The Otter

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR@HereComesTheSnow@Conscripts

---

Other than a momentary glance of confusion as Fanilly quickly stepped out from between himself and Gerard, Fionn's mood—and the smile on his face—only grew as Fanilly took to heart what each of the three around her were saying. Certainly, it was better than watching her pace the garden with no way to break through her own thought process. Beyond that, it would be proof enough for one of his points in one ongoing disagreement with some of his fellow knights over their captain's long-term capability as a leader. "See? Now you've got a plan, not just a problem."

Satisfied for the moment with the captain's issue, he turned back to Gerard, tucking his thumbs into his belt as his gaze fell upon the man—though he refrained from pointing out any other stains. "Now, that decided, you were calling for me, aye?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR@HereComesTheSnow@Conscripts

---

"Well, now it's turning into a party, isn't it?"

The phrase was muttered under his breath even as he faced the approaching Steffen with another grin and a raised hand. When for once he'd been making an effort to avoid most of his fellow knights for at least a little while longer, taking the chance to talk to the captain had opened him up to being surrounded. A basic tactical mistake; and unfortunately, not one he could trust in his allies to help ameliorate, or his skill in arms to break him out of.

With an inward resoluteness that he managed not to display to the others around him, he turned back to Fanilly. He couldn't avoid them all forever, certainly not when he lived with them; and beyond that, the captain needed someone who could keep an eye on the big picture, not think too much, not get bogged down with the small details.

"Interrogating the Mage's College ought to help with that too, I'd think, if they already found one shard as it is." He waved off the secondary concern, unbothered by it where the others might have thought it even more open-ended than the first. "They're bound to already know which old rumors bore fruit, which were just rumors, all of that. Things like this have a habit of coming out in the wash, you know? Just don't get so focused on the spot you're trying to clean out that you miss the one on the other side."

Just to punctuate the point, he reached across where Fanilly stood between himself and Gerard, clapping a hand down on the shoulder to Gerard's uninjured arm, one finger conveniently pointing right at a very faded, almost unnoticeable stain.

"Besides, it's not like we really even have the opportunity to fail, right? This is just making it all easier in the end if we pull it off, sure, but none of the powers that be will really let us slip and fall with this."

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Cadmon Demet

---

@Crimson Paladin@HereComesTheSnow

---

"I don't need a step back," Cadmon snapped irritably, holding the paper out to István to peruse. "That dotard has been a thorn in my side since before I was even born, and evidently that isn't even enough to content him!" As the paper was taken, uncaring that Roger was still playing witness to it all, Cadmon seized the mug that had been pushed towards him, draining it from the moment he put his lips to it rather than waste any time arguing with his retainer over it.

And before any other party still in the room had a chance to speak up, he continued on in his own outrage: "Accusing me of betraying him, failing to fulfill obligations that don't even exist? By what right does he send me any letter like that? Father made it clear to him every time that we aren't beholden to him in any way, no matter what his demented mind may think, yet now he's threatening to invade my fief for my supposed insolence? I shudder to think how far up his diseased colon I'll have to reach before I can get my hands on his goblinoid little face and tear his head from his shoulders." With a contemptuous flick of his wrist he tossed the rest of the package of letters Roger had delivered him to one corner of his desk, drawing over parchment, pen, and ink rapidly to start drafting a response.

"I'm going to make it clear to Feldger, once and for all, that if he sets foot on my lands, I don't care that he's a duke, I wouldn't care if he was the king's own cousin, he'll be left trying to scoop his intenstines back into place before a week is out. Faster, even, if he's seen fit to try and correspond with Duke Hraesleg about me as well. Threatening me is bad enough, but if he's chosen to embarrass me as well, I'll make sure his grandson gets an early inheritance." He looked back up suddenly, stony grey eyes fixated on the Griffin Knight with more life and energy than the latter had likely seen out of Cadmon in the entire time they'd known each other.

"I'm larger than our merchant. Can Shortclaw carry the both of us, Falkner? I may have business to attend to, rapidly."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR@HereComesTheSnow

---

Before Fanilly had a chance to respond, Gerard rounded the corner, calling out to him with some sort of purpose—

Then immediately clamming up and addressing the captain. Fionn raised an eyebrow at the sudden shift in demeanour, before turning back to Fanilly as she spoke up. Whatever Gerard was hunting after would have to wait a little while longer. "Why start with the library when you have people involved instead?" he asked after a moment of thought. "Not just the prisoners, but they might help. Veilena said the Mage's College had the shard, right? Start there. Even Veilena herself might have something more helpful to supply."

It all seemed very simple, by his thought. Starting, gathering information, that was the easy part. Piecing it together was where the real effort would have to come in, where the real difficulty would lie—and where the library would probably come in handy. "It seems like you're getting a step or two ahead of yourself, captain. Don't start on the roof before you've even laid your foundation. Right now it seems like Angroron is all you have to go on, and that's too broad."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR

---

With some more choice words from both sides, the argument erupting between Fionn and Clarice passed relatively quickly—his frustration mounting to the point that he knew staying to continue would only lead to an attempt for further bloodshed at either of their hands. He directed one of the junior knights to strip the commander's corpse of its armour and weapons, much like they'd been doing with the other dead around the glade, before going off on his own, staring silently into the pool as it reflected the rising moon.

His ride back to Aimlenn passed in sullen silence, as he dropped far to the rear of the train rather than maintain his customary place near the front. A silence that persisted for the entire day after their return, the normally gregarious knight rapidly retiring to his room rather than socialize with the others; he was even curt at breakfast the next day, finishing his daily work out in the training yard without much to say before moving to pace around the castle.

As absorbed in his own thoughts as he was, though, he wasn't too blind to notice someone else lost in the same.

"Brooding doesn't really fit you, captain," he said in lieu of a greeting, though he waved as he walked up. "Too short for it. Not really the right place for it, either. Have you tried atop our tallest tower, or is there a good cliff nearby that you can glare out over?" In spite of the way he'd been since their last battle ended, he grinned in response to his own jokes. "We should probably trade places, though if we did that I'd have to worry about Renar and Serenity finding me and making fun of my attitude. What's got you all troubled like?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR@6slyboy6

---

As though Fanilly's words had been the cue they'd been waiting for, one of the healers who'd followed up to the scene quickly stepped in, and Fionn handed Amy off as he looked back up, glare focusing on Clarice. "She dragged you over because I called for it, because there was something important, something lying right in your specialty. Alette sent you along to help us, did she not? To work with us? Is that the answer you needed repeated to you the entire time we were travelling here?" He stood, stepping forward quickly where Clarice had shrunk back for the moment.

Better to keep her on the defensive, rather than let her have some opportunity to claw back some shred of dignity. It was ultimately pointless, certainly not the most rational thing, and Fionn knew that, but between the personal insult of his chosen fight getting ripped from him at the last second, and the far greater travesty of a halfways-honourable duel like that getting cut short by some assassin's trick, his patience to put up with the woman's continual disrespect of Fanilly and his fellow knights was entirely spent.

"Alette might have been willing to put up with you being so thoughtless as to reveal why the group of you had been at the fort, but I can't imagine she'd put up with this constant insolence. I can't imagine she'll praise you as soon as any of us tells her how much of a spoiled, whiny, arrogant brat you've been, no matter how hard you try to make her. And that's without even mentioning that you were so impressed with yourself at finding her—" and he lifted his sword to point back in Veilena's direction, stepping closer still to bear down on the diminutive spellcaster before him—"That if she hadn't been paying attention, the Boars' ambush damn well could have worked! Is that what Alette pays you for? To be so convinced of your self-importance that you put everything else at risk? Or do you actually do your job when you're with her?"

He let his blade drop, though his furious, unblinking glare was still focused firmly on Clarice's own eyes. "That is what you need to apologize for, Clarice Kastin, all of it. I don't know you well enough yet to decide if you've made a mockery of yourself, but you've certainly made a mockery of the faith Alette placed in you, and have thoroughly disrespected our captain far more times than I can put up with."

The Lion's Banner: A Fire Emblem-Inspired Anime Fantasy RP

Cadmon Demet

---

@Crimson Paladin@HereComesTheSnow

---

István's sudden arrival was met with a glance up from Cadmon, before returning to the papers that had been delivered while the large knight went about saying his piece. "You're only saying that because you've never convinced her to get in a carrier," he replied to the comments on Sirona, before the gryphon in question had a chance to hiss at the man in reply. He set the betrothal offer down, glancing over the next before passing it off to István.

"Frith and Saric haven't managed to run things into the ground without us keeping watch over them. I trust my cousins didn't give you any trouble, Sir Falkner?" Despite addressing the knight, he didn't look back up at him, still skimming over the next letter held in his hand. By the time he reached the end of it, any small smile Sirona had brought to his expression had dropped completely, brow furrowed in uncharacteristic consternation for the young man.

"István, I'm going to kill this man."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR @Raineh Daze @6slyboy6

---

By the time Amy had made it over, the Boars' commander had long lost any ability to speak around the well of blood rising to fill his throat; as his final breaths bubbled through Fionn knew there was likely no chance that Clarice and Veilena with their knowledge could halt the curse and prolong the man's life, or that Tyaethe might manage to pull something else out of her hat like she had the night of the ball. No, as Amy sank down against him and issued her own plea to the man, he closed his eyes with a sigh.

"Gods have what mercy on you they will," he murmured at the mercenary's last gasps, pink foam bubbling up and over the grimaced lips. "At least you weren't so proud as to refuse to try and aid us at the end." He let the body down as the others spoke up around him, one hand closing the corpse's eyes rather than leave their empty stare. His left arm wrapped around Amy's waist, dimly aware that she was relying on his physical support as much as she was trying to help with the enemy commander. With his right, he reached out, fingers wrapping around the hilt of the sword he'd dropped moments before as he placidly listened to the others speak around him.

Staring down at the Boar's face, still twisted with pain even in death. Whatever crimes the man had committed in life, he'd at least held on to enough of a sense of decency not to support the corruption of his men, enough of his honour to answer a challenge honestly. Betrayed and silenced by his patron at the last chance he had to make any show of repentance for his wrongdoing. After so many years spent on the field of battle, some in outright war, there was little that could make Fionn sick—but his stomach still roiled with revulsion at the injustice committed before his own eyes.

He hung his head, breathing deeply, still for a moment as the others spoke around him.

"Clarice Kastin."

He growled the name out in the momentary silence, his voice as brittle as grinding ice as he played back the last bits of the conversation around him, head still low. Not offering the girl the chance to try and win him over with some cute act or pout, nor leaving any room in his words for her to pick apart or disregard his statement. "You owe our captain an apology."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR @Raineh Daze @6slyboy6

---

Fionn stood still in a moment of confusion as the disembodied voice rang out around him and the Boars' commander, his brow furrowing as he relaxed again from the ready position he'd just taken up. "What fresh hell is—" Then his eyes widened as the man cursed, blood covering his armour and the ground in front of him as he fell. All thoughts of a duel gone for the moment, Fionn dropped his own blade, rushing forwards to catch the man. "Tyaethe!" he bellowed across the battlefield, calling out to the only one he'd seen break a curse thus far. "Clarice, Amy, Veilena! Get over here!"

No sense, of course, in limiting it to just the one, when they had another who was well-versed in curses, a healer, and simply a powerful mage at the ready.

He turned back to the Boars' commander, quickly pulling off the man's helmet. "Whatever you have left in you, man, speak. If not a name, give us a title, something identifiable, quickly!"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

---

@VitaVitaAR

---

"Síocháin leat," Fionn said to the fallen abomination as the Boars' commander addressed him. Glancing out, he could see the other cursed beings meeting similar fates to the one he'd been fighting. "Suaimhneas orthu. You're right. They shouldn't have been twisted like that." He half-turned at last to his initial target, hand lightly resting on the hilt of his sword. At least he and the Boar could agree on two things; the second was that, despite the exertion, he still wasn't a threat to take lightly.

It was good that the field commander was taking this seriously.

"You can still surrender," he suggested, light and conversationally. "We both know what'll happen to you, but it'll give you the time to make right with the gods and goddesses, let us know who did that to your men. Better than stumbling in the darkness until the end of days." He drew his sword, holding it loosely, letting it rest against his leading leg.

"If you fight, I'll give no quarter."