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

A huff sounded from beneath the helmet, curling almost to a growl at its tail edges.

[color=c0392b]"It's enough to make you wonder why we bother, isn't it?"[/color] Rudolf remarked in dry commiseration with Esben, his disdain for this ongoing trend every bit as cutting. [color=c0392b]"Every time we try and put our minds to a problem, approach it like we're professionals, it blows right up. No wonder I was talking to the walls of the ship."[/color]

Waste of time. Really motivated a guy. But, for what gripes he had, and a growing list[sup]1[/sup] of them at that...

He glanced over his shoulder as their attaché of Skaeller soldiers dove into drifts, letting high-piled snow and long-stretching shadow do what they could to conceal their positions on the short notice. A moment later, the spy raised his voice by just a hair— enough to snap off the bones of a marching order before he and Chisato too sequestered themselves out of sight. Best you could really do under the circumstances, and given how compromised their information channels apparently already were...

The old knight's blade found its way into the hand of its new contractor in short order, blackened mail softly clinking as he stalked three paces forward in the evening snow. [color=c0392b]"Got it. You and me, Elly. Let's pull them into the snare and get warmed up."[/color]

... It was a good thing he'd argued his case in front of the others, at least well enough to get Izayoi's backing. If their position was sighted either way? It was a damned good thing he would be [i]here[/i], and personally get in the way of whatever catastrophe the caprice of the gods tried to twist this into, rather than a score or two leagues away as a landbound swordsman trying to do a dragoon's job.

He'd make a note to mind his pace even as he took the front. Too far forward would be begging somebody to slip past him, after all. Hell, thinking about how exactly "Loki" had gotten the drop on them that first time to begin with...[sup]2[/sup]

[i][color=c0392b]Help me out here?[/color]

Your fellow caffeine addict's shadow has been duly noted. Provided you actually follow your own advice, we can manage a quick *teleports behind you* and *unzips various swords* if you need to get fancy. Try not to.[/i]

Rudolf crouched low, sword and knife drawn, ready to spring. Silently, he agreed with what the demon and Esben were implying— risk as little as possible with the unfamiliar faces, [i]reveal[/i] as little as possible to the unfamiliar faces.
  
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[list]
[*][sub]1. "List" is always an inexact and frankly misleading word choice here. It's more like a cloud of fifteen— no, seventeen now. Seventeen bugs buzzing around in here, bouncing off the windows trying to get to the outside that they can see. [/sub]
[*][sub]2. We were across the map for this. I distinctly don't remember her being said to have popped out of a shadow, since this is where this train of thought's going. Granted, that associate of hers, Lanius, does have that raven he scries through. Maybe you should slime out the next few birds you see. [/sub]
[/list]