Bay 12 Games Forum

>Ooooh boy. I've never.....actually kissed a girl before. Only in fantasies. Um....okay, Kumon. Just do it. It's a kiss. With a cute girl. Can't be harder than stabbing a- who, who am I kidding, it's waaaaay easier to stab an Aramitama with Durandal than it is to kiss a girl!<
Minato was thankful his thoughts couldn't be read by Faith, lest his suave, knightly facade be completely ruined.

Breathing in, he puckers his lips.

>Take the plunge. Just do it.<

He moves in, his own cheeks red, mostly out of shame for being a guy who didn't know how to kiss a girl.

And then he kisses the girl.

As Faith spoke and poured her feelings out, Minato thought back to everything around this moment. To the last few days, to all the girls he'd tried to date, to all the things he'd done.

Faith wasn't the most exciting, the most sensual, the most unique girl in the world. But she was, by, far, the nicest person Minato had ever met. She wasn't after his money, she didn't judge him for being a pervert; she liked Minato for who he was. She'd had his back in every fight so far. They were a team, even among their small ragtag group of superpowered misfits. For Minato, that was all that mattered.

Minato was used to people being scumbags to each other; after all, that was why he'd become Masked Knight Gaia, to stop the Aramitama from picking on the little guy. As long as he could remember, he'd been the knight coming to people's rescue, whether it was punching the big bully in the face to stop them from harassing the bookworm girl in the library, or smashing Aramitama heads to protect an Awakened middle school student. People had approached him and become his friend purely for the riches that Minato's family had; he'd bluntly rejected them. In Minato's world, if you were only going to use him because of his money or to get a leg up in the world, you had no place in it.

Minato, for the longest time, had modelled himself after the part of a chivalrous knight, driven by a code of honor, simple though it was. Fight for the little guy, protect your friends, stand between the innocent and the evil.

Everything with Noriko, however, had made him question that role he had assumed for himself. If he couldn't even help his friends with their lives, especially one of his closest and only friends, what good was he? After all, he was a pervert, incapable of protecting even his own friends, and hardly the invincible knight that he wanted so much to be. He wasn't anything like the knight that Faith had just described him as.

But Faith had just told him the opposite. Even if it was only her life he was changing, even if it was only ONE life he was protecting, he was doing right by someone. If he could do it for Faith, then he could do it for everyone else.

He wasn't a failure of a hero, just a hero who needed to find his footing.

Even if it was only Faith, Minato was helping someone.

He gives Faith an awkward smile, that was somehow more genuine than all the confident and suave smiles he'd flashed at her.
"I....uh....well....I never really usually get this far with a girl, you know? They.....all think I'm weird, for being the way I am. Or they just want the money. Even if we made all our money in Awakened stuff, the Kumons aren't exactly obscure. That's the reason I'm not with anyone right now; I haven't found the right girl, someone who I could live with being with. And honestly, if you're surprised, I'm surprised you are.

Let's be honest, Faith. I'm a shameless pervert. I'm not great at backing my friends up; just ask Noriko. I'm hardly the smartest guy in the world. I can be oblivious, hot-tempered and a little short-sighted.

What I'm good at is fighting the bad guy, and I can't chase away all the bad guys in the world. I can't undo what I screwed up. I can't make your past go away, and I can't make your troubles disappear with a snap of my fingers. I wish I could fight them all, just whip out a sword and a shield and fight them like a knight of the old times, but I can't. Those are your battles, and all I can do is help you fight them.

But I'll try my best.

And if you're willing to give me a shot, if you're willing to put up with me, Faith, then I can't say no. Of course I'll be your boyfriend."

Minato also avoids looking directly at her, rubbing the back of his head some more.
"Hey, uh....well, you see, my Requiem isn't all that strong without this belt. I can barely summon Regalia I'm familiar with without it; what the belt does is amplify my ability to use my Requiem, and let me pull out all sorts of weapons and stuff without having to concentrate a lot, or know it in depth. Tsukasa, um, gave it to me for testing; I can't really talk about what she's working on, but part of the reason she and I talk a lot is that she takes the combat data from our fights from my belt and uses it to make the belt better at doing what it does. So a little similar, but not quite the same.

Minato rubs the back of his head awkwardly as Faith looks into his eyes. He wasn't used to cute girls being up this close, at least, cute girls he wasn't currently in the heat of battle with.
"I.....uh....yeah. Go for it! I mean......you know, my belt is a similar thing....."

7-19, smite a wizard

".....i-is this....astrophysics?"

Bertholt breathes in deeply, looking around at the group. He hoped Martyn and Sharne would be there to back him; he trusted Roux with his life, but not here. Martyn, he had his disagreements in philosophy with, but he was a good man, and his heart was set on saving Izzarra; Sharne just had a good head on her shoulders.

He mustered all his wits and all his will. Izzarra currently depended on if Bertholt could convince the elders of his mission.

He hoped he didn't mess this up.
"Esteemed elders, I will be blunt. Rumour alone cannot suffice for genuine news. Taxes and food shortages are unfortunate, and if that were truly the extent of Izzarra's suffering, we would not be here, esteemed elders. After all, even our beautiful motherland suffers from the occasional blight, but we do not expect Viterine or Anecca to liberate us. None of you have heard what happened in Izzarra, not truly.

The reason you have not heard more about Izzarra is because we are the only group left with the will and power to resist the Mordoan occupation. All other resistance has been systematically crushed and utterly snuffed out; we ourselves barely escaped with our lives. The rest of our own group were executed, hung publicly, or hunted down, their hideouts burned to the ground and left as an example to any one who dares question Mordo. Mordo's soldiers have eaten the Izzarrans- fellow children of Rhea, just as we are- out of house and home, taken all that is dear to them for their own, and drained Izzarra of all that belongs to them, like a horde of leeches upon a dying animal. There are other atrocities, other sins, that Mordo is guilty of, but they pale in comparison to the violation of Izzarra under their watchful eye. Izzarra suffers more than simply a half-empty larder and some foreign soldiers; she starves beneath the boot of Mordo.

Mordo has also thrown the sovereignty of other nations out of the window; any day now, you will hear reports of their having been arrested for assailing the King of Viterine in his own home. They will go to any length to stop any attempt at loosening their iron grip on Izzarra, even if they must trespass against the will of other lands, to do so. Mordo will not relinquish Izzarra's people from its grip any time soon, and any true relief seems distant for them, at the current moment.

I come to you, esteemed elders, because we must ask for your help. The people of Izzarra are children of Rhea, as we are. As those who take care of the Goddess in her slumber, we also take on the obligations of care towards her children, both those here and abroad. We cannot, therefore, stand idly by and pretend that the problems of Izzarra are not ours. All of us as holy men, as men who hold our love for the Goddess high, have the obligation to guide the children of Rhea, to nurture them, to protect them.

I'm not asking for the White Knights to invade Izzarra; their abilities may be great, but the armies of Mordo are strong. I ask only that some form of relief be sent for the people of Izzarra; priests, loaded with food and drink and supplies for those suffering and starving. We ask for relief for the people of Izzarra, even if it is only a temporary respite. It is not a permanent solution, not in the slightest, but it is better for all of us if the people of Izzarra know that there is hope for them, however distant and faint.

The Goddess would will that we aid one another, in times of need, and it is Izzarra's time of need."