Even through the earplugs, Hawkeye could hear the conversation below if she concentrated on the sound. The earplugs were only good enough to protect her ears from damage. The human and moogle pair were not at all concerned, but from what she had gathered, they were not part of the clan yet. Of course, anyone who did not immediately react with even slight fear in response to a sudden attack was likely not entirely mentally stable, but this type might have been more of a danger to himself than to others. They'd die if they could not hold their own, and although Hawkeye hated sacrificing comrades unnecessarily, she knew she could not solely cover them in battle because they were not important enough.
Hawkeye watched the visible clan members, only moving her eyes. Her breathing was slow, as was her heartbeat. A bangaa cannoneer scanned the roofs, loading his cannon apparently by touch. Experienced, then, enough so that the safety requirement of an unloaded cannon was no real hindrance. She smiled grimly, hearing his threat. Yes, if she made any gross movements, they would notice, but she was unworried. Running and hiding were often the only way to survive if she was outmatched or unarmed, and because moogles had limited speed, she became very good at hiding.
She moved her eyes to the clan leader, who was already directing the others to cover the nu mou - Thalia, was it? - and search for Hawkeye. It was not a bad response, but it left no doubt that the nu mou was important and so Hawkeye could only feel that it was rather too late. The search, of course, would happen even if Thalia had died, as they would almost certainly want their revenge. Because Hawkeye was on the rooftop, they would find her if they tried, and the only factor was time. It could have been more efficient and organised, but the leader was probably still surprised.
So it was a reasonable assumption that the one to successfully kill Thalia would die. But it would not be a real deterrent if Clan Khamja wanted to send an assassin. ("Will you give your life to save your sister?") It was easy to find someone willing to die for their cause.
Hawkeye held her hand over the hand cannon's chamber and enchanted the shell, briefly noting a revgaji (interesting; she'd never seen one before) and
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Although Hawkeye had long since stopped flinching at gunshots, or indeed anything, she couldn't help but gape when she realised just what had happened. Someone had shot into the air. The first thing that had been impressed upon her when she learned to shoot was that you never fired your gun if you didn't know what you would hit, and this meant you never shot into the air. At least, this was the case if you didn't want to hit innocents or allies. Such rapid fire meant that there would be no time to aim after the recoil, either, so there was no doubt that the fusilier was being reckless.
The moogle ran into eyesight after a moment, allowing Hawkeye to see the reckless and negligent shooter. She grimaced, staring at the moogle. If Hawkeye's teacher had met that moogle's teacher, the first thing Hawkeye's teacher would do would be to smash the other's hand with his cannon.
It was possible Hawkeye was being unfair. It might have been that the shooter was just insane, or that she'd been startled out of her ability to think straight. The dangers were often exaggerated, in any case, but Hawkeye wondered if the shooter could tolerate being guilty of a few innocent deaths.
Hawkeye stopped breathing suddenly when she spotted the two newest recruits running on a nearby rooftop, toward her. Had they found a ladder? The last time Hawkeye had checked, there had been no ladders in the immediate vicinity, but that had been hours ago, and someone managed to set up a ladder in one of her blind spots. Her camouflage blanket would cover her from above and she was difficult to see from below, but when level, she was a very visible lump of roof-coloured cloth.
They would see her; there was no doubt about this. Their eyes were not yet trained on her, but they were approaching and would be very close soon enough. Of course, being level with a flintlock was not a very good idea, because now they were extremely easy to shoot. The clan leader had mentioned a judge, and that would be the only reason those two would not die. They were moving targets, yes, but shells and bullets moved faster than everything that wasn't a teleport.
Her hand cannon was already trained on them. Those below would have seen the movement.
She considered running, but decided against it. It was not difficult to hide in a town, but it was unnecessary and she didn't actually want to draw the attention of Clan Khamja's hired clans. She suspected there was one in the area.
Instead, Hawkeye cast off the camouflage blanket and stood up in one movement, holding the hand cannon almost casually in her arm. Since it was loaded, she had a firm grip, but at least the cannoneer and fusilier should know it was not a firing stance. Naturally, the holstered gun could be drawn at any moment if necessary, and she could probably have them all shot once before being killed, if she got the cannoneer and fusilier first. Magic and arrows were generally not immediately fatal, and if they were they would threaten the integrity of the roof.
Hawkeye was already shifting to the side, to avoid any reflex shots that didn't go after her blanket, although she'd be obviously vulnerable to anything else. That was the point. Although it was possible only moogles would notice, her body language said, I am no threat, because I'm harmless would have been a lie.
"Thalia would be dead, if I wanted," Hawkeye said conversationally. "It wasn't that difficult, even though Clan Khamja wants her so badly. Why not?"
