Luminesa wrote:Kingdom of Irhk wrote:
Manfred von Kressel
"That's... certainly surprising. I never met them personally miss Eglantine, so forgive me for putting you though such a stressing situation. My apologies. I can give you transportation near Grenoble with a jet, but it might face some trouble landing, which I honestly hope it doesn't or that, at least, there isn't enough ash for the plane to land securely. If the situation isn't safe and the ash is still blocking the airport, you'll land at Valence and drive to Grenoble, which is roughly 1 hour away from the mentioned city. I can give you a nice pilot to go there, a few weapons if you didn't bring them, but Saturninus must stay.
The subject that brought you all here, well... I have reason to believe, after Saturninus' timely testimony, that Joachim is allied, or at least collaborated with Blanchefleur with the objective to wipe Heinrich off the map. I can also imagine his objectives by doing that, but there'll be time for that once you are back, luckily with miss Eglantine's parents."
Henry von Kressel
A retractable staff and a pistol were the only items Henry asked for. Certainly there was an armor lying around, but he could craft one with his magic and move faster if he needed to. With a martial weapon and a certain amount of firepower, he sat in the car designated to carry them both to the airport, as Henry kept loading it and checking the ammo he had available. Would Blanchefleur try to stop them once more? He wasn't even near a perfect form and his doctor would probably have a heart attack if he knew what Henry was up to his time.
With their small luggage carried inside the plane, Henry faced himself with another wild chase around Europe, until his eyes faced a clearly shocked Eglantine.
"I believe we planned to rest... Another failed plan, wouldn't you agree?"
Saturninus/Eglantine - Too Soon To Say Goodbye
Saturninus was shocked to hear about Eglantine's parents and their ordeal, something he had not even noticed in the short time he had been back in his mother's castle. He figured they had somehow escaped the wreckage, even though he had no way of knowing how, or how they even got to the Castle in the first place. Even if he had known, however, he doubted he would have been able to save them. His mother had eyes everywhere, and she would have caught him. In a way, even if he was without a home now, the probable destruction of his mother's castle was a strange and horrible miracle. It had granted his aunt and uncle a way to escape, and now his mother was on the run. With some luck, she would not immediately know what he had done, and his punishment would be delayed.
Yet he was not allowed to feel the comfort of his cousin's sudden reappearance either. Having discovered that her mother and father were alive, Vienna became the last thing on her mind. She still saw Saturninus in front of her, however, and she had wanted him to come with her. She wanted a happy reunion as much as he did, and when Manfred said he would have to stay, they stared at each other. Given the danger lurking in Europe, neither could assure the other that they were safe on their travels. "...Teenie...please be safe...I...I do have to stay here. I...promised that I would testify against...Lord Joachim...about my mom's actions." He put his hands on her shoulders, seeing the panic in her eyes. "...You're still the tough cousin who...always beat me in training...I'm sure of it. And your partner almost won the International Tournament." He looked at Henry and gave the slightest of smiles.
"Did he now?" Despite the tears in her eyes, Eglantine turned to Henry and flashed a smile at him. She was not surprised, but he would be.
"...If everything hadn't happened...You would have gone and faced-off against that Japanese girl...erm...Himiko?...You and...uh...heheh...Mana dominated, I...I don't know if I would have made it. Not with...what I did...but you would have faced her or...um...that black-haired girl from your House...I remember the Committee talking about it...The Committee was still salty that Abendroth couldn't join either, something about that...but anyway..." He chuckled, and then continued. "...Eglantine can take care of herself...but you better take care of her...when she can't...Okay?" Saturninus maintained his smile toward Henry, though he was already too tired to feel anything but dread.
Eglantine nodded. "...We'll be okay, Sat. You take care of yourself. Get some sleep when you can, you look like you might need it. And eat something. But not until after you hear Lord Joachim, because then you'll vomit." She laughed, and then the two cousins drew together for a hug. They held the hug for a few minutes, unwilling to let the moment go. Yet they had to, as both Rises had their duties to fulfill. Eglantine pulled back to stand with Henry, and she looked back at Saturninus until she was out of his sight.
In the meantime, Saturninus waved to her, trying to hide his own tears. They had been denied their childhood, their family-time, and the moment they got the chance to have it, it was taken from them. "...Not yet...soon...when all of this is over...then we can be together as a family again...a new family..." He sighed, and looked back at Manfred. In desperate need of a tissue for wiping his eyes, he sniffled and rubbed his tears away on a sleeve. "...So um...when is Lord Joachim arriving?...I might need something small to eat, at least...when this is over, hopefully...we'll have reason to celebrate. Your House and mine..."
Eglantine - Closer To Home
Eglantine did not ask for any weapons. She was confident enough in her own Magic that she could fight anything that got in her way. Adrenaline flooded her brain, and she was willing to trek through all of Europe until she found her parents, and then further until Blanchefleur was dead, if she was not dead already. Having a gun, to her, was a good fail-safe, but her aunt was not afraid of guns. Even so, she was glad that her boyfriend had grabbed one, as she never knew when something needed to be shot. If either of them ran out of Mana on the trip, it would also become necessary.
Bordering the plane in silence, Eglantine spent much of her time staring out the window. Her heart was palpitating. She wanted to run across the plane to see the tops of the buildings in Grenoble, but she knew that she would not see the town for an hour or so. She had to be a little patient. Keeping herself buckled purely by her own self-control, she tapped her foot as she watched the clouds fly alongside the aircraft. "...I don't know...Once I see them...Maybe I'll...Maybe we'll know more about what my aunt is planning...And what happened to her castle...I think Manfred was trying to hide the extent of the damage...but if he things I'll be sad about her death, then he's clearly mistaken...I hope she burned to ashes, but that would be too much good luck for one day..." She gave a sour snicker, as if she knew that she could only be thankful for the chance she had gotten before her.
The pilot of the plane noticed a massive amount of smoke and dust floating above the skies of Valence and Grenoble, and due to the decreasing visibility, he decided to land the plane. "...If I head too far through Valence, it'll be too dangerous to continue. I don't want to crash into the side of a mountain, or into...whatever's out there. You two can drive from Valence, but be careful...It might be radioactive or something..." The pilot landed the plane, and a rental car waited for Henry and Eglantine.
When they got off the plane, the Rise girl stared at the skies. The baby-blue color had become muddled by distant smoke, and was becoming increasingly grey. She frowned, wondering at the extent of the damage to the nearby mountain range. "...Let's be careful...There might be earthquakes while we drive..." She looked at Henry, and smiled. "...Do you want to drive, or do you want me to take it? I bet I can get there faster..."
Manfred von Kressel
As once more Henry and Eglantine set out to travel, Joachim stared at the young undead with a shy smile. Sometimes, he lost himself in the corridors of his mind and his plans, and while admiring the architecture of the ivory tower he built inside his brain, he forgot to explain its foundations to the ones surrounding him. Of course: he made a deal with Saturninus, but he forgot to explain how it would happen as the time went by.
"Oh, Saturninus... Joachim isn't coming. I have a plan laid out for him and it seems that my luck deeply helped me, at least this once... Feast yourself as you wish in the kitchen. You, along with Heinrich and Amber, will play dead for some time. Ironic as it may be, I'll set up a safehouse for you and them. To catch a beast, you must first disguise a cage as a house...
And this is what I will do with my brother this time."
Henry von Kressel
As Saturninus recalled the Tournament, Henry slightly blushed. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but Henry recalled the camaraderie most of them had with each other before it became a grim situation: Etienne died, Saturninus died and Henry fought his friend's mother alongside many students. However, he hardly fought about the outcome of the final that never happened. Certainly the Japanese probably said the same about Himiko: that she would win some European noble and that she would rise as a champion out of the conflict.
"If Alli fought in the tournament, the building would be completely destroyed by now... but I appreciate your trust. She will return safely, Saturninus."
En route to Valence
"I am sure that they might know better... But even in times like these, I think you should enjoy the family meeting, even if those among the Rise might be a little too troubled... And Manfred is skeptical. He sees the ash, but he isn't seeing the tower. This is a man that grew as a Noble in the information trade business and that left marks deep down in the way he sees the world, with those thick lenses of his... Until he sees it by himself, until he feels his breath getting heavier with ash and the damaged tower by himself, he won't be certain of it. He'll doubt, he'll question... Would make St. Thomas look like an ardent believer."
As the plane landed and they got out, Henry looked at the car and believed in Eglantine's words. She had fire in her eyes - not literally, at least yet - and had her sights set in Grenoble, even if the ash covered it.
"You drive, I'll rest my arms a little bit. Please, we need to get there alive and with the car in one piece. Pilot, hold on to this plane please, we might need it."