Stepping Stones

[Moxi]

(An RP between @Veren)


"To every everything, there is a story. To every story, there is a conflict. But to every conflict....there is a resolution. The land of Peransa has never experienced such resolution since the warring houses united under a single flag. It started with a roundhouse of each clan coming together to decide the next ruler, but each generation grew farther apart and eventually delved into wars to decide which house would be in control. Currently the Feld Family is the high ruling house of Peransa, but is on the verge of giving up it's title due to a losing battle against Gregglians and their accomplices. The king does his best in order to ensure that his child will be a worthy contender who can keep up the title of High House, but time is running out....."


"Are you inhumane?! You're wiping out an entire part of your homeland just to fufill your "duty?!" Mochi was on his knees, the only things he could taste and hear was blood after the brutal aftermath. He didn't want to admit it but for the first time in years he was shivering out of fear. "Oi! Who said you could speak out of line in front of the new king?" The Soldier jabbed the captive man in the back, a loud wail in response. The pain was too much to bear, Mochi had failed to protect everyone he held dear. Now he too was going to die to the blade of the so called "Redeemer" with many regrets. The Duke of Greggl gave the signal to execute, and as the soldier raised his axe to finish Mochi off he quietly muttered "I deserve this..."


Mochi raised up from his bed in a sweat from the nightmare. Everything felt so vivid at the time, from the jabbing pain to the tears running off his face. No wait, he was crying in real life as well. "Damnit...I didn't even drink last night, why the hell did all that come to mind?" It took more than an hour to compose himself after that dream, not even a good shower or breakfast was able to get Mochi back into the swing of things. Today didn't seem like a good day to even attempt to train with the rain pouring down, his lord would just drag him back inside like last time.....


"Hold on....I have a lord to prepare for this afternoon!" He shouted catching the attention of several workers. Mochi did his best to hide the dream in the back of his mind and starting to speed past the work to reach his lord. Luckily he was usually the one to wake up first, surely there was enough time to get them both ready before noon. He came up to door much larger than his and knocked several times to wake up his lord. "Come on Erinel! We both know what's going to happen today!"

 

[Girouette]

"...Mmm..."

​

Unlike the troubling dreams of his retainer, (Of which he knew less than nothing about), Erinel was still gently nestled in bed, dreaming of most likely sheep or some other fluffy animal.


Although he certainly shouldn't have been asleep so late....Despite his refined upbringing, it wasn't so odd to see him sleeping in far past when his servants should find him awake, instead of having need to rouse him.


Fortunately, his retainer had most likely gotten used to the routine of awaking him, and he had gotten used to waking up at the rapping of his door, and the somewhat pestering (This early, anyways) Voice of Mochi.


"Yes. Yes. One moment."


He yelled out to the hall, although due to the reasonable thickness of the door, his voice most likely sounded decently muffled. He managed to pull himself from bed and drag himself to a small wardrobe of clothes. Although it was obvious that a heir of his stature should have quite a few more clothes than were housed in his room. (Which was once more, quite small for the impressiveness of his door.) Erinel had a natural preference for the simplicity of a small resting place, with clothes being cycled in and out by servants every other day. It would also be odd, if anyone were to be wary to it other than his personal servants, that the king ordered he dress himself every morning.


After finishing said task of clothing himself, he made to the door in a motion that could still only be described as lethargic, he was never a morning person.


"I'm done, you may open the door.."

 

[Moxi]

The door's considerable thickness made his lord's response tough to understand, Mochi didn't know what to think other than "He probably heard me at least." He took a moment to clean himself off of any residue caught in his run over and a couple of deep breathes were also in order. While waiting for Erinel, Mochi took sometime to think on last night's dream. To him it felt like a signal to be even more protective of his lord but Erinel had already told him not to worry as much with the amount of security around the castle. "Maybe the dream was trying to tell me to watch my own back..." was another thought that came to mind. The King and Mochi were on neutral terms but the retainer's origin could well hinder any chance of continuing to work, or continuing to live for that matter.


"I'm done, you may open the door.." came out of the room, Mochi was able to understand this time even among his own thoughts. The door was actually light to him despite it's stature, though Mochi opened up alittle to quickly and almost brushed the door against his lord. "A thousand pardons for my sudden outburst Milord, last night really caught me off guard." Mochi took some time to look at the Erinel's condition before speaking again. The other man cleaned up rather quickly for just getting out of bed yet he still retained a groggy stance. "You've got alittle...nevermind, I just came by to prepare you for the war council. The King seems dead-set on getting some kind of war-prowess in you even if it's just tactical work. Luckily I was able gain some experince before we met." Mochi motioned for his lord to follow him out so the two could discuss some aspects of battle during the Prince's breakfast. "Oh yes, and don't forget to bring your sword. It could prove useful to assert your standing.....Not that Milord needs to of course." Mochi slowly started walking out, his hands to his back and his chin up as mentors would tell him to do.

 

[Girouette]

As the retainer pushed the door forward, he would find his charge sat on the edge of the bed. By his own request. the room was minuscule to the point of having little more than an arms length between the bed and the door, just enough to get dressed without bruising ones arms from bumping them into the dresser. The dresser was equally small, being only the size of Erinel himself. For all accounts other than that, it was a normal dresser, save for it's locking mechanism, of which was widely known by the servants, and only one trusted servant (Who was the one that delivered said rotation of clothing) was allowed to open it, other than Erinel himself.


But all of that was unimportant for the moment. As his retainer entered, he rose up quickly enough to give the appearance he had been standing the entire time, and not taken a moment to sit back down. He was somewhat off balance due to his still tired mind, and despite how obvious it was that he was hardly awoken, he tried to poise himself as being just as alert as his retainer, who he was certainly no-where close to being.


"Of course. The war-meeting."





There was a certain disdain in his voice, it was no secret to his personal servants that he had a dislike for the constant state of meetings. Not that Erinel was lazy by any means of the word, he was just never one for meetings this early in the morning (Not that it was necessarily early either.). Regardless, it was his duty to attend them, and that he did know. He picked up his sword, and strapped it to his belt, before looking at Mochi and making a gesture with his head and hand in tandem that indicated something similar to "Well. Let's be going." and following him out.

 

[Moxi]

Spring of 1476(Day 1)


His lord had taken the incentive(Or at least accepted the fact...) to learn some new tips before the council at hand, Mochi kept a slow pace to keep Erinel from losing track from where he was going. Whether or not Erinel was fully awake, he had to have been able to answer a question or two tactically to prove he was an able leader. The only challenge was Erinel's usual reluctance when it came to talking about bloodshed and the like, Mochi had already remembered the look his lord gave him when they first met. After a ways walk the two arrived at the kitchen, Mochi sat his lord down and prepared black tea in an attempt to wake up his lord. "So the majority of councils I've been in mostly talked about the formation of men, that'd be a good place to begin. It's strategically best to keep foot soldiers in the front due to our nation's forested terrain so also keep that in mind, though also keep in mind that ranged squads require a setup time so you'd have to most likely order your frontline to take a defensive approach with every loading. Also...." Mochi looked back and watched his lord fiddling around in the back. "Um, let's take a break. The tea's done anyways." Pouring out tea into two empty cups onto a tray, Mochi took a seat next to his lord and looked at his demeanor once more. "Having second thoughts about this milord? I'd speak in your name but your father asked specifically for you to have a seat...." Mochi took a sip of tea, his tone calm as he spoke.

 

[Girouette]

As the walk to the kitchens went on, Erinel was briefly paying attention to anything Mochi said, but was occupied much more with pondering why his father even wanted him at the war meeting, despite is addled morning mind. He still had the thoughts fresh from the prior night. When his father had harshly scolded his questioning of why he was required, normally he was not necessarily required, and could have a servant be there for him. As his presence generally detracted from the imposing nature of the war meeting, and many of the participants, (although seemingly respectful during the course of the meeting) certainly thought of him as a small child. His father had brought up decent point of needing the experience in order to quell those thoughts of him as an inexperienced child. However his own doubts of his usefulness in military standing and application was not-unfounded, and his reluctance to do something he was so unsuited for...For goodness, he could hardly stand the thought of blood! And his father expected him to be able to plan attacks and coordinate war?...


"H-Hum? Oh. Yes. Thank you Mochi."



​

Erinel was brought back to attention as his retainer spoke, and reached out to pick up the remaining cup of tea. Gods, he was far too out of it in the morning, his retainer had probably noticed his lack of attention and blank-stare...He thought to himself that he would eventually have to figure out how to work with mornings...The tea would help, at least.

"If it were not required. I would be most glad to spend my day with something more productive than a war meeting. But, father was very insistent...I don't see the point. Personally."



​

 

[Moxi]

After breakfast, time had continued to move in an almost ironic fashion. Almost against any of Erinel's Ideals from Mochi's perspective. He hated hearing how the nights went out for his lord, it was almost like a cycle at this point. "Leave us Mochi, I wish to talk to my son." The King would say in a harsh yet mellow tone that Mochi could know from a mile away. Mochi would leave slowly to give his lord time to prepare himself, and the night went on as...normal. Looking back over, Mochi could bring out a small grin from seeing Erinel enjoy the tea. "Oh trust me you do bring somethings to the table. You know most aren't going to forgive the Code of Unison being broken once everything is sorted out, you seem like the type who would. Despite the opinions of the people." Mochi noticed a servant who came in attempting to clean up the mess the two had made. Mochi promptly shooed him off and grabbed the silverware to watch himself. "I need to do SOMETHING while it's raining." He headed for the sink to start washing the dishes without looking for an exact time. "Your father wants to keep your house in rule, unfortunately the only way to do so right now is through bloodshed. Maybe your input could change that in the future."