[center][h3][color=C0392B]Rudolf Sagramore[/color][/h3][/center]

[@Psyker Landshark]

[color=c0392b]"Right[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_3Dpw-BRY].[/url] Introductions."

[i]You don't all have to ignore me! That's so mean! You could just tell me I heard wrong! I can handle having the wrong idea, you know![/i]

"I'm Rudolf, a warrior from Sagramore Village in Edren."[/color] he intoned clearly, sitting a little straighter as he found a break between Eliane's introductions and the next person up, forcing his fuming instinct down. This, clearly, was polite enough company to warrant that— despite the growing comfort around his fellow party members, everyone else had definitely put on their dignitary hats.[color=c0392b] "I'm on the same mission, but came in behind the main Kirin group."[/color]

It was with a somber contemplation that he took in the full breadth of Izayoi's life after the war, hiding much of his grimace behind the mug of tea and high eyebrows behind his messy bangs. Just a few hours ago, he'd already confronted a taste of the person beneath the terrifying reputation, the [i]real, living[/i] person...

He'd vowed to work harder on breaking down that terrifying barrier, but never expected to have the entire thing laid out in full like this. He'd already been privy to the fact that she'd tried to die once before, and believed it to be the oft-discussed Samurai ideal of going out with honor rather than living as prisoner or runner-up. He'd not contended with her life afterwards. With failing to die, and finding the strength to live.

With that new life being burned down around her. Little wonder she had only the last embers left— cinders of who she had moved on from, now stoked into an inferno by the new invasive regime. Four. The kid would have been only [i]four[/i]. His jaw tightened.

[color=c0392b][i]I miss Mom.[/i][/color]

It was that, and all the guilt the world could thrust onto someone. He was barely past being a kid himself, but he knew what losing family was. What it meant to have only one thing left to keep you upright, one goal to to strengthen your back to the point where it wouldn't be crushed. She didn't know it, but allowing the visit to the smith had helped him with his.

He rose to a knee, mind racing.

[color=c0392b]"Whatever retinue they have to maintain order while taking the Lord's head is bound to be on high alert for exactly what Izayoi intends— With this Reisa having slipped from our grasp last time we encountered them, I'm pretty sure we should assume they're doing this with the knowledge that she's alive and in the area. If they considered Izayoi enough of a threat to do what they did to that village, then I'm betting this execution double-purposes as bait to lure her out, on account of their history."[/color] He rattled off, gaze flickering between the two leaders of their group. [color=c0392b]"Going alone is surely suicide, even if it's careful, even if it's you. I meant it when I said I owe a favor— Please let me barge in again. I could provide a distraction, watch your back, pincer them on the platform; however you'd play it, I'll follow your lead, but you've more options with two than one."[/color]