Command Central

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"Brother, if you make another pun..."

"That wasn't even a pun."

The cannon thundered once more, fiery explosives hovering over the battlefield like an ominous cloud of scorching doom.

Aaaand there go the goggles.

"Was that just for show, or what, your Highness?"

"Personal amusement, Marty!"

"I'm really sorry about my brother, he's a little-"

"Awesome?"

The Headmaster grimaced. "Sure. Let's just get this stuff blown up."

Of course, that was an order that Fizzlewheel had no issue obeying. There were certain areas that you could always count on the man--and those were the areas that truly counted, usually involving explosions.

"Once I launch the salvo, let them all drop. Got it? On three! One... THREE!"

The roar of the cannon followed.

The Headmaster couldn't help himself, soon he was grinning just as maniacally as his brother. 

"We're back at it, ehh? Just like-"

"-that one time we lit both nannies' hair on fire-"

"-and then ran away to join a gang-"

"-before realizing how lame it was, beating them up, and sneaking back in at midnight." The Headmaster had arranged the flaming casks over the entirety of the battlefield as necessary.

As one, the brothers lowered their hands.

The flaming barrels cascaded down like a rain straight from hell, exploding on contact with whatever unfortunate beast they happened to hit first. The mote itself seemed to shake with the reverberations of the barrage.

It was beautiful.

The Mistlings were decimated, and as one the army surged forward to stamp out the remainders. The Emperor leaned back with a grin as his generals went to work, artillery battalions taking the signal and sweeping over the top of the wall as Operation Nevermore provided air cover.

"I do believe we can count this as a success."
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Clomp Clomp Clomp.

The loud footfalls herald the coming of one woman that many of those on the wall knew, and -understandably- tried to avoid whenever possible. Men and women alike subtly move out of the center of the walkway along the wall as the sound of stomping boots grows closer, along with the unmistakable sound of a feminine voice lowered in explicit cursing.

"You ass!" She declares when she spots the head of brown locks she recognized instantly.

Varana looked, in short, ruffled.
Her blonde hair was tousled into waves, falling forward to hide one half of her face, which was smudged with a bit of blood. Her normally icy eyes were bright, cheeks rosy.
Not with embarrassment, though. Anger.

She growls, reaching up to jerk her cloak more firmly onto her shoulders, stabbing her sword into its sheath at her waist.

"You send me off to take care of things, and then I nearly piss myself as I hear the loudest boom I've ever heard! And then I come back to hear you were working?"

She strides up to the male, hands in fists at her side, livid. Though she wouldn't admit, the boom had scared her half to death, images of his demise flashing in her mind.

The fool.

"Eheheh... heh..."

Varana watched the grin fade from his face, her eyes narrowing. She could practically see the gears in his head turning. Oh no, he was NOT getting out of this one easily. She had nearly broken her leg trying to get up to the wall quickly, and no doubt had scared the entire staff into fits.

She felt her cheeks darken, jaw clenching as she crossed her arms tightly under her chest. She looked the very image of a wrathful goddess...
Should wrathful goddesses wear torn cloaks and be splattered with the blood of creatures.

"Okay, but..."

"But WHAT?"

She was growling now, stalking forward towards the male. She wasn't sure what she would do when she got to him.
Logic dictated that he was her boss, someone she should never lay a hand on.
Temper, however, was telling her to knock him into next week, perhaps bonking some sense into him.

"Buuuuuuut..."

She watched him move a hand behind his back.
Quickly, every prank he had ever pulled on her -so many, so very many..- ran through her mind at once, causing her to draw up short instinctively, hands lifting to deflect whatever it was that would be flashed, or sprayed, or...

However, what happened next... she hadn't expected.

"Buuuut..."

Pouting was common. Pleading, excuses, jokes.
All of these were the things the Principal was used to, unaffected by their various charms and amusements.
Well, not unaffected. She simply got used to not showing physical response.

Whenever he pulled his arm around, showing a single daffodil blossom, she felt herself automatically soften in surprise, a small bit of delight leaking through her hard exterior.
She had seen the lovely flower before, but it had been years... The teacher, the scientist in her, wanted to take it and sigh over its beauty.

As it was, it was only an attempt to placate her.

"I got you a flower."

A very good attempt to placate her.

Varana bit her lip, glancing up at the Headmaster, scowling when she saw his sweet grin.
That damned charmer.

He knew just how to sneak past her anger and surprise a smile out of her. She could not begrudge him a smile, she decided, smoothing her scowl away as she slowly took the flower.
She allowed her lips to curve slightly, gaze on the blossom so he could not see the genuine pleasure in her eyes, or the red fading from her cheeks.

"You started blowing things up... sent me away... and scared me half to death... for a flower?"

Oh, he was not off the hook.

But she twirled the stem carefully between her fingers, smiling to herself in the back of her mind.

The explosion was, of course, beautiful, as all explosions were.

This one, however, was special. This was one Martin had been working all morning for, and so, when it turned out as well as it did, he was very pleased. The impact had been blinding, and for a moment, Martin had wished he still had his safety goggles. 

That notion passed quickly. Safety goggles? Bah! 

(("Marty! This way!))

He looked down onto the smoking remains of the courtyard, pleased. He looked up the wall, and saw someone coming. He gave a little wave and was summarily jerked behind a pile of crates stacked around a cannon.

He looked at the Emperor, who apparently was very capable of dragging him. "Unhand me, you... Oh. Ah... Please remove your hands from my person, your lordliness! Unless you're not one for formality, in which case 'Unhand me, you royal scoundrel!' is probably more in order."

He stroked his mustache for a moment. "At any rate, a job well done, a well done job indeed. A job done well." He nodded, clearly still very excited over the explosion in the courtyard. "So, what's the plan now? If there's cleanup, I should be thinking to head back to my office and work on something. Something that needs working on. Not to avoid cleanup. Perhaps to avoid cleanup. Just a little." He nodded again, quickly.