ElfCollaborator

T9

  "Ceridwen! Ah, this is problematic. I'm coming, friend!" Michi surges forward with their gargantuan frame, tome in hand, armor moving like water despite its heavy appearance. Their wits had been elsewhere, owing to their last engagement, for a while. Unlike most of the others, however, Michi had easily gathered themselves. A true Wilhelm never faltered in the face of adversity, Michi had grown up learning, after all. And this was, indeed, another obstacle for Michi on the path of greatness. S6, hold

"Now, now, no need to show off for my sake, Phoenix. I thought you were only here to keep me safe, hm?" Attack Fighter A

"Mhm. You know what they say about good intentions, And don't worry, I can handle myself, Knight. I'm used to a little rough play."

"My my. My dashing, flaxen-haired knight in shining armor and his roguish, devilish knave, coming to our rescue. Are you trying to make a woman swoon with the heat of passion, perhaps?"

Empi continues grumbling, still sore about that remark. She'd get over it. Later. For now, bad things were happening. "Alright, so we're in the bastard son of a peyote trip and nineties animation now. It'll be useful if you guys handle this for me, because shooting magic fairy bullets isn't exactly part of matchamking. Sherlock, get on solving the puzzle and getting us out here before some giant brownie eats us or something!" Lesson in Affection: Talent Affection on Masako and stick close to the largest party, letting them handle most of the big showy attacks. Empi also receives Talent Affection due to Sharing is Caring. Empi has a 5% chance to resist statuses due to Fairy Dust. Talent Affection: Grant an ally 2+(INT/2) to their highest stat. Sharing is Caring: Whenever Empi buffs an ally, Empi also receives that buff.

M7

N8

  "Now, that hardly seems....fair. I have some skill with the sword, but I'm a mage, and my comrade here is far more physically inclined." Even as Michi says that, the fact that they're physically rather large (as far as the armor can tell) and the modesty within their words seems to point at them concealing something.

  "That boy will learn one day, comrade. Beating him up wasn't the only way to make him learn, though it certainly gave him a nice reminder that women outside his village exist."

Michi speaks up finally, having been deep in thought since the confrontation with Flynn.   "Perhaps we'd be best served looking for them in the village. As I remember, we were gathering supplies and weapons for the road ahead before we left, correct?'

J8, knife a pegasus

Lenore looks visibly displeased as the mercenary goes down, frowning at her knives and flicking the blood off. Killing people definitely wasn't Lenore's modus operandi; a true con artist didn't need violence, only half-truths, lies and deceptions. These people might have been scum, but it wasn't Lenore's place to decide if they lived or died. Still, they would've killed her if she hadn't done it first, but that didn't mean she liked having to fight them. Conning them out of countless bullions was one thing, but this was another. "Definitely would not have needed to do that had we gone a little quieter. Poor man."

J5, knife Merc A

Empi felt a vein throb in her temple. Did that funsized female Tom wannabe just call her stupid? She wasn't going to take that from a client questioning her methods. Or anyone who wasn't her boss. Four-hundred years of dealing with human idiots had made Empi very impatient with people who were skeptical about her; the fuckers asked the same questions, over and over again. She wasn't about to deal with this from some random reject from Looney Tunes, client or not. "Dumb fairy? You think I'm one of the dumb broads you call fairies around here? Why didn't you get some of those broads to fix your problem then? Stupid fairy my ass! I didn't get a damn doctorate and refresher courses and survive the bastard children of a Xenomorph and the Thing for this bull-" Then danmaku happens. Empi looks even more irritated as she stares at the danmaku and starts flying towards a safe position. "Alright, now I'm pissed off. Those are your fairies, right? Let me at them, I'll show you dumb fairy!"

  "Enough, comrade. If you're not here to make friends, that's fine. But we aren't here to make enemies either, Rhian. You've proven your point."

Okay. Now was the time to intervene. Michi immediately steps between Rhian and Flynn the moment Flynn was downed, to end the fight if nothing else; he was beaten, the lesson was learned, and there needn't be further annoyances and misunderstandings. They let Kerr do the helping, Kerr having got there first, and instead serve to keep Rhian away for the moment.   "There is no shame in defeat. Only shame in not learning from your mistakes, comrade. If you fail to do that, you will not become the strong warrior your village asks of you. An outsider may not understand your customs, but they can understand what is needed to be a warrior worth being proud of."

Michi, for their part, deigns not to intervene. Normally, their code of honor would impugn them for not intervening when a clearly inferior fighter was being accosted by someone clearly superior, this was simply the code of chivalry Michi lived by. However, Flynn had completely and utterly earned this with their attitude towards women; after all, if women always needed their men to protect them, the logical solution ought to be that all men ought to stay with the women because then the women would not be able to protect themselves, would it not? Assuming, of course, that this thing was at all logical to begin with. And in any case, they'd already irritated Michi just a little bit. So.....maybe wait for Rhian to teach Flynn exactly what a woman could do, and then intervene before he got beaten too badly. They simply resume their imposing position, arms folded in wait.

"Wait, the hell did you say? Dodging bullets and spellcards? What do you think I look like, some maverick elf cop? Man, I'm really not getting paid to do this shit enough. Also.....what do you mean by even fairies? Are the fairies around here dumbasses or something?" Empi isn't particularly amused by this at all. Fairy she might have been, but she wasn't that kind of fairy. She was even less amused by the idea that fairies were idiots around here; Empi had earned that doctorate- and the right to call herself Doctor Emphala Powderbelle-, thank you very much, and she wasn't going to have her intelligence impugned by some detective chick. Back home, the real idiots were the actual gremlins. The pixies in IT really weren't paid enough to deal with the bastards. Stuff like her phone were gremlin-proofed, but it wasn't easy to do that.

Michi, for their part, leaves Dulcibella and Argos to their business. They didn't need a bow, and Michi was still curious about the Warriors' Village. Instead, they wander off, looking for something intriguing to watch for the moment. To take their mind off last night. And also because that blacksmith's words were more grating than Michi cared to admit. And they find it, in the form of Flynn and Rhian facing off. Specifically, right after Flynn suggests a fight against Rhian would be unfair. Michi, of course, is mildly amused.   "What's this now? Are you rejecting a challenge? I'd have thought a man so proud of your skills would have risen at the chance to prove yourself."

  "Is there a problem? Why are we talking about female slavery all of a sudden, comrades?" Michi appears suddenly near Argos and Dulcie. Michi, for their part, doesn't seem too hung up on what happened last night; although, as with everything else about them, it's difficult to tell given their face is consistently hidden behind their helmet. The tone of voice they're taking, however, is somewhat curious and a little alarmed.

Michi's expression is, as always, unreadable. The helmet conceals their emotions, and they recused themselves from the scene, leaving them to their fate; it didn't sit right with Michi at all, to watch their execution after having tried their damndest to spare them the axe. It would make them seem as if they'd been okay with this. This wasn't the first time Michi had seen an execution, but it never got any easier. The next words are kept to themselves alone.   "The path back to greatness does not always mean success, Wilhelm. Remember that. Remember what they told you."

Michi finally speaks up again, having been in deep thought for a while.   "I've been against pointlessly executing you this entire time, and sending you back to prison would do nothing but convince you to break out again. Still.....there ought to be some sort of punishment. If I may speak freely......well, the village will now be in need of better defenses, now that it's clear this place is vulnerable to banditry. Your skills are in need, and we cannot exactly spare our own, not when there are so few of us. In my family, the second lesson we are taught is to waste not. Your choices were poor, but that need not take your future away from you. I'd like to propose a more useful punishment; you assist this village by repairing the damage that was caused and protecting it from bandits and others who might get the idea of preying on others for supplies, if our leader and the village authorities are willing to permit that. A sort of community service, if I may. I would ask you to swear an oath, but you all don't seem like the type and I don't need to; you're fugitives in the middle of hostile territory. Should you break free or continue with your crimes, you'll most likely end up running into others far less honorable and far less willing to talk it out with you. Moreover, there are more of them than there are of you; should you choose to fight it out while our backs are turned, it will likely end in your death anyway. Any other terms of your eventual release, I leave to our leader to negotiate with the responsible authorities. Assuming, of course, you stay on your best behaviour. Or, of course, you can take your chances. I'd like you to take a moment to consider. For the sake of the girl, if nothing else."

"I'm guessing robot maids aren't exactly in high demand for the Guardians of the Multiverse or whatever this carnival of jokers calls itself?"

Empi looks over at Ritsu, lifting an eyebrow. She was a robot before, Empi was pretty sure. "I get paid to hook people up, Matchmaking, being a wingwoman, coaching people on how not to fuck up talking to people they want to spend more than five seconds talking to and maybe possibly bed them. Which, so far, I've done all of five minutes of because my boss decided that branching out into multiverse jobs and sending me out without a GPS to at LEAST find where I'm going was a great idea. So instead of hooking up a nerdy shopkeeper with his voluptuous, nubile but innocent and virginal neighbor, I'm fighting what would happen if Giger had a bad trip on some peyote."