09 - Knight Catcher - 10th of the Human Category

[radiantwingedone]

Who: Duke Pantarei and Anyone o/
When: After This
Where: Forest quadrant
Style: Either is good o/
Status: OPEN

[ After someone else came to be with Zelos, Duke moves back out into the woods, to where he'd set up his house... and sort of sits there.

He needs to think about this. ]

Comments

[swordandaxe]

[It was pretty much impossible to miss what had happened. Since Richter doesn't give a damn about Zelos, his first reaction is to go looking for the one he actually kind of gives a damn about.

So Richter has abandoned his extremely makeshift camp to search the forest for Duke. He doesn't think that Duke will have gone far.]

[radiantwingedone]

[ Duke isn't very far. Perhaps not the wisest thing he's done, but his camp had moved from deep into the woods to perhaps a good hours walk from the clearing he'd met Zelos at.

And he's just sitting there. Duke does a very good impersonation of a statue, sometimes. ]

[swordandaxe]

[Yeah, definitely not the smartest plan. But he doubted any of Zelos's friends would come looking for revenge.

He stops not too far from Duke.]

Duke.

[radiantwingedone]

[ Duke blinks once, and looks at Richter.

You have his attention, as dull as it is. He's conflicted over that interaction. ]

[swordandaxe]

What happened?

[Okay, that may not be the best question.]

Why were you fighting Zelos Wilder?

[radiantwingedone]

..... He would not leave me alone. Why I swung. [ Because Duke couldn't call it a fight. ]

[swordandaxe]

Why was he bothering you?

[Usually he wouldn't be so nosy, but he's out-of-sorts because of what he saw happen to Zelos when his Exsphere was broken.]

[radiantwingedone]

.... Attempted to leave rather than grow angry, I had sought him out after learning. [ Duke's on autopilot and not particularly caring at the moment. ]

[swordandaxe]

Learning about what?

[Richter's going to keep pushing until he gets the answers he wants.]

Next day

[zelda_hylia]

[She needs the night to process what's happened, but after that, Zelda heads back out to the forest to find Duke again. When she comes upon him, she doesn't seem angry or even sad - only a little tired. Blank would be a good way to describe it.]

Duke... can you tell me what happened?

o/

[radiantwingedone]

[ Not quite surprisingly, Duke is... just sitting there. Its arguable if he's even moved from sitting down there the previous day. A small dray of squirrels are trying to do their best to get him to do ... something, tugging on his fingers and coat tails and hair.

About half of them turn to look at Zelda when she speaks, Duke blinking once as he recognized words. ]

.... Learned things, grew irritated, sought to avoid, tried to force retreat, did not know. [ He sounds... dull. ]

[zelda_hylia]

So you were trying to get him to leave you alone, not injure him seriously.

[It's a confirmation of what she'd already thought, really. Duke is like a stray cat in many ways, he seems as if he'd only bare his claws to get someone to retreat. She walks over and kneels in front of him, waiting for a response.]

[radiantwingedone]

..... Would.. not have minded, terribly, if had. Due to things learned. Intent, correct, get him to leave me be. [ Wow, way to sound completely like an asshole. He doesn't look at her. ]

... minded, mostly due to making upset. conflicting. [ Making Zelda upset. ]

[zelda_hylia]

[That makes her smile a bit. Zelda is well aware that having friends can be a moderating force in one's life - even if a person does not care about many things, they care if their friends will be affected.

It's a great deal of the reason she allows herself to be so accepting of people who have committed (or attempted to commit) such terrible crimes. What's to stop them from doing so again if they lack a reason to not?]

He should not have tried to tell you to stay away from me. Whether we speak or not is for us to decide, not someone else. I was going to tell him as much myself...

[She shakes her head.]

I still will. He will be fine, the damage is repaired. He'll be back in five days.

[radiantwingedone]

.....I... do not know if I like that. [ It's.. very slowly said. ]

at risk of sounding as labeled. [ Like a monster. ]

[zelda_hylia]

I see. What is it that you learned that caused you to feel so strongly about him? You do not seem like the type to anger quickly.

[She knows a great deal about Zelos, but nothing that would warrant that sort of response. No matter how much the Chosen thinks it, he doesn't deserve anyone's hatred.]

[radiantwingedone]

..... Fairly certain there is more to story, but.. actions... [ Just.. Let him actually be visibly agitated about what he learned, squirrels finally leaving him alone as he brings his hands up to his head - and his head partially to them, elbows on legs. ]

Role played, learned from Mithos. Betrayed his friends. Cannot.... [ A faint shudder. He hates those who betray. ]

[fortheempire]

Maybe it was foolish to go looking for Duke after all that. Maybe Ioder really should have just let things be, especially how he was feeling physically right then, but he just couldn't. Something in his conscious had to know why. Why had it happened at all. He just couldn't sit idly without an answer to that, not when he was friends with both of them.

So he ventured out on his own, doing his best to ignore just how ill he felt right then. Hours later and his stomach was still churning, his skin still pale. He had taken a weapon, not because of Duke but because of the monsters. He had no intents of attacking the other man, especially not with Zelda's quiet threat over his shoulder.

Not that he would have attacked him anyway. The threat was a moot point, really.

The only problem, though?

He had no idea where Duke was. Just that he was out there somewhere in the forest.

Halfway in (or was it halfway out?) he finally stopped, breathing heavily and holding his stomach with one hand, sword in the other. He should not have been out there...

"... Duke... ?"

[radiantwingedone]

".....Correct." There are a few trees between Ioder and the man, but he's easily spotted, with all that white hair and red clothing. Strange how hard it is to find him sometimes.

He's not bothering to move, though.

[fortheempire]

He was halfway not expecting an answer, and the voice gets him to jump slightly because of it. He lets out a strained but relieved breath after though, shifting through the trees until he can finally see the man clearly.

Panting, he returns the small rapier to it's scabbard, but he doesn't get much closer than where he stopped.

"I want to know what happened..."

[radiantwingedone]

"..... Learned, grew angry, tried to avoid, would not be left alone, did not know." There's your answer, Ioder. Duke's... back to being barely talkative.

[fortheempire]

That's... hardly an answer, and Ioder is in no mood to try and decipher him. It's not often he gets angry, but after everything he saw today, that answer is enough to shove him firmly in to irritated.

"Damnit, Duke, I don't want to hear your cryptic answers! I just want to know what happened! Why did the two of you fight?!"

[radiantwingedone]

"He would not leave me be. Thus struck out." Really, that's why he took a swing at Zelos. Duke sits there for a moment, still eery still, before looking directly at Ioder.

"Assuming you know little of me; what I had tried to do, origin, vague opinion of empire. Not much on why such things."

[fortheempire]

Angrily, his fists balled at his sides, arms trembling visibly he stomped up to Duke. Some part of him actually wanted to break his promise to Zelda and strike out at the man, but he knew it would do nothing, especially since it would be little more than a weak punch at best.

"Whatever you did before..."

What? It didn't matter? It did. He couldn't say that. He knew he couldn't. It mattered to Yuri and Estelle and everyone else that had been involved in that, and even if Ioder didn't know all the details saying that it didn't matter would have been disregarding their feelings completely. He couldn't do that.

But he was still mad, even though that was doing absolutely nothing, too.

"It didn't have to be like that, did it... ? Even if he's coming back..."

[radiantwingedone]

"... It was not my intention to strike the crystal. It was not my intention to cut through his neck, however that would not have bothered me more than the pain the action would bring to those who were close to him and close to me.

The connection you made is not the one I intended." Just.. dispassionately staring at you Ioder.

"Zelos is holds a mindset that I have trouble co-existing with, with what limited information I have. This was the reason for my anger, both then and for actions against the Empire."