bathed in glory

But it seemed that his staring had been noticed. As she turned to face him his mouth crumbled into a grimace at the curtness of her words. He refused to get up from his seat as he leaned back and replied in turn.

“ I would respect you more had you given me an actual answer instead of saying the first thing that came to mind. But that does not seem to be the case. Stare all you want I suppose, but any answer I may potentially have for you might not be one you seek or want. 

Still, he hadn’t quite staved off his stress with practice, so his motions were still a little off, he knew. Huh, wait…was the stranger asking about his concerns?

“….I barely know you. Besides that, the stuff I’ve seen…”

A memory of fighting zombies in the Halloween even comes to mind, and he just barely suppresses a shiver.

“I doubt you’d believe me even if I wanted to spill everything to someone I’ve just met.”

“ Understandable. Your fears and concerns with this city are noted and understood. “ The look on his face was that of disbelief. That even he himself could not understand the sights he had seen. One she was all too familiar with, especially in young children in this city that she knew just what they were going through. Or, at the very least, attempted to understand.

{♚} She herself found more confusion upon her initial entrance to this city and now here she stood, as a proud member of the Black Knights to do service for this city in any way she see fit. As she looked at him with a sigh, she’d cross her arms at his skepticism. 

“ I understand if you think I would not believe you. But let me assure you on a few things. The first is my knowledge int his city precedes what you may believe. I have lived and seen all that this city has to offer to its citizens and I aim to stop it.

   “Probably best to I keep it.” The girl brushed away a stray strand of platinum hair from her face, exposing a telling scar. “You never know when a fight might find you. And even a toy weapon is better than none at all.” Not since her childhood had the witcheress been expected to use splintered wood as a means to defend herself. 

   It had a pointed end, however. That alone made it valuable. And so it seemed that destiny would not allow the two to part. She took the sword back and sheathed it with a grimace.

“ I see we share similar thoughts about these. I remember the struggle quite well and it never fades from mind that they find this to be reasonable to defend one’s self with. “ After the sword was holstered and ready for the fire pits, she noticed the passing glance towards her very own rapier. Pulling it out in a sudden motion and doing a rather impressive turn, the blade now pointed towards, she’d shake her head. 

For goodness sake, he KNEW how to fire a bow and arrow properly. Feeling annoyed at the fact someone was assuming he did not know, he responded with a to-the-point response, but not snarky yet:

“You interrupted me before I could move my hands and fire it properly - I am good at archery, so I know how to fire a bow.”

Huffing and adjusting his glasses, he then went a little snarky with his latter point.

“Goodness forbid my mind be elsewhere in this hellhole of a city, which is why I was struggling before - and I use practice to actually calm my nerves, huh? Oh no, that’s just aawwwful.”

{♚} It looked a bit bad on her to be making fun of someone like this on that regard, but she knew that she’d have to at least offer some help. Representing her group and organization, she needed to build up support through the masses. 

{♚} Walking up to the boy with her weapon now hung from her shoulder, she’d cross her arms before looking over at his figure before waiting for him to fire his next shot before speaking up. 

Also, more importantly, they were someone who would be a barrel of laughs to mess with. A little bit of careful shapeshifting, and some well-thought-ought routes, and he could quite easily appear to be appearing and disappearing, as if a phantom with a thousand faces.

Or, rather, three faces. Damn the limits on his transformations.

“ I.. How annoying. “ She’d glare off to the side for the time being before looking back up at the individual. At the very least, she had to calm herself down considerably and look like some kind of professional out of this. Taking a deep breath, she’d let out an exhale before speaking. 

“Unfortunately, I am a terrible subordinate. That’s why I didn’t last long as a knight. I tend to prefer doing things in my own way and it’s rare to find those willing or capable of keeping up,” he would admit his own shortcomings if it came to an organized working force. He was more of a solo act. “That’s why I had my own generals commanding their own units under me. You could call me the last resort, if you will.”

One fun fact to know was that he worked a business built on warfare. However, he held allegiances to the ones that pay the most. And even though the services were expensive, mostly those under him would move. Having him do things personally is worth a fortune.

“ Five thousand years? “ That was something that made her raise an eyebrow. At this point it was safe to say that she could believe whatever he had said to her in that.. in what he could do and all that--if she took it as truth then she’d probably get more intelligent responses out of him. Although it was a tad far fetched to hear him claim to be thousands of year’s old. 

“ Very well. I’ll believe you for the moment and say that you truly are five thousand years old. That would mean that you’d still undoubtedly have time. It’s just your perception of it would be different. A year would go by without you realizing it. “ 

Still, whether it was a dream of not, he decided to go with it. He had been asking her for a dance anyway. If it ended up a figment of his imagination then that’s fine as well. If it were real, well, he’d get to show off a bit.

At first he slightly stumbled. After a while, however, he managed to keep up and even match her pace. At all the while, allowing her to take the lead, even though he thought that it was he who should do so. In the midst of it, he had slipped arm halfway around her waist and inched just a bit closer. He didn’t follow it up with any more advances of his, at least.

After the dance, he slowly broke away and stepped back before making a courteous bow. As he did so, he lost his balance and fell back, landing on his rear.

{♚} Her partner on the other hand? Different story. Then again, some others were a tad bit tipsy so their dancing abilities were slightly hindered. At the very least, the two of them were capable of at least staying up properly. For the time being. The second she let go and watched him fall, she’d sigh and leave him there. He could pick himself up. 

“ No, I would not say so. At the very least I’ve kept you from harming yourself or others for the time being.. so that’s some what of a relief. “ She did her job. That’s all she could ask for, all that she wanted and even then she felt she could do more for the situation at hand.