"E-Eh? No, we're okay, thank you," Miki responded to Sumia gratefully with a nod. As Kurumi acknowledged Yuki's appearance, she also let Ben introduce himself to Yuki, wondering why he suddenly seemed so nervous around her all of a sudden, especially when he did just fine around the monsters, but maybe she was just imagining things. Right now, she just wanted to take this moment to gather her bearings and calm down, so she thought about just that, getting down briefly to pick up the trusty dog Taromarou, even if the dog didn't exactly like being around her.
Meanwhile, as the others approached the Skull Knight, he silently stared at those who addressed him, between Grace's thanks and the others who posed questions, initially not seeming to even answer or even acknowledging them, before he spoke, a booming voice emanating from his presence despite no evidence of his mouth moving.
"I have gone by many names throughout the course of my existence. I have been known to some as the protector of life, and to others as the harbinger of death," he initially responded, looking down toward the group, before answering the following query, as Ciel, Jak, and Arikado asked the same general questions,
"I am a sympathizer of those who struggle to defy the fate written for them, in order to carve a new path for themselves, and an enemy of the God Hand who forced their plan upon you. That is why I acted; even if causality is absolute, man is owed a chance to fight against it."
To a degree, some could have found his response cryptic and unsatisfactory, but as he stopped there, it seemed that he did not feel inclined to elaborate any further. He simply went again... or at least, he would have, had the Hollow Knight not suddenly taken a knee and bowed to him. To one even as enigmatic as the Skull Knight, one could even say he might have been perplexed, but if not, at the very least the action elicited a reaction out of him.
"On your feet, knight. Do not bow to me, or any other who carries the false pretense of king or God. You may be something other than human, but as long as you hold the ability to carve your own path, to cut open the future that you wish to bring about, one such as you... bows to no one. Even if you venture into the light, or brave the dark, that is what you must determine for yourself."
"As for who the others around you might be..." Constantine piped in, taking charge of the exchange now as he looked toward Ciel,
"That's... complicated. Depending on how open your mind is. Just don't go throwing a right paddy, unless your butler over there is also equipped to change diapers," the blonde man spoke, before exclaiming briefly in triumph as he finally dug out what looked like note cards from the pocket in his shirt underneath his jacket.
"Aha! Here they are. Now... Gather 'round, everyone. Or at least shut your laughing gear for a hot sec. This is important."
"Alright, alright... Ah, right. This is a good place to start," he mumbled, before looking up at everyone,
"Like it or not, believe it or not more like, everyone... How do I put this delicately? Hmm. You've all been whisked away from your native dimension into this world, deliberately chosen by those numpty sods called the God Hand to be sacrificed as tribute in order to appease the Idea of Evil. You were chosen because you are human, perhaps not literally, but in spirit and determination, and to be human in that regard is to bear the burden of original sin, the evil fundamental to your very existence. Did I get that right so far, skullface?"
The Skull Knight silently nodded mechanically.
"Right... Now then. Since you were all supposed to be, y'know, sacrificed and such, before we gracefully queered their pitch, they're coming after you. But fortunately for you, I have a way around it that'll hopefully appease them, because believe me, there is no way in cold Hell that you'll be able to stop them," Constantine continued, before pulling out what looked like a stone or a rune from his pocket. One had to wonder just how many items he had in his pockets.
On the rune-like object was a familiar symbol.
"Ring any bells? That's the same brand of sacrifice that you were all marked with. Had to dabble in way darker magic than even I was able to believe in order to get my hands on this bad boy. We find a force of evil as grand as all of you combined, and we throw the seal on him to brand him, and hopefully, the God Hand will accept the alternative tribute instead."
...
"... What?"
Miki didn't get it at all.
Constantine rolled his eyes and sighed, before trying to simplify his exposition.
"The God Hand want to bloody eat you, and the only way to stop that is to serve them someone else just as tasty as all of you combined, else your life is forfeit. Get it now?" He asked, stopping for a second, before continuing once again.
"And I know, I know. Before you go on asking what's in it for me, and why I'm helping you all... Well..."
A wry smirk tugged at the edge of his lips.
"Maybe I'll tell you that later. For now, you can consider me a Good Samaritan."
"L-Look for someone else... to sacrifice? But... that's horrible!"
"That's how it is on this bitch of an Earth," Constantine grinned with a shrug,
"I'll let you all sit on that, I know it's a lot to process. We can camp out here for now, I guess it's as good as any other place, and we'll head out tomorrow, capiche? We're on the clock now, no time to wag off."
@Raptor Jesus @Crow @Yun Lee @dark @Jeremi @Krieg @Josh @Takumi @CrunchyCHEEZIT @Sen @Everyone
