the lone eagle's flight.
❪ ⠀boel 2026: round 3 / battle twenty ⠀❫
Forsyth's words fall on deaf ears, and his feet move too slow to prevent his fears from coming true--the student hits Leif square in the chest, and no amount of immediate healing will return him to this battle. Forsyth is on his own, now.
"Nothing to do about it, then." The student isn't wrong, per se, but could he not see the value of sportsmanship in a mock battle? Though, Forsyth can't help but see the irony, given it was initially him and Leif with such an advantage. He sighs, readying his lance. The battle isn't over until it's over. "Face me!"
A strange glow emanates from Forsyth's person, the magic he'd been lent coming forward all at once. Partially a last gambit, partially a straightforward enforcement of his declaration.
@venalier
LEIF FALLS SO ABRUPTLY, OUT OF NOWHERE, 𑣲 that for a stunned moment, she isn't sure what just happened. eyes blink, mouth agape——and then of course it all falls into place, the only way that it can. he—! fauntleroy! she whirls around on her feet after leif disappears in a flash of warping magic and stamps her way across the damp and torn-up grasses, spear in tow.
face me, the remaining deer calls to her ' teammate '. oh, they'll face him all right, but not——before!
"i've. . . HAD IT!" in a declaration of frustration, she throws her spear to the ground at fauntleroy's feet with enough force that it clatters in the dirt, then storms up to his face with a jabbing finger. "what's wrong with you?? do you think this is how an eagle should act? or a self-respecting student of this academy??" she throws both arms wide, glancing down at herself as if to say ' look at me '. "i'm exhausted, i've been on my feet all day, out here fighting——dragon's teeth, the places i was hit by that war fire thirty minutes ago still smart like crazy, but i've gone back out on this dragons-forsaken field to keep fighting because this once-a-year event should be taken seriously. it's a chance to prove our strength, not goof around and show up if and only when we feel like it. if you have to do that with your classes, and you think it makes you so much better than us who care about the time and money we spent to be here, then fine. but i can't——stand it! when you all show up like you want to show off how little you care, then demand to be the main character and ruin it for everybody else!"
in perhaps a declaration of outrage equal to that of her frustration, she swipes her spear back up before giving fauntleroy a terse shove to one shoulder. "we're teammates, so let's finish this. but shape up. think of someone else besides yourself for once."
"Urk!" Fauntleroy flinches; the physical damage of Caeldori's shove is minimal, but the emotional is nearly enough to send anyone packing. For him, especially, because as far as he is concerned he has been taking this seriously. He'd shown up, even if it had been late. He'd done his best to adapt to the circumstances, even feeling at times out of his league. He'd seen Caeldori looking worse for wear, and doing his best to put into practice what he felt important, he'd stepped in to protect her.
So, trying to figure out where he's gone wrong, he's left a little lost!
He finds himself deferring to her regardless with a "yes, ma'am,"—the honorific slipping from him seamlessly. Entirely despite his confusion—has he been acting the main character?—it is easy here to recognize the difference between the two of them. Even in the midst of obvious righteous fury, she commands such respect.
There really always is someone else from which to learn something new.
"You're right. I should treat this with more severity." If not the main character, maybe he is still acting the child. He pulls what remains of his baguette from his bag, exterior hard as a rock, but inside still... not quite soft and fluffy, but tender. She had taken issue with this, hadn't she? And why wouldn't she—come to think of it, it was something of a crutch. And so, furrowing his brow with determination and shutting his eyes, he pulls back his arm,
and pitches it. As hard as he can.










