Fantasy Fire Emblem Divide: Armina x Zane

[CallmeMyth]

Armina x Zane

Time: Prior to Chapter 1
Location: A nearby tavern

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The sounds of boisterous conversation could be heard as Armina walked into the local tavern. She had just been given a break from duty, and she felt like she was in need of a place to unwind. She noticed a few men stare at her as she walked past, but she payed them no mind. She pulled out a chair at one of the tables that was empty and took a seat, moving her long cape out of the way in the process. One of the tavern wenches came over, a pretty young woman with an apron on. "Would you like something?" The woman asked. "I'll have some pie and ale." She replied. Taverns typically only served one type of meal, so there really wasn't much to choose from. A few minutes later, the servant returned with a freshly cooked meat pie, and a pint of ale. Armina thanked her and picked up the mug before taking a drink. The ale was better than Armina thought it would be. As she sat enjoying her small meal and alcohol, Armina noticed a man with long white hair approach her and take a seat. She looked at him for a moment, her lips turning upward in a smirk. She propped an elbow on the table, giving him an inquiring look. "You need something?" She asked.

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Zane smiled disarmingly as he sat and plunked his tankard on the table. "Evening friend, my seat got filched when I stepped out for a moment and I thought we could share a table since you're the only other person from our battalion here at the moment." He took a liberal swallow of his ale and glanced around noted a few jealous looks from some of the other male patrons. "Besides I find that drinking alone is something to be avoided where possible." Draining his tankard he held it in the air until one of the workers came over with a fresh one. "It's Armina right? We haven't really had a chance to talk around camp, my name's Zane if you didn't know already." He idly sniffed at the steam coming off of the pie and tried to work out if he was hungry enough to get one for himself.

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[CallmeMyth]

"Zane, huh?" Armina replied. She knew she'd seen his face around camp a few times, although she couldn't remember ever asking him for his name. "Sorry, but I don't believe we've ever been properly introduced." She told him. "I cant say this is the best place to meet someone, but I suppose drinking by yourself can get a bit lonesome." She added, before lifting up her tankard and taking another drink. "Its a shame your seat got snatched. When you came over here I thought you were going to be another one of those shameless flirts." She said. "I hope that isn't the case. I don't charm very easily." Armina gave him a wink, as another smile found it's way across her lips. "So are you going to get yourself a bite to eat, or are you going to just sit there the whole time staring at my food?" She asked.

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Zane chuckled at the idea of the more inebriated patrons trying to hit on the composed knight and chugged on his ale again. "Don't worry if I try to flirt with you I promise I'll at least feel very ashamed about it." Catching her wink he raised his eyebrows. "Who's trying to charm who right now?" Armina was turning out to be a lot more playful than he expected unless she was just that bad at holding her drink. Returning her smile Zane realised his gaze had been wandering to the pie a lot and sighed as he waved over a wench to order his own. "I was trying to resist getting one but you just had to point it out." He drained the tankard again.

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[CallmeMyth]

Armina turned her own tankard up to her lips, before finishing off the remainder of her ale. She watched as the tavern wench brought over another meat pie, placing it onto the table in front of Zane. She asked the waitress to refill her mug, before meeting Zane's gaze. "You cant play the innocent card with me, you know." Armina told him, in response to his earlier statement about flirting. "Although, whether you'd feel guilty or not...if you do try to flirt with me, at least you're more polite than some of the men I've encountered. I'll give you that." She laughed to herself, as the maid returned with another pint of ale. "Oh, and I assure you, I'm not trying to use my feminine charms on you. Such things are unbecoming of a knight such as myself." She informed him, before taking another drink. Armina didnt engage in casual conversation often. Although, she couldn't really remember the last time she had relaxed and enjoyed herself.

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Leaning forward slightly Zane inhaled deeply and grinned widely baring his pointed teeth. "Oh yeah, I regret nothing about this." He said mostly to himself before eagerly digging in.
As Armina complimented him on the courtesy of his non-existent flirting he chuckled. "For someone so disinterested in flirting you certainly talk about it a lot." He took another pull of his drink. "In any case I haven't found that point where the ale emboldens me enough to try while the vast majority of your other 'potential suitors' have likely lost their subtlety in the process."

"Still.." He waved a hand at the rowdy crowd taking note of the boisterous laughter echoing through the tavern. "That's the thing about a place like this, a person can come here and let themselves go for a time be they farmers, merchants, or knights such as yourself." He said intentionally echoing her phrasing. "With little effort you can become someone completely different here and do things that might be 'unbecoming' elsewhere." Pausing for a moment as a couple of shouts became agitated he resumed talking while his eyes idly tracked a mug that flew across the room. "Of course most don't do much but get thoroughly soused and end up sleeping it off in a ditch."

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[CallmeMyth]

Armina watched as Zane scarfed down his food, seeming to enjoy it. While tavern food wasn't what she was used to, Armina had to admit that it wasn't that bad. Although, the ale was much better. He laughed at her earlier statement about flirting, and Armina scoffed playfully as he finished what he was saying. ​

"This lot?" She replied, rolling her eyes. "Not to sound prude, but no thank you." She told him. Afterall, most of the men that frequented this tavern were far older than she was, with slumped backs and broken teeth. Not to mention, most of them spent so much time drowning themselves in ale that they simply reeked of it. ​

Armina continued to listen to the man speak, noticing when he paused as she turned her head around in time to see the tankard that had been flung across the inn. She sighed, before turning her attention back to Zane once more.​

"That is true. Most folks come to the alehouse to drink away their troubles or to unwind after a hard day at work. Personally, this is the first time I've properly taken a break from my duties in a long time. The patrons here certainly do things that are unbecoming, I'll have to agree. I tend to have a limit I set myself to. What would everyone say if they saw lady Armina sleeping in a ditch?" She chuckled. ​

Armina could feel the warmth in her body, and she assumed that she would be approaching that limit soon at this rate. "So Zane, what is your job around camp? Tell me about yourself." She spoke again after a moment. ​

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Zane laughed easily along with Armina at the image of her ending up in a ditch with a hangover. "Well if nothing else you would have raised the calibre of the ditch considerably." He said with a smirk while picking up his tankard again. "It's a lot easier in Dinne, you can just wander off the path and dig into the sand a bit where it's still warm. It's actually a survival technique for when you're out in the desert at night without any other options for shelter, of course you need to make sure you aren't anywhere near girtab territory first, they get bold when they think there's easy pickings to be had."

Taking another liberal swig of ale he leaned back before answering her questions. "Well around camp I tend to the wyverns, I've always had a thing for them and worked with them before I joined up so I guess I just decided I wanted to be sure the ones here were treated well and adopted them if you know what I mean." He laughed a little sheepishly at his choice of words and ran a hand through his hair. "Anyway how about you? Actually where are you from? I don't think anyone mentioned that to me yet." He leaned back further and considered propping his feet up on the table but doubted the still proper noble would appreciate it."

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[CallmeMyth]

Armina was unable to stifle her laughter as Zane commented about her passing out in a ditch. "That's quite the compliment, I must say. I never knew the caliber of a ditch was capable of being raised." She remarked. Armina was beginning to feel comfortable around this man, and she listened as he spoke about life in Dinne. "I suspect that living in Dinne must be hard. I mean no disrespect, of course. I just imagine that the unforgiving deserts would serve to harden any person living among them. After all, what could be worse than a giant scorpion?" She replied.

Armina finished off the remains of her meat pie and second pint of ale, leaning into the back of her seat comfortably as she waited for Zane to reply to her previous questions. "You tend to the wyverns? They are fascinating creatures, I must admit." She commented. She noticed the way he brushed aside his hair with one hand with embarrassment after finishing his statement, and she knew from the way he spoke that the man must be very fond of the creatures. She understood the sentiment well, for it was one that she shared herself when it came to caring for the camp's horses.

Zane proceeded to inquire about details regarding herself, and Armina paused for a moment before starting to reply, as the man propped his feet up onto the table. "Well, I-" She stopped again mid-sentence, raising one eyebrow as her eyes flicked down at Zane's feet and then back up to his face, before continuing. "I hail from Aurhalz. My family are actually very well known there." She told him, although her voice was strained, almost as if she did not wish to speak about the subject any further. "Around camp I tend to the horses, and I have my own steed named Abel. He's a darling, and I've had him ever since I was sixteen..."

Her voice trailed off, and for a moment their was a somber look in her eyes. Hoping Zane did not pick up on her behavior, Armina's lips turned up abruptly into a smile. "In fact, I am often asked to train cavalry units how to properly ride and care for their horses. I make sure the troops have been properly outfitted for battle and such, as well. If the soldiers are not appropriately equipped or have not been taking sufficient care of their armor, it is my job to scold them accordingly." She told him, before chuckling at the thought of herself shouting at some random foot soldier. "I can be quite scary, actually. Even though I assume that must be difficult to imagine." She added.

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Zane chuckled at the reference to girtabs. "They are mean suckers but we mostly just treat them like just another reason not to blunder around the desert. Other than that they're a bother to livestock like wolves in other lands but they taste a lot better, if you can kill one cleanly you can roast them right in their carapaces, their venom is useful tranquilliser and anaesthetic too." Under his breath he added. "Having some would've made that raid easier."

Chugging liberally on his pint he grinned when Armina spoke approvingly of wyverns and of tending the horses. "I made it to Aurhalz a few times." He mused. "Lovely scenery there but the people I spoke to were all pretty serious, I asked where I could find a decent place to stay nearby and people kept telling me to go miles away for something 'first rate' rather than anything close by." He didn't comment on her family, titles weren't really something he cared to keep track of especially in foreign nations though he paused to lean forward and stare at her face intently, while she was obviously still youthful he was as a manakete who had grown up surrounded by elves terrible at judging the age of humans so he was unsure just how long that meant she had had her horse.

Sitting back he hummed thoughtfully. "Training people isn't something I do all that much, even caring for the wyverns is just a skill I naturally learned while studying them. Armour does seem to be a bit of a pain to deal with, I got a crash course in that stuff when I signed up and it just made me really glad that I can simply transform and rely on scales instead." Leaning back further he glanced backward to check his hair wasn't trailing too close to the floor. "Oh I don't know I've met a few women who could shout down the mightiest warriors, or dragons." His tone abruptly turned wistful. "You should've seen my eldest sister back in her day, they used to say she had a face that could launch a thousand ships and one glare would send them all fleeing."

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[CallmeMyth]

Armina was impressed by how much knowledge Zane had of the creatures that inhabited his homeland. In fact, she was beginning to consider him as something of an animal specialist. Armina had always had a fondness for animals herself, so the trait was one that she could relate to. She supposed she couldnt be surprised though, since Dinne was, of course, the land he hailed from. She heard him utter something to himself quietly as he finished what he was saying, although she couldn't quite make it out and so she decided not to inquire.

She folded her arms onto the table, meeting his gaze as he drank and continued speaking, while recounting his previous experiences in the country of Aurhalz. Her face reddened as he finished his sentence, and she chuckled. "That sounds right. I guess its natural in Aurhalz for its citizens to recommend only the very best accommodations. I suppose its because people are always demanding high quality arrangements for almost everything." She told him. She looked at him as he leaned closer to her, and she wondered briefly what he was doing as he stared at her face. He proceeded to lean toward the back of his seat a bit, perhaps in an effort to not make her uncomfortable.

After a moment he proceeded to relax fully into his seat, and Armina listened as he went on to casually reply to the rest of their conversation. She noticed when he mentioned transforming, confirming the initial assumptions she'd had when the two of them had first been introduced. It seemed she was right that he was in fact, a Manakete. One side of Armina's lips turned upward in amusement, as he slumped back even further in his seat while glancing behind himself for some reason. She assumed he had already had too much to drink, and she wondered briefly if he would pass out in the booth he was sitting in.

She focused her attention on him more intently, as his tone unexpectedly became more pensive. He mentioned his sister, and for a moment Armina's eyes held a deep gaze. "I have a sister too, actually." She told him, before realizing that she was actually speaking about the subject. For once though, she decided not to avoid the topic. "She recently became a cleric for The Alliance of Fire, and as far as I know she's currently stationed in another battalion." She explained.

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Zane grunted unimpressed by Armina's defence of her home nation's ways. "Healthy competition is all well and good, Gods know we have more than our fair share of it in Dinne but when there's only an hour before sunset and I've been flying since dawn I'm more than happy to compromise quality for convenience." He thought the alcohol might be making him start to come off a little more coarse than usual or maybe it was just the memory of how grumpy the unhelpful directions had made him that day.

Still worrying about dragging his hair through the dirt by accident he gave up on leaning his chair back and let it tip back onto all four legs with a loud scraping sound, it was hard enough keeping his impressive mane looking good under the best of circumstances even with it being protected while he was in dragon form. Out of habit he ran a hand through the grey locks and expertly split a knot, as much as he enjoyed living on the wild side a fair bit of the time he had always made a special effort to take care of his hair.

Listening to Armina talk about her own sister Zane gave a melancholy smile thinking of his own family again. "Hmm the world can always use more healers." He said nodding approvingly. "It must be worrying that she's with another battalion though." Losing his smile he thought grimly about how he would feel knowing if another member of his own family had intentionally chosen to put themselves in harm's way though he also worried about their situation regardless since a good deal of them still lived in Dinne and the country's official stance supported the Legion over the Alliance.

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