[center][h1][color=96EACE]Joseph[/color][/h1][/center]
[@canaryrose][@DClassified][@KaijuBaragon][@Scarifar][@Hitman]

[color=96EACE]"Sorry, sorry..."[/color] Joseph groaned out an apology to Jamie, all the while shuffling himself into a position where he could comfortably work on standing back up again. [color=96EACE]"In my defense though, it wasn't really intentional. Or sneaking, actually."[/color]

He tried to keep his usual lazy grin on his face when she asked if he was ok. He wasn't, his left shoulder hurt like a bitch, he was pretty sure he was bleeding from some point on the back of his head, and his knee did this weird clicky thing when he tried to bend his leg to walk. But if there was one thing Joseph was good at, it was forcing his pain down and hiding it behind a content, if generally disappointing facade.

[color=96EACE]"Oh yeah nah, don't worry about me. I'm still good to go whenever I'm needed."[/color]

And then the ogres started beating their chests and howling at them, eliciting a small sigh from the man. And he'd [i]just[/i] furled the whip back up too.

[color=96EACE]"Which... is now I guess. Christ..."[/color] He grumbled, before unfurling his whip once more. He resisted the urge to crack it as he did so, considering Jamie's visible discomfort from the loud noises of the ogres. Still, despite not being hungover himself, he had to admit that they were being [i]very[/i] inconsiderate about it. [color=96EACE]"Alright, if you really wan keep fighting, you'd better be ready. I might be down an arm, but I only need one to use a whip, and I'm stone cold sober."[/color]

Thankfully though, he never had the chance to make what would probably be an exceedingly disappointing last stand. While he was considering exactly what his next move should be, he felt the area heat up considerably, not even beginning to turn before he watched an enormous bird-shaped wall of fire engulf the ogres.

[color=96EACE]"Well, I guess that's [i]one[/i] way to move the arc along."[/color] He said, before turning to face the Blake, who he faintly heard mumble something about Angie before collapsing. For a second, Joseph shared Jamie's concerns, although he was pretty sure he probably actually going to be [i]dead.[/i] However, he paused when he noticed something hiding behind him, and looked back to see a... ew. 

It was a vermite. Not exactly the most widely beloved leftovers out there, but not particularly dangerous either, at least when they were alone. However, he [i]did[/i] notice something about this specific one that was a little less unpleasant. Maybe even weirdly endearing. Maybe it was the way it looked a little bit cleaner than the average trash-weasel. Maybe it was the way it seemed to be depending on him to keep it safe. Or maybe it was the way that it was staring at Blake from behind his leg, indicating that [i]it[/i] was what bit him and caused him to collapse, because while that wasn't exactly [i]great,[/i] that meant that he probably wasn't bitten by anything that would actually kill him. The fact that it was hiding behind him also meant that it was probably alone, so the flame wielder probably wasn't even bitten by more than this one vermite.

[color=96EACE]"You know what? You might be alright."[/color] He said, leaning down and holding out his hand to the vermite, which actually ran up his arm to his shoulder rather than just biting his hand like most other vermites he'd met. [color=96EACE]"Huh, well alright. Guess we're a team, at least for now."[/color]

After his unexpected encounter wrapped up, he returned to the others, watching as Sam lifted Blake over his shoulders.

[color=96EACE]"Ok, I'm not sure if any of you guys have a plan for what to do now, but we'd better be careful."[/color] He whispered to the others, trying to stay quiet enough that Nero [i]hopefully[/i] wouldn't be able to hear. [color=96EACE]"Now that we're not about to be killed by his ogres, Nero's probably going to assume we're coming for him. That means Grace and Eliza could very well have been promoted from just being a way to torment us to bargaining chips, and his only means of negotiating his way out of here. If we make the wrong move, he might panic, which rarely ends well for hostages, and I'd [i]really[/i] prefer if nobody died today, so try to act with that in mind as much as possible."[/color]