Oh brother, here we go AGAIN! Gathering every ounce of Rezzie-esque angst you can muster, you respond to Oti’s warning with the MOTHER OF ALL EYEROLLS!

“... Very mature-”

No, you interject, reaching across the table and wagging your finger knowing damn well Oti can’t even see it, you’re DONE with this BS! All you’ve heard since you’ve arrived is ‘myeh-myeh-MYEH! Yer gonna DIE, Anton! Myeh-myeh-MYEH! These guys are meeeeaaaan! MYEEEH!’

The Mage’s perpetually-perturbed eyes flicker. “... Are you done?”

No, you scoff with a cheeky grin slipping onto your face, you’re NOT! Just the other day you stopped Rezalith from taking over his stupid tower!

“Tch… I could’ve kept it…” The devil snorts, “If I FELT like it!”

You disbanded a cruel gang of hoods called THE ICERS and had ‘em join THE LAMPLIGHTERS! And right after that you burned down a whole Casino belonging to the biggest crime syndicate in the land! You even almost tore one of their leaders a new one! Oh, and you SURVIVED!

“Yes, well-”

Oh, and by the way? There’s a psychotic DEATH CULT that’s been trying to summon demons for the past week or so, and guess who thwarted them every step of the way?

“Well uh… didn’t Rez kill everyone the first time, Rook?” Volka asks with an innocent smile.

“And your friend killed the others.” Morook dutifully reports. “Luz, right?”

LIZ, you correct, and that doesn’t matter! Point is, you’ve been foiling plots and breaking hearts left and right! And the only common factor between every misadventure, folly, and pratfall is that every time you had someone howling in your ear about how DANGEROUS it was! But y’know what you think?

“SING IT, ANT!”

The whole table, yourself included, pauses to send a perplexed glance over to Tzah-Tzie–the bite-sized Bard sheepishly sinking deeper into her chair with cheeks redder than ketchup.

You uh… you think those naysayers are just SCARED! They’re so used to living in the dark… living under the rule of these ‘Lordly Losers’ that they forgot what it’s like to feel the wind on their face and the sun in their hair!

… Or the sun in their face and… look, forget it! Point is, you’re DONE hiding! You’ve got demon blood pumping through your veins! You’ve got fire at your fingertips! You’ve got magic shields, enough hardware to invade a small nation, and the best group of buddies a guy can ask for!

You try not to grin too much as you watch said buddies light up at your words–even Rezzie can’t help but blush a bit! Turning your attention back over to Oti, you match his steely gaze with one of your own!

You’re not going to wait around to get got by mobsters, mages, or anyone else, you hiss through clenched teeth, so what’s it gonna be, huh?! Is he in… or is he just gonna BITCH!?

>CONTD.