Octo

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gertrude, to some dismay, found herself at the top of a tree when she next opened her eyes. If this was to be her quarters going forth, she might have just stayed in the other place. She had magic to make herself more comfortable sleeping outside, but privacy was even nicer. She yawned as she picked a spider off her blouse, and placed it instead on a nearby branch. Whatever. It was still dark, and she was still tired. Gertrude closed her eyes, and then...

Voices. One she recognized, and two she didn't. How many people were in this damn tree? Merilia liked to have her fun, that was for certain. The lout and two unknowns... maybe if she just ignored them? She didn't want to deal with anyone.

...But goddesses they went on. They were nipping at each other and whining and braiding each other's hair like a damn slumber party. She'd done such things with the other maids as a girl, but there was a time and a place, and it wasn't in this tree while she was trying to sleep.

"Hey, quiet down there," she growled bitterly after one began singing, "some of us are trying to sleep!"

She grabbed up another insect, and tossed it down at whoever was making noise.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

It was more than a little disorienting, charging Thrinax from her broom one moment and being patronized by Merilia the next. Gertrude wasn't exactly raring to get under the thumb of yet another Witch, but Merilia had already apprehended her and tossed her in with the Roses and this was her reward for acquiescing thus far (not that Merilia ever really gave her a choice, just like she wasn't really giving anyone a choice now). The expression on Gertrude's face was far less than content, even with their victory over Thrinax.

Gertrude clicked her tongue. It wasn't necessarily the geas that annoyed her, but the detestable reminder that she was now in yet another collar and the only decision to be made was 'which one'. Gertrude leaned towards Merilia in order to get on eye level, and tilted her head slightly.

"I'd appreciate if I didn't have to do this. You can either trust that I really don't care enough about the dead old people here to ever drop any of these names, or if you absolutely need me to accept this geas, I'll do so, but I won't be happy. You're obviously still sore about what's-his-face's betrayal. I get it. But one of these options will breed resentment instead of loyalty."

Gertrude drew herself back up to her full height, and sighed.

"It's up to you to decide if that's worth the cost. You've asked for an argument, and I've provided one."

She glanced over at Fionn.

"And for the record, I don't mind staying a little longer if it means I might get to watch Florian get his ass handed to him. I suppose I'm throwing in with the lout again."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gertrude clicked her tongue. This guy just couldn't stop saying things that annoyed her. Still, from their vantage point, they had a pretty good shot at finding a time to make a difference. The trick was being close enough to take advantage of it, which would be difficult if Thrinax didn't have some good distractions.

"It's everyone else who's difficult," Gertrude growled, "it's not my fault they're all witless dunderpates."

As she said this, the dragon fixed his gaze on the captain and swung, his fearsome claws only narrowly evaded. Gerard converged as Rolan took his shots, and the rest were doubtless not far behind. Gertrude, for her part, wasn't able to do as much as she'd like against the dragon's powerful hide. Gretchen was already chanting, but that was a powerful wind spell that would make escape for the dragon (if he tried it) considerably more difficult. For once, she had the chance to take any interest in what Fionn was doing.

"I didn't figure you for a magic-user, even if it's idiot magic," Gertrude snorted, looking at the modifications the man had made to his blade, "still, idiot offense is a perfectly acceptable answer to idiot defense. I think we can close in a little more without being in too much danger."

Gertrude's broom turned sharply, and she began heading towards the dragon from behind while still maintaining a respectable distance. It was a large creature, and despite being terrifyingly agile, it would take it a moment to get turned around. If it wanted to spit fire, Gertrude would have a good amount of warning. Normally she'd bombard something at this point, but there might be some value in a more sneaky approach.

"If you have any more stupid plans like during that last test, I'm all ears."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gertrude did not hide her distaste when Fionn stepped in once again to take her prey away from her. She only wanted to toy with Fanny, and this shithead just would not allow it to happen. Gertrude let out a low growl like a particularly displeased feline when he grabbed at her shoulder, and shot him a glare. Praise was praise, and it didn't feel too bad to have someone stick up for her, but this feeling was grossly overshadowed by his depriving her of the thing she wanted.

Gertrude wanted the captain's own response, in her own words.

Even Rolan stepped up and whispered... something. Gertrude couldn't hear it, and didn't particularly care to. All it meant was there were just that many people between her and an actual talk with her employer.

Then, when Fanilly was finally about to say something, it was interrupted once again by that old hag and the dragon. Gertrude clicked her tongue, and got on her broom. She was going to offer to lift Rolan and Fanilly out of harm's way, but they were both already tumbling down the hill. Maybe if the captain had trusted her at all, she would have just grabbed Gertrude's broom.

...It wasn't as if Gertrude didn't want to help at all.

Well, it wasn't Gertrude's fault if the captain didn't trust her. It was Fanilly's. She could have chosen to have a talk with her new employee at some point. It's what a proper leader would have done, but instead Gertrude was left entirely to her own devices. People should pay attention to her. She was talented, so everyone owed her their interest and she wasn't getting as much as she should.

The one person who was still there, and apparently trusted her enough to take her broom when things were about to get very warm, was perhaps the person she detested the most out of everyone she'd met so far.

"Fuck," she growled at Fionn, "hang on tight!"

She roughly yanked the knight high into the air as the ground below them was turned into a flaming hellscape.

Gretchen, who was not on the hill in the first place, began chanting once more.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Finally, the farce was over and done with. It was seriously annoying having to deal with a mage of Gisela's experience, and more humbling than Gertrude could ever be comfortable with, but that big smokescreen at the end may have been what clutched it. Gertrude was pretty proud of that idea, and was also expecting some degree of praise for how amazing she was. She wished she could just cut out the dumb middle parts and get to the point where Gisela admitted that Gertrude was talented and powerful.

But that point did not come. Instead, the Hundi woman prodded her boob and castigated her in front of everyone. How quickly positive feelings could be boiled down into an ichor of anger. Gertrude was frankly flabbergasted and felt betrayed, but she wouldn't let that show on her face. If she did, the old bat would win. She'd think she was right, vindicated somehow by Gertrude's own negative feelings.

No, there was no point in trying to reason with women like her, so Gertrude turned away and ignored the Hundi, only briefly moving to get a look at the Dragon they would be fighting. But that was only the second most important thing right now. When Rolan suggested a plan of action and Fanilly pleaded with her using the usual flattery, Gertrude only crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks.

"I don't know, mistress. I'm feeling a bit disrespected right now," Gertrude growled, side-eyeing Gisela, "I might not be in the mood to help. I had only thought... as my captain and mistress, shouldn't you be defending your charges against slander?"

If Gertrude could manipulate Fanilly into standing up for her, even if it wasn't genuine, it might be enough to cut the bitterness she was feeling. Besides, she wanted to see that tiny, inexperienced wreck talk back to someone stronger than her. At the very least, it would be amusing.

"Then again, all this time and you haven't even tried getting to know your newest recruit. Maybe you were just that busy, or maybe you just don't care..."

She figured guilt would work, if nothing else.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gretchen had thought she had a shot with all the distractions, but Krysia still managed to scope her attack out before it collided. Gretchen still had pride, but not like Gertrude. It was tempered in her own weakness, and allowed her to make decisions like tactical retreat. Gretchen called off the rest of the Celestial Spears. She might have been able to hit Krysia if she'd loosed the lot of them all at once, but her own... allies? Comrades?

People she had to tolerate.

Her own people she had to tolerate would be caught in the crossfire, and she'd likely deal more damage to her own chances than to Gisela's. At the very least, Krysia didn't seem offended enough to go after her. Like a small injured animal, she slinked back behind a tree and began chanting again. It looked like a lot of the Roses were about ready to make a charge up the hill, and Gisela was already focusing that way. Gertrude would be back up in the air to bombard Gisela from the flank again in no time, with the Hundi's attention so thoroughly elsewhere.

---

Gertrude groaned. It was probably time to get back in the air, but fighting Gisela annoyed her. In fact, not being the strongest mage in any given place annoyed her.

Old hags annoyed her, especially. Eternally clutching at their power and prestige and refusing to make way for the next generation with a headstart that reached practically an eternity and would get only more egregious as the years wore on.

Oh, how she yearned to teach Aleksiya a lesson.

Or Gisela. Whatever. Only, she was incapable at this point. All she could do was offer a distraction. Well, a victory was a victory.

Gertrude lifted up off the ground, seeing that Gisela was pretty aggressively targeting those who were charging up the mountain. It was time for a different sort of bombardment. Gretchen had chanted up a pretty massive fire spell, and Gertrude unleashed it from Gisela's flank. She didn't necessarily want to burn Gisela, but the hilltop that surrounded her. The flames and smoke would likely make it difficult to see and chant, and the Roses wouldn't need to worry about it until they crested the hilltop and achieved victory regardless.

Then, once that massive spell was unleashed, Gertrude would continue bombarding as she had been earlier. She was pretty sure Gisela would have an answer for this, but nothing that wouldn't cause her some distraction.

A Cry In Darkness: A Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni-inspired RP Interest Check

Consider me interested! I think I wanna be the arm-finder.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gertrude side-eyed Fionn as he plopped down on her broom. It felt weird to have someone else flying with her, especially since a portion of her soul occupied the catalyst that they were both riding on. She had a feeling it didn't like having some big weird dude sitting on it, but they wouldn't be too long. Gertrude lifted off, heading around the cliff in such a way that Fionn would be the one facing it.

Talkative bastard.

Gertrude let out a low growl as he dared suggest what she should do. Part of her hoped this plan succeeded, but a much larger part of her hoped he got killed. A lot.

"I do what I want. It just so happens I was going to do that anyways, OK?" Gertrude grumbled as she sped up. For most people, the ride wouldn't be this smooth. However, Gertrude delegated a lot of the fine movements to the part of her soul that occupied the broom, and its regulation was as close to perfection as a ride could get. Thus, when Fionn was ready to jump, it reared back and worked with his movement to fling him further along.

She wanted to call him something rude as she flew away, but her giving their movements away would defeat the whole damn point of the plan. Instead, she stuck her tongue out and pulled her lower eyelid down with a forefinger. He probably wouldn't see this, but it made Gertrude feel good.

From there, she shot around the mountain and began pummeling Gisela with very quick, not incredibly powerful spells. She figured if she could keep the woman busy like this for a while, things would shake out smoothly.

Things did not shake out smoothly.

Gertrude had under-estimated Gisela's ability to multi-task. She knew the woman could just pour mana into spells to make them work at high levels without an exceptionally long chant, but to have so many active at once while defending herself and watching for runners was quite frankly ridiculous. Gertrude distracted her for a while, but then Gisela unleashed a Shooting Stars spell whose volume took up so much of the horizon that defending against it directly without knowing how much she poured into it would not be feasible.

In short, her broom jolted downwards in a quick and messy maneuver that would have been incredibly dangerous for any other implement to attempt, and the spell essentially forced her out of the sky for the time being.

---

Gretchen had finished chanting a spell that Gertrude was getting ready to unleash, but without Gisela in Gertrude's sights, the spell threatened to become moot. Gertrude was well away from the rest of the group, but Gretchen had a good view of everything going on as she peeked out from behind a tree. Gisela was too far away for someone as weak as Gretchen to affect meaningfully, but Krysia was close by and distracted with harassing the archer.

Gretchen, meanwhile, had a fully-charged Celestial Spears spell and just a little more than enough mana to cast it. Since it could pierce even through armor, it had a chance of severely damaging Krysia if even a couple of them hit.

It looked like Rolan was about to make a move, and once he did, Gretchen decided to use that moment of distraction to launch her attack.

If it failed, well, she'd seen how mad Krysia got when someone had the gall to shoot at her. But that's why she'd stagger a few spears to protect herself if the Demon got close. After that was done, she'd need to rely on the others to protect her.

She hated relying on others, but she knew it was probably the best move she could make in the moment. She wondered if anyone would actually protect her, or if they were all selfish liars like she knew they were. Whatever the turnout, it would be useful to find out a few things.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gertrude clicked her tongue in disapproval as once again Fionn interposed himself between her and the target of her teasing. She glowered at the man and, for a moment, considered immolation. However, now was neither the time nor the place. If Gertrude wanted out of here, it would be in her best interest to play along at least a little. She was selfish and intelligent enough to understand this, so she wouldn't push the matter.

"I made this broom," Gertrude replied with a growl, "and it's powered by my own magic, so yes, it's strong enough to haul an extra hunk of tin."

She knew where Fionn was going with this, and imagined that it had the possibility of going very badly for him. But it could also go well, which meant getting out of here sooner. Honestly, kind of a win-win. She turned from him, and looked down at the captain. She, at least, seemed to be willing to play Gertrude's game. Watching Fanilly fumble her words looking for ways to flatter her was very refreshing. Gertrude smiled.

"Well, if the cute little mistress implores me so... how am I to refuse?"

When Fionn released her, Gertrude took her broom side-saddle.

"It's true Gisela is a fantastic mage, but if this lot can distract Krysia half as well as they think they can, I might be able to keep the Hundi in check. I have a few advantages of my own."

She turned, once again, to Fionn.

"No illusion magic here. My repertoire is more killing and self-preservation than trickery. We'll just have to make our move after the others start climbing and the attention is focused on them."

She tapped the spot next to her on the broom. If Fionn acquiesced, she'd drop him off once it was clear that Gisela's attention was on the others. From there, she'd harry the Hundi as best she could. Gisela had a lot of advantages, but Gertrude could cheat. The composition of her catalyst made it so that her casting was all but guaranteed to be faster, and Gisela would be working with divided attention.

Not to mention, Gretchen would be hanging back seemingly harmless. She'd be able to complete some chants, and then Gertrude would surprise the Hundi with a fully-charged spell or two.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gertrude didn't like being ordered around, but she was fine with being asked for things. Especially if it came with such gratuitous praise as the captain was willing to give her, or even the more subtle goading Rolan seemed fond of. Both fed the same stomach. Both had to play her game, and that meant she was powerful and amazing.

Being so enticed, she unleashed a litany of kill-you-dead magic to support the Roses' final push against the Talderians, like a raging boar charging into a herd of sheep.

Only sheep would give their lives so readily. Death was cheap in this realm, but even so, it was gross to watch the stupid animals ram themselves into the Roses' blades and cling to them of their own will. One may as well not have a will at all, if the result is to throw one's life away. As the Roses reached the throne, all Gertrude could do was scoff. She wasn't interested in the hollow praise of some old dead guy, so she slinked off to the side as she was apt to do.

This loner behavior paid dividends almost immediately as Gertrude felt a sense of dread creep up her spine. Perhaps she had time enough to warn some of the others, if that was her instinct, but it simply was not. Her broom yanked both her and Gretchen roughly to the side as she exclaimed the only thing that had come to mind in the moment.

"FUCK!"

---

It was hard not to admire Gisela's Annihilation Star, though at the same time it had Gertrude seething with jealousy. The woman had dug out an entire glass cavern, and from such a distance too. The ambush had cost them a few people, the captain and the oaf being among them, and the message was clear.

Get complacent and die.

Well, it was something Gertrude could get behind, at least. She knew that she was already an amazing genius, but she had no intention of stopping until she was the best. She slinked back to the group like a cat that had been shooed away before getting her due pettings, and glanced at the message which had simply confirmed what she had already thought.

"Gisela the Hundi mage and her fightsexual Demon... friend? Wife?" Gertrude grumbled, "she has the most disgusting amount of mana I've ever seen and probably hundreds of years of experience, and Krysia is a high-level warrior Demon."

Gertrude yawned.

"Well, identifying your routes and splitting up is about all you can do, but that sounds boring. Gretchen and I are gonna take a break while you fine knightfolk carry out the legwork."

With that, she unceremoniously reached out to give Fanny a pat on the head.