Lucian puffed out his chest, hearing that his brother was impressed. Gosh, saying what you feel really is liberating. Alas, pride was fleeting, as Mistral once again pointed out the whole books thing. "D'oh!" Along with the forehead flick! Some things never change. At the very least, Lucian could take a joke or two. Or twelve. Actually, genuinely funny jokes and harmless pranks were all good by him in general. Perhaps a few puns here and there; maybe the odd junior jumble or crossword, despite how hilariously bad he was at both.

The older of the two had his own opinion on the incident in the caves, and when it came down to it, he was right too. "Heh, that is very true. I won't be alone where I'm going after all! It'll pay to be considerate of comrades... Eeeven if my instinct is to help as quickly as possible."

Soon the brothers would arrive at their chosen training grounds. It was a very vast public place built and funded by the current Royal Family-- and a few people happened to be around, doing their own thing. Because of this, Lucian knew he absolutely could not go full tilt. For several reasons, of course the primary one being that doing so would endanger those present quite easily. He would still however put a lot of effort into this!

Who knows, it might inspire some of the other hopefuls to train harder.

Mistral certainly had a way with words. Any normal monster would have been easily defeated by the prospect of even slightly harming someone they held dear, but Lucian was no normal monster. He knew Mistral better. He was selfless, caring and had an undying love for those he held dear. In that regard they were the very much the same. Everything he was doing now, was for Lucian's benefit, and the younger brother wouldn't dare waste this opportunity.

Lucian's eyes lit up, his sockets effectively bursting with bravado.

The one in front of him, his training partner might be his brother; an ever faithful pillar of support. However, in this moment, until he was a Royal Guard, until Cobalt was the Royal Blacksmith and Mistral was a Royal Caretaker, the elder brother would be something else as well!


Lucian gracefully adopted a fighting stance, loose gravel and dirt slowly floated upwards under the pull of an unknown force before abruptly dropping as Lucian leapt forward without a word, leaving a light boot shaped indent in the dirt where he kicked off. As he closed in on Mistral, he stared right into his brothers eyes, swinging a punch aimed for the point just above Mistral's left hip-bone. After the swing, be that it was blocked by one of Mistrals famous shields, or that he made a graceful maneuver away from it, the spot where Lucian once was had a much deeper indent in the dirt as it crunched inwards on itself slightly.

Now that was some pressure!

"Mhm! She says it isn't all that good, but I like it cuz she made it!" Lucian's dome sparkled from one chance ray of light as he gave his brother a hearty thumbs up. He kept his pose the whole time, up until Mistral fixed up his belt. "Oh. Thank you, brother! that explains why it felt sort of off-balance. Mm. I'll have to remember the ins and outs of this armor~"

The younger of the brothers was somewhat confused, and tilted his head. Textbook? Wuh? "Uh... I don't really read very well, remember? I got you to read stuff to me when we were babybones-- you got all the big words really easily and I don't think I can even read those now." Lucian sheepishly held his index fingers together and whispered quietly to nobody in particular. "It took me weeks to think up and memorize that code of honor too..."

He snapped back to attention when Mistral spoke of expectations. Giving it some thought; he was being very literal about things at the moment; nobody ever expected Lucian to be all big or tough or strong, no. They expected something else. "Well. Actually, mostly people expected me to be like you. You're the best big brother there is, no doubt about it, but I can't be you. Cuz I'm not. I can only be like me." He tapped the side of his chin, trying to think about something to respond with "Hmm. Remember that time when that cave made really creepy noises? Back when we were very very young? Like, I looked all cool and strong back then, but... I was actually scared. Probably more scared than you, Gerson and the others. My body just started moving and I just went in to see what was wrong-- and I'm glad I did! Or we wouldn't have saved that injured fishman with the spiky red hair."

Mistral was of course asking very logical and important questions, Lucian folded his arms as he continued walking deep in thought. He always had this very peculiar expression while doing so. "I know 'strength' isn't that simple, I just donno how to word it." Straightening out he held a hand over where one's heart should be. "But its here, that much I know for sure."

He couldn't quite put what strength was to him in words, but he knew damn well why he felt as though he needed it. For the sake of the innocent; when nobody else would come, he would be there for them. "My code of honor still stands, and I do this for those that can't. I want to be someone whose presence, whose smile can help people feel safe. When I say 'all shall be well, for I am here', I want people to believe it, believe in themselves, and to remember their own strength; their hopes and dreams for a true peace. I might be one, yet I am one for all."

"Dohhh, I ain't fallin' for that one again!" Lucian comically waggled a finger towards the upper floor of the house. Eagerly did he wait at the bottom of the stairs, leaning over the railing all goofy-like up until he noticed Mistral's footsteps approaching, to which he immediately straightened out and dusted off his coattails. "I do understand, I'm just..." Rolling his shoulders, Lucian's gaze tapered off to the side as he thought deeply. What was he at the moment if not infinitely excited? "Well, y'know; all fired up n'stuff?" He shrugged, looking back to his brother; noting the spiffy new bow-tie and accompanying ensemble. "Dapper as always, eh?"

Lucian gestured to his own outfit; it was a new one that he kept hidden for a good while up until this very day. "Like my trainin' armor?" He moved backwards and eased into one of his martial arts poses to show it off a little more. "Coa made it for me~!" Standing proud once more, Lucian thought of another friend; Cobalt; a Dragon and budding blacksmith with a boatload of talent to boot! '... Everyone is gonna be doing their best. I absolutely cannot slack off.'

Walking out through the front door and towards the training grounds the two would soon use; Lucian nodded; ready to recite his goals and ideals. The skeleton held his hands behind his back as he walked, tall and proud.

"I will be brave; and always seek out peace. To defend the innocent, I shall fight with all that I have. To defend this world from malice, I shall fight with all I have. Those that seek to abuse their power shall meet my fists." Lucian took a deep, decisive breath.

The telltale splintering of wood could be heard quite easily as a nearby outer fence to the village simply crumpled forward into itself in the shape of a bipedal being. That being, was a skeleton. They wore an odd outfit with one striped orange bandanna... As well as something rather reminiscent of some old version of the Royal Guard uniform with some missing minor details. "Hm. Flimsy." Only momentarily would the bonehead pause before continuing his slow yet consistent pace, trudging onward... Luckily his path didn't have anything in it anymore, so he wouldn't accidentally bust down the wall of a house.

Unluckily, however, he would soon be standing between the group of other monsters and the residential district, orphanage, marketplace, etc. With a slight tilt of his head he looked onward. Was he curious about what was happening or was he thinking of something else entirely? It was hard to tell.