Sorana

@Blessing of Potency

Curious Zoe turned her head to Ayra. "Would you be willing to share what you know about them?" She asked because obviously Jarias wouldn't. "That might save us an awful lot of speculation." Get on their good sides. She liked the thought, although it felt a little easy. Get on their good side and then - there had to be a reason why they were here, something the wizards couldn't do on their own. But then, maybe they weren't as powerful, maybe they needed them, because they needed their help. She nearly laughed at that thought. Apart from a lot of unlikely special cases there was no reason why wizards would need her help. @AmazingGoob

"I don't know. In my head they are just like some of us with powers, spells if you want to call it that way. I didn't meet one of them so far, so I have trouble to place them." Pensively she chewed on her lip again. He was nervous, just as she was. Somehow the thought was calming, relaxing even. He was no arrogant brat who liked to establish his leadership. He was nervous. She smiled at him again, a real smile this time, not one she had to force on her face. "I'm going to assume the worst and hope for the best and see where that lead me. They are probably strong, very capable, maybe even more than we are." And maybe they were the reason, or at least one of the reasons why this place was supposed to be so dangerous. The thought chilled her and she was suddenly glad that she wasn't alone. There were worse things than a cute boy who knew how to fight monsters.

"It's fine." she replied out of habit, accepted his apology with a slight shrug and a smile. It's fine. It was what you said when someone trampled over your tomatoes, because they had been training. It was fine when they decided to use your pumpkins to train hitting target and - she grit her teeth and looked up at him, surprised by the fact that he seemed to be earnest. He meant his apology exactly the way he had phrased it. "I'm sorry. I tend to get carried away topics nobody else is interested in." she spread her hands a little. "Most at the camp have just one goal, to fight and to fight and to fight. I never quite understood why I should go there in the first place. It's not like I can contribute to that part." She forced herself to relax a little and lean back in her seat more comfortably. She had tried to make a good impression and had failed. She wanted for him to think that she was useful, a worthy addition to their team, although now with Ayra here- she'd never mentioned whose child she was but Zoe wouldn't pry, wouldn't question her decision to keep that secret for the moment. They didn't know each other. They could talk about that later. "I'm just- " she started, fell silent again, at a loss how to phrase her thoughts and give words to her feelings. "I just want to help, but I honestly have no idea why I'm even here." she finally stated with an embarressed laugh. "It's not like we're supposed to judge some fields or plants, and I'm scared, scared by the tales of this place and whatever monster we might meet and -" She pointedly looked down at his weapon. "Do you have a reason to think we'll be attacked?" she repeated her earlier question. "Because I have no idea what to do should it come to that." It was a lot more than she had planned to say, but it was true, every single word of it was true and if pretending, if trying to be cool didn't work, then maybe, maybe the truth would. Or he would get up and leave her sitting here. But then at least, then at least she would know what she was facing, what kind of expectation he had. He was a son of Ares after all. And there was a reason why there weren't a ton of story with both Ares and Demeter at their center.

Zoe fell silent again, tapped her foot against the floor. Yep, she'd done it again. She knew, she knew that it was wrong to talk about the interesting things. And she never learned it. She never, ever learned that lesson. And he was right. The old world was dangerous, but he was a son of Ares. He would be able to deal with it. It was what he knew, what he had trained. He was useful. She bit down on her lower lip, unsure what else to say. She had hoped that maybe they could speculate, or comment on this place together, just find something that connected them. "Yeah, sure." she said vaguely after a while, trying to avoid being impolite while having no idea at all how to go on. She felt like a child being scolded by a parent. Was it wrong to be excited about sheep, only because someone had said, that this place was dangerous? None of them had tried to eat her, sheep were just that, sheep. Worldlessly she tapped her foot against the floor again, at a loss for words or another topic of conversation.

"Philadelphia." Zoe tried to recall where Maine was. New York she knew, that was only a few hours north, but Maine was definitely farther away. She tried to hide the fact that she wasn't entirely sure where Maine was and tried to come up with some way to change the subject. "Have you ever been to europe before?" she inquired and looked outside again. "They have some very interesting sheep around here. They deal very well with the steep landscape - and did you see the cattle? Their brown, long fur to withstand rain and the winter? Incredible. I really should travel more often, I think we can learn so much if we only keep our eyes open, and try to see what it somewhere else, how we can maybe use it at home." "If my dad agrees, maybe I can get a few of these sheep, or maybe I'll ask at summer camp. Then I can finally try out how it is to make my own thread and then maybe even weave a blanket or something like that. Just imagine -" She fell silent realized that none of the other two would be interested in sheep or cattle. "Yeah, I've never been here before." she finished awkwardly and looked down at her feet again her earlier excitement completely forgotten.

"I think so?" Zoe nodded, although she wasn't really sure about it. "Somewhere on the island at least, Scotland, England, something like that." she grinned to take the edge out of her words, hoped that nobody was listening who might be annoyed by her non existing knowledge. You never knew with patriots. But then they seemed to be alone for now. "Do you want to sit down?" she asked the girl while moving her bag closer to her leg. Jarias seemed to be relieved that they weren't alone anymore, so it had been her who made him uncomfortable. Her grin vanished and she looked down at her feet. Awesome job Zoe. She told herself bitterly. She really had screwed that introduction up. @turtle @AmazingGoob

"Come in." Zoe called out, slightly annoyed by the interruption. Now the boy wouldn't reply, had an excuse not to. She shot him a look, tried to ask him whether that was the danger or not. "It's open." she added, slightly worried by the fact, that it was true. If whoever entered meant them harm, then they most likely would - she had no idea what they might do. How could she. She knew about growing fruit and vegetables, not about planning a larger defense. Still she moved her handbag to the seat next to hers and forced a smile on her face. Maybe they could talk first and she could distract them, while Ares's came up with something, anything that might work. Or maybe they were completely harmless, simply someone else from the camp who had been sent on this mission. She looked over the posture of the boy again, the nervousness, how he fiddled with his weapon. Why was he nervous? Had she herself given him any reason to believe she was someoneelse? That she was trying to spy on him, to intrude - Zoe nearly laughed at her own thoughts. My, the boy was getting under her skin. Who should attack them on a magical train somewhere that looked like the end of the world? She was seeing phantoms, ghosts, her imagination running wild. The boy was nervous and she was nervous, be expecting an attack from someone who was polite enoug to knock, was definitely the wrong thing. @AmazingGoob

I had an idea what to do with him, and couldn't find him. And I honestly never even thought about using the search

"I don't know." she replied honestly, gesturing to Brashen to follow the Dustbringer for now. "He never wanted to hurt all the innocents, that happened on pure accident." She hesitated turned the situation around in her head. "I don't know." she repeated after a while, took another sip of her wine to buy herself another few seconds to think, to come up with something. Stop him, provoke a fight. "We can't start a fight here, not in this bar. Maybe follow them, try to find out what they are planning and then, then - but not here." she shook her head, her left hand gesturing towards all the bystanders around them. "We can't risk their lives easily. I don't think that we should." So it was following them. Sneaking around. Something tightened in her chest at the thought, a memory, failures and things she was trying to avoid. "Do you have a way to track them?" she added quietly, her voice nearly unhearable over the music of the bar. For now she had Brashen, but if they had to follow them longer, something more practical would probably be good. @Ashbringer

Mike watched as time passed, absorbed in his thoughts, in the feeling, that - spikes. It had been spikes and that was the clue. He knew it, knew it instinctively, just as he knew that it was the solution. All he had to do was - spikes. He stared at his hands, stared and stared at the gloves covering them, at his fingers tips peeking out on top of them. He continued to stare while he tried to grasp their meaning, the reason he wore them, despite the warmth of the room around him. Nothing. It was nothing, nothing at all, nothing around, just this vague feeling, just the, no. Mike looked up, stared around at the stragers he'd met at their figures, the way they held themselves at their bodies. This was wrong. He had no use here, he was in the wrong place. He needed to leave, he needed to go somewhere else, to do something else. He needed to find - the thought left him and he groaned in frustration, lifted a hand to head and pressed, pressed his palm, his fingers against his forehead, leaving first white and then red imprints there. This was wrong. The whole night, the whole day was wrong and there was nothing he could do about it, nothing he- Turning around he stumbled towards the exit suddenly needing to breathe fresh air, needing to be out and away from the strangers, from their questions. He missed the door, hit the doorframe first, but then managed to get out, to push the door out of his way. He needed, he needed - he didn't know. A sound escaped his throat, a deep, dark sound born out of frustration, out of fear, out of - the squeezed his eyes shut against the light, kept one hand firmly pressed against a wall, forced himself to take a deep breath, one then a second one. Spikes. That was it. He needed spikes. And then, then he needed to, he needed to. A sob escaped his lips, when he lost that thought as well, when it all fled but the certainty that he needed the spikes, that he needed them just as much as he needed to breath. They were vital, as vital as breathing, as vital as drinking, and he froze and groaned again, looked around wildly. People made a wide berth around the place where he stood, his chest hurt from holding his breath, his face wet from tears he couldn't remember breathing. He needed, he needed, he needed. Stumbling away he tried to flee the urge, to get away from it, to escape, to be faster, so much faster, to be out of its glance, away from its grasp, out of its reach before he could understand, before he could see and know what he needed to do. The urge alone filled him with fear, a fear so deep and dark and imminent, that there was nothing, nothing else he could do, nothing else but stumble away, his eyes glued firmly to the ground, his hands touching this building and then that building. A street. He crossed it without noticing the screams, the noise he caused, instead he turned around the corner and then again and again and again, searching, always searching for something, something he didn't know, something he couldn't grasp. But he needed to. He needed to. He needed to. Or he would die. ========= @AmazingGoob @Lord_Silberfarben

You're awesome! Thank you so much!

@AmazingGoob okay, that might be a weird question, but I kind of lost Mike. Can you recall where I posted last for him?

Zoe tilted her head to the side. She doubted that he really remembered her garden, but it wasn't that important. He was nervous, and that was a bad sign. A nervous child of Ares usually meant that war and destruction were imminent. Uneasily she looked around, the train eerily quiet. Whatever she'd expected of this mission, it certainly hadn't involved anything about a moving train and a fight with people running around, slamming doors open. Maybe even on the roof? She shook her head when her imagination started to create a movie like scene. This was no movie. There was no way she would start climbing on the roof of a moving train. Never, ever. "Is something wrong?" she asked instead. "Is there something I should know?"

"From summer camp?" she tried again, smiling awkwardly at him and then quickly looking away and up towards the rack for the luggage. With a sigh she heaved her bag up to her shoulders and then, standing on her toes she pushed it onto the rack where it sat, not quite falling down, but leaning towards her. Strechting she tried to push it further back, failed and decided to leave it where it was. Instead she sat down, her handbag on her knees and forced herself to look at him again, tried to remember his name. It was no use, she absolutely had no clue. "You've been there, haven't you?" she added quickly and tried to come up with something else that might help him place her. "I sometimes helped in the kitchen, and I care for this little garden just outside, close to the little river? The one where some vegetables grow?" She'd went with plants that could survive without her help during winter and still were useful. And those that only lived one season. "It's not so important," she made a vague gesture with her hand. There was no way someone polishing a weapon would recall the girl growing cucumber. He'd probably thought she was a servant of some sorts, or part of the staff. "Let's start again. I'm Zoe, daughter of Demeter and with a weak spot for plants and agriculture." She extended her hand, forced herself to smile at him to cover her embaressment. Great job Zoe. She only had to say hello and had managed to mess that simple part up completly.

I don't. I skipped that one and at the moment am using a switch or our computer. I found that most games that interest me are available for a computer anyway and it offers a lot more grafic wise, so we don't own anything else. Apart from that switch which I gifted myself for my birthday this year in a corona related crises of not being able to do anything

It was one of these days, when you knew that everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. Zoe sighed again and wished she had tried another time to tell them that no, she was the wrong one for this and no she didn't want to leave. She needed to stay where she was, water her plants and feed her animals. After all who would do it when she wasn't there. One of the spawns of Ares or Athena? Most certainly not. If they managed to hold a conversation that didn't end in a brawl it was a bright day. She knew she was being unfair, but she couldn't help it. There were a lot of places where she wanted to be and on a train, full of students of some magical school, Hoghouse, if she remembered correctly, definitely wasn't on that list. She walked through the train, her bag over her shoulder, heavy because of the things she had packed. She wasn't entirely sure what she would need, so she had prepared and packed everything that might be useful one way or the other. Which was a lot. Glancing around she looked for an empty spot, preferably one that wasn't too close to the students, their endless chatter and loud voices already exhaustig. After what felt like hours, but were probably nothing but a few minutes she finally saw what she had been looking for. An empty spot. For a moment she considered to pass by, search for a place that was completely unoccupied, but then discarded the thought. The train would leave soon, there was no way she would find a place she could have completely for herself. And then there was also the matter of finding the other demigod and Chiron. She had wanted to make a stop on the way and had decided to head to the train on her own - there were some exciting sheep around and she had wanted to take a look at some pear trees, see if she could take some seeds home to grow them. A decision she had been glad off when she'd tasted the fruits and bought some seeds, when they also had a few awesome types of apples that were delicious, but right here and now she regretted it dearly. Being together with someone she at least had a way to place would be a lot more comfortable than to stand in this train completely on her own. With a sigh she reached for the door and pushed it open, forced a friendly smile on her face. Better get over with it. She could always try and find the rest later, for now she would sit down, get the heavy bag of her shoulder and maybe read a little in the book she'd bought. It was a fascinating one, offering details about european - her thought fled when she looked into the face of the boy inside for the first time. He appeared to be vaguely familiar, but it took her a moment to place him. He'd been at the camp. She'd seen him before. One problem solved. "Hey." she greeted him, set her bag down awkwardly. Did he even know that they had been supposed to meet on this train? "I'm Zoe. From the camp. The one with the plants." Inwardly she suppressed the urge to bit on her cheek. The one with the plants. Sure, good job Zoe. Now he would surely know who on this earth she was. @AmazingGoob ====== @turtle

@AmazingGoob

Thank you so much! I will try to find a demo and if I can't, I'll give it a try anyways. It does sound so tempting and I love to learn about different characters, play their arcs and all that.

I thought about getting the game for a while now, but I'm still a little undecided on the whole matter. I watched some game plays and read reviews, but I am unsure if I might like the gameplay. After scanning the thread, you all seem to be very convinced that it's worth it - but if someone has a minute: afaik it's round based, does that feel very restrictive? I am a little torn in that regard, usually prefer games without that. And the characters: are they really as good developed as they are said to be? What is the focus, the characters or the battles/ fighting? How is the balance between the two aspects? I know all of that sounds pretty vague, but it's the points that I'm worried most about.

@Blessing of Potency

Shana followed Rob inside over to the living room. She would have started by simply opening all doors that lead to rooms which weren't occupied at the moment, but asking James made a lot more sense. As another bondsmith he probably knew about things she and Rob had never heard of. And he hesitated. She saw it in the way he didn't reply immediatly, how he considered whether to tell them about the office or not. A wave passed through her body, hot and annoyed, they had talked about this, about finding out about the others. And James had agreed. There was no reason why he - she shoved the thought away, knew that it was unfair. James had agreed to ask Doc, not to break into his office and read through his personal documents. The feeling left a bitter taste in her mouth even though there was no reason for it. James trusted them, he told them where to go and where to search for their answers. She was overreacting, too annoyed, too angry at the whole situation. She took another breath reined her feelings in. If Doc had lied to them it would hit James twice as hard. "Thank you." she smiled at him before turning around and walking over to the stairs, leaving it to James to decide whether he wanted to follow or not. He could, he was welcome. But there was no need to. They could do this on their own. She passed the first and the second floor with their many rooms, heard the voices of some of the others living here. Laughter, mixed with someone practicing for a presentation of some sorts. Then she reached the third floor, the one she rarely went to. All of her friends had their rooms on the first floor close to her own and the training room was in the cellar. Just next to the attic ladder. It took her a moment to stop looking for an actual ladder and instead lift her gaze to the ceiling until she found the square area that hid the ladder leading into the attic. Her eyes rested on the door closest to the lid. There. Slowly she walked over, suddenly nervous at the prospect. If Doc found out, and she didn't doubt that he would, he would be annoyed, mildly phrased. Or to word it differently, he would be very, very angry. Shana hesitated, suddenly unwilling to risk her place here, to undermine to one man who had shown her kindness, who had taken her in, when the whole world had spit her out. The one person who hadn't looked at her weirdly, who had smiled at her scared uncle and aunt and had offered them to let her live here, for a small fee of course, just like any living quarters at a boarding school. She knew that he was in contact with them, kept them uptodate about her grades, about her as a person, but he carefully kept it all away from her, left it to her to establish some contact in a way she wanted to. If Doc asked her to leave. Swallowing she closed her hands and opened them again, wished for another way. You always had a choice. She could tell Rob that this was madness, that they had to sit back and wait for Doc to return, then confront him in person. But he was gone and she knew that it could take him weeks to return. Weeks they maybe didn't have. The Voidbringers knew where they lived, they knew where they went to school. They needed to act. And they needed to do it soon. Otherwise, otherwise there might not be a house standing for Doc to return to. Gritting her teeth against the heavy, bitter feeling of betrayal she finally placed her hand on the handle and with another deep breath pushed it down and pushed against the door. This was it. Now there would be no way back. The door didn't move. Locked. Shana narrowed her eyes at the lock, at the metal and then, without allowing herself further time to think she inhaled, ripped the metal apart, leaving a hole in the door where the lock had been. Near silently the door swung open. @I think I am here. @Wyndlerunner

When you open a book for the first time, hear the spine crack slightly and can smell the paper and the glue.

"You too." she replied and mirrored his gesture, lifted her fist. She held it in the air for a moment, and then touched it to his, the gesture carefully calculated to barely avoid causing pain. "Between the two of us, the matter should resolve itself nicely." A grin touched her lips when she allowed herself to picture the peace, the calm that would come afterwards. She could finally head out with Ben without anybody in their way, without the need to worry again about something like a kidnapping or whatever else their enemies came up next. Maybe they could go on a holiday, all of them together. They only had a short time left before the first ones would leave for college, but this year all of them would be on leave together. To the mountains maybe, so that they could climb or go trekking. It would be awesome to walk a longer trail together with everybody. "Let's go." she forced herself to concentrate on the situation at hand again. "Doc's been away for a while, but we can take a look around his office." That could even be better than to outright ask him. Doc could be complicated at times, protected what he knew about the other Radiants. For a moment her own thoughts, her plan chilled her body to the bone. Break into Doc's office and sniff through his documents, maybe even his laptop. She wouldn't have done that even a week ago, but now, now it was neccessary. And that was it. She didn't even feel guilty, knew that she should, that you didn't do it, but she didn't. Mostly she wanted to get started on the real part, the fighting. The finding out about the truth and then see where it would lead them. That was important. Everything was nothing but an inconvenience along the way.