knightsoflegend | open ♔ valentine's day

That's because it's not about what you do, Ward! [ She shouts it finally, rounding on him. She should quiet down. She should bite her tongue, knowing that anyone could walk in, but she doesn't. ] It's about what you did! What you are!

[He's a bit startled that she actually says it. That she puts that much of her knowledge out there. Of course, he doesn't show any of that on the outside (will save 22), but it's there. Inside.]

And that's it. There's no second chances, no consideration for circumstances -- for not seeing the whole picture until it was too late? [He shakes his head, a little in frustration - but mostly in denial.] I left - yes, I ran, but I still left and I didn't go crawling back, trying to angle my way into what I had. It would have been easy, Skye. The reputation alone -- would have paved my way.

Instead, I came here. [She might think that she had something to do with it, but really she only sealed it for him. He hadn't known she was here until he saw her, until he had eyes on her and then he knew that there was something worth pursuing in doing the right thing for once.]

[Drawn in by the sounds of shouting, Willow pokes her head in and sees... Well, they aren't people that she knows. Part of her thinks that she should just leave them to it, but there's this part of her (the knightly part. and the woman part.) that doesn't like the idea of leaving when Skye might need help.

Not that she thinks Skye can't handle herself. She knows literally nothing about her. It's just one of those things. You don't walk away when another woman might need help getting out of a difficult situation.]

...Everything okay in here?

[ Venom curdles in Skye's mouth, ready to spit out at him every ounce of disgust she can muster at the fact that he has the gall to demand reprieve, to demand credit for not being a scumbag. ]

No one owes you just because you — [ She stops short when she hears Willow's mousy voice, and her head whips to the side, eyes wide and flashing with still-present anger even as they fix on her. Some of the fight drains out of Skye, gets buried quickly under a thick veil offered by weariness. ]

I— [ She squares her shoulders, casts one more glance at Ward, hateful and challenging, before she strides towards Willow where she stands by the door. ] Just sparring. Doesn't matter: we're done now.

[There's no doubt in his mind that this is the core of Skye's issue with him being here. That she needs to vent, to get this out so that at the very least he doesn't have to constantly be waiting for it to happen. His voice hadn't raised too much, at least not that he had thought, but clearly someone over heard and he knows that means this isn't going to happen. It'll be bottled up and she'll blow up at him again another time.

Still, he has that internal need to defend himself, to state that he doesn't think anyone owes him anything, that he's here to earn that, but he knows that will be lost in her anger. It's also not what he wants another Knight to overhear.]

Yeah, it's fine. It's over.

Right. [Willow looks from Skye to Ward, then back to Skye- assessing how 'fine' and 'over' she thinks that conversation really is.]

So, um... I was actually looking for you. [Lies. Such lies. She doesn't know Skye at all but she's trying to give her a decent excuse to get away and not have to deal with aftershocks of whatever this argument is. Bluff 15.] We had that...thing. The thing you were going to help me with?

[She's trying, okay.]

[He's not going to try and stop Skye from leaving. He also has to appreciate the fellow Knight stepping in and trying to get her out of what probably appears to be a hostile situation. Still, he's good at lying. He can spot a decent lie and this isn't even a decent lie. (sense motive NAT 20 / 35 total)

He's not going to care, though. He's not going to stop Skye if that's what she wants to do. He looks at Skye, not at the interrupting redhead.]

If you have somewhere you should be -- [He leaves it open, the implication that he knows she doesn't and that she probably wants to continue to read him the riot act, but he's not going to get in the way if she wants an out.]

[ Later, Skye will appreciate Willow's presence, the impetus for her to set her anger aside and evacuate rather than continue driving stubbornly on like a ram that doesn't know any better. For now, she can hardly see past the haze of red to consider that she should walk away. It was a slip, a loss of carefully cultivated control that Skye fights to regain.

But now she has people pulling her in different directions—a lousy wisdom check has Skye scrutinizing Ward's offer for double meanings, as if he might be threatening to catch up with her at a worse time when it's not on her own terms later. But she still stops at the door by Willow and shakes her head. ]

I'm serious. It's fine. [ And she finally drums up a smile that's rather convincing in how it tries to be at tired ease, giving the impression that her frustration is nothing more than a result of getting her ass beat and the subsequent exhaustion (bluff 29). ] We were running drills, decided to spar, and I'm being a sore loser. I'll shower it off. [ She claps a hand on Willow's shoulder and, in a well-intentioned nudge, tries to guide her from the gym with her, one final dark look shot over her shoulder at Ward where he stands alone on the mats. ]

[Willow believes that smile, believes that Skye is okay, and follows along with the gentle nudging without any hesitation. She doesn't know either of them, so she's got no context here, but she doesn't regret her decision to stop by and check in. Once they've stepped out of the training room, she glances to Skye.]

If it helps at all, any sparring I would do would result in me being a literal sore loser.

Yeah, well, that makes two of us.

[ As soon as they're out of view of the gym, Skye lets her stiff steps turn into the limp that they're masking, a result of the injuries around her ribs. She might have to get that looked at later, if she can't manage to sleep it off. ]

Not many people here believe in pulling punches.

We should get you to the Light wing. One of those potions and you'll be feeling way better.

[The way she's limping has Willow worried okay.]

I'm Willow, by the way. Rosenberg. Dragon's Hoard.

[ She notices the concern and shakes her head, gruff and disappointed in herself as she recognizes: ] He took it easy on me.

[ Which isn't the point. She nods her assent to the Light, at least. ]

I'm Skye. And that was Grant Ward. I'm a Freelancer, he's ... new. [ She rubs her side. ] So what's your deal? No Valentine's plans?

No, not really. I'm sort of seeing someone? But it's still pretty new. Not really to... V-day date status, yknow? But he's around, so I might go bug him and find some chocolate just for the sake of small scale celebration.

[She doesn't seem that bothered. Things with Aurelius are good but still in that weird "are we a thing??" stage.]

Freelancers always seemed like a cool choice. A little bit of everything.

You know what they say; better to be a jack-of-all-trades than a master of one. [ She looks over at Willow more fully. ] I almost went Hoard, though. I was a hacker before they picked me up. What's your bit?

Research. Magical research, mostly. And application. I'm sort of training myself with magic. But I've always been a book nerd and my mentor was Hoard so I decided to stick with her and just do the magic thing on the side.

Who's your mentor?

Jeanne Gar. She's just the coolest. [Said with a dopey grin. I mean, she's Willow's version of cool at least.]

Oh, hey, she's one of the people on that four-year mission, right? I still haven't had the chance to meet her, but I heard she's doing all kinds of Veil research. You must be learning a lot.

Yeah, she's great! The mission thing takes up a lot of her time, but she always gives me plenty of pointers on where to find stuff in the library or from her old research on precious projects. [And boy does that make Willow the happiest tbh]

I had a mission recently where we ended up on the other side of the Veil. So I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how that happened since its...not supposed to.

Yeah, I ... thought that was supposed to be a one-way street. What do you mean other side of the Veil?

Like we walked through and it was all...ye olde time. And there was this vampire? Who was really creepy and totally stereotypical with his giant castle and...cryptic messages. It was someplace called Barovia..? Anyway. That guy I'm sort of seeing? He was on the mission with me and we've both been...trying to figure out how it happened. And if we can get back.

I'm guessing you already got the confused looks from Gar and Wynn on this one.

[She nods.]

No one really knows how or why it happened. So it's sort of become my... pet project, I guess you could say.

Well, if you want, I can run back-end, try to research if any of the other accounts lack the luster of "crazy, mouth-breathing paranoid" and might have some legitimacy to them. Maybe, if someone's been through the same as you, we can more easily find a common denominator.

That'd be great! I know Aurelius would be happy for some extra help, too.

open ♔ valentine's day

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