Kindness is not weakness

A brief flash of white peeked out behind a shelf. Quick as can be, she ran over, swords drawn up high. She turned the corner. Amber eyes widened and her arms remained in mid-air.

“Ah! I’m sorry! I thought you were a calloon!”

It wasn’t usual for Kokichi to encounter such kindness. Even though he tried to tease her a little already with weird nicknames, she still asked if he was in the need of help.

“Nee-heehee, I’m fine! Those balloon thingies have no chance against me. I’m super strong and my counter soon needs another digit, because I surely have the highest score!” Well, she definitely did not seem like someone who would see through his bluff. After all, the true number on his watch was still at zero. But luckily he was almost sure that she’d most likely wouldn’t question his curiosity much either.

“What about you? What’s your score? By the way, you totally should tell me your name, or else I will just call you nurse-chan, y’know!”

“Mmm.” She gazed at the boy, trying to gauge how to act around him. He didn’t seem dangerous, but she couldn’t help but feel wary around him. Perhaps it was his bold claims? It was vaguely reminiscent of someone she didn’t think she’d miss. Still, she didn’t see any harm in answering more of his questions. She had a bit of time to burn.

“Call me Petra,” she answered. “I’m pretty sure actual nurses would get mad if you called me a nurse.” The boy didn’t need to know that nearly all of her “patients” in the battlefield had succumbed to their wounds quickly. She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “What do you want me to call you?”

—✕ █ ▌She LISTENS to him like a recruit under his wing or a soldier willing to impress Commander. A grunt of acknowledgement as feet move, standing in spot to cover her back, cover any WEAKNESS may be.

❝No problem. —- Ah?❞ He pauses, as if wondering if she’d like to strike it down instead, but the pause he can’t afford, arrow notched to bow and sent straight into the grotesque balloon. Pop! ❝There. Got it.❞

Eyes scan for another balloon, Loghain shifting his feet so that he finds HIGHER ground, one foot after another upon the creaking stairs of a fire escape.

❝Dead ahead. There’s a lot of them – both white and black!❞

She grinned and followed after him. Eagerness oozed out of her as she bounced with each step. “On it!” came her cry. The narrow passageway posed no difficulty for her in reaching her prey. She grabbed hold of the metal rails and pushed off. She sailed through the air and landed squarely in front of a pair of balloons. If the act merited any disrespect from the other, she was blissfully unaware of it.

She giggled as she reduced one white balloon to nothingness. “Take that!” It was child’s play, but she missed getting into action.

Laughter filled the air. Warm, bubbling laughter. Rider was entirely in her element right now. There were fights to have, people who she had protected, and a little sister type figure to take care of. Even the looming threat above their head wasn’t enough to dampen her sense of well being; moments like this were exactly why she had become a Servant to begin with.

And if anyone she had just saved came to investigate the church due to her interference? That would be so much better. She could have her cake and eat it, too.

“Where might we be going?” she asked as she followed Petra. She had expected to be the one hunting down the balloons herself, but if the other had idea where to go, what was the harm?

As evidenced by the numerous calloons that had crowded outside the doors, the black ones vastly outnumbered the white ones. There were several others in the vicinity, all looking for an elusive white balloon. Things didn’t bode well for her.

She gave a little shrug as she looked through her surroundings. It was a crowded area. “I was thinking that we could head somewhere quiet?” she suggested. “There are barely any white ones left here...”

“We could create a net , but the problem is dividing both black and white since these golems are simply tricksters, it won’t be easy to capture them as well.” he shoots, and one more white goes down. So far its making tidy progress each day making sure that he won’t be turned into a cat monster.

“Let us be thankful they are…not bigger. don’t…jinx it.

“Yeah... and there are more black ones than white so we’d wind up dragging our score down instead.” She jumped, narrowly missing a black balloon that was approaching fast. She was so close to breaking the 6 figure mark. There was no way she’d let her score dip back down. She grabbed hold of the railing of a nearby stall and swung up, landing on the colorful striped canvas cloth.

“Mmm, well about them being bigger... that might not be such a bad thing?” she wondered aloud, much to the probably annoyance of anyone who’d listen. “I mean, if they’re big enough that they wouldn’t fit in alleyways and houses, it might be easier to hunt down the white ones? That way, they wouldn’t have any place to hide.” 

Well, Rider obliged on the first request. Namely, she very clearly did not tell Petra that yes, she was planning to do exactly what she thought she was about to do. Being careful, though? That was a little hard to do when she had literally just flung herself into the thick of the calloons, popping them with practiced ease.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

She had been at this battle, both black and white, since the event had started. If nothing else, it had provided grand practice with this sorry excuse for a replacement for her proper staff. Tiny mana bolts were flung through the air, not nearly enough to harm a human but plenty against a balloon. And those cat that saw their chance to dive bomb a high scorer and came running? Well, that staff could still be used for a sharp whack.

Pop.

“That should be about it!” Was it a trick of the echoed popping still ringing in people’s ears, or did she sound entirely too self satisfied?

Language had never been Petra’s strong suit. However, she reasoned that even the best wordsmith in all of existence would be hard-pressed to find the word that could properly encapsulate the frustration, the awe, the worry, and relief she felt on seeing Rider unharmed. She tried her best to shrug off the feeling and walked up to the purple haired woman now surrounded by starstruck onlookers.

“Every single time I meet you, you get more and more amazing,” she teased. A quick glance around the crowd showed more than a few people inching closer. “Come on, let’s get going before your adoring public mobs you for autographs.”

“Tracking isn’t really needed. The white balloons flee to where people aren’t; avoid the crowds and the Lord will provide.”

But… there was no ignoring the squeaking coming from the doors. What was there, twenty balloons crowding around? More? Contact with them alone decreased one’s score; they could immediately do serious damage to the crowd waiting, no matter how fast any of them might run.

Contact was a 100 point loss. A quick pop was also 100 point loss and no further risk, though with that kind of crowd of calloons it would still need someone with quite the score to take care of them all safely.

“We can go in a moment. There is something I need to do first. Pardon.~”

Something about Rider’s voice or the determined set of her shoulders worried her. Her eyes followed after her figure. Her swords still hung by her sides as she hoped she wouldn’t need them before they stepped out of the mall.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to do what I think you’re about to do...”

Though she worried, there was still a part of her that was gladdened by the fact that there were people like Rider. People who weren’t swept up in the generalized panic and chaos enough to step back and help. 

“Open on my count!” bellowed a guard. “3! 2! 1!”

Like cannonballs, the black balloons hurtled in. Five, ten, twenty, thirty... there were far to many for Petra’s eyes to keep track. A few brave individuals broke through a gap among the balloons, though the rapid sound of popping informed her that they weren’t entirely successful. 

@petrapack ♥️’d for a starter!

—✕ █ ▌Fast on her feet, girl might make a VALUABLE ally in this madness. Almost like floating, dancing, she’s quick to avoid the steady, annoying, cloying approach of a single black balloon. There’s an urge to rid it, but of course that would mean he’d have to strike down two of it’s opposites to make up for it; not necessarily a bad thing, but luck could turn away from his favour.

❝To your left!❞ He shouts, as ANOTHER pair of black pointed ears peek out over the edge of a balcony and slowly float down towards the girl. ❝Be careful!❞ Hoping to ENDEAR himself to the youth, perhaps? Or is there still heroism left within?

Used to sudden orders on the battlefield, she jumped automatically without question. The voice was unfamiliar, but it was firm and authoritative, akin to a commander’s call. She sent a grateful smile at the armored stranger accompanied by a brief dip of her head.

“Thank you for the save! Heaven knows I can’t afford any more score deductions,” she called out. 

Despite her concerns over Petra’s score, the visible joy the other woman had upon seeing her was enough to bring a warm smile to Rider’s face as well. It… had admittedly been a concern to her that she would want nothing to do with her after having seen Rider’s unfiltered side during battle. Apparently, that concern was for naught!

What’s more, there were sweets! Perhaps one couldn’t hurt, though anything more would be pure gluttony when she had little need to eat to begin with. But there was one with a pale pink icing that she couldn’t help but accept.

“There are many, many balloons outside still. Those demonic black ones are growing more common, but I have no idea if that is them learning to hunt, spawning more, or just seeming more common with people hunting down the white ones instead.”

She nodded. It hadn’t been unexpected, but she hoped that the white ones hadn’t been done away with entirely. There was a lot of catching up to be done, if Rider’s reaction had been anything to go by. She placed the paper bag aside for the moment, hoping to offer it again later on when things were more relaxed. 

“I guess we’ve got to do a bit of hunting then,” she muttered. “I grew up in a farming town though so I don’t know how to track... What about you?”

She gazed at the multitude of black balloons floating by the windows. The eerie grins were reminiscent of that of the Titans, an altogether unnerving image. She hoped she’d keep back the urge to slash at them. A few meters away, a large metal bar had been fitted over the main entrance of the mall. The glass doors emitted faint squeaks as the black balloons crowded against them. It was certain that as soon as the guards opened the doors, the creatures would come rushing in. A group of people stood by the sides of the doors, poised to run as soon as the bar was lifted. 

@petrapack  liked x for an event starter

It got kind of worriesome, to see how many people he already met before are around the golden ward at this time. Did all of them live here, or do they actually want to get caught into that kind of trouble here? Of course he didn’t forget the kind woman that fixed up his injury last time though.

“Heeey, you’re the nurse momfriend from before, aren’t ya?” For some reason though, she didn’t look like a real nurse. It was just a guess, but something told the cunning boy that she had experience in fighting. It was nothing but a hunch, but he was once right about guessing that someone is a killer, so it could be a right guess again, right? However… she didn’t seem like a bad person. He’d surely find out once he talked to her some more. First of all, it was important to know her objective here. Was it just to survive, to help others, or to actually play that dumb game and be good at it… “Any business here?”

The relative days of inactivity had taken its toll. The act of exterminating the creatures, if it could be called that, was hardly taxing but she found herself tiring in the second hour. She’d ducked into a small shop to catch her breath, only to find herself cornered by a familiar-looking boy.

Nurse momfriend? Her cheeks were tinged with crimson, flustered at the accusation and the demand for her motives. It was blunt, almost to the point of being impolite, but she supposed it was merited given the situation. She allowed herself a moment to breathe before answering his queries.

“I’m no nurse nor mom... I just try my best to help people when they need it,” she answered. Her reply sounded sheepish even to her own ears. “Why? Do you need any assistance? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Its all about timing and making sure you keep track of things, you understand, they should both understand considering that they belong in the army, or what counted as one between their countries. He is all smiles as he sheathes his weapon, the corpses of white balloons…surrounding him. It pays well to listen after all.

 “Be grateful they do not actively attack, and just be public nuisance. “ his view on it is that with all this technology, people are slowly more and easily confused then a less advance society, hence his advantage in keeping calm.

“I suppose,” she admitted, after striking down another 5 white balloons. “It sucks for people who aren’t fond of combat though.”

As easy these were to deal with, the leering grin on their faces made her highly uncomfortable. They seemed to be egging the players on to something, and she could not, for the life of her figure it out. All she knew at this point was that she needed to keep her points climbing up. 

[Text: Petra

- I am only a few blocks away. It shouldn’t take me too terribly long to get to you. Stay safe.]

As promised, it was perhaps twenty minutes later that the familiar head of violet hair popped into view. Without her siblings here nor a dragon to make sure stayed behaving, she had very few she needed to keep an eye on here. There were the other Riders… but really, they deserved whatever trouble they got themselves into. Iskander and Drake in particular were probably thriving more than her here; why fret over those that were having the time of their lives? And not fretting over something was just outside of her capabilities.

“Petra?”

She started at the mellifluous voice, easily picked out even in the general din of the mall. A smile adorned her face as she ran through the crowd, towards the violet-haired woman. She skidded to a halt in front of her. It was a tad ungraceful, but she hoped her enthusiasm was enough to smooth it over.

“Rider! It’s so nice to see you again.” Her voice was shaky, the sprint and the general excitement made her slightly breathless. “Thank you so much for helping me.”

She brought forth a small paper bag emblazoned with flowers and the logo of a nearby bakery. She had no idea what Rider liked in the way of sweets. Their previous encounter hadn’t exactly given them much time to chat over such things. She’d picked a sampler of cookies, hoping that one would strike Rider’s fancy. “Here! For energy!”

[Text: Petra

- … higher.

- I have an advantage, so to say, so I do not know if that is a bad score for the average person. I would rather not take the risk with those close to me.]

[✉ Text: Rider

-Okay, I see your point... Sorry for the trouble

[Text: Petra

- Where are you? I can be there immediately to help with your score.]

A thousand points was near nothing, at least in Rider’s mind. Despite having a couple hiccups, including taking dives to save others, she had been at this for long enough to have a… significantly higher score, to put it mildly. That Petra was still so low was concerning and only proved her fretting to have had due cause.

But perhaps that was a high score for an average human? Maybe. They had never really discussed Rider’s Servant nature last time, so it was a hard question to ask.

She nearly dropped her phone. Okay. Panic mode activated.

[✉ Text: Rider

-Is it that bad? I mean, most of the other people I’ve seen have negative scores so I’m not doing too badly I think?

-What’s your score?]