Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

[chalicejoker]

Heads up--if you run into Teruo, Kinji's infiltration, some kind of yellow sea snake mermaid--be really damn careful. He's a menace.

Asshole goaded me into what I thought was a spar, but then he started singing, and it...

[Hajime's mental voice trails off in embarassment here before picking up again.]

Look, I'm not proud of it, but it's hard to get me to back down from a fight. And what he did, it...I just stopped fighting. Didn't even think to defend myself. He kept it up long enough to hit me with a cheap sucker punch.

[The irritation is just coming off his mental voice here.]

He also said several times that if I was a warrior, I should be sticking closer to the boat and protecting my school--I'm still not sure if that was a threat or not. I wouldn't put anything past him.

...and if you do end up talking to him and he mentions someone named Chalice, that's me--I'm not about to go by my real name in the same world as the Bando, even if I'm a fish this time around.

Comments

[chalicejoker]

...dammit, you're not even a threat.

[There's a long pause.]

No offense.

[venetianprince]

I was trying to be friendly...! But he got really aggressive when I mentioned the idea of our schools working together... he doesn't trust or care about us at all.

To him, it's better if we die somewhere far from here so they can keep their peace hidden...

Ah... haha... no, it's alright. I'm not much of a fighter, so... he didn't seem impressed with me.

[chalicejoker]

Well, I am a fighter, and he wasn't impressed with me, either.

But yeah, he has no use for any of us.

[venetianprince]

I don't like it. People who just see people like that...

I've seen Nations fall by hands like his.

[chalicejoker]

I'm not going to let him win.

[venetianprince]

But he's dangerous, caro... and if we do anything, we could provoke the other school.

[chalicejoker]

So he's dangerous. I get that.

That just means he needs to be stopped.

[venetianprince]

But if we do anything to "stop" him, we risk getting into even more danger...! We can't do that. I think we're all supposed to be working together to protect against the Empress... it would make sense, considering what happened the last time the others came here.

[chalicejoker]

And if we all need to work together, then he's a problem--because that is the last thing he wants.

Get him out of the picture, and everything else becomes a lot easier.

[venetianprince]

And don't you think there are people who would care and be angry if he was gone? Caro, if you do that, you'll get other mermaids from that school vengeful and angry! It's a cycle of violence, we shouldn't start it!

[chalicejoker]

He doesn't have to be gone gone, just...incapacitated.

I just don't want him to try that again.

[venetianprince]

I worry about what that entails, caro... for now, let's just avoid him and try warming the rest of them up to us. Maybe if we can win them over, his own school will calm him down?

[chalicejoker]

Somehow, I doubt it.

He's just that kind of asshole.

[venetianprince]

Caro.

[The pout somehow carries in the single word.]

[chalicejoker]

I'm not going to do anything crazy.

[venetianprince]

You have to promise...!

[chalicejoker]

[There's a mental sigh.]

I promise, I won't do anything too crazy.

[venetianprince]

[His giggles echo across the network.]

Alright, alright~ Grazie, Hajime!