intro ♚ april

[boardmaster]

WELCOME TO GRAUPERA

We’ve all had those dreams: you wake up on a table, to blurry, ominous images and the certainty that you are absolutely buck-naked in a room full of strangers. This is not quite it.

Instead, you come awake to the sun on your face. The soft burble of water nearby. The hustle and bustle of a busy street and the faint, fortifying smell of bread. You open your eyes and there’s no one there at your bedside, but there is what appears to be the end of the world happening just beyond your window.

There’s a crack in the world across the sky, the “sun” is the totally unnatural light spilling from that crack straight into your eyes, and someone’s left a neatly pressed and folded uniform at the foot of the bed that isn’t yours. Somewhere in the room, there’s a strange clatter like beads, the click of claws on the floor.

Something’s in here with you.

Also, you are naked.

ONE ♟ CAPABLANCA & AIRY

As much as Blanc’s capital welcomes its Heroes, new arrivals such as yourself won’t have much time to settle. Get dressed and pick up your weapon and Carrier, because sometime in the afternoon, all floor nannies and Carriers will broadcast an announcement by Commander Lisbrand. She delivers a brief greeting to their new members, but gets straight to the point: they will be headed for Capablanca and the open sea beyond, in order to restore the fortress of Graupera for battle with Noir looming on the horizon. All new Heroes are expected to report to the Airy at the Caissa aeroport on the 8th along with their seniors.

On the morning of the 11th, Airy alights on Graupera, an island about two hours away from Capablanca by ferry. From here, you can either help the navy with Graupera repairs or assist in Verdoni’s investigations and head for Capablanca proper. Heroes will be staying in the (in)famous Hotel Caruana: they say you can check in anytime you like, but you can never truly leave. Nobody will quite meet your eyes or tell you what it means.

Wherever you are, the Airy will remain parked at Graupera.

TWO ♟ GRAUPERA, CAPABLANCA SEA FORT

What was once a heavily fortified island rests a ways off the coast of Capablanca; it looks a little too much like one of the thunderclouds slowly swarming on the horizon. Graupera has seen many battles and withstood the ebb and flow of wars. Formerly the city’s first line of defense until it was abandoned after the Reclamation, its dilapidated condition is the current bane of the Blanc navy. Blanc needs to bring it back to its former glory before it can face a single warship, much less Noir’s fleet of magical cannons. Blanc’s government has no doubt Heroes will do a fine job at returning the fortress to its former glory!

A ♙ The great stone and iron wall facing the wide open ocean has seen better days and is full of holes overgrown with stubborn clinging vines; cannonballs used a lifetime ago litter the grounds. The vines are extremely thick and may tangle the careless beyond hope of escape, not to mention filled with a pungent sap that will seep into your clothes and hair for days. It makes a great adhesive, though? Conveniently, parts of the wall are strewn across the floor, so at least some of the cannon holes can be repaired with enough improvisation, desperation and a bit of spit. The rest need new material provided by our helpful Heroes in Option C. Furthermore, the lingering damage from a previous attack and old age have turned the floorboards weak and unstable. The wood creaks ominously beneath the mass of even a single average-sized person, so watch your step.

B ♟ You might want to get your weapon before you descend into the dank depths beneath the castle. Once you make it down the steep, slippery stairs, you’ll be meeting the gigantic, hostile rats that infest the castle cellar from top to bottom. It looks like magical residue from long-ago battles has seeped into both the foundation and its inhabitants. The cellars have become a huge warren filled with strange mana currents, and sometimes flooded with water. If you're going to start an extermination campaign, you may want to recall the magical residue: chopping off a rat’s head and limbs will barely slow it down. It will keep going for hours unless you either lop off all its limbs or pierce its heart.

If you manage to make it all the way up into the castle’s two intact towers (the other two are half-collapsed), the uppermost levels are utterly covered in bird crap. You’ll be encountering the kings of this castle: the unusually large, grey-feathered sea birds that have taken up residence here. Albatrosses, gulls, pelicans, even sand pipers: they all share nesting and pooping space here. The feathers of each bird seem to have taken on stone-like properties not unlike the castle’s walls. They’re extremely ferocious and protective of their nests, which are filled with all kinds of things: twigs, shiny things, coin money, Option C’s supplies, feathers of all kinds, and some completely ordinary tools that seem too small for human hands, and much older than anything else in the place save for the walls. If you look closely, you might be able to see a few baby rats scattered in amongst the eggs and the peeping chicks. They’re being fed, too.

You’re meant to be moving the birds out of the place, but you might have enough trouble just moving their offal.

C ♙ Don’t feel like dealing with pest control? No problem! Blanc will need materials for rebuilding and other supplies for the coming battle! Everyone knows how important it is for the fortress to remain standing, so Heroes will be provided with gadgets and weaponry that should make it difficult for enemies to penetrate the walls yet again. Word has spread that the Heroes are transporting valuable goods, though, so you might have to fend off the occasional hopeful man or annoying mouse (rat) who wishes to borrow much-needed material.

Of course, all this rebuilding will be for naught if you are not prepared to defend the stronghold! Ammunition such as cannonballs, bullets and arrows needs to be transported to Graupera en masse, pronto. Equally important essentials include first aid supplies and enough non-perishable food and water to last a small army (you) a month or two. You wouldn’t want to have to scavenge for rat meat.

No one knows just how long this battle is going to last.

THREE ♟ Training

It’s time for you landlubbers to learn how to swim! Commander Lisbrand won’t be tolerating any sinking stones on her task force. The upcoming battle will be fought on the sea so your instructor, one of Blanc’s many fine captains (when she isn’t intoxicated), will make every single individual who hesitates at the sight of the open ocean walk the plank. She’ll even give you a helpful kick if necessary! Once that’s over, she will show you how to steer a ship. However, wandering eyes that land anywhere on the inebriated captain’s assets will be swiftly and spectacularly dealt a large bottle of the harbor’s best swill right where it hurts.

Blanc has also provided training dummies dressed suspiciously like prominent figures of the Othellian underworld. Now might be a good time to branch out and learn about your affinities. Heroes who have recently been promoted in Rank might want to set some time aside for getting used to their new abilities, too. Power and responsibility come hand in hand, after all!

INFO ♟ Welcome!

Welcome to Crosscheck's April intro log! For any further questions, please see the FAQ or reach us at the Contact Us page. Have fun!

Comments

[houndumb]

[The snake tails don't quite put away their fangs at Naoki's timely (and quite tiny) intervention, but they do stop hissing, so that's already a step forward. Instead, they seem to bob up and down aimlessly for a few moments before... turning to each other and bobbing a few more times. Are the snake tails having a silent conversation? By themselves?!

... Back at the main head, meantime, the dog is shaking itself again -- you're about to get even more drenched, sorry guys. It doesn't seem to be displeasure at its small fellow's noisiness; it seems much more like the motion of a large animal trying to ward off a fly than anything else. The rain of rubble has calmed a little now that the snake heads are distracted, and it looks like things might possibly be taking a turn...

... For the worse, the moment light shines from Zelos' direction. All three heads are immediately zeroed in on the source of the possible threat, snakes lashing forwards with frightening speed and Cerberus himself opening his mouth to let out a roar of challenge -- but he doesn't charge. Instead, he rears back a bit like a horse -- flapping his large wings once and probably bending a couple of trees in the process -- until his forelegs leave the ground, and then slams them back down.

There's probably a few more splits suddenly cracking open in the courtyard ground along with the sudden earthshaking impact. It'll be hard to maintain your footing or your concentration on your casting. Could the dog understand magic in some form...?]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede frowns a bit at the snake tails start...talking? Maybe? She couldn't hear anything even with how big the things were, but maybe snakes didn't speak out...loud. Maybe?

Unfortunately she doesn't get any time to do much else; when the Cerberus reared back Kaede tensed, shielding her eyes from the wind—and the shockwave hit, bowling her straight over onto her ass.

Naoki, being much smaller, mostly bounces and lands...somewhat on his feet. Okay more his side, but he scrambles to his paws much faster than his master. He starts barking again; don't do that, that wasn't nice!!]

[glorifiedtrash]

[The sudden bucking of the ground trips Zelos up, dropping him to his knees and making him lose his grip on his spell. The magic fades. Looking down through the rain Zelos's eyes trace over the new cracks in the brick beneath all of them. So it's going to be like this is it?]

If you're scared that's fine. Angry, frightened, plain pissed off-- you've got every right to be. But you're wrecking this place and I can't allow that. [Reaching into a glove he pulls out a knife. Why his glove, because look he's a paranoid fucker don't question how many weapons he has on him the answer is a shitload.] This place was made for all of you-- it's something special.

[Running at Nora it looks like he's going to do this the old fashion way: swordsman to beast! Haha I'm kidding plz this is Zelos. The moment he's within range he drops like a fucking chump, sliding through the slick puddles of the courtyard to...underneath Nora?? Idk things pick a spot any spot eyyy. He will take the time to shout in Kaede's direction though:]

What are you doing!

[This is the teamiest teamwork to ever teamwork.]

[houndumb]

[Naoki's barking doesn't get the desired reaction this time -- there's just too much going on, to the point where even three heads aren't enough to keep track of or defend against the onslaught. Cerberus is in full five-alarm panicked alert now: its considerable mane appears to be attempting to make itself bigger despite the rain thanks to the motions of its shoulders and wings, and there's a constant warning growl in the back of its throat.

The snakes have whipped back around, coming in low, and are hissing and creeping ever closer to where Naoki stands alone. They look more menacing this time, eyes flashing almost as bright as the dog's. There's really no telling what that last provocation's done in terms of upping the danger rating.

Zelos rushing in, though, makes Cerberus itself jerk to a defensive crouch and let out a higher sound, almost a bark, not quite a yelp. And once Zelos is in the shadow of the beast, so to speak, you get the luxury of seeing a very large dog trying to dance away from whatever attack is coming. The goose-stepping might be funny in other circumstances, when it isn't making hairline cracks appear in the stones again...

There's no focused retaliation from Cerberus this time, though, somehow. It's still shaking its head occasionally like it has an itch, and that growl has turned into something that's almost the beginnings of recognizable sound, NNNnnnrrrr...]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Though she'd been knocked down, her temper was largely undamaged. Still on a hair-trigger as usual!]

Fuck off, thank you-

[The sight of her dog possibly being threatened spurred Kaede into instantaneous action; scrambling to her feet, seizing the nearest discarded restraint (a collar), and stalking angrily forwards even as her Carrier skittered backwards, yipping in alarm. The poleaxe in her other hand burst into an reddish flame; still cool, but burning brighter by the moment as it responded to Kaede's anger.]

Going to bite his head off, asshole? Start with mine!

[She might be mad. Or suicidal. Or both, since that's what this team seems to be made of.

She hopefully had a plan too, or the Oubliette would be busy.]

[glorifiedtrash]

[Cute kohais doing cute, dumb things: Zelos's perspective right here. It's good to know the dog won't be hurting him though he can't say the same for his tagteam, Ms. Charm and Poise. Better to end this fast and decisively. Dragging his knife through the air he traces an hasty cross, rain water shedding from the blade in the violent motion.]

O sacred powers, cast your mercy on this hurt soul!

[A circle of green light spreads out beneath the area, just barely encompassing the space Nora occupies. A green wind picks up, swirling around him and-- uh. Healing him. Enjoy ur mid-grade healing spell, kid. Especially seeing as it was cast to distract and blind, the opague wind whipping the rain along with it to momentarily create a curtain of light and water blocking most things from view. Or, you know, people.

It's an opening he's created for Kaede. Or attempted anyways, WHO KNOWS. What she does with it is all in her own hands though...]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The gust of wind made her duck her shoulders—what was it doing now? Though...that had been Zelos' voice before. Maybe it was his doing?

Whatever it was, Kaede had a chance to get closer—and she could still see one of the creature's horns through the light, a blackish shape close to the ground. It wouldn't be there for long.

She didn't have time to sheathe her axe away; she dropped the weapon, flames burning briefly even after it clattered to the ground. Still holding the collar, she lunged for the horn, grabbing onto its rough surface and beginning to climb.

Her vectors would have made this so much easier, ugh.]

[houndumb]

[Zelos' intervention is, in fact, just in time: where Cerberus' main head had been distracted, the snake heads were still doing a dangerous dance with Kaede. They'd pulled back in some alarm when she pulled out a sharp object that then burst into flame, but even a fire axe isn't very impressive in this kind of weather.

So, they're just about to lash out and possibly pull a pincer attack on Kaede (these are some organized-ass snake tails, literally and figuratively) that would probably knock her off her feet again... when the healing spells kicks in. It's the wind and sudden curtain of rain that throws off the snakes' aim, so all that happens is that some cobblestone gets wrecked by Kaede's feet and possibly one snake goes whistling over her head when she starts moving.

Cerberus itself stills for a moment, seemingly confused both by the reduced visibility and the lack of real attack -- and that's when Kaede lands on its face. There's another high-pitched noise from the hellhound, this time definitely more along the lines of a yelp. Its first instinct is to lower its head and try to rub the obstruction off its face with its front paws...

However, the snake tails have extracted themselves from the cobblestones now and may be coming back around to help. Someone should probably intercept those before they try to scratch this particular itch.]

[glorifiedtrash]

[Damn. The two of them are really going to make him work for this, aren't they. Grabbing a-- serving tray?! ...He's not questioning, he's not questioning-- Grabbing a serving tray from the ground in a desperate roll to his feet he tosses it straight for the snakes just like a frisbee. And he's pretty damn good at frisbee.]

Keep going! Don't stop!

[Because he will cover her. That's what he's here for. ...No, that's not right. That's what he's choosing to be here for.]

I'm not going to keep playing around, dog-- snake-- mutt! [PICK AN ANIMAL DAMN IT????] CHAINS OF DIVINITY--

[This sounds like some serious shit. Albeit he's. Just being a distraction. But that sure as shit are some feathers of light suddenly in the air.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede almost lost her grip when the Cerberus bent its head suddenly, losing a foot of progress. She pulled herself sideways, to shelter on the side of the horn closest to the creature's face to keep her away from the snakes—though that naturally put her closer to teeth bigger than her torso.

She would do this. She could do this. And she wouldn't get her head bitten off. Kaede pulled herself inexorably upwards, armlength by armlength, even though the Cerberus' thrashing jammed her fingers and bashed her face into the horn's surface.

She'd almost reached the top; another stretch, and she could grasp at the fur on his head.]

[houndumb]

[Look, serving trays are extremely handy implements for imprisoning... food.... We got nothin' here, except that they also make pretty zippy frisbees and excellent distractions; and seeing as Cerberus' tails are a pretty big -- albeit moving -- target, getting soundly clonked is inevitable.

It works as a distraction, at any rate, but now Zelos has the snakes' attention. There's a brief hesitation where it looks like one head is going to go for Cerberus' dilemma and the other is going to head for the source of flying annoyances, but ultimately thanks to the new light show -- Zelos gets the pincer attack Kaede was lucky enough to dodge, apparently having been deemed enough of a threat. One head comes at him directly from the front, mouth open and hissing, while the other dives from above, aiming to smash more than catch.

Back at the main dog head (why would you pick an animal when three heads are better than one?), big teeth are pretty meaningless when you can't bite sideways. And probably don't want to gnaw on your own horn. So what Cerberus resorts to as a last measure? Just shaking his head. Shaking it a lot. There's water and fur flying every which way and Kaede is probably getting an even sounder thrashing than before, but somewhere in the mess:]

... dog.

[Did Cerberus just say something? Only the last word is intelligible amidst the snarling, but the giant dog sure did just talk.]

[glorifiedtrash]

[You know this wasn't how he imagined the day going. Just saying. All the saying.]

--LEAVE NO SINNER FREE -- LUMINOUS BIND!

[Chains of holy light shoot up from the ground and down from the...heavens... Wrapping around the magical menagerie taking up this corner of the courtyard they bind fast. They aren't unbreakable, but they're not a walk in the park either. And they're only so fast. So this is sort of some hideous performance art of man mid-being eaten by multiple heads. FUN STUFF. I assume angel blood tastes like delicious mana, maybe we're skipping to the dining part of this thread early.

Anyways he'd really, really appreciate it if you worked faster Kaede. You know. If you feel slightly pressed at all. As his face scrunches up in pain, but he doesn't let go of the magic just yet. He's been through an hell lot worse than this. He can bear it. For a little while.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[No pressure! No pressure at all!

The light distracted Kaede—as did the Cerberus shaking its head like she was some flea to be dislodged.

She lost her grip on the creature's horn entirely, and her flailing hands snagged the end of the Cerberus' ear instead. Kaede shouted as she struggled to stay on, almost directly into the giant ear.]

Stop that!

[The other hand—the one holding the collar—grabs onto whatever part of the creature's neck she can.]

[houndumb]

[Even a giant dog is going to flinch if a flea yells right in its poor ear, which is exactly what Cerberus does, shrinking back into its mane and the cover of its wings -- which are luckily not low enough to knock Kaede from her precarious handhold. The ears also fold back abruptly, probably smothering her in wet dog mane and providing a convenient place to land... Mission accomplished...?]

... Like... HELL!

[And now the dog is definitely talking, but it's also definitely started shaking its head harder than ever, so hopefully Kaede found a better perch than the one that's now flying around at top speed again.

Speaking of swinging heads, the snake heads spend a few moments with their fangs fastened in whatever parts of Zelos they've managed to reach... drinking some of that angel blood, honestly. Cerberus is always, always hungry for magic, and this is probably not the Heroic mana exchange anybody had in mind. Like. Ever. Suddenly, though, one of the snake heads pulls away as far as the chains will let it -- shaking itself a little like the dog it's attached to, splashing some angel blood onto the pavement. Honestly, it seems a little disgruntled, as though it's bitten into something sour.

The other head stays just a little longer... and shakes itself as best it can with its fangs still in, likely shaking Zelos around in the process like an unruly bug. Only then does it detach itself, still tangled in the chains -- and hisses at its prey.]

Ugh...

[The actual sound of disgust is coming from the direction of the main head, though. Looks like this meal has been rejected.]

[glorifiedtrash]

[RUDE?????? Anyway. Why so many fucking snakes biting him in this world????? NO OKAY REALLY. He stiffens against the shake, fighting to keep his concentration. Funnily enough the contact goes both ways, yay mana replenishment. Makes up a little for the blood loss. A little.]

...And on the sacred day the gods met and gave this prophecy to Blanc:

[IDK WHAT THE PROPHECY ACTUALLY WAS but Zelos would know it so just insert it here. HERE'S YOUR WELCOME EXPOSITION NORA.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[One moment, Kaede definitely had her head and torso and at least one arm in open (rain choked) air.

The next, her body was buried in a very fluffy and very sodden mane. Well, maybe a foot was still sticking out, but ew wet dog smell.

The next moment she was slightly grateful, though; she was able to grab a better handhold in time for the neck muscles beneath her to tremble and shake again with a thunderous voice and another head-toss that would have thrown her clean off if she'd been clinging anywhere else.

Kaede could hear Zelos speaking too; she didn't know what happened to him, but the Cerberus seemed distracted whenever he said anything. She took the opportunity to pull herself out of the creature's mane, and jammed the collar onto the thing's ear.]

[houndumb]

[It's a little hard to follow welcome exposition when your ass is in chains (literally), two of your mouths are full of someone else's mana (this is why you don't go around putting random shit from the ground into your mouth?!), and you have something small and skittery and potentially deadly crawling around on your head. In your fur.

And it's not like Nora ever had much of an ear for exposition, even when he wasn't furry, a handful of stories tall and trying to evade another set of who-knows-who trying to put collars and chains on him. On top of the insidious whispering in his ear that keeps telling him to let his snakes drink their fill, crush the bug in his hair against the nearest section of wall until her blood runs red with mana as well, open his jaws on the world and--

Well, you get the idea. He really isn't going to remember much of these details later. But a distraction is a distraction, and between Cerberus' snake tails thrashing angrily against the chains and trying to ignore the taste of blood in his (their) mouth, Zelos trying to cram foreign words in with the words in his head -- Kaede gets where she needs to go.

There's a light show considerably brighter than Zelos' various spells in the gloom as soon as the collar comes to rest on one large dark ear; there's rumbling almost like thunder, an even brighter flash and for those sensitive to mana, what feels like a very strong and sudden current of magic flowing to a fixed point. And then everything fades and there's just a white-haired boy suspended in mid-air, totally buck-naked and--]

... I SAID, like hell I'm gonna-- Eh?

[Nora barely gets the word out before he's, ah, falling. Through the rain, not that he's too high up, but heads-up, Kaede and Zelos. And sorry for the mooning.]

[glorifiedtrash]

[That's one way to slip out of a set of chains. And-- well. He was more expecting a smaller dog. Not a kid. Not that he has the time to do anything--]

Shi--

[Catching one kid he can do. Catching two kids while injured, well look he's got some limits. DOWN THEY ALL GO. Where's the reset button for this day can he ask for a do-over?!!]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede pinched her eyes shut against the light this time; something twisted in her chest as her own mana responded to the tidal wave of it crashing onto the Cerberus.

And then the surface she was clinging to abruptly...wasn't there, leaving her hands grasping on empty air. That twisting in her chest turned into a sickening knot as she fell, shouting.

She cracked her head against someone on the way down, horns first, which sends her head ringing like a tuning fork. Ow.]

[houndumb]

OW!

[Seriously, not only is it disorienting to suddenly go from giant and four-legged to smaller and two-legged and then falling into the world's soggiest and bloodiest dogpile, he had to meet the world's most unfortunate horned headbutt too?! If only he still had his own horns out, maybe they would've bounced off each other...

It's a good thing Nora is probably one of the most hard-headed demons around, else that would've knocked him out entirely; as it is, he's just dazed for a good while. Which may be a good thing. The stray collar they rounded up is half-fallen over his head where they're all sprawled, so at least the effort wasn't wasted...]

[glorifiedtrash]

[How about they all just lay around for a second. Zelos thinks that's a good idea. especially since he's simultaneously trying to breathe and not lose his lunch right now.

Urgh... But... They seem okay. He thinks. That's what's important.]

G...good job.

[He means that. Genuinely. Haphazardly he'll pat whichever part of both of them he can reach. ...Like they're dogs, but look ATTEMPTS BEING MADE.]

...And get the hell off. This...isn't a resort...!

[long_live_the_queen]

[Whatever Kaede landed on afterwards, it had way too many lumps to be the ground. That was an elbow digging into her spine, for instance. As dazed and short of breath as she was, that definitely encouraged her to move faster. Or at least roll away and off of the pile of limbs.

Also someone was touching her head stop immediately.]

[houndumb]

God... damn it...

[Ah, well, at least this one's recovered enough to run his mouth already. His head is still smarting enough that Nora doesn't really register the pat (which probably lands somewhere on his nose, honestly, the pile is messy enough); good thing, too, else he really might end up biting the hand while he's out of it. (... Again.)

Once Kaede rolls off, though, and he gets hit by the cool air and the rain? He sits up like a shot, not bothering to roll away properly (we're really sorry, Zelos) before he starts tugging at the collar still stuck halfway on his head. And yelling. Can never forget the yelling.]

What the hell are you people playing at, what the hell is this, get it off I've had enough of collars for--

[Someone... may want to stop him before he pulls it off and all their hard work is undone, oops. For the moment, it seems to be stuck fast on his hair. This is what you get for having three ridiculous ponytails on your head, Nora.]

[glorifiedtrash]

[Can he just groan pathetically? That's a thing he's doing, yes. All this rolling and jumping about is really not helping after having a combined ~200lbs fall on him. Which is both a blessing and a worry because together they should be heavier, but details.

As much as he wouldn't mind taking a bit of a dirt nap right now he knows he can't. He's got to keep moving, keep being useful. Can't...fail them. At least, he doesn't want to fail these two who've appeared her so suddenly and unknowingly against their own will. Because-- Whatever, he just can't.

Sitting up slowly himself, he winces. Once he catches sight of what Nora's doing though he sits up an hell of a lot faster, reaching out to grab Nora's hand in an attempt to yank it away from the kid's latest bdsm accessory. And. Only anything in the area of "things worn on the body".]

Stop acting like a brat! [Okay? Okay. He calls it like he sees it!!! Speaking of he does look to Kaede.] Thanks. For caring about this dumb dog here. [that being Nora... Anyway, taking a breath! It's silly, how relieved he feels to see them in one piece. But really he truly does... So he doesn't bother hiding a kinder look than he usually wears.] You're new too, right?

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede staggered to her feet, wobbling and unsteady and—that person(?) that had been that giant dog(??) was taking the sealing collar off. Why did that give him thumbs, this is unacceptable.]

You fucking put that shit back on—!

[Ah yes, Miss Tact and Politeness. Kaede staggered over to Nora and grabbed onto the collar, shoving it back down onto his head.

She'd be sympathetic later but she really, really doesn't want to do any repeats of Colossus Climbing for at least an hour, okay.

It's in the middle of dunking on some kid's head that she remembers someone else is talking to her. Also, he said the word that confused her. That "caring" word. It distracted her so thoroughly she froze in the middle of what she was doing, staring at Zelos in befuddlement.]

I guess, sort of.

[Kaede's voice was profoundly less hostile for a moment.]