Meline was shocked at how short it was she thought her leader must be a genius and as good as they say though she soon saw he wasn't perfect and he did lose some troops but she felt she'd be safe under his command. "Wow this is going well it's pretty fun too you learn alot by fighting with someone." then Jacob told her he'd get her back Meline assumed he meant back to the room they had been in previously. It made her begin to wonder what was going on while they were in there it probably wasn't too long but the curiosity never left her mind. It was rather instant though the return one moment she was outside the next inside again and she noticed two people peeking into the room. They were two of the people she ran into before Isacc got her to walk away. "Are you two spying on us? You didn't think we were in here together doing something naughty were you?" she said that with a smiling face as if trying to hide the fact she was somewhat messing with the other girl having an odd feeling the girl wearing an eye patch had a thing for Jacob.

Marianne gave her opinion on the matter, as to what she was doing and why, and Jerod looked at her, and back to the archer girl, to Jacob, and back to her again. He repeated this a few times, his brain processing what she said and trying to figure out what kind of reasoning would have brought about that sheer jump in lunacy and conspiracy theory. Blinking, he shook his head to clear his mind and finally responded to Marianne, having shaken most of the confusion from his brain and moving forward. "Lass, ye got yerself a hell'uva theory, I ca' say tha' much. As fer doing somethin' lass, do ye think tamperin' would be wise? If there be a hex, I cannae' rightly say if ye could see it o' not. Might be some sort o' failsafe if she get mucked with overmuch, aye?" Jerod was really just trying to find a way to prevent this from exploding off into some insane amount of violence in a situation that may or may not be innocent. Before he could continue though, the pieces started moving themselves, at an insane pace at that, with almost no losses from the lad's side. That would have been impressive, if it didn't spark a theory he could share with the dark mage lass. Thinking on the matter, he finally spoke again, using gestures to point out things, leaning over to point through the hole in the tent, the concept of personal space currently lost on the mercenary. "Look at tha' bloody mess on th' board! Me think's this ca' be a sort o' mind chess? Tha' orb doesn' look like anythin' the archer would carry, aye? I reckon tha' orb is part o' the chess set, savvy now lass?" Jerod seemed genuinely focused on the situation at hand, as much as it seemed like paranoia on the part of Marianne, he wouldn't dismiss the theory and opinion from her. After all, as impossible as it might seem, she could be right. Better safe than sorry, especially with random folks who just showed up briefly and started picking fights within moments. So he was humoring the dark mage lass far more than he normally would consider doing. The girl came to though, and he raised an eyebrow as he commented. "Well, angry lass, ye see tha' leader all incapacitated like, ye are gonna investigate, aye?"

_"Are you two spying on us? You didn't think we were in here together doing something naughty were you?"_ A bolt of purple energy hurled past the girl and landed directly in the wall behind her. The curse bubbled out in a dark mess of negativity before bursting out and causing a rather impressive explosion. To the others, it may have seemed like the castle was being invaded by a small platoon. And to be fair, that wasn’t too far from the truth, seeing as a love war had just been declared. Not bothering to wait for the smoke to dissipate, Marianne strode forward, located Jacob, and curled her fingers around his arm. Leaning into him, she held him protectively and possessively, glaring at the Archer before the cloud finally subsided. Although her single-seen crimson eye burned with a whole new set of rage, her voice still held it’s composure, though that didn’t stop her from making death threats. _**“Don’t touch him. Don’t touch him. Don’t touch him EVER. He’s interesting. You’re not. You’re just boring.”**_ A pause of silence. Taking a few moments to calm down, Marianne closed her eye…before opening it again and replenishing the smile on her face. Looking at Meline, she bowed her head in apology but still kept a tight grip on Jacob’s arm. “Sorry for that, honestly! I guess I got…carried away? Oh, but who could blame me when the fearless leader is so interesting,” she said happily. “Ah, just know Miss Succubus that if you ever do anything to my beloved fearless leader, _**I will gladly tear your face off and have the Exalt herself use it for knitting material**_. Ok?” Not really caring if Meline agreed at the moment, the Dark Mage brought herself closer to Jacob, looking at Jerod with a wide-eyed stare. “Oh, we forgot to head to the barracks! Mister Jerod, apologies for delaying us even further from our goals.”

So far Thalia had been doing a decent job of memorizing names and faces, but if people started popping up any faster, then she had a feeling she was going to start struggling. When the archer girl--who she now knew to be "Meline" from the young man who had just arrived--stalked off, the pegasus knight tentatively glanced towards the newcomer upon hearing him address her. "I...yes, I'm fine. No harm done--it was an accident." Lifting her hands up, she gave them a little wave as she hastily dismissed his concern. The girl chirped a "see you later" to both Marianne and Jerod as the two of them left, and then cocked her head to the side as she looked back at Isacc. "My apologies, sir, but I don't believe we've met...?" Holding a hand to her chest, she politely bowed her head. "My name is Thalia. If I may ask, are you also one of the companions who will be traveling with the Champion?"

Jerod watched Marianne lose her cool, again, with an amused smirk growing on his face. He crossed his arms, watching the whole event transpire. Marianne was certainly mad, but in such a protective manner he couldn't really worry about her ever turning against Jacob. Which meant that, despite it all, he had no problems with Marianne. She certainly made things interesting to be around, that was for sure. And he could find enjoyment in interesting. Her last threat got a laugh out of the mercenary, of all things. He wasn't the only one to get death threats it seemed, which was reassuring in its own way. But this was golden opportunity to mock Jacob. "Ach, look at ye champion o' naga. Ye'll have yer own harem by tha' end of this, I'll tell ye what! Who knew that ol' coot got ye in his business so well?!" Jerod was laughing, regardless of whether Jacob was actually conscious of what was going on or not. He was getting to mock the man, and that made him happy anyways. So that was that then. But her apology got a good natured shrug out of the mercenary. He wasn't bothered by it, hell, he had no interest in doing an inventory to be frank, so any distraction from having to get there was fine by him. "Yer fine Marianne, I ain't gon' tell ye how ta live yer life. We get there, great, if not, ach, who's countin? I ain't, sure a' sure. Might want to watch yer quick draw there, don' wan' enter a tent and get toasted, aye?"

Jacob was surprised when Marianne grabbed his arm and screamed at Meline, while he stood there shocked, he blushed looking away from the dark mage pressed up against him. "Marianne, your a little close..." He spoke quietly, for such a competent tactician she seemed very easily unnerved by women. Jacob silent mouthed. "Sorry." To Meline as the mage held him. "How about I join you in barracks, we can all meet then I have dinner to attend with the Exalt and Isacc." He spoke quietly, trying to keep his head turned away from Marianne he flushed a deep red.

(Isacc Side) Isacc felt something refreshing about the way Thalia spoke it was rather polite and rather calming to hear. "Well your a very polite girl I take it your a knight of Ylisse? And Yes I am one of his companions My name is Isacc a pleasure to meet you." Isacc began to wonder though if knights are joining them does that mean the Exalt doesn't have that high of expectations or just being overly protective regardless he figured it was to make sure nothing bad happens or to send letter every now and then to report what's going on. Regardless Isacc decided she was a very polite girl so he may aswell try to become friends with the girl. (Meline side) Meline was rather annoyed with Marianne's reaction but at the same time she knew she kinda deserved it so she held her tongue lest she make anyone else mad at her. so Meline simply sighed and waited for the girl with the eye patch to leave before speaking to the mercenary left behind... "I probably should avoid teasing her any-ways hi my name's Meline what's your's mister?" She said in a somewhat teasing little girl voice but she genuinely was curious who he was even though he yelled at her earlier.

Jerod shrugged at the suggestion by Jacob. They were heading that way anyways, might as well keep the group going and getting larger. So it was also letting him make fun of the lad, so what? He smirked, continuing to give the champion good natured proddings and pokings, figuratively speaking of course. He was waiting for the boot to drop and the lad to explode on him, which would be hilarious. All the more reason to keep prodding then. "Ach, I see yer game laddie. Ye intend to form tha' harem o' yers and flaunt ye self to all th' bluebloods, aye?" Laughing, he noted that the angry archer was inquiring for his name. She did give hers first, so he humored the lass with at least being polite. So he left his arms crossed, leaning against the wall and responding in a pleasant, neutral tone of voice. "Fairly met lass, ye can call me Jerod. Most folks do, tha' I've noticed a' least. I reckon we stall enough, the laddie champion will git his harem, all th' lassies swarm him it seems! Perhaps ye should listen to yer mentor fellow, eh lad?" Jerod grinned, clearly enjoying every moment he had to give the younger boy trouble and taunting, unable to help himself most of the time it seemed. It was too much fun, really, especially how he reacted to females in general. All demure and shy, it was amusing to the mercenary. And he kept pursuing the amusement until it became too costly. Then it was time for subtlety.

_"Yer fine Marianne, I ain't gon' tell ye how ta live yer life. We get there, great, if not, ach, who's countin? I ain't, sure a' sure. Might want to watch yer quick draw there, don' wan' enter a tent and get toasted, aye?"_ “Oh good,” Marianne said with relief, slowly rubbing her cheek onto Jacob’s arm in some twisted show of affection. “I was afraid I’d offend you or something like that. I can’t go around side tracking my friends. Though if you’re fine with it, then I’m, glad all the same.” Hearing Jacob’s unease of closeness did not deter the Dark Mage from moving away. If anything, she brought herself closer to the tactician while keeping a dead gaze on Meline. It would take some time to readjust to that particular friend. Still, if Jacob was easy to forgive, then so would she. Catching the Archer’s gaze, she nodded in more apology before turning her attention back to her fearless leader. _"How about I join you in barracks, we can all meet then I have dinner to attend with the Exalt and Isacc."_ “Dinner? Oh, that sounds absolutely delightful!” Marianne said, practically hugging the Champion’s arm now, though she did lighten her grip a little. “We can have a feast with everyone! But, um, I have a question my fearless leader.” She looked up at Jacob with wide, curious eyes. “Will human be on the menu tonight?”

"Yes, that's right. I'm a pegasus knight." She smiled at politely at him, giving another small bow of her head, "And it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well, Sir Isacc." She had gathered from Jerod calling him a "blueblood" that this young man was of noble birth, though even if the mercenary hadn't used the term, she felt that she would have realized it anyways. The way that Isacc carried himself certainly was reminiscent of someone who had been brought up in a manner that was particular about etiquette. Feeling a little tenser in the presence of a noble, Thalia composed herself and acted in a way that was reminiscent to when she was with the princess. Gone was the somewhat flustered young woman--for now, anyways. "If you are traveling with the group as well, then we'd best get to the barracks. We were all supposed to gather to help with inventory, but..." Trailing off, she smiled wryly and gestured towards their surroundings, indicating the fact that everyone had run off to who knows where. "With luck, everyone will get there eventually, but we'd best be on our way."

Isacc smiled and said "Very well lead the way please." He wasn't sure what to really expect at the barracks would it be loaded with various weapons and armours to be used or would it be fairly empty and eventually filled with their spoils of war? Regardless Isacc wasn't expecting anything too fancy maybe a few Iron weapons at best and maybe a few old tomes heck there might be weapons left behind from when Robin and Chrom used the barracks all those years ago though they'd likely be of low quality from age if they were. He then began to think what if something darker is attacking not really the church maybe somehow Grima was coming back from the past or something he heard stories of children travelling through time to prevent Grima from destroying the world so what's to say the dragon wasn't capable of time travelling himself? that thought put shivers down Isacc's neck if that did happen it would suck Isacc let out a sigh and though of something positive maybe he'll find Alms sword that'd be something to make him feel glad he tagged along or even Tyrfing the sword of a true sword master. "So your a Pegasus knight hmm I've never seen one up close in a fight but I hear your all very resilient to magic why is that if you don't mind my asking?"

**Marius** While Marius was returning to his inspection of the Shepherds’ supplies, he heard someone moving behind him. With his hand on the hilt of his sword, Marius spun around to see if there was an assailant at his doorstep. However, when he was facing the newcomer, he saw that it was just some purple haired (“Is that natural?” Marius thought) young man. He seemed to be in the middle ground of the varying ages within this motley crew: he was definitely older than many of the others, but not quite Marius’ age. **"Uh, hi. I suppose. "I'm Rylan. Anything I can do to help? You know...inventory stuff?"** Marius lifted his hand from the hilt of his bronze sword, now aware that this boy was of no threat to him. “Yes, Sir Rylan.” Marius began, “I can use all the help I can get. Why don’t you start over there?” Marius pointed toward some supplies to which he had not yet gotten. “Just write down everything that’s there and we will compile the lists together to see what we still need for our journey. And when I mean ‘we’, I am hoping that includes all those others lollygaggers.”

Jacob looked up at the clock in his office, ten minutes to seven... WAIT, OH CRAP Caroline was going to beat him to death. He took off at full tilt. "Isacc, Thalia. Exalt's dinner is in ten minutes run!" The tactician Sprinted full out, past the barracks, past the throne room and into the dinning hall. He was still one minute late, one swift boot later he sat down at the table out breath and in pain. The Exalt laughed at the children antics sighing. "I will miss you Jacob, you always were my favorite... Jester." She chuckled as Andres hobbled in. "Oh look the boy actually showed up, seems my teaching are going to waste on you boy." He chucked taking the seat just down from the Exalt. Robin was really worried he was teaching Jacob the wrong things.

The fact that the man's hand had automatically flown to the hilt of his sword had not gone unnoticed, but Rylan didn't seem particularly bothered. To be fair, he _had_ kind of unintentionally crept up on the guy, and it was good to know that at least one of the people he'd be traveling with had good instincts. The only other person he had really had any sort of conversation with in this group had been, uh... He glanced down at his hand with a grimace, gave it a little shake, and then looked back up. "These over here?" He asked, moving over to where the knight had indicated and peering down at the supplies. _Gods_, there was a lot of stuff in this place! Had he seriously been dealing with doing all this alone? Damn, had everyone else just gone gallivanting off into the sunset or something? "Okay, no problem, I can deal with this stuff. And by the way," Grabbing some paper and a writing utensil, Rylan looked at Marius with lifted brows. "Just Rylan, please. 'Sir Rylan' sounds a little too stuffy for a guy like me."

"Of course, Sir Isacc." Gesturing for him to follow her, the pegasus knight began to make her way through the palace. Keeping certain to match the pace of her companion, Thalia furrowed her brows and let out a quiet "hmm" at his question. "Well, a large part of that can be account for the fact that--" Whatever she was going to say clearly had to wait, as she was abruptly cut off by one Champion of Naga zipping past her with such speed that she had to turn around to check if he was being chased by something. It wasn't until a few moments later that his words actually sunk in. Oh. _Oh no._ "We...we'd best do as he says and run!" Thalia squeaked at Isacc before turning and sprinting after the boy. Gods, how could she forget that she was supposed to guard the princess during the dinner? Nearing the dining hall, the girl slowed down so that she could catch her breath, chest heaving as she tried to calm her racing heart. When she was convinced she didn't look like a breathless maniac, she straightened up, smoothed down her clothing, and stepped inside. "My lady, my deepest apologies for being tardy," She said softly as she moved to the princess' side, her face still flushed from her impromptu marathon.

(Meline side this is gonna be really short) After hearing the introduction Meline bowed and said "see you later." She then headed off to a room to sleep in it was an exhausting day she just wanted to sleep. (Isacc side) After having Jacob run past him and yell it was time to go Isacc turned and began to sprint towards the way Jacob was going he then finally made it he was a little late but not enough too be too bad Thalia entered just before him and apologized. With that Isacc entered the room in a somewhat calm and collected manner and gave a bow and gave his apologizes. "My humblest of apologizes your highness and to you aswell grand master I am Isacc from valm Jacob invited me to join you on this fine evening." after that Isacc calmly walked over towards Jacob and pulled out a seat and sat beside him Isacc made sure to hold a calm yet smiling face as to not disrespect those around him.

The reasonably polite manner that the eye patch clad girl addressed him in made Lorne's anger recede just a tad. He couldn't well be too hard on a cripple, especially if they went about apologizing for the whole affair. For lacking an eye, she was a rather observant little lady. It was an impressive feat to tell he was from Ferox just on the few scraps of fur and tarnished old armor he wore on his person, although he supposed he had many tells outside of the clothing he wore. He nodded to confirm this, moving to speak, only to be interrupted by her wistful musings about... frozen bodies and peeling skin? He'd have likely called her out on it, had somebody else further down the winding halls shouted out for her. The 'dark spell lass' part did well in revealing her oddities. He had always heard dark mages, the cowardly spell slinging bunch that they were, tended to be quite unhinged. It was probably for the best that she bid him farewell after this, disappearing into the corridors as quickly as she had appeared with a vague promise to stab him in the eyes. **"... Ylisseans are fuckin' weird."** Was all the barbaric mercenary had to say on the subject, muttering under his breathe as she disappeared around the corner. He had half a mind to follow her, simply as a way to get out of the god forsaken castle, but he didn't want to deal with some mage trying to pull his eyes out. Thus, when he heard the girl's voice resonating through the halls a short while later he bothered not to turn around and trace the source down. It was a wise choice, considering her later heard some kind of explosion from that general direction. One he cracked up to some failed magic, based on his own bias towards it. The further he got from her, the better. That choice did come with the unfortunate implications of leaving him with nary and idea where the exit to the castle was. He wandered for a while long, popping in and out of empty rooms and banging on locked doors to try and get some semblance of direction. Whatever gods there might've been blessed him after what seemed like an eternity of endless wandering; a blur of panicked Ylissean passed him by with what seemed like another blur latched onto his arm. Another two came running behind them, a cute looking female and some kind of noble from the better look he got at them. Figuring it was his best chance at escape, the Feroxi warrior gave chase to the little convoy of soldiers of nobility to wherever they were trying to get in such a rush. He managed keep on the ass end of their group until they eventually came upon some kind of ball room... which, to his delight, held quite a bit of food and quite a few lovely dames. Without illusion of social grace or tact, the barbarian waltzed in behind the fancy-pants noble as he introduced himself as a Valmese lord and took a seat next to a girly looking fellow. **"Nobody told me we were havin' a feast."** He snarked as he trotted confidently over to the table and, if nobody stopped him, plopped himself down to the cutie who had rushed by him earlier and her friend, whom he assumed was some kind of highborn lady herself. **"What're we havin'?" **He asked, without the slightest bit of irony with how... out of place he seemed, in the presence of such high born and well dressed folk. He never did quite respect the class structure.

Being quickly left to his own devices as everyone ran off or retired for the night, Jerod sighed and shrugged. Great, now he had no excuse what so ever to do anything other than go to the barracks and finally help inventory. Or he could go to the fancy dinner ball, crash the party and make things more interesting for the lad. No, he decided with a sigh, that Exalt could make his life miserable if she wanted to, so he would have to go with the far more boring option. So he wandered off towards the barracks, walking in with a yawn and strech. "Ach, some lass tol' me ye needed a hand er two. What' ye be needin?"

**Marius** **"Ach, some lass tol' me ye needed a hand er two. What' ye be needin?"** Marius again turned around and saw another straggler who happened to wander in. This man was unlike the others because he was one of the only ‘Shepherds’ who was actually around his age. If Marius recalled the events of earlier that day, this was the man who made that crazy eye-patched girl take insanity to the nth degree. “Oh, that ‘lass’ you must be referring to must have been Lady Thalia. Yes, we indeed need all the hands that we can muster for this project. Why don’t you go over there and help Rylan finish up the inventory?” Marius pointed toward the unnaturally purple-haired myrmidon that had already began going through some supplies that Marius himself had not gotten to yet. "Help Rylan there record what we have so that we know what we need to purchase for the trip to Regna Ferox." “By the way, I do not recall that you have told me your name yet? From the sound of your accent, I guess that you do not originate from Ylisse. I am Marius, a knight in the service of Ylisse.”

Marianne blinked once, not quite sure what exactly just happened in the span of a mere second. In one moment she was clutching onto her beloved fearless leader’s arm, and the next…well, she was still clinging all right, but now it seemed they were in different locations. Before she knew it, she was sitting down with Jacob and watching him apologize to the Exalt herself, the Princess, and the dirty old man. Amazing. Struck in awe, she looked up at her fearless leader with a wide crimson eye. Jacob could control time? Either that or he could just run really, really, _really_ fast. Even so, the sheer power displayed when the tactician could exude it surprised her…and she liked it. Giggling, she brought one hand to gently straighten up her slightly disheveled hair before nudging Jacob’s arm again in affection. How she was able to hold on to him during such speedy travel was probably better left to the imagination. “Fearless leader really is interesting,” she murmured happily, closing her eye and sighing in content. Soon, the others began to file in the dining chamber one by one, though honestly the Dark Mage’s interest was cornered solely on Jacob’s welfare at the moment. _"Nobody told me we were havin' a feast. What're we havin'?"_ The voice came out of nowhere, and Marianne was snapped out of her addicted daze to see the Regna Ferox man who had yelled at her before now rummage his way in and plop next to the Ylissen Princess without care or regard. Her mouth twitching into a smile, she waved over at him enthusiastically. “Oh, hello again Mister Yelling Man. You decided to join us after all! It’s really a pleasure to see you again in such short time. As for the dinner, I believe we’re having a coursing of grilled human flesh served with some charred bones? At least, that’s my understanding of all this.”