Round 2 Veteran: Silence Sei Vs Leopold

[Silence Sei]

Fight starts tonight at 12:01 Central Standard time! Hero Vs Gentleman! Savior Vs Noble! Begin!

[Silence Sei]

He walked through the halls of Chateau Winchester, as his eyes shifted back and forth to the meticulously set up suits of armor that decorated the ornate mansion. ‘Silence’ Sei Orlouge was not one to typically gallivant around to make a house call, but this was a special exception. The Savior of Radasanth had decided to once and for all determine which of the three younger Orlouge brethren would be considered the strongest. Sei had won the Gisela Open, Ciato had nearly conquered Lornius, and Steppenwolf had been a finalist in the Cell.

The Orlouge family was obviously not one to be trifled with.

However, before he could commit to such a contest amongst kin, Sei had decided to tie up the loose ends in his life. The Mystic had thought that if he were to make peace with all of his various grievances, he would have no qualms when he engaged his brothers in combat. The first loose end had been Lichensith Ulroke, an up and coming assassin who thought maybe his guild would one day be powerful enough to strike down the Ixian Knights. Sei had left the killer unscathed and utterly embarrassed by his own faults.

The next loose end was one far less dangerous to the mute’s health. Duffy Bracken and his Tantalum Troupe had disagreed with Sei when he decided to wage war against Corone to win back the country’s freedom. Of the several troupe members, only Arden Janelle remained, vigilant and loyal(?) as he had always been to the strategist. Of the Tantalum members that had left, Sei felt most uneasy with the way he had departed from one Miss Ruby Winchester.

Ruby Winchester was a beauty in sea of gorgeous women. She had taken it upon herself to raise one of Sei’s own daughters, Emma Orlouge, as her own while the two attended Istien University together. It was Ruby Winchester that had taught Emma her gift of spellsinging, and it was Ruby Winchester that stood by the girl’s side through thick and thin. Sei had allowed this wonderful woman to leave without ever letting her know just what a miracle she had been to the Orlouge family. It was a mistake the strategist had always regretted.

Now, he stood before the intricately gold laced double doors of Ruby and Leopold Winchester’s master bedroom. The checkered tile floor below him gave off a chill that unsettled the mute’s entire form. With a shaky hand, he reached out towards the golden handle in order to push the door open. Just as his hand grasped the shiny knob, he heard a voice from afar.

“Just what do you think you’re doing here?!”

[Leopold]

Ruby Winchester stood two hundred away, at the bottom of the grand staircase in the main hall. She held her hands outwards, flexed as though to draw a sword. Her tell that she would not was the half-cocked smile on her face. Apart from the fact that Sei Orlouge, of all people, was about to enter her particulars, she was livid Leopold had not told her they were expecting guests.

I came to speak to you.

“Oh. That is all right then. Most guests, however, tend to knock.” She bit her lip, but relented. Her hands fell to her sides in a natural stoop, and she stepped towards the first step. “You can always send a message Sei. You need not have come all this way for chit chat.”

As she climbed up towards the landing, her back turned to the mute. She pictured him turn, step away from the door, and approach the bannister. Sure enough, when she came to turn and clamber the final few feet, there he was. Leant out into the glow of the sunlight that streamed through the sky dome, he was effervescent.

I came to speak to Leopold, rather.

Ruby stopped on the top step, adjusted her bodice, and then rounded onto the plush carpet of the upper hallway. In an arc, the landing went east and west, curving around the entrance hall in two heavenly wings. The design of the house Winchester was cunning. From ground level, nothing. If you were to look down through the sky dome, however, the tiles, architecture, and colours resembled a phoenix.

“So the organ grinder and not just the monkey.” Her face turned into a neutral stare. She held out her left hand, and hooked her fingers daintily over the polished veneer of the banister. Well-worn, but well cared for, it guided her lady-like advances towards her ‘guest’. “He is on the balcony seeing to his pigeons.”

An awkward silence stole away the ambient noises of the household. Clattering wine glasses, scuttling servants, and arguing caravan guards became inaudible drones. For a brief moment, Sei was certain Ruby was joking. He briefly forgot why he was here. He forgot the severity of his intentions.

Pigeons? He raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

Ruby chuckled. “Yes, I said pigeons. I would try and explain his recent fascination with ‘new messaging technology’, but it is best coming from him.”

Now that she was close, Sei could see she was resplendent as ever. Strangely, she was not as she was last they met. Her wizened, grey hair and high nose forgotten. Instead, he looked at the same, fiery example of youth that had first been introduced to him many moons ago. He knew from the days of the Tantalum proper this Ruby. This was the Ruby La Roux infamous through Scara Brae’s thespian, black market, and noble districts.

Is now a good time to speak to him?

Mrs Winchester had all but forgotten Sei’s slip of etiquette by the time she closed the gap to embrace him. The hug was heartfelt, if a little resisted. Her red dress, leather bodice, and black silk inlays smelt of cinnamon and sandalwood. Her hair, though clean, danced in smoky overtones and coal dust. This was Ruby exposed to the world, mid-chore, and mid domesticity. A Ruby, if Sei truly intended to ‘pay them their due’, the Hero of Radasanth would wish he had never met.

“Since you are already here,” she began. Her tone was mischievous, but harmless. “Please, follow me.” She swerved around the mute, held out a hand to the golden doorknob, and turned it. Beyond, the floral décor of their master bedroom. Over the gilded carpet and polished perfection of her sanctuary, lay the portal outside. Outside, a balcony, vined, trellised, and covered in pigeon shit.

Thank you.

“Oh, it is quite alright. I am sure the ‘master’ of the household would love to greet an old friend.” With swagger, she crossed the bedroom in a hasty manner. “Whatever you do, do not do anything to disturb ‘his prized birds’.” Now, though mischievous in tone, she let her words drip with sarcasm and loathing. She turned the balcony door, pushed it outwards and stepped to one side.

Outside? Sei enquired. He hesitated at the verge, but walked through at her nod.

“Leopold dear, you have a visitor!” she barked.

Before Leopold could pull his head from an aviary and Sei smile Ruby was gone. She had one thing on her mind, one thing that often accompanied awkward reunions and social disgraces. She had to fetch gin, and lots of it.

“I am out with the pigeons!” came an echoic, distracted, and cigar drained reply.

[Silence Sei]

He stood with his arms crossed as Leopold talked of his avian friends. His eyes shifted to the place Ruby had been only moments ago, only to find nothingness. He sighed, and took several steps forward until he was at the nobleman’s side, his arms propped on the edge of the gold trimmed balcony to support his body. He could hear the various sounds of Leopold’s birds, a smile across his lips as he read the creatures thoughts. Some of the pigeons loved their master, while some resented him and everything he stood for. They were feelings about Leopold that Sei could relate to.

“You’re lucky to have her, you know,” Sei made an his comment as casually as one would talk about the weather. Leopold looked to the mute and nodded while his hand caressed the head to one of his birds. The mute looked over to the man and felt a sliver of respect for the life he had chosen to lead. Every day, Sei Orlouge thought about what could have been, how life would have turned out if he had just settled down with the girls somewhere far away. Perhaps he would get to live a lavish lifestyle like the one before him?

Given his reputation though, he highly doubted it.

“She is beautiful, isn’t she?” Leopold spoke and pursed his lips towards the bird, “Her name is Oswin.”

Sei stood up straight and turned to the man, an eyebrow raised. Did Leopold actually think the mute had complimented his feathered friend? He rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration, unsure if the nobleman’s reply had been in jest or in all seriousness. He sighed and came to the decision that the former was true. “I was referring to Ruby, you dolt,” Sei said, his arm raised awkwardly as he gave a half-hearted punch into the arm of the man.

The faux blow shifted Leopold’s weight ever so slightly, and his bird reacted with scared flight. Leopold reached out to his ‘new beloved’ of sorts, as if he were a child who just released a balloon to the winds. “Now look what you did,” he sighed.

“Thaynes bless it Leopold, this is important! I need to talk to you about something and I can’t be bothered to hear you ranting about birds, of all things!” It was an ironic statement since the source was a man with his own large butterfly wings.

“What do you need to talk to us about?” Sei turned to find Ruby behind them, three wine glasses in one hand, and a bottle of gin in another. She approached the two and set the glasses down, her gaze on the mute the whole time. “Surely you could have sent your message to us through Ixian Castle if it were so important?”

“That’s the thing,” Sei shifted his gaze towards the checkered floor, his chest expanded and subsequently deflated in defeat. “I….do not think I wish to lead the Ixian Knights anymore.”

[Leopold]

Leopold chuckled. It was a nervous and stifled laugh.

“Oh, please.”

What? Sei blinked.

With a calm cessation of activity, the merchant returned the bird to the cage and turned to the Mystic in earnest. He wore a simple white shirt, grey jacket, and black slacks. Though his clothes were simply, his accessories spoke wealthy indulgences. Gold cufflinks from Kachuk. Polished leather shoes from Radasanth. Thick jade bracelet from the Akashiman Steppes.

“I am sorry.” He chuckled again. “It is just…,” he trailed off into another smirk.

What! Sei folded his pairs of arms over his muscular chest and trilled.

“It is just…of all the people in the world to come to for crisis of faith talks the great, mighty, and pious Sei Orlouge comes to me?” Leopold could not help but shrug. His lanky shoulders raised and his arms raised with them. For a brief moment, he mimicked the hook nosed vulture on the flight post behind him.

Sei frowned.

Who else?

“Oh, I don’t know…,” Ruby, with disdain, grumbled. She walked around their guest and stood by her husband’s side. “Perhaps one of your harem?” The look she shot her former employer was murderous. If it were not for the sun beating down on the balcony, the temperature would have dropped to sub-zero.

“Ruby!” Leopold baulked. He rolled his eyes, ushered his wife to one side, and pointed to the larger of the aeries to his left. “Not in front of the ladies.”

Sei watched the duo buzz around the white iron wrought table and chairs at the centre of the balcony. The vine trellis and butterflies, which hummed chorally, added to the summer idyll. Up above the cityscape, the Winchester’s had carved out a little piece of heaven for themselves. The Mystic observed how both their loves were here. Leopold had his birds. Ruby had her flowers, her drinks cabinet, and strangely her musical instruments.

“Are you talking about the guns, birds, or the violins?” she retorted with well-rehearsed wit.

The level of awkwardness in Scara Brae raised a notch.

Should I come back? Sei groaned.

“No, not at all.” Ruby pointed to one of the three chairs at the table. “Please be seated. I took the liberty of rustling up some delicacies I am sure will make this all seem so much –“

“Less intolerable?” Leopold interrupted. He sat easterly of the table. He looked at Sei. Sei looked at Ruby. Ruby glared at Leopold. “Please, let us drink.”

With a duet of well-rehearsed movements, the Winchesters conjured glass, alcohol, plate, and food from literally nowhere. A trill of song, and a rhythmic scale brought forth Radasanth pie, Scara Brae apple strudel, and a menagerie of steaming vegetables. Wherever or not Sei Orlouge wished to eat with them, not even the breakdown of Althanas’ premier order of morality could come between Leopold filling his face, and Ruby getting one up on her husband.

“Let us eat,” Leopold continued.

Ruby looked up at Sei, through a halcyon bolt of mid-afternoon sun, and smiled warmly. Her crimson locks bounced as she turned, and her dimples formed canyons in her wizened features.

“Take a load off, and tell us what is bothering you.” She turned back to the table and downed a glass of champagne off the cuff.

Not quite as trusting as his wife, Leopold rested his chin on the tips of his fingers. He leant forwards on the table’s strength, and examined every inch of the colourful mute’s form.

“Tell me, Sei. Tell me what is bothering you isn’t dire enough to come to us for help?” His question weighed down with the heavy responsibility of his business, his family, and his undying urge to smack Sei in the mouth for all the pain and heartache his relationship had gone through in the name of ‘Radasanth’s' freedom.

[Silence Sei]

He watched as Ruby Winchester easily finished off a glass of wine like a child would finish off a piece of candy. Leopold’s words temporarily fell on deaf ears, as Sei was more focused upon gazing at the woman he spent several years with as a staunch ally to his group. When he finally did refocus his gaze on the merchant, he gave only a slight nod to acknowledge that he the man spoke to him. He lifted a wine glass with one hand and ran his finger softly around the cool glass with the other. The motion created a strange ringing sound that brought a smile to the Mystic; a strange kind of song that was still beautiful in its own way. It reminded him of Emma Orlouge, and subsequently, of Ruby.

“I have recently learned of certain interests that would seek to hurt my family” Sei sat the glass down gently upon the table, “Not my brothers and parents. I am well aware that they can handle themselves if they get into trouble. My concern is that these certain interests are targeting Kyla, and making threats against Emma, Ella and Anita.” Just the thought of someone that could cause pain to his daughters caused the Mystic to shudder in fear.

Ruby’s eyes widened at the mention of someone able to harm the girls. She set her wine glass down and spoke in her delicate voice, “Sei, dear, you are one of the strongest telepaths on Althanas. Surely you would be able to weed these threats out before they even became an issue? Why come to us with these problems when you could solve them yourself with ease?”

“That’s the problem,” Sei ‘spoke’ amid taking a drink of wine. In truth, the mute did not care for the beverage; it was too bubbly and (in his opinion) lacked the taste of things such as sodas and milk. “I confronted the man responsible for these transgressions just last night. My threats did nothing but motivate him further in his goals to see my downfall. I have faced the liked of Godhand Striker, Letho Ravenheart, and Joshua Cronen, but none of them ever posed as much of a threat to my children as this man.”

Both Leopold and Ruby drank as the mute spoke, their eyes focused on the Mystic to show their interest had become piqued. When Leopold finished drinking his beverage, he sighed and spoke to his ‘friend’. “I see, so what seems to be the problem? Confront him again and end his life. It seems rather simple to me.”

“I’m a political leader now, Leopold. It’s not as easy as sending someone to kill this man, or doing so myself. In fact, I have a strong feeling he has prepared for such a scenario, and has a way to expose me to the masses if I did so. This isn’t like the Night of Debauchery; I’m not just fighting killers and rapists and thugs. This man is clever, and he holds a grudge against one of my own. If I go after him, the Knights will surely be the target of a witch hunt. I can’t do anything without directly implicating the single strongest army Corone has had in nearly a decade.” The birds had begun to get restless, as their bodies began to flutter about their cages.

“Perhaps you should see to them?” Sei asked with his gaze fixated on Leopold. Hopefully, it would be a good opportunity for him to speak with Ruby alone.

[Leopold]

Leopold needed little convincing to stand up from the table. He, the man of taste that he was, finished his drink as he righted. With a smack of his lips, he set the glass down on the table and nodded.

“Yes, you’re quite right.” Instead of walking across the balcony, he began to flicker with black light. Purple streaks danced in between the shadows that danced along his lapels. “Excuse me a moment, would you?”

Ruby made to object but fell short of the opportunity as her husband vanished from sight. Bewildered, Sei turned to the matriarch and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Ruby turned to the patriarch of the Orlouge family and fell short of an explanation as well.

“It’s complicated,” she sighed.

Leopold had become more and more alike his former self in recent months. After his death at the hands of the nobleman Monserrat, his brooding nature had begun to fester. Soon enough he forgot promises and blood pacts. He forgot all about his wish to forget who he was, and instead embraced all facets of himself. That meant the Old God parts he had buried beneath a layer of work, charity, and love began to break through.

I am glad we are alone.

“If you think I will agree when my husband will not you are mistaken.” Ruby did not give it a second thought. She had helped the man sat opposite repeatedly. She had given up too much, and gotten nothing in return, to be at his disposal.

Whom else can I ask? Sei, still uncomforted by the alcohol, turned instead to the remnants of the meal.

“Oh, I don’t know…,” Ruby began. She trailed off to scoff, push carrots around her plate gingerly, and give herself time to think. “How about your family?”

In reflection, Ruby should have given herself more time. The moment she spoke, she regretted it. The moment she opened her big, flame flinging mouth, she hated herself for stooping to a level people expected of her. She set down her cutlery, dabbed her moist lips with her napkin, and rested her wrists on the table edge.

Once, you counted yourself amongst their number…Sei’s mental voice seemed calmer, despite rising tensions. Whatever he had come to the mansion for, now Ruby realised, involved her, and her alone.

“Forgive me.” She sighed. “Though Duffy is dead, and his funeral still raw in memories, I made him a promise.” The promise, she now saw, would test her dearly. “That promise was to live for the future. We cut all ties with the Ixian Knights once. You got one final favour, and we gave your family, each and every one of them, a chance to live another day.”

I have not forgotten.

That day, not long after the night of debauchery had been the first of many mistakes in the troupe’s long history. Using blood magic as they had allowed Oblivion to take root in Duffy’s mind. In saving the Ixian Knights, the troupe had doomed themselves to a sour and bitter end.

“You clearly have, if you think I’ll go on this witch hunt of yours!”

With a sharp, sarcastic trill, Ruby Winchester tried to ease her worries with laughter. All her piercing tone managed to do was rifle pigeon feathers on the fireside of the balcony. In the distance, she heard Leopold’s voice raise feverishly, to calm his girls, and then die down into a chorus of cooing and bird droppings.

That is not why I am here Ruby…

As the sun boiled the skies overhead, and the last of the dew on the ivy overhead evaporated, the two titans stared into one another’s eyes. Ruby’s, with an inner fire, clashed against Sei’s calm, almost gem like pupils. Each saw history, strength, and conflict in the other. Each wished they knew what one another was thinking truly, madly, and deeply.

“Enlighten me, then, won’t you?” she urged with a toss of her hair and a lean back into the increasingly uncomfortable chair. “You got me here, alone, and Leopold’s out the way.”

Well…

“Tell me, Sei Orlouge, who exactly is hunting you?” She picked up and bit into a limp asparagus, overcooked and dripping in butter. All the while, she calculated how desperate he was, and just how much he could use the request against him. As she chewed, she reached into her pocket for a small leaflet pertaining to the Magus Cup, and the impending match between her husband and Sei. “What do we get out of this?”

Ruby Winchester knew exactly what - her husband’s name in lights.

[Silence Sei]

His eyes narrowed as Ruby asked him the question. “Cut the cute stuff, Ruby,” Sei’s tone was now more commanding, the ‘voice’ that had commanded hundreds of men against evil and the Empire alike. Ruby Winchester earned the privilege to hear Sei talk as if he were still her superior. His eyes focused on Leopold’s still drink, and the degrees for the beverage soon rose the longer Sei stared. “We both know what you would get out of this deal?”

“Oh? She still played coy, as a single digit spun around the rim of her wine glass, “And what is that?”

“You want Leopold to advance in the Magus Cup. You know he has to beat me in order to do it. If you perform this favor for me, I will take a feigned fall against him. I don’t like the idea of faking a loss in a tournament, but I will make a special exception in this case.” His eyes removed themselves from Leopold glass as he finished talking.

“All because you want me back into your ranks?” Ruby placed a hand upon her heart. The woman’s tone dripped with venomous sarcasm as she spoke. Her eyes were more focused on her drink (or rather, lack thereof) than Sei. She at one point was an actress, and she was doing well in playing her part. “Why Sei, I am honored.”

Sei’s eyebrow was raised in response to the faux question. “Rejoin us? My goodness no, Ruby. I want you to lead the Knights.”

[Leopold]

It took Ruby a good minute to process Sei’s statement. At first, she was confused. Second, she was dismayed. Thirdly, she was gobsmacked. Fourthly, she was disappointed. The red headed matriarch had spent many a good year at the helm of troupe, travesty, and tabernacle. She was done, spent, and spoiled as leader. Whatever the mystic was up to and whatever schemes were afoot she would have no part in them.

“You should know me well enough by now Sei Orlouge.” Her use of his full name indicated a stalling. The formality gave Ruby strength, and with that strength, she began to take back control of the conversation.

To know what?

Calm and collected, and perhaps a little too so, Ruby explained herself. Between every other syllable, she tapped her right index finger on the table. She stared intently into the mystic’s effervescent eyes.

“I will never re-join the Ixian Knights.”

She was certain that Sei expected her to say that. The moment she made her admission, she realised her mistake. Sei had timed it, perfectly, for Leopold’s return. The debonair merchant stood on the verge of the decking, eyes wide, pigeon on gloved arm. His overcoat was dusty, and several dollops of fresh excrement adorned his lapels.

“Ruby dear…I think this time our enmity and exhalations can be put to one side. Don’t you?”

She snapped her gaze to him, snarled, and turned back to their guest.

“I will never re-join the Ixian Knights as its leader. I am done with politics.” What she meant involved lots more profanity, cursing, and bitching. Neither she nor Sei had the time to endure the hardship that would result of a large bottle of gin and a wasted evening in the starlit bitterness of Scara Braen night.

Ever the counterweight between his wife and pretty much everyone else, Leopold interjected.

“Hear him out first, cupcake.”

Ruby, too incensed to respond dropped open her jaw.

Cupcake? Sei winced.

Leopold, with a grin that could make you hurl, approached the table. He let the pigeon lose and it fluttered back to the coops in a mishmash of wing beats and squabbles with gravity. Whilst Mr Winchester very much cared for ‘his girls’, time cared not a bit. Age was showing in the white, dirty feathers. All the airs and graces of the man ornithologist failed hide the squalor and sickness in the man and the menagerie alike. Sei could see things were amiss in the Winchester household, but not quite place a finger.

“Alright.” Ruby did not like the idea, but relent she did. “Sei Orlouge. Convince me that I, Ruby Winchester, recent widow and former friend of Captain Duffy Bracken am fit for this job.” Her stare could have borne through rock.

Leopold, resigning to continued talk, shuffled into a seat, leant back cooked and drained, and tried to smile. Though his teeth were white, his cheeks were sullen, eyes sunken, and skin pale. Like a vestige of a crooked legal system, he oversaw procedures with his gavel, the threat of being the mediator, ready and poised. The sun overhead scintillated in its death throes. Pigeons cooed in the distance. Butler rattled tray to side and set out deserts.

[Silence Sei]

Sei closed his eyes as Ruby asked her question. “In truth; you’re not. Not yet at least. Your relationship with Duffy, as well as with myself are the primary reasons I have you so high in the candidacy.” Sei’s opened his eyes and shifted his glance to one of the pigeon cages, the mute tempted to burn one of the birds into a fried meal. The constant chirp of the creatures grated on the Mystic’s nerves more than he could have imagined.

“[i]You have been admirable as a mother figure to Emma, you have shown that you can hold your own in battle against several of my captains, and the Knights as of late are lacking a woman’s touch.” He glanced to Leopold, afraid the gentleman would think that the Ixian leader’s motives were not pure. “I am going to leave the Knights in order to take care of this vendetta of mine. I could flower it up and rephrase it like I am so prone to do, but a vendetta is exactly what it is. I don’t think you understand my hatred for this individual.”

Sei brought a fist to the table top, and the glasses responded with a rattle. Just the thought of Lichensith Ulroke anywhere near his family brought a rage into the mute’s heart. The last time he felt such hatred for someone, he settled the grudge through assassination. If he attempted such actions now, the Ixian Knights would no doubt be implicated for the crime. Lichensith was smarter than any opponent Sei had ever faced; the mute had to be just as smart about how he went about the murderer’s end.

“I’m not here for a discussion, Ruby. I need a yes or no answer right now. Is your husband’s advancement in the Magus worth going back on your word?”

[Leopold]

“No,” Ruby mustered after a long silence. Her word cut the atmosphere.

Leopold and Sei both stared at the matriarch with contempt. Contempt swift turned to confusion. Confusion turned to apathy.

“Ruby…?” the merchant spoke hesitantly. “Think about this.”

She had thought about it enough. If Sei were to offer her the world to take up such a role, she would still refuse. Though Leopold’s progression through the Magus Cup, pursing a vendetta all of his own was paramount…

“No. I will not accept your offer.” She slid back the chair and made sure its metal feet scraped over the slabs. The sound ran down the men’s spines like fingers to chalkboard. “I have sat here listening to your diatribe forgetting the fact I have duties of my own.” Her duties included Chronicle, Leopold, and trying to live on in Duffy's name.

The sun began to caress the city’s horizon. It illuminated the line of jagged rooftops with furious, reckless, and fiery abandon. Red and gold to the east, purple and violet to the west – effluence in nature overshadowing the poverty of Scara Brae’s crumbling infrastructure. That, a deadlier enemy than whosoever threatened Sei Orlouge, was the only worthy cause.

“Diatribe is not what she meant,” Leopold interjected. He approached Ruby’s right hand side, knowing his place, and made to whisper kind words in her ear.

“It is precisely what I meant,” she barked. Her hand rose, back of it to her husband’s nose. “I appreciate the offer, I think, but in this matter you are alone.” She took a step back from the table; fill to the brim of food, liquor, and rhetoric.

I…I understand…the hesitation trickled through the mental whisper and soon became a torrent of redoubt. He had seen Ruby's expressions enough times to know her tempestuous glare meant no.

“I will allow my husband to see you out,” she passively ordered. With a flash, she was gone, heels clipping stone and plank and carpet and…silence.

“Fuck me.”

Leopold’s curse echoed over the balcony, trilled through the pigeon coops, and fell meteorically down to the streets below. The ragtag merchant turned to Sei awkwardly. His sheepish expression child-like, his heart racing. He dusted himself down. He corrected his lapel. He adjusted his cuffs. When the silence became unbearable, he looked Sei head on.

“Shall we get this over with then?”

Get what over with? Butterfly wings fluttered uncertainly.

Leopold retrieved his spear from thin air, a purple swirl, and a lot of hubbub. He set its tip down with a thud, and whilst trying to seem imposing, counting all the horrible ways he would die, and be removed from the tournament at the hands of Lornius’ musketeer…Fallien’s Fearless. Radasanth’s Rioter…

"Defending the 'honour of our women'?" he said mockingly.

[Silence Sei]

Sei sighed as Leopold prepared himself for the battle. The mute had dealt with years of shenanigans from the Tantalum Troupe; Arden and Lillith going off to Akashima when they so pleased, Ruby and Duffy’s drunk ranting in the middle of the night, and now this. The Mystic simply shook his head in response to the question that Leopold presented him. He glared at the pole arm, and the weapon careened out of the gentleman’s hands and into the ground near his bird cages.

“I don’t have time for this,” Sei retorted as the smoke from his eyes slowly disappeared into the air. He had come here to tie up loose ends, and to receive and answer from Ruby Winchester. Now, with Ruby infuriated at him and her stout no, he had gotten both. Leopold, as far as the mute was concerned, was to him like a tadpole would be to a grizzly bear; nothing at all. He turned his back to the stunned nobleman and began to walk back the way he came.

Though he left on further sour terms with the woman, he now knew that he operate to his fullest extent without the lingering thought of Ruby Winchester on his mind. The birds sang in a chorus to the telepath’s exit much like they would if an angel left their sights…

((End, bunnies approved by Leopold and I.))

[Max Dirks]

I was a little concerned when I heard you two would be bunnying each other extensively in this battle, but it actually turned out just fine. Since you are considered veterans, your commentary will be limited. SS is Silence Sei and LW is Leopold



Silence SeiLeopoldNotes

Story
6
7
SS: In your introduction, you spoke of competition between brothers, but that concept was abandoned as the story progressed. The lack of continuity here hurt you.



Setting
5
5



Pacing
5
5



Communication
5
5
Some of what you had each other say seemed out of place. If you did prepare dialogue ahead of time, I encourage you to have the other writer read it in context before posting again to make sure it's consistent.


Action
5
5



Persona
6
7
LW: The banter between Ruby and Leopold was excellent. It reminded me of similar exchanges between Robert and Rosalind Lutece in Bioshock Infinite. Leopold's interactions with the pigeons was also a nice distraction


Mechanics
6
5
LW: Again, good improvement with run-ons. You do continue to abuse the comma, though. I noticed many commas placed when they were not necessary.


Clarity
5
5



Technique
5
5



Wildcard
5
5


Total
Total
53/10054/100



Leopold wins!

Leopold advances to Round 3!
Silence Sei is very much alive in Round 2 of the Redemption Bracket!

Leopold earns 4750 EXP and 54 GP
Silence Sei earns 1425 EXP and 53 GP.

[Lye]

EXP & GP Added!

Leopold Jumps to Level 5!