middaeg | Aereuer Showers

Aside from the problem of the elusive Devil, there are always expeditions to be mounted out into the wilds to keep the infection back and hunt down infected creatures to ensure they don't pose a threat to outlying farms and houses and to keep lines of communication to the outposts clear. She brings her sword with her, of course, and isn't completely surprised to find a few new faces when the group begins to their trek.

One in particular catches her attention - a tall young man with blond hair. She draws apace with him with a business-like nod, "I do not believe I have seen you out here before. Are you newly arrived?"

A Mirrorbound, she means. Not a native from Aefenglom.

A new arrival and unbound, Dimitri's presence on this venture has been the point of contention for a few of the more regular travelers. Others vouched for him; when a pair offered to watch over him, he had thanked them profusely.

And then kept to himself as they set out.

Of course, he has questions, but Dimitri has resigned to finding his answers in battle, rather than in idle chatter.

Not that he minds the sudden company - he turns to the woman with a polite smile and nods. "That's correct.

This is my first venture into the wild, but I assure you I will stay out of the way." He says, but he's brought two spears, and he does intend to fight should one arise.

Saber, at least, finally has a bond, although she's not here for this expedition. Saber has taken it upon herself to see to the newcomer and find out a little more about him. Mirrorbound should stick together, shouldn't they?

"I don't think you should worry overmuch," she replies with a nod. He seems to carry himself like a soldier or a knight and she quietly approves.

"Is the lance your weapon of choice?"

The formality she exudes is comfortable for him. Dimitri falls into step with the woman easily, matching his gait to hers as the group travels farther from the city. With a polite nod, he accepts her reassurance, though he will still be conscious of his behavior.

"Ah, yes. I have a fair amount of training in sword and hand to hand combat as well.

A lance is simply what I'm most comfortable with." He doesn't dual wield them like some kind of weirdo, either, he just... breaks them easily. Honestly, he's wondering if two was enough.

"I knew - know someone who uses them as well. He's a skilled combatant. I hope I have a chance to see you in action," Saber replies with a nod. Then again, seeing him in action would mean they were in danger. So maybe she should wish to see him on the training field instead.

"Are you a knight?" She arched a brow. Somehow he exuded the sense of one.

"Or simply a soldier?"

Wait, where are manners. She paused and shook her head. "Apologies - you may call me Saber."

Whether they find themselves crossed with danger, or Dimitri simply seeks the woman out for a sparring match after the journey - he's eager to show her what he's capable of and be measured against her fighter.

He'd like to go up against the man himself, too.

But so many are without their comrades here; he won't ask about the man's presence.

"Please, do not apologize. It's lovely to meet you, Saber. My name is Dimitri...

And to answer your question, soldiers and knights are similar where I'm from. Though, I am more of a... leader, I suppose." He's far from prideful about it, almost remorseful-

"Though I fight with my men on the front lines."

Saber's head inclines in a little nod. Dimitri. She'll remember that. She looks a little thoughtful at his answer as they trudge along. That seems to imply something, but she can't quite put her finger on it just yet. Regardless, she thinks it's a good answer.

"Most leaders must, at least where I'm from. It is a sad necessity that when you go to war, leaders must prove themselves worthy of being followed instead of hiding behind the men who go to fight for them."

Well, that's how she sees it, anyway.

"Although... one never wants war."

No one wants war?

Dimitri had believed that once.

He bites his lip to swallow a cynical laugh - it'd be incredibly misplaced when he's just getting to know this woman.

"I think, unfortunately, some do." To further their own ambitions, or out of a warped sense of justice. His eyes turn grim as his mind shifts somewhere far away - and he brings himself back with a sigh.

"But that is why we must be capable leaders. To put a stop to monsters like that."

(And, you know, to fight random encounters in the wild - calm down Dimitri.)

Saber notices the way he swallows something he wishes to say, but opts not to comment. She does not enjoy prying into others lives, but there is something familiar in him. So perhaps she should. Even more so, she recognizes that look in his eyes. Grim and determined and willing to do whatever is necessary to secure victory.

"Allow me to rephrase," she says, "No wise king wishes war. He may find war necessary, but never desires it."

She glances at him with a nod.

"But you are correct. Sometimes there are foes which cannot be reasoned with and who must be stopped by force of arms. Whether they are beasts of the wild or... otherwise."

She wouldn't apologize for defending her kingdom. Even if she had had to kill many men to do so.

"Were you a leader in your home country?" He certainly sounds like it.

He knows well that Saber is attempting to dull the bite of her words, but the phrasing matters little to him. An offensive war cannot be necessary, it cannot.

He does not nod back, but neither does he protest - no use getting into petty semantics. Especially when he's not certain he could keep himself calm throughout the conversation.

He welcomes the shift.

"Yes.

Well-

My home continent is divided into three countries. The Adrestian Empire, the Leicester Alliance, and the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. I am the prince of the later, though not yet of age to take the throne.

For now," And, he supposes, for the foreseeable future given his absence... "My uncle has taken regency." Perhaps that's more information than necessary, but the explanation is simply rote memory.

"Fortunately, we have not yet seen war in my lifetime...

Though I fear it may be inevitable." An observation he might have made even without knowing of Edelgard's devices - there have been so many insurrections.

"Your Grace," Saber replies with a nod, almost out of instinct more than anything else. Most of the royalty she's met here don't stand much on ceremony and titles and he certainly doesn't seem to be the sort, especially if he's out here getting his hands dirty. She still thinks it suitable to try and be polite.

But those names bring another conversation she has had to mind with a certain woman - an Emperor - named Edelgard and how she spoke of uniting a continent under the rule of an Adrestian Empire. Perhaps they come from different eras. Perhaps they do not. She's not sure she wants to pry too deeply into that - it may be a tricky subject.

"I hope it does not come to that and that your lands continue to be peaceful - and that you are able to one day take your throne with all of the circumstance that it requires."

She dips her head in a low nod.

"Taking on the mantle of ruling at a young age is often difficult."

She speaks from experience.

Quickly, Dimitri holds up a hand. He doesn't balk at formalities; for many they are a comfortable barrier. He'd simply prefer to make friends here, rather than allies. Perhaps that's foolish of him, but he is certain that someday he will return home.

And be re-immersed in the dregs of political lies and schemes.

"It is.

Though I doubt ruling is ever truly easy." He adjusts his grip on his spear.

"If I may, are you nobility yourself?"

Ah. That question. Perhaps she should have expected it. Of course, she's not exactly trying to bury it anymore. However, neither is she sure she wishes to embrace it - but once a king, always a king.

"Yes. I am a king in my homeland. Or was, I suppose."

She rolls a shoulder in a slight shrug.

"This place seems to collect such nobility and royalty, does it not?"

The answer comes as no surprise - Dimitri offers a quick bow in respect without slowing his gait. Habit, though he realizes the hypocrisy of denying her honorific only to immediately respond in kind.

They have much to learn - and unlearn.

"It does seem to house a disproportional amount of those in our station." The nobility exists to help the common people.. an idea long propagated in his homeland. He doubts - hopes - that the magic here doesn't follow such a creed.

"Though, perhaps, it only seems that way because I am familiar with so many of them." He pauses, thoughtful. "Back home, a noble's social circle rarely extended far beyond the appropriate hierarchy.

Was it similar for you?" He'd assume so, but no reason to guess when they have time to discuss.

"I know very few people and yet... it still seems like I've met nobility disproportionately," she muses, half to herself. She glances at him again, pausing to consider the question he poses to her. It's an interesting one and she has to think back on her time in Camelot. Her brow furrows slightly.

"...I think it was. Most of those I interacted with were my knights. They were my confidants and closest advisers. I can't say that I had others outside of them who I placed as much trust in."

She shakes her head.

"Perhaps I should have tried to reach beyond that."

The structure of Saber's kingdom sounds similar to his own - though Dimitri reminds himself to take care not to project Faerghus onto some foreign land. He wants to learn about her home organically, and know it for the place it is.

Not some mirror of his own.

"That's easier said than done, though... I do believe it's a worthwhile endeavor.

We have the opportunity to reach out to anyone here, though." A small smile follows - Dimitri has been enjoying the relative freedom that not being set to run a country has allowed him.

"Or, become anything we want, for that matter." He looks up, but the sky is dim and obscured by wild branches and still leaves.

"Do you have something in mind? Something you'd like to do here, or...?" Someone she'd like to become.

The thought is a good one to have and she sees in him some spark of hope and youthful exuberance that she had when she was younger, when she took the sword from the stone. She closes her eyes for a moment, pushes back the memories.

"No. I don't," she replies frankly, "I arrived here intending only to serve and now I do not know what I will become."

She frowns.

"I do not enjoy being unsure, but I have found that the pillars upon which I once rested are no longer stable. I cannot rely on them any longer. So I must change... somehow."

To serve...?

Dimitri regards the response with a quizzical tilt of his head. Somehow, he'd expected someone so confident as Saber to be chasing a sure future. He only nods, at first, suddenly aware of the sound his boots make on the worn ground and the silence between them.

"I'll admit... being here, I can't accomplish my dearest goal. It feels wrong to change, or to give up, but I do not want my time in this place to be meaningless.

Ah. I'm sorry." He's rambled. "What I mean to say is that even if you are unsure about your future, the person you are now is someone quite admirable.

Venturing into the Wilde is no small task." It's a poor attempt at consoling her, he knows, earnest intent be damned. After speaking he looks away once again, to scan the forest thickening around them (to spare himself further embarrassment by his own hand).

She was chasing a future when she arrived, but not her future. In a way she's still trying to find her way back to chasing the future she used to dream of. It's just taking her a little time.

"I thank you for the compliment," Saber replies, giving him a glance and a nod, "And I, too, do not wish for this time to be meaningless. It is why I try to protect the people of the city that plays host to me. There is meaning in that,, if nothing else."

She offers him a little smile, something a bit tight-lipped and reserved.

"And if it is no small task, you are also worthy of admiration. Here you are."

Edited 2020-04-24 02:14 (UTC)

It's difficult to convey kindness through formality, but Dimitri is familiar with the struggle. Enough so that he understands her earnestness as well, and turns back to his companion with an apologetic, small smile.

"We'll do well to support each other, then - protecting this city is no small task." Hoping for each of the mirrorbound to work together in total harmony is simply too unrealistic, but Dimitri finds himself comforted knowing that Saber, at least, seems to share his outlook.

A few twigs snap to their right, and Dimitri turns quickly to the sound. A pair of small rodents tumble through the brush, locked in some sort of squabble with one another. It's nothing...

They aren't that deep into the woods, after all. Odds are it is nothing, although Saber peers out into the undergrowth for a moment, sniffing the air, as if she's trying to scent something. Nothing comes to her and she relaxes after a moment with a low exhale, a sigh to punctuate the tension.

"...one can never be too cautious. We should probably stop our idle conversation, as much as I've enjoyed it. We will need our wits about us."

"Yes, of course." Dimitri agrees immediately, voice hushed as he attempts to lean forward and survey the underbrush up ahead. If those rodents had been dangerous - or even simply infected - they would have taken them by surprise.

He appreciates Saber's practicality.

And speaks no more than necessary for the rest of the, thankfully uneventful, round.

Aereuer Showers

Dimitri

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u want them to fight something or do you want to wrap up? :D?

Is it Ok if we wrap and try for something new in May ?

yes!!