Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20190205035159/@comment-25389303-20190208165003

With a small nod of thanks to the cobra faunus, Diaboli took a moment to collect himself. He'd been surprised by the apparent unwillingness of the nearby servants to intervene on their employer's behalf, and had fully expected a violent response to his sudden outburst. He doubted it was incompetence, though, which meant their inactivity was even more troubling.

"It seems I made a slight mistake," Diaboli replied unapologetically, eye flicking away from the guard standing before him to where Brunhilde and Maris were standing. "My vision isn't as good as it used to be."

Overhearing the muffled whispers and sniggering comments of nearby onlookers, Diaboli felt his mood begin to sour. "What a sight this is, though," he continued, stepping around the guard so that he could speak to the heiress more directly. "A lost princess, so far away from the safety of her palace?" As he spoke, the briefest flash of malevolence spread across his face. "How does it feel, lingering in the real world?"

He then turned his attention to Maris - all thoughts of the heiress already disappearing from his mind. He may have mistaken her identity, but the resemblance to Zanipher was still unnatural. If the Dragons really were here, he needed confirmation. And in order to get that, he decided to repeat an old strategy.

He leant forward slightly, just enough so that their eyes were level. And when he spoke, the empty socket in his skull seemed to glare at the young girl with just as much intensity as remaining eye.

"And you," he said in a cold, unnegotiable tone. "Tell your masters in Vale this: if I ever catch another lizard in Mistral again...I will personally flense the skin from their bones, with their own goddamn teeth."

With that, Diaboli rose to his full height and turned to face the gathering of onlookers, a sudden, confident smile adorning his face. Even so, the unwavering look in his eye made it clear that he meant every word he said.

"Continue playing your little games. Your actions are beneath my notice," he eventually told them, with his words this time being directed at Hazel's masked figure. "Just remember: Soldiers are hired...to die."