The brainpan quivered. Between the efforts of the two men, it seemed on the verge of death at last—but as it stumbled to a halt and started sinking, so too did the holy knight. Ric’s left hand wasn’t cooperating, and he couldn’t unclench his fingers.
“Fucking—” he growled, before the stiffness crawled into his jaw as well. Fucking status effects.
Ari, too, had been distracted by the small green creature. But she, standing behind the men as she was, had seen exactly where it had come from and where it had gone -- and the grumble in her mind would have told her where to look even if she’d somehow missed the light. Merri too?
But there was no time for that, as the angry, damaged stone head threw out another spell. To her surprise, she felt it hit -- something -- and bounce back just millimeters from her face (she could almost smell the darkness as it ricocheted off of the glowing field suddenly in her vision), and when she’d blinked back the stars in her eyes, she beheld Rictor, half-stone and scowling at the beast which bore down on him.
So tempting to leave him that way.
But as Merri chanted, she changed her tune to the dulcet tones of Soul Etude, sending the healing Rictor’s way. Angry or not, there was only one thing to do.
As thunder and lightning erupted around the enemy and it shuddered at last to a stop, the bard ensured only that Rictor was mobile before turning away from him and making her way over to Merri. “Are you all right?” she asked. He would be exhausted, she knew. And likely hungry. Not to mention bleeding and… well. He seemed a bit dazed as well.
It took what little strength Merri had left not to collapse to the ground, but he held as firm as he could. He offered Ari a small grin. “Yes, I’m fine.” Never mind that he didn’t feel precisely fine, and he was sure he didn’t look it, but his bigger concern was the hope that no one had seen Carbuncle. “Are you?”
He glanced over at Rictor to see if the fighter was all right; Merri had been worried when he had turned to stone, but thankfully he hadn’t needed to try to use Esuna -- not that he thought it had a chance at working, the state he was in. It was barely successful when he was in top shape. “And you? You’re okay too?”