#MoonDayMemories #TeenWolf BTS ::: WARNING- could get gross for you...more from #Cannan ... remember that huge head gash #MamaMcCall was walking around with? Wellllllllll scroll thru for an up close and personal tour of @bitemaresinc work...#GhostTown #Manifestations #GhostRiders https://www.instagram.com/p/B53iZ7shEjw/?igshid=11rpfosi1gqwb
A Gathering of Guardians - Prologue (Chapter 14) - Etrian Odyssey Nexus Fanfiction
AN: Felt like doing a chapter from Axel’s POV now :3
Ao3 | Wattpad | FFNet
Chapter 14:
As Highland Count entered his room to get himself settled and likely take a look around at his new surroundings, Axel stood out in the middle of the hallway. He rolled his shoulder and stretched contently as the Phaedron guild paired up and picked their rooms.
They seemed like a good group of guys. Friendly, easy going, some of them excitable, others more reserved. Like a regular guild of close friends and family.
Guild leader Roxbury certainly seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. The guy reminded him of Jhon, in a way. Polite, considerate, probably a bit too trusting. But definitely friendly. This Roxbury, however, seemed to have a hidden vulnerability to him. Now, Axel didn’t have Lynus’ empathetic abilities, but he knew a wounded soul when he saw one. And it raised his protective heckles.
And from what Lynus had told him, Roxbury wasn’t the only vulnerable soul amongst this guild. There was at least six of them, Lynus had admitted.
After a brief conversation, they collectively decided to keep a close eye on them. Maybe a little bit more than usual?
Though, Axel felt that Zesiro guy seemed rather intimidated by him. He was outwardly polite, but it was definitely fake. It was a cautious kind of politeness, as if he was ensuring that he didn’t get on Axel’s bad side. It kinda indicated to Axel that the guy had been through some shit and was pretty skilled in judging a person’s strength.
Definitely tempted to try to get him to lighten up. But he probably better not.
Not yet at least. Shiki might get to him first. Never know what the future held.
The door to the room that Roxbury disappeared in opened and the said brown-haired man appeared. “Axel, thanks for waiting,” he said with a polite sense of gratitude in his voice.
Before Axel could respond, another door opened sharply and a rather short but bubbly blond-haired guy rushed out. “These rooms are awesome. Bigger than the ones at the inn.”
Axel turned to give Blayden a half smile, subconsciously looking at him through one eye. “Not bad, right? What Villard lacks in consideration he makes up for in comfort. There's a lot of rooms to see in this place. Other than the bedrooms, nothing's off limits. So, go nuts.”
Blayden grinned widely at that just another young man, likely the same age, walked out of the room at a more leisurely pace. “Right, let's go, Baldur,” he said as he snared the other guy the wrist and immediately began to pull him along with him, right past his brother as he stepped out of his room also.
“Don't pull me!” the guy, Baldur, yelled as he was suddenly pulled in the opposite direction he had been facing. Though his words were sharp, he didn’t actually do anything else to protest. Didn’t even attempt to pull his hand back, to resist in anyway.
Axel arched an eyebrow as he watched them disappear down the hall. “...Flighty, tsundere prince?” he asked as he turned his attention back to Roxbury.
Roxbury gave a short chuckle. “Hm. He's gotten a lot better, honestly.”
Bryce watched as the two rush down the hall and uttered a rather exasperated sigh. It felt like an act, though. The guy appeared brash by appearance. Maybe even terse and, for a lack of a better word; cantankerous. But Axel got the sense that the guy was simply the older, big brother type that appeared grumpy by first appearance, but completely and utterly protective.
“I guess we’ll go and keep an eye on them,” Bryce uttered.
Roxbury nodded his head, a small smile on his lips. “You’re not in the labyrinth right now.”
Bryce folded his arms across his chest and shrugged. “Old habits die hard.”
Hah. The guy’s kinda honest. In a brash way.
“Fair enough,” Axel commented. “We’re taking flight after lunchtime today, so I’ll get someone to find you lot before that happens.”
Varuna, the guy with long white hair, stepped out of the room he shared with Bryce and looked curiously toward Axel. “What happens during take-off?”
Axel though for a moment. He could answer that plainly, but it would be underwhelming to experiencing it for the first time. “Better if you wait and see. We kinda hunker down in the dining hall until we’ve reached cruising altitude.”
Varuna looked at him silently for a moment before he sighed and ran his hand through his white hair. “That should be fun.”
“It’s startling at first, but with your experience with airships, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Axel returned.
The sound of another door opening prevented Varuna or Bryce of uttering a response. Axel idly glanced over at the sound to see two more figures appear. One with dark purple hair and the other a sickly-looking man. Axel wasn’t a medic, but even he could tell that the guy was deathly sick. How was he even standing and walking despite being so frail?
Mahalah smiled politely as he walked over to Axel. “Excuse me, Axel?”
“Hm?”
“Would you mind showing me the way to the kitchen?” he unexpectedly requested before he motioned to the sickly man a step behind him with a wave of his hand. “Durriken here is on a strict diet, you could say.”
Axel wasn’t at all surprised. “Sure, no problem.”
Durriken shook his head. “Don't go too much out of your way.”
Mahalah immediately turned around and chided him lightly. “Hush. You're not a hassle.”
“It's fine,” Axel interjected, knowing from experience how to deal with people who thought themselves to be burdens toward those who were genuinely worried for them. “We have a few others who are on strict diets themselves. Just talk to Flavio. He's the one in charge of the kitchen, so to speak. He'll help you sort things out.”
Mahalah looked pleased by the answer while Durriken appeared mildly confused. He also looked somewhat worried.
“Mind if I come, too?” Roxbury requested.
Man, the guy was polite. He really did remind him of Jhon in a way.
“Sure,” Axel replied with a half-smile and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder toward the stairs. “I'll show you around so you can meet the others. There's a lot of people here now, so this might take some time.”
“We’ll go check on the munchkins,” Bryce interjected as he and Varuna turned in the opposite direction, where Blayden had dragged Baldur in earlier.
With that said, they parted ways; Axel led his small group down the stairs while Bryce and Varuna moved in the other direction. Their pace wasn’t hurried, however, which kinda indicated to Axel that they were just curious to look around themselves. He could understand that.
Explorers will do what explorers do.
They walked down the stairs in silence and reached the entrance that led out into the courtyard. The foyer wasn’t empty, however. A certain silver-haired troubadour appeared to have already cornered someone. Ayjay, if he wasn’t mistaken.
“Hey, Cedric,” Axel called out as they approached, idly curious as to way Cedric seemed to hone in on this guy. “Already meeting our new residents, huh?”
Cedric turned around and beamed brightly at him. “Of course. Lynus has told me much about this Phaedron guild. I'm so glad that you've agreed to join us!”
“We've heard much about the Guardians, too,” Roxbury replied, again in that professional and well-mannered tone. “My name is Roxbury, this is Mahalah and Durriken.”
“Nice to meet you,” Mahalah immediately replied, just as politely while Durriken settled with simply nodding his head in Cedric’s direction.
“Oh, are you a dancer?” Cedric unexpectedly asked as he looked toward Mahalah. “What an interesting skill. I assume that Ayjay here is the same?”
“That's right,” Ayjay replied proudly as he practically puffed his chest out and dramatically flicked back his hair. “One of the best dancers in Tharsis.”
Cedric looked amused more than impressed. “Is that so?” he said slowly before a sly look momentarily appeared on his face. He brightened up suddenly and clapped his hands in front of him. “I would love to see you in a duet with Mahalah!”
The façade that Ayjay had immediately faltered and he unexpectedly began to stutter in a flustered manner. “A-ah, well...it's not a duet...”
Cedric continued to beam brightly, completely oblivious (or just ignoring) the discomfort from the man in front of him. “I bet he's just a beautiful dancer, hm? Quite enchanting, hm?”
“I, ah, I gotta go!” Ayjay spluttered aloud, his face as red as his hair, before he turned on his heel and practically scurried away.
“My, why such a reaction?” Cedric asked innocently as he tilted his head to the side questioningly. It was all completely fake, though.
Ah, so that was why he cornered the guy. He had found a new victim.
“He's always like that with me,” Mahalah said with a sad shake of his head.
“I bet it's because he's intimidated by your immense beauty,” Cedric said without any hesitation.
Mahalah reeled his head back in surprise and a light dusting of red appeared on his cheeks. “Wh-what?” he stuttered before he shook his head again and folded his arms across his torso. “Please, don't tease me like that.”
“Aren't you delightful?” Cedric practically cooed, though there wasn’t any mirth in his voice. He soon smiled reassuringly. “Don't worry, love, I won't tease you.” That playful smile returned and he clapped his hands in front of him. “But I will tease the hell out of him. He's going to be so much fun~”
With a very telling chuckle, Cedric turned and hurried away. In the direction that Ayjay scurried away in.
Axel shook his head in exasperation. “That's Cedric for you.”
Roxbury was silent for a moment, no doubt struggling to find some polite words to utter. “...He's certainly a character.”
Man, Roxbury was really polite. He reminded him of both Jhon and Hrothgar. The conversation between the three of them was sure to be…interesting.
Axel shook his head sharply to push that thought aside before he motioned for the others to follow him as they continued on their way. He led them down a small hall that would take them into the large kitchen from a side door.
And just as he had expected, Flavio was already there. He appeared to be asking Cress to do something for him as the small inn-keeper nodded his head readily before he spun on his heel and hurried through the large swing-doors that led to the dining hall. Flavio watched him leave before he shook his head. Fondly.
“Yo, Flavio!” Axel called out.
Flavio immediately turned in his direction. “Axel, what's up?” he asked as he made his way over.
Axel motioned to the three that were with him with a tilt of his head. “We've got some new residents.”
The expression on Flavio’s face immediately brightened. “Ah, the Phaedron guild, right? Lynus told me about you.”
“Nice to meet you, my name is Roxbury, leader of the Phaedron guild. And this is Mahalah and Durriken,” Roxbury said once more.
“And I'm Flavio, it's nice to meet you, too,” Flavio replied, friendly and warm.
“You're the one in charge here?” Mahalah asked as he glanced around the kitchen, appearing to be somewhat impressed.
Flavio rested a hand on his hip and shrugged. “You could say that.”
Axel couldn’t prevent a snort. “Please, you commandeered the kitchen the moment you moved to Maginia. I doubt you've even seen the rest of the Sanctuary.”
Flavio immediately spun around to face him directly and pouted with sheer indignation. “What? Of course I have!” he insisted.
Axel levelled him with a stare. “Then you've seen the recreational room and the greenhouse?”
“...We have a greenhouse?” Flavio asked as he sheepishly pressed his index fingers together in front of him.
Roxbury seemed interested in that small titbit of information, too. “You do?” he asked, which earned him a nod from Axel. “Well, Nitish would be happy about that.”
Axel folded his arms across his chest comfortably. “Ah, he has a bit of a green thumb? I'll get someone to show it to him later, then.”
“Moving forward; Flavio, do you mind if I speak to you about Durriken here? He's on a strict diet, you see,” Mahalah requested as he took a step closer toward Flavio. He appeared quite adamant in sorting out the issues necessary to help with Durriken’s diet.
Hardly a surprise, honestly. The guy was likely to be on a diet to help him gain some muscle mass. As healthily as possible, of course. But he was likely to be on a light diet at the same time; soups and salads. Anything too fatty would not settle in his stomach, and make him feel nauseous.
“Sure, that's no problem,” Flavio immediately replied.
Flavio wasn’t a medic, but he knew his food. And he knew the benefits of certain foods. He’d likely want to run the diet he and Mahalah make up for Durriken past someone like Lynus later. But honestly, the guy was more than capable of figuring out things on his own.
“Durra, there you are!”
The unexpected and loud shout caused everyone but Axel to jump. Axel just raised an eyebrow. The voice startled him, for sure. But he had grown used to Zeryn’s loud voice booming suddenly. Someone shouting at the top of their lungs barely got an outward reaction out of him.
He would still grimace inwardly, though. There was no need to be so loud inside, god damn it.
Durriken turned in the direction the voice resonated from and he placed his hands on his hips. In an entirely chiding way. “No need to shout.”
A guy with grey hair walked directly over to Durriken and stood before him. If Axel wasn’t mistaken, the guy’s name was Clester. He remembered him through his hair, honestly. The guy’s hair reminded him of a paintbrush; sticking straight up in a gravity defying way.
Or he just used a lot of hair-gel. Whatever, no judgement.
“Why not?” Clester said as he folded his arms dismissively behind his head. He soon smiled broadly, though. “Anyway, you're in the kitchen. That's awesome!”
Durriken sighed and straightened his posture. He shook his head and grasped his right elbow with his left hand, his arm across his torso. “...I don't see how.”
Clester ignored him as he glanced around the kitchen. “Nya, I bet there's a tonne of awesome food here.”
“Well, it wouldn't be much of a kitchen if there wasn't,” Flavio was the one to comment, gaining Clester’s attention. “Are you interested in cooking?”
Clester lowered his arms to rest his hands on his hips, and shook his head. “Nah, but I am interested in eating! I'll eat anything and everything. So, if you need a food taste-tester, I'm your man!” he finished that sentence with a proud pose, jabbing his thumb into the centre of his chest.
Flavio uttered a small laugh before he fell silent. He folded his arm across his chest and idly tapped his cheek in thought. “Hmm, that might be a good idea. After all, we’ll have new materials and ingredients to work with. Definitely going to be experimenting a little.”
That brought a really bright smile to Clester’s lips. “Hehe, awesome.” He abruptly turned to give Durriken his full attention again. “I'll share the really delicious food with you, Durra, ok?”
Durriken tilted his head to the side. “Hm? But you'll be wasting it on me.”
And that caused Clester to puff his cheeks out in disgruntlement. “Dude, if you eat it, it's not a waste!” he proclaimed loudly, sounding rather indignant. But that soon dissipated and he turned back to Flavio once more. “Anywho, what kind of food do you guys have anyway?”
Somewhat amused, Flavio continued to indulge in Clester’s curiosity. “The usual; wheat, rice, milk, meat, garden vegetables, fruit. The real experimentation will happen once we get to Lemuria and we get our hands on some monster meat.”
“Monster meat!” Clester unexpectedly cheered, going as far as throwing his arms into the air. “I haven't tried any of that!”
Flavio laughed and placed his hands on his hips. “Well, you're going to be in for a treat! I happen to have experience in working in a restaurant that specialised in ingredients from the labyrinth. I'm sure I could make a meal or two.”
With that, he turned on his heel and ran out of the room in hunt for the mentioned dancer. And left everyone in the kitchen in a somewhat amused silence.
“You seem close,” Axel couldn’t help but comment as he turned his gaze toward Durriken.
“Ah, well...” Durriken murmured, his gaze toward the floor as he held his right arm again. “We haven't actually known each other for very long.”
“Clester found Durriken one day and shared some of his food with him,” Mahalah was the one to explain with a smile. “And when he learnt that Durriken was on a strict diet, he became rather attached to him. He has a bit of an obsession with food and helping others to enjoy eating.”
The kid appeared to be loud, with a short attention span. But Axel kinda liked the guy. He liked the ones who were openly, even obliviously honest.
“Ah, that so?” Axel replied with a half grin. “He seems to be the openly affectionate type.”
Mahalah laughed softly into his hand and nodded. “He really is.”
Roxbury chuckled also. “Well, perhaps we'll leave you three to speak.”
Yeah, that would be a good idea. Flavio would need to ask a few personal questions and they didn’t need Axel hanging around, eavesdropping. Roxbury probably felt the same.
“Right, I'll introduce you to the others,” Axel said as he motioned for Roxbury to follow him through the oak swinging doors.
As they pushed through, Axel cast an idle glance at his surroundings. Some of the members of the Phaedron guild had already made their way into the dining hall. Cedric had cornered Ayjay again, but Clester was there with them, so he was entertaining him as well.
Jhon was speaking with Falkner, though Tobyn stood silently behind him, while a shady looking guy (called Telem, if Axel wasn’t mistaken) stood behind Falkner in the same protective but awkward posture.
Even Highland Count had made his way into the dining hall, his small canine companion perched in his arms. He stood to the left of them, just a few feet away with Hrothgar next to him as Chi-hung sat on his back haunches right in front of him, likely interested in the small white dog with the pink bow.
“I must admit, when I was told that there would be a white tiger here, I wasn’t expecting a true sabre-tooth white tiger,” Count commented as he looked at Chi-hung curiously. “Being the leader of three wolves, I presume?”
“He’s quite impressive, isn’t he?” Hrothgar replied with a smile. “I assume that Chi-hung here is drawn to the little one in your arms. Chi-hung is very protective of his fellow beast companions. Along with any animal, really. If little Suzy there is any indication.”
Count cast another glance over the pack of beast companions before a light expression of surprise appeared on his face. “Oh, I didn’t see the little lamb there. Hm, and a housecat, I see.”
Again, Hrothgar nodded as Wolfgar trotted to his side. “Yes. That little one is Zanna.”
“Wonderful,” Count said, seemingly pleased with something. “I honestly wasn’t sure what I was expecting. With sentinels and vessels, I should have expected this.”
Hrothgar uttered a genuine laugh of mirth and nodded once more. “It’s amazing how we grow accustomed to such things so easily.”
“Hm!”
Roxbury had witnessed the exchange and he, too, had a sense of amusement in his expression. “We certainly have an array of characters here, don’t we?”
“We certainly do,” Axel replied readily before he motioned toward the redheaded protector. “That’s Hrothgar. He’s an honorary member of the Guardians. We’re protective of him.”
“Ah.” Roxbury made a sound of understanding. “He’s like Ciaran, then. We’re all protective of him, too.”
Hm, the wharf master if he remembered right. Good. It was always a good sign for a guild to be protective of their honorary members.
“Ah, I had received word that we had new residents.”
Axel turned to look to his right, to where Hamza approached the two of them. “From Cedric, no doubt,” he said as Hamza stood with them.
The corner of Hamza’s mouth twitched into a half smile. “He’s quite excited, you could say.”
“Yeah, he’s found new victims to tease already.” Axel sent a quick glance in the direction were Cedric stood with Ayjay before he turned his attention back to Hamza and Roxbury once more. “Anyway, this is Hamza. He’s the original leader of the Guardians and as far as I’m concerned, he still is.”
Hamza sighed and rolled his eyes. “We’ve had this conversation. It’s a joint leadership.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Roxbury said, once again sounding quite professional and polite. “My name is Roxbury, leader to the Phaedron Guild. Though, I do tend to share that title with another.”
“Good, good,” Hamza immediately said as he nodded his head in approval and moved to shake Roxbury’s hand. “No need to shoulder the burden of a leader on your own.” He released his hand and took a half step back, though kept his full attention toward him. “In all honesty, I am the one in charge of filling the paperwork and issuing orders when necessary. Axel here, along with Lynus, are what I refer to as field leaders. Especially in regards to search and rescue missions.”
Roxbury nodded his head before he looked somewhat curious. “I see. I must admit that we’ve conducted a few search and rescues of our own, but we have little experience otherwise. I do hope that we can be of some help should you ever need it.”
“That would be greatly appreciated,” Hamza replied, his tone a mixture of approval and appreciation. “You’ll be sure to learn quickly, I am sure. A leader of any guild certainly needs to think on their feet, yes?”
Roxbury chuckled, though it wasn’t entirely out of mirth. “They certainly do.”
“I best see that Cedric hasn’t gotten too carried away,” Hamza said with a small, half smirk on his lips. “Excuse me. Perhaps we can talk after the chaos of flight has taken place?”
“Of course. I look forward to exchanging stories with you,” Roxbury immediately replied.
Hamza nodded his head once more before he turned on his heel and immediately headed in the direction where Cedric was. Whom of which now had Sigil from Guild Aurora with him. The two of them were likely picking on Ayjay now.
Axel kinda felt sorry for the guy.
“Everyone seems to be settling in well.”
“Nitish, Achyua,” Roxbury said in greeting even before he turned around to look to his left. He smiled warmly when he saw that he was right. That smile soon faded slightly as he looked at Nitish with a half curious, concerned look on his face. “How are you feeling? Not being overwhelmed from all the new auras?”
“I’m fine,” Nitish immediately replied as he folded his hands delicately in front of him, staying close to Achyuta as the other man rested a hand on the small of his back for comfort. “There’s a lot of new auras, yes. But I sense no negativity. Though, some of them are…interesting, to say the least.”
“Take your time,” Axel said, causing the blond to turn his head toward him in curiosity. “Lynus tends to become spacy when there’s new auras for him to subconsciously inspect.”
Nitish smiled gently. “Thank you, I’ll be fine.”
Axel looked at the two for a moment. Nitish reminded him a little of Lynus; delicate and gentle. Achyuta, however, reminded him of Jhon and Topaz; mild-mannered and sophisticated. There was a sense of gentleness from him, too, however.
They just remind him of a content pair of homebodies.
“Oh, right, before I forget,” Axel said before he turned his head to the side and cupped his mouth with his hand. “Joren!”
Not a moment later, a short teen with blond haired hurried into view. He immediately made his way over to Axel and stood before him. He had to tilt his head back to look up at him, curiosity in his expression. He thankfully wasn’t as intimidated when he first met.
“Yes, Mr Axel?” Joren asked.
“Drop the mister,” Axel instinctively returned before he motioned toward Nitish with his hand. “Anyway, I want you to show Nitish here the greenhouse.”
Nitish’s expression immediately brightened. “You have a greenhouse?”
“Right,” Axel replied with a half-smile. “It’s a little empty at the moment, but Joren here is a farmer. He’s been working on it by himself.”
Nitish nodded his head before he tapped his cheek in thought. “To be truthful, I actually brought a few seeds from my own garden. I had hoped that I could do something like this here. With medicinal herbs, and all.” He turned his gaze toward Joren and smiled softly. “Do you mind?”
“No, that’s fine,” Joren dutifully replied with a shake of his head. He soon frowned lightly, however. “I haven’t worked much with medicinal herbs, though.”
Nitish smiled warmly. “I can teach you.”
Joren appeared excited by that and he looked up at Nitish in surprise. “Really?”
“Hm? Did I hear a greenhouse?”
Another pair of members from the Phaedron guild approached their growing group. They appeared slightly older than everyone else. Logre and Jeroden if he wasn’t mistaken. Quite heavily scarred, too. And not just physically.
There was definitely something about their auras that caught Lynus’ attention. Caught Axel’s attention, too. He couldn’t see what Lynus could. He knew a scarred individual, however. And in all honesty, they reminded him of both Shiki and Gerald; both held past hurts that, as try as they might, still affected them to this very day.
He felt the urge to keep an eye on them.
“Yes. Joren here is a farmer,” Nitish answered Jeroden’s observation.
“Ah, I have some farming experience myself,” Jeroden said as he folded his scarred arms across his chest. “Especially in working with difficult terrain. Let me know if you ever need any help.”
“Wow, really?” Joren replied, again sounding impressed.
Jeroden laughed in response, while Logre on the other hand seemed to have winced before he plastered a roguish smile to his lips once more. “Haha, sure! How I about I join you in visiting the greenhouse now?”
Achyuta immediately smiled and gave Nitish a small, supportive nudge. “I’ll stay with Sir Logre. You two go ahead.”
Nitish tilted his head back toward Achyuta and smiled. “Yes.”
They spent a short moment just looking at each other, reminding Axel of how he and Lynus would do the same whenever they had separate responsibilities. They eventually turned away from each other and Nitish moved to walk, rather elegantly, with Jeroden as Joren happily took the lead.
Achyuta watched for a moment until they were out of sight. He then turned toward Logre and gave him a polite smile. “Shall we inspect the premises?”
Logre rubbed the back of his neck as he thought for a moment. “Mah, might as well.” That response caught Achyuta’s smile grew more understanding.
“Don’t get lost.” Axel couldn’t help him. “This place is massive.”
“We’ll do our best,” Achyuta said with a friendly smile. “Excuse us.”
Man, another incredibly professional and polite one.
“Hm…” Axel hummed to himself as he watched the two leave his view before he folded his arms and crossed his arms across his chest. “They seem restless.”
Roxbury nodded his head. “New surroundings, old habits.”
“Yeah, fair enough,” Axel replied idly as he rolled his shoulder to ease out a small knot. “Can never be too cautious. There’re a few others like that already. This place is going to be well guarded, that’s for sure.”
Roxbury nodded his head again and parted his lips to respond. But an expression of surprise appeared on his face as his gaze drifted over Axel’s shoulder. Curious, Axel turned to look as well, and immediately understood his reaction.
Cannan and Skylark had made their way to the dining hall in preparation for lift-off, and was immediately (and cutely) confronted by Zoran, the seemingly quite fragile vessel, an inhabitant of a labyrinth located somewhere near Tharsis. Cannan and Skylark immediately stop dead in their tracks and turned their full attention to Zoran. Cannan appeared quite curious, holding his chin in thought as he leaned forward.
“They’re…?” Roxbury murmured.
“Hm? Oh, that’s Cannan and Skylark,” Axel explained. “Lynus mentioned that inhabitants from the labyrinth in Lagaard agreed to join, remember? That’s them.”
Roxbury continued to look at the two-winged ones, who in turn are fully interested in Zoran and Biast, the purple-furred sentinel. “That’s honestly amazing. Zoran and Biast, rather Zoran especially, would be happy to chat with them for hours.”
Axel nodded and was about to say something when he heard Cannan’s voice state; “You are indeed very small and fragile.” And he couldn’t help but snort to cover up a laugh.
Roxbury was about to say something else but his brow abruptly furrowed and he took a half-step forward, as if he couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing. “That’s…?”
“Hm?” Axel turned toward Cannan and his new friends once more, and he soon found the reason for Roxbury’s reaction. “Oh, the mechanical guy? That’s Shobek, an Yggdroid. A native of Armoroad, apparently. From what I know. Long story.”
An expression of understanding soon appeared on Roxbury’s face and he nodded his head. “I see. So, are there forest inhabitants from other labyrinths?”
“So far,” Axel replied with a shrug. “Apparently, there were forest natives in Etria, but something happened. They don’t like talking about it.”
Roxbury frowned lightly. “I see…”
Lindis and Simon really didn’t like to talk about it. They honestly would go no further than stating “something happened” and would leave it at that.
Something happened, alright. And it was devastating that it scarred the two to this very day. There was a high possibility that they were even haunted by what had occurred in their dreams.
There was little Axel or anyone else could do to help them for the time being. If they didn’t wish to talk about it, then no one could or would force them to. When they were ready to talk, someone would be ready to listen.
“Anyway, let’s continue with the introductions,” Axel stated to change the conversation. He however, paused when he spied another medic amongst the throngs of people mingling in the dining hall. “Before that; Oi, Isiah!”
Isiah lifted his head up and turned toward him with an eyebrow arched in question. “Hm?”
“If you're interested, the clinic is located down that hall,” Axel explained as he tilted his head toward the hallway that Isiah was the closest too. If he knew anything about medics, he’d be interested in seeing what the clinic held for him to work with. “You can't miss it.”
“That so?” Isiah uttered as he turned to look in the direction Axel indicated in. He soon shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of his medical coat. “Sure, I'll have a look.”
Axel watched as the other medic disappeared down the hall and shook his head, his patient half-smile making its way to his lips. “Fairly certain that Lynus is still there. Otherwise, he'd be out here fussing over everyone.”
Roxbury chuckled. “He does give the feeling of being the motherly type.”
“Hah, you haven’t seen him in full care-taker mode yet,” Axel said, good-naturedly before he patted Roxbury lightly on the shoulder. “You guys are going to be just fine here with this lot, I’m sure of it.”
“Yes, I’m sure of it, too,” Roxbury said readily as he moved to follow Axel deeper into the dining hall.
What had happened in the meantime, to change so much the mind of the economists, and induce them to scrap all that had been done up to that time? (It was in fact scrapping the whole: Jevons, Preface, + Cannan, Theories, 379–383, “must be visited with almost unqualified condemnation” are right, from the point of view of Economics).
Socialism has been the cause of all this. In fact, classical P. E., with its surplus to be arbitrarily divided, leads straight to Socialism. When after the death of Ricardo the first timid attempts of using socialistically his Theory of value were made (Hodgskin, Thompson: the were misguided if (?) they used the moral argument that labour produces everything as Proudhon, but not Marx did), Senior + Mill + Cairnes fol rallyied to the defense by making cost psychological.
But when the mass attack of Marx, and the threat of the rampant International [and the Paris Commune] came, simultan a much more drastic defence was called for: not only sacrifice, but utility, ‒ and simultaneously J. M. W. and their success. The classical economy was becoming too dangerous as a whole, it had to be scrapped bodily. It was a burning house which threatened to set to fire the whole structure and foundations of capitalist society ‒ it was forthwith removed.
(Mention Rae, Ferrara, [Carey?] Scharling cost of reproduction as a link between disutility + utility, to justify the passing from one to the other)
But later, having been advocated by Marx to beat the capitalists, it was necessary for the defenders of the present system to devise a new theory, the utility theory of value.
As to Ricardo, it should not be thought that he was consciously biassed in his theory, that he was the champion of the rising capitalist against the landlord. This accusation was raised in his face in parliament (see Cannan, Ricardo in Parliament, Ec. J. 1892) and he succesfully cleared it out [away] by showing that in fact his property mainly consisted of land. It is of course not necessary for an economist to belong to a given class, or to have private interests at stake bound with that class in order that he should be crossed. It is enough for him to believe that one is a progressive class, that its success will be in the interest of majori community as a whole to justify him.
As to Marx, the fact that the utility theory of value had been found several times before (by Cournot, Dupuit, Gossen) and had fallen flat, while when it was again almost simultaneousley published by Jevons, Menger and Walras in the years immediately following the publication of Vol I of Capital, found suddenly a large body of opinion prepared to accept it and support it, is significant enough (Ashley, Present Pos. of P. E., Ec. J. 1910?)
[Note that the later development of Marshall, which was thought to be quite as effective in pulling down the basis of Marx's theory of value, is not at all incompatible with it]
I need The STARS to align so we can go Home #3rdeye #wakeup #Cannan (at Anacostia) https://www.instagram.com/suprememagnetar/p/BvZZMY2JaJytK8BuY_FnCD5IB54Q3HhG6NFUcQ0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=pv7wsi5o1xk5
