Operation Fireworks [Private]

The air was foul from the chemicals that permeated in the air. A lone Rune Knight by the name of Finnegan Fontaine stood at a cliff side, his crimson red scarf billowing in the contaminated wind. Fin Stood a solid 6 feet tall or about 183 centimeters. He had shaggy, wild ginger locks, a fair complexion and a pair of charming sky blue eyes. He had been deployed with another Rune Knight on a search and destroy operation. A group of insurgents had taken advantage of the chaos brought forth of the war to smuggle weapons and high powered explosives, the intel gathered by the spec ops revealed that the terrorist had planned to use said weapons and explosives to launch an attack at one of the major cities of Fiore. Should the insurgents plan succeed, there would certainly a staggering amount of civilian casualties. In order to prevent this from happening a pair of Rune Knights were to be deployed in order destroy the said weapons and explosives before the terrorist could even get a chance to use them.

Private Finnegan was one of the two Rune Knights deployed, he understood that a larger force would would garner too much attention. Thus it was a necessary risk to only send two operatives to attempt to foil the terrorists plan. Fin knelt down and focused his mana throughout his body in order to enhance his senses. He was almost immediately hit with the pungent scent of the residual chemicals that lingered in the waste lands known as Morgate Town. It was certainly a departure from the fresh and clean air Finnegan had grown accustomed too in homeland. "Ah shite... these bleedin' bastards really chose a lovely base of operations." Fin mumbled to himself sarcastically. He forced himself to expand his magic sensors in order to scan the rendezvous point. So far so good, The rookie sensed no anomalous mana signatures in the vicinity. Finnegan sighed and stopped the flow of his mana, thus returning his senses back to normal.

Private Finnegan placed his hand on his earpiece. The earpiece was one of the fancy gadgets born from the intuitive and brilliants minds of the Engineering department. The small device acted as an long range radio that had state of the art encryption built into it, so in theory any conversation had by HQ and the operatives could not be intercepted by magical or technological means. Growing up in the sticks, Fin had to fight through a mild learning curve in order to learn how to effectively use and operate these fangled new doo dads. After some stubborn headed persistence from the ginger haired rookie, he eventually gained mastery in using the tools provided to the Rune Knights. "Top of the mornin' to ya HQ... this Private Fontaine reporting, I have arrived at site Alpha the coast is clear no signs of any hostiles, lads. Over." Fin reported, his voice resonated with a sing song accent that heavily indicated his country of origin.

"10-4 stay within the set zone, do not engage until the other operative arrives. Run one final check while you wait. Over." A voice replied back from Fin's ear piece.

"Affirmative, I hear you loud and clear HQ. Over." Fin responded as he did a swift yet thorough check of his equipment, a set of remote detonated explosives that were to be used in order to destroy the weapons and explosives acquired by the terrorists. Once his final check was completed he, he waited patiently for his partner of the day to arrive. Although Finnegan had his mind focused on the mission at hand, he also hoped to get along with the Rune Knight he would be working with on this operation.

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WC: 623 words

As enthusiastic as she was to take part in an operation, the awful smell of the place was enough to make just the slightest dent in that desire. It was absolutely foul and Mischa wished that she’d activated her suit from the start in order to avoid the odour, however, it’d been a sacrifice that she had to make. The mission was going to require some subterfuge and going in there looking like a combination of an octopus and a cartoon character wasn’t going to help her much with that. She’d alert every opponent to her position once she started using it anyway, such were her brawling tendencies. Oh, she could punch alright, which given her lack of standard magical ability was pretty much a necessity.

The mission itself made up for any discomfort that she felt, however, knowing how important it was that the terrorists in question were dealt with swiftly. It was the perfect chance for her to show her loyalty to her new home and Mischa was determined to do just that. She would not let the Rune Knights down nor the people of Fiore that she’d sworn to defend from harm. It was miraculous how much more comfortable she felt thinking such things, compared to when it’d been her homeland. Defending a country focused entirely on war and destruction was simply not worth protecting, the realisation that had driven her across the divide in the first place. Now she had a country that was worth it.

“Are you there yet?” A slightly irritated voice blared into her ear, stemming from the ear piece that she was wearing.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m reaching the coordinates now.” Mischa replied cheerfully. “Give me a minute and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Get a move on already.” The voice responded before going silent.

“Charmer that one.” Uttered the newest Knight.

“I heard that, Private Amasova, enough of the backchat!”

Chuckling, Mischa would up the pace a bit and head swiftly towards her destination. Naturally fast due to her intense training, the black haired young woman seemed to rocket through the horrible terrain, much to the slight irritation of her supervisor, who continued to complain through the ear piece. He seemed concerned that she’d make a mess of the whole thing but she was confident. It was only natural that he’d be hard on her, given her past and she mused that perhaps it was an additional test for her. Not that it was necessary, her teachers back home had been pretty harsh. All those who desired to join the Pergrande forces were pushed to their limits and she’d been no exception.

Soon enough, she’d reach the coordinates that she’d been given to find that her partner for the day had beaten her there. Mischa wasn’t all that surprised and despite the slight nervousness she felt whenever she met another Knight, her voice didn’t express much of it. She wasn’t overly anxious, it was just that her accent sometimes put other people on edge. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case today. “Private Fontaine?” She asked, raring to go, a fired up look in her eyes. “I’m Private Amasova. Ready to blow up some weapons?”

(532 Words)
(1155 TWC)

Fin was taking a look at his watch, not in a manner of impatience but simple something to do in order kill a few seconds of time as he waited. Eventually the Rune Knight which Finnegan would be working with arrived just in time, the orange headed Rune Knight would turn to a young woman in some sort of suit, her voice came forth colored with a familiar accent. Fin raised his eye brows in joyous surprise, a bright grin soon crept upon his lips to match his pleasantly surprised looks. "Aye that'll be me lass." Fin replied back in return with a noticeable accent of his own. "Pleasure to meet ya. Aye! Lets get operation fireworks a goin, just in time for the new years, yeah?" Finnegan said approached his comrade in arms with no sign of animosity, instead he carried himself open and unguarded against her, his body language visibly indicating immediate trust to his fellow rune knight.

"Alrighty, here's your set of explosives. Should anything happen to me you'll have more than enough to get the job done, vise versa for me explosives as well lass. But we both know we'll be comin' back home alive get our ass chewed once again by the brass, yeah?" Finnegan joked as he handed private Amasova her share of volatile explosives. With that out of the way, Finnegan began to lead the charge at a reasonable pace keeping his mana flow in check in order to keep his arcane signature profile subtle and subdued. It would be a about twenty minutes or so before they would reach their target at their current pace, so Fin decided to initiate some small talk with his new ally.

"By the way, ya can just call me Fin, short for Finnegan." He spoke out loud as he kept his eyes peeled for any possible threats. "You can drop the formalities when working with me" Fin said suddenly, the words he spoke was not spoken in the common tongue but instead that of of the pergranti tongue. "you are far away from home comrade." Finnegan continued he turned to private amasova with a serious look. He remained silent for a moment before cracking into a laugh. His voice returned to the sign song cadence of a man from Seven. "How's me Perganti? Hahaha I'm a bit rusty it's been a while since I've spoken it." Fin explained as he took another swift but thourough scan of their surroundings. "Me teacher, she was the one who taught me the language. How to write and speak it, but I swear on the good lord, I'm a Sevenite through and through ahaha." Fin said as he beamed another goofy smile at her.

After a few more minutes of traveling the makeshift base of the enemy was in view. Finnegan quickly raised his hand to signal to ally that they had arrived. He quickly dropped down to a prone position. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated his mana to enhance his ocular senses. His once sky blue eyes shifted to that of a purplish hue. The rookie rune knight began counting the enemies he could see at the moment. From his observation there were way more than they had originally anticipated "Shite... there's a whole bleedin' lot of em... it may be unwise to take them all head on... especially in broad day light... what do you think Lass? We go in now or wait until the cover of night? If we wait, we'll have to find a place to hide until then..." Fin asked leaving the final decision to ally. His eyes changed back to it's natural blue color, as he looked at her with silent trust and determination.

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WC: 621 words
TWC: 1,776 woords

He was a cheerful guy and Mischa relaxed rather quickly, her initial nerves fading away. It wasn’t as if she was anxious by nature, the black haired woman just wasn’t sure where she stood yet with her fellow Knights. When she thought about it though, maybe she was anxious for nothing. How many negative looks or words had she received from anyone? None. She’d been accepted with almost open arms and treated like anyone else, which was a refreshing feeling for her. Mischa wasn’t quite the black sheep of her family before she left but there’d always been tension between herself and her brothers. It was a difficult thing to describe but she’d just never had the same feelings of fanaticism as they had. She felt as though she was the only one willing to question, whereas her brothers simply nodded and obeyed. In the end, that’d been a reason why she’d made the decisions she had. The answers she received simply made no sense.

As she took the explosives and set them about her person, she replied, the relief clear in her tone of voice. “A pleasure to meet you too. I don’t think we could’ve picked a better time for this.” Her tone was friendly and jovial, which could be detected even through the helmet of her suit. “You’ll have to forgive the suit but it’s the source of my combat arts, you see, I just hope that it isn’t going to make a mess of our quiet entrance. It’s not normally used for subterfuge but I promise that if we do end up getting close to the terrorists then it can dish out some damage.”

Following him as he set off towards the enemies base, she’d listen to his small talk, happy to chat along with him, however, whatever she was going to say was rather suddenly pushed aside as he suddenly spoke in her own tongue. For a moment or two, she was uncertain as to whether she wanted to reply in her native language but it was a part of who she was and like it or not, her accent would always be a reminder of it anyway. “You speak it well, Fin, your teacher did a wonderful job.” A chuckle escaped her lips as he assured her of his Seventite roots. “Have no fear. I’m the last person who’d judge someone based on where they came from. I keep expecting to have rubbish thrown at me whenever I open my mouth.” It was mostly meant in jest but there was a touch of truth there too.

When he spoke about the numbers, Mischa briefly glanced towards the base, her suit picking up quite a few lifesigns. There was no denying that it’d be quite the challenge in daylight although the newest Rune Knight wasn’t afraid of a tough task. After giving it some thought, she’d look back towards him, her hands clenched into fists. “I’ve never been the most patient and the longer we leave them with those weapons, the more chance they have of using them.”

(513 Words)
(2289 TWC)

Fin was glad that his partner for today shared the same enthusiasm. He had heard some grumbling and rumors from some, regarding the arrival of a Pergrande soldier and their apparent recruitment into the ranks of the Rune Knights. Finnegan simply did what he did normally with rumors, toss them aside and see for himself. He had no doubts regarding his allies abilities, and he was certainly confident in his own skills. Despite the risk, private Fontaine was completely confident that the mission would go well. "Aye me teacher beat the knowledge into me, haha well you don't be needin' to be worryin' about me throw rubbish at ya, me grandmother always told me never to litter." Fin chuckled.

After glancing over the patrolling enemies once more, he nodded clearly concurring to his allies decision. "Aye. right you are on that one lass. How about I give you covering fire as ya blitz em yeah? I'm a mighty good shot, yeah?" Fin smirked as, channeled etherano at his left hand. The atoms and particles around Finnegan's left arm began to vibrate, the light began to dim around his his arm. As a rift that tore space and time, revealed an unknown world of billions of stars as majestic white bow decorated with blue ethereal crystals and feathers, it's string was that of the same phantasmal color. Private Fontaine would grab his bow as it physically manifested in the their current plane of existence.

"I'll follow right behind you, and once we take care of these lads up in the front, I'll switch of to close quarters combat." Fin explained the battle plan. As his right hand began to pull back the ethereal string of the magical bow. The further he pulled back a arrow forged from his own mana began to form until a arcane projectile burned brightly ready to be shot at any moment. Wind began to whirl around Private Fontaines feet due to the churning raw energy of the arcane arrow charging. Due to the sudden spike of etherano, one of the enemy guards snapped towards the direction of the two Rune Knight. But before the terrorist could do or even say anything, the ginger haired Rune Knight unleashed the arrow. The mana charged projectile hurtled towards its target at great speed, like a splintering comet, the projectile would break apart into six individual projectiles that would streak across the sky like shooting stars. Each arcane arrow would meet its mark impaling six individual targets, essentially eliminating the terrorists hit in one fell swoop.

Fin would turn to his ally and lift his hand, small unknown constellations would appear at his finger tips and connect together making a shield like shape. A magical barrier would then project itself like astral armor on Finnegan and his ally. "Alrighty then lets get her goin' yeah?" Fin smiled, his sky blue eyes flickered with eagerness and determination. "Give em hell lass!" Fin chuckled as he drew another arrow and prepared the next volley.

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WC: 502 words
TWC: 2,791 words
@Mischa Amasova

Fin's Bow

He was definitely a crack shot and Mischa couldn’t help but be impressed with his accuracy. The terrorists didn’t have a clue what hit them and the combat arts user couldn’t help but marvel at his magic. She’d never understood her nation's hatred for magic, no matter how many times her family had tried to drill the maxim into her head. They were just using the gifts that they’d been born with, right? The dark haired young woman had come to understand that it wasn’t magic itself that was twisted but those who sometimes wielded it, as It was the user who decided what to do with it, after all. Once she’d understood that simple fact, everything else had slipped into place. The start of what would eventually lead to her defection. “You weren’t kidding about your aim, were you?” She asked with a chuckle.

Once Fin had fired his first barrage, he would summon some kind of protection spell that would hover around them, much to the curiosity of the Pergrande born Knight. It was the first time that she’d felt the touch of magic herself and Mischa spent a moment or two just embracing the sensation. Again, it didn’t feel evil, if such a thing was possible and already she could feel it increasing her suits, as well as her own defensive capabilities. She appreciated the assist and would respond to his rallying cry with one of her own. “Hold nothing back!”

With that said, she’d start dashing towards the rather unorganised group who’d just seen half a dozen of their men hit the dirt. Mischa would activate an ability of her own, increasing her already rather swift movement speed by a large amount and making her look as if she was some kind of missile. Long ranged combat wasn’t her forte but that wasn’t going to be an issue for her here, as she was soon in among them, her formidable strength proving to be just a slight problem for the guards. She’d duck underneath a wild swing from her first target, before leaping upwards and connecting with a powerful uppercut, using the strength of the suit combined with her own to deliver a mighty blow. The strike knocked the guard off of his feet completely, knocking him unconscious before he hit the ground. It had quite the effect on his companions too, seemingly demotivated due to her strength but that didn’t stop her and she was soon enough delivering blow after blow, sending her targets all over the place and swiftly knocking them out. They didn’t seem too tough and because of that, she didn’t use her stronger techniques just yet. She wanted to save some of her power for whoever was behind all of this.

It was a fine warm up for her though and she was fully invigorated by the time she’d defeated the first group, who were littered all around her, either groaning in pain or unconscious. She laughed at that point, poking fun at her own skills. “Maybe one day I’ll learn how to be subtle.”

(514 Words)
(3305 TWC)

Private Fontaine watched as his ally charge in towards the group of enemy targets. He whistled clearly impressed at Private Amasova's combat prowess. He would fire off shots, granting her covering fire, knocking out the enemies that would attempt to blindside his fellow Rune Knight. "Well I'll be... the lass is a certified badass! Hahaha!" Finnegan laughed as he watched his new acquaintance kick an abundance amount of ass. As he fired off shots he would raw closer and closer, he prioritized the targets that had ranged capabilities in order to keep his ally safe from any ranged attacks while Private Mischa took care of the melee oriented enemy combatants. Fin stayed back in order to have a wider field of view, he let out another burst of mana to scan for any hidden enemies. Once the close was clear, Finnegan advanced towards his ally's side just in time to watch her subdue the last of the terrorists that were guarding the enemy base. "Damn good work lass. One could be technically be sneaky if ya take out everyone and theres no witnesses to say you were really there, yeah?" Fin joked as he his bow vanished only to be replaced by twin short swords forged out of pure etherano. the ginger haired Rune Knight stepped over an unconscious terrorist and began making his way into the base, leading the charge this time.

The rookie didn't get far into the base for he was quickly intercepted by more terrorists armed to the teeth. They would raise their rifles but before they could fire a shot off, private Fontaine would warp out of their reality by causing a rift in space. He would be briefly thrust into a realm of shadows before appearing once again from a tear of space spawned at the center of the group of terrorists. A burst of dark cosmic energy would lash out violently throwing the terrorists into the walls and ceiling of the hall. With a crack of bones crushing of the enemy bodies slamming on to the hard walls, the group of enemies were swiftly subdued. Dark cosmic energy would curl around Fin's body, as parts of the the fabric of Finnegan's scarf glowed a phantasmal cosmic purple. Fin would then dart forward towards a surprised Terrorist that had just rounded the corner, with his right blade Finnegan swiftly made a horizontal slash quickly slicing the tendons. The enemy howled in pain as he dropped his weapon, Fin would then sweep the enemy's feet with a kick. The man cam crashing down, the back of his head crashing down onto the floor, immediately knocking the man unconscious. Fin would then let go one of his astral blades, the weapon would float beside him untethered by gravity. Private Fontaine would then snap his fingers, the shadows from the corners of the hallway would lurch towards the unconscious enemies like venomous snakes. The shadows would solidify turning into black shackles that would completely immobilize the subdued enemies should they regain consciousness.

"Would be troublesome if these lads got back up, yeah?" Fin chuckled as he turned to Mischa with a smile not noticing an enemy emerging from the corner with an rifle aimed straight at the back of of his head...

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WC: 545 words
TWC: 3,859 words
@Mischa Amasova

A laugh escaped the Pergranti woman as he joked around with her, appreciating the friendly banter. He was such a laid back guy and Mischa couldn't help but feel comfortable around him already. It was nice and she hoped that was how it’d be with all the Knights that she’d meet in the weeks and months that followed. They definitely weren’t the monsters that they’d been made out to be and Mischa was beginning to wonder if anything she’d been told by her family while growing up had been true. It appeared that the answer was no but somehow, she wasn’t all that surprised. Her short time in Fiore had already opened her eyes to many things, most of which involved just how delusional her family had been. She’d never allow herself to be so gullible again.

It appeared that Fin was just as good up close as he was from long range and he was soon getting stuck into the melee guards with relish, dual swords swinging. He combined them well with a form of magic that she didn’t know much about but that didn’t that she wasn’t impressed with by it. There was such synergy between his spells which made hers looked rather clumsy and uncoordinated in comparison. Still, she wasn’t disheartened and Mischa knew that her style just wasn’t meant to be like that. Hers was all about pure concussive force and she’d come to appreciate it for what it was. Sure, it was simple but it was effective as hell and what was more, it was fun, especially once the adrenaline started flowing.

“That’s for sure. We don’t want them coming back after us.” She replied to his comment as he used his magic to immobilise the guards. “The fewer of them moving about the better.”

Her gaze turned towards a figure who could just be seen out of the corner of her eye. He wielded a rifle and judging from the direction he was aiming at, Mischa knew exactly what was going to happen next. There was no time to think and without any hesitation, she pushed her fellow Rune Knight out of the way of the bullet, just as the guard fired. The bullet flew true and struck Mischa’s suit hard, knocking her backwards a fair distance. It was only thanks to her Rocket Boost ability that she hadn’t taken as much damage, as she was able to negate most of the damage.

The terrorist tried to run off but the young woman was having none of it, chasing after him with her enhanced speed and rather easily catching up to him. Spinning around, she delivered a powerful roundhouse kick that sent him flying backwards and crashing into a wall with a nasty thump. The male then collapsed in a heap to the ground, out for the count. He wouldn’t be getting up any time soon and Mischa briefly had to fight off the temptation of hitting him while he was down. She shook it off but it did cause her berserker blood to boil just a bit.

(514 Words)
(4373 TWC)

Fin was suddenly pushed aside by his ally, he as he was moved out of harms way his floating blade would appear once again arming his free hand. He would turn and watch his comrade in arms swiftly dispatch of the enemy with a solid round house kick after rushing forward with the help of her tech. Mischa's armor tanked the hit causing her to be knocked backwards a bit, Fin was just relieved to see his coworker was fine. He whistled, clearly impressed "Deadly! Fair play to you lass." Private Finnegan said walking to her side as he looked at the defeated foe before them. "You alright?" he inquired as he nodded, the shadows around the man lurched forward and bound him black shadowy shackles. "Ya have me thanks, saved my bacon haha" Fin smiled with gratitude to the quick thinking and action of his fellow Rune Knight. Finnegan would then bring his blue gaze down the hall way and moved forward with purpose, this time making sure to stay on guard. "They for sure know we're here now, so we better keep 'er goin', yeah?" Private Fontaine said as he headed down deeper into the enemies base.

As Finnegan lead the way through, he would round a corner to find another hoard of armed thugs. Fin would throw his ethereal blades at the enemies, the weapons would split into a hail of daggers. The arcane blades would speed towards the terrorists like a swarm of angry hornets, each impaling itself deep with in there flesh in areas that would most likely not kill but certainly immobilize. While this was happening, Finnegan would bob and weave throwing out swift but powerful strikes with his fist. Another group would come to provide back up for their already defeated allies, Finnegan would call back his daggers, forming them back into the shape of his signature twin swords. He would then impale both blade into the ground, the blue color of his weapons would shift into a sinister purple, as dark violet bolts of cosmic energy would branch out into the ground crawling forth towards the hoard. The other worldly magic would crawl and and claw at the bodies of the terrorist holding them in place. The men would howl in agony. "They're all yours lass!" Fin called out to Private Amasova as he held the enemies in place giving her a the perfect opportunity to subdue the writhing thugs.

After the two would defeat that group of insurgents, Private Fontaine would send forth a blast of sensory waves using his magic to scan the area ahead. There was a group ahead... however this group wasn't armed... nor did they seem hostile... Fin rushed forward only to be stopped by a large steel door. Fin clicked his tongue in minor frustration, he slammed his two blades together, and the weapons would fuse elongating the blade, the once pure etherano weapons would solidify as they meld togther forming a large great sword. Fin would use the blade to carve the steel door open like how a hot knife would slice through butter. The steel door would fall apart in a loud thud. Fin would step inside, and he was immediately met with the smell of iron... no, not iron, but blood... the smell of piss and feces wafted in the putrid air. "Ah shite... this has gotten a lot more complicated...." Fin said softly, as he looked at large room filled with rusted cages. Each cage was filled with men, women, and children. All of them wearing an expression of fear, many were emaciated others were not. There were some unmoving and most certainly dead. As Fin approached one of the cages to cut it's locks, one of the terrorists appeared out of know where with a scalpel in hand. With out even looking multiple onyx black spears would shoot out from his shadows impaling the man. Fin would turn around slowly and grab the man by the throat, pulling him closer allowing the shadowy blades to pierce deeper into his flesh. The man howled in agony. The terrorist was wearing a medical mask of sorts, dressed in bloody scrubs.

"Oi... what the hell is this?" Fin said coldly as he grip tightened around the mans throat. "F-fuck you you." The terrorist said in a raspy voice as he spat blood on the rune knights face. Fin's once warm blue eyes, shifted hues to a dark phantasmal purple. The tips of the shadow spears, split into miniature barbs tearing the man's flesh from the inside. The terrorists eyes widened as he howled in pain, blood began to spill profusely from his wounds as Fin watched the man slowly bleed out. "What are you doing to these people? I am not going to ask again" Fin said coldly as the man began to slowly turn purple as Private Fontaine furthered tightened his grip.

"H-human trafficking...we sell them for money... to buy more weapons... sell some of them as slaves... o-others we harvest their organs and sell them on the black market...p-please I was just following orders..." The man choked out his words finally giving in to the fear, every fiber of Finnegan's body burned in rage. Just when he was about to end the scum bags pathetic existence, he was stopped by the soft crying from behind one of the bars. Fin let go of the mans throat, and the spears dissolved into a liquid like shadow. The shadows wrapped around the wounded mans body immobilizing him. Fin turned back to one of the cages to find a mother holding her child tightly. Private Fontaine's eyes shifted back to its normal inviting sky blue color. He knelt down and severed the lock with a magical dagger he summoned from a small dark rift. "It's alright... I'm Private Fontaine... I'm a Rune Knight. We're here to get you all out of here." Fin said loudly for all to hear, as he opened the cage. He offered his open hand, the mother looked at it with distrust and fear, Fin couldn't blame her not after what they had been through. However, the woman mustered her courage and took Fin's hand. The woman's daughter asked though her tears, "What about daddy?" Fin's eyes would lift to see the corpse of the woman's husband huddled in a corner. Fin bit back his curses and maintained a soft expression. "Ay... we'll get him out here too lass..." Finnegan said with a smile, trying to hide his frustration and sorrow before the small girl and her mother.

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WC: 1,097 words
TWC:5,470 words
@Mischa Amasova