Indignation is a Fire Emblem Roleplay. It takes place within the Outrealms as worlds collide and kingdoms wage an endless war. However, amongst the quarrels of men do the horrors of the Outrealm reach in to kill and destroy. Fight alone or join forces with other warriors as we create dramatic tales or wage war!
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Her crushing grip around the man didn't lose its might for a while. Shizuka wasn't that strong in the first place. She knew at any moment Grant could easily wiggle out of her arms. A light feeling warmed her chest when he didn't push her away. Her hug had been just enough to make it difficult for him to breathe but it wasn't too taxing. It took a while for her to catch onto that. She might have overstayed her welcome by a few seconds.
The girl released the butler from the prison of her arms. She gave a playful giggle. A few steps back, she gave Grant the space he needed to find his breath.
“What do you mean?” Shizuka questioned. There was something lingering in the back of her mind. If Grant was going to heal her, then why bring her to the school? He could have very well done so in the streets of Kitsuki. There was a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I'm always ready for anything!” Though the look on her face wasn't exactly brimming with confidence.
Being let go was a great relief for his lungs. He took a moment to inhale before continuing on.
Though, as soon as he turned to her, her expression turned into something heavily lacking the fire which displayed after he healed her. An obvious signal that she was anxious and had an idea of what was to come. The sudden shift of emotion irked him, but nevertheless he would not change his plans- they had come so far.
“You say that, yet your face begs to differ.” Grant stated while he stood up straight. “Miss Yui, I hold no secret from you. We are about to have you challenge your adversary in formal combat.” He crossed his arms. “Although that may be so, first I will study their combat pattern and advise you on how to counter it.”
His head tilted slightly to his right as he continued to look at her. She had spoken of her own martial ability, even if it was a farce Grant would allow her to win by taking that measure. Even so, the problem might have been lying elsewhere. “If you possess any problems with this, please tell me now so that I may help you overcome it.”
She didn't like that. For probably the longest time Grant had seen in the time he knew Shizuka, she was silent. "No," she finally said. "I can take you there. But you have to be quiet. Stay near me. We're going on a stealth mission!" As she kept talking her tone grew lighter and lighter. Once again Shizuka had developed into that carefree girl that she was meant to be.
The girl took Grant behind the school. There were reeds of bamboo that sprouted from the ground in a dense forest. Just before that was a lovely garden. It was a place that Shizuka had trained many times before. It was easy to make out a few students from this school. They sat in the garden with one another laughing and enjoying eachother's company as they ate their lunches. Shizuka felt a rumble in her own stomach despite the snack she ate only moments before. Their bowstaffs rested on the ground beside them. "That's them," she whispered. It wasn't the first time Shizuka sat in these reeds and watched them. Their technique wasn't anything special and simply mimicked what Shizuka knew how to do herself. Her hand visibly tighted on the bamboo as she watched them. Simply standing there, she could feel hatred for her bullies welling up inside of her.
The got to their feet and lifted up their training staffs in their hands. They were supposed to stretch first after eating, but they weren't being tested or anything. A lot of people ignored it. The two girls moved quickly against one another. Their movements were like a dance as they blocked and parried one another's attacks. The poles hit against one another with loud smacks, almost like they wanted people to know they were fighting. Almost light they wanted people to come out and watch them. They were cocky.
For a moment, he thought that Shizuka was about to run away from him or simply deny the method. However upon seeing that she had no complains, he nodded his head and did as he was told. The fact that the maiden was taking initiative to improve herself gave him a true impression of who she could become given the right circumstance. She had even gone so far as to suggest his next step without him even saying what it was.
The only sour part of his plans seemed to be watching the bullies. Grant had heard the ever so quiet sound of growling from someone’s stomach, noting it for later. Furthermore, he saw her grip strengthen- a possible sign of anxiety. Now he would pay attention to the two adversaries, even if he absolutely did not want to.
As far as he knew, Grant bore no grudge or disdain towards them, but the way they fought seemed just too impractical for his liking. From his experience, fighting was meant to be quick, devastating and unwelcoming. If you ever think you have the upper hand without being absolutely certain of the factors involved, you might have already lost. He began to wonder if it was more for sport rather than harming others and also if Shizuka fought the same way as they did. To him, they might as well have been fencing using chairs.
He then turned to Shizuka with his eyebrows knit closer and his eyes squinted. His expression was of mild annoyance, but it appeared to be more like he confused than anything else.
“Please explain to me what they are carrying out,” he whispered quietly.
The girl watched the flurry of movements that the others made. The nail of her thumb was between her teeth. Her eyes remained focused on the girls. All expression had gone from Shizuka's face as she studied them. Her eyes danced between the two girls as they moved. Mental notes were being jotted down in her mind. It was a rare occurance to see Shizuka so focused. Every movment she absorbed easily like a sponge. On occasion, her body would twitch or her foot would slide forward like she had been the one reacting to the fight.
"Huh?" her concentration was broken. Shizuka blinked. Her head tilted to Grant while she spoke. "They're just sparing," Shizuka whispered. "It's the same stuff they always do. I've tried to watch them in the past to learn their routines, but I just can't figure out a way to beat them. It's nothing fancy, but they always get the upper hand somehow." She tilted her head towards the fight. "See that brunette one?" The girl touched her forhead where the bruise used to be. "That's the one that hit me. Call her the leader, if you will. See that stance? Watch, she's about to hold the staff high and go in for an aerial blow." True to what Shizuka said, the girl did. "Her friend knows that too, she'll lift the staff above her head to block." Which she did.
"I've studied people fighting from this very spot since like... forever," she grumbled. In theory, she should have been able to read anyone in this academy. But there was always one thing that would trip her up. Something would make her lose focus. It would leave her open and people would swoop in and finish the fight against her with ease.
“I see.” He replied aptly. Truth be told, he knew that their fight was a spar. Grant was simply disgruntled at what he was seeing. A lot of their movements were impractical in a variety of combat scenarios- flashy, yet possessing a large amount of unnecessary weight behind them. It was impractical. The display between the two of them appeared more akin to what he expected to see in a ballroom rather than a training ground.
To and fro. Left and right. Their gambol was the art of Hoshidian spear duelling or so he finally concluded. Perhaps his bias to underhanded techniques from back alley brawling, paired with the martial manoeuvres he learnt during his time as a true butler, had negatively impacted his view on other styles. While impractical, their combat took place at an astounding speed without detracting from the force of their blows. Even after facing numerous warriors in the past, he was impressed by the level of passion in the spear fighters as they trained.
“Studying can assist you direly in most given subjects.” A single index finger raised to his mouth as he contemplated. “By practice will you perfect your execution.” Grant said with a light wave of his hand. At that point, he had to study their patterns before perfecting the outcome. In his state, he could be certain of the outcome should he engage them in combat. Though, his concern laid with Shizuka. Her weakness was known. An essential factor.
He waited, waited until the aerial strike had revealed itself once more. The girl on the receiving end was the target; whether she actually managed to block the blow or if there was more to it was the test he had in mind. Grant only needed to confirm what he saw prior.
"Here it comes," Shizuka whispered. Her fists balled up in anticipation of the second attack. The bully swung for her opponent. Her friend blocked the attack once again only to have the girl spin around with the staff in her hands. The brunt end of the stick whipped around and caught the girl in the chin. Shizuka clenched her jaw and rubbed at her own chin as if she felt the pain.
The opponent rubbed her own chin and looked at the friend. "You're not supposed to hit me!" she shouted. The other girl just turned with a scoff. "Let's get inside."
And they were gone.
Shizuka rocked back and forth on her heels desperately wanting to leave, but unsure if Grant was done. "So you saw it all, right? That's a little bit of how we fight here. I can fight like that too. Give me a training staff or a naginata and i'm like amazing, yeah?"
Any processing that had been taking place within his mind was complete with the end of their spar. Many solutions were presented before him, but only one seemed rather fitting for Shizuka’s character. He did not doubt her skill at all, it was merely that other manoeuvres would be much more difficult to execute with less than optimal results considering the fast pace of their battles. One easy move.
Nevertheless, he considered reinforce her fundamentals along as well to make the fight all the more simple for her.
“Indeed I did, Miss Yui.” Grant faced the girl with a mild fire in his eyes. Stoic was the expression aptly describing him. Still, his voice had a hint of excitement to it. “In juxtaposition, the way you fight might not be the absolute best way to win.”
He raised a single palm flat and vertically. “I sincerely mean no offence to the art- it is truly an elegant dance of martial prowess.” The butler nodded his head. “Rather, there are glaring flaws with it and holes in their movements which a studied attacker may abuse. The detriments of which I may teach you to punish, and the methods defend yourself against what I teach you if you so wish.”
The offer was the best he could do for her without getting too involved. Even so, He had no qualms with her denying him.
Whoa. The girl lost whatever train of thought she had been on the moment she looked into this man's eyes. They were burning. She wondered if this man was an experienced battler. She knew he had knowledge of healing others. Maybe he used it in the field many times in the past. But, he probably couldn't actually fight. Most healers she had met knew just that. Healing. It was a beautiful art on its own. Someday, Shizuka wanted to learn the art herself. She and Ume could dash through the skies and heal all of the Hosidan soldiers who fell victim to battle.
"Ha?" The voice peaked up. She searched Grant with a blank expression. "Ahh," her voice was quiet as she tried to recount what she might have just missed. "Of course I want to learn!" She had caught the word teach and went off of that. "I want to beat those girls at their own game." Though she couldn't exactly hold those words with confidence. Shizuka didn't really want to beat anybody. Just... show them she wasn't an entire clutz or.. something.
"So you'll teach me, right Sir? I can grab my training staff from home. We can go out in the fields and then learn. OH! And you can meet Ume!"
An unexpected blankness followed by yet another burst of energy. If the butler could construct even the littlest idea of what event that prompted her to have a great level of enthusiasm at nearly all times, perhaps he could learn how to turn other metals into gold as well. It was truly an enigma he could not understand. . . Then again she might have just had that personality from the very start. In any case, he would leave the mystery to solve itself if it so wished.
His main prerogative still stood as assisting the person before him. “So I shall it seems,” he nodded his head once to confirm. “A simple manoeuvre that you should be able to grasp.” The butler reiterated, clasping his hands together. Her explosive excitement reassured him for their endeavour, even if she truly did not want to beat them. Victory could be ensured in more than one way.
‘Ume’ was an unknown name to him. Maybe it was one of her friends, possibly a family member. Regardless, he would follow her without question. “My appreciation goes to you for leading the way.” He held one hand forward to point at the path away from the school. “I am still astoundingly unfamiliar with this land.”
It wasn't a no. Shizuka waved her hand to signal Grant to follow her. The whole way out of the bamboo forest she had a wide smile on her face. It was like she knew something that Grant did not. Maybe it was that Grant would soon meet her best friend in the entire world. When they stood in the streets in front of the school, Shizuka made sure to wait until a group of people had passed by.
"Watch this!" She lifted her fingers to her lips and tried to whistle, but the smile that was still upon her face made the action impossible.
Shizuka tried wrinkling her face to shake off the constant grin and then whistled once again. It came out as a loud, sharp whistle. It traveled through the nearby skies. The girl stood there proud of herself.
No more than half a minute later did the large pegasus fly overhead the two. He swooped by Shizuka, the gusts from his wings teasing at her pigtails and long skirt. After a second pass by, he finally landed beside the girl. The gray pegasus playfully stomped up to his friend and nipped at her hair. He had a feather in in mane similar to the ones that were in the girl's.
"Mister Grant-sensei sir, this is Ume!" She gestured to the pegasus and then gestured back to Grant. "Ume, this is my new friend Grant"
A single index finger was held up as if he wished to interrupt the whistle. Conclusively, he hesitated in favour of seeing what she had to offer. It was quite strange for him- there were not close enough to any houses for people within to hear her. All the more reason to question her actions he deemed. The fact that she was trying so hard to whistle while wrinkling her face caused him to stifle a light chuckle with the tips of his fingers over his mouth.
Out came her companion. As majestic an equestrian beast as any.
Astonishment followed without a doubt in his mind although he did not show it. An eyebrow cocked in curiosity. Never in his life had he possessed multiple honorifics in a single sentence, including one that he had no idea as to the meaning of. Moreover he was disturbed at the sound of someone calling him a friend. Not quite in a negative manner though. He was unacclimated with the sentiment.
“The pleasure is mine,” he stated clearly. Grant had no idea what to do from that point forward. Handling animals was not an activity that he had experience in doing. To make the situation all the more uncomfortable, he felt obliged to interact in some manner due to Shizuka’s ownership over it.
Slowly, he offered his right hand to the pegasus. He kept it at a distance, allowing for a length in case he needed to retract it preemptively from a bite.
The pegasus eyed the man carefully. His light brown eyes bore into and studied him. Shizuka introduced him to new people occasionally and each time there was always a small twinge of jealousy. Ume stood with pride, standing tall, and towered over the newcomer. His first movement was sudden and leaned his face towards the man's hand like he was going to bit it, but then pulled back and approached more slowly finally leaning into his hand.
Shizuka cheered beside the two of them. "Yay! Ume likes you." Though the reaction of the pegasus had really given no signs of that. It was more that he would be willing to tolerate Grant, for the time being. Shizuka climbed on top of the pegasus. He had no saddle on. The girl had to scramble onto his back as Ume was more preoccupied with Grant at the moment. She twisted her fingers into his mane and held on. "So you want to come? Home isn't too far away. There's a lot of space to train and I even have some dummies to fight against." And some planks tied onto trees. At home, she did everything she could to sharpen her skill, not knowing that it was some other obstacle that she had to overcome.
“ ‘Likes’ would be a rather strong verb to assume.” He wanted to say. Instead, what he replied with equated to “I see.” Grant returned his arm to the side. Aggression was noted by him. Handling animals was most definitely not one of the things he had accomplished in the past- he had no intention to pursue any activity that would require the skill. Perhaps far in the future he could pick up the skill.
One long stare at the pegasus followed her question. Considering the gesture displayed by the equestrian, Grant held mild disdain of any idea regarding interaction with it. Still, he did wish to help her hone her skill in combat. Possessing more equipment to train with would only boost the process. He would yield on his own conditions.
“That I do, Miss Yui.” His sights turned from her to the winged horse. “Though, I suppose there is no need to fly there if it is nearby.” A palm opened to gesture to the road. “Please lead by horseback and I shall follow.”
In the wider picture, he had no ill will for the animal. Simply, he wished to give it more space to stretch while he took the bond it had with her in mind. That and he had absolutely no idea how to ride a pegasus.
His refusal to ride on Ume made Shizuka a little bit sad. Nobody ever wanted to ride on Ume with her, it seemed. Ume was more than capable of supporting the weight and Shizuka wouldn't let anybody fall. At least, she was quite positive that she would be able to hang onto them or catch them before they hit the ground. Maybe it was a bad idea to let somebody with no experiance on a horse to ride on Ume. Grant had the right idea. Someday then! She would teach him on one of the stable horses back at the pasture. Shizuka bet he'd like riding on the back of such a magnificent creature. With his healing staff in hand, the image fit him perfectly. She held a smile on her face when she looked back to Grant again.
"Yes! To the ranch it is." Ume had been ready to charge off and take to the skies but Shizuka pulled on him lightly. "No no!" She told the pegasus. He hadn't been too excited about having to walk with this man in tow. "Grant, you're really going to like it here. The pegasus are amazing. You picked the perfect place in Hosido to start out your journey. You won't see anything else like this, especially once you start getting on the back of a pegasus, I can't think of any better way to travel." The girl led on, Ume's hooves leaving prints in the loose dirt road as he begrudgingly trotted on.
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