him like this; but teasing aside she wondered if he had any food on him. She clung onto his armor with her claws and made her way down across his chest idly. Poking her head here and there searching for any treats he may have on his person.

While she appeared to be preoccupied she was still listening to the conversation. The mage guessed she wasn’t normal; but that was fine. It wasn’t like she couldn’t be a familiar of some sort. She was curious to find out how Garrett ran the guard. It would be interesting watching how Ilta found her way here…she’d probably be more comfortable to. The other mage however…she wondered how much he could figure out. Was he the one who sent out the birds at the party?

For now all she could really do was listen…and if she was lucky ferret out any food that these people might have. She was hungry.

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The owl gave Séanait a gentle nip on the finger before flitting over to the captain and bitting his ear. When the captain scowled at it, the bird merely gave his nose a gentle headbutt. Since the captain didn't give the bird a smack or try to get it off his shoulder, Séanait suspected that the captain had either encountered the bird before or was just trying to look stoic before potential new recruits. She could respect that.

Out of the corner of one eye, Séanait caught the mage looking at her as though trying to remember something. Very carefully, she kept her eyes on the captain and concentrated on not smiling at the owl's antics. With her helmet on, the mage shouldn't be able to recognise her face, but she didn't want to draw his attention to her in case the man had other means of identifying people.

When the captain mentioned that she needed to sign in at the first barracks, Séanait frowned slightly in puzzlement. It was an odd way to run an army, making recruits sign in before seeing a senior officer. How else could it be decided if the recruit was worth it before taking them on?

"Permission to go sign on, Sir?"

Technically, Séanait didn't have to ask permission or call the captain "sir", but it was a good practice to get into early, and she really doubted that she wouldn't be obligated to do so in a few minutes anyway.

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It’s always interesting when a single statement conveys a lot about a person. Civilian life doesn’t agree with me. So Shy was part of some manner of guard, militia, or army. Ilta had heard before that one can’t really divorce themselves from that kind of life. However, would enlisting so completely alter her personality? Honestly, she couldn’t bring herself to care even if it did. She gives a slight nod in understanding.

Ilta shrugs as he asks about the trick on the ground. “It isn’t anything special. It’s just a trick that I picked up from when I used to be a blacksmith, and I managed to do that with a hell of a pounding headache.  Stone doesn't move quite like metal, and there was a bit more of it than I was used to deal with.”  In truth, she used just about everything she had to pull that off. As for the magic itself, it was just applied magic from some things that her father had taught her. She didn’t really consider herself much of a mage unlike the guard before her. She lacked any kind of formal education.

She’s relieved that the captain’s presence takes the pressure off her for a moment. She smiles as the other guard says it is magical. “It looks she was just travelling with me to be reunited with a friend though.” As the other guard leaves, she didn’t feel quite deserving of that look.

Evidently, she missed a step. She nods, and is about to head off when Shy asks for permission to leave.  Now, that was something she wasn't used to.  She looks at Alex, “I assume you’re good here.”

[Garrett Blade]

Séanait's request resonated with Garret, he was glad to see an eager recruit.

"Permission granted, now move your ass, soldier!"

Garrett cast his eyes at Ilta.

"Well, are you here to sign up, too?" He throws his head in Séanait's direction. "She seems to know what she's doing." Garrett was using his presence to inspire respect and take advantage of their eagerness. Despite the owl's interjection, he maintained his composure, and even exuded a modicum of pleasure. He turned to Roland and addressed him coolly, "perhaps you should assist our new recruits with settling in, once you're done with your squad. I have something to attend to, briefly, in the mean time."

Garrett turned from the group and left at a brisk but steady pace, purposefully, like a soldier. After several solid paces, he addressed Aria under his breath: "Well now, what brings you back to the military? It's good to see you using the front door this time." As Garrett fell outside the attention of the group, he paused and spoke more openly. "I suppose you'll be wanting my assistance like last time?" he jested, expecting her nude form to become his personal issue once again

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….Move your ass? Was that really appropriate for a superior to address their subordinate? She eventually gave up on her search for treats and inched her way back up to his shoulder. It was easier to stay attached with him turning about while perched up there…He certainly switched to a chipper mood, quite quickly to; was he ticklish or something? She’d have to test this out……probably at a different time. Owls after all didn’t go tickling people on purpose.

Aria blinked when she was suddenly whisked away; only to have Garrett address her. She expected him to ignore her while she was messing around in this form…She let out a small chirp. In this form she wasn’t free to converse. She shuffled her wings in a bird like shrug; her head swiveling around to view where they were going. When he stopped they really weren’t that far from the group; and certainly not in an inconspicuous place for her to transform in order to converse. The mage man only need to round the corner, or another person for that matter.

When he asked her if she was in need of his assistance again she chortled; while he was her normal supplier of clothing whenever she transformed in an odd spot, she actually didn’t need his help this time round. While she enjoyed teasing him and making him act twitchy now was not the time; he was a smart lad he’d figure out what she was doing quick enough. So she nipped his nose again in response before jumping off his shoulder and flying back to Ilta. Aria took a perch on one of Iltas horns and let out an owl like screech, she would stay with her for the time being.

[Roland]

Roland frowns as Garrett tells him to take the pair and show them around. Roland had come down to train and clear his mind, but the fact was that he had other issues to deal with. Mysteria had been thrusting more and more paperwork onto his desk, he was a mage not a clerk, and it had hit the point where patrols around town were taking a back seat to administrative tasks. He even had to fating escort nobles around, an activity he enjoyed only slightly less than what he assumed an unfortunate encounter with Zepon's wrinkled scrotum would be like.

Though he had been the one to approach them and he was still curious about the magic the dragon girl displayed, and all of that aside people who are willing to join the guard were not common enough that he could just dimiss this out of hand. "Well then once you two talk to the clerk and get signed up come find me here. I'll give you the tour." He says as he lets out a shrill whistle and a large lion made of stone lumbers over to him and lays down.

He reaches into it's mouth and takes out a pen and ink and then places a stack of paper that he withdrew from his pocket on it's back and begins to write.

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Séanait rapped her spear against the left side of her breastplate three times in quick succession in salute and hid a smile that might be misinterpreted as insolence or laughter. It was just so good to hear someone tell her to move her arse! She'd missed the language and mannerisms of an army.

The Captain, apparently ranked higher than Roland, instructed the mage to show them around and left them there. As he walked away, Séanait could swear he was talking to the bird. That was odd, but not as odd as the stone lion that Roland summoned up after telling them to go sign on and meet him back here. Séanait flinched in surprise at the stone lion and was halfway through lowering her spear when she caught herself and calmed down somewhat.

"Tintreach cruísech!"

Cheeks slightly flushed, Séanait quickly looked away from the mage and turned toward the barracks where they were to sign on. The owl, she noted, was back again, now perched on top of Ilta's horns. Obviously whatever the Captain had been saying had pissed it off.

"I think the barracks are this way."

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“On my way, sir,” Ilta says about to follow Shy. She had expected Alex to stay with her friend. After all, registration would be a bit boring. So she is a bit unprepared for the owl to perch on her head. Now there was a good two extra pounds on one side of her head. “This isn’t really all that comfortable.” She shakes her head a bit, hoping Alex would go back to sitting on a shoulder or at least the top of her head.

She looks back over to the grumpier guard, who would give them the tour. A stone lion which walked around forces her to do a double-take. The accomplished mage was curious in her magic? He seemed capable of far more impressive feats. He didn’t even seem to need to concentrate on them as he started doing paperwork. She almost wants to touch the living stone beast to see if it really still feels like the earth or not.

The sound of Shy’s voice prevents her from moving any closer however. She nods as Shy points to the direction of the barracks. “Right. Getting signed up.” Leaving in the direction of the barracks, she says quietly to Shy, “I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like that. Giving life to lifeless things.” Most of the magic she was either geared towards labor or survival. This was far outside her realm of area of expertise.

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Séanait gave an exaggerated shudder at the mention of the stone lion being brought to life.

"Bringing life to the lifeless is creepy as all hell. I think I could stand to have fireballs thrown at me, but a stone lion? Fuck that."

They kept on towards the barrck building and entered into a dim, but neat, room where a very bored looking sergeant sat at a desk, glumly looking at a large variety of paperwork by candlelight. No doubt this hadn't been what he'd expected to be doing after he joined up. His start of surprise and the look he gave the two of them suggested that he hadn't seen many recruits lately.

"Séanait Nic Ádhamhnán, reporting to you for enlistment, as per Captain Blade's orders, sir!"

Okay, perhaps that was a bit too formal and loud. The sergeant winced at the volume of her "sir" and then scowled at her.

"I'm a sergeant, not an officer. Drop the bloody 'sir'." He turned to Ilta, "You're here for the same reason?"

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Giving one look back out of the last building, Ilta wonders what kind of magic it was. "Maybe it's dark magic." However, that guard didn't seem like the type to be doing blood sacrifices regularly.

Ilta looks around the barracks. She had actually never been inside one of these before. The place she grew up was too small to have a guard, and she was hardly in Setanul very long to know much about the one there. It’s nicer than she imagined, but she didn’t really have a good mental picture for it to begin with.

She’s a little surprised to hear the sergeant to Shy to drop the sir. She expected things to maybe more formal here, especially considering the mage guard’s attitude. “Yes, I’m also here to sign in,” she says.

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The sergeant nodded at Ilta and looked up at the owl perched on her. He lifted a quizzical eyebrow and nodded towards it.

" And the bird? Is it enlisting as well?"

Séanait shot the sergeant a suspicious look, wondering if he was making fun of Ilta. Even in a more egalitarian world than she was used to, there were always men who thought that women shouldn't fight or that they were weak and overly emotional. The sergeant didn't seem to notice and moved on to the next item on his mental checklist.

"I see you're both armed. Any military experience?"

Séanait nodded and recited her experience in something akin to a formal boast.

"I have seen six seasons come and go. Once, under Caoimhín King, who knew me not at all, and five times under Wulfbeorht Earl, who named me fiftigealdor of the first fiftig of the second hundred of the Red Thusend. I have fought in the six great battles that saw the conquest of the Silver Isle and nine other skirmishes of note and renown."

The sergeant obviously didn't believe her. He looked at her with a world weary looked and sighed.

"Take off your helmet, boy."

Stiffly, obviously irked by the sergeant's apparent disbelief, she leaned her spear up against one wall, gently set down her load stick and the packs attached, and took off her helmet. The sergeant studied her face, judging her age and the scar on her cheek.

"You can't be more than twenty, lad, and I've never heard of this 'Earl Wulfbeorht' or'Silver Isle'. Tell me true, now. What experience have you got?"

Séanait went red as she struggled to control her anger. Back home, she could have challenged the sergeant to a duel for the insult he'd just offered, but she knew things were done differently here. It would be a crime to attack the sergeant for no reason anyone here would understand.

"You may have my age right, and I doubt anyone on this world has heard of anything from mine, but do not question my service. I may boast, but I do not lie. I have seen six campaigns and fought in all. In two behind the warriors and soldiers, and in four in the shield wall."

The sergeant gave her an apprasing look and then shrugged.

"Well, I suppose we'll see the truth of your words when you start your training."

Then, turning to Ilta, he asked, "What about you? Any military experience?"

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Ilta smiles a bit as the sergeant asks about the bird. “If the bird wants, but she may have some trouble filling out the paperwork as is. I didn’t think you guys were that low on new recruits though.”

Shy’s military experience was extensive. Damn, she was only a year older too. Standing next to her, Ilta was much less accomplished. “No. I used to live on the northern edge of Feyerlun. The military doesn’t quite extend that far north, and it is a small village, probably couldn’t support enough people even if it did.” She could leave out the bit about being from the future and fighting creatures that desired nothing more than eating pretty much any sentient species. He probably wouldn’t have believed it anyway. There wasn’t anything really comparable in this world.

She tries not to sell herself completely short. “However, when needed, they pretty much relied on whoever could wield a sword. So I’ve been trained. I know how to use a sword, and I know how to make one too. I know some magic, but not nearly as much as the guard mage in the main barrack over there.”

[Deleted]

The sergeant grunted at the comment about the guard being low on new recruits. He hated to admit it, but people weren't particularly keen to join up these days. What they needed was a good war to strike up interest again.

"We're signing up Fated. No one else seems to have much of a desire these days."

He listened with interest as Ilta mentioned her experience. To him, it all sounded much more realistic than Séanait's boast. You needed to know how to fight when you lived in isolated parts of the world, and someone who could smith a blade and who knew some magic would be more than welcome on the guard.

"That's better than what we normally get in here. We'll give you some basic training, give you a bit of an education on what the laws are and send you out with some more experienced constables. Unless, that is, you'd prefer to take up with the armourers?"

The sergeant nodded when Ilta replied and made anot eon his paper.

"Alright, let's see. What's next? Ah, yes. When on duty, you'll be expected to wear and carry the armour and arms we supply. Sidearms are up to you, but make sure you know how to use them. We'll issue you your kit and find you a spot in the barracks, then you'll be put into training. Any questions?"

Séanait, who had shaken her head when the sergeant had mentioned finding them room in the barracks, spoke up.

"Don't worry about finding a room for me. I've got a house back in the Third District. I'll walk." She looked at Ilta. "You want to stay here?"

She hoped Ilta didn't want to. She liked the dynamics of their little household and didn't fancy seeing them changed, even if she hadn't been there much the last couple of weeks.

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Working as armorer was the safer option. However, it wouldn’t get Ilta much closer to any answers for all the questions she had. The world looked very different 1000 years from now, and she wanted to know how everything got to the brink of destruction. Prevent it if she could. That was the whole reason she was here, wasn’t it? “It’d prefer not. I’ve spent more than enough time in front of a forge. However, if you suddenly find yourself down a smith, I’ll go where I am needed” she says.

Armor and arms supplied the guard. She’s thankful for the bit about side arms. Her own blade was better than whatever they could supply. “No, sir. I think I’d rather continue you wear I am living if it doesn’t make much of a difference.” The barracks would be a bit of downgrade from the nice house that she managed to land. Besides, she had gotten use to Kail and Shy over the weeks that she had been in this world. Ilta did prefer familiarity for the most part.

[Deleted]

The sergeant made another note on his paperwork, muttering to himself as he scratched inexpertly across it's surface.

"Both for the guard, no quarters needed. Le'see, okay, right, marks."

He looked back up at them and placed two pieces of paper on the desk, facing them. Séanait was amazed that she could read them. In her world she knew how to read and write a few words, mostly her name and "was here", but she'd never had the chance to become particularly fluent. That she could read as well as a a scholar in this world surprised and delighted her.

"Can either of you read?"

Séanait nodded vigorously and grinned so happily that the sergeant gave her an odd and wondered if she wasn't a bit simple.

"Alright then, sign your papers of enlistment."

Happily, Séanait went to sign her name and realised that she could visualise the runes needed to write her name in the tongue of Werraland, and so she did so instead of in Novan, humming happily to herself.