"Missed me, boys?"

Heads snapped up from books, plates and sketches as Paix sauntered in, grinning from ear to ear and lazily twirling her glaive.

"Paixthorne! Where have you been?!" Lavi shrieked, and it took a moment for Paix to process whether the volume was due to anger or relief.

"We were beginning to think you weren't coming back, Lass." Willoughby chuckled, swinging his belled feet down from the table to straighten up and look the hellion over.

So, relief it was then.

"Awww, seriously you guys? Well that plum hurts my feelings. To think you had such little faith in me!"

Paix sighed dramatically, placing a hand over her chest as if in pain. The act didn't last long, and she quickly burst out laughing. "Oh come on, I'm not going to roll over and die that easily."

Lavi flushed and quickly began to splutter.

"W-we didn't think you were DEAD Paix, of course not, we just..."

"We thought you might have been sent home," Eves finished, not looking up from where he was running a whetstone across his hooked blade.

Paix frowned at that. "Really? You were there, Eves, you knew I got sick from that freaky poison down in those warrens. I've just been in the hospital. Better question, where's your cousin? Bodis? I don't see him."

"He's at the church. Meditating. Just came back from the ruins this morning."

"Awww, I missed a run? Pity."

"I'm surprised he's staying."

Paix looked up in surprise at the Vestal, who hadn't moved from where she was sitting against the railing of the upstairs library, fingers combing through an old tome. She was one of the few "veterans"- One of the few people that had been, not exactly permanently hired on, no-one was truly permanent in this place, but one of the few that everyone more or less expected to see every day.

"No-one asked you, Miriam." Eves growled, and Paix looked curiously between her two friends.

Perhaps it was odd that Willough and Lavi had become her friends, when they'd never fought together- Paix had often found the only bonds she witnessed to be strong were the ones forged in battle, but there was something comforting in the other two's presence, all the same. Perhaps it was just because Willough, Lavi and her were all the same age, more or less, but that was unlikely. She'd never gotten along with people her own age. But rather...

Willough chuckled darkly suddenly, and Paix decided their friendship must have been because they all shared the same, grim black humor that decided to find comedy in death.

"Eris came back alone, Lass. Carrying Carin in his arms."

"Carin is dead?" Paix asked, disbelief clear in her voice. Carin had been a knight- Had been proud and strong, unwavering in the face of battle. It was nearly impossible to imagine him... Dead.

Lavi nodded slowly, before speaking quietly.

"Yeah... They came across some... Monster. An abomination. Bodi said the others' minds just... Broke. They just broke and suddenly there were turning against each other, refusing any help or food, saying it was all poison or a trick… "

"Like what happened to Dar-"

"Don't." Willoughby cut her off quietly, catching her surprised stare before jerking his chin up at Miriam.

Paix frowned, and walked over so she was nearly nose to nose with the Jester.

"They're going to have to acknowledge he's gone EVENTUALLY, Willough. Denial only gets you so far."

"I don't disagree, Paixthorne," Willoughby replied softly, and the Hellion didn't miss the use of her name. "But perhaps we should not discuss the terms of his suicide in front of his best friend, aye?"

"Hmmph."

Well. He'd know better than her, really. It wasn't as if she'd ever been good at the whole... Social... Thing...

"So... Bodi goes through hell, comes back alone, carrying a corpse, drops'em off with the undertaker, and then just... Goes to the church? Are ya sure his mind didn't break a little, too?"

Lavi raised an eyebrow at her.

"So you think he should have gone home too?"

"Nah, that's not it. It's just... I wouldn't have been surprised if he did decide to, ya know? Not a lot of people out there who can stare into the face of madness and then go- "Yeah! Let's do THAT again! T'was so much fun the first time! Up and at'em!" Honestly, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person that'd be willing to do that."

"Ah, are you sure 'bout that, Lass? Have you truly seen the face of madness?"

"Nope. But if it ate my friends, damn right I'm going to go back and stab it a few times in honor of them."

"I think that's roughly Bodi's train of thought as well, honestly."

"Seriously?" Paix didn't doubt Lavi's words- Her instincts about people were generally right on the mark, but still... it was hard to see Bodi getting caught up in blood lust.

Willoughby hummed, and then in perfect tempo recited forth;

"I walk this path, this path of death, in honor of those who've fallen. And if I fall, and if I fall, then together we will be."

"So in other words, he's going to go back, after all that, because if he wins, then he's avenged them, and if he dies, then he'll be with them?"

No-one replied. Miriam was watching quietly from her seat, and Paix could FEEL her dismissive gaze. She supposed a vet could only see so many people pass through before they stopped believing anyone would stay, but she still wished that she could get the vets to realize that her and her friends weren't going home without a medal and a body bag.

Paix shattered the silence by tossing her glaive onto the table to clatter across the stone tablets, and dropped into the seat beside Willough.

"Yup. Sounds about right. I'd do the same thing. T's'why I wondered if he went crazy. Say, Willough, if you get your ass eaten, can I have your lute?"

"Only if you promise me to smash it over the head of whichever beast devoured my tired bones."

"Deal. Ooh, that'll be fun. Not only do I get to smash a fancy violin, I get to do it over somethin' unholy's head."

"I can't see you using blunt force." Lavi declared, and squished herself in under Paix's arm. "Garroting it with the strings, however..."

"Oh come on, Lavi, it's his last wish! The last I can do is HONOR it."

"Least. The phrase is, "least I can do.'" Willoughby corrected calmly, as if his two best friend's weren't discussing his death. "And while we are on the topic of leasts and lasts, if you draw your last breath, Paix, might I have that lovely blue makeup of yours? I have some very creative things I'd like to write on the walls of your tomb."

"Sure. Just make sure to add at least three profanities and five lyrics made of complete gibberish to baffle archeologists in a century or so."

Miriam snorted in disgust, and snapped her book shut with a clap, before storming off, her footsteps thudding off upstairs.

The three burst out laughing, and Willoughby clasped Paix's hand in his own, grasping it firmly in a handshake. "You have my word."

"So! Lavi! Any last requests you'd like us to do for you?" Paix asked, grinning down at the smaller woman tucked by her side.

"Yup. Bury me with all my shit."