_"Oi! Dark Spell Lass! Ye around 'ere at all?!"_ Hearing her companion call her out in a rather loud fashion, Marianne blinked once before turning her head in the direction of the summoning. Locating the source, she bowed humbly before the Ferox man before making way for her departure. “Apologies again, but it seems that my comrades require my presence. I hope I get to see you around sometime,” she said, turning to leave. She only stopped to call out one last thing to him. “Oh, and I like your eyes! Mind if I stick some needles in them sometime?” With that last morbid, albeit eager, statement hanging in the air, Marianne skipped merrily down the long corridors until finally catching sight of Jerod. And with a woman no less! Her sudden appearance brought a bright smile to the Dark Mage’s visage. More friends were always good to have, especially when they could be used for fuel and art. Walking to the both of them, Marianne nodded in acknowledgement to Jerod before bowing once more to the other female. “Hello there,” she greeted. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Jerod’s Lady Friend. Ah, is there something you needed? You see, I was just in conversation with a fine man further down the hallway. Oh Jerod, you wouldn’t believe the quality of eyes he possessed in my midst! Not as high to caliber as the fearless leader of course, but Ferox folks do have the most _**exotic**_ bodies…” She turned to the girl now and extended a hand, this being the palm that was never stained with blood, in respect. “Forgive me for my eccentric hobbies Miss Jerod’s Lady Friend! I simply find the human body to be so…interesting to study. Wouldn’t you agree?” Despite the disturbed content laced within her words, Marianne’s tone was calm and friendly, exuding that same sense of lady-like professionalism.

"Aye lass, I reckon Jerod be the best way ta' git me attention. And don't worry yer 'ead none, we're goin' to git her fer this inventory nonesense of yers." Jerod readjusted his armor while they awaited Marianne to arrive from wherever she happened to be creeping this time. If Jerod hadn't figured anything out yet, he might have reckoned that she was impossible to find. But he had enough guesswork he could go off to figure it was easier this way then wandering aimlessly like some drunkard. Again. But that was neither here nor there. So he took up a spot on the wall, which probably seemed a bit odd considering that he had been ordered to go and find Marianne, not yell once and wait. But Jerod liked to think he knew what he was doing some days, and this was one of them he hoped. Jerod had his arms crossed, leaning on a wall when Marianne came waltzing along, all grins and disturbing statements. One probably gets used to that kind of thing, he reckoned, as she promptly set her sights on the knightess after a brief aside to him. Commenting on her newest spotted pair of eyes made him smirk, the commentary on Ferox making him a bit more uneasy than he would have liked. "Heh, well lass, folks go on focusin' on Ragna Ferox so bloody much, they forget tha' places and thrivin' folks exist well above 'em, fascinatin' as their eyeballs might be. Ach well, lemme introduce the two of ye. Marianne, this lass is Thalia. Thalia, this lass 'ere is Marianne. I reckon the two of ye will git on just fine!" Jerod gave the two a chance to talk a bit before interrupting again, pushing himself off the wall. As much as he could find entertainment in watching the knightess potentially squirm under first introduction culture shock, he WAS ordered to go get stuff done, as it were, and not make things amusing for the sake of his own entertainment. "'Fraid this ain't a social call, dark spell spitter. Knight lass here says that some knight tosser wants all o' us in the barracks fer inventory. Or somethin' like that, I cannae rightly recall! Knightess lass, feel free ta correct, an' I'll follow. Reckon ye know where we need ta be more than maself." Laughing at the thought, he was sure that the knightess lass would fill in any details he had gotten wrong. He had done his part, he found and tracked down Marianne and made sure she would be aware of this inventory nonesense going on. Not like he was hoarding bags of large bullions or anything. He wouldn't be where he was if that was the case! Chuckling at the thought of that much gold, he rolled his eyes at the thought of that much wealth. There was no way he could spend all of it, so he glanced at his two current companions and made an idle question to either, whichever was willing to answer. "So, reckon if we're workin' together, might as well know a bit 'bout ourselves, aye? So if ye'll forgive me pryin, where do the two of ye hail from?"

Jerod's method of seeking out allies seemed to work quite well, as a young woman soon arrived to grace them with her presence. Judging by the aforementioned eyepatch, the girl gathered that this was the "Marianne" that they had been searching for. Perhaps she was not a princess as she had been hoping, but Thalia decided that she certainly was pretty enough to be one, what with her long dark hair and her elegant dress. Feeling just a little nervous, she scrambled to return the older girl's bow with one of her own, and remained mute as she listened to the words that the dark mage directed towards the mercenary. The, er...quality of eyes? Exotic bodies? ...What was all this about? She subtly tilted her head so that she could shoot Jerod a wide-eyed, inquisitive look, but her attention fell back onto Marianne as they introduced to one another. Reaching out to clasp the offered hand with both of hers, Thalia smiled warmly. "It's nice to meet you! And, ah--" She faltered, expression momentarily going blank by the unexpected question, "I...y-yes, quite! I can't say that I'm particularly knowledgeable about the topic, but it does seem rather fascinating. Do you have an interest in human anatomy, Lady Marianne?" Although some of her comments were a little odd, she definitely seemed like a friendly girl. Thalia was also just pleased to met another female among the newfound Shepherds. She had come to find that she could feel quite at ease with Jerod and Jacob, but she was still admittedly more comfortable around other women. One could blame being part of the all-women pegasus knights squad for that. Upon being reminded of why they had been searching for Marianne in the first place, Thalia offered Jerod a smile and quickly shook her head. "It's exactly as you said! Sir Marius has asked for us to gather at the barracks so that we can do some inventory. I suppose if we intend on leaving at our earliest convenience, it would be best to get all of these things out of the way as soon as possible." It didn't sound like the most exciting of tasks, but it was something that had to be done. Being the naive, open sort with nothing to hide, the mercenary's question did not phase her in the least. It only seemed natural to want to get to know each other better since they'd be traveling together for the foreseeable future. "Nothing very exciting for me, I'm afraid, but I was born and raised in Ylisse alongside my two older sisters," She chirped, clasping her hands behind her back, "We're all pegasus knights, just like our mother and our grandmother before us!"

Jacob stepped forward looking Meline. "You must be a very talented archer, you are welcome among our ranks. Now Isacc you and me will be dining with the Exalt. I'm assuming Meline is your plus one." He chuckled making a joke about the two. "ow lets catch up with the others." Jacob turned and grabbed his practice gear before starting to walk towards the others meeting point. "Oh, if you like you can go claim a room, you to Cinna. Welcome to our insane and demented family." Jacob took a seat at a table in the meeting room, slowly pulling out pieces so he could work. The set itself allowed the user do some amazing things, they had been a reward that Robin had woken up with the second time they Robin laying in the field. It seemed to the perfect item for a tactician, well so long as the owner could find someone to play with.

_"It's nice to meet you! And, ah--I...y-yes, quite! I can't say that I'm particularly knowledgeable about the topic, but it does seem rather fascinating. Do you have an interest in human anatomy, Lady Marianne?"_ “Ah, yes, I suppose it could be called that,” Marianne said with a laugh. “Though I much prefer to refer to my work in the role of a scientist of sorts, or maybe even an artist. I often realize that creating spells and fine tuning uses for the dead’s leftovers requires a certain amount of creativity. And please, simply call me Marianne. From now on we will be traveling together, and so I wouldn’t want to impose a burden on you.” She smirked happily before releasing Thalia’s hand. “Besides, I hear that using such verbal formalities really dries out the tongue, and I need yours as fresh as now when I collect it for my research. But that’s quite a long time from now, I hope!” Yes, it was nice to be traveling with friends. _"So, reckon if we're workin' together, might as well know a bit 'bout ourselves, aye? So if ye'll forgive me pryin, where do the two of ye hail from?"_ Acting in politeness, Marianne allowed Thalia to present her homeland first-which ended up being Ylisse-before following up with, “Goodness Mister Jerod! So forward with the ladies, hmm?” She said so in a light, teasing manner, continuing with, “Isn’t it frowned on to ask a lady so personal a question? In any case, I come from Plegia. Such a dreadful place really. I recommend we never go there any time soon, aha. **_Ever_**.” Clasping her hands together, and apparently unaware of her rapid change of tone in the span of a millisecond, Marianne turned in the opposite direction before pointing at the empty hallway. Of course she had to include her new friend in this merry adventure of theirs. “We should really invite that Regna Ferox fellow to join us. He’s actually really good at bumping into people, and I’m sure those skills will come in handy later on. “Oh Mister Yelling Man! You can join us too if you want!” she called out.

Meline was blushing a little in embarrassment not realizing Isacc and this Cinna person could see it. then Isacc made a comment about it. "Meline are you okay do you have a fever or something? Your face is rather red." Meline realizing it was obvious got angry and snapped at isacc saying to mind his own business and with that she ran off trying to find a room to put her stuff away in. "sometimes I don't understand that girl oh well so your name's Cinna would you happen to be a mage?" Meline while running to find a room and not paying attention soon felt herself crashing into someone when once she realized what happened she noticed she crashed into a pink haired girl accompanied by a black haired girl with one eye and an experienced looking Mercenary. however she showed her hot headed side and began to yell at the pink haired girl. "why are you just standing there you got in my way jeez who do you think you are!?"

The knightess answered him first, giving her homeland off as Ylisse. Not a bad place to be born and raised, Jerod figured. Noble, fairly free and open to many sorts of walks of life. Not a bad place, a bit too central and busy for the mercenary's tastes. Too many established legends and heroes already anyways, hard to make a name for himself without having to size himself up to those kind of folks. It was a nice place overall, even with all the war in its past, despite the better intentions of its exalts. Strange word to use for a ruler, exalt, Jerod always figured that was a shortening of exalted, which was strange to him, and he asked as such."Well lass, crossed through Ylisse a coupl' o times now and I reckon she ain't half bad. Wouldn' have an interest in settlin' 'ere though, no insult meant o' course. Can ye explain why ye call yer leaders Exalts? Seem's a tad bit worshipful, if ye will." Marianne's comment on being so forward and, of course, etiquite and politness around ladies. There was an old line he could have used, but that wouldn't probably have gone over well. Of course he flushed a bit, laughing it off despite the situation. Her elaboration on the homeplace, and the rather unpleasant tone surrounding it. Her mention of a yelling man from Ferox dropped the laughing smile off Jerod's face though. A Feroxian in their group, really? He never did get along well in Ferox, nor with her people. But he wiped the look off his face, smirking as he replied to Marianne. "Ach, lass, ye act like I was raised some noble lad 'r somethin'! Wouldn't know me any manners if they kicked tha' bloody door in an' throttled me! Plegia was an odd place to see, I'll give ye that lass." Despite alluding to other places, Jerod didn't even some to consider elaborating where he was from, considering the circumstances, it was hardly surprising he would want to avoid answering that particular question. But he was saved, thankfully, when some lass archer came rolling into the knightess and flew off her handle, acting like it was her fault. No, that wasn't happening, and Jerod turned and barked in a harsh tone over the yelling woman. "OI! Who the bloody 'ell do ye think ye are?! Ye run into the knightess lass and flip yer lid like she walked into ye! Watch yer tone before ye start acting up like that, like yer some high and mighty bloody blue blood."

**Marius** Marius foraged his way through the weapons and supply stores in the barracks. He knew that a hungry army would not be a victorious army. Therefore, Marius began to sort through the provisions, making sure that the new “Shepherds” had enough rations to get at the very least to the Eastern portion of Regna Ferox. The cavalier peered around the room. “Where in the world is everyone?” Marius thought, since he had made an announcement for everyone to help out in the inventory. “Kids these days. When someone shouts out ‘Battle’, everyone and their brother are rushing into the fray. But when there’s a call for inventory, everyone flees for the hills. Hopefully sooner rather than later some of them will wander in.” After Marius had made some headway into completing the inventory, he decided to take a short break, obtaining some hay and horse feed. He headed toward the stables and gave the nourishment to his horse compatriot, Bucephalus. “At least I can rely on you, Bucephalus.” Marius told his horse, as if it could understand him. Bucephalus paused from munching on the feed and lifted his head up toward his rider. After glancing at him for a few seconds, he returned to feasting on this little treat. After this little side trip, Marius returned to the barracks to continue collecting and organizing the inventory.

Upon arriving at the barracks, Rylan very nearly spun on his heel and walked right back out when he realized that only one other person was present. Ugh, doing inventory was no small task, and he hardly wanted to do it alone with one other person. Wasn't _everyone_ supposed to be gathering here? That was at least a good...what, five, six others who had yet to arrive? With all the people coming and going, the myrmidon wasn't sure what their roster even looked like anymore. The only thing that really stopped him from leaving right then and there was the fact that the knight had probably already spotted him by this point. That, and he did feel a little (just a little) guilty to see that the man was working alone. Lifting his gloveless hand to his mouth, Rylan quietly coughed into it. "Uh, hi. I suppose." Good start. "I'm Rylan. Anything I can do to help? You know...inventory stuff?"

Thalia's confusion over Marianne's disposition soon changed to visible alarm at the comment about taking her tongue. Wait a moment, she...she wasn't serious about that, right? Surely not...except judging by the look on the dark mage's face, she realized that she probably wasn't exactly jesting. She instinctively scooted to the side until about half of her was hidden behind Jerod, and tilted her head thoughtfully at his question. "Truthfully, I don't think I'd be able to provide you with a valid answer to that. I never questioned it myself, so for me...that's just how it is. The Exalt is the Exalt." She offered him a sheepish smile, but otherwise remained quiet, only jumping a little when Marianne called out for someone else to join them. Thalia had been content to just stand there and listen to her new companions' exchange when she suddenly felt an impact from behind. Stumbling, the girl managed to catch herself just before she fell, but found herself on the receiving end of a rather abrupt tongue lashing as soon as she turned around. "O-oh, I...I, um..." She was thankful when Jerod stepped in, finding that she was struggling quite a bit to find something to say, nevermind defend herself. A part of her wanted to apologize if only to defuse the other girl's temper as quickly as possible, but the other part was far too stubborn to say sorry for something that had not been her fault. In the end, all she could manage was a rather weak, "Are you unharmed?" to the archer.

"Insane? Demented? Nope. There's _none_ of that here!" Cinna cackled in reply to Jacob, skipping across the room. "So what do the rooms include? Rats? Roaches? Carcasses? Morris dancers? Cinna is intrigued!" He ran up one of the walls a few strides, and pushed himself off, backflipping back onto his feet, spinning around to face the rest of the soldiers, giving a graceful bow. He looked around the room to see a number of people weren't looking his way. His grin twitched in annoyance at this realization, and he turned and danced his way down the corridor with all the rooms they'd be sleeping in. "Eenie, Meenie, Miney... ah, forget it, this one." he chattered to himself as he turned to one of the doors. He opened it, and walked inside, the door still open behind him. He came back out only three seconds later, and spoke with exaggerated joy. "No morris dancers in here, and only half a rat! Yay!"

After seeing Cinna's oddness Isacc simply with a look of confusion and disappointment Sighed and decided it would be better if he just found Jacob and saw what he was upto... so Isacc began walking though instead of the champion Jacob he simply found Meline getting into a fight he checked to see who she was around it looked like Jerod and Marianne and whose the third one? Isacc wondered seeing the rather cute pink haired girl wondering if she was a new member or simply a random knight mixed in with Marianne's weirdness. so he walked upto the group and began asking what's up. "Hello there is everything here going fine?" the moment he asked that Meline got annoyed and yelled saying she was knocked over by the pink haired girl. "Meline maybe before you get into too heated of an argument you should head to your room?" Oddly Meline just sighed to that and walked off angrily and muttered under her breath "your lucky your stronger than me..." Isacc then sighed and began to apologize for the situation caused by Meline. "Sorry about that Meline has a short temper...anyway (Isacc looked at the pink haired girl) are you okay?" Meline was starting to calm down and eventually walked near a somewhat opened door so she decided to peek inside to see what it was Jacob alone playing chess? she kept staring hoping it would let her find out what he was upto better.

In Jacobs mind the field was spread out before him, he stood along a a group cavaliers climbing up onto the back of one he ordered the charge. The archers and and Pegasus knight had broken the flanks. He would find himself moments later facing down the enemy commander and a few peons. He made short work with quick movements ending them in fiery display of power. Outside the pieces moved on it's own as Jacob's hand rested on a blue orb on one side of the chess set. This device allowed the user to command units and fight as if he was on a field of battle. A red orb sat idle occasionally glowing, this the chess board simply reflected the state of the battle, outside the king toppled before they all lined up again Jacob smiling, they red orb pulsing, as if waiting for someone to place there hand on it.

Meline let out a sigh thinking it's kinda sad that Jacob's playing alone does nobody else want to play with him or is he waiting? regardless Meline decided she'd enter the room and ask what he was upto. "Umm Jacob what are you doing alone in here?" after asking that question she got the odd feeling to touch the red orb and see if it would let her play with him although he knew if she tried she'd probably lose still would be interesting to see just how good the champion of Naga really was as a tactician. So instinctively Meline sat down and put her hand on the red orb not really knowing what to expect.

Having her call ignored by the Regna Ferox fellow, Marianne frowned in disappointment, unaware of Meline’s brief encounter with their group. Brief was the best way of putting it, since both Jerod and Isacc began to reprimand the Archer for her loud and brash actions. Thinking on it, she supposed the Regna Ferox fellow had more important tasks to commit too but…it _**really**_ would have been fun to take his eyes. “Oh well,” she sighed, turning to both Thalia and Jerod before bowing. “Excuse me, but we really must be helping with the inventory soon. Otherwise the fearless leader will be angry with us for not being prepared on the battle field!” She gently moved past them before beckoning them to follow. Whether they would or not was entirely up to them, but Marianne would at least put an effort to help the group as a whole. They probably wouldn’t though, as Jerod was now caught between a romance circle currently consisting of Isacc and Thalia. Well at least _she_ was working hard. Besides, that’s what the fearless leader would have wanted her to do? Fearless leader…he…wasn’t angry with her, was he? She _did_ blow a hole through his office. With these thoughts dwelling in her head, the Dark Mage shook them off before happily proceeding along with her journey to the barracks. “I’ll have to be sure to apologize to him for my actions,” she said to herself, not caring if she gave off the image of insanity. “Ooh, maybe I should bake him a blood cake…I wonder if he likes positive or maybe something more rare…” _"Umm Jacob what are you doing alone in here?" _ Marianne paused in her step, blinking as she saw the Archer from before speak before entering into an office. _**His **_office. What she was doing there? Marianne hadn’t been bothered by her outburst a few minutes earlier, but to bother the fearless leader when he was planning their strategies? The thought made a new wave of rage and jealously fill her up. What if they were killed on the morrow? All because their fearless leader wasn’t prepared because he was distracted by some…some…_**harpy**_. Saying nothing, the Dark Mage quietly peeked over the side of the door and stared at them, making sure to keep out of sight. Noticing the open hole to her right, her palm began to generate a dark purple glow. If Meline did anything suspicious, she would be there to end her life for him. A traitor…yes, that’s what she was! Why else would she just walk into the fearless leader’s office without being summoned? Yes, it made perfect sense. **_“Do. Not. Touch. Him.”_** Her voice came out in a dark whisper, much too low for the ones in the room to hear and punctuated with a tinge of insanity.

Meline fell into a grassy patch, startling Jacob, he fell backwards onto the soft grass. "Uuumm, hi Meline what are you doing here?" Around them stood troops waiting for orders and placement. Jacob got up slowly shaking his head. "Welcome to Naga's gift, Robin had it when Chrom found the hero. We've made a couple copies of thanks to research done by Miriel but this is the original, it creates a field of battle and lets you place units before starting, then you lead them as the commander and try to defeat the opposition." He gave her a smile. Outside Jacob simple stared at the board blankly, each piece moving along as if they were setting up for a epic match. "If you like you can fight with the enemy, or perhaps you would prefer to fight with me?" He smiled as continued to speak commands units simply moving there lifelessly. "Once the match is complete we can go back." He finished placing units and looked at the girl.

Marianne's comment on helping with the inventory got a slow nod. Yea, lad champion had asked them to coral people and help, hadn't he? And it seemed like the royal certainly had the situation handled, and to be frank, Jerod wasn't a fan of hanging around bluebloods. His time in Ferox kind of settled that. So when Marianne waltzed off, Jerod smirked and chuckled, offering half a wave to the royal and knightess. "Ach, the dark spell spitter lass be right. Ye go coral th' rest o' the party, I'll go an' help Marianne an' the others with the inventory, aye? And have yer fun entertainin yer blueblood friend there, don't be makin' too much noise!" Laughing loudly as he walked off after the Marianne, Jerod took his time catching up towards the direction the dark mage had gone. Ferox was not somewhere he ever wanted to return to. He supposed, looking at how others acted, that it was hardly surprising that each person here had their own secrets of some sort or another. Didn't mean he had to like it though, and he wouldn't, he would probably end up griping at Jacob for his own amusement and distraction. He would have to try and avoid any meetings or time spent in Ferox itself as much as possible. Get the job done, and get out. Less time he spent there, the better. Lost in his own thoughts he nearly stumbled right into Marianne as she was hissing to herself. Oh, great, something else has got her stark raving mad, er, madder again. So he glanced into the hole as well, noting the dark magic charging in her hand, wondering what was pissing her off so much. The rude archer girl and the champion were sitting across some possessed chess board. That was odd, but their utterly blank and lifeless expressions were also very odd, and he muttered something to Marianne, quiet enough to make an honest attempt at being quiet. "Er, lass, wha' in the blazin' hells are ye up to? And what are they doin'? Strangest game o' chess I ever bloody well seen..."

_"Er, lass, wha' in the blazin' hells are ye up to? And what are they doin'? Strangest game o' chess I ever bloody well seen..."_ “Oh Jerod! You startled me,” Marianne said, her tone reverting back to normal. The hex she was conjuring up was still dormant in her hand, though now it was of a much lower intensity than before. Raising a single finger, she brought it up to her cheek and tilted her head curiously. “Me? Well I was simply minding my own business when the fearless leader fell under a seduction spell. I never would have imagined that Archer girl to be a Mage as well. That kind of thing seems next to impossible these days. Just look at the fearless leader’s form! See how he’s caught up in her spell?” Whether or not she truly believed this or was just messing with Jerod had yet to be seen, though she sounded genuine enough. Actually, it was probably accurate to say that Marianne really believed Meline was some pervert who just wanted to ensnare her precious leader within her web. That couldn’t really be the case of it, right? There was no proof of such personality traits or even a scientific analysis. Then again, this _**was**_ Marianne. So whatever. “Shouldn’t we do something?” she asked, obvious concern in her voice for Jacob’s sake.

Meline was a tad confused at how she was outside until Jacob explained then she got somewhat annoyed but ultimately got more curious then anything so didn't really care to get annoyed. "Hmm a place for training well would be nice to see how my cute leader fights so sure I'll fight beside you in this." With that Meline got ready for whatever they were about to do wondering how it all worked but at the same time being extremely interested in it regardless. "This should be interesting let's start this up!"

Jacob was about to to tell her how to escape the realm when she called him cute, he shut his mouth and looked away with a soft blush. "Alright then, units are set, here we go." Suddenly the stone like soldiers began to move, a group of soldiers and mercenary's advanced first as enemy Calvary thundered forward. Jacob's face seemed stoic and prepared as he gave a sharp whistle, the mercenary's backpedaled and the soldiers hunkered down lances up shield in front. The horse's drove themselves onto the spears and the ones that managed to jump in time were meet with groups of mercenaries who put there skill to use engaging horse men mounted opponents pulling them down and finishing them off quickly. The quickly fell back trying to regroup there army, to quick whistles and the archers let loose the siege weapons he had been holding back, Bastille's. The shots rained down on the poor unsuspecting troops, however the moment they were out of ammo the enemy struck back Wyverns swooped down upon them picking men up as other met an axe. Jacob rushed to his mages joining in as they unleashed wind tomes onto the enemies. The enemy in tatters he smiled at Meline. "It was an interesting fight, but I should get you back." With that the castle walls appeared before him, a king laying knocked over on the red side. Outside Marianne and Jerod could see the the pieces moving by themselves at a astounding pace, pawns falling as knights moved forward, until finally the king opposite Jacob who had moves left simply toppled, as if the game itself had given in. Jacob had most of his board intact, a few pawns and both his rooks gone however.