[center][h3][color=f49ac2]Smudge Pixelby[/color][/h3][/center]

[i]clonk[/i]

A bright dizzy spiral flashes on Smudge's face and she goes down on her side. A few blips of sound come from her, none of which manage to start a sentence.

Then the sword comes out, and she jerks-

Light plays patterns on the steel blade. Mergoux feels pressure; Smudge's face has leaked onto the tip of her sword. For a moment, something in it sits between IA-920 and the edge of death.

Then the moment is over and Smudge's snow is back where it belongs, the girl scrabbling back out of danger. The grim man grabs her shoulder as she gets up and she flinches, his presence momentarily forgotten.

Stuck.

A pitiful buzz slips out of IA-920 and its grip weakens. It cries out faintly as the journal is pulled away. The scholar turns to Nebulius, exhausted relief resting on his face.

"Thank you, gentleman," he says tiredly but sincerely, then nods to the frightening warrior. "Madam." He turns, he leaves.

IA-920 is rubbing its head where it was struck, checking for dents. All the while it tugs at its sailor's jacket, now dirty from the falls. The buzz doesn't stop.

[color=f49ac2]"He can't even [i]read[/i] it,"[/color] she mumbles from somewhere, possibly to herself. [color=f49ac2]"He's going [i]blind.[/i]"[/color]