The Otter

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher featuring Aisling the Niyar

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@Raineh Daze

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“Krineti. The word you’re looking for is krineti,” Aisling answered first, looking thoughtful, “And no, no, I’m not from near the mountain, I’m with all the pointy people and the nice doggies.”

And then she lit up again, the tree now… well, shaking. It appeared that Fionn had given the nature spirit some ideas.

Indeed, he’d felt the vibrating of the tree beneath him start as soon as she’d said the word. It was terribly rude, he figured; interrupting the conversation just to try and send him falling like that. Clearly he couldn’t continue to try and stall for time like this, because if he did the tree would end up shaking violently enough that he couldn’t hope to hold on at all—

Or she’d just let it break, and him fall with it.

He wrapped his legs firmly around the trunk, turning to face the cliff face again as he looked up at the fairy. “Right, krineti, thanks for that,” he grumbled. “So that means, as a command—”

Some of the loose earth around the trunk sticking out from the cliff was breaking away and falling as it shook, the mud that Aisling had made covering most of it that he could see looking either up or down.

Well. Two can play at that game.

He slapped one hand against the cliff face, his focus high up on the ground just below Aisling where she leaned to look over the edge. “Krini!” he thundered as pushed his will into the cliff ahead of him, setting the top under Aisling’s legs shaking worse than when he’d accidentally torn apart Erich’s garden. The destabilized dirt began to crack, drop, and slough off around where the fairy was standing—hopefully taking her with it.

Not watching to see the fruits of his labor, Fionn leapt from the still-shaking tree, digging his clawed hands deep into the cliff in a mad scramble upwards, off to the side from where he’d set it shaking to avoid sending himself falling with the fairy. If she didn’t fall, there wouldn’t be much chance left for him to do much other than hope he could move quickly enough to counteract the mud slipping beneath him.

“Weeee~” was probably not the response that Fionn had been anticipating, Aisling sliding off the cliff and… okay, holding herself upright despite now being at an incline? Either impressive core strength, or fairy magic at play. And with him stuck climbing the same cliff—

“Oh, this is a nice seat.”

Ah, there was a fairy on his shoulders.

Digging his arms deep into the mud served fairly well to mitigate the sliding as much as possible, coupled with digging his toes in a similar amount. Grabbing any roots or actual rock he found as he climbed helped as well. Had the cliff been a bit further off from vertical, it might well not have worked out at all—but he was still making headway, just slower than he’d like. And he couldn’t really afford to get lax in his hunting.

He wrapped his fingers around a thick root he felt meet his palm as he dug his arm in again, just as the new weight perched itself on his shoulders.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“It’s much better than being on fire, that’s for sure.”

“Yes, that’s never very fun, is it?”

He looked up again. The sudden darkness that had covered over the space earlier was now replaced with the unmistakable glow of firelight coming from atop the cliff. No surprise there; it was only a matter of time before Gertrude got annoyed enough to try and blast the entire thing to bits.

He squeezed the root once, turning his head a little bit to the fairy perched on his back.

“So, you don’t know Fiadh, do you? As far as I know she’s always been around Gleann Luaith, don’t know that she ever lived around elves or Hundi much.”

“Hmm, maybe? But if she sticks to her area, and I stick to mine, it’s not like we’d ever meet much. Maybe once or twice a century? It’s so much more interesting to go look at the people who don’t belong when they come visit you.” Above them, the earth seemed to be churning away still, even though Fionn’s spell had definitely run out. Probably trying to put out enough of the fire she would have somewhere to wait again.

“Well, she’s down in Thaln by Aimlenn now. Much further south. Might come visit if you’d like, when we’re not having to fight each other. Gisela summoned you here, aye? You’re not just one that’s been stuck in here?”

If she was the latter, that would certainly make visiting difficult.

“Oh, yes, I was brought in for the afternoon, it sounded like fun! I haven’t seen a dragon in ages and I wanted to watch.” It seemed the fire was out now. Or at least that patch of it.

“You wouldn’t be willing to help me with that dragon later, would you?” He was ready to set the unseen root wrapping around his hand to keep him held up at a moment’s notice if she went back to her earlier attempts to shake him off and throw him down, but for the time being he was happy to catch his breath a bit. “Fighting him is our next task.”

“Dragons are all burny and I’m associated with trees.” Now she was leaning over to try and look him in the eyes, the cliff getting out of the way so there was room for her head. It did mean rather a lot of hair blowing against Fionn’s face, though. “I don’t think that would help. And then I’d be too close! Terrible view.”

Fionn blinked at the hair blowing into his eyes, shaking his head a bit. ”You don’t need to be that close. I don’t mean getting up and fighting it with us, just—think of how tired I’m going to be after this! I know you’ve got something that can help with that.”

He paused for a moment.

”No just making me sleep, though. That option is off-limits.”

“Aww… but sleeping is good! Maybe there’s some berries? Will you have time for a nice drink before you fight the dragon?”

He looked back up the cliff. ”Maybe? We didn’t really get any time before we were set to this task, although Gisela did at least wait for us to scout around and plan a bit. Would it be too much for me to ask you to start prepping something now if you’ve got something in mind?”

“Oh, maybe! I should go look… there must be some nice plants around…”

Well, at least there was no longer a fairy on his shoulders. Just mud up to his wrists as the cliff had gotten very… damp.

Fionn breathed a sigh of relief. ”Appreciate it, dear,” he muttered. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the root in his right hand—and ignored the itch in his left every time he started even contemplating magic. A moment spent rooting around for the right word, and...”Dringe.”

The root stirred in his grasp, bending towards the top of the cliff. As he stuck his left hand into the muck, he grasped where it had grown further, now climbing inexorably upwards for as long as he could stay focused on it.

Hand over hand like he was climbing a rope, Fionn advanced upwards towards the no-longer-burning portion of the peak now that he didn’t have anyone actively harrying him.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

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Esben had known from the outset that he would hate travelling through the desert, though he'd never have guessed anywhere close to the extent. The sand was annoying enough—one misstep led to a shoe full of it, and a good breeze blew up enough of the dust to fill any open space in the rest of his clothing and provide even more constant irritation. Clothing he'd made sure to arrange and layer as carefully as possible, trying to block sun and wind both without stifling himself, and it was never enough.

Too much or too tight, and he'd overheat rapidly. He was far from comfortable as it was, but at least he wasn't literally roasting himself alive. Relying on ice from Miina had helped make the desert heat slightly more bearable, but not by much. Too loose, and there was nothing to stop himself from getting abraded in multiple places as the sand and dust infiltrated any place it could find and refused to shake back out easily. However, no matter how constant an irritation they provided, they were far from the worst.

The first day after they'd reached the desert proper, he'd thought to brave the trek with his face uncovered. Breathing the air freely, as unconcerned in it as he normally was anywhere further south; sure, when the wind blew sand in their faces he'd cover up with a scarf, but he'd just as quickly drop it to respire without restriction as soon as the moment came. By the time the sun was setting, his voice was already sounding twice as strained as it had after an entire day of talking shortly after he'd come to the larger group. When he awoke in the morning, it was with a fierce, grinding cough, a voice that was almost entirely gone, and blood caked on his upper lip and cheek from a nosebleed in the middle of the night.

For someone who had grown up in a coastal place, such dry air was intolerable in every way. His lips and skin soon followed as they turned dry and cracked and peeled, even after he decided to wear his scarf as a veil across everything below the eyes—a veil lapped twice over, to try and preserve as much of the moisture of his breath as possible. There was no way he could just dip into their water to try and soothe his parched mouth and ravaged airway, and even that wouldn't help his stinging eyes or itching skin.

He bore it as well as possible, falling even quieter than usual, but before long on the second day it became clear that he was continuing on out of stubbornness to keep up with the group as out of any actual ability to endure the climate. Perhaps it only made sense that he would suffer so much—he'd already made it plenty clear to the rest that he was a spy, an infiltrator, and at times a duellist, not a soldier or warrior. While he wasn't unaccustomed to travel, it wasn't travel like this, in such a punishing location.

By the time they came to the Valheimer encampment they'd set out to investigate, he was too fatigued to try and counsel against approaching too close—until the second he heard Izayoi's indignant words towards what Valheim appeared to be testing this deep in the desert, snapping his focus back to the present rather than on whatever he may have been thinking to distract himself from the heat.

"Hva faen?" he hissed, blinking tears out of his eyes as he realized how blatantly they'd presented themselves, before biting back further cursing at his own lack of attention or useful observation. His buckler and sword were drawn instantly, hands as steady as ever thanks to the adrenaline that had just shocked him back to reality, the moment before the armored giant fell into their midst. He stepped backwards smoothly, the kick passing harmlessly by a finger's breadth away from the ribs it targeted, but his own responding thrust was stayed as Éliane was swept off her feet instead, passing right in front of him before she was thrown down.

He retreated another step as Galahad stepped in to retrieve their now-prone comrade, mind running in overdrive to assess the situation and what he could manage in it. There wasn't much opportunity for tricks like he'd just been able to pull on Reisa, and there were too many others around to fall back on his skills as a duelist—at least some of the others had learned to fight in tandem, whether by pairs or by formations, something his own skill set distinctly lacked.

But hesitation in such a circumstance could never benefit anyone, and even Ithar's own luck couldn't stop that from being taken advantage of. The beast before them had a natural inclination to combat, and it could tell that its only hope to escape the coming retribution was to break out of the wall of bodies surrounding it. Naturally, it moved for the weakest link; Esben ducked under one rapid slash, was forced to step off to one side as a second attempt to cleave him in two slid off his raised blade towards the sand below. As adept as his defence may have been he couldn't make space like he would have liked, whereas the hulking warrior had managed to close in with each strike, taking advantage of both his momentary indecision and his fatigue.

The shoulder tackle that followed slammed into him hard, barely mitigated by the forearm and buckler he'd just managed to place between it and his chest and face before it connected. He was thrown from his feet instantly by the force of the blow, sent rolling end over end into the sand backwards before finally coming to a stop, silent and unmoving but for the fall of his chest and a light groan as the last of the air left his lungs. At that point, he had only to hope that he'd frustrated the creature by not succumbing to the first strike, and delayed its attempted evasion enough that the rest of the attacks coming its way were sure to connect.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@Raineh Daze

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Aisling. Not one he really remembered meeting. Unfortunate.

"Well, the one that put her up to guarding the top of this hill from us—" Fionn gestured vaguely off towards where Gisela ought to have been at that point— "Is the same one that put us to the task of getting to the top of it. So I can't really get to falling, or I'd be breaking my agreement here. Besides, I'm not climbing right now, I'm sitting! Sitting and talking." He patted the tree he was currently perched on with a broad grin. "Of course, if you think about it, that means—by extension—we're actually working for the same person. Little odd, isn't it?" Simple, transactional; word given, a task to be done. She'd understand it, easily enough, enough to get to questioning why they were set against each other when they had the same boss.

Now, just to figure out what to do about the contracted Niyar and the now-much-more-treacherous cliff face she'd made for him.

"So, the big forest, aye? You weren't from around the big mountain, were you? That's where I'm from, me and Fiadh. She's the one left this mark in my palm, so she is." He took the moment to hazard a quick glance around, admiring the scenery—and trying to commit to memory, as well as possible, every last bit of actual rock and every tree or other useful plant sticking out from the cliff face in case he had to start climbing again, quickly. Anything to keep him from tumbling to the ground far below.

He looked back up to the tiny face peeking at him over the edge. Best to keep the conversation moving while he thought up a plan of some sort. "She's taught me a bit of language, too, although I'm not so quick to learn. What was the word for shaking again? Or to shake, I suppose. Kreteti?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

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"I may take you up on that," came Esben's louder, much clearer reply to Miina's offer. He was sitting near one of the walls, confident that the others could handle any further discussion of their itinerary without his input. Hopefully there'd be more opportunities that would fit his particular skillset than the one they'd just had, although a trek through the desert wasn't likely to have any such until they finally reached the staging area.

It was bound to be more uncomfortable than anything.

He lowered the plate of sweet snacks he'd been eating from—wagashi, one of the locals had told him they were all called—sparing a glance at where on the map Hien had pointed for the group's possible goal, if they all saw fit to follow it. Deep in the desert, far away from any civilization. A far cry from the cold climate he was familiar with.

"Assuming Dame Commander Laruelle doesn't try to overrule me, anyways."

He'd pay for it later, but it was impossible to resist poking and prodding at any of the Kirins for long. Éliane just made the quickest target by virtue of being from the same country.

He took a short sip of tea, before speaking up again: "What are your plans after we're on our way?" A fairly innocuous question from any of the others; he doubted that it would be taken as such from him, nor did he really want it to be. No doubt it had already been made clear, whether by Izayoi, Chisaki, Ciradyl, Renzo, or any of the others what his involvement in the planning had been and what his background was. He could only hope that Ciradyl had already passed along some of what he'd been saying to Hien.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

featuring

Esben Mathiassen

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Ciradyl stepped into her personal room after the tense atmosphere settled down and she had gotten a chance to speak with Izayoi. Muscles ached as she unstrapped her armor and changed into a modest, white nightgown that flowed loosely just above her knees. She did not feel the pull of the soft, silk sheets next to her just yet. There was too much on her mind to let her fall asleep anytime soon. A bit of shame came over her as she realized she had not properly expressed gratitude to the Skaealan who had made tonight possible. Honestly, it was an excuse to pry whatever information on subterfuge she could pull from him.

She wandered around the safehouse a little until she managed to find him. Renzo had given her directions but the look on his face told he was a little curious. The Faye cleared her throat as her eyes laid on him ”I hope you are finding the accommodations suitable.” Her voice projected ”I wanted to thank you for what’ve you done tonight. I understand it may not have been in Skael's tactical advantage but you’ve helped give Osprey a fighting chance to be a nation again.” Ciradyl looked for any signs she could read off the man while speaking as honestly as she could.

Esben glanced up from the plate he was currently snacking from as Ciradyl slid open the door to his room. His face remained studiously blank as she spoke, although the movement of his eyes was obvious as he looked her over once. Certain habits were hard to break, especially when deep behind enemy lines—but there was nothing on the tall Faye’s person or about her demeanour to be immediately worried about.

He hadn’t expected the nightclothes, however...Are all Ospreyans so forward?

”Now he owes us and he knows it,” he replied with a shrug, not letting the other thought be known. ”Valheim is the greatest worry right now, and after you made Hien’s involvement in spearheading this rebellion clear, that he wasn’t just a figurehead, it made rescuing him the smarter choice.” Unspoken, but obviously implied, was that his recommendation would have been different had Hien just been a figurehead for the resistance.

As he finished, he held out the plate towards Ciradyl, nodding at one of the other cushions on the floor to sit on in the sparse room—other than offloading some of his gear and changing into clean clothes, he had yet to do anything else with the space, not even rolling out the mattress to actually get ready to sleep. ”Care for some manjū?” he asked, as conversationally as if he hadn’t just been discussing the possibility of martyring one of Osprey’s last loyal nobility. ”One of your people suggested them for a light snack. I couldn’t wait until they came back with the tea to try a couple.”

Ciradyl tilted her head innocently ”Is there something wrong?” She softly asked, knowing full well his attention would have been drawn to her attire.

She then nodded at his new spoken assessment, glad that he was seeing it as such ”His rescue would not have been so critical otherwise.” Silently she bit her tongue at this statement, stating it rather coldly. There was a quick reset on her features as she took his offer and sat neatly on a cushion facing him before continuing ”Hien is a capable leader and warrior that can unite Osprey against Valheim. I have done everything in my power to ensure it.” The coldness of her previous statement lifted, and a sense of hope accompanied her words.

The Faye plucked one of the better pieces on the plate ”Thank you, though it is better with tea.” She cracked a small smile before taking a bite out of the manju, glad that her people were fulfilling their duties well.

Ciradyl spoke again after finishing her snack ”I would like to hear your thoughts on how we may proceed from tonight.” Her voice direct ”I am sure you have more knowledge on these matters than I do so I wish to draw upon it, if that is agreeable?” Her tone and manner of speaking remained mostly formal. She had spent the past year carefully adjusting the way she spoke and words she chose. Now it was difficult to speak semi-casually without actively thinking about it.

Esben chewed thoughtfully on one of the little steamed sweet buns, thinking over Ciradyl’s request slowly before giving any answer. ”Asking me how to proceed on the resistance, ja?” he clarified once his mouth was no longer full. ”I should warn you, partisan warfare and such active destabilization isn’t really my specialty. But I can help with what I know, although I know that none of you will really like the first suggestion I have.”

Ciradyl nodded once to his question, finishing the last bit of her sweet bun as Esben continued ”Whatever counsel you can provide would be appreciated. I would like to hear it all the same.” She shifted slightly in place, wondering what his proposal was. There was little at this point she would not consider, not when everything was finally coming together.

”Outsource your planning and leadership,” came the blunt reply. ”If not to Edren, then to Skael, although I’d pick the closer option if I were you. Based off of the trouble you all have been having, what you started to have with Hien’s capture, it sounds to me like things are too centralized, and you’re not nearly at a point where that’s a good decision here. If he’s got a place outside of Kugane that’s more-or-less free from Valheimer control and can be made its own little island of independence, great, but that still makes for too prominent of a target if they bring their might to bear. The only people that should have any idea of the existence of every cell involved, able to coordinate them with each other, should be in a relatively unassailable position beyond Osprey’s borders, and the cells themselves should have no clue who is who outside their own groups. Anything else is both overly risky and overly open to dissolution via infighting should the snake’s head get severed.”

Ciradyl admittedly was caught off-guard by the proposal, shifting side to side. Nevertheless she remained quiet and listened to everything Esben said before forming her own ideas. He had been right. She didn't like it. Hien and Izayoi would no doubt be outraged at the thought of placing Osprey's fate in another foreign country's hands ”I admire your forthrightness. You speak without fear.” It could be considered a threat under different circumstances but she was being sincere. Slowly she stood up and smoothed out the edges of her nightgown, and gently bowed towards Esben ”It is getting late and I have taken enough of your night. I hope we can have another talk soon.”

”Come back any time!”

With that, Ciradyl exited from Esben's room and returned to her own with much to think about. Her caution had gotten the Ospreyan resistance this far, but as a result everything rested on her shoulders and the weight was begin to break her. It would be up to her to convince Hien and Izayoi if she were to go ahead with the suggestion. Her only fear would be that they would end up the puppet of another rival, but perhaps a puppet was just slightly better than a slave.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@Raineh Daze

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"Why, hello there."

"Huh?"

Fionn looked up quickly at the voice addressing him, worried for a moment that it was Gisela herself taking a moment to notice his presence—seeing a Niyar instead was at least somewhat less concerning, in terms of the potential that his flesh would remain attached to his bones. Not one he recognized, but that wasn't terribly surprising—outside of Fiadh and any of the ones closest to her in the forests around Gleann Luaith and Dún Att, he couldn't really claim to know any Niyar, despite looking around Aimlenn as much as time allowed.

"Bye bye~!"

And she didn't even give him a chance to give a proper greeting before trying to get rid of him. He could see the cliff below her start to shift, rock and packed dirt glistening as though suddenly thoroughly flooded. Worse yet, the change was making its way down to him; if he had to guess, it would turn into a loose enough muck that he'd be almost unable to find any purchase, unless he was willing to shove his arms shoulder deep into it.

A slow, and unattractive proposition.

"Now, now, wait just a minute!" he called, glancing off to either side; at the sight of a tree that had started growing out from the wall, he moved, hand over hand, as rapidly as his skills could allow over to it. Even then he could already feel his holds moistening and loosening under his grasp, faster than he could just climb over to it—with little else to do, he launched himelf bodily, arms stretching out towards the tree as he commanded it: "Gabye!"

One branch bent its way towards him, lengthening improbably to meet his grasp; as soon as contact was made, his fingers wrapping around it, fresh growth twined around his wrist, securing him against a sure fall to his doom. Heaving himself up, he wrapped his other hand around the branch, the grasp on his wrist releasing as he did—heaved twice more, and now he was atop the the trunk that stuck out from the wall, catching his breath. At least it was rooted deeply enough not to fear disappearing in a mud slide.

It would pretty much have to be, he supposed; it was growing sideways out of a rocky face.

He turned to look back up at the small green girl that had addressed him. No doubt she might be a little surprised at hearing him call out some sort of magic she may have used, even if not as proficiently. But he couldn't tell that for sure over the mild surprise—possibly delight? They always were fond of interesting situations, and his failure to go plummeting to the base of the cliff below was surely something interesting—that was already on her face after witnessing his narrow escape.

Now, how best to get his way out of this without making a mudslide himself, or otherwise drawing too much of Gisela's attention to the cliff face rather than the hopefully-more-obvious threats posed by his fellow knights.

"Well, here I thought climbing would be hard enough!" he said after a few deep breaths, waving up with his left hand, the mark that Fiadh had left in his palm glinting in the sunlight obviously enough that the Niyar up above would have no way to miss it. "We haven't met before, have we? Would you let me know your name, please?"

Polite conversation was usually a safe starting path with fae like these. Just had to be careful what you said, how you phrased things, if you wanted any answers.

"You wouldn't happen to be acquainted with any of the Niyar or Senyar in northeastern Velt, would you?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@Octo

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Fionn glanced at the broom as Gertrude sat upon it. Side-saddle; it only made sense, it'd be too thin for anything else without a seat. Impossible to grip with the legs, unlike a horse.

Or would it be? It would depend on the thighs, of course. But it would be wildly uncomfortable.

"Works for me!" he said, placing his weight against the broom, legs facing the opposite direction as Gertrude's. For balance. The back end of his hauberk shook out behind him so that he wasn't sitting directly atop the mail, and with his now-clawed hands, he grasped the broom on either side of him. "Let's see how high up we can get me to start, eh?"

Without any further fanfare, Gertrude set off, the broom rising and darting forward as fast as any horse he'd ever ridden on. The rest set off as well, Gisela and Krysia wasting no time engaging the others. The plan as the captain had explained it quickly fell apart; no surprises there to Fionn, well acquainted with how often plans would crumple as soon as any enemy resistance was encountered.

Squinting, he could see Rolan far below, taking a shot at the demon before resuming his climb upwards—pausing to reload and take a shot at Gisela herself. "Now's as good a chance as any," he said to Gertrude just in front of him. "Sling me by that cliff face, I'll jump and catch it. Get up as quick as you can and see if you can't give Rolan some covering fire in return."

As the broom made its swift approach for the cliff face in question, Fionn, hands gripping it white-knuckled, carefully positioned himself so that his feet were up atop the stick. Better not to waste any time at all, he figured—he'd just have to hope he didn't throw off Gertrude's flight path too much. Once she came close enough he released the broom, propelling himself off of it with a wild leap that sent him flying straight for the cliff face—

"Gah!"

He slammed hard into the wall, his now-clawed fingers grasping and scratching at the rocky face, carving small furrows as he slid down a bit before they found purchase. His feet kicked into decent footholds a moment after, and he hold on, trying to force wind back into lungs that had just had all the air knocked out of them, nearly three-quarters of the way to the top. Now, his only company was the wind blowing around him and the sounds of battle on the far side.

He reached up with his right hand, digging his claws in and forcing a handhold to exist with his magically-strengthened limbs. "Alright, stay occupied with the rest—"

He dug his toes into another foothold, half-pushing, half-pulling himself up until he could sink his left hand in just like his right.

"—and hopefully you'll be too busy for me coming up behind you."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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@Octo @VitaVitaAR

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"Wait, captain," Fionn interjected, turning from Gertrude back to Fanilly. The others already moved to make their approaches, but whether staggered or all at once would make little difference in the plan, so he didn't feel particularly rushed. "I think Gertrude and I can take advantage of one of those other options a bit, I just need...ach, what's the word..."

He released Gertrude's wrist, flexing his fingers as he mouthed out a few different words, before finally settling on—"Anguīnās."

He grimaced as he felt the flesh of his hands rapidly shift and morph under his command, nails sprouting out into hardened claws that should be more than able to dig into the cliff side or grant an even-surer grip on the easier climb. While it wasn't particularly painful, it wasn't an experience he particularly enjoyed either.

"Right. Going to have to think about a better way to phrase that one in the future, I reckon, but still! If Gertrude can carry me and get me started a ways off the ground on that cliff, I'm a good climber and this'll just make it easier. Especially if she knows a good illusion to make me look like Gretchen until she drops me off, that way it'll just look like she's flying around to scout and harass them like you're already planning."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

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"You don't know me well enough to make those assumptions!" Esben replied with a wide smile and a modest shrug. Not that there was time to say much else; Éliane opened fire almost immediately as he finished, sending captain Reisa on a short retreat, and Izayoi followed soon after. Blade at the ready, he moved forward to assist, only to find himself beaten to the punch in intercepting the captain's charge as Chisaki sent Reisa tumbling with a well-aimed kick.

He glanced back to Reisa quickly; attack her while she was down, and risk bearing the discharge of whatever materia she could bring to bear to fight back with, possibly without even being able to harm or kill her. Or, turn tail and grab Izayoi and help the others drag her away, let the shinobi sacrifice herself to guarantee all their escape. One option was more reasonable than the other, one carried greater risk but greater possible reward.

However, the small explosives that Chisaki dug out of her bag gave another option, one that could preserve as many of their resources as possible with a bit of luck.

Elly, Elly, I hope you've brought some more exciting ammunition for us...

He sprinted up to the shinobi, sheathing his blade and hanging his buckler back on his belt; his left hand was raised in a closed fist, a clear signal for Éliane to hold her fire for a moment longer. His right stretched out, fingers deftly sliding between Chisaki's own as he hooked the bombs into his own grasp. "Be creative, why don't you?" he joked, and tossed the bombs over to where Reisa was rising back up. His left hand opened wide, flashing five fingers twice and pointing out at the prone Valheimr captain.

Five rounds rapid, just like at the training range!

As Éliane opened fire from her rooftop vantage point, he turned forward around the shinobi, crouching down slightly; he wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her up as he sprinted forwards towards where Ciradyl and Hien fought to pull Izayoi back. His free arm shot forwards, hooking elbow-to-elbow around one of Izayoi's, adding his running momentum to Hien's forceful dragging of the older woman to try and reconvene with the rest of their group.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

---

"Oof!" Hien grunted as he was practically shoved towards Esben, giving the man a pained, rueful grin as he recovered. "Apologies, friend. She's always been like that. Though I'm impressed you got to her with logic of all things."

A moment passed as he observed Izayoi crashing into the Valheimr at Rudolf's side, and his smile quickly faded into the opposite.

"She's gotten slow. Was she injured recently?" He murmured in concern as Izayoi parried a swordsman's blow before riposting with a slash to his throat.

"Injured? No, just out of practice and older than the last time you saw her. Being dead and getting married can do that to you, and I'm sure we'll be in much the same position after a decade. Miina!" He'd just spotted the small Mystrel girl as the two parts of the team reconvened, the rest of Ciradyl's people rushing out alongside them—luckily, it looked like she'd spotted them first, as she already had her hands outstretched ready to heal the injured nobleman. "Take him. Keep him safe or pass him to one of Ciradyl's as soon as you're able."

He passed Hien over more gently than Izayoi had, pulling free his sword and taking up his buckler in a single smooth movement. But for a little knife work and some rifle fire, he was—by far—the freshest of the group. Now that the Valheimer troops had been pushed back and away, thrown into disarray by the unexpectedly strong resistance, internal betrayals, and loss of their airship, the scene outside the makeshift prison had shifted away from an outright battle into something he was much more comfortable operating with.

Then, seeing that captain Reisa had survived the airship's descent, knowing that the others were already tiring and even wounded, the next necessary step in his plan to rescue Hien became clear. As with the infiltration, shock and surprise were his weapons—and there were more ways to achieve that than with stealth and secrecy.

Two fingers stretched out from the buckler's handle hooked around the scabbard on Rudolf's back, pulling the younger man back slightly as Esben took his place and continued walking forwards, into the empty no-man's land between where they were making their stand and the heart of the wreckage. "Captain Reisa!" he called conversationally, giving a polite salute with his sword. "This is a shame—I didn't realize there was such a pretty face hiding under that helmet the last time we met."

He paused, halting his advance a short ways ahead of the rest of his team. Confident that they'd have his back—at least, Éliane would with her rifle—and that the brazen flirtation would keep the remaining soldiers shocked enough to hold back.

"I trust you're walking up to us to deliver your surrender? You shouldn't make this any more difficult than it needs to be—I guarantee I'll keep it clean if you submit to us."