Despite her earliest reservations, the addition of the samurai and her companion did nothing to impede their progress, and as Stone was in front, it’s not like it was a personal inconvenience. The trek continued silently, the loudest noise being the running of water, drowning out even their soft footfalls padding along the stone.
Stone had them come to a stop, and turned to face Wilcar and tell him they were there, but before she could open her mouth, he had already asked and she had nodded in assent. Then came the tapping—the search for the entrance—and it seemed to have been found in short order.
Admittedly, the girl was only slightly surprised by the downpour of rocks. What else had she expected, golden chocobos carrying diamonds on their backs? Covering her eyes was her first instinct, and she did so, forming a loose shield with her two hands in front of her face, though she did pride herself in not having backed away from the ‘scary noise.’ Surely, she’d hate this moment forever if she had done that.
Looking downward, after a moment, yielded a vision of pieces of rubble amongst the grime, rust, and metal. “Little Rocks, huh?” She mumbled, and considered kicking one slightly.
It was then that she looked back up.
This time, there was no flash of color out of the corner of Stone’s eye—she had seen the bombs straight on. …These things grew when you hit them, right? ‘Note to self,’ the youth thought quickly, ‘It might be useful to know magicks in the future.’
Narrowing her eyes, she did draw her mythril dagger again—though, what good could it do?—and did indeed snatch the potions from Wilcar’s belt, as he instructed, and stepped backward. It seemed as though she were moving faster, again thanks to Arielle’s song. ‘She definitely is a great bard, maybe a perfect one, thought Stone as she waited. Here, unlike before, Stone knew Vigilance would best serve her.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean she should just run and hide, does it? “Arielle?” She meant to command, but turned out more of an ask, and there would be time later for the dark haired girl to admonish herself over inappropriate tone later. Stone nodded to the bard, and stepped in front of her, hoping to shield her.
She was, after all, the most useful asset to the party right now, in the young thief’s opinion, and Stone braced herself as one of the bombs slammed into her.