The Static, Continued. Partner to LupineBridge's story.

This was more like it. Standing side by side with Serci, battling those responsible for destruction, was a feeling Joe had missed for a long time. Even in a moment of violence, Joe was made glad once more for his helmet as his eyes filled with tears of joy. Maybe, just maybe, all could be right with the world. A deer ambled across the field, and she had it down in one quick shot. She always was the best. She tossed him a skinning knife. Another thing she kept trying to teach him, but he’d always turn green and refuse just before. Now, though, Joe would do anything for Serci’s smile, and he swallowed the bile rising in his throat, and did his best. His best ruined the pelt of course, but the meat seemed okay. The first time is always the hardest, anyway. He thought he heard her laugh. That was good.

More bandits felled. Joe tried to collect less grisly trophies than the heads the elf had requested. Serci seemed to take no issue, though she had taken to the creed “A corpse is a corpse, of course of course” the first time they had been asked to dissect something in class. She seemed unchanged in that even now, as her slender sword made its way through muscle and vertebrae. He was so busy watching her that a bandit managed to run up next to him, holding a rather large axe. Joe shoved his hand towards the man’s arm, discharging some of the suit’s electric charge where gauntlet met bandit skin. The man twitched, tensed, and fell. He flexed his hands and the remaining power flared and retracted, coursing back into the rest of the suit.

“Do those… do that often?” she was pointing at his gloves. That particular change had been added after she left, as it were. Joe managed a grin, forgetting she couldn’t see.

“I would hope so; else I’ve made an error in their creation.” She nodded, but didn’t seem to understand his explanation. He had missed having someone to tell about the silly little bits that went into the creation of his various doohickeys, as he lovingly called them. The wandering into a house occupied by the highwaymen, and cleaned it out in the manner adventurers do all things. She led him into a forest, and his heart sang. The forest was her domain, where she truly lived and breathed. He did so love seeing her, in the forest. Goblins, though. Goblins were another story. He made a motion and raised his hand, runes glowing on his gauntlet.

A flash of light and a burst of force dealt with one of the goblins, and Serci’s arrows another. It managed to slice his arm before it fell to the dirt, however. Serci looked at him like she had just seen death itself, and reached out to examine him carefully. The semi-magical weave of his suit closed itself over the wound, followed shortly by the wound underneath. He couldn’t help but smile proudly. He hadn’t known if that particular addition would work, and it was essential. Given enough time, the suit could pull him from the brink of death to the peak of health.

He needed that, because he wasn’t going to risk the chance of losing her by shuffling off his mortal coil.