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The noise and alarms that surrounded them were deafening, people running to and fro shouting orders, asking for information and or even huddling in corners, obviously freaked out of their minds. Jason didn't blame them, as it felt like he was seconds away from doing the same thing.

No, no...focus. Focus on what you need to do.

So far the only thing he had done was to follow Yuki and Riley, as he hadn't brought anything with him when he arrived and he figured there would be supplies were he was going anyway. Either that or hopefully someone more experienced would come along and tell them where to go.

All and all, he had no idea what he was doing.

Riley lagged behind, stopping every so often when she saw someone huddled away in a corner, hiding from the sounds of battle and death coming from outside. She wanted to help; she wanted to stop and talk them through it, to assure them that there was nothing to fear from death, but everytime she paused to think about it, she realized that Yuki and Jason had gotten ahead of her, and stumbled to keep up.

Her staff was on the ground, having dropped at some point from where it had rested on the wall. She pulled up her skirts enough to bend down and pick it up, using it as leverage to stand back up again.

"Armor sounds like a very good idea." She knew it was, and yet, the idea of wearing it repulsed her. She would work through it if it killed her - because not wearing armor would definitely kill her.

"Perhaps down past the first chambers? These have been picked dry."

"We have to go then, now, before we're out of time." He urged between them, "Anything is better than nothing, as long as it isn't too heavy for us to carry." He wouldn't have personally known, even before, what it felt like to wear armor.

Yuki had seen people hiding, glimpsing them as he hurried past to a destination he could only gauge from the sound of voices and metal. He wanted to reassure them, too, but the best thing that could be done for them was for them to hurry. If they could defend the castle it would keep those people as well as themselves safe. It would accomplish more than the delay of trying to stop and draw the fearful out of their hiding places.

His long strides allowed him to keep pace with Yuki, not bothering to pause and help the frightened as he felt it might be kinder to just leave them here where, at least for now, it was safe.

"I feel it would be best to give you something that may do harm, unfortunately." He replied as he entered as well, eyes scanning the left over armor for anything useful. "So you can defend yourself against an attack." Not that he wouldn't be doing the defending, if he could help it. Scared as he was, he liked to think himself a chivalrous person.

"L-lets see..." he frowned at the various chest plates, armor and helmets all scattered about. "We would need something a little lighter...and something that would fit" He picked up a few shoulder guards "These might be good...also this" He held up a set of chain mail. "This might be good for you. It shouldn't be as heavy as the metal plates, but it will protect you against arrows...though not against close range weapons like a sword..."

He placed it down and continued to look.

Riley took Jason's suggestions to heart, even if she still disagreed with the idea of harming another. Perhaps her mind would change in the heat of battle, but for now, the staff would have to do. Still, she took each of his options for armor into consideration, under the assumption that he knew best for her. She tried the shoulder guards briefly, but the chain mail felt more to her liking. So she dropped the chain mail over her shoulders, seemingly unaffected by the added weight. The bulges around her waist, however, looked unseemly.

"I should move those, I suppose." She murmured, her voice colored with embarrassment as she removed the chain mail and began to untie the long, winding cords that held her prayer beads around her waist. It was just a belt, but it still felt shameful to do in front of others, so the untying was hurried, until the beads were held in her hands.

She considered dropping them, but shuddered at the idea.

"Hold this for a moment, would you?" She asked Jason, handing the prayer beads over to him so that she had her hands free to put the chain mail on. This would have been fine, had the prayer beads not been made of dense, heavy metal - weighted heavily in order to signify the constant burden of sin. The moment she'd handed them over, she felt like she was floating. The chain mail went over her head, dropping down against her as light as silk.

She took the helmet offered to her, and then looked up at the veil over her head. This would be more of a problem..

Yuki realized quite belatedly that the helmet might have been an awkward thing to put on for her. He had long hair himself, but... "Sorry... I hope you can understand that your veil and dreads can't protect your head." He rapped his knuckles against his own head for emphasis. "Can't have lovely hair and risk a fractured skull, right?"

Pleased that she'd found something suitable in the chain mail and accomplishing handing off the helmet, Yuki had turned his attention away from her to pick out things for himself.

Or at least that was the plan until Jason was suddenly grabbing hold of his arm for support.

Had he been prepared for it, he might have been able to stay on his feet. Or, at the very least, not go flying sideways as the weight of Jason and the prayer beads he was holding jerked him off his feet. Yuki managed a startled cry, before falling right down on top of him.

And then Jason found himself on the ground, groaning with not only the weight of the beads on his chest, but also the weight of another man.

At first he didn't realize, just trying to collect his thoughts and figure out why he could barely breathe. Then he looked up to see Yuki, his face mere inches from his.

No homo.

"No...no it's okay." He coughed, his cheeks a nice rosy red. "It's not your fault...I should apologize...didn't realize how strong you were." Probably stronger then he was, not that he minded or anything. It just meant he would have to remember not to underestimate women in the future.

When he saw she was shaking though, he began to act more concerned, flailing underneath the other man since he wasn't able to get up. "D-don't worry, we're fine, really!" He spoke for Yuki cause he was pretty sure he'd be fine, what with him breaking his fall and all.

Yuki's words had her cringing with dismay, though he didn't mean them as disciplinary as she'd taken them. She didn't know why she was wearing them, but she should have been more careful, she should have warned them that they were not light, she should have just - been - less of a fool.

A mournful sob wrenched out from her, just once. She picked up the beads - and they were heavy, she realized that now, but her body had never registered the weight when they sat on her hips - and she began to re-attach them over her chain mail. It pained her to do so - both physically, and emotionally. Once they'd been removed, she felt like she could fly. She wanted to twirl and run and move - and she deserved none of those joys, so instead she attached them like chains around her hips again, and felt the ache of her skin pressed down once more.

Perhaps that was why she wore them. To keep her down.

"I'm sorry." She repeated again, her voice wavering with melancholy. "I beg of you to forget this transgression and continue on your search to find protective armor." She eyed the helmet that was given to her earlier, and then moved to sit on a table, and remove her headgear in silence.