again. Ziel Post!
"Where the fuck have you been for the last month?"
It's Ziel of the Wastelands
He just wandered off and spent a month hunting monsters
That feels to me like something he would do
.... .... I need to think of a thread for this, it's too damned funny. .... Mn, but they don't know each other yet...
In the same sauna? staring at the bags full of animal parts?
But also: I apologize for Ziel
He is not very good at being social
Neither is Natalia
what is social
can you eat it
(Now in the right place) trying to decide between meeting up with him when he's dealing with spoils or spa shenanigans
That said-- bringing animal parts into a sauna? That's a special kind of ridiculous and deserves pointing out
wait did he bring crap into the sauna??
for Neph...even though she has magicked armour now, Nephenee miiiight eyeball that tougher-than-plate leather. But also I like making her turn bright red
choices
No he wouldn't have brought anything into the towel
phew, at least he knows not to do that
He turned that in for money then took it to Elysium
Okay lemme edit that, I just thought it was the funniest image and cannot resist Cheap Joke
sorry if I wasn't clear
Overbringer: would you rather have him deal with a very flustered Sentinel in the spa or some nerding out over armour
Depends on if you want slightly more deadpan ziel or slightly less deadpan ziel
he'll be SLIGHTLY more invested in a conversation about monster hunting than he will be about propriety and nudity
Better, more subtle joke: Natalia reading this as an Elysium Network contact
Someone Febreeze this boy
hmm, as much as part of me would rather dealing with slightly less deadpan and thus easier to engage Ziel...brain screams for flustered country girl...agh
You must follow the inscrutable exhortations of your soul
...I'M SORRY IT SAYS SPA
SO BE IT
No freaking out yet at least
Okay important question
How do we not have the thread be
"Oh sorry" /Ziel leaves
As that wouldn't be a super interesting thread
It is a public area, so it's not like there's THAT much privacy to begin with? The workers would've said that much I figure, if he hasn't used the springs before. Maybe he just answers who it is and gets in the springs as you do. They're kind of big, so he wouldn't have to be right nearby
is how I figure it
if it hits too much of a block I can swap over to the other prompt
ahhh okay I was picturing a more private set up
He can just get in on the other side of a rock or something then
In fact lemme change my tag a bit
/nod
Did we want to assume some CR with Renne? Since she kind of killed a fair few Corsairs back when she was like 6
If she needed some kind of hardcore training regime she might have gone to the Dawnwings for a bit before they were destroyed
In which case she would have met Ziel before he was massively traumatized and depressed
Her training/enhancements were generally done in evil cults and evil secret societies so she would have been an antagonistic force until some compassionate corsairs managed to adopt her and turn her to their side
Okay so not the Dawnwings
Evil cults generally don't go for Dawn symbolism
It would be kind of funny if Ziel had HEARD stories about a tiny child murdering imperials and thoguht
"That's ridiculous"
"I don't believe in her."
Yeah I'm generally just porting her canon orgs over with a slight reskinning but I don't honestly have to change THAT much
Since her home setting already has a Fascist Germanic Empire so eyyyyy
The cult she had originally been kidnapped by and experimented on he might have had run-ins with though
The Dawnwings were kind of seen by the common folk as heroes
As well as Ouroboros/the Society which is generally a pro-Imperial secret society that believes they can pupeteer the Empire
(Their popularity and refusal to be bullied by local Imperial forces is a big part of why they got wiped out)
So yeah Ziel having had a run in with Ouroboros and smashed some guys through a wall feels very plausible
Perhaps they thought they could get agents into the Dawnwings and puppeteer them too
the D:G Cult would raze homes and villages, kill the parents, abduct the children and experiment on them, with very few of said children surviving
that's fucked up
Also the child brothel thing which is about all I'll say on that
so D:G = Ouroboros = The Society
No, the Society is a different group of still evil people who are less evil than the cult
They picked her up after raiding the cult and used her as an assassin afterward
Well, suffice to say
Basically D:G Cult is extremely evil and fucked up child experimenters who even the Empire wants dead
Ouroboros is a bit more acceptable pro-Imperial secret society but does dirty work the Empire doesn't officially condone
The Dawnwings were generally upstanding heroic types who protected civilians from monster attacks
So my thinking is they might've actually come into conflict when she was working with the Society
(Dragons, in canon, but there are no dragons here so they're just more generalized monster hunters)
So if there's a group that's all about subtly tugging at politics
(Dragons DO still exist they're all just mostly underground due to the whole genocide thing)
Yeah Ouroboros is definitely subtly tugging at politics
(Right but they wouldn't be raiding villages for sheep and such)
it's actually pretty unlikely that they would have had a lot of clashes with the Dawnwings
Unless they actually tried to infiltrate the group
Which, having a bunch of big dump meathead heroes at your beck and call would probably have a certain appeal to a group like that
dumb*
The empire did eventually wipe them out right? Ouroboros would probably have at the very least skirmished with them since they are often used to wipe out groups the Empire finds annoying but doesn't want to officially move against
Renne was in fact an Enforcer, so her job was to do the necessary slaughtering of said individuals and groups
The empire did eventually wipe them out
Local Imperial forces found them too strong to take on and were contemplating calling in reinforcements to deal with them when the Dawnwing HQ was destroyed by a particularly unstoppable behemoth
So it sounds like our best bets are either "six-year-old murder child? pfft sounds fake" or "someone who he actively fought like 11 years ago"
The refugees came to the nearest city for help and the Imperials were like "Yeah about that"
"You're all going to die except for Ziel who we're going to torture and break by watching everyone he ever knew and loved die horribly."
"Then dump him in a ditch while laughing"
...I love the idea of Ziel being like "I don't believe in her" like Renne's Santa
Mix them together
gothloli murdersanta!
Ziel was like "a 6 year old assassin? Sounds fake"
UNTIL he met her
She couldn't kill him because he's extremely hard to kill but he spent the whole clash going "WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK"
My general thinking is she now likely just trolls him relentlessly becaus she finds him amusing
He wouldn't be a very amusing person to troll, these days
He probably would have been 10 years ago
She might be just low-key looking out for him at this point
The Dawnwing incident was 4 years ago, for reference
well...time is passing so probably closer to 5
She's grown quite a bit so she's a lot more considerate at the very least
I'm gonna say that, most likely, Ziel at least would not recognize her
though she could probably remember him
He's been with the Corsairs for the last 5 years?
no he joined up when the game started
Ahhh right right I do remember this actually
he spent the 4 intervening years in a depressed daze looking for a cure to the spiritual torture that was inflicted on him
then the Corsairs were like "You used to be kind of a hero and we have some specialized healers who might be able to help you" and he reluctantly joined up
Rezo has since been gradually undoing the damage, slowly bringing him back up to his old strength
How likely would he be to recognize her weapon if they had fought in the past? It's fairly distinctive: 
(Wow that image broke spectacularly)
(Plurk does that)
He would very likely remember the weapon, yeah
it's pretty distinctive
this is the only official canon image of Ziel so big scythe vs big hammer
Renne also tends to go for decapitation right off the bat
Her style is very much quick kill whenever possible so she probably got a bit annoyed when fighting him
Ziel's fighting style is
- Defense level one million
- Offense level one million
- Wait until they tire themselves out then crush them into paste
Renne probably would have moved to spamming magic after her quick kill tactics didn't work
Well I have an idea for a tag since Renne's now studying at the Vault so this works!
The big advantage she would have had is that he would deadass not be willing to hit a 6 year old with a giant hammer
but yes enough of that go tag
He probably would have found her physical strength alarming since she would have been on the general boosting drugs the Empire uses
/nodnod
Overbringer: has he gotten pretty destinkified before being in the springs, or might there be a tinge left?
He’s probably down to normal person levels of stink, instead of feral mountain man levels
Ziel you're supposed to wash before the springs 
not bring in soap silly
It’s fine. Don’t worry about it
Sorry about that @_@
See previous comment, but in a slightly different tone of voice
sorry Ziel, she might comment on that
In my defense
I don't know SHIT about open air hot spring ettiquette
I've never been to one
that's fine! I've never been to one either, I only know of some of it from anime tbh
I kind of assumed Ziel doesn't know either
Not trying to give you actual crap
from what I understand, in Japan you wash up before going into the springs like you would before a bath
but this is more Talia's purview. therealbliss
We can take it as Ziel having lived in the woods for a month
/nodnod