peerlessscowl

[peerlessscowl]

Main Street isn’t quite as bustling as it would be during the summer months, but that also means there are less eyes on you if you decide to do a little sightseeing. Here, you can observe the elite in their natural environment: sharing tea and gossip in the warmth of a cozy cafe, going to fittings for gowns and suits that must outdo their competitors at the upcoming gala, depositing charitable proceeds into their own personal treasuries, and– hold on, they’re stealing? As it turns out, some (read: almost all) members of Pearl Shoals haven’t acquired wealth the good and honest way. And what’s more: everyone seems to know that everyone else is lining their own pockets, they just turn a blind eye to it. In order to maintain your cover, you’ll have to hide your disgust over this fact. This isn’t your mission, after all. But can you restrain your heart from yearning for vigilante justice? Or maybe you have to convince your moral-bound friends from causing a scene. Whatever the case, you have to play it cool. [Grants Faith +1] (open starter)

It wasn't as though he wanted to be resentful, if even that was the specific emotion that he was feeling as he walked down the main thoroughfare, but there was something about seeing the wealthy at leisure that set Raven firmly on edge. It was the sense of excess, of lackadaisical frivolity, the sheer lack of care for those around them or for the environment they occupied – he knew that after a certain point it was hypocritical of him, despite that he had let it all go, after having it wrenched from him, but he could not admit to sharing the same level of wealth and hedonism at Cornwell's highest peak to the residents of Pearl Shoals.

It felt almost as though their very existence was...a vacation.

That was one thing that he could not abide, when it was reward without responsibility. Which lands did they service, which peoples did they protect?

Laughter filtered through the sea air like a bell, and he stiffened as its owner neared, a woman in foamy, delicate lacework walking down the avenue with a friend and a dog, their complimentary parasols draping them in dappled pastel.

"Oh, I know that I shouldn't be bad – the dress would be my third fitting this moon alone - "

"Third! Eliza, my goodness, one would think that you have more invitations than you know what to do with!"

" - And that's precisely my dilemma, because I do! What a boon for me then that Courtney's father's fundraiser was such a success, I can simply have him pay for it, and he does love to see me in yellow."

"Yellow? In this economy? Eliza, you are wicked."

In. Out. Raven sucked in a breath as their steps took them past a nearby shop, gossiping about the items in the window, before turning to set themselves on the patio of a nearby teahouse, raising hands and clicking their fingers for the nearest waitstaff.

He waited a moment, never losing sight of them, before his steps took him to follow, timing staggered to seat himself as they raised menus to their faces, and cast a glance at the person whose table he settled at, raising a finger to his lips in a gesture of quiet.

"Church, right? We have the same goals. Keep sipping your tea – I was here the whole time, yes?"

the devil wears a cotton dress over his knife

[peerlessscowl]

Ah.

Hm.

Raven was not a man to be easily read, even on the best and most mundane of occasions. It might have been said occasionally that this made him unapproachable, and if this was the case, then he would welcome it, to save the effort of explaining himself to someone unwilling to see what was in front of them.

In this instance, however, as soon as the indigo-ichor feathers burst forth and rustled gently in the whipping storm winds, flecked his face gently with seawater, it was unfathomable that he could be accused of being anything less than transparent. Raven's brows rose to his hairline and his eyes widened, however slightly, in frank shock.

Mouth opened, once, then closed.

He realized that he had not taken a new breath since giving his last to Sephiran, and he inhaled sharply through his nose and straightened along with the action, suddenly finding that he held himself very stiffly. It had been said, in old gospels of the Church of St. Elimine, that those with wings were blessed with divinity of their own, but Raven had dismissed that as mere hyperbole, as fairytale to emphasize the more grounded teachings of compassion, curiosity, acceptance -

Fairytale like a dragon.

Another breath.

"You..."

He could not even finish, did not even know what he could possibly say here.

Not to an angel.

raze these lands to build empires

[peerlessscowl]

The serious shift in tone almost took him aback for a moment. He hadn't been expecting that from someone like her, and briefly felt a pang of shame - did she not deserve her own history, a rich internal life, just the same as anyone else?

A gentle breath chuffed out of him, almost amused. "Don't let me being here goad you into doing something reckless," he said, reaching forward to gently tap a knuckle on the crown of her head, before leaning around her just enough to see the surface of the pool itself. From the angle and the moon, it looked almost for a moment as though their reflections were the same, melded into one in the water, but once his own eyes caught the gleam of the surface he thought, just for a moment, that he saw the curve of a cheek long missed.

He allowed his gaze to remain on the reflection, the way the ripples in the water and his own yearning heart created the vision of something he wanted to see, selfishly, if only for a moment, before he spoke again;

"I think if you're looking for comfort that you're doing your people right, you don't need to look too far. Here, the angle is wrong - " Delicately, he pressed palms against her shoulders to turn her towards the water, until their silhouettes were more stark in outline, less muddied by the ripples, and her eyes blinked back up clearly.

"There. Do you see? Plenty in that young woman there for her family, no matter how far, to be proud of. I'm sure...I'm sure no matter where they are, they think of you always."

His throat tightened, so he cleared it, and crossed his arms at her next statement. "Of course you want to find something in this cave." His tone indicated that he had almost expected it – it indicated, too, that he wouldn't leave, if she chose to pursue.

what lies within ; Sakura+Raven

ethereal ball mini thread

[peerlessscowl]

@laslow - cont from here

This wasn't exactly his area of expertise – neither the pursuit of a romantic interest, nor the dealing with rejection. If anything, he knew it from the other side, the tactful attempt at deferring interest until it waned and could be passed onto someone more compatible, that his parents might have wanted for him, over any desires for himself.

Still, Raven tactfully kept his attention on Laslow, did not express irritation for his situation, didn't made a wry counter that of course he shouldn't have flirted with someone else while dancing – it couldn't have felt good, to try to put oneself in a vulnerable position, and for someone who, in spite of Laslow's insistence, didn't even know his name.

Idly, he nodded his head.

"Her steps were off for the waltz. She probably learned a different rhythm from her tutor - some people just don’t get it." He hadn't been watching closely, but it was easy enough to agree – even standing and idle, even approaching him to deliver her message, her movements had been sloppy and uncontrolled, though he wouldn't pretend to know what the cause was.

"Not in a rush," he added, leaning his elbows onto his knees as he accepted the pearl in exchange for his own, careful with the rocking of the boat as a wave came by to rock them to one side. Fingers moved to tuck the pearl away, and -

"Shit." He didn't often curse, but the sight of the rope securing them to the dock slipping down into the dark water warranted it, and his instinctive reach back to the wood planks missed, fingertips grazing only barely against the edge, knocked them side to side, inadvertently pushing them further out to sea.

Sharply, he turned to Laslow. "Please tell me there were oars in here when you sat down to wait."

things beyond our control

[peerlessscowl]

What was he doing?

As if the heavy water slamming over them wasn't bad enough, it seemed as though Lukas still didn't have hold of his faculties entirely - or he did, and he really just was that incompetent, and Raven honestly wasn't sure which would have been worse for this situation.

There was a moment, however brief, where he considered simply leaving the other man to his devices, whatever it was that he wanted, he could have, and leave Raven out of it – but it was brief indeed. Even as he had made the decision, with a begrudging and waterlogged sigh, to drag the man out of the water and back to the safety of land, the options were ripped from beneath him with his feet as Lukas lunged forward over the rock of a fresh wave in pursuit of something, Raven didn't know, and the motion whipped his cape to catch on Raven's belt, tugging him forward alongside.

"Oo-fhguhg - !!" Water flooded into his nose and mouth, and Raven spat, irritated, but still attempted to plant his feet and grapple Lukas about the waist, kicking at the sand below before the awful realization dawned on him that the dropoff had already occurred and there was no longer a chance to simply walk back to shore.

"Enough - !!" He hissed, slipping his fingers beneath the collar of Lukas' gorget and tugging awkwardly. "We need to get back to shore, this isn't a game!"

my me don’t bite - BITCH YES HE DO

[peerlessscowl]

Sent off on duty into town to check off the academy’s growing shopping list, you find yourself trapped between a clingy lover and a hard place. This clingy lover has been looking everywhere for you. Yes! You! And, well, they also happen to have an eye on your friend, too. Go on a shopping trip, but make sure you appease the lover-you-never-asked for, or else they’ll make your life a living hell. (starter for @of-ostia)

These sorts of tasks were few and far between, for someone like him, but happily completed when the opportunity arose - simple goods acquisition, whether there needed to be any haggling attached to it or not, it was a task easily completed, and with minimal bloodshed. That seemed the important part, and now that things had finally begun to settle down from the flames of war a few months ago, Raven was more than happy to help fill the larders and pantries and other such stocks for the monastery.

Not, of course, for the sake of the monastery itself, but for its residents - the children and their guardians alike, who had fought, who shouldn't have needed to.

It was cold comfort that he knew which markets in Enbar would be best stocked, and which to avoid - he wondered vaguely if this trip would find him in the path of the same blacksmith, and whether his face would be remembered amidst everything else that had happened - but for the time being his journey into the capitol of the Empire had gone smoothly enough.

Far smoother than the previous one.

As though on instinct, his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword, and Raven reminded himself to breathe normally.

His steps mingled in with the gradually building foot traffic of the market, and he heard the chatter of voices rise over the crowd of heads, allowed himself to be enveloped by them, to move through them like running perpendicular to the current, carving his own path through the streets.

Until he heard the familiar voice, and his fist tightened around his sword's hilt, eyes turning sharply to the edge of an alley, just outside of the nearby inn. It had been a long time since he had felt each individual beat of his heart, overtaking the breath in his lungs and tingeing the corners of his vision with blurry red, and with a frown Raven turned, narrowed his focus on the broad form and pinched face of nightmares long past but never forgotten.

And…a frown of his own as he drew closer.

"Darling you can't have just arrived, you've been in my dreams for moooonths now - there's no use in playing coy, why beat around the bush when those big strong arms can just sweep me off my feet. Here, look, I'll show you - just - give me - "

Gently, he cleared his throat, and the young woman paused in her attempts to pry Hector's hand from where they were crossed overchest, one foot of hers hiked up as though she'd half a mind to climb into his arms regardless of their position.

In spite of himself, a corner of his lips twitched upward.

"Well. It seems as though I'm interrupting something."

haaaaaave you met my buddy hec?

[peerlessscowl]

Raven nodded absently as Byleth spoke, continuing trying to puzzle out the best route to take. The problem, it seemed to him, was how lacking in natural advantages they were to these things – in any normal situation, it was the smarter creature that won, and this was indeed what separated human from beast, but it had become clear that these monsters were frighteningly intelligent.

"If we could get them to show themselves, that would be the smartest course. Lead them away from the things they find comfortable and easy." It was easier said than done – all of the traps they set thusfar to do, if not that, then something adjacent, had been destroyed and spat upon.

He sighed, scrubbed a palm over his face in a rare display of frank irritation.

"I suppose the problem with that is that thusfar they've understood every attempt we've made at ambush, and have shown us their disdain. That they understand disdain is bad enough."

What did they have that the beasts did not? The one that had come for Byleth had been killed easily enough, but that wasn't because it wasn't dangerous.

Raven shook his head in his frustration. "It almost feels as though we need more attractive bait. They don't like what we're putting out. ...If need be..." Hesitant to say it, he grimaced, before finally; "If we need, I can act as decoy for them to attack. To draw them out, for you to kill them."

A World So Much Wilder Than You'd Think

[peerlessscowl]

Raven's brow furrowed - not only did Innes look like an idiot with his initial posturing, but now he was starting to sound like one. Who concedes a winning fight because they didn't want their opponent to get hurt?

"You're welcome to stand down if you'd like," Raven tossed over his shoulder, not even bothering to look at the man who supposedly held his contract, "But know that if you give them their money, you have nothing to pay me with."

Not that he seemed to want Raven to do his job, either. So perhaps that was a moot point. Why even hire a mercenary if you didn't want him to protect you?

For all that they had been skittish at Raven's display against their leader moments ago, now the bandits seemed baffled, casting glances at one another as though they couldn't decide who, exactly, they should be listening to amongst the three different calls in the air.

The leader continued coughing for a moment before he regained his bearings. "You fellas seem t'have some problems 'tween the two of you," he made out, attempting to straighten if not for the surely broken rib Raven had gifted him. "We'll just take the bow and gold and begone, if it's all the same."

"His gold," Raven said sharply. "Not mine."

How the Turns Have Tabled

( TOA Anniversary board - gauntlet +1 )

[peerlessscowl]

He heard the desperate thump of her steps behind him, distantly, echoing as though they were on different worlds entirely, grainy static gathering behind his eyes such that when he blinked things only became more muddied, and Raven turned. Everything suddenly seemed...not brighter, but in much higher contrast, the darks deeper and denser, and every pinprick of light violent and blinding, it made him shake his head, doglike, before he took a step forward, heavy.

The boards beneath his feet creaked terribly, the sound enveloping him in the shriek of wood and his ragged pulse. He didn't realize how much effort he must have been putting forward, merely to mount the steps, one agonizing step at a time, until a hand wrapped around the bannister, gripped hard enough that the drag of his steps forward ripped a corner loose, screws dropping with gentle tinks as the wood screamed.

He was panting, his breaths coming difficult, his lungs burning, and all he smelt was blood, was red, the tang of iron.

A jerky movement, the plank of wood still in his hands, shattering against the nearby light fixture, unlit, useless, scattering glass along the top of the steps as he moved forward, crunching under his bootsoles.

Movement? There - !!

The swing hit wide at nothing, fist thundering into the walls, a truncated grunt of pain being the only hint that another was coming before the second slammed into a nearby doorway. Somehow, the shake of the walls only made him the angrier, a seething buildup as his steps brought him farther down the hall.

go crazy go stupid

anniversary prompt | faith +1

[peerlessscowl]

"We need to see the potion." He didn't want to, nor to see the results of such a thing - if indeed the Duke himself was not the result of such a thing - but that was, in the end, what they had come here to investigate.

No, unfortunately, they had come to assist, hadn't they, to help this man achieve his goals, purportedly, of spreading this to people at large. Raven didn't want that, either, if he were being entirely honest.

"You don't know this house? It might be useful to ask him about his family – this estate is meant for a family, but there's no one here." Tilting his head to gesture backward into the hall behind the door he rested against, he added, "It doesn't even seem like he's used to the place. I think if we get him talking, he'll tell us a lot more, so long as we pay attention to what he's not saying."

Sweeping his eyes around the room, Raven rose from his position as sentinel, took a few steps about, tapping a foot here and there along the floorboards, before nodding, as though something had been confirmed for him.

"Floor's soft. I think the boards are new, but there's something underneath that isn't the foundation. Would like an opportunity to look in the dark corners when he isn't around."

Ding-

Ding-

A sigh. "Seven bells. Are you ready?"

If he'd thought the smell of the air was close and musty when they arrived, it began to get even more sour and cloying with each step they took towards the dining hall, and although Raven did not consider himself to be weak of constitution, he felt his gut pitch the closer they got to the table.

"There we are. My lovely guests." The Duke's gaze pierced even from the distance at the head of the table, and he moved with gliding steps to approach, gripping a seat to tug it out for Edelgard to sit, the set of his eyes unmoving. "Please, you must make yourselves comfortable. I hope your brought your appetites."

to show the world its shame

[peerlessscowl]

The boy stared up at Raven, and when Raven stared back, for longer than just a moment he saw a matching pair of russet eyes, the same downturned brow and set jaw, the determination shimmering off of him in a mirage of light until he blinked, shook his head, just slightly, and saw the plaintive boy for who he truly was.

"A commotion?" Raven tore his attention away from the boy, to his mother, who wrung her hands at the sudden expectation. "Do you want to tell us what happened?"

It couldn't be clearer that she did not, that she wanted nothing to do with the whole situation, that she wanted merely to go about her way and about her day and to support her children as best she could.

"It's just..."

"We're here to help."

She jerked, her stooped posture - exhausted, skittish - straightening for a moment before shrinking back into itself, as though she couldn't quite trust the calming tone in his voice. She hesitated a moment further before explaining; "It's my husband. He...when we received the new water, it was such a boon, and no one knew quite what to do with it. He went out to bring some home to us, but a fight broke out over it. Something about...something about how some people deserved more than others, how it should be rationed..."

"Daddy should have hit him harder!"

Raven's eyes flicked back to the boy, but did not linger, couldn't, not without his image shifting back to something that he wasn't, and he paused before asking, "Received?"

"Huh? ...Er, yes? It was new to us, and so some families came out to collect – "

"Do you know from whom? Or from where?"

The woman faltered, sensing her misstep. Even through the gentle softening of his tone, there still remained an edge that he could not round from his eyes, the look of someone who knew how to follow a track to the ends of the earth, and she who had just given him the lead.

She inhaled once through her nose, reaching again for her son's hand, taking it firmly this time, and as though making a decision she looked from Raven, to Edelgard, and nodded. "Come with me. I...I have something to show you."

— no blue, no green.

[peerlessscowl]

He didn't take any pleasure in Sakura's mounting fear, nor any disdain, offering only a nod and the briefest creasing of his eyes before he dipped his head back and searched. If it were truly an oubliette, then the ceiling would be open, gaping – the greatest punishment of course knowing that there is freedom, just not for you.

But it looked as most other ceilings did, if a bit more worse for wear, scattered patchwork spots where the stone had begun to corrode due to moisture, due to age, lack of upkeep.

Raven didn't feel the need to report that he saw nothing, simply moved about the small space, muttering a gentle, "Excuse me" and pressing a palm to Sakura's shoulder as he slipped past her to this corner, and that, in search of anything that might indication a way out – or rather, the way in.

After a moment, he narrowed his eyes at the short tunnel, where a clatter of stone and a scrape of metal could be heard, the dull screech of armor over reaching fingers, and inhaled when the world tremored in the monster's frustration.

"Well. It can't reach us. That seems clear." Eyes flicked to Sakura. "I think you're right. I believe that whoever was in here escaped the way we came in, but...that obviously isn't an option."

Unless it was...

He glanced down at the pommel of the axe on his belt, and cocked his head in the direction of the tunnel. There was a moment of contemplative silence before he stepped closer to Sakura, and spoke in soft tones.

"We can stay in here, and figure out what happened to...whoever was here, and why. ...Or...we can escape the way we came in."

As if in punctuation, the small tunnel shivered again, another clatter of falling brick and mortar. The awful scraping continued, louder, more insistent, and Raven tapped the pommel of the axe with a knuckle.

"And trap that thing where it is, in the process. Shouldn't be too much effort, as it is now, to cause a cave in."

Is That Fucking Mothman?

[peerlessscowl]

May 2025 Activity Check

-PASSED-

Skill Points Earned: Monthly +1 Authority +1 (x) Any Skill -> Sword +1 (x) 93 -> 96

Allocated: Sword A+ -> S Authority C -> C+

Rank Rewards Earned: Finesse Blade (Sword S) Sword Crit+ (Sword S) Backup (Lance Fighter mastery)

Classes Mastered: Lance Fighter

[peerlessscowl]

It did not make him feel anything whatsoever, to know another person's battle record, although he did not say this aloud, or betray anything with a shift in his facial expression. The power that this boy had was his own, and the same was true of Raven's combat prowess - to compare the two was useless; this boy's losses did not amount to another victory for himself.

Still, he inclined his chin in a singular upward nod, at most an acknowledgement at what he had said.

"Indeed. I've no intention of laying down to die simply because I was felled at tourney. I've been accused of being prideful, but not so great as that." A melee battle hadn't the stakes to be emotionally affected, and whatever bumps and bruises had long since healed.

The next offer was a candid one, and it surprised Raven, slightly, and for a moment he simply watched the way the light shifted in the pearl before taking it between thumb and forefinger.

"You speak like someone who wants to be impressed." It was the kindest way he could say it; the boy spoke like a commander, like a noble used to meeting men and seeing assets. Like someone who employed mercenaries, rather than took employment himself.

"I normally don't employ my blade for free but...perhaps one of these days I could spare the time to train with you. Ask for Raven, when the time comes. We'll have to see what manner of surprise you're in for."

- fin.

[ RELAX ]

Venturing around the venue, submitting to the whims of nostalgia and letting it carry him where it might, Leif relearns the simple joy of a walk on the beach. As the sounds of the main crowd fade ever so slightly the more he explores, a sense of calm sets in as he comes across the cabana.

A curious little place here. While he's investigating the small area, hand digging out the wine bottle in the bucket of enchanted ice, he feels the presence of another person in the vicinity and looks towards them.

Someone who seems to be enjoying himself well enough though perhaps also somewhat alone. It's not over the moon, but it's enough for Leif to find it a bit enviable. Rather than stew in that feeling though, Leif calls out to the person.

“ Hey! Do you want to share a drink? ”  He holds up the bottle meaningfully.  “ I remember you from the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Pouring you something's the least I owe you probably... Though if you want a charm, I can give you mine too. ”

He didn't immediately go back to the party after arriving in this little hut, and maybe that was a poor sport of him, but those that had gathered had seemed to be enjoying the energy of the vent, for now, and Raven had no intention of dampening that with his dourness.

Content to sit at the provided bar, cracking peanut shells between his fingers, the quiet observer from afar, rather than a direct participant - perhaps it was better that way.

He acknowledged the steps of another with a glance, a student he didn't know, but did not move to greet - it seemed those here generally preferred the solitude, or at least the privacy. That, however, seemed to be the opposite intention, and he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully before dipping his chin in acquiescence.

"Ah...not an ideal circumstance under which to be remembered." Fingers pressed against the base of a nearby wine glass, pushing it forward and gesturing for the boy to sit. He barely remembered the battle, except for that he had been targeted with extreme prejudice, and had needed to be excused from the rest of the battle. "Not the best showing, for a mercenary."

A grimace, then after a beat, he plucked a pearl and placed that next to the base of his glass.

[peerlessscowl]

"You're no fool. You and I both know that," he replied softly, pointedly, as though he wanted it to reach her ears only, but still to reach; "And you've the right to your emotions. I won't take that from you. Just…"

It was empty comfort, to say that he had been through it, when he had not. Something of this nature, if his suspicions were correct, was foreign to him, and any experience he had with grief was oceans apart from what Mitama was feeling.

A sigh, a shake of his head. "Just. Rest if you need, but don't forget to get back up. I can't have all my bad luck continue to fall upon myself, that is - it seems to like you rather a lot, and I would hate to disappoint whatever fates have in store."

A bad joke, considering, but he wasn't quite as practiced at gentle teasing. Raven twirled the haft of the fake axe once more, thoughtfully, before reaching forward and tapping her once more, delicately atop the head.

"You should stay here for a while, if you are looking to be alone. I won't bother you, and most people don't approach me. It'll be…a safe place, for a little while. At least until calamity strikes."

- fin.

the saddest bunch I ever met

cont

[peerlessscowl]

[ SLIP AND SLIDE ]

" BWAHHHHHGGGGGGGGG!!!!! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!! "

who is the curious voice that belts above the roar of the rainstorm this very night? someone calls from the depths of their heart, giving rise to a voice so clear and so panicked that anyone within listening distance would be remiss not to at least turn their head. whomever is the owner of this voice must certainly be fearing for their life.

and, just so, in the distance---there is a man of eighteen years, stuck bottom-first in a pink flamingo-esque flotation device and positively sailing down the wet platforms laid out on top of the sand. that boy can't stop and he sure doesn't have a parking brake.

" RAVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!! " fogado bawls, struggling to positively zero avail. negative avail, even. it looks like he's falling over sideways, but the boy keeps slippin'. " YOU GOTTA STOP THIS THING. I'LL GIVE YOU MY CHARM FOR IT!!!!!!!!!! "

The trek back to the manor was an intense slog, but eventually he did find the correct path, and endured the driving rain, the slipping mud, and the immense force of wind until he saw light in the distance, and heard the sounds of life to accompany it.

And. The scream of distress, which at first did not pierce the howling of the wind, until he began to get closer, and saw the streak of pink barrelling down the hill at speeds Raven wouldn't have thought possible on foot - until he saw that the boy was not on foot, indeed.

Ah.

He was headed straight for him.

Huh?

Raven could not have fathomed why the path would have directly put the boy into a collision course with him, but that he did not want to be dragged down alongside Fogado should not have needed to be stated - but neither did he want the kid to get lost at sea, and so in spite of his best judgement he lowered his stance with some determination, and watched the approach cautiously as one might a charging bull, if they had no sense -

And reached down a hand to snatch the protruding neck of the flamingo floatie just as it began to whizz by him. The force made him stumble back, only a step, but that step allowed him to catch his other hand underneath Fogado's armpit and haul him upright, putting a bracing hand on his shoulder.

There was a beat of silence while they caught their breath, then; "You good, buddy?"

[peerlessscowl]

The demeanor shift was odd beyond words, but with everything else that this man had shown of himself to Raven, he was willing to accept that there may, perhaps, have just been something a little off that had gotten knocked loose.

His hand flexed, instinct reaching for the feeling of something not there that had been only moments ago, the beating of his heart coming to a high crescendo that somehow felt distant, unreachable to his ears.

Raven snorted, swiveling but not moving to follow. "I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity to swim later. You can't be so impatient as to need to dive right in - " but thinking back on it, that had seemed not to be the case in the instances where he'd met this man, diving headfirst into disaster unless leashed.

"Hey," he called as Lukas' footsteps did not cease, continued into the foam of the surf, arms spread as though he were presenting himself for a stage. "Hey! Come back, and calm down – hey!"

Regardless of whatever episode Lukas was going through, the tide would come in high and strong enough that he would be knocked over, and dragged down by the weight of his armor and that cape. A hand raised, fingertips just barely grazing contact to grip Lukas' shoulder, just barely to tug him back.

my me don’t bite - BITCH YES HE DO