The moon swirled high above the Holy City of Crocus, casting its milky glow over all below it. After a period of time, Tomoe would grow sick of the constant darkness. It tired him, and made him feel more gloomy than usual. A scowl was plastered on his face which would go unseen by others due to his attire. He had acquired a substantial bounty in his time in the city, and as a wanted man he had taken steps to ensure his own safety. The ronin still had a soul after all, or so he thought; part of confirming that his soul was still intact was to help the commoners. If anything, perhaps during his time assisting the poor orphans and tortured souls recouping their past possessions, he could see fit to convince them to join HER cause.

Tomoe wore tattered black robes with a hood to obscure his face. Furthermore, underneath his hood was black bandages wrapped like a face mask to further hide the bottom half of his facial features. Sometimes crime didn't pay so much, and in this case he figured he'd might as well do his good deed. Karma might carry him in his time of need if Little Timmy learned the concept of mortality and how to protect his own.

"Stance. Wind up. Swing.", Tomoe spoke lowly, instructing a young boy in peasant rags next to him how to swing a shoddily crafted wooden sword.

The cultist's own gear was obscured under the thick robes he draped himself in, becoming one with its fabric. While some questioned this man's particular odd sense of fashion, nobody stepped up to stop it. Truth be told, Tomoe had no issue with simply teaching others how to survive; depending on the situation, it could make for a more interesting fight later on. Even against a child, if the ronin could turn them into a fool who believes in their ability to fight, that was the most he could ask for.

---

[332/1500]

Aegis had taken up a new mission for the city. He was to go out and help rebuild what he could, or help the people he found defend themselves. The idea of arming these people and making them want to fight more was not the best course in his mind, but given the situation, it seemed like the only one to aid them in defence while they were not there to help them.

While walking down the road with rubble been cleared from it to either side. While the fight was over for now, it did not seem it. Like any day now it could just start all over again. The people were not ready for something like that to happen again. Even it happening the first time was too much.

There was a few people he was told that were also out here doing the same work. Aegis had hoped that by getting a few of them together, it would be easier to teach a larger amount of people with more observers helping to instruct them. It would be more efficient and they would be better instruction that way, but the fist task was still in front of him. Finding those people.

[WC 204 / 1500]

A silence filled the surrounding area as the hooded cultist watched the boy take swing after pitiful swing. Little Timmy's false blade echoed through the cold air, appearing as if he would be slightly more threatening than a maid with a broom. His swings were 'swift' enough that one would need the reflexes of an elder reacting to a surprise pop-up fairy tale book in order to properly dodge his blows. That was exactly how Tomoe treated it, weaving and evading the boy's childish strikes while not delivering any in return.

After a number of minutes of the same as Little Timmy's parents watched on with concern, Tomoe spun on his heel after Timmy had missed another strike and reciprocated with a quaking roundhouse kick to Timmy's midsection. The blow sent the young boy reeling backwards, tumbling into a nearby bench next to a fountain.

The sparring match took place in a plaza within the Holy City, and thus, tormented souls and poverty-struck orphans from all around would gather to observe and learn. Nobody knew the cloaked stranger's name, but his lessons had been brutal and inhumane. Children would walk away with bruises and injuries that would require days of rest and medical care, and were treated on the same level as any hapless adult to enter the sparring sessions.

While it wasn't the ronin's intent to attract that level of attention, it would inevitably happen on its own. Thankfully he had not drawn the eyes of any city guards just yet, seeing fit to not care about the downtrodden for the moment. That was to his advantage, though, for how easy the money would come to him from beating up starving children.

The cloaked warrior would look on as he awaited a new sparring partner, hoping that nobody of note or danger would cross his path. He still kept all of his gear hidden, refusing to draw his sword on such mongrels if he wasn't there to rob them senseless.

"Simpletons.", Tomoe would mutter under his breath, sighing as he began to sweat somewhat from the weight and heat of his robes.

---

[685/1500]

So many people were injured or displaced in the aftermath of the war. So many people left to the streets to fend for themselves. Aegis spent his time working his way to the center of the towns main areas, where he was hoping to find the most other trainers or people in need.

He and his fluffy companion Theo were trying their best to comfort the people around the square, many seemed to be in extremely low spirits after the fighting. They used what they could, helping people more rubble from the home entrances that were still blocked, even now. They came across a few younger kids, who had large bruises all over their bodies. "Are you alright?" he said leaning down to the younger one who seemed to be the most hurt at the time. The child nods slowly, but never once making eye contact. Aegis looks over to the other kid standing beside him while Theo goes over and starts spreading soft fluff into the air around the hurt child, slowly healing him as it clings onto him.

"Are you alright small one? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Not as badly as he was." As he looks over to the child cover in healing puffs. Aegis starts taking a cloth out of his bad in order to wrap up the boys left arm, that had seemed to be injured as there was still a bit of blood on his elbow. "Did you get this from the fighting?'
"No this was after..."
"What do you mean, after?"
"Someone was trying to teach us, but he doesn't listen to us. some of them get hurt."
Aegis looked shocked at this information, and asked "Do you know where I can meet this person? I think that I need to have a talk with him."

[WC 502 / 1500]

One after one, townsfolk would come forth and be crushed into the cement. For many of them, it was less about actual learning at that point and more to avenge their defeated friends and family. Their efforts were all futile, of course, as they were flung from one end of the plaza to the other. Peasant after peasant, people from all walks of life were battered and beaten in Tomoe's training sessions. In his perspective, he was being merciful. If they could barely handle him? Going further, him without any weapons? They were fated to die eventually. Tomoe was nowhere near the strongest, his skill admittedly being less in discipline and more in raw power and instinct. His experience came from his time fighting in HER name, and less about studying the way of the samurai in a dojo with hippies or some 'bullshit' like that.

As another feeble foe fell to the floor in failure, Tomoe wiped his sandals off on the nearby fountain and took a swig from a canteen of water. Many were treating him as if he were the villain in the current scenario, but he couldn't be more confused as to why. Did people's feelings truly matter when their lives could potentially be at stake? The warrior's greatest gift to the simple folk was to give them the hard dose of reality they so greatly needed. Simple relief aid and treating them so softly? No, that wasn't what they needed. They needed to fear him, so that they surpass that fear if the time ever came to truly fight for what they believed in. All of these things, and he asked for nothing in return from the peasants themselves. The nobility would pay him, certainly; but the damaged souls before him would gain this valuable life experience for free.

Ultimately, what was a burned house, starvation and some amputated limbs at the end of the day? The trauma of a child seeing eldritch forces with teeth gnashing at their parents' lifeless bodies? He didn't care about any of that - or rather, he thought he didn't. Tomoe hadn't thought much for the emotions of these people or how it would affect them. Rather, he wanted to simply teach them as realistically as possible with as little harm as possible. He couldn't be blamed if they were so weak that they couldn't even take a few kicks and punches.

"Anyone else? Takin' all comers. If any o' you beaten souls are still around, I'm good for it.", Tomoe boomed, his words resounding around the plaza as he scanned the crowd and his surroundings for anybody of note.

---

[1125/1500]

After helping the two small children with the largest and most pertinent injuries, he looks over at them.

"Run along now. We will be doing lessons soon, if anyone wishes to join me let them know to meet me in the centre of town."
"But that's where the man was that did this. He said he was there to teach us but no one really learned anything."
Aegis just looks over these two kids who had been assaulted so badly, and felt extremely frustrated. "Don't worry, I will go have a talk with him. Run along now."

After giving them a quick hug, they just sent them on their way. Though they were not happy with their current situation, they managed to get a smile out and wave as they were walking away. He turned around and waved back at them, hoping they would find some better luck in the days to come. He kept coming back to the thought of someone that's supposed to be here to help people doing these things. I thought we were here to help them, not to hassle them further. he said to himself in his mind. He was so busy trying to think of a way that he can fix what has already happened, and prevent it from ever happening again. The utter destruction was on a scale that it was hard to even comprehend.
Things even outside of your sight, in any direction, destroyed or reduced to rubble. He made his way is quickly as possible towards the centre of town, but it took some time as he ended up stopping quite a few times to either help on very doors into people's homes, or to help heal someone's wounds with the aid of Theo.

Upon entering the south side of the square, he noticed that there was an individual still instructing some of the local inhabitants. Though his methods seem abhorrent in the manner which they were dealt. There were several injured people around him, and a few that were still trying to fight him. It looked more like a lineup to fight at a bar than any kind of instructional method would provide.

"Hey," he shouts, loud enough to get someone's attention, not in a manner to be taken as aggressive, "were you really one of the people that were sent from any of the guilds to help?"

[WC 900/1500]

"Eh?", Tomoe blurted out, confused and taken out of the moment of his fight.

Turning his obscured face to look at the person shouting out to him, the cloaked figure was temporarily distracted and struck on the side of his face by his current sparring partner. Due to Tomoe's high endurance and overall durability, the fist only served to nudge  his cheek slightly underneath his hood. Despite this, the seething rage was palpable and one didn't need to see his expression to know he was pissed.

Temporarily ignoring the question thrown his way by an onlooker, Tomoe took to the air and came down with a descending axe kick onto his foe's skull, sending him crashing into the concrete with a bloody nose and lip and some missing teeth. Admittedly, he held back on his strike, not wanting to seriously injure the man. It was nothing more than the injuries one might walk out of a midnight bar brawl with. A few days of bed rest and some doctors telling you that you may be unable to walk again, and all would be well and good. If their bodies weren't durable enough to endure this much, they certainly wouldn't stand a chance against anyone of higher power than Tomoe - of which he was sure there were at least ten. Perhaps twenty. The number was unclear, consisting of less than one hundred but more than five. Probably.

The point being, Tomoe wasn't the strongest and certainly not the most ruthless with how generous he was being with these people. Which was why, when he turned his attention to the questioning voice once more in the absence of anybody else standing up to spar for the moment, he was curious who it was.

Fully ready for a fight, the ronin's shoulders slumped when he saw a man in robes that looked rather lanky compared to most fighters he had seen in the past. No muscle, and no weapons. Yet, he still seemed to have a confidence that the others didn't. Formless, yet all too familiar somehow...

"Can't say I was sent from any guild in particular, but was I paid for to help these folks? Yeah. What of it?", Tomoe questioned, keeping his unseen eyes firmly locked on the newcomer.

It was then that he also noted the cabbage gremlin that hovered around the man, and instantly grew intrigued. He nodded his head for a moment, and even without an expression it was obvious that his mood had lifted all of a sudden.

"Ahhhh, I get it. You must be the food relief. Finally brought today's meals to the mages, huh? It's a bit raw, but I'm sure we could figure somethin' out for it. A bit creative though, don't ya think?", the hungry rogue spoke with gluttony clear in his voice, pointing at the Cottonee near the man.

In contrast to the joy of the cloaked man in that moment, what appeared to be the wife and daughter of his most recent sparring partner came to scrape his bloody self off the floor and take him to a nearby bench, panicking at his unconsciousness.

---

[1500/1500]

Upon being referred to as a tasty snack, the little cotton ball that is Theo ducked behind Aegis, slightly peering out from behind his hood.

"I wouldn't recommend eating this one, as he can give you a mighty bad case of choking hairball." he said well looking out of the corner of his eye to Theo, who immediately sneered back at Aegis for even joking that he would be some kind of meal.

Aegis quickly pointed over to the unconscious man and giving a slight nod to Theo. Innately understanding, he began to float on over to the 3 people. The wife and daughter were apprehensive about letting anyone near there father and husband, but after a discerning look, the wife backed away slightly, allowing the cotton fluff to come near him. Theo began his work well Aegis addressed the individual in the middle of the square.

"So you are here to be training these people? It doesn't seem like the way you are teaching is very effective to me though. Most people seem to be leaving with less ability than more." he said looking over the multitude of injured people around him. "From what I can see, and what they tell me as I'm healing them, you're doing more harm than good for these people." He stands firm where he was standing, as he is now extremely unsure of the individual in front of him, unsure if he is there to help train as he says. Not only from the way he looks, but from the way he's treated the people so far that he is supposedly instructing.

"Are you here just for fun? Beating people that are weaker then you in strength? Is so, I must ask you to leave immediately."

[WC 1200 / 1500]

Tomoe's posture slumped upon the immediate dagger to his heart that was the knowledge that this new entry was not, in fact, delivering his meal. Such a thing was too convenient for anybody to expect, realistically, the Joyan thought. He put a finger to his chin, unseen underneath his dark robes, and then retracted it with a wag upon being questioned on his teaching methods.

"I'll have ya know that my methods are guaran-damn-teed to work on anyone and everyone from the age of 5 and on.", Tomoe proudly stated, stomping a foot down in defiance.

He gestured with his arms as he looked back at the people reeling in pain and patching each other up with makeshift rags from their clothes. Some glared swords at the cloaked man as he did so, not appreciated being used as what was essentially some kind of example in an argument.

"These people are weak. The only way they'll grow strong, fast, is from some hardcore catch-up lessons. You think Seven was built in a day? Hell nah, but they could at least get the fuckin' blueprints up and at it!", he shouted while raising a finger and pointing it at a crying child.

"And that's what Little Timmy is! He's a blueprint, just like his dad who died in the demon invasions or whoever else!", Tomoe finished, allowing the child to cry as if on cue as he crossed his arms and turned towards the owner of the flying lettuce.

Waving his arms dismissively, Tomoe shrugged as he walked over to take a seat by the bench that he had kicked many children against earlier while continuing to look at the questioning man. Taking a seat and allowing the sound of the flowing water from the fountain to calm his mind, he sighed and looked up at the night sky for a moment.

"They can think I'm the bad guy here all they want. Hell, I probably am. But there's a lot worse out there. For every punch I pull against these folks, that'd be a death in real combat. Fun? Nah, not now. I'm on the clock and getting paid, but no progress is gonna come from sitting in a circle singing peace songs and drawing with crayons.", Tomoe spoke aloud, returning his gaze from the sky back down to meet the familiar yet not so familiar man once again.

"So yeah, I can leave. My shift's about up anyway, so I'll clock out and sleep like a baby through these kids' pained screams tonight. I'll sleep easy knowing that each and every last one of 'em will fight tooth and nail to avoid this kind of pain or shame again. What's your plan though, huh? Gonna go nurse a few more boo-boos?", the cloaked man finished with a question, adopting a more mocking tone for the last part as he leaned back.

---

[1500/1500]

Aegis slightly paces as he is talking with the man before him, above slightly frustrated on how the people were being treated. "There are plenty of ways of teaching people the seriousness and the finality of the situation. There are ways of being hard in the instruction of people and teaching them both the reality of fighting and strengthen them as much as possible without beating them so that they can't train anymore."

Theo finishes healing the man with relatively decent speed. He then moves on to the next person close by the thankful family to another younger boy who looks like he has a fractured arm. Before Theo can actually get to work however, the boy, who looks terrified, gets up and runs in the opposite direction. He leaves the Town Square with such speed it's hard to even see him.

"Come.." Aegis' voice started loud "Back..." and ended in a quieter sad tone as he sighs.

Looking back over to the cloaked individual sitting next to the fountain, "Look... I understand you might be trying to help in your own way, but this is not helping them better defense themselves, this is just reinforcing their belief that they have no chance. And you know what? You might be right. There might be some catastrophe that they stand little chance against, but I would rather have them steeled and prepared, with some knowledge and training of what to do in that situation, then have them only feel fear and that lead their decisions."

As Aegis talks, Theo makes his rounds continuously, going between the injured individuals and trying his best to remedy their situation as much as possible. "If flight wins over fight, even the best army will fail and fall every time. Even to those lesser trained. Even I as I am right now probably wouldn't stand much of a threat and what these people faced. Many have passed on, but these ones survived and will need to move forward in any way they can. That's why I'm here, to guide them in any way I can that won't make the situation worse."

[WC 1500/1500]

Tomoe looked away during the man's speech, adjusting under his hood to pick his nose and shoot a nugget out and into the fountain behind him. While still vaguely listening, the man had already made his initial judgment of the interloper and his sentient salad. Or at least, he was an interloper to Tomoe's own teaching methods - others seemed to warm up to the new entry more than him, but that was to be expected. He didn't do any of this for fun... or at least, not most of it. While he did take some joy in kicking a toddler or two and getting them some easy money from the tooth fairy in the process, it truly was all to see these people survive. Only the strong survived under HER rule, and SHE would never abandon even the feeblest among the mortal races as long as they showed the will to fight. For it was HER love that Earthland would survive. Tomoe couldn't profess any of that so openly in his current situation though, and instead elected to stand up from his seat and face his fellow man once again.

"I don't think you get it. I've already made my decision here, man. And even with your speech I don't regret my actions for a second. The strong of heart among them will realize that you need to lose in order to win.", Tomoe spat out, moving towards his conversation partner slowly, treating all others as if they didn't exist in the current moment; they were spectators and ghosts serving to fill a background in that moment, rather than actual people.

"It's just that simple. The survivor's spirit is one of hardship and pain. This lot will never, not even for a moment, forget the lessons mashed into their bodies today. The folks that survive will be the ones that accept those lessons and want more than nothing else to never learn them a second time. Anyone who'd give up at this level of intensity wouldn't make it through to the end anyway."

Tomoe shrugged, shook his head and walked beyond the man and further down the street. There was nothing left for the ronin to say, because at this point there was nothing else he was interesting in hearing. He had ensured that his timing was perfect and that he wouldn't burn a minute more than he needed to for this job. He truly did help the people in the square today, he thought - the strong of heart would persevere and succeed. Maybe they'd even understand HER love one day after breaking free of their middling existences.

Without another word, and hearing but not reacting to anything else his verbal opponent might say, he walked into the horizon and around a corner towards the inn to rest for the night. After a few more blocks of walking, Tomoe had arrived at the inn with no trouble. However, as he was about to enter the building, he grasped at his temple and fell against the wall lightly for a moment. Maintaining his balance before taking a nasty fall, he steadied himself.

Something about the conversation from earlier was so familiar to the Joyan. He couldn't quite place it, but it almost felt as if things were not quite what they seemed; a memory forgotten, but soon to be remembered? Perhaps. He wouldn't force the matter, but would instead regain his composure and enter the establishment for a well-earned rest. It wasn't as if his old life was of any importance in the end, or even his current life - only SHE mattered now. Anything else including empathy and honor were only barriers towards becoming HER perfect soldier.

Maybe his memories were worth thinking about. Maybe. Another day and another time, as tonight was a night to get drunk and sleep soundly.

---

[1500/1500]

- Exit -

As the stranger walked away, Aegis sighed. While he did not find a way to sway his opinion, he felt glad that at least it sat in the man's mind enough to get him to move on to what other things he had to do. Theo, still in the background, kept jumping from person to person helping as many as possible. The townsfolk had seemed to lighten up quite a bit since the stranger is left which he felt sad about. He wanted no one to be an outcast, not even someone that some would deem wanting. Aegis sighed as he looked up into the sky and stretched. "Well, there's still plenty more to be done."

He ended up spending the majority of the day finishing up helping the people in the centre of town before waving to them and heading off home. One thing the man had said was correct, and it what's held in Aegis' mind even as he walked home. The people here were too weak to handle things if they came back or became worse, this included the mages that were there to protect them. How could he hope the people to be strong when he wasn't even strong enough? There must be a way...



[WC 1500/1500]
[Exit]