PM to join Arrow? Or Bolt? (Tillie)

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Upon hearing her speak Alex near turned and struck her. Wanting to hit her square in the jaw. Instead he exhaled and turned to glare at her. A hardness in his eyes. One that spoke of a life around death and pain. Of living in a world where it was a daily practice to see people fall but he still hated it. He clenched his teeth stuffing the items he’d picked up into a bag. His hand tightened around the rim of the cloth as he did letting her finish before he’d crack. An unnerving sense of calm came off of him. He was angry but he showed it in the same way his father had. Calm. Clarity. He spoke finally tying off the bag.

“There is never justification to kill someone. Never a right to do so. Yes I recognised that I put myself in a position where it was bad for me but did you stop to think that I could have avoided the swing and knocked him out like I did his friends!?” He turned now to face her fully, a look of anger hidden behind a veneer of calm but his words were edged with venom as he spoke, that utter bitter bile of anger. “And perhaps, if you’d stopped to think for one second instead of running your mouth you’d realize I’m bagging their loot to give to the knights! I take none of this, I never claim too. Just doing my duty to see what they’d stolen to put in a report!” He stepped closer to her a range where he could if he wanted strike her across the face and put her on the ground. But no. That wasn’t him.

“The only reason why I’m not reporting this is because you did it to save me…And consider the lack of my mention of you killing someone my thanks.” He held a look in her eyes. If she pushed him right now it wasn’t going to end well for her. If she tested him, she’d find just how angry he was. “Now make yourself useful and wake up these clowns.” He gestured with his head towards the pair he’d knocked unconscious. The symbol at his neck which he’d been holding had shifted to tyveth’s and Wysar’s symbols. Valour and discipline. It was his reservations for these two gods that held him at bay.

[Tillie Brewer]

Arguments happen all the time, although Tillie didn't seem to appreciate the fact that his teeth had clenched as if he was holding back from striking her for disagreeing with his introverted rhetoric that would one day lead him to his demise. If he chose to continue down this path then it was not a question of if, it was simply put a matter of when.

"Yes I did with careful measure, but did you stop to think of what if you couldnt? What if your leg had been sprained? Then what? A friend with an axe in his forhead, what good would you be to the order then?

I know it sounds righteous and that it is a beautiful ideal but the reality is your at war, right from the jump it's a struggle. But as a knight you have a responsibility to your people, to protect them from harm, even if it means you have to spill blood preserve the peace and civilization.

You do what you can, but your never going to save them all.
And if your dead who will you help then?"

She did as she was charged to do, she said what needed to be said she only hope she was able to get through to him. As she began gently slapping the face of the two unconscious bandits while also keeping tabs on the third bandit that was still awake although groveling or cowering in the fetal position.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex looked her over listened to her words and then evaluated what he knew. His words were getting him no-where so time to cut off the head of the snake. “Tillie. Three things. Firstly until you’ve left the walls of Syliras and the tranquillity and safety of this city, which from how you look and how you act I’d say you never have. Only then can you even begin to too tell me what I can and cannot do.” Hauling the youngest of the bandits up by the bindings on his arms. HE glared at tilly again.

“Secondly. You’re not a knight, you’re not a squire. You’re a citizen, the only reason you’re out here with me is because I let you be. So don’t presume to tell me what I have and don’t have to do.” He lifted the bag of loot over his shoulder His hand firmly around the ropes o the bound youngest bandit. “Thirdly but nowhere near finally. We. Are. Not. At. War! You want a war? You leave these walls you head to Sunberth or Nyka or Ravok. You head to a city full of chaos and death. You walk through the valley of death and terror and come out with your hands clean. You live in a city where one wrong step could spell the difference between living and dying. Then and ONLY then do you get to tell me were at war!”

Alex had begun to stick the knife in verbally at least. He didn’t need his weapons to cut this upstart down to size, he didn’t even need to get angry now that he thought about it. Despite sounding like she knew what she was on about there was a quietness to her voice that told him she’d never left the city. He started to walk off but not before threading a loop of rope through each of the bandit’s restraints. He was taking all of the survivors back. “And one final thing. There’s always another option. You could have shot him in the leg, or even the arm. But then again perhaps you’re not as good an archer as you think you are.” He started to walk off. Having attacked her pride, her logic, her life, and her skills. He was done picking her apart piece by piece. If he needed too though he could go further.

[Tillie Brewer]

She would quietly decline to engage him further, because he was running from the truth by taking shots in the dark.

They were at war on all fronts, Sunberthians and Ravokians harbored a very special and lasting feeling of contempt and hatred towards Syilrians even Zeltivians harbored resentment and disdain. Within the last four years Syilra even raised its banner and marched it's armies against the world to thwart Ravok. Alex was so introverted he could not deny the chaos in the world outside the walls but refused to admit those walls were erected to shield them from Rhysols blight. And that Syilra as it was stood as the promise of peace a beacon a proverbial fickle flame that sliced through the darkness.

And although she was not a squire or a knight she still performed her civic duty in aiding a vassal of the law who was under duress. Maybe not by his impossibly ridiculous standard of attempting to hit a leg or arm which if she had could just as easily killed the bandit leader if her bolt had struck an artery but then what if she missed? The bolt could have blown past the small target completely, or worse struck Alex or a subdued bandit by mistake as it zipped past. They were risks she was not willing to take. She operated her equipment to the best of her ability and despite Alex being ungrateful she would do it all over again in a heart beat. There were no regrets.

But who was he to judge her combat prowess when it was he who fell on his ass in the first place?

A deep breath and an exhale she would not throw fuel on the fire she would just let it go. Tillie was at peace with what she had done and at the end of the day it seemed like maybe that was a luxury he did not have.

She continued to tow the back of the line without anything else to be said because maybe one day this argument might save his life. No longer upset she made sure she had his back.

[Konrad Venger]

Nice job! Your work has pleased The Sloth! Alexander XP: Observation - 3 Stealth - 2 Intimidation - 2 Subterfuge - 1 Unarmed Combat - 1 Bastard Sword - 2 Philosophy - 1 Rhetoric - 3 Lore: Doing Right (even if you have to do it Solo) Tillie: Hardly a Fleet-Footed Shadow The Benefits of Pretending to be a Knight Bandits: Simple Folk after Easy Money Fighting to Wound, but Not to Kill Rhetoric: Laying down the Law to Tillie Why do Civilians Feel they can Lecture about War?! Additional: +4 Shield Points for taking down and bringing in a small bandit gang Click Me! : Few things: first of all, if you have Intel about the bandits, or anyone else, from previous threads, INCLUDE THOSE LINKS in the one where you bring all that together. Otherwise I'll just have to take your word and, well, I'm not doing that. Secondly, following the bandit THAT easily is ridiculous. These guys KNOW the Knights would be after them, and even one or two of them is formidable. So they'd have lookouts or a longer trail to their camp. Don't make it too easy on yourself, that's starting to become a habit. Thirdly, oh my GOD, I loved your speeches here! To the bandits and to Tillie, especially. You could really feel Alex's indignation at her, his frustration and the horror that Sunberth had followed him all the way to the woods. Loved the combat, too, that was some nifty non-lethal takedowns, there, Batman. Oh, and please make sure you go back and edit your post in the Request Thread to reflect the fact this one is now done and dusted. PM me with any questions and later 'tater!