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After the realization that his waiting job was getting in the way of his true calling, Howl Wickham was suddenly finding himself "sick."

He was usually a very reputable young man who would never dream of calling out sick for any other reason than his own health. However, with how things had been shifting in priority, it only logically made sense that the Princess he was meant to serve would trump the menial responsibility that was his job at Maize Maizier.

It was perhaps only his third evening of skipping out on his job, but he had found himself a relatively obstacle-free route to follow along. What he considered to be obstacles were those dreadful youma, and the occasional agent from the Negaverse. So far, in his search, he had found them to be the least informative when it came to his inquiries.

Not that many had been able to give him any clue as to where his Princess might be. A couple optimistic offers to assist him by keeping an eye out, but none actually had any solid evidence that she was present.

As he passed through one of the many commercial districts in Destiny City, he eventually found himself noticing a distinct chaotic aura nearby. It was obviously not a youma (or if it was, it was a decently strong one). If he were to estimate, it was probably a Negaverse captain, but one could never truly know unless one went to investigate.

And since the Negaverse had so little to offer to his search, rather than seek out the potential enemy, the Squire of Neptune seemed to distinctly go around the aura.

Though the young lad's mind was upon his current task, it soon enough became distressingly obvious that the aura he had slipped past had not completely passed. It was now approximately a relatively consistent distance behind him.

A good five minutes after noticing the current presence of the aura lingering and following him, the Squire decided to take his route from the ground level to the rooftops. He rounded a corner, and with ease hopped from wall to wall, bouncing up until he had made it to the rooftop.

Once he was there, he took several steps forward so he was not at any edge.

Quite plainly, he asked "...Might I ask what brings you here this evening?" There was something completely disinterested about the way he asked, as if this potential threat wasn't even worth his time.

It seemed as if the Captain had taken the bait and joined him upon the rooftop as well. However, the coy tone which the young man had taken did not go unnoticed.

Taking a few more steps forward so he was literally at the center of the particular rooftop, the Neptunian Squire replied without even turning around. His voice was clear, but there definitely was a lack of respect upon the teal-haired fellow's part.

"I came up to the rooftop to keep the street cleared of the rubbish that seemed to be blowing my way."

He held out a hand to his side, his gloved fingers stretched out open as if he was waiting to grab onto something. He spoke up once more, his tone seeming to gain an icy edge to it as he remained with his back facing the opponent.

"I do not play, Captain. Please, do not get in my way."

With the cold request out in the open, the Squire's fingers curled closed. As his fingers seemed to attempt to wrap about something, his weapon showed itself, phasing in a dull light. Once his fingers had found his weapon, Nysa swiped the Quill of the Ocean to his side. The seashell-sabre glistened vaguely in the miniscule amount of light the evening sky offered.

There was something to be said about Nysa's pride in his own abilities. He hadn't even turned to face his opponent, though he kept his gaze narrowed a bit as he seemed to concentrate upon the sounds of the opponent's feet as they stepped closer.

The captain was obviously engaged. His words definitely revealed a sort of wicked edge to them. However, it was the whir of the weapon spinning behind him that tipped him off that now was the time to move.

Rather than turn to face the Negaverse agent immediately, Nysa instead moved forward, seemingly fleeing the situation (while avoiding the hit). However, when he got to the edge of the building, he spun upon the ball of his foot to turn and face the scythe wielding Captain.

With his free hand, he brushed his fingers through his long bangs, casually moving them from his line of vision for a bit.

"It would make sense a buffoon would enjoy play."

Now that he was facing the correct direction, he finally seemed to settle into a position ready to attack, weapon outstretched at the opponent.

His fencer's instinct had probably gotten the better of the Squire. The Captain's weapon was not a sword or sabre, it was a scythe and had a hooked end to it. So where the squire had assumed an inevitable parry was going to happen, he instead found his weapon pulled out of the way.

And the Negaverse captain uncomfortably close.

Extra uncomfortable now that he had a hand lodged into his stomach.

Though there was the initial impact where he had a twitch of the eyebrow caused by the influx of pain, the Neptunian Squire wiped the expression from his face, replacing it with a far more serious one.

The opponent did not want to speak. This was fine by him. With a roll of his wrist, he attempted to disengage his weapon which seemed locked with the scythe before attempting to sidestep a bit out of the way. If he was successful getting his weapon free, he'd only withdraw it for a moment before lunging out at the Captain.

So many rules of engagement were being broken here. The biggest one was the moment the opponent grabbed onto the Quill of the Ocean. Had this been a fencing tournament, the Negaverse Captain would have been ejected from the match and carded.

Neither of these things were likely to happen.

Despite how flabbergasted Nysa was with the turn of events, he didn't even let it show upon his face. Not when his weapon was grabbed onto. Not when he was pulled in close. And not when he received a quick jab to the eye not masked by his long teal bangs. There was a natural wincing reaction, but the Squire didn't let any fear or emotion show upon his face.

The easiest solution would have been to let go of his weapon and attempt a legitimate punch or two at the opponent. However, as a Squire representing Nysa, he had a sense of pride that was not easy to just toss away for a convenient attack tactic.

So, he boldly instead lashed out with the back of his gloved hand against the Captain's cheek so a loud crack of a slapping sound could be heard.

"If you would not mind!" he warned in an icy bewildered tone.

His weapon was free. If anything, there was a small victory that such a thing had happened. However, even small victories came at their own costs. Nysa paid in full by having a knee shoved into his torso.

He let out a gasp, his mouth hanging open slack for a brief moment before the lad corrected himself. If there was one thing glaringly obvious, it was how much effort the more effeminate of the two put into maintaining a certain expression and appearance. Some of the baser reactions people expressed had such a potential to turn ugly. It was something that Nysa preferred to avoid when he was capable of such a thing.

He remained stooped over, staggering slightly as he attempted to find himself some space away from this miserably pink-adorned captain. The Squire had an awful tendency to lean towards the rules of engagement that surrounded the Sabre. However, at that very moment, the rules of only hitting above the waist seemed less appealing.

Fine... I shall go with épée...

It was a whisper in his mind before his sabre soon enough stabbed at the top of the opponent's shoe. Anything to get some space back.

There was something nostalgic about the insults being flung at him. It was not an uncommon call by any means. As Howl, he had suffered the insult of being accused of the wrong gender even as a child. He dressed the proper gender, he had the hair length of the proper gender, and he was still questioned about his sex. Several in Destiny City had seemed to fall victim to his appearance and mannerisms being better suited to the female sex. Even his own ancestor had made the dreaded mistake of insinuating that Howl was not a young man, but a young woman instead.

However, the words of his mother rang through his thoughts as he staggered to get the right footing once more, righting himself up gradually now that he had the room he had desired.

"Embrace your beauty."

It was hard to truly embrace one's beauty when one could feel the skin around his injured eye starting to swell. However, Nysa seemed to have a renewed drive. A small gust of wind managed to get his hair to whip out upon the moving air, as if to signify some sort of epic battle. It was how it seemed to work in the movies at least.

Within moments, the two seemed to be facing off, the Captain's demeanor seeming far more casual and relaxed (despite his recent injury). Nysa stood en garde, as he had been trained to do all his life with a blade of any sort at his hand. The Negaverse agent swung, and Nysa, unfortunately, was the one who had to react.

He sidestepped out of the direct line of the weapon, but caught the scythe's blade with his own far more delicate looking one. He was the one on the defending end, and rather than give out, he actually attempted to put some force into fighting back to lift his weapon.

"...you only wish you looked as good as me..."