#things would be way less fun if Caelus kicked the bucket. Sampo would miss him

[feroluce]

Do you have any Sampo & Caelus or Stelle thoughts? You are so big brained I would love to hear more of your ideas on Sampo and either of the trailblazers.

I tend to use the name Caelus simply because that's who I play as in-game, so he means more to me and is more fun for me to write haha. By comparison, Ray plays as Stelle, so I always think of HER characterization of the trailblazer when I see Stelle haha. But yes! I dug up a fun little hc from a conversation with Ray!

I'd like to think Sampo & Caelus sometimes adventure out into the Fragmentum together, just the two of them, as long as Sampo isn't on a supply run. A businessman has to protect his assets after all! And what could be more important than the trade route? That's a closely guarded secret!

Sampo has a few lines that make him sound like he enjoys a good fight ("I was just getting started" "Can we bring out the big guns already" "We're just having fun") and I feel like everyone appreciates Caelus as a good fighty boy. So I like imagining the two of them out there just to fight Fragmentum monsters, for the sake of blowing off steam. It's stress relief.

(Sampo will not admit that he has fun with something so brutal, he takes his performance as a proper businessman very seriously after all. But he mysteriously shows up every time Caelus sneaks out to the Fragmentum, asking if he requires an escort, he can't very well let a dear friend go off alone can he? Caelus has stopped questioning it.)

And usually, this is pretty uneventful. Caelus smacks shit around and loudly enjoys it, Sampo smacks shit around and quietly enjoys it, they split the loot and then sneak back into Belobog before they're caught trespassing and go their separate ways. Usually. But there is at least one time where it all went pear-shaped.

Gepard gets called to come out to the military hospital out near the restricted zone one day, and he is baffled the whole time he is headed out there because? What would they want him for? He has no family in the guards that could be hurt. He's not any kind of field medic. His place is as a shield on the front lines.

And he gets there and poor Dunn greets him with Captain, thank god you're here, they've driven off just about anyone else who could watch them. And Gepard looks around Dunn's shoulder and there is Caelus and Sampo-fucking-Koski of all people, laying in a couple of hospital beds and handcuffed to the rails.

Gepard: Koski. What did you drag the savior of Belobog into?

Caelus: Who, me? Am I Koski?

Gepard: ????

Sampo: No no, friend, if I'm the savior of Belobog, and I saved you, then clearly your name is Belobog.

Caelus: Well maybe they're both my name. Like a first and last name.

Caelus and Sampo both nod together sagely for a second skzindks until

Caelus: Hey prettyboy, am I Belobog Koski?

Gepard: Excuse me?

And then poor Dunn has to jump in to explain that they still have no idea what happened, a group of guards out on patrol came across Sampo trudging through the snow from the direction of the Fragmentum, covered in blood and bruises, with an equally battered Caelus unconscious on his back. Sampo collapsed as soon as he saw them, the guards rushed them back to the field hospital, and they both woke up afterwards with no memory.

Which is horrible for all the caregivers involved, not for the reason any of them would have guessed.

Because with Sampo, being slimey is just an inherent facet of his personality. It is part of him with or without his memory. So Sampo has actually been a model patient, because he can't remember who he can use or how to use them to worm his way out of whatever illegal shit (at the very least, trespassing) he and Caelus were up to. So he's just being nice and polite and cooperative as a default while he observes everyone and quietly determines how to read them, and how to get under their skin, and where to go once he figures out how to get the hell out of here.

But Caelus however has no such ulterior motives, all he knows is he's being held for something he has no memory of doing, and no one can even tell him what he actually did. So he's annoyed, and he has decided to make it his new mission to make sure everyone else is just as annoyed as him, until he manages to piss someone off enough to kick him out.

What's even worse, since all he knows is that Sampo was the one who dragged him to safety on his back, Caelus has, unfortunately, decided Sampo is the only person he trusts or will listen to right now HSKZJSKKDKDK

Caelus, whispering over to Sampo: This guy looks like a chump. I bet he's got nothing on us.

Sampo, nodding and whispering back: They can't hold us with nothing. I bet I can get us out of this, just let me do the talking.

Caelus: Got it, boss! o7

Gepard: Qlipoth give me strength.....