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[sub]Interacting with | [@Hero] as Some Poor Saps | [@Mcmolly] as Ionna | [@Stern Algorithm] as Sara[/sub][/center][hr]
	If there was something he could respect in a person, it was when they toughed it out through pain they could clearly feel. So when the redhead asked Theobald a rather innocuous, shoot-the-breeze question about whether fighting or dancing was easier to teach, his thoughts returned just seconds before when she had smiled through the audible cracking of her fingers. 

	[color=firebrick]"To teach someone how to fight well is not simple. It takes dedication, suffering, and the right teacher."[/color] It was clear the old soldier put some thought into the Templar's throwaway inquiry, his gaze rising to watch the nobility who danced beneath the candlelight with narrowed eyes. [color=firebrick]"A child can be taught how to fight in an instant when their life is on the line, but the time and experience required to mold a good soldier from someone who only knows how to move is too long compared to teaching how to dance. Soldiers are disciplined, and the experience of fighting is not unlike dancing. It is an easy choice."[/color]

	His hands balled into fists, unsatisfied with the answer he came to despite knowing it was correct. Bringing up the fact that such a peaceful era no longer needed soldiers would simply add fuel to the fire that burned constantly in his heart.

	It was easier simply to listen to his new companion ramble, rather than address the feelings he held within, nodding along to show he was at the very least lending his ear. Only to notice, as the Templar had, the disturbance in the air. His hand had come down to his gunblade before he could even recognize what happened, the fake flash of blue causing the Scion to furrow his brow. Moving his gaze just a bit to the side, the crumbling Scion of Time filled his vision, the former soldier releasing a scoff before loosening his grip on his favored weapon. What was the use of power if you couldn't control it?

	Not that he had any say to be thinking that.
	
	But the moments of flickering before the darkness, unlike the strange surge of power from the newly minted Scion, were very tangible and real. With the Templar's sentence cut off yet again, the older man didn't bother warning her as the first break of a window caught his ear. The nobility, who once were merry and celebrating with lavish food and drink, became nothing but civilians. Screaming distractions that obfuscated what was real and what was fake. 

	Theobald closed his eyes. Listening for familiar voices beneath the cacophony, the sounds of gunfire music to his ears.

	Ah.

	He was [i]home[/i] again.

	The flash of light that filled the room coincided with the opening of Theobald's eyes, his gunblade leaving its sheath and pointed toward the approaching shadow with their weapon glimmering from the sudden illumination. With a click of the hammer and a squeeze of the trigger, the heavy slug from his weapon caved in the would-be-assailant's chest, armor and all. In the same motion, the old soldier used the force from the blast to clash his blade against that of the assassin who attempted to sneak into the redhead's blindspot, his own unnatural strength combined with the recoil-boosted swing collapsing the unsuspecting intruder's guard and neck in a single swing. Protecting her just as she had him.

	Magic or not, rusty or not, the Scion of Fire wouldn't allow himself to be caught slipping in front of his junior. She'd earned his interest within but a couple of minutes, and with how she'd been able to defeat her opponent with little to no injury, she would undoubtedly do so again in the future. 

	Theobald eyed the last three nearby assailants slinking in the dark, staring them down through the eye sockets of their masks with outward contempt. Slinging his gunblade up to his shoulder, the soldier held not a single ounce of worry in his body, even taking his eyes off of them to glance down at the Templar who seemed more than a bit skittish. It took him a moment to realize she was probably looking for her actual Scion.

	A thought that didn't take long to come to fruition, the redhead choke-slamming one of the remaining three who attempted to approach them as she left his side. The old soldier let out a whistle of approval, seeing how to floor had cracked from the force of her blow. Speaking of, didn't he have his own Templar?

	Understanding from their body language and focus on his person that the intruders were undoubtedly there for the Scions, and not attempting to take any nobles as hostages, Theobald merely kept them in his sights as he roared with a commanding voice. [color=firebrick]"Sara! Protect the Scions! If I see you fully intact when this is over and any of them are missing, I will kill you myself!"[/color]