voice; un: redgrave, end of january or so

[shishkabob]

[Against the muffled background noise of a busy training ground:] I'm pretty sure most of this is old news by now, but you guys oughta know: the Grand Cross of the Knights of the Seven Sisters? Huge Jun Shortaxe fan. Called him the pride and joy of their order, best of 'em all, etcetera etcetera.

But he did tell me that Shortaxe only wanted to get into the Knights because his friend Dweyre was there. Apparently he wanted to be "just like him" and signed up soon as he could, trained day and night to prove himself. Then Dweyre got taken out by, apparently, an ambush of wyverns, so he ended up stepping up.

[Pause.] Grand Cross also mentioned that a warlock took out Shortaxe on that last mission, but that we already knew about.

[Another, longer pause.]

You guys ask me, I'm not too sure I trust Shortaxe very much. I...uh, knew someone a little like him, once. Motivated guy, too. That motivation pushed him to make some extremely bad choices that all ended poorly for him, and I can't help but think that might be what we're dealing with here, too. Roundtree, on the other hand—how much do we know about her?

Comments

audio; un: felix

[swordandshield]

I wasn't going to say anything- [he already said something (just not publicly)] -but I won't be surprised if he does something dumb that's against us.

Probably best to keep an eye on him. All of them really.

[Which is exactly what Felix will be doing once they start heading out for the orb when the time comes. Traveling with Shortaxe to be ready to put a knife in him tbh.]

[shishkabob]

I wouldn’t be either. But the funny thing is, I’d get it. Sounded like he really looked up to Dweyre—might be losing him hurt more than he could let on. And then add to that their last mission failing miserably, and the band breaking up…yeah, something is up with him.

[With a tired sigh:] Yeah, you’re right. What I just said, it likely applies to the others too.

[swordandshield]

[Felix listened carefully but he was running under the "it takes one to know one" sort of paranoia over this guy. He was simply too nice and trying to be too helpful by inserting himself (and his still trusted friends) into the equation. Maybe Felix was just too paranoid. (He was.) But he didn't trust the guy as far as he could throw him (which wasn't very far without his powered armor).

There might have been something to Dante's theory though and Felix filed it away. (The parallel was lost on him. He couldn't think like that and not break down into a raging psychopath.)]

Kind of a lot for one individual to go through. And then he just doubled down on the whole "hero adventurer" thing? Yeah, doesn't sound healthy to me. The rest of the band seem to have a more natural reaction than him.

[Hello kettle, meet the pot.]

So maybe he knows something, or maybe he'll try something now that he knows more about the heirloom.

[shishkabob]

[A shrug.] We don't tend to run into an abundance of healthy people on missions, do we. Still...far as I could tell from what the Grand Cross said, he seems like the type to double down on exactly that type of thing anyway.

[Much like Some People (ie a certain twin brother) that Dante can name.]

Jeez, kinda hate thinking of him like this, if we're being honest here. He's Degar's buddy, and we even dropped Degar's name to get him and his old friends on our side. I wanna think he wouldn't intentionally hurt us, but with the orb in play...who knows.

[swordandshield]

Probably not considering the nature of them. [And what they were collecting. But this is Felix's first mission so all he has is conjecture based off what he's read from the files and what others have mentioned in discussions.] All right, so that's his coping mechanism. Still lends itself to doing something stupid whether it's for the right intentions or not. You know what they say about "good intentions" right?

[Pave the way to hell. Irony of that one definitely lost on him.]

So, yeah. He could just end up hurting people without meaning to... still would make a mess for us if it happens, whatever the reason. It all just comes back to "we should keep an eye on him" in the end.

[shishkabob]

They lead to waking up in an underground dungeon sans pants? [He's kidding, the joke meant to lighten the tension.] Seriously, though: yeah. I know. Got a little too much experience that way.

[And yet he still tries to help people out.]

We're good at cleaning up messes, yeah? Just...don't want the mess to catch Degar, too. He's a good guy.

audio; un nightmoves

[ruinously]

I don't think I trust that Shortaxe guy at all. I've known a few people like him.

As far as Roundtree -- friend of mine talked to her couple days ago. She seems like a good one, but it's hard to tell.

[shishkabob]

Yeah, you and me both. Guy I’m thinking of—he, uh. Decided he needed to get stronger than everyone else, no matter what the cost was. Didn’t work out so well for him.

Oh? Your friend think she’s trustworthy?

[ruinously]

Yeah. Knew one just like that. [ friggin' archangels. ]

She seemed to think so. I saw the recording and the woman seemed sincere, but you never know. Shit can hit the fan fast.

[shishkabob]

Man, desperate power-seeking dumbasses sure are a constant across universes, huh.

[He doesn't sound too pleased about it, just...tired and resigned.]

Seemed is one thing. It's not exactly good enough, but when it's all we have... [He sighs.] We better stay on her good side. Anything goes wrong, I'd rather her spells didn't target our backs.

[ruinously]

Yeah, basically.

Pretty much. It's kind of a coin toss these days. Are they good? Who knows. They lyin'? Probably to some degree. Are we gonna fuck up the world irrevocably? Also a possibility.

[shishkabob]

What I wouldn't give for a mission where the bad guys are obvious right from the get-go. Wouldn't that be the day.

[Here they are instead.]

Really hope not, at least this once. This is Degar's home. I'd like to make sure we leave it actually better than when we found it. [A breath.] Still, when's the last time any of us got what we really wanted on a mission?

[ruinously]

Obvious? Don't know the meaning of the word.

Yeah, I'm hoping not, too. It would be nice to even leave it as is, if not better.

Instead of wrecking things.

[ Though Dean definitely got what he wanted when he got to nail the bartender on Viv's world. ]

[shishkabob]

That'd be nice, wouldn't it? We get the orb out of here, and the entire world is magically fixed.

[It's a lovely fantasy. Dante's too old now to really believe in it.]

Realistically, though, we're gonna be wrecking something significant on our way out. Just hope it won't be too bad.

[ruinously]

[ it's a beautiful fantasy indeed. ]

Yeah...I'm hoping so, too. I'd hate to disappoint the captain.

[ ...again. ]

Fingers crossed, I guess.

[shishkabob]

Who'd want to?

But hey, [a little shrug,] it's up to Shortaxe if we come out of here without wrecking the place or if we end up disappointing Degar.

[ruinously]

Yeah. Hope he isn't an asshole after all.

audio; un: raddude5000

[heroooic]

[It's hardly the first time someone's expressed their doubt in Jun on the network. It wouldn't be the first time Finn rushed to his defense, either, if he were to give into his urge to do so.

As Finn speaks, the agitated sound of his fingers drumming can be heard behind his voice.]

The guy from your story, what was he motivated by?

[not here]

[swordandshield]

[ He's so proud of you for trying, boyo. You get a gold star sticker when this is over if you manage to keep it up. 👍 ]

[shishkabob]

[With the careful tone of someone who’s keeping a lot of things close to his chest:] He lost somebody important to him when he was a kid. I don’t think he ever got over it—when we last met, [well, while Vergil was still Vergil, anyway,] he told me that without strength you couldn’t protect anything. Not even yourself.

That’s pretty admirable, by itself, but at the time he was trying to raise a demon tower and had gotten a lot of people killed in the process, so.

[A breath.]

I want to be wrong here, kid. I really do. He’s Degar’s friend, I don’t like thinking of him like this. [He can’t not, though. Grief can drive people to do awful things.] If it turns out that Shortaxe has nothing to do with this then I’ll be happy to apologize to the guy personally.

[heroooic]

[When Finn asked the question, he'd been hoping for something easier to counter. An addiction to power, maybe, or a megalomaniac streak. The dark side of determination that was easy to file away as bad, contrasted by the inherent goodness of wanting to protect others.

Instead, Dante gives him a story that sounds unsettlingly close to what drove Finn's own heart. The finger drumming gets a little louder.]

I know. [And he did know, as much as the thought came with a sigh. Dante wasn't a mean guy. Most of the people taking up against Shortaxe weren't jerks. They'd been burned by people in the past, that's all. But that didn't mean they were right now, and it was there that Finn's own determination came into play.] I guess we'll see who's right, huh?

[Despite the tension in his voice, Finn lets loose a small laugh.] Maybe we should bet or something...

[shishkabob]

For what it's worth, I'd be happy to be wrong. Maybe he's on the level and I'm just being a paranoid old man.

[He very much hopes so. But all he can think of is that awful twisted monster that Vergil had become, sitting on a throne in a pool of blood. He clenches his fist, claws briefly biting into his palm, before he has to force himself to relax.]

Sure, let's make a bet. If he's really on the up and up and he doesn't try to screw us over with the orb, I'll order us a truckload of ice cream. Have a sundae night.