Welcome to Gaia! ::

With an air of someone who knows what they're doing and where they're going, Tak strode into Tinto. Schloop stumbled after her, looking incredulously at the many dead who were still in the town square.

"Who..."

"Those people we attacked earlier."

"...Oh."

"Yeah." Tak had to grab Schloop at this point and drag him along with her, because he stopped dead and didn't look like he would have moved on his own any time soon. Tak realized that he was feeling either very scared or very angry, similar to her own feelings when she had stepped onto a battlefield for the first time. As she pushed him along, she put an almost comforting arm around Schloop, her hand on his shoulder. "Look...when wars and fights come around, people get hurt. That's why you're fighting. You have to protect the people who are being attacked. So...don't...lose hope or anything like that, alright? It's OK to feel sad, but we will beat the guys who did these bad things. OK?"

Schloop nodded quietly. "OK." He thought for a moment. "Promise...?"

Tak smiled. "I don't know if I can. But I'll do my best."

~!~

"We're going to see the brat. Are you coming, Franken?"

"I'm busy here. Take Eric with you." Stein motioned to a man Tak had never met before.

Tak looked at the man. Somehow, she was sure she'd seen something like him before...Oh well. She shrugged. "Well then...Eric? Come along, we're going to have a few words with the princess."

Eric shrugged, and followed Tak towards the jail. "Durn't joo hate chrillen-aru?"

"Depends on the maturity level. Here we are." Tak nodded to the guard manning the cell room, and he opened the door for her to enter and look around the cells. She recognized several faces, but eventually identified the princess. However, her intimidation was stopped by his cell mate, who she was unfortunate enough to know. He waved at her. She glared at him. He seemed happy with that, and sat back, gazing at the wall. She returned her stare to the princess.

"Well, Alice, you've certainly caused your fair share of trouble for one day." Tak approached the cell, and reached her hand in as though to hold his. However, instead of a friendly gesture, she grabbed him by his collar and lifted him off the floor and pulled him towards the bars, where she glared from out of her helmet. Her voice dropped to a frightening, dangerous growl, the words only legible by Aki and herself.

"You think you're doing the right thing, don't you? You think you're doing everything right, and all for the good of the people, who you MISTAKENLY think of as YOUR people. Let me tell you now, princess, you are doing nothing but bad for the very people you wish to protect. There are a hundred dead out there, and a hundred more in the morgue. Maybe they weren't kings or queens or people YOU see of as being of great importance, but they had families, families who will never see their husbands or fathers or sons or brothers home ever again. You, of ALL people, should know the pain of losing a family member, of losing someone you love. But you didn't think about that when you ordered them dead, did you? No, you just saw them as obstacles on your road to power. You plan on killing the king, on taking back your 'rightful place' on the throne. Princess, don't you understand? That is no longer your throne, it belongs to king Gailor now. By killing your family, he EARNED it. It has always been so, it will always be so. You are nothing but an idiot if you think it still belongs to you. You are the king of yourself now, and leave the country alone." Tak dropped the princesses collar and, in the same moment, used the hand as a palm to push her onto the floor. "Stupid child. The noose is all yours for tomorrow. Be ready to die a slow, uncomfortable death."

"Heeeey!" Aki's cellmate whined. "Why does he get only the noose if I get hung, drawn, and quartered?"

"It's not dangerous to let him die in public. YOU'RE in here for almost wiping out the entire royal class of Gailor as we know it."

"Am I the ONLY one who was impressed by that...?" Tak threw a rock from the floor at him. He dodged. "So you hate me." He turned to look at Aki. "My conclusion? SHE'S IN LOVE WITH ME!" He giggled madly as Tak rolled her eyes and returned to Eric.

"Anything you want to say to him before we go, Eric?"