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[img]https://i.imgur.com/ziR5Pse.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/C7nwoGY.png[/img]
[b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1,277(+3) (+2 rapport)
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 15 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](220/150) 
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 10 [/color][/b] EXP:  [color=Aqua]///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](266/100)
[b][color=ea590c]wordcount:[/color][/b]  1962 (+3 rapport/exp) (+10)
[b][color=ea590c]Edward Portsmith: Level 6 (16 cells) (2 level up benefit stored) [/color][/b][color=ea590c]////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////////////////// (16/60)
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By way more or less of momentum, Jr and Rika had ended up at the lost moment’s bar anyway, despite the former’s reservations about how it would feel pointlessly sad, and the latter’s lack of really getting it. 

In contrast Edward got it in spades.

The military man had attended, and led, numerous funerals and wakes. War had its casualties, this was inevitable, but that did not mean those deaths did not matter, that respect should not be given. 

The commonwealth’s manuals had emphasized the importance of last rights being given from a purely strategic standpoint, and given guides about how to perform them in a manner that bolstered rather than broke morale. Sometimes in times of extreme stress Edward had had to fall back on the thinking of these things, when his spirit was not in it, but the needs of the campaign demanded it. Ultimately however it was his firm belief that these things genuinely mattered, and not just for those who were left behind.

The dead deserved respect, those who had died because they dared to fight for a noble cause even more so.

Thus, when it came time to speak, he did so both with practiced oration and from the heart.

[color=ea590c]”In the short time I knew her, I came to owe Midna a great deal. From bringing me up to speed on many of the ways this world worked in ways that no doubt saved my life in the battle I was awoken during, to being generous with her supplies and wisdom of the arcane. Even had she lived, I would never have been able to repay her, either for her kindness or her easily given companionship”[/color] 

[color=ea590c]”From what I saw of her leading her unit in skyworld, she was also the kind of leader all should aspire to be. Brave, cunning, and compassionate for those who served under her, willing to put herself on the line to preserve the lives of her troops, when a lesser general would so casually expend those same lives for even a slight advantage. She, was, ultimately, in the end, selfless to a fault”[/color]

[color=ea590c]”That last can without a doubt be said for both the fallen. I did not have a chance to make Goldlewis’ acquaintance, but I do know that his final act spoke volumes of who he was. Who they both where”[/color]

[color=ea590c]”We owe them everything. Let us not let their sacrifices be in vain”[/color] he declared, thumping a fist to his heart in salut, before stepping back into the crowd

As he did so, he caught sight of two figures who were, it was fairly clear, not in any way as used to funerals as he was. 

Buried in the crowd that towered over them were two children, who absolutely should not, in his opinion, have been put in the danger that had killed Goldlewis and Minda.

And yet, they had endured it better than him, and might have been the reason that Consul A only took two lives, thanks to their powerful transforming ability.

He still needed to look into that, but now was not the time, because both children were runny nosed and tear streaked, though it was a quiet, sniffling kind of sadness, rather than ones involving any outright bawling. They also both looked to be varying levels of confused, annoyed, and embarrassed by this fact. This latter heightened as Bowser Junior noticed him looking, the prince rubbing his face with a sleeve and making a right mess of it in the process.

For all his multi-planner experiences, Edward was not, he would, admit, exactly experienced with children. Such youths belonged nowhere near a war camp after all, and even when he had ruled he had rarely been out of one. But if he were to hazard a guess, it was that right now, being treated as children would only make them more angry about their own emotions. 

So he stepped closer and silently offered the pair a handkerchief each (he was going to need more at this rate) and a curt nod of understanding/respect, making sure that his expression and actions could not have been seen as either pity or judgment. 

The girl, Rika, started at these with confusion, prompting her Brother to grab both and to then whisper that she should use it to [color=SpringGreen]”dry your tears”[/color] speaking said words in a cadence that belonged to an elder koopa Edward had never met, before seeing to himself. The prince wiped down his scales and then rather loudly blew his nose into it, prompting his sister to do the same. 

[color=SpringGreen]”Thanks”[/color] the prince mumbled after he was done, handing back the now snotty and tear stained handkerchief, with Rika following suit a moment later.

Edward suppressed a grimace, and instead nodded to them again, before bundling up the handkerchiefs in a random spare bandage he had on him (he was now out of clean handkerchiefs, and would indeed need more).

He then turned away from them, keeping his checking on them far more subtle than his first look, but fortunately the situation had been stabilized.

As the funeral continued, Edward, in the back of head, debated on what he should say to the children after it was over, but in the end that choice was not his to make. When the wake ended the two would manage to weave their way between the legs of the crowd and away from him, in order to avoid exactly the kind of conversation Edward himself was not sure how to have.

He was silently thankful for this for a moment, and then admonished himself for the thought. Still, it was out of his hands now, unless he could catch the pair at some other time for a quiet, no doubt awkward, talk.

They did at least have their own talk of sorts, with Rika asking her brother [color=Aqua]”Why do I feel better, but also worse?”[/color] to which the prince had no real answer. He, after all, only really felt worse. About the deaths, about the mess he’d been, about not talking about he and Midna had made that cool goop cannon that one time because it felt silly and pointless when compared to the other’s fancy words.  

All he could really do, think of doing, was try and let this never happen again. As if responding to this desire, this mental statement of will, the metal on his hand began to reshape a little, preparing to bloom forth new life giving power. 

[hider=Jr level up]
Secret of the Lily (B’giotahmo Bravha): Part of Jr’s metal tattoo lattice on his shoulder transforms into a [url=https://i.imgur.com/nhcx1wg.png]healing gauge[/url] that can fuel certain spells. The Blue lilies are gained every 20 seconds of combat, and up to 3 can be full grown at once. The singular blood lilly meanwhile will bloom after 3 lillies have been expended to fuel spells.

Blue lilies can be used to cast Afflatus Solace, which is a 30 yard ranged single target instant cast cure spell (60% stronger than cure) or Afflatus Rapture, which is a 20 yard aoe instant cast cure spell (25% weaker than cure). The blood lily meanwhile can be used to cast Afflatus Misery, which is a 25 yard range high damage spell (2.5 cures worth to be exact) that also hits all foes in 5 yards for 50% of the damage dealt to the primary target.
[/hider]

It was, in a way, he felt, all on him if people died. Such was the healer’s burden.

A terrible thing to allow a child to place on their own shoulders, and yet there it was, clear as day.