Someone had gotten more confident with those little green pop-guns of hers in the last two years. Well, it's not like Neo had expected any of them to stand still, and Emerald looked ... about the right age for what she'd expect after this time, give or take. She didn't really have time to run down the numbers and think about it with those things trying to scrape through hush's lace.

The tiny sheen of pink light flowing over the umbrella and her body, only to disappear from view, was plenty to tell the story. She might have to watch her aura in ways she never did back home, but Neo was still using it to augment her umbrella just like her own defense. The lace didn't fray when the blades slashed and the tines of it held fast. She whacked back, hand moving with ease to block one while she would twist out of the way of the other, trying to let Emerald just get madder and madder and madder, because that's what it looked like she was doing, and a mad Emerald made stupid mistakes. Good fighter, but in Neo's estimation she fought with her heart, not her head most days.

All this talk of Salem. Seemed she wasn't the only one who'd picked up some baggage in the last couple years. Neo was no longer off balance, so as she tried to keep pace with the other woman, she thought of ways to handle this. She had a tiny bit of dust thanks to that bazaar, but she didn't want to waste it, least of all taking down someone who might actually work with her. so, instead, she opted to try a twisting maneuver, to whip her body around while Emerald was on the frontal assault and bring the handle of her umbrella up, straight at her jaw. Someone needed to take a nap.