[b]Giriel![/b] Cathak Agata’s attention is intense. Her delight drowns out anything else— questions of what the price might be, questions as to whether it is the right thing to do, questions of whether Giriel needs anything. “That’s my good girl,” she says, and holds you by the chin, and she is happy with you because you are doing what she needs you to do. And that means you are perfect, because Cathak Agata is delighted in you. “And if they ask for too much,” she adds, suddenly, quietly, “keep in mind— isn’t it lucky we have those demons?” Naji stiffens, but does a halfway decent job hiding it. Agata didn’t give you an order. But it’s a suggestion. After all, demons are monsters from the prison of Hell, and you, Giriel, beautiful Giriel, are a person. More than that: you’re [i]her [/i] person. Her witch who came into her life to help her, to adore her, to revere her. If you agree with her, out loud, right now, just because you’re intoxicated by her presence, mark XP and Naji’s enmity. And if you disagree with her, out loud, right now, she will smoothly tell you that she meant the demon could protect you, silly girl. That’s all she meant. Right? [hr] [b]Kalaya![/b] “Being a knight means that I can knock heads together and it’s a [i]good[/i] thing,” Petony snarls. And there it is, Kalaya. A flash of vulnerability. Petony, the Tiger Knight, believes in her heart that she is a bad person. She’s crude and violent and needs the moral certainty that being a knight provides: that as long as she is pointed outwards at the enemies of the Flower Kingdoms and their people, she is— not a good person, but less bad. And she buries this beneath drinking and carousing and mentoring, until she almost forgets… And then the princess she took under her wing went and stabbed one of the good guys. One of her own. Uusha, who might be scary but is still a knight. She thought you could be better than she is, and then you proved her wrong. You want to convince her? Take a step forward. Hug her. Tell her that whatever happened, it’s not her fault. Thank her for trying. She’ll crack. She’ll start crying. She might even break out the drinks and tell you more about how her ex broke her heart by seducing the Red Wolf… But while you do that, reveal to Petony exactly what your feelings are towards her. She’ll know, whether or not you tell her. [hr] [b]Fengye![/b] “Do you eat [i]rocks?[/i]” Her hair sticks to her muddy forehead. Her body is shaking as she drags you forward, one arm around your body, the other holding your wrist, her dainty little face right next to yours. The determination to not give up… that’s something that she kept from her old self. The General, refusing to admit the war was lost. The world swims in a film of rain and pain and exhaustion. Eventually— very eventually— you wake up, not quite sure when you blacked out. Above you, the huge leaf of a turtleback fern. Beside you, an angry hiss of [i]”Gadzooks. Tarnation. Hecking hecking hecks.”[/i] The tap tap tap of rocks being hit together in a way that will never create a spark, even if the sticks she’d gathered weren’t wet. In the Flower Kingdoms, they have to use lanterns, and carefully dried tinder, and… But you have firedust, don’t you? [i]”Rotten roots,”[/i] the Maid blurts out, on the verge of tears at a world that refuses to bend to her will. [hr] [b]Han![/b] “I [i]am[/i] performing an important service to the Flower Kingdoms,” Sagacious Crane crows. Oh, great. Here it comes. She’s got a light in her eyes and you’re going to have to listen to what she’s got to say!! “I am attempting to warn everyone I can about a [i]duplicitous[/i] spirit named Zhaojun! Far from being a heavenly emissary, she is nothing more than a trickster and a disturber of the peace, and very soon, I am [i]sure,[/i] the Sapphire Mother will have her declared anathema! She is pretending to be a lion-spirit, dressed in blue, with a brace of terrible firewands! She might speak the tongue of Heaven, but she is a deceiver and a scoundrel, even worse than you! Far, far worse! In fact, I would go so far as to say she’s even worse than the Vermillion Beast!!” From the exhausted rumble around the inn’s common area, it sounds like she has already given a speech about this. At length. “But helping one of my [i]sisters[/i] takes priority,” she continues, tossing it in your face that she’d rank a fellow priestess over you in terms of who counts as a sister. “Now get out of my way and let me see her, Han!” She doesn’t touch you, but she’s going to push her way past you if you don’t do something about that, and she [i]will[/i] go find Lotus and badger her into being roommates, where she [i]will[/i] put her under terrible dreadful big sister scrutiny, with two possible outcomes… Either she’ll decide that Lotus is a fraud who needs to be punished, [i]or[/i] she will tell Lotus [i]all the embarrassing stories![/i] How do you stop her? Do you stop her? [i]Can[/i] you stop her? [hr] [b]Piripiri![/b] Emli touches the back of your hand. “That sounds [i]dreadful,[/i]” she says in her Service Voice. Her touch is unfairly soft. And she’s looking at you with that same attention that she gives all the guests that she falls a little bit in love with, and, well… You know, you could let her just turn this around. Let her guide your head into her lap so she can brush her fingers through your hair. She’s so good at listening. (So good, in fact, that it would count as an Emotional Support. And there’s no downside to breaking this Commandment, save what’s in your own heart.) And the worst part of it is that she’s only capable of being so devious. Seducing you into being distracted is [i]beyond her.[/i] There are slaves on board who would be capable of it, but Emli is simply, earnestly, just devoted to making sure that everyone around her who is hurting… hurts less. Is that enough to make you make a mistake, Piripiri? Is everything you have been through too much weight for you to carry when she offers to let yourself unburden yourself? If not, please make a dramatic exit of some sort.