Private Isulus I'm a Hero, So What?

[Ilya]

☀𓆱𓃬

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lion's pride...

It was an odd thing to see the face of a person that she didn't think she'd see again, and here she was in that situation... The girl she had accidentally been sitting on all that time ago... Was near to Brutus, and they appeared to be on good terms. Ilya avoided eye contact the whole time as her and Zelrius sorted out their emotions and while Ilya had been catching up to speed on anything.

But, she could only avoid Brutus for so long, it was about time they sorted this whole thing out... Up till now, she had been ignoring all of his messages and any sort of sign from him. She had kept to herself, absolutely terrified of seeing him..

And for good reason, Ilya's face was flushed to the point of being beyond flushed as she took a few steps towards the two until she stood a few feet away. Within reasonable socialable distance, "Erm... Hi..." She still avoided looking at Brutus or Toko anywhere above their chests, her hands began to fidget in front of her as she waited for one of them to speak.

@Brutus Dahlgren @Toko

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus would turn to look at Ilya, squinting a bit as she fidgeted with her hands. He would take a few steps forward and without saying anything hook an arm around her and pull her into a tight hug.

"Ilya, I'm glad to see you safe and sound. It sounds like there's one hell of a scrap coming up, and I could use someone who I trust at my side eh?" He'd hoped dancing around the topic would perhaps make her forget the whole hotsprings incident. She'd been avoiding him ever since what could only be described as an event of romantic comedic proportions had occurred. He's scored a double without even swinging the bat, though to be fair that wasn't his fault.

How the fuck was he supposed to know she was going to log in right then and there, land right on Toko's lap, putting his hands on a collision course with her...

I mean, it just wasn't fair honestly.

"Ilya, this is uh...Toko. Toko, you've uh...met Ilya." He would let go of the Lioness and introduce her to the Lepus sheepishly. "I would think we should formulate a plan for the coming fight ahead. I'm assuming since neither of you have grabbed your things and started for the door you plan on sticking it out then?"

@Ilya @Toko

 

[Toko]

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She had been facing Brutus while talking, unaware of the blonde lioness that was slowly approaching them, the pair attempting to brainstorm possible scenarios to approach whatever danger awaited them by the demon's corpse. "Yeah, I think that could actually work—" It was then a voice called out to them, a faint tremble to the words that caused Toko to turn and look.

"Oh, it's you."

The words were simple, just a factual statement as the rabbit came to recognize from where she'd seen the lioness before. s Brutus went over to hug his friend Toko remained quiet, not wanting to interrupt the moment though glad another of the Felis' friends was alright and accounted for here in the camp.

"Hey Ilya, it's nice to finally meet you."

She could understand why the lioness seemed flustered as she refused to look them in the eye, Toko was sure she'd probably react in a similar manner had she'd been the one in Ilya's position, and so a friendly wave was shot at the Felis as the rabbit greeted her.

@Ilya @Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Ilya]

☀𓆱𓃬

​

lion's pride...

The tight hug took her off guard, she awkwardly patted his back before relishing in him letting her go. Even now, hugs still took her off guard and made her feel uncomfortable (unless it was with a romantic lover)... Ilya awkwardly smiled at both Brutus and Toko. While Brutus was dancing around what had happened, Toko made a flat out, 'Oh, it's you' comment which caused Ilya's face to fluster even further. Her fingers fidgeting more, "It's lovely to meet you as well Toko... Under better circumstances..." She faltered off, she really would like an explanation. Were the two together? What was the DEALIO?

Either way, Ilya wouldn't be the first to bring it up. She finally mustered the courage to look in their eyes as she replied to what Bru had said, "I'd never back out of something like this.. It gets my adrenaline pumping and sets off my "How to be a hero" radar."

@Brutus Dahlgren @Toko

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Well then, It makes me glad to see you're both in good health and safe. Toko and I were gathering ingredients for the cure and things got dicey for a bit." He smiled at her, and then looked back to Toko. Well, this was awkward, on one hand was Ilya who'd been a good friend, and due to a serious of silly circumstances he'd reached second base with her. On the other hand was Toko, who'd he spent a great deal of time adventuring and just having fun. He had a sneaking suspicion that neither would be particularly happy with finding out about his relationship with the other, despite him not being really committed to either. He couldn't let that bother him right now, he didn't have the time to sort of sordid love triangle bullshit, he needed to make sure the both of them survived.

"But if we're all staying, I plan on doing everything I can to protect the people I love." The words left his lips without him really thinking about it. "If it means I need to lay down one of my lives so you two can get out of here, then I'll do it. But I would prefer we don't have to get to that point, and thus I wanted to see if either of you had a plan in mind?"

@Toko @Ilya

 

[Toko]

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A soft chuckle was given at Ilya's light reference to their first encounter, though the rabbit was tactful enough to not tease the lioness regarding the situation. Toko herself could empathize as to how embarrassed the blonde must have felt, but she seemed to be a good friend of Brutus, and as a stranger to Ilya the last Toko wanted to do was make his friend uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I definitely did not expect the Temple to just yeet us out and turn into a golem..."

Not to mention getting smacked to the stratosphere... although a part of the fighter hadn't really minded it too much, the view she'd gotten as a result had seemed like a worthy enough trade off for almost acquiring her first in-game death in The World. "If we managed to deal with all of that then I'm sure we'll be able to rescue the Explorers and come out on top again~" Besides this time everyone was present, surely the strength of all the factions together would be able to overcome the seemingly grotesque creature who held her friends hostage.

"Mmm... you mean aside from clobbering it really hard and really fast?"

It was hard to plan with so many unknowns, and also considering that Toko was worried about the safety of Frey and Sol, but a hard and fast strategy was usually not one to adopt in such scenarios.

@Ilya @Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Ilya]

☀𓆱𓃬

​

lion's pride...

She was in the safe zone, and hopefully the topic would continue to never be brought up and they could move on like it never happened. While Ilya hadn't been a big part of the operation up till this point, she was here now and that's what mattered. "None of us will die! Don't worry, we'll be okay as long as we've got this many talented people on our side." She waved towards everyone in the clearing that seemed to be carrying onto their own conversations and plans everywhere.

Ilya would make up for not being around up till now, by going all out on the boss fight and saving the Explorer's League members. "I haven't heard much of what happened, but I was briefed and brought up to date. I'm glad you guys are safe, and the golem sounded so scary."

Ilya woulda have enjoyed that fight, if only she had been there for it. Curses to the real world drama that came up.

@Brutus Dahlgren @Toko

"Talking!"
Thoughts....