Miletus Roleplay

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Darast rode his horse northward across the Great Plain. The area was barren; just dirt and rocks as far as the eye could see. There was a story that a battle among dragons was the reason why the plain looked as it did, but no one knew for sure anymore. However, it was still told that the plain was bad luck, and that people should stay away. He had Bahamut to protect him, though, so he wasn’t afraid of some bad luck.

Thus, Darast was, for all intents and purposes, completely alone. He almost wished Carlon was with him; at least he’d have someone to talk to instead of being stuck with his own thoughts. Heading to Malar brought back so many memories, and he wasn’t even sure if he was mentally ready to come back. But it was Bahamut’s will, so he had to go.

All he knew about the Malar-Arachen War was that it had ended in a draw. He didn’t know how any of his friends and comrades had made out. Were any of them still alive? Would he see them as he got closer to Malar? He kind of hoped he wouldn’t; they were a part of his old life, and that belonged in the past.

As he rode, he thought he saw movement up ahead. He slowed his horse and got closer, until he could tell that there were two figures. One seemed to be a young boy, and the other was a goblin. The boy had a stick that he was using to protect himself, but it was no match for the goblin’s morningstar. The stick was easily snapped, and the weapon made contact with the boy’s arm, knocking him down.

Darast dismounted and drew his sword and shield; the goblin heard him and turned around. Darast took the first move, running at the goblin and swinging at it, but the goblin hopped out of the way. Darast was now positioned in front of the boy and saw his arm was bleeding.

“I’ll take care of this pest and then I’ll fix you up, okay?” he said. The boy nodded and stayed where he was.

The goblin then lunged at Darast and swung its morningstar, but he easily blocked it with his shield. He quickly struck at it as it tried to get back in position and his sword ripped through what little armour it was wearing, giving it a good gash across its midsection. The creature howled in fury and struck back, hitting Darast on the thigh with a great swing of its weapon. Darast stumbled backward, clenching his teeth at the pain.

He recollected himself and went after the goblin, but it blocked his sword with its morningstar. The battle went back and forth with each able to block and dodge the other’s attack. Darast took another hit, but used that moment to impale the goblin while it was open.

He pulled his sword out of the goblin’s throat and the creature collapsed. He wiped its blood from his weapon with the hem of his shirt and sheathed it. He then turned to the boy, who had stayed put through the whole thing. Darast figured he couldn’t be more than ten years old.

“Th-that was awesome!” the boy exclaimed.

Darast bent down next to the boy and said, “Only doin’ my duty.” He checked out the arm; it didn’t look too bad. “So why’re you out here by yourself?”

“I was travellin’ with my mom, and she wouldn’t let me see the Great Plain, so I ran away,” the boy replied, sounding almost triumphant.

“Ya shouldn’t be doing stuff like that. Ya could’ve been hurt way worse.” Darast stood. “Tell you what. I’ll take ya back to your mom if ya promise not to do somethin’ like this again.”

The boy stood as well and rubbed his arm. “Okay…”

Darast led the boy back to his horse, which was still standing where he’d left it. Although this wasn’t his Paladin mount, he wasn’t strong enough to get one of those yet, this horse listened to him pretty well. He helped the boy up and climbed on behind him, then started the horse forward and tended to the boy’s arm.

Chazz was impressed with Casimir's performance. It was actually fairly convincing. He glanced around quickly for any shady characters.

After some more walking, the group encountered an elderly couple that was eyeing them with interest. The old lady smiled. "Oh, how sweet. Look, Fred, aren't those two perfect together?" she said as she pointed at Raphael and Elyse.

"Mhmm." The old man nodded. He winked at Elyse as he passed by. "You're one lucky fella."

Raphael turned red with embarrassment and suddenly gripped one arm tightly as his head tilted to the side several times.

Elyse was surprised and slightly embarrassed by the old couple, but she knew she had to play along. Raphael couldn't be expected to, given his situation. "Oh, I know," she said in her deep voice, letting out a breath when the couple walked by. "Well, at least we're convincing..." she whispered.

"Why are people paying so much attention to us, anyway?" Casimir asked quietly, taking care to talk in his feminine voice so Chazz wouldn't blow a gasket.

Raphael nodded at Elyse, still squeezing his arm tightly. He hoped nobody else would bother them.

Chazz sighed and shrugged after Casimir spoke. They really didn't look that much like their opposite genders, but he supposed their clothing was very extravagant and eye-catching.

Things went smoothly for a while until a young woman's voice could be heard yelling from behind the group. "Excuse me! Can I speak with you?"

Unfortunately, the woman was indeed talking to them. She ran to catch up to the group and slowed down when she reached Chazz, who she was eyeing very carefully. He tried to ignore her, hoping his cover hadn't been blown.

"Oh. My. God. Your outfit... is perfect!! Like, it looks absolutely stunning on you!!" The young woman could barely contain her excitement. "And your hair is just beautiful! I have to say, I'm pretty jealous."

Chazz wanted nothing more than to punch this girl in the face. He refused to believe that he looked that feminine. Instead, however, he glanced at her briefly and proceeded to try to ignore her completely.

"Okay, you have to tell me where you got that dress. I don't think it would look nearly as good on me... but I can't help but try it on!" the girl said, beaming.

Chazz turned his head toward Casimir slowly, fixing a deadly glare on the boy. He had to say something to get rid of her.

Casimir was so glad the woman wasn't addressing him; he was already sick of talking to people. However, the woman turned out to be assertive and Chazz was beginning to get sick of her. At that point, he glared at Casimir as though it was his fault. Casimir glared back at Chazz and considered just letting the girl ramble at him; he'd done nothing to deserve that look. However, he knew that the only thing that could follow a glare like that was a backhand, so with a sigh he faced the woman. "She got the dress from the shop back there; the one with the sign in front of it," he explained in his best girly voice, inwardly cringing the whole time.

The woman looked back as Casimir described the shop. "Oh, that one? That place is super expensive! I'm soooo jealous! All of your outfits are so cute..." she said as he looked over the group, finishing by looking at Chazz. "Well, I still want to try on your outfit anyway. Thank you for making my day!" The woman gave him a quick hug before turning and running back toward the shop.

Chazz let out a sigh. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to put up with this.

As they walked through the town, Darast couldn't believe the amount of people who kept talking to them. It was almost like someone was challenging them, however they managed to get out of each situation without blowing their cover, so it was all good. In all honesty, it was kind of amusing, but Darast tried to keep a straight face.

He leaned toward Casimir and whispered, "Yer doin' great! Keep it up!"

Casimir wasn't impressed with Chazz's lack of gratitude; he decided that next time he'd just let the jerk be harrassed. He smiled at Darast's comment; at least someone appreciated his efforts.

Just then a tall man in his fifties approached the group. "Well hello there~" he said to Casimir. "I'm willing to bet money that you're not as innocent as you look... and if you are, I can fix that." His arm snaked around Casimir's waist.

"H-hey!" Casimir said, somehow managing to maintain his feminine voice. "What are you-!?"

"Come on, your friends will be okay without you for... hmm, give it an hour."

"Wha-?" Casimir tilted his head, looking utterly confused and distressed. The man grabbed his arm and started trying to drag him off, but the boy stood his ground. "L-let go of me! I'm not going anywhere with you!! How did you even...?"

He could only assume this man was a rogue who'd somehow recognized him.

Just when Chazz thought that the group would finally get left alone, a man approached them; he knew no good could come from this. His prediction was confirmed when the man began speaking to Casimir. Chazz kept his eye on them as he listened. What the guy was saying didn't sit well with him at all as he watched the kid's upset reaction and the man's overly friendly body language. When the man grabbed Casimir and tried to drag him off, Chazz narrowed his eyes. Glaring, he turned to the guy and grabbed his shoulder. He kept eye contact as he started pulling him away from Casimir.

Darast watched the man approach and get too close to Casimir for comfort. He frowned when it seemed they wouldn't be able to shake him, this guy was being way too forceful. As he started to drag Cas off, Chazz grabbed him by the shoulder. Darast then took that chance to walk in front of the man to confront him.

He cleared his throat and did his best girly voice, "Ahem, what do ya think you're doin'!?" He hoped it sounded better than it did to him.

Casimir tried to pull away from the 'rogue', but the man's grip was way too tight. Suddenly Chazz grabbed the man's arm and Darast intercepted him.

"Hey, now ladies. I'd love to take you all with me, but this one seems a bit shy for that." He wrapped his arms around Casimir's waist and pulled the boy against him. Casimir squirmed and struggled against him; this was the most uncomfortable situation he'd ever found himself in. He glanced at Darast. "Relax, it's not like I'm committing murder here." He tried to pull away from Chazz, but he found out that 'woman' was exceptionally strong. "Aw, do you really wanna come along that bad? You're sexy as all get out," he winked at Chazz, "but this one's more my type." Casimir seemed to jump a mile as the guy flirtatiously squeezed his butt.

"S-stop that!!" he exclaimed, trying harder to get away than before.

Chazz gripped the man's shoulder even tighter when he pulled Casimir closer. This sicko didn't seem to be fazed at all judging by the way he was talking to Chazz. When the man grabbed Casimir's butt, Chazz reacted quickly. He suddenly seized the man's arm and twisted it around in a way that would be extremely uncomfortable. He held it that way and continued to glare at the man, waiting for him to give in and leave.

The guy finally let go of Casimir as he cried out in pain. Casimir ran over to where Darast was, standing a bit behind the paladin. He looked quite shaken. Chazz must have recognized the guy as a rogue, because he acted quickly.

"All right, fine! You're not even worth all this." He finally yielded and left.

Casimir blinked at Chazz. His voice barely above a whisper, he asked, "H-how did he even manage to recognize me? And how did you guys ever let him into the group; he's not stealthy at all."

Darast didn't like how quickly Chazz had resorted to violence, they could have tried talking to the guy a bit more. However, it appeared to work as Cas was finally able to get away; the kid ran over to Darast and stood behind him. The man then gave up and left. The entire thing seemed a bit strange, really.

"Ah, well," Darast wasn't quite sure how to go about this. "Chazz, why don't ya tell 'im..."

Chazz was relieved to see the guy leave, and could only sigh at Casimir's question. He glanced at Darast when the paladin put him on the spot.

"That guy didn't recognize you and he wasn't a rogue at all," Chazz whispered as he turned to Casimir. "But we'll talk about that later. Just keep walking."

Raphael didn't realize that he and Elyse had ended up ahead of the others until he thought he heard them speaking. He looked back and saw a man walking away from the three, who had stopped walking.

"Um... Miss Elyse..." he whispered as he gestured toward them. Raphael turned and walked back to them. "Is... is... is... everything all r-r-r-right?" He blinked rapidly.

"Oh... okay," Casimir said, sounding confused. He wasn't sure why the guy would want to drag him off if he wasn't one of the rogues that was looking for him, but Chazz was right; they had to keep walking for now. The whole experience was bizarre and not one Casimir wanted to repeat.

It was strange that Chazz had intervened in spite of the rogues not being involved, though. Casimir really had no idea what he was supposed to think of Chazz; one minute the guy was verbally beating him down, the next minute he was saving him.

"Hm?" Elyse looked back as the man walked off. Judging by everyone's expressions, they hadn't had a pleasant encounter. She hurried after Raphael to rejoin them. "Are you guys okay? What happened? I'm sorry, I didn't even realize we'd gotten so far ahead."

Chazz looked at the kid. It was hard to believe that he was so innocent that he hadn't the slightest idea about the man's intentions. Casimir had been far too isolated during his life, and Chazz had to wonder how he would survive on his own. Chazz suddenly looked away, telling himself that there was no reason for him to care.

"Y-y-yes, I'm sorry as well. I should have been more... more... more attentive," Raphael added.

"Everything's fine," Chazz said shortly, continuing walking before anyone could say anything else.

Darast thought it was amusing that Chazz had put off "the talk" until later; Casimir was likely to forget about it by the time they had a chance to talk about it. Though maybe not, since Cas always seemed able to bring up old stuff.

He hadn't even noticed that Elyse and Raphael were ahead of them until they dropped back. Elyse could have been useful when the man was harassing Cas...

After Chazz started forward again, Darast said to Elyse, "Uh, Cas was just bein' harassed by a... creepy old guy but we were able ta handle it."

"That's disgusting." Elyse shook her head, glancing at Casimir. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Casimir said quickly. He could feel his face turning red so he hurried after Chazz.

Elyse turned back to Darast. "If we leave through the next gate we come across, we'll be en route to Zoli Kingdom," she whispered.

Chazz led the group through the town, taking care to avoid making eye contact with anybody. For some reason, people were enthralled by a bunch of people in drag; it made no sense to him at all. Thankfully, they were able to leave the town without incident.

Raphael felt bad that Casimir had been harassed while he and Elyse weren't watching. It was a relief that nothing like it happened again while they were leaving the town, though. As they traveled, Raphael became curious about their destination. "M-m-m-miss Elyse, this Zoli Kingdom... what is it like?"

Elyse was relieved as they started to leave the town behind. She turned to Raphael. "Well, it's renowned for having a rather high population of sorcerers," she explained. "The king and queen also work to ensure racial tolerance. They had a problem with slave traders a few years back, but I think that's mostly been resolved by now."

Raphael nodded as Elyse spoke. "Ah, I see..."

Chazz wanted to think things would be easier after leaving the city, but he still had a bad feeling. Unfortunately, his bad feeling was proved to be prophetic when a voice addressed the group.

"Hey, where are you lovely ladies headed today?" a shady looking man caught up to the group, and Chazz nearly froze when he saw him. He recognized the man from his rogue group, so he quickly looked away. However, he seemed to have attracted the thug's attention. "Oh, there's no need to be shy..." He walked up to Chazz and put an arm around his shoulders. "You shouldn't hide such a pretty face. Though I suppose you don't need it with this body."

Chazz kept looking away from the guy, wanting to be anywhere else in the world but there. He tried thinking of ways to knock out or maybe kill the thug without drawing much attention.

"Aw, what's wrong? There's nothing to be ashamed of," he assured him, though Chazz begged to differ. "Just come with me. I'll show you a good time... you won't regret it." The man grinned. He raised his hand to Chazz's face and turned his head toward him. The thug continued to grin as he leaned in closer. Chazz wanted to die. Suddenly, the man's face fell. "What... what the hell? It can't be... Miltiades?!" He pulled away abruptly, his face red with embarrassment. The man then became serious as he realized what was going on. "So, traitor. You thought you could hide?"

Chazz glared back at the guy. "Shit."

"The fuck? Is it really Miltiades?" Another rogue emerged from nearby, followed by two more of his comrades. He walked over to Chazz and pulled the wig off his head, smirking at what he discovered. "Didn't know you were into that. Then again, never expected you'd betray us either. You're just full of surprises, aren't you scumbag?" His eyes scanned the group, landing on Casimir. "Then this must be our gold mine." Before Casimir could react, the thug had pulled his wig off too. "Not surprised you'd be into that," he sneered. Casimir would have been insulted if he wasn't so terrified; he'd been hoping to avoid the rogues completely.

The other two rogues stood between Chazz and Casimir and the rest of the group, facing them. "Heh, Bahamut approves of crossdressin', eh little paladin?" one of them snickered.

"The clothes for these ones match their roles a lot better," the other one jeered at Raphael and Elyse. Elyse narrowed her eyes, removing the monocle and top hat. Obviously, their only option was to fight these thugs. She stepped slightly in front of Raphael and drew her falchion, striking at the thug. He lifted his arm before her weapon connected, but she still managed to slice his arm.

Darast followed the others out of the city, hoping things would go smoothly. Unfortunately, almost immediately a man came up to them and started hitting on Chazz. Why did they attract all these people? Darast didn't think a bunch of cross-dressers could be that attractive but apparently they were.

Things only got worse when it turned out that the man was a rogue who knew Chazz and recognized him. Several other rogues appeared and soon the entire group's cover was blown. The fight started almost immediately, and Darast had just enough time to grab his sword and shield.

He faced the thug who had been taunting him and lashed out with the sword. The rogue had not been expecting it at all and was easily dispatched with the one hit.

Raphael watched as things went downhill quickly, not sure how to react. The men were rather intimidating. When he saw the battle beginning, he quickly gathered up his weapon and shield so he could join Elyse. After the man's attack failed to hit her, Raphael charged in and swung his morningstar. It connected with the man's chest and immediately knocked him unconscious. "W-w-we did it," he said, relieved.

Chazz glared at the man who had recognized him. The thug grinned back. "Filth like you deserves to die in such a pathetic state. You know, there's a bit of talk going around about Miltiades the back-stabbing bastard. Oh, maybe you'd like to hear a little something from the boss-"

Before the man could react, Chazz had kicked off his shoes and was charging at him with his rapier. He stabbed the thug in the stomach and once again in the chest. "Shut it." Chazz pulled out his rapier and the man crumpled to the ground, quickly losing consciousness.

The thug facing Casimir smirked. "All right, you gonna come quietly or do I have to force you? I bet there's some sick old man out there somewhere who'd pay millions for a pretty slave boy in a dress." The thug drew his weapon before Casimir had the chance to ready his spear. He knew there was no way he could defeat the man in hand to hand combat. He attempted to create some distance between them so he could utilize his magic, but that proved to be his downfall. His back was only turned momentarily, but it was long enough for the rogue to run him through with his rapier.

Casimir's vision went blurry and he soon wilted. The rogue grinned. "Must be my lucky day," he said, wrenching the rapier out of the boy. Casimir hit the ground and the rogue wasted little time hoisting him over his shoulder. He was a bit concerned with the physical state of his comrades, but the thoughts of how pleased the boss would be with his quarry were more prominent. He might even get a promotion-

That was his last thought before he fell unconscious. Elyse pulled her falchion out of him and kicked his limp body away from Casimir. "Hurry, Raphael!" she called, kneeling next to the sorcerer to check his breathing.