Before and after.....

[Vega]

27th Cylus 720

"Haven't seen you here before," said one of the volunteers to Vega and she grinned slightly and shrugged. "I don't sleep much," the red-head replied and she left it at that.

She was in the makeshift barracks they had - and she felt tired. However, she'd developed the ability to sleep in power-naps and that was her intention right now. She had just put her head on the pillow when she heard a shout. "If someone's havin' a giraffe, it's not funny, you know," Vega muttered and she considered for a moment just closing her eyes and pretending she hadn't heard it. It wasn't fighting, she knew the sounds of that far too well. However, there was something going on, outside. She turned and got up and saw that the others in the room, maybe fifteen of them, were moving slowly to answer the call - or weren't moving at all. Well, that wasn't any good, Vega thought, and so she purposely jumped up.

"Come on you lot!" Vega called. There was not a lot of get-up-and-go among them and she frowned slightly. "Come on! That's it, move yer asses!" Loud clapping and a loud voice were the tools she had for this and so the young woman utilised them. The people in the barracks really had little choice but to move as Vega more or less harried and bullied them out of there. She knew what she was doing but, equally, she knew that more would need to be done.

Right now, though, there had been a wall which collapsed, there were injured people to take to the infirmary and there was a wall to be rebuilt. Of course, alongside that there would be the attacks, the creatures seemed to know what was going on, and they would - she had no doubt - take advantage of it and there would be attacks as they worked. The people here were tired and so, she knew, she had to be the voice of motivation.

And that was what she intended to do.

So, they all made their way outside and Vega sighed. There was a large section of the wall which had collapsed after being repaired badly, she suspected. There were at least four people trapped and crushed under it and, looking at the wall to the left of the collapsed area, that was in danger of going foom at any moment too. Vega sighed and rolled up her sleeves. "Come on then, lets get these people out of here!" Her voice was loud and clear and, she made sure, full of hope. "An' lets get them to the medics. We need people to stop the wall fallin' on us too. Look lively!"

Lively, it had to be said, was not what they looked and a deep frown crossed Vega's face even as she started to move. The constant cold and dark and siege and attack - the state of the place - it was really getting to people and she was going to have to up her game in terms of making sure everyone felt better, she knew. So, she'd start that now.

[Vega]

27th Cylus 720

Moving the heaviest of the stones, getting people fixed up so that the medics could take them, shoring up the wall and providing enough support for it so that it didn't just collapse again - these were all hard, heavy, tiring jobs. The people here were already exhausted, as she was. They were feeling hopeless and, many hours later, they finally made their way back into the barracks. They were all dirty, covered in dust and debris from the last few hours of work and - also - they were tired in their bones. Still, there was food brought to them, and they needed to ... it was strange, Vega thought to herself. It was strange how, no matter how exhausted they were, they needed to calm down, to relax. So, they congregated quietly around food. There was this time, and it was a moment for them all.

"Well that sucked," Vega said, and she looked around at the others. Grimy faced, filled with fear, exhaustion and despair, looked back at her. "How many people died, d'ya reckon? Half a dozen? Ten? Probably ten by the time the mornin' comes." She stood up and started to pace a little. "I'm righ' sick of people dyin'." There were mumbled noises of agreement. She looked around at the others in the room and she sighed. "But you know, we're standin' here, an' people are alive because of us. Each one of us. An' when we win here, they'll sing songs, you know."

"When we win?"

Vega looked at the man who spoke. The same one who'd said that he hadn't seen her here before, and she nodded. "Yeah. When. When we win. When we walk out of here an' when we save Rharne, an' Mistral Village, an' even that weird Volta place an' the Spire an' all of them. When we win." The others in the room had been sort of paying attention, but now focus turned to Vega and the man she was speaking to. More attention, perhaps, than would be usual but this was an important conversation. It spoke to all of them in a number of ways and Vega knew that - the atmosphere in the room changed.

"And what if we lose?"

Vega looked at him and she breathed in. "If we lose, then we'll be dead, an' Rharne will be gone. But that's not gonna happen, so we don't need to worry about it. We've got secret weapons, see," He raised a quizzical eyebrow and Vega grinned. "We've got you. An' we've got me." He gave an exasperated - but also a little amused - huff and Vega took that as a good sign.

"Hey," one of the other volunteers called and Vega turned to look. "Is it true," the woman who was speaking looked at Vega a little quizzically, "that you play music?"

Vega nodded. "I can kel th'bosh a bit, yeah. Here an' there, you know?" The woman nodded and she moved to the small box at the foot of the cot where she was sleeping. Opening the lid, she pulled out a battered-looking fiddle. "This was Bill's," the older volunteer said and she gestured to the outside, where they'd just spent the last two breaks working. "He was the first one we pulled out."

"The dark haired man, with the scar on his face?" Vega asked. He was dead, of course, that was the point this woman was making. Sacha, that was her name, nodded and handed the fiddle to Vega.

"Bill used to play it, and we'd all feel hopeful. We'd feel like maybe we could manage. Like there was a point. You able to make us feel that way?"

Vega took the fiddle and she smiled a melancholy smile. "It's not the person that makes the music, you know," lifting the fiddle up to her chin, Vega felt it nestle in there, and she closed her eyes slightly at the familiar scent of chalk from the bow, oil from the cleaning and upkeep of the instrument and the dust of ages on it. There was something so very honest about musical instruments; they had no ego or concern, no fear or hatred.

Lifting the bow, Vega closed her eyes and began to play.

No one moved as the deep and mournful sound began to echo out, moving beyond the confines of the room and into the darkness of Storm's Edge. Vega had her eyes shut, but there was a slight smile on her face and she swayed gently in time with the music. The melody she produced was slow at first and then began to develop in terms of the tempo. But it never got too fast, Vega wanted them to go on a long journey with her, and that was what she played. This man, whose fiddle it had been, he had lived a life. The same as anyone else, one lifetime was what he'd got and she wanted to remind them of that. To tap into their emotions, specifically their hope, their determination, their courage. So, it was important to her that the music portrayed that.

As Vega finished playing, she opened her eyes and she looked at the woman, Sacha; tears ran down Sacha's face. Vega looked at her and spoke, softly. "I'm right sorry that he died, I really am. But hope is what we've got. An' though he died, we've got to live." To Sacha, then, and the others around her. "We have got to. An' the only way that we get to live, an' to remember him an' to play music an' make love an' eat food an' live life..." She gestured around. "The only way we do that is if we don't live in fear. We have to win, because we can't be beaten."

Sacha smiled at Vega and said, most sincerely. "You must be a nightmare to live with."

Vega grinned from ear to ear. "You have no idea," she said, honestly. "No idea at all."

[Pig Boy]

Vega

Experience: 10 no magic

Knowledge:

3 x Leadership, 3 x Psychology

Renown: 15 for a rousing speech and inspiring the soldiers

Skill Usage: appropriate to level, may want to up her psychology a bit to get better understanding, but that's just me nitpicking.

Loot/Losses: 1 x fiddle

Injuries/Conditions: none

Consequences: The soldiers are inspired. And maybe a bit scared.

Comments: OMG, Vega is starting to learn Psychology.... That's... terrifying.

In all seriousness, another heartwarming tale of Vega rousing the troops. She ought to try a cat of nine tails next time. It's better than coffee!

Even as she has her own thoughts about the various people around her, we can't doubt her sincerity in anything she says, she always means it and that is a very endearing quality to Vega. You always tend to know where you stand with her. I think she's turning out to be a really swell war leader.

Good job and enjoy the rewards!

If you have any concerns about this review, please PM me about them.