What Salem lacked in mass, he made up for in being a slippery little fucker. Joe's first punch was avoided by Salem ducking and going under him, sending an elbow strike towards Joe's ribs on the way through. On the other side, he raised both his arms in a very unprofessional-looking block, managing to catch the second punch at the expense of stumbling back a little from the impact. He shook his hands off, as if trying to get rid of the stinging feeling that reverberated throughout his palms, then got himself ready again.<br/><br/>Aamu's laugh distracted him for a moment, but he kept it up and went for a kick aimed at Joe's midsection. The tackle proved more than effective at knocking the scrawny dude to the ground, where he landed with an 'Oof' and a small amount of kicked-up dust. He attempted to wriggle out of there, but mostly just succeeded in rolling onto his stomach, thus removing any chance of counter strikes he'd previously had. He voiced his annoyance at this fact with a quiet grumble.<br/><br/>Solomon shrugged. "Eh, I figured. Doesn't mean we can't find<span style="font-style: italic">something</span>to fill the role," He responded, finishing off the list with a request to have a priest consecrate Salem's apartment, and perhaps even the entire apartment building. "Besides, if all goes well they can do without. They've got us." He slid the pen into the annoying metal spiral that held the sheets of paper together, keeping a hold on the thing until the boys were done. The comment about being swordless got a snerk out of him. "Lucky him. Not like I'd be much help otherwise." He was a spectacularly weak being in his default form. Only through a combination of spells he'd learned and his natural stone-changing could he be of any use in a fight, and even then, only if someone was there to swing him around.