#@phantomrapier

[vivifrage]

17 and 5 on the list for Tiso, Hornet, and Quirrel, please?

Setting up some Shenanigans I see

5. "What the hell did I just walk into?" 

17. "Ok, well... Fuck." 

Of all the things Quirrel expected, seeing the red-cloaked warrior again was not one of them.

Seeing her darting through the tunnels after a - was that an ant? - an ant clanking around in armor, shrieking at her, was an even less expected iteration of that possibility.

He took a deep breath and let it whistle through his mask. “Okay. What in the world have I walked into?”

If asked, he would have claimed concern made him dash after them, bounding down the tunnels to catch up. Deep down, he knew that while there was some concern, the curiosity pulled harder.

The shrieking intensified. His heart thudded, his legs sang with effort to jump further, run faster.

At last he burst into a small room, musty and dark like all the rest. The ant was squeezed into the corner, holding out a shield opened like a flower and edged with razors. Opposite him, the warrior lurked high on a wall, angling her weapon.

“May I ask what’s going on?” Despite the casual - perhaps slightly disapproving - tone of his voice, he kept one hand at his nail’s hilt. Just in case either got ideas.

The warrior gestured to the ant, who scowled at her. “He sought a challenge, and dismissed the possibility of my providing it.”

Quirrel stared at the ant, baffled. He had seen the warrior’s weapon, yes? It was nearly as big as she was. He supposed one’s ownership of a weapon didn’t mean proficiency with it, but having been on the receiving end of it before, he could dispute those ideas.

However, at the same time, somehow, this sort of behavior felt perfectly fitting for the warrior. Just an odd sensation of Ah, of course she would do this.

“In addition, I am concerned about his vulnerability to the infection,” the warrior said. Quickly, like she was trying to justify this in whatever way she could. Also fitting, somehow.

“Okay. Well...” Quirrel took a deep breath, and let less pleasant words swirl in his mind. “Perhaps murdering him before he shows symptoms is rather presumptive.”

“See?” the ant stuck a hand out to point at Quirrel, yanking it back when he caught the warrior aiming her weapon at it. “He agrees.”

“You’ve said nothing on the illness plaguing this land,” she growled. But, all the same, she crawled down from the wall, leaving a thin trail of glowing silk behind, disappearing into the air after a mere moment.

When she stood on the ground, she pointed her weapon at him again and said, “Seek your challenge. But if you show any sign in becoming one of the husks walking these roads, I shall dispatch you without further hesitation.”

And with that, she was off, pulled away by a strand of silk.

The ant, eyes wide, asked simply, “What?”

Quirrel could only offer a shrug.

#hollow knight #jaxx writes #phantomrapier