Dance of Faces

[20:57] Edelaide Astaret asks, "Learned any new tricks?"
[20:57] Edelaide Astaret says, "Keh."
[20:57] Walter Docro asks, "Moody lighin', huh?"
[20:57] Walter Docro says, "I wouldn' know."
[20:57] Walter Docro says, "I'm a bit more confident, 'sall."
[20:57] Edelaide Astaret says, "Good."
[20:57] Edelaide Astaret says, "Confidence is key."
[20:58] Walter whips out the colossal blade with a whip-like crackle of combusting oxygen.
(Walter Docro)
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[20:58] Edelaide assumes stance. Poised, prepared, focused.
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[20:59] Edelaide Astaret says, "You HAVE gotten stronger."
[20:59] Walter Docro says, "T'heh. Thanks. I guess I have."
[20:59] Walter Docro says, "'yer a great benchmark, too. Pretty unreachable, however."
[21:00] Edelaide Astaret says, "Guh."
[21:00] Edelaide Astaret says, "Let me try harder."
[21:01] {Lost Restrained RPB against Edelaide Astaret}
[21:01] Walter Docro says, "G'hah."
[21:01] Edelaide Astaret says, "Nah."
[21:01] Walter Docro says, "Dangit."
[21:01] Edelaide Astaret says, "Don't say it's unreachable."
[21:01] Edelaide Astaret says, "You've got a lot of potential."
[21:01] Edelaide Astaret says, "An entire skillset that's more than capable to get you to where you want to be."
[21:01] Edelaide Astaret says, "You have to be more forceful."
[21:01] Edelaide Astaret says, "MORE force."
[21:01] Walter bobs his head, humbled. "You're real nice, lady. Thank you. I'm tryin' my best."
(Walter Docro)
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[21:01] Edelaide Astaret says, "Charge at me and hit me as hard as you can."
[21:02] Walter Docro says, "R-Right."
[21:02] Edelaide Astaret says, "Unrelenting, Walter."
[21:02] Walter Docro asks, "You sure?"
[21:02] Edelaide Astaret says, "Yep."
[21:02] Edelaide Astaret says, "It's good for people like us."
[21:02] Edelaide Astaret says, "Gets things done."
[21:02] Edelaide Astaret says, "But don't make the same mistake I do and charge into their, uh..."
[21:02] Edelaide Astaret says, "Wide-range spells. Gahaha."
[21:02] Walter Docro says, "Tchyou know? I've been trying to do that high-speed blur thing y'do."
[21:02] Walter Docro says, "I jus' ain't no good at it. Too big."
[21:03] Edelaide tilts her head back, obvious confusion proclaimed upon her deceivingly feminine features.

"The what now."
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[21:03] Edelaide Astaret says, "DECEPTIVELY*"
[21:04] Walter waves his hands around nonchalantly, as if he were trying to mold the words out of his lexicon from thin air. "You know! That thing, where you hit really fast, then blink aroun' me... you know the one!"
(Walter Docro)
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[21:04] Edelaide Astaret says, "OH. You mean... The one you're supposed to block."
[21:04] Edelaide Astaret says, "This -"
[21:04] Edelaide Astaret says, "Uh."
[21:04] Edelaide Astaret says, "I took a wrong step."
[21:06] {Lost Restrained RPB against Edelaide Astaret}
[21:06] Edelaide Astaret says, "Charge in, kid."
[21:06] Edelaide Astaret says, "CHARGE."
[21:06] Edelaide Astaret says, "No mercy."
[21:07] Walter Docro says, "I-I'm tryin'..."
[21:07] Walter Docro says, "I'm just gonna walk inta' your shadowstep."
[21:07] Edelaide Astaret says, "Bash up your fingers if you have to."
[21:07] Edelaide Astaret says, "Gahaha."
[21:07] Walter Docro says, "Thc."
[21:07] Edelaide Astaret says, "And block when I start hitting you really fast."
[21:08] Edelaide Astaret says, "Yeah. Uh."
[21:08] Edelaide Astaret says, "Guh."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "You're too..."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "Flimsy right now."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "But you'll get there."
[21:09] Walter Docro says, "... Dangit."
[21:09] Walter Docro says, "Neva' thought I'd hear that."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "You ARE strong."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "Trust me."
[21:09] Walter Docro asks, "Jus' no good at mana, y'know?"
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "I wasn't even near your level when I was your age."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "Then I suddenly became a... A creature."
[21:09] Walter Docro says, "... H-hey. Y'were a lot more experienced, though."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "... Still not strong."
[21:09] Walter Docro asks, "Y'used to fight in the war, righ' lady?"
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "Yep. Two."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "Therian Civil War, and the beginning of Osrona's war on Theria."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "And tomorrow..."
[21:09] Edelaide Astaret says, "Lionheart's war with Osrona."
[21:09] Walter Docro says, "Right... I just don' have that type of motivation, y'know? You live the fight every day."
[21:10] Walter Docro says, "You haf'to."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "Ah, yeah."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "When I was your age..."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "That bridge was our battleground."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "All seven or so of us. You still haven't met them."
[21:10] Walter Docro says, "I-I read."
[21:10] Walter Docro says, "A lot o'people died."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "But we're all pretty damn-... Strong. Yeah."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "Uh."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "Technically."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "I'm not supposed to be in this city."
[21:10] Edelaide Astaret says, "Kah."
[21:10] Walter Docro asks, "Whyssat?"
[21:11] Edelaide Astaret says, "War crimes."
[21:11] Edelaide Astaret asks, "But for some reason they won't arrest me?"
[21:11] Edelaide Astaret says, "Think they're afraid."
[21:11] Walter Docro asks, "Here? In Osrona?"
[21:11] Edelaide Astaret says, "Yep."
[21:13] Edelaide Astaret says, "Okay."
[21:13] Edelaide Astaret says, "I'll keep up my speed."
[21:13] Edelaide Astaret says, "But I'll hit... A little less hard."
[21:13] Walter Docro asks, "... F-For real?"
[21:13] Edelaide Astaret says, "Yes. As real as it gets."
[21:13] Walter Docro says, "I won't letchu' down."
[21:14] Edelaide Astaret says, "Gahahaha."
[21:14] Walter Docro says, "H-Hey..."
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret asks, "Yeah?"
[21:15] Walter Docro says, "DON'T PLAY WITH ME."
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret says, "I'm nooot."
[21:15] Walter Docro exclaims, "D-Don't jus' let me hit you like that!"
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret asks, "See?"
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret says, "Huh."
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret says, "Maybe I'm being too soft."
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret says, "Hang on."
[21:15] Walter Docro says, "Hey, lift y'guard up! It's freaking me out."
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret says, "Sure, sure, sure."
[21:15] Edelaide Astaret says, "Hhhn..."
[21:16] Walter Docro asks, "Y'don't think I'm THAT filmsy, do you!?"
[21:16] Edelaide Astaret says, "... Nah."
[21:16] Edelaide Astaret says, "One moment."
[21:17] Edelaide Astaret says, "Alright."
[21:17] Edelaide Astaret says, "That should... Do it..."
[21:17] Walter Docro asks, "Good t'go?"
[21:17] Edelaide Astaret says, "Uh-huh."
[21:18] Walter charges in with r strength.
(Walter Docro)
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[21:18] Edelaide ANTICIPATES.
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[21:19] Edelaide Astaret says, "I'm just gonna."
[21:19] Edelaide Astaret says, "Chalk it up to experience."
[21:19] * You have been awarded 2 Roleplay Points! *
[21:19] Walter Docro exclaims, "Hey, hey... I ain't done!"
[21:20] Edelaide Astaret says, "..."
[21:20] Edelaide hit way too fucking hard.
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[21:20] Edelaide Astaret says, "Okay."
[21:20] Walter has a big ass bump on his forehead.
(Walter Docro)
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[21:21] {Lost Restrained RPB against Edelaide Astaret}
[21:21] Edelaide Astaret says, "Yeah."
[21:21] Edelaide Astaret says, "It's just experience."
[21:21] Walter Docro exclaims, "TCHGAH!"
[21:21] Edelaide Astaret says, "I've fought literally every day of my life, multiple times per day."
[21:21] Edelaide Astaret says, "Fought the dragons in Theria, the Order, and even my own family every single damn day."
[21:21] Edelaide Astaret says, "So just..."
[21:21] Edelaide Astaret says, "Focus on that."
[21:22] Edelaide Astaret says, "Uh..."
[21:22] Edelaide Astaret says, "And get a sharper weapon, eesh."
[21:22] Walter sighs, slowly reincorporating himself from the beating. "Y'ever think of passin' that knowledge on?"
(Walter Docro)
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[21:22] {Item} You drop Buster Blade.
[21:22] Edelaide Astaret says, "Hm..."
[21:22] Edelaide Astaret says, "I hate this..."
[21:22] Edelaide Astaret says, "It's so ugly."
[21:22] Walter Docro says, "It remin's me of myself."
[21:25] Edelaide swipes away stray strands of raven hair from her visage. "You aren't ugly, kid. We all have our preferred tastes. If you think low of yourself, you're never gonna get anywhere in this world."

Her lungs fill with the heat of the atmosphere, and a streak of perspiration runs down her temple. "Passing the knowledge on? I'm not really sure what you mean by that, but I don't necessarily have a problem with teaching.

... Are you referring to the manipulation of shadows?"
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[21:25] {Item} You picked up Buster Blade. Dropped by Walter Docro. .
[21:34] Walter pauses, then merely stares at the oversized, dull counter-edged sword for what appears to be just short of half a dozen seconds. As if he's meditating on the characteristics that he reads as making it similar to his own self. Eventually, a benevolent smirk takes ahold of his facial features, though they still very much obscured by the presence of the bull terrier mask.

"It's not exactly that." He confesses. "I'm a babyface, truth be told. I hate being called things like pretty boy or cute. They've never fit the image I'd want to have o' myself'. It's the image they had given me, and I chose t'reject it."

The blade swings rather effortlessly to the side in a deceptively agile swoop.

"It's a pretty brutish weapon, isnnit? At least at first sight, that is." It whirls around flexibly and finds its way back onto the kitsune's back-sheathe. "Yet it's responsive, precise, and thick enough to where I could defend somebody else from harm with it."

A ponderous pause, as he explains himself.

"So in a way, it's about that ideal. Subvertin' expectation, and being true t'yourself."

Then, perhaps reinterpreting his own words, he asks for Edelaide to do the same as him.

"Sort of. Being tied to a life o'fightin' - and having developed so much along the way, would y'rather take those lessons with you when the time comes?" Walter subtly bows his head in acknowledgement. "Sorry if I'm bein' a nuisance, I'm jus' curious."
(Walter Docro)
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[21:35] Walter Docro says, "I don't mean t'be disrespectful or anything..."
[21:48] There's an amused glint that surfaces in the blue of her irises, so typically restive and feverish that it was a rare sight to catch even a sliver of profound consideration, yet here it was.

As he explicates and presents his introspection through verbal conveyances, she listens, and listens very well. As well as a brutality-oriented mercenary could.

"Nothing wrong with having a cute face, kid. Take a look at me. A long time ago, I lived a life of deceit by playing nice and gentle; wore dresses, decorated my hair, took good care of my skin... but my compulsions were overwhelming. Just make sure you don't put up any guises. It's not fun being a liar, and you aren't going to be happier through frontage."

The hilt of her own slender blade is fumbled within her palm and arranged into a straightened poise, subsequently sheathed within its encasement at her hip.

"When the time comes...

Honestly, my time is far past overdue. I've fought Sythaeryn in a deadly match in the mountains, and I should've died that day, but...

Well, here I am.

And anyway, I feel like I talk about my experiences so much that it's kind of rubbed off on everyone by now. I'm not gonna let 'em forget how fucking pissed I was when I got buried under hot rocks, or when I was left to lay in a field to die.

Won't let them forget the Therian Civil War and the fall of its government. How it's been gutted. How piss weak and spineless Osrona has become.

None of it."

Within her very cognizance was resolution in abundance, never to be extinguished. "I'm not afraid to die. It's likely I'll go out as angry as I've always been.


... But let's not focus on topics like that, yeah? The time will come when it comes."
(Edelaide Astaret)

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[22:48] Though Walter takes his mighty time, an event that was common lingo among those who knew him well enough, his reply does come about as charged with transparency as usual among those who had earned his trust. Edelaide had slowly mustered up enough cookie points to be regarded as such, which was perhaps a deceptively unlikely feat to attest to.

The dog-man's answer is preceded by a pensive hum, the mercenary's near-nihilist air had lingered around to make him worry about her fate, at least subliminally. On the other hand, being upfront about his concern wouldn't have brought anything but deaf ears from his friend, would it?

"Sythaeryn, huh?" Walter's emerald gaze punctures the floorboards from behind the mask gloomily. "That guy... stomped th'high lady into the goddamned floor earlier in the Greycloak's place. I was there, watched it all go down."

Truth was before that day, the kitsune could've sworn there was no other person in the continent stronger than Lady Asta, yet the Drakanite had made him stand corrected.

"He joined them righ' after that... Osrona's about to be hit with the weight of a dozen hills when they regroup."

Finally, he compliments the mix of elements with Edelaide's own civil situation, that of a wanted criminal. He curses internally, perhaps having previously taken the situation to lightly so as to not concern her with his emotions. Yet it's very palpably notable now, was she resigning to her possibilities?

"Would you not like to do anything else other than fight 'til you lose all chances to do anything else?" He inquires. For whatever reason, his words aren't as inarticulate as ever. It's like he's taken off pieces of his masquerade. Some of the real Walter sips through the cracks. "Would you not like to look for something else? You've got friends in us, the Rat Pack. You know? We have places to go, too."

A pause.

"Plus, you're... just a few years older than me, Edelaide." He reprehends warmly, caringly even. "Is there not anything else you like? Or any particular reason you'd appreciate fighting for?"
(Walter Docro)
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[23:08] "Yeah. Sythaeryn. He and I are pretty evenly matched. I nearly killed him on that mountain, but I made a mistake.

He was...
Shaking.
Excited.

I was, too," she murmurs. For every deadly encounter she exchanged with the draconic man, a droplet of respect emerged, to be added to the solution of boiling resentment viscerally felt.

Really, the only reason she hated him was due to his blatant disregard of her in the forest. Their first contact entailed only the interlocking of their eyes and a scoff on his part.

A mistake that pissed her off greatly. She was trying to rob him.

And so, the succeeding encounter was to be a deadly battle that would shake the mountain of Tarian.

"I heard about Asta while lazing around in Ilburg. Yeah, he went to town on her ass.

Good."

Upon arrival to a vaguely familiar space deep below the surface of the world of light above, she settles in the grass for a moment's repose, enervate eyes no longer alight with their default raptorial fury.

"I love all of you, I really do. You're a charming bunch. Kind of reminds me of when we were kids, the Lionhearts. Except we were a lot more volatile, haa.

I live with them. They're my family. And I'll die with them, too. We fight to survive and sustain our existence in the grove, where the rules of the forest apply. It's tough, but we have each other."
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[23:29] Though mostly greyzoned by her career of choice, Edelaide bore perhaps a higher degree of political polarity than Walter himself. Where the dog and his peers saw opportunities for marginal profit, and occasionally just a good time under the public searchlight? The mercenary may have seen much more than simply coin and fun, there was passion and thrill in the way she interacted with her surroundings.

"I see. That's what keeps you hooked, huh?" He'd observe, caught up staring at her refined sword, then resting freely on her back. A handful of seconds later, Walter finally finds himself sat next to the raven-like maned mercenary. "People like Elsius, back there?" His eyes bounce between her and the subterranean wonder they'd stumbled upon with equal admiration.

Finally, he chuckles - in defeat.

"You and I are the same." He finally lets it go. Just a few months earlier, he would've never heard himself say anything of the sort, yet now they undoubtedly knew each other much better. There was something funny about coming to terms with it. "I'm latching on because of the same reason, too. I guess I'm just too hardheaded or greedy to use just that as a meaningful anchor."

There's a generally uncharacteristic halo of meditation about it. It's reflective, lucid - the antithesis of his numb-skulled persona.

"You know, those guys have solidified as a team. The Rat Pack." Walter illustrates pensively. "... they want me to lead." An embarrassed laugh hues the color of his speech a much more polytonous pattern. "They've got more confidence in me bein' the shot caller than I ever could have. It's silly, I'm just big - there's nothin' I could do on that role that Yersin or Marz couldn't do better."

A hum.

"I guess the image I'm trying to project of myself isn't workin' like I want it too, huh?"
(Walter Docro)
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[00:04] Indeed, the Lionhearts were heavily tethered in the sphere of politics; it was the leverage of their hand against the tides of battle that brought Theria to its knees in a near-stalemate at the beginning of the Therian-Osronan war. Jury, an old and fever dream esque persona she took on, fought alongside the denizens of the Shimmering City. Fought and attained a marginal victory to be piled on to the masses of losses secured by less than capable 'compeers' - the foreigners who had paid them to fight.

It was risibly ironic.

And Osrona was going to declare war on them?

"Are we?" Her tone is flat now, lacking the typical boisterousness possessed. "I wouldn't be quick to take up that mantle. It's rough, Walter. I wouldn't want you to get tangled up in ANYTHING like it, either." For in her perceptions, she gauged them to be deficient in various facets. For now.With time, they would certainly grow stronger, but...

As they were, the thought twisted her mentality and presented less than pleasant scenarios.

"I wouldn't say we're greedy. Trying to keep ourselves comfortable is more like it."

Maybe a bit greedy. When the world took what it could from you, it was only fair that they would reciprocate inclemency. Right?

"Listen...

We all have our roles. And if you've already forgotten, I'll go ahead and refresh your mind... Confidence is key. Give yourself more credit and you'll go far. Stop trying to cast these convoluted pretenses and just be yourself.

Dummy."

She huffs.

"And as a side note,

I'm twenty-one."
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[00:31] Walter is being vaguely condescended. Yet, it's hardly unfounded, uncalled for, or in anything but his best interest in the end. Though he's usually harsh on himself in every opportunity he gets, the perfectionist, self-deprecating urges become masked under the searchlight when met with Edelaide's own take on compassion and introspection. It clearly triggers some unusual patterns within his own psyche, it's easy to tell - even past the almost comedic guise of his bull terrier mask.

"There's a problem with that, though." Walter observes, after a longer period of self-reflection. "I do want to take up the mantle. Try my hand at staying out of critical situations, keeping my people safe - too. I believe it's possible, I just don't want to be the weak link when it happens."

The Lionheart's next batch of ideas would hit him like a slow burn, latching onto the back of his skull and spreading inch by inch, until it had irreparably spread to the frontal cortex. Both his ideal self and current self had very pronounced flaws, and that he could not deny - yet the perspective of distance between the two was silly to begin with. Why couldn't he just be Walter, regardless of packaging?

"Maybe worrying too much about the way people treated me before, and their reasons for it... is just giving them validity, isn't it?" One step at a time, perhaps.

His hands reach out to the bottom edge of the mask, then start pulling upwards with moderate effort until it finally slips off. Walter's face is perhaps a bit more refined than what he described it as - a pair of pronounced cheekbones adorn the area below his eye sockets, which are crowned by a pair of lake-green, natively inoffensive eyes.

At the sides of his jawline and close to the ears however lie a set of aggressive scars, likely caused by a set of nails, as if somebodyhad tried to rip Walter's skin off.

He sighs in relief, shaking his head, yet smiles with certain charm to it.

"Y' don't look a day over twenty." The kitsune jests. "Five years apart, huh? Our lives sure are different."
(Walter Docro)
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[01:02] Condescension was hardly the aim with her forceful statements. It was much more so worry and concern that made itself markedly apparent within her mental processes and stilted them for a brief period of genuine contemplation. A rarity.

"That's right. Just don't give a shit and keep going." Was all she had to offer on the matter. In all candidness, Edelaide had never struggled with a scarce supply of self-esteem and reassurance, though she would do what she could if it kindled some manner of conviction and faith in one's own potential abilities.

"If you want to follow that path, then I'm not going to stop you. Understand that there are a lot of unpleasantries about it. A lot of nasty choices you'll have to make, and lives you'll have to take."

Her own group wasn't lethal, but they very much had the capability. If they so desired, they could likely raze the city and take out many innocents.

They weren't psychopathic, though. Nothing like occultists, or serial killers.

"Bring your group around to Alabastre sometime, and we can all have a nice chat sometime. Maybe a few spars."

The revelation of his countenance prompts muted curiosity and a tilt of her head that rests within a palm. She glares in mute assessment at the detail of his skin, the vibrancy of his eyes, and all of the characteristics that summarized the face of Walter. His smile is returned with a thin raising of her tiers. "Cute." It's spoken in a gentle cadence, without a trace of intentional provocation. She couldn't muster an understanding of why he held disdain for the word - it was one she attached to nearly everything she found to be agreeable. They were at an impasse.

"You've got no choice but to get stronger, kid. I'm sure you know that already. Keep working hard."
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[01:34] His long, thick fingers, sprouted by the palm of Walter's by then adapted into a less aesthetically pleasing look hand, rummage through the back of his messy silver mane. The Kitsune's eyes carry an obvious air of defeat when he hears Edelaide compliment him with earnest care, yet it's not honest gloominess or annoyance in his stare. Instead, it's just plain sincerity.

Both edges of his lip would curl before he'd bring himself to smiling properly. With an adopted halo of very obvious warmth around his confidant, Walter laughs.

"It's weird to try and not hate that word." The half-bred brute-and-wonder confesses, lightly tilting his head in the general direction of Edelaide. "But thanks for saying it." Attempting to filter his defense mechanism, though forceful in nature, is a relieving experience. Hours earlier, he wouldn't be anywhere close to grasping the edges of his silhouette as he was now.

It was the mercenary to opened the pandora's box to the dog-man's own growth. Part of him urges to pay her back anyhow is made possible. Though for the time being, the one thing possible to the teen is accepting the invitation. At the very least, Walter knew where she'd be staying.

"I will come visit. Y'have my word." There's an odd mixture of both speech patterns that drowsily and continuously amalgamates as he speaks further. "Maybe next time I'll be able to topple you once or twice. I'll be working hard towards it."

Walter had clearly found the foundation to a bond he'd be sure to treasure and build up from there on out.

"Edelaide." It sounds naught unlike an exhale, as an excess of air pressure leaves his lungs to subtly excite the top end of his vestibular fold, creating a crackly sound. "Thank you. I mean it. I really do."
(Walter Docro)
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[02:06] "Thank me? Pff." She shakes her head, raven locks swaying and dripping from her shoulders as they're loosened with the motion. "No. Don't thank me for anything. It's by your own volition that you're learning to accept yourself and strive for more. I expect to see a big, strong boy hurtling through the forest to smack me around the field in the future. Make me proud, alright?"

If she wasn't dead by then. As it were now, Edelaide was treading extremely fine and delicate lines separating her from the prison, execution, or getting killed in the middle of a forest without a single witness to ever bear the tale.

But this wasn't about her, and she definitely wouldn't relay such a concern to Walter, if only for the sake of his own mental wellbeing.

It hurt to lose close friends and loved ones. That was natural.

"If you don't stomp me by then, I'll be pissed. You'll be a practice dummy for hours." Or rather, she would, in an endeavor to smack him into shape. To be a mercenary or otherwise meant you had to be tougher than the most refined metal.

"Maybe... Alabastre and your group could work together in some sort of way. Only when you're stronger, though. I'm not letting you in until you can take us on and actually keep up."
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[02:41] His laugh is more forward placed this time around. Walter seems to adopt a more careless and less hard-felt spirit, perhaps slightly more akin to the usual demeanor of Walter and the Rat pack (trademark pending, it wasn't his idea), though baring a much lighter aura about his movements. Though still unnaturally large and brawny in size, it's almost as if Walter's movements had earned up some additional grace, just from the interaction alone. The thud between his ribcage resonated in a much heavier, gut-filling tone. His skeleton felt weightless, as if he were making strands of hair dance around with the electric impulses coming from his cortex.

"Hey, I'll thank you if I so damn please! You enabled me to get this, lady."

By the time he's done with the joyful cackle as well as his snappy teasing, Walter's pea stare briefly engages with Edelaide's own ocean, merely lingering in place, as if to savorthe sensation. The acceptance - not hers, but his own, merely photographing the circumstances that surrounded change. She was not one, but several.

"You know. I didn't think I'd like you at first." He shares, briefly reminiscing on their first few encounters. Perhaps her emotional threshold for stress was bigger, but the reflection still poked through. "I guess you're all about subverting expectations too."

A mildly sarcastic, though wholly 'you know it's true' type of sassy simper latches onto the side of his mouth irreparably.

"Told you, we're alike." He's rubbing it in, almost demanding for her to confide in him with equal temperament, his stare is piercing and able enough to convey so. Finally, his posture slowly reincorporates to find Walter standing. "Tch-hah! You're twenty-one-years old, lady. Don't go talking down on me like I'm not aman. Or like you're at your day's end. There's plenty of space and time for you to still grow. I wanna' see how strong you get, too."

Though he's not hostile, nor using his usual fix of pride - instead artificially inflating it enough for it to fit the mold of his following sentences, Edelaide's wit would be enough to realize he means what he says tenfold.

"I can only hope y'grow at a steady enough pace to be about as strong as me when we meet again." His head shakes immediately afterwards. "I'll be a grown man soon, not too different from yourself right now. Be ready for when that happens."
(Walter Docro)
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[03:13] To see such joviality so openly flaunted, and in a manner exuberant in some form of attempted pride, highlighted the smile on her face much more transparently. Her weight remains midst the grass, an elbow propped atop her knee as she watches onward with a hint of satisfaction glinting around her pupils.

Emotion scarcely surfaced in the severe demeanor she upheld - was that a surprise? Despite that, there was a degree of warmth that appeared to emanate from her person as she listened to his happy chatter.

"Hmmf."

What more was there to say? She couldn't summon the proper verbage to express the abstractions pooling within her mind.

Action spoke louder than words, an adage that she encompassed through and through. And so, Edelaide steadied herself on two feet, proceeding to cuff the boy on the back of his head. "There's not much else for me to do at the moment, kid. As I am, I will stay. But you've got vast amounts ofpotential. I can only hope you keep persevering when things get difficult. You'd better, anyway. None of that bitchmade stuff. You can bet I'll put up a good fight - I always do.

And, uh.

Dunno, I've always liked you. Any sort of disdain that comes my way usually goes unnoticed because I... Prefer to not read the atmosphere, gahaha. Too much effort."

An inhalation.

"Aaanyway, the collective heat of our yapping has made this place about ten points warmer. I wanna go UP, or I'm gonna die of suffocation."
(Edelaide Astaret)
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[03:17] Walter chuckles, haphazardly sliding the dog mask back onto his face. "Runnin' away, huh?" He'd tease, clearly with not as much investment as before. "Jokin'. I took the mask off because it was gettin' stuffy in there too." His head bobs slowly, with the motion revealing itself to be a nod once his head had rotated back up. "Let's head back up."
(Walter Docro)