#sword+1

[ starter for @keen-kin

 The rain came down so suddenly that none of you manage to get your umbrellas open in time… But since your gear is drenched and your clothing unsalvageable, you decide to have a little ‘sparring’ in the rain. You smack the other umbrella with yours and grin. En garde! [Grants Sword +1]

Mock patrol’s just finished swapping out for the day, and so as he heads back toward the monastery with Larcei, Ewan hums in good cheer. It looks gorgeous out! Nothing like a good day and good company to lift the spirit - and Stones know just about everyone at Garreg Mach could use it these days. It’s a new year, albeit a one saddled with old memories, good and bad.

A sunny day seems the perfect cure to any unproductive brooding the mage might have trudged into. Alas,

the rain hits with the suddenness of a snap o’ the fingers.

Rude, he muses, glowering at the skies... Super rude.

But a smile better suits the mage. Always has. Better suits the swordswoman beside him, too. A curious gleam in his eyes, he turns to her, smirking with mischief.

“Riddle me this,” he starts, unaware of the funny little coincidence in his choice of words. “Two hapless souls caught in the rain, naught but their umbrellas to their name, and it’s much too late for them to be of use besides...”

He leans back, points his ‘blade’ toward Larcei. He doesn’t know much about swordsmanship, in truth. But he’s always been good at pretending.

“What’s one to do?”

Since when did Gods have time to watch over silly festivals celebrated in their name? Emotionally, he wasn't really so attached to the Gods of this land (or any, if he could be remiss), but he suuuure did love the holidays! It meant everyone—children, students, adults, the like— could loosen up a little and fasten a blighting smile on their faces just for a giant statue and some fancy oral history hoo-dah. Being new here meant he was as savvy about the Saints as he was about flower fortunes, which wasn't much at all if he had to be honest. Luckily for him, he was prepared for the... uhhh... play (?) that the staff and all the students mentioned in passing. No one particularly informed him when, or where, but he had been reading up on some of the key players and thought to prepare in a manner suitable to the event. With all the gusto of a criminal, ahaha~! Heck, the guy even had Nemesis in his name! They were really on-the-nose about that one, if Henry was one for explicit implications (what a pretty oxymoron, that was.) Without warning, a child in flourish white sheets and gilded accessories arrived by the lakeside, brandishing her wooden sword at his chest. If she knew where his heart was, maybe she could carve it out! He'd let her take a shot~  

“You’ll be Nemesis!” she said. “Oh, and invite your evil friends.”

"Nya ha ha! I mean-- Feeble creature, prepare to die! I need not evil friends, but you may need an army to take me down." Concealing his hand behind his cape, he summoned a dark sigil that enraptured his body in a shadow — it spewed a pitch black gas that just SCREAMED evil villain. He began to glow ominously, adopting a sort of wickedness that smoldered and radiated off his features. Whirling his finger in a playful circle, he pointedly indicated towards a girl with violet locks that matched midnight. "You. Perhaps you desire to assist poor Saint Seiros? It's not every day you get to fight a king of kings."

As the days grow colder, students balk at the idea of walking around outside in the cold, especially late at night. Whispers of a shortcut quickly spread through the student body: if you’re coming from the library, you can go through the gallery hall to get back to the dorms. It’s not long until this path is marred by rumors of an armored thief stealing people’s books and essays late at night. There’s a reward if you unmask the criminal, but soon enough you find out that there’s more to this criminal than you thought. Too bad the realization only comes when one of the armored knights on display is magically brought to life, brandishing its sword at you. [Grants +1 Sword]

While being a professor was a challenge Cordelia would most certainly rise to, what came to her most naturally was being a knight... and a busybody. That was to say, when she heard tell of a fiend troubling the students who left the library through a certain shortcut and stealing their things, then reward or no reward, she would see the miscreant stopped.

Such knightly diligence brought her to the aforementioned shortcut late at night, lance in hand. Sure enough, most of the library-goers had long since left by the time she began her vigil, with the couple of students she’d encountered seemingly grateful for both the company and the conversation. The mysterious thief, however, was thus far nowhere to be seen. She frowned; so it suddenly made itself scarce when faced with unfavorable numbers? How... shy. And aggravating.

The sound of footsteps to one side of her marked the advent of another student, she presumed, and she turned to face them. An even-faced man, either unarmed or a mage, looked back at her.

“Hello.” A small smile curved her lips, cordially friendly but in no need of reciprocity. “I’m keeping watch over the hall tonight. Would you mind if I accompanied you? Just until you reach the end.”