No Competition

## Roleplay

Upon returning (mostly fleeing from the destructive scene he created at the fair), Ratka didn’t initially expect to be immediately confronted by Zaffrea. Actually, he assumed he had lost her again by choosing to go on an outing with Maggie as he mentally decided that he would search for her later in favor of spending time with the cute pup. Therefore, when they made it back to the dock and ships, he was more than pleasantly surprised to receive a warm tackle! He wasn’t knocked down of course, he towered over the strong Hindi girl fairly easily, but did grab her fully and spun around with her, extremely happy and relieved to finally meet her again. He was still topless but this had never been an issue for them before despite his large breasts as his armor was still damage from the high striker and hung around his waist instead. “Shanti!” he exclaimed, using Zaffrea’s village name in an endearing way. He did not notice if there were any others nearby and had completely forgotten about Maggie at this point.

It was definitely another horrible day…… It seemed that there her relationship with Cerise was just not worth it anymore since he barely (if at all) knew how to help her when she was feeling this sad and actually made things worse by selfishly acting like the victim and going to others for comfort. She was literally RIGHT next to Cerise and Nur cuddling each other as she heaved the luggage, transporting everything from the airship to the ferry! And he wondered why she was ignoring him!! It didn’t matter… at this point she decided she was just going to break things off finally once they were in a more private setting. Her heart did ache a little… but she just couldn’t handle this anymore and was starting to severely dislike him.

She was semi-locked on this whole negative and angry mindset, her mouth salivating slightly with saltiness as she finally finished the work and made her way over to the group (Cerise and Nur only now, Grim was long gone and Maggie went who the hell knows where) to blandly tell them to get over to the ferry now. Before saying anything else, she turned and made her way back over to the ferry, but towards the side, she noticed... Ratka?!!

Her heart slightly leapt as she saw him and she somewhat caught it in her throat as she, barely thinking, ran up to him full speed and slammed into him to hug/tackle him! (of course he wouldn’t be affected even with Zaffrea’s strength!) “Makar!!!!” she said, endearingly using his village name.

Kind of all caught up with himself, Nur was starting to recover from getting air sick (IT WAS NOT AIR SICKNESSES, HE SAW THE FACE OF DEATH ((not Grim fyi)) ). He really….. appreciated Cerise’s concern… Even if it wasn’t really like him, he loved the help to get off the plane and the soft back rubs and hugs… Although he was really getting into pain for the most part, getting to feel this pleasant with someone he really loved had its perks… He still was mostly trying to get a little less disoriented, mostly not really able to talk fully and just listening to Cerise being really sweet to him. He STILL DIDN’T NOTICE THE BLACK FLOWER AT ALL BY THE WAY XD And was mostly staring down as he semi-nuzzled Cerise’s chest. Feeling much better, he started to make his way towards the ferry, very grateful but just unable to speak fully that Zaffrea was taking care of the luggage deal, with Cerise close by. He didn’t really look up as Zaffrea came up to them and told them to get over to the ferry now (somewhat in a demandy way?) as he allowed Cerise to kind of lead him.

Calming down, he sighed and started to open his mouth to talk and just laugh off his previous quietness and say that it was just a lot of dizziness from being up in the air and that things were completely fine, he didn’t WORRY him, did he? XD but before he was able to let a word out of his mouth…. He literally saw the thing of nightmares.

Nur froze up completely.

Cerise was still unsure as to what exactly was causing Nur to get so upset, to the point of vomiting, but he didn’t exactly need or even expect an answer. As far as he was concerned, sometimes things just… happen! The why or how isn’t all that important. That didn’t mean the matter at hand wasn’t important though, as he put a lot of care into comforting Nur, his not pressing for details probably doing more good than harm considering the situation. Nur seemed to finally calm down, smiling, until... he wasn't? Actually more than wasn't. His face was scrunched up into a look of terror! Naturally turning his attention from Nur to the general direction Nur was looking towards, Cerise began to form somewhat of a vague although simplistic understanding, along with a hint of bitterness at seeing the Zaffrea who was so huffy with him not too long ago now smiling in the arms of this behemoth of a stranger, with a dangerously stunning tail. Probably literally stunning, and in combination with his overall size and muscle mass making for a generally threatening image, although this wasn't necessarily enough to deter Cerise as his thoughts by now had for the most part had left Nur and were now more concerned with Zaffrea as she and Ratka completed their embrace.

Walking up to the pair, he placed an arm loosely around Zaffrea's waist and gave her a kiss by the ear. "Hey love... who's your friend here? For seeming so close, I would've thought I'd heard about him." Cerise said with some slight obvious strain to force a more loving a friendly tone, both more so for Ratka's sake than Zaffrea's. He tried to throw Ratka a faux friendly and somewhat sexy smile, but intimidation got in the way and it ended up in more awkward and nervous than anything.

Though he wasn't particularly forgetful or simple minded, due to sheer overwhelming emotions from finally seeing his long lost betrothed and love again, he completely forgot about Magnolia who had spitefully left not long ago before this new scrawny figure came up to them. Though he semi noticed when Magnolia left, saying some snarky comment, he honestly wasn't concerned or willing to care about it since she was insignificant in comparison to the person he had been searching three of the kingdoms for!! Holding her this close again with her scent, feeling of her firm body again... gave him immense adrenaline. It felt almost surreal since although he knew he'd one day find her or never return to his village for shame of failure, the journey itself had been exhaustingly and exhilaratingly long... Not that Ratka would ever be hopeless, the thought came about in his mind that perhaps... perhaps there was just too much land and too many people in the world and perhaps he had too little social intelligence to really truly find her... This was mostly the reason why despite being betrothed that he would honestly court so many women.. something he should be partially ashamed on due to his mind needing to be set on Zaffrea.. it was just too difficult to not receive alleviation for all his work... That was reasonable, of course. Zaffrea will understand through immense discussion on the way back home.

Ah, separating now to discuss about their venture back, he could hardly even open his mouth before the pale thin figure moved their way up to them. Scowling to shoo him away, it seemed he wasn't even paying attention to him at first to... GIVE HIS BETORTHED A KISS?! Now fully enraged and making it definitely clear with his seething expression, not to MENTION the fact that he was now LITERALLY SEETHING with his tail perked up at alert. A kiss was beyond intimate, though his ventures throughout the kingdoms taught him a few things about different cultures, his mind was now suddenly reverted back of course with mental plans with his soon to be wife?! Who should NOT be having another figure wrap around in such a way! The shock and anger was so immense to the fact that Ratka could hardly process ANYTHING to even speak, and started to make a rushed move towards the twig in an attempt to show superiority in strength as he literally had the intention to lift the other and break whatever it was in half!!

Overjoyed to see someone so close to her from her past, Zaffrea's depression subsided greatly and wasn't even confused even though she probably should have been over Ratka's sudden appearance! Honestly she just needed someone who would understand her close, and maybe she was divine after all if her desires became true and Ratka was given to her! Though Ratka himself was much larger than she had previously seen him, this did not deter Zaffrea at all in her happiness to embrace him! After a few moments of course, they broke away and she was instantly going to jump on him to press for details on his appearance... when...

She noticed Cerise... Her heart tightened up but mostly out of embarrassment which she was definitely displaying with a nervous and awkward smile as well as other facial features to how she was embarrassed she was over Cerise suddenly appearing... Which was made more blatant when Cerise gave her a kiss to which she turned pale and stiffened up from being held by him.

She moved away slightly but coincidentally it seemed this was the appropriate action since Ratka looked like he was going to lunge at Cerise? Using this as partial excuse she moved further to get in between them as she placed her hands on Ratka's bare chest to hold him a little back. Though obviously her childhood friend was much stronger than her... which she was definitely feeling more throughoughly with her hands placed on his muscly breasts... She at least knew how to appeal to his emotions and calm him down.

"Makar... makar..." she tried to say soothingly but felt somewhat nervous since she did ignore Cerise and at least wanted to address him. Clearing her throat, she appeared more nervous out of embarrassment again as she motioned over to him, "Makar..." she said to introduce them "properly", "This is my... friendd... Cerise, he and I go to school together and used to be part of the same team..." she said to Ratka, definitely underplaying Cerise and their relationship. She then turned to Cerise but still held onto to Ratka to make sure he was a little more restrained, "Cerise, this is Ratka, he's a very important person to me from my childhood and home. We trained with one another and basically grew up together but always seemed to challenge each other so we could be stronger! It's become of him that I'm so competent now. I really don't know where I'd be without him!" She sounded MUCH more cheerful to talk about Ratka.

Cerise expected some degree of aggression, but not to be outright attacked! He flinched and pathetically held his hands up to shield his pretty face as Ratka lunged at him. Upon realizing that no actual attack had been made though, he took a breath of relief and put his hands down to nonchalantly dust off his attire, making a poor attempt to regain his composure and posture. He did shuffle back a bit to sort of cower behind Zaffrea, completely negating any of his attempts to look cool and composed. As Cerise's attention was brought down to Ratka's chest from the action of Zaffrea placing her hands upon it, Cerise noticed Ratka's breasts which were previously obscured by his embrace with Zaffrea and was a bit taken aback by the stark contrast to his muscles, although of course didn't put enough thought to it to exactly question it. "Well Makar, Zaffrea certainly seems to like getting handsy with you... I bet you love that, I like it when she gets handsy with me too ;) I am her friend after all, her boyfriend that is. We met at school, but we really do go a long way, if you want to get technical we're actually engaged!" Cerise said, referring to how they met through the misunderstanding where Zaffrea interpreted a simple cheek kiss as a marriage proposal. He was scared shitless by Ratka only moments ago, and he didn't actually think of himself as Zaffrea's fiance, but having the emotional permanence of a dog makes you kind of an idiot, and hiding behind Zaffrea gave him a sense of security.

If he was going to be extremely honest, Nur felt as though he was going to pass out due to immense trauma. If he started panicking from seeing an extremely tall figure that was completely unrelated to his home village just happening to be tall and bulky, his spike in fear was so high that he literally could NOT process anything AT ALL!! Sure he was kind of digging the whole pain and honestly trauma should be painful again... but THIS wasn't the right kind!! He liked physical pain and emotional pain ONLY!! THIS BEHEMOTH OF A MONSTER LITERALLY SHUT OFF ALL HIS SENSES SO HE COULDN'T EVEN THINK LET ALONE TRY TO FEEL MASOCHISITIC ABOUT TRAUMA AHHHHHHHHH WHY COULDN'T HE JUST BE LEFT ALONE ONCE AND FUCKING FOR ALL?!

Even still... no thoughts were correctly processing as he basically went into a dissociative state where he was there but not present at all in what was happening or seeing but not knowing what he was seeing. His instinctive reflexes kicked as he saw Ratka look like he was going to attack Cerise in which he moved towards them without thinking and pulled Cerise back, his expression extremely furrowed with what looked like concern but was him on autopilot. Though he was now closer to the threat and didn't process the fact that Zaffrea was holding him back, it just make as a given that Cerise needed him and he held him a little tighter pulling him down to him slightly in a way which made the scene look like to probably anyone who didn't understand this about Neeru that Nur was jealous of Cerise being lovey to Zaffrea and with a concerned furrow on his face and tugging at Cerise as well as trying to pull him though only with the amount of strength Nur had really looked like Nur was just being possessive but in a rather cute and endearing way.

Cerise noticed Nur heading up to the three of them, although didn't really pay it much mind until Nur was actually there and tugging him away, expression furrowed. If this was all happening during the time Cerise had first arrived at Beacon, he probably would have at least jumped a bit at Nur's touch. However, his general awareness in regards to surroundings had significantly improved over the past year, although this didn't really change that his awareness in terms of intentions and emotions were still for the most part lacking. "Nur? Ah... do you really need to be here right now?" Cerise said with somewhat of a harsh tone, pulling his arm back a bit to resist Nur's tug, expression annoyed. Right now was the time to work on the impression he'd be giving to Ratka, and Nur's involvement wouldn't exactly help! Ah.. but.. now that he actually really looked at Nur, seeing a kind of cute jealous expression, his eyes softened a bit and he began to subtly lean in a bit to Nur's touch, although he didn't make any attempts to apologize his expression looked sorry.

Despite being held back slightly by Zaffrea, he seemed to be unable to hold back once Cerise referred to him by "Makar".

He was full blown SCREAMING NOW, "AAP ANUCHIT NEECH! AAP MERE GAANV KA NAAM KAISE UPAYOG KAREN AUR IS TARA SE HONA KARANE KE LIE MEREE PATNEE KEE BAAT KARANE KEE HIMMAT-!!" or "YOU DISRESPECTFUL WRETCH! HOW DARE YOU USE MY VILLAGE AND SPEAK OF MY WIFE TO BE IN SUCH A WAY!!" Before he could continue on his rampage and fully demolish this insolent worm, he suddenly stopped himself and drew back. He realized that he had stated his betrothal to Zaffrea but not directly and felt the need to instantly remedy this.

Looking back at Zaffrea who was looking shocked since of course she understood what he said, he did the next predictable thing without a single exchange of word, he reached over and leaned down significantly, placing his hands on her cheek and turning her head to the side with utmost care he gently leaned down and kissed her cheek. A long and thoughtful process. As he pulled away he gave a smile to her shocked expression. He also smirked to the side where he gave an obvious victorious grin to Cerise since of course now that Zaffrea had two consorts to choose from, all that was left was a battle, an instant victory. He saw Neeru but was not caring in this moment due to being preoccupied with Cerise to remember his second goal for venturing the kingdoms. It was at least good that they were all in the proper place.

Zaffrea was panicky of course as Ratka was yelling in order to calm him down but even SHE sent Cerise a hateful glare when he called him "Makar" that was not acceptable even for her! Before she had a chance to say anything or move really, she heard what Ratka had called her and instantly froze.

..................She felt her chest drop. It was painful. Everything was painful... Wife to be? Was... that why he's.. No, come one, she shouldn't be so stupid, of course, but..... Could she....?

Looking up at him with a very expressive stare, she leaned in as Ratka kissed her cheek and closed her eyes, for once looking.. content... She opened her eyes as he pulled away and she was blushing like mad, leaning back into his chest to show that he had emotionally already chosen Ratka. Despite the fact that they grew up as childhood friends, well actually it wasn't even that odd for her since such a thing was so normal, it felt so comfortingly familiar, and this was someone who understood her and her morals.. For once, she felt like she was relieved of sadness. She didn't even look at Cerise, in which it was obvious that he was not in her thoughts in the slightest.

As Ratka began to yell and scream at Cerise, he stiffened up a bit but tried not to look too intimated or affected. With all the meaning lost on his end, there wasn't much too much to react to on an emotional level and physically he felt even more secure now that Nur was here to protect him too. It wasn't that he really thought of Nur consciously as a human shield, but with all the times literally became one for Cerise's sake it was near impossible for him to not have that sort of safe association on a more subtle level. Crossing his arms now and even rolling his eyes to show he wasn't phased, even giving a little scoff, he was about reach out for Zaffrea arm and simply walk away with her, tired of all this Ratka bulllshit. But... then Zaffrea seemed to freeze up? Then... in pain? Then content, as they exchanged kisses to the cheek. Kisses.. to the cheek..?!?

"WHAT!!" Cerise exclaimed, as the meaning behind the events unfolding before him finally sunk in."YOU'RE JUST GOING TO IGNORE ME?! FOR HIM?" His initial shock now transitioning more into anger, his voice was at less of a yell but now more hostile. "Well, I guess I can't take it all too seriously anyway, you're so easy to swoon! You know, all I have to do probably is fuck you gently just one more time and you'd be mine again, whisper a couple sweet nothings and you'd be begging me to be your betrothed instead. You're so fucking desperate to fall in love, it's annoying. I guess all that importance you placed on your virginity when I took it was just to make me uncomfortable, or maybe just to make yourself feel desirable? Anyway, doesn't matter. You already showed me that we're done." It felt.. really good... to indulge in that kind of expression of intense emotion... so once he started, it was hard to stop, leading to a full on rant. But now that it was over, and he was about to make his leave, he expression scrunched up and he started crying instead, clinging onto Nur for comfort and sort of awkwardly burying his face into the shoulder of his shirt, the awkwardness deriving from their foot long height difference. After using the shirt to wipe his face a bit, and his crying somewhat becoming more of intermediate sobs as he tried to hold it back, he motioned to Nur that he wanted to leave but couldn't help but shoot Zaffrea a pathetically sad glance.