Victor's warmhearted apology and laugh did little to ease the chimera's ache he now had in his shoulder. He imagined a conversation about age would prove to be fairly interesting since the comment about 'a growing boy' was the type of reminder he offered his last master while they were growing up. Luciel simply [i]was[/i] and had been since he started...being. How long had it been? Four...five years? It was difficult to tell through brief glimpses of the outside world through tall windows.
Regardless, Victor's statement was met with little more than a wary glance as to imply that Luciel expected him to mind his manners.

As Rose made to continue down a path, Luciel followed in tow. As much as he distrusted everyone he'd come to know the names of in such a short span of time, the only individual who actually seemed inviting seemed to assert themselves as the unofficial leader. At the very least, they had the nerve to take the first step that he was so forward to suggest. 

The whispers between Rose and Gish invoked a strange sensation within the chimera who observed out of the corner of an eye and an ear tilting to grasp what little he could. All he could pick out was his name and that of Victor's through his cynicism. Was it a plan to lure him deeper into the cave before a plan could be unveiled to capture him? Luciel was almost certain the humans were conspiring against him and that the whispers between the woman with the funny hat and Gish were simply to relay whatever had been observed between Victor and funny-hat Rose.

He didn't like it, left out of the loop and being the odd-man out to a quartet of death's instrument that called themselves a group. However long he intended to stay and avail his usefulness, Luciel was now more than ever ready to slash those who threatened him...'friend' or foe.

It didn't help how he could swear he heard the sound of someone following them as they walked, occasionally glancing over his shoulder into the darkness and pulling his cloak up while keeping the shortsword half drawn. 

~~~~~~~

By the end of their trek, Luciel's expression was grim and disinterested with Rose in spite of his light hearted tone in remarking on her statements with everything from curios speculation that went unanswered to a few rather tasteful puns, if you could call any pun tasteful. Chalk it up to inexperience, but he seemed to enjoy his jokes with a few soft chuckles as the rest of the group was far less sociable.  He secretly began to take a bit of a liking to this 'Madam Rose' in spite of how he resented being called 'little' or 'cute'.

To this extent, emerging from the caverns to the 'beautiful vista' was met with a genuine glance of intrigue to entertain the woman's fond expression of wonder before a skeptical frown took its place. It all seemed gaudy to the chimera who'd certainly seen such things on the surface back in his origin lands in the books he was given to read in his cage. Seeing it all underground filled him with nothing but dread after having gotten so used to caves in the short time away from such sights...it all made him bitter.

"Excuse...if vill you may du..." he grumbled, giving up on coherent speech in an annoyed tone as he eased himself to a knee and threw his arms to the side to cast off the tapestry and revealing his attire. On top of this, the strap of a crossbow became apparent as he swung it in front of himself along with a long leather pouch which he popped the button on to reveal a fine set of maybe twenty to twenty five bolts. Each one seemed carved from a material resembling either dark wood or bone, though viciously pointed and wrapped with a grayish blue cloth resembling his tattered cloak. Jingling from his side was a bandolier of about five throwing knives as well as two flasks by his hip for weight. A second belt pouch sat below them, its contents unknown. To his other side hung a game bag that seemed to already have contents, likely a squirrel or two from its size, that he'd intended on cooking back at the fire if he hadn't become distracted and recruited into the group.

"Dragons?" Luciel curiously asked as he took hold of a leaver on the otherwise oversized crossbow with a tone hinting to uncertainty what a 'dragon' even was. Oversized for his stature, it was fixed with half of a winch system found in heavier crossbows along with a few hinges that fixed to the handle along with a ratcheting system which took two good pulls to cock the device. Scrapes and gouges into the wood hinted to it being a bit of a slap-dash job likely done by the chimera in his attempts to combine a light and heavy crossbow into something devastatingly practical for his size. 

Luciel failed to meet Victor's eyes as he worked at setting up, intending on testing what the strange figures were by putting a round into one. "Mmph...jeh, shelter...maybe food" he agreed, his thoughts going to his original intention of just camping at the main chamber of the cave before moving on. The thought reminded him of how tired he was from all of the walking he'd already done this day, and the idea of having somewhere to rest that wasn't in a box or bush was enticing enough.

A transformation of Luciel's demeanor could be noticed as he fitted it with the crafted bolt after clicking the string into place. Dark familiarity and almost pride in his work on the mechanism which he hoisted to stand with. "Vaht do you suppose zehy are made from?" he mused, ears standing up and tilting to feel at the cool breeze eminating from the opening to the cave as he took aim with the armament. Pausing for a moment, he took another bolt and held it up to his head for their ears to fold back and hold.
"Zehy certainly are disgistink...even from here~" he almost playfully chuckled while taking aim, making his intentions clear as he loosed the bolt at one of the scarecrows. The height advantage certainly helped, as the round seemed directed to strike one of the figures in the chest.