we tried the best we can

Koa

We're going down, down in an earlier round
And sugar, we're going down swinging

Koa has no familiarity with Lials. Are you supposed to stare them down? Get really big? Run the fuck away? I should have spent more time in the Celestine is the deeply unhelpful line of thinking now inside his mind, blindingly coherent and utterly misplaced as he scrambles back from the now swift-approaching reptile.

Which... doesn't seem to be all that interested in him, instead going for the bag slung on the Dragoon's arm. It slides off readily, abandoned in the name of some semblance of self-defense. Because of the provisions inside, maybe? He tries to think of what he's packed: jerky, water, bread, cheese. His boxing wraps are on already; the chakram hangs from a loop at his belt. The only really valuable thing he can think of is the mothman scale, but there's no way that a wild animal would be interested in that.

Slowly, eyes never leaving the monster, the Dragoon eases backwards. If he can just back away and put some distance between them, maybe the lial will take what it wants and leave the bag behind. Or at least leave Koa and his limbs intact. A bag is easier to replace than a hand.

I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded god complex, cock it and pull it