Chevaleresse

Justine rolled her eyes. "There's just no getting to you, is there? I'm not limiting anything about myself because you think you know how a woman should and shouldn't speak. I'll simply be less polite the next time you decide to insult me." She turned away from Baldur with a dismissive gesture of her hand and began to head out of the room, towards the exit of the building.

Gwyn blinked. The question was enough to make Gwyn forget about their fear for the moment. "What?" the half-fae asked blankly, seemingly as confused by the question as the stranger was confused by its subject. "Gaheris isn't my pet, he's my best friend! Well, one of my best friends. We go everywhere together. He likes tea."

"You haven't said it, yet you keep looking for reasons to put everyone else down. It's what you refuse to say. You won't apologize to me, won't apologize to Lizaveta or Shin - as if you have some kind of right to say and do these kinds of things. Like you're above doing so, like you're better than us. You didn't have to say it; you've made it abundantly clear without doing so." She crossed her arms. "If you don't want people to assume you think that way, then perhaps you should act like you don't."

"You're certainly taking the goodwill of those around you for granted! You insult me, you insult Shin, you insult Lizaveta, but somehow you expect me to believe you're 'just telling the truth?' You're a sad, angry little man who refuses to accept that he's not any better than anyone else. You accuse me of being blind but you can't even take a moment to consider that maybe everyone here has their own story. As soon as someone confronts you with that you withdraw into your pathetic shell and insult anyone who says there's more to the world than what you can see through the cracks, yet you claim that this gives you a better view than everyone else. No, I will not excuse you, because your behavior is inexcusable. How dare you act like you're in the right?"

U24 shoot scholar

"More for me, then!" Gwyn cheerily walked off, headed.... directly into the swamp, until another low rumble from the wyvern corrected the half-fae's course. "Fiiine. I bet there's centipedes in town somewhere, too. You can look for Lancelot, so I'll have some to share with him by the time you find him, right?" Another rumble, and Gaheris nuzzled his rider with surprising gentleness for a giant antlered flying lizard. "Then it's a plan!" The half-fae and the wyvern made their way into town without much further ado, despite Gwyn's frequent stops to rummage about for bugs or gawk at a strange bird. Neither of the pair seemed to notice the stares a Wildlands wyvern drew, what with the glittering translucent wings and the massive antlers adorning the wyvern's head. Eventually, though, Gwyn found themselves huddling closer to Gaheris; there were Cursed around, and they made the half-fae visibly nervous. There was no reason to be afraid, really; that guy with the fangs was probably perfectly nice, even if he had the power to kill all of his friends at home for real. . . Gwyn couldn't help but watch him like a nervous animal.

"You're one to talk about self-respect. Tell me, what kind of self-respecting man constantly seeks for ways to put others down, and responds with sudden physical violence against their friends when someone tells them to stop? Lizaveta was absolutely right about you." She shook her head. "And you've no right to tell me how I should conduct myself. Especially now that you've shown how little your opinion is really worth. It really shows the quality of your character that you would try to use some ridiculous sense of shame to browbeat your supposed friends with. Not that I would call myself such, not in regards to you."

"Nothing you deem worthy. . !" Her expression was rather less than stable with Baldur's response, twisting with anger. Still, she took a breath, and calmed down enough to speak for a moment more. "I have never treated you as anything but a comrade in arms, and your idea of reciprocation was treating me like a whore, and by the looks you've given me a particularly disease-ridden one. After I've come all this way, through trials and perils, in order to leave it behind, you throw that word into my face once again. I. Demand. An. Apology."

"You are many things, Baldur, but as far as I can tell you are not soft in the head. You know why I'm upset; I would advise you to not play word games with a lyricist." Her tight-lipped expression didn't change as she spoke, save for a glance at the others in the room.

Justine, all things considered, should probably have been preparing for bed. She's passed the time writing, and promptly crumpling up, a number of lyrics and accompanying music. It would be reasonable to turn in for an early night to try and relax after the stress of the day. Justine was also never really known for taking the reasonable option, and with a particularly vehement impact of a ball of parchment against the wall of her room, she stood up, the legs of the chair scraping across the floor. She kept finding her thoughts drifting back to one thing, and she was going to deal with it one way or another. Following the sounds of conversation lead the performer to her target without too much issue. She gave little warning before beginning to speak; the woman had always been light on her feet, and her frustration only made her move faster, rather than stomping about. "Baldur. I'll say it plainly. I expect an apology from you."

"Okay, Lady Roseanne! Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself? I can find you a centipede or something if you want." Really, Gwyn was more interested in the surrounding marshes than the town itself. It wasn't every day that you got to visit a swamp, after all. Gaheris made a sort of rumbling noise, and ponderously turned and began walking toward the village. "Gaheris can look for Lancelot, too."

"For me, but not for my family." So he was a victim, or at least believed himself such. Nemesis didn't have time to ponder that for long, though; the crash nearby drew his attention. It wouldn't change what happened anyway; the man had been in his way. There were only two ways it could end. He brought the rifle up again as he spun, chambering another around as he moved with purpose towards the sound. The source of it wasn't difficult to pick out; pink tended to not be the most subtle color, particularly when it was rushing at someone with claws outstretched. Nemesis took careful aim at the assassin; this would be a difficult shot, given the speed of his target and the proximity of Eleanor. Doing his best not to strike his ally, he fired a single shot, aimed as close to the center of the assassin's body as he could manage.

The hit to her wing caused another set of lights to flicker to a dull red; the guns on the wing were all but completely disabled, with what little firepower remained diverted to helping keep her aloft instead. That didn't matter right now, though; she had Arcturus in her grasp. As they hurtled toward the arena wall, Hiroki flung her arm outwards and spun the mech about the axis of her travel, trying to rattle and disorient her opponent enough to rescue her main cannon. Fortunately, the thing was capable of handling more heat than the rest of the mech, but she didn't like the odds of it staying functional if it continued to heat up this way. As abruptly as she'd stuck her arm out, she pulled it back in, essentially beating the man against the mech's chest and once more placing him between her and the rapidly oncoming wall. She didn't worry about the damage the man took; she couldn't afford to.

It was great having you around. I'm glad we could share what experiences we did, and I hope your journey forward is at least an interesting one. Take care.

Heidrun looked down for a moment, almost embarrassed at the way she'd snapped at Friedhold before what he'd said fully clicked. A long time ago? But that meant he'd done it before. Maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt - it wasn't his fault he looked just enough like that man that she was sure she'd be having nightmares tonight. Unfortunately for her nerves, the subject matter was more science experiments of dubious ethics - specifically some kind of pesticide. Or "pesticide," for dealing with things corporations might not like. Were she a bit less unnerved by the prospect, she would have commented on Mar's response to the prospect of giant bugs. Taste? Did he eat bugs regularly? As it were, he got a quizzical glance before Heidrun returned to looking nervous and thoroughly uncomfortable. As if it weren't liable to make matters even worse, she reached for the final folder, shuffling slightly so the others could still get a decent look at the contents as she opened it and began to browse the contents.

Gaheris and his rider alighted just after Candide spoke. Gwyn's eyes rested on the fallen warriors for just a moment too long before the half-fae jumped off the wyvern with a cheerful expression. "Wow, Lady Roseanne, that was kind of amazing!" "Almost as amazing as me!"

Hiroki gritted her teeth in the aftermath of the strike, another temperature warning going off as the light erupting from the cannon hit sputtered and died. It had entered an emergency cooldown cycle, and would ostensibly be ready to fire again, but she could see it out of the corner of her eye. The weapon was scored, the edges of the slash softened as the weapon had heated up far enough to melt slightly. At best it would melt if she fired it - but maybe she could force the worst result and use it. The wings of the Knight pulled inward, minimizing their surface area and pointing almost straight forward. She didn't bother with a spread at all, simply creating a man-sized corridor of blasts directly in Arcturus's path as she continued to backpedal. She couldn't move away fast enough to escape his attack, her mech didn't have the acceleration to create that space - but she could delay him. Her main cannon came in line with his chest once more, firing off yet another beam. She just wanted to force another parry, another counterstrike before he was in range - and then she would strike. As soon as she felt the counterstrike hit, she activated her ability. The Hellfire Knight hurled itself forward, the grasping arm outstretched to grab ahold of Arcturus and keep him clutched to the bulky mech's shoulder while it hurtled toward the edge of the arena. The cannon on the shoulder whined as Hiroki forced power to it, power that the compromised weapon could simply no longer handle - and it burst in an explosion of ionized gas and molten metal.

Out of nowhere, warning lights went off all around Hiroki's HUD - several guns flickering from green to dark, many others showing a warning yellow - as she felt the mech torque in response to the attack. She couldn't help but gasp in startlement; the attack had seemingly come from nowhere. Did Arcturus have some kind of stealth drones? But if he did, how could they have that kind of output? Temperature warnings were actually going off for the hull around where it had struck. The question of drones, at least, was answered as Hiroki refocused herself in time to see Arcturus seemingly slashing the air. That's it. He'd somehow displaced his attack, sent it forward in time. That was. . . worrying. Fast attacks she could deal with, but attacks that came out before their tells were another matter entirely. She continued to strafe sideways away from him; even if he had a way of bypassing the distance between them entirely, movement wouldn't hurt her, and there was the off chance he could only make that sort of attack every once in a while. A small plan was already forming in her head. A quick command barked to the mech's AI and the spread tightened, her cone of fire becoming narrower in an attempt to burn down his armor faster. Her main cannon whined again - and instead of firing with the rest in staccato bursts, the guns on her shoulders followed suit. She went with another slashing beam, this one moving from the ground up at a shallow angle, aimed for Arcturus's waist. The shoulder guns did the opposite, starting on opposite sides of the man and sweeping beams from both sides towards his chest and neck. Hiroki watched his response to the assault through the flames and fog as closely as she could - he would have to parry, and when he did, she would immediately kick forward, spinning her mech backward and pointing her feet at the man in an effort to dodge his attack before it came out - and get a few potshots in with the leg guns at the same time.

"Well, I can't tell anything at all, so you've actually got better information than me." So it wasn't him specifically. Unless Ena's sensors and memory had gone completely haywire at the same time his powers did - which he supposed wasn't strictly impossible, just less than likely - it was something to do with the time here. "There might be some kind of time loop here. That, and maybe. . ." He'd moved back hours instead of two seconds, and their movements were distorted as well. "Maybe, the fabric of spacetime here is. . . compressed, somehow. It would explain why moving around is giving such strange results, at least." It didn't explain everything, but perhaps the combination of that and a time loop were responsible for the strangeness. It would explain why the two men seemed to remember nothing, or remember conflicting events - they were remembering different loops, possibly mixing them together, and unaware that it was happening. "We should check the ship, and then invite them in there if things are more normal inside."

"It's no trouble at all, Shin. We wouldn't be much of a band of heroes if we didn't look out for each other." She gave Baldur another pointed look as she spoke.

The girl stared blankly back at Freya for a moment before giving a small and somewhat awkward-looking wave back. "I am Thunderlord." She slipped behind the two as Aquila waded through the crowd, looking as if she expected an enemy assault at any time. "You could refer to me as such, yes," she stated plainly, answering Aquila's question. "Have you learned anything about the sorcerer nearby?" The T-doll also watched for her initial two companions and their progress through the crowd. It would be inconvenient for them to be separated at this time.

"I'm not hearing any objections." Brigitte moved up to the door, setting herself before it as if she were getting ready to receive a charge. The girl began to glow again, sparks becoming embers becoming flames that swirled about her, tracing spirals through the air before they fed into her weapon. After a moment of this, her expression focused, she pulled the trigger on the handle of the weapon. A loud boom sounded as an explosion, enhanced by her own life force, erupted from the end of the weapon, and slammed directly into the door.

"Very funny, Baldur. Are you planning on ignoring everyone who gets hurt from here on out?" She couldn't help but glare at the man as she crouched next to Shin. "Are you alright? That didn't look pleasant."

O5, axe fighter, canto to O7

Eruption on the Gashadokuro's core. 19 bonus damage from perk.