I'm a prodigy! Really, I am!

○○○○○ | ATTRACTION ○○○○○ | AFFECTION ○○○○○ | INTEREST ○○○○○ | LOYALTY ○○○○○ | TRUST

Despite the low temperatures, he was excited, more than might be appropriate for such a cold morning as he was bouncing on his feet. But! But! He had a very good reason! So cold was the night in fact that the nearby pond had completely frozen over, and already several people have taken to the ice in these funny little blade shoes. “Come onnnnn~! Let’s go do something fun!”

Rolf just knew he had to try it out for himself too, but going alone wouldn’t be any fun… And that’s when uncle Shinon sprang to mind. He was originally from Daein right? Then surely he has at least some experience with ice! Uncle was always so dexterous and agile too…

Plus, it might be a nice way for them to bond after being separated for so long. An ice breaker if you will. …gods that was a lame joke. Anyway! A few more good knocks followed. “The pond is all frosty now! We can walk and slide on it! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Rolf.” As she addressed him, she placed a stack of papers on his desk. “Before you go, could you perhaps deliver these documents to the Golden Deer classroom? It would really help me a lot.”

Naturally the young archer agreed, nodding and placing a hand on his chest. “Oh, sure Professor! Leave it to me.” The boy, still eager to prove himself, was more than happy to help out.

And so, with all his belongings put away and the papers in his hand, he went off to the neighboring classroom. Seems they had also adjourned fairly recently, as the last few uniformed students exited.

“Um, excuse me!” He knocked on the open door a few times, to be polite and announce his presence. “I’ve come to deliver these papers? The professor asked me to, so I’ll… huh?”

Though he started speaking without looking, he suddenly stopped when he finally took in who was sitting there. Black hair, those distinctly wind mage-y robes, that expression… “Mister Soren?!”

Wow! It was surprising to see another member of the Greil Mercenaries here, especially Soren. But it wasn’t a bad surprise, not at all! If anything it was pleasant. For all his Sorenisms, Rolf saw the mage as a member of his family just as much as Miss Titania or Commander Ike. He was a familiar face in such an unfamiliar land.

So of course, the boy quickly walked up to his desk to strike up a conversation, smile easy and warm. “I didn’t know were teaching here! What a surprise, Mister Soren! How are you?“

he shuts his eyes at first. he has only five seconds to both gather the strength to face another person he'd thought he'd left behind and quiet the rebellious rage bubbling up inside him.

(why are there so many familiar faces here? it begs, and why can't any of them be Ike?)

Rolf has always been inoffensive. Annoying, whiny, childish, perhaps, but never offensive. He's easier to tolerate than at least two other mercenaries, so he's not the worst face from the past that soren could see.

That doesn't mean the mage smiles.

"i'm well," he lies easily, extending a hand to accept whatever papers rolf mentioned as a delivery. soren is so unwell that explaining it all would make the poor boy's head spin, if not do worse to soren himself.

"You... seem to be thriving here," he says, trying to at least be civil. Rolf looks younger than he remembers, but it's been so long from soren's perspective that he could hardly be confident about the assessment. If anything, he wonders if rolf will notice any differences in him. The two had never been very close, but people in company end up closer than others regardless.

Though, he did seem a little different compared to how he knew the tactician. The young archer couldn’t quite place it, but something about the way Soren carried himself felt just the teensiest bit off. While they had little in common, Rolf still saw him as family. And when you’re family, you watch out for them and help where you can.

And those eyes…. Hm.

“Gotta say though, never expected to see you get into teaching.” Ah. Wait. That sounds kinda rude, doesn’t it? Quickly, he backpedals. “N-Not that it’s a bad thing! I mean, hey, trying out new stuff is good for all of us, right?” He quickly tries to explain his point, slightly flustered. “A-And, you’re definitely smart enough for it. Anyone who manages to get my brother to understand even a lick of strategy is a miracle worker, that’s for sure.”

….

He wonders if he should say it. The part of all this that he’s holding back, not wanting to seem rude or disrespectful. But he really wonders.

…Isn’t Mister Soren usually with Mister Ike? Separating is the last thing Rolf would expect to happen.

"Daffodil, I gotta get out of the way," he pants. Gods, there're stars in his vision. He wants to push on, and he will, but he can barely keep a hold of his bow.

Gaius rotates the Golden Deer to the left!

He shoots that pretty archer girl as steady a thumbs up as he can manage. "You got this! One good shot, and I'll clean 'em up."

“Even the fastest need to watch their footing”, huh? With the way things are going, the orange man was moving too far away for Miss teammate to follow, so…

Oh!

Rolf rotates the Blue Lions to the left!

“I don’t think so, mister!” He pushes his body to move as he sprints in the same direction as Gaius, trying to catch up. Then he nocked an arrow mid-sprint and aimed carefully… though his aim was not on his opponent. Instead, he fired as many arrows as he could towards the ground in front of Mr Orange, with the intent of tripping him up. If Rolf could get him to slow down, Miss Ally could catch up…!

“Miss!” He called out to Minerva. “Over here, quick! Quick!”

It's a shame to see the general lady go down. She'd seemed the most experienced of their little group, but she retreats with some nasty cuts. He doesn't think he'll feel better until he sees her all patched up again.

So then, it's just him and the archer girl. She mentioned her name, but he doesn't remember it. The sky is blue.

"Hang tight, Daffodil," he calls to her as he nocks another arrow, aiming this time for the redhead swinging that hammer around. But his shoulder pangs, and -

Gaius 3.5/5 HP misses Minerva 5/5 HP with Iron Bow [Roll: 3]

"Cripes," Gaius grunts, hissing at the pull of his muscles where the green kid's arrow grazed him. His arrow totally biffs the mark. "It's up to you, girlie. Sorry."

Still, she finds her allies accommodating; one of her students makes space for her to fall back, and though she is not the most grievously injured, she accepts—knowing the course of battle was no reason to take its brutality head-on.

(And besides, though it was winding, Selena was not left entirely breathless; she still had the vigor to fight on a little longer.)

Selena attacks Rolf with THUNDER: Roll: 8 + 0 = 8 — HIT. Rolf: 3 -> 0.5/6HP

Lightning crackles, aimed for the verdant archer of the other side—and it meets him, sure enough, but it is not a thunder strong enough to take him down. (Had Selena a stronger spell with her—Bolting, of all things, were certainly suffice—he would have been brought down, she suspects; but what place did such magic have when no soul was meant to die here?)

(She thinks of those who kill for practice, and she is content to know that she is better.)

She takes an arrow, and this one is strong enough to do her in; there was nothing stopping her from continuing, from raging beyond what would be death in reality; but she considers herself to be fair, and seeing her allies, Selena can only feel confidence.

(A solemn nod.)

“Well done,” she congratulates, falling out of a combative stance. (She is tired though, she can tell, and that alone is wearisome, try as she might to hide the fatigue.) “I’ll be falling back here, but best of luck to both sides.” Turning to her allies in particular:

“I believe in you both.”

The boy didn’t have the time to think about it much further though, as now the focus of fire seemed to have gone to him. Only by a hair did he manage to move before the electric current fired at him would’ve struck true, although it still burned as it singed his rib.

“Tsk…!” Rolf let out a soft sound of frustration as he nocked an arrow, ready to fire back at the professor. But with his focus on her, he didn’t notice as another arrow fired right in his direction, striking him right in the shoulder, causing him to drop his arrow as pain bloomed through his body.

It didn’t end there either, as the professor fired yet another bolt of lighting at him. He couldn’t do anything about it as it hit him directly, more pain and heat searing through his veins. If a restrained bolt of lightning hurt this much, he feared to know what it would feel like with actual killing intent…

Once the spell ran its course wreaking havoc on his skin, his muscles relaxed after being forcibly contracted, causing the boy to slump to the ground with a light thud. It was then that he felt a familiar sensation, that of heat pricing at his eyes.

Perhaps more painful than all these attacks combined, it was the embarrassment at the fact that he could feel himself start to cry. But he forced it down, swallowing heavily as he wiped the forming tears away. “I… I can keep going…!” With gritted teeth he forced himself to stand.

“I’m a mercenary… I’m not giving up! Not yet!” Perhaps it was the adrenaline kicking in, the will to keep fighting, that caused him to pick up his weapon as his muscles hurt. But he was trying so hard, he didn’t want to quit. He didn’t want to be the weak kid that cried at a mock battle and couldn’t do anything. So he took a deep breath and stood ready.

Remember.

One clean motion.

No hesitation.

Rolf 0.5/6HP hits Selena 2/5HP with Curved Shot [Roll: 8 + 4 = 12; -1.5HP + 1DEF = -2.5HP, Selena 0/5HP]

It was a clean shot, connecting with his target. And it seemed with that the professor was out, taking her defeat gracefully.

With that he lowered his weapon, though he remained gripping it tightly. With a shaky breath, he surveyed the battlefield. He was exhausted, with the adrenaline pumping through his veins being all the energy he had left. It didn’t look good for them, with the red headed lady also taking a rather painful looking attack…

Well, only one thing left to do.

Rolf rotates Blue Lions to the right!

“Miss!” He ran to his ally, ignoring the way his muscles ached. “Go ahead and move onto Mr Orange, I’ll try and fight off the Archer lady!” As he spoke, he gave her his most confident look. “I… I’ll be fine, leave it to me!”

At least, he really hoped he would be…