Tomoe would dwell on the idea that Odin's retreat was a ploy for a long while as they left. Since ultimately nothing happened, that couldn't be the case, right? They would've seen the results of it by now if there were some kind of scheme behind all of this. There was only a particular type of plan that would take longer to see the results of, and Tomoe's eyes sharpened at the realization he had come to.
"Back when I was in the Midnight Cult... me 'n him did meet at one point. We didn't know each other very well, but the 'me' from back then did agree with him on a lot of stuff. And back then...", Tomoe paused, thinking on Kusanagi and confirming to himself that it would indeed be a common link.
"Back then, I had Kusanagi. During our fight, I still had Kusanagi... I look completely different from when I met him, obviously, but both back when I first met him and when he approached us at our guild, I had Kusanagi on me in both occasions. The cult hunts down deserters, so if he recognized me, he'll be back with reinforcements.", Tomoe explained, a grim expression crossing his face.
"Either that, or to somehow report to the nobility that a former cultist is in Penumbral Guard. In either case, that's not good at all, man.", Tomoe finished with concern in his voice, shrugging his shoulders at the idea of a wanted murderer and cultist in his own right selling out another cut from the same cloth; it would've been funny to the Joyan if it weren't such a scary idea at the same time.
He would await Aegis' take on things before continuing, setting down the boxes at the theater before making their way to the next location. The idea that their guild could face serious consequences for Tomoe's mere existence made the man's stomach turn as they walked to their next destination. What would happen if knights showed up at the door demanding Tomoe's head? What would he do? There would be no ideal response in that situation, really.
"I didn't find anything of the bastard, either. Looked all night that night, but couldn't find a thing. That's just the way it goes sometimes, I guess. The motherfucker's definitely in pieces, but he'll put himself back together, I'm sure of it."
Tomoe didn't wish to talk about the absence of his weapons. For whatever reason, he found it difficult to merely hold them without thinking of the cult now. After that sleepless night pursuing Odin, the Joyan had returned exhausted and without weapons or armor. Lost in the chase, he had claimed. Nothing that could be done for it once they had washed away in the stream from above the clouds.
In truth he couldn't pick up such destructive weapons without flashes of the cult and of HER love flooding his mind. It was fear. Pure and simple fear as to what he could become again on a whim if the wrong sequence of events took place. Truthfully, he abandoned all that made him who he was as a warrior simply because he hated the idea of waging the wrong war. These were things that, of course, he kept to himself and planned to keep to himself for the foreseeable future as well. Nobody could know of the affection he still felt for HER.
As they stood outside the next delivery location, Tomoe awaited Aegis' response to his own thoughts. It was certainly a dire situation to be in.
WC: 1,580/1,700 (15% reduced)