Kōtei

Never in their wildest dreams that things would go south quickly, from a lively banquet to a nightmare fully realized.......

Ren in his cozy, deep slumber was awoken by a deafening explosion that was heard throughout the ship. He opened his eyes and the room was basked in bright orange light, even a simpleton would know what that light means. He quickly got up from the bed and rushed to the window to see the shocking sight before him. One of the airships was now destroyed and came down in blazing fire to the earth.

Renmutsu hurriedly put on his armor as the crew of this expedition weren't incompetent to make any mistakes, meaning it was most likely an attack or sabotage. As he was about to put on his helm, a putrid and pungent smell wafted in the room. It was nauseating that it made Ren want to puke in disgust. He quickly tore off a part of the bed sheets and covered it on his lower part of the face to lessen out the smell and wore his helmet. He strapped his katana at his right side. He opened the door a bit and peeked through the opening. He couldn't believe what he saw. A zombie feeding off on a dying woman who's neck was bitten by the zombie.

What's a zombie you ask?

In different parts of the world, many cultures and civilizations have different interpretations of Zombies. But in general a zombie is a corpse of a once living person revived through means of dark rituals/magic. The distinctive features of zombies are their skin is composed of rotting flesh, they give off pungent odor, slow witted, and usually very corrosive.

Going back to Ren. Given the dire situation in all this..... the expedition was losing it's members, fast. It wasn't the time for Ren to be baffled by every unexpected situations. He rushed out of room and cut up the zombie's arm and legs with 4 consecutive slashes to render it immobile before cutting of its head. There were 5 in the far behind part of the hall while on his front were a dozen more in number and was adjacent to the stairs. seeing as he didn't have any choice as it would be crucial to find more people and to be in numbers now. Ren quickly disposed of the 5 in the back and then dashed off from to the others. Luckily the zombies were slow witted so Ren could read their movements and can evade & retreat. After a while he disposed all of the zombies in the hall so he began searching the other rooms for survivors in the middle residential area. Only luckily to find Garm and a young man of oriental descent. 

Wow cam whores thread seems packed with weird trends........

There should be sword magic, and Valerius will become the best at it.

I think we shouldn't overbound the limits on magic already aside from magical artifacts like Terra's staff.

Ren was pleased to see his old friend, though he really was more fitted in the confines of nature than he was in a enclosed space. A moment's eye contact was enough to show the real action they wanted to carry, and it was to have a chance to lash at each other to their heart's content, but they knew it is inappropriate to do it. Tyr had a much more bright atmosphere in him; especially when he was going to introduce the daughter of the Master of the Hunt, Sashya Ephesus but alas, he didn't notice that she had went away with the princess. He searched quickly for her and soon enough he found her. He then excused himself and quickly went after Sashya. A thought came to his mind about a stray pup which finally found his loving master, and this made Ren laugh as it was not far off from happening. Ren decided to finish the ham leg he took and had a mug of mead before heading off into the gathering of nobles. 

Passing through the crowd and going almost in front, he was amused to see that Garm was the one who was going to have a bout with the swordsman. Ren asked who the man was and a noble replied that Garm's opponent was the son of the swordsman. Eckhart Lyon. Ren decided to stay and watch the match to see how Garm would fare against his opponent. When it started, the swordsman had his guard down while Garm imitated Ren's Iaido. Garm launched a pre-emptive strike against his opponent but his footwork was sloppy that it gave the opportunity for his opponent to get past his guard and get aimed at his back. Garm rolled and evaded the attack but still, his opponent read his movement and stopped him in tracks before he could regain posture, thus resulting in Garm's loss.

In Renmutsu's eyes it was clearly evident that the swordsman purposely made that stance..... for the purpose of lowering his guard was first to invite enemies to attack to analyze and second... with his guard dropped it allowed him freeform movements allowing him to adapt to different situations.  Although it was a good idea of Garm to use Iaido as it is a stance of foreign origin that gives him the possibility of the element of surprise, however the essence of Iaido mainly depended on a calm mind, body coordination or flexibility, and adaptation. It was a major fact that Garm missed in the spars they had, especially as mostly in those spars, Ren allowed Garm to make the first move giving Ren the chance to scan for openings. 

Ren smiled at the progress of his friend and went further away from the crowd and took a bottle of alcohol from a table and went to the balcony. Pouring a glass of the alcohol, Ren muttered"Garm-dono you have done well to brave yourself sharpen your abilities. It is okay to fall from time to time. But what separates a good man from a great man is, how they rise up again after the fall. Take your time, hone your skills again and again, and soon you will have the answers you seek." and cheered his glass to the sky before gulping it down.

Eyeing people was currently a difficult task, especially with mouth-watering food was in front of the hungry Renmutsu. Still this did not stop him from observing those who stand out of the numerous people. The prince and princess who has the uncanny ability to attract people to their sides, Tyr and the woman beside her who was ready to spring at any moment, Magnar who was the shield of the prince and a few more to mention. How he did come to know of these people were not uncommon, as their names rung throughout the land, even in the places that Renmutsu has not travelled through yet.

To his side was also Garm, who he owes a debt of gratitude for saving his life. Garm was a cheerful & bright person but, Ren can't help but feel worried as Garm was so insistent on joining this Crusade. Though he knew that Garm has a duty to uphold, Ren had an awful aftertaste in his mouth for the fact that Garm wasn't paying attention of the consequences of his decision. Ren as a compromise for his debt to Garm, decided to accompany him in this crusade to serve as a safety measure.

After eating his fill Ren said to Garm "Garm-dono, I must excuse for a moment as there is someone i must have a conversation with". He rose up from the table and decided to head to Tyr who is currently surrounded with people of interest.

"Sir Garm your presence is needed." a voice came from the other side of the door.

In response Garm "I will tend to it in a moment's ti- " but, suddenly Ren cut of Garm and said "Garm-dono pay no heed to me and perform your duties, I will join you in a moment's while". Having heard this Garm nodded and went out of the door and proceeded to the banquet hall. Left alone Ren decided to take off his armor and wear his kimono as it would be unwise to wear such armor at a social gathering. 

After changing attire and leaving his two blades and armor, Ren with only his katana in his waist at his disposal had intentions to catch up with Garm, alas his sense of direction failed him again as he went astray and ended up near the engine room. A soldier there who noticed Renmutsu said suddenly in a serious tone "Halt! This area is not allowed and is for important personnel only". Having taken notice of the soldiers words Ren went back and took a new route, this time he ended up in the kitchen. The smell of spices and food wafted in Ren's nose as assortments of different kinds of food from different parts of the land were prepared. Ren was in a daze for he felt bliss at the sight of food and made him drool. This was abrupted as the head chef questioned him with a smile "Welcome honorable guest, and?" in response he said while losing face "I was on my way to meet Garm-dono but got lost". The chef laughed and said "What a funny fellow, to get lost so easily in this place. Very well i will have a guard escort you to Sir Garm." and instructed a guard to accompany Ren to Garm. 

The guard had brought Ren to the banquet hall and instructed him to wait at that spot, while the guard would call for Sir Garm. The hall was wide and had a very elegant atmosphere, music was present, and long tables filled with food from the kitchen filled with a whole lot of people of high nobility and some known for their fighting prowess were gathered. Garm then arrived and approached Ren and went to check on him. Then things got awkward as Ren's stomach grumbled. Ren smiled showing embarassment to Garm for his shortcomings.

Muahahahahhahahhaha :

EDIT: This never happened xD

Why do I have this feeling that I'm doing this the wrong way? :\

Because your primeval and suits more to bows than guns xD 

If we go complex, then we will lose some people. As this is my first roleplay here, I thought it was best to not make things too confusing.

I think we can set the boundary on magic on what has been discussed just now..... more than that we can ignore.

*chains him upside down to the ceiling*

Okaa-chan there's another one of those siblings i never knew...... hurry up here @.@

Uncle, please give me a chance to have a sibling ;_;

You have a lot of brothers already XD

All fair in love, war & food. especially the food part.

oh, so you could be an honorary emissary/ambassador of some sort?

Well this is based that in some parts of history ago honor & reputation played a huge part in allegiances in many parts of asia, particularly china to note....  xD

That can be a way to go,but Taka and Maia seem fairly regular, what's the deal with T.O.N?

life. i rest my case xD

Sorry I haven't done RP before so if  my glib posts and their frequency is a problem I can tone it down few notches.

I can't see other problems though..what happened to batotia city?

to many uninteresting minor characters like mine entered 

It became dead because the major characters were not around so the plot didn't get to move... like currently now.... so i'm deciding not to do the backstory anymore and let's just wrap this arc up..... then we'll need to contact those with the very important roles to get a move on........ but that's the hardest part... especially getting T.O.N back

Flashback: Day 2, 1:47 A.M

Awaiting for a response to the question he imposed, the old man responded calmly "Well personally I don't know him, but am interested in such a capable summoner, who summons such exotic creatures to do his business and the one who commands such loyalty within his summons, I am a mage after all". "Don't worry with child, he is just doing what was asked of him" he added further thinking this would allay the situation. "As for the little girl, she is new in town, so she isn't connected to this 'Takayuki' either" continuing without pause "But, the big question is, what do you know about this man, that you become so threatening, is he a crime lord you are assigned to kill" then he glanced at Gaap and in return Gaap closes his eyes, and give a polite nod to Christmas. "I am one of Takayuki-sama's servant," said Gaap in a calm tone. "If you have business with him, I'll be happy to pass it on." 

Christmas was staring blankly for a few second and then calmed himself down and apologized by saying "Ah! I'm sorry it is rude of me to point hostility to ones innocent." he paused again and gulped another shot of whiskey down his throat before proceeding. The atmosphere changed again and Christmas wore a melancholic face "Have you ever experienced losing something more important than your life? because i have and that is my sin & deepest regret. And the one who caused it was none other than Takayuki." Time seemed to move slowly now and just he stared & stirred the shot and said again "You'd wonder why an old man like me does things like this......... and i too feel that i'm not as strong as i used to be but my stubborness won't go away with that....." pausing for another moment then laughed while his tears ran down his face and said "It's also strange that here i am a stubborn old fool sharing sentiments to folks he just met." he paused again and turned to the two "Well since we're already here at this point wanna hear my story?" he showed then an earnest smile.

._.

 

Uncle Kotei, aren't you supposed to walk away unhurt after this? XD

Don't worry i won't i'm a reasonable man 

i'm just using this as an excuse to make a back story ;~; it is kinda coincidence since i was watching one piece where rayleigh and roger met and their parting