I don't have resolutions of my own, aside from living and stuff. The ZFRP crew, on the other hand, have plenty of aspirations for the New Year! Can you guess which resolution lists belong to who?
More might be added throughout today and tomorrow as ideas come along.
----------------------
Reeeesolutions~
-Eat more! Can't fall behind on eating everything~
-Eat a dragon. I can remember the spicy taste! So wonderful~
-Buy more Prinnies. The Red Moon is rising soon!
-Get a cat! I might feel a little less lonely with one than without.
-Go to gym! Normally I wouldn't dream of it, but she insists on it!
-Work towards being nicer to others. Then I can have more friends, right? Besides, I feel a little hopeful after that incident~
-----------------------
New Year Resolutions
-Get stuff ready for the big day!
-Hang out with old friends more!
-Ride a dragon!
-Enjoy the outdoors!
-Bake a big cake?
-Relax more.
-Get appartment in Vegas
-Join BBB5!
-------------------------
BIG YEAR BIG YEAR BIG YEAR
-Make Tenshi the GRREAAATEST
-Plant more flowers. Everybody loves flowers!
-Cheer Mr. Frowny-face up. He's soooo moody
-Make a great newspaper worthy of even that guy's praise!
-beat that other girl that smug electro butthead
---------------------------
New Year Stuff
-Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
-Get more money.
-Rebuild shrine. One more time.
-Drink tea.
-Do something about that giant blob. He smells like shit!
-Drink more tea.
-Pray.
----------------------------
WHAT UP PEEPS NEW YEAR COMIN UP
WHO NEEDS RESOLUTIONS, CUZ I JUST NEED ONE
GONNA WIN THE BIG BAR BRAWL MOFOS, BETTER WATCH IT
-----------------------------
Hooraaaay~ A new year is coming up! What should I do for next year? I know!
-Treat others with respect!
-Be really, really cute!
-Spend more time with friends and family! They love you very much for what you're worth!
-Adventure more!
-Enjoy Vegas for all its worth! Can't afford to be homesick when there's so much to explore!
-Make new friends! After all, you never know when someone just needs a friend!
-Love yourself, above all. This is something I really need to work on, especially since...
Nevermind that. Here's to a new year!
----------------
Who's who? Hmmm! I can answer in the comments. Tried not to make them too hard >>;
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Christmas Special: Home for the Holidays
-FLORIS, ORION-
Christmas Eve was upon them, with cheery christmas lights and wreaths and garlands hanging around the house. It smelled like an evergreen pine forest, for sure: the best christmas smell. The christmas tree sat in the corner as two ferrets played tug of war with a rope, a white cat sitting on top of the blue couch and watching them fight. She turned her head when she heard the clang of forks and knives against the table, her attention now focused on the three who sat at the dinner table.
Two had shockingly white hair and pale skin, both wearing glasses. The only things that seemed to differentiate them were that one was taller, her hair reaching down to her hips, and she wore a santa suit. The other was much shorter, hair kept in a frizzy ponytail, dressed in a long-sleeved, black T-shirt with a dragon design that shimmered in the light and a long, blue skirt. The last person at the table had dark hair and wore a red sweater and jeans, hair kept in a neat bun.
"So, Kevin," asked the tallest person, "how is everything going this year?"
The shortest shrugged and replied, "Eh, it's alright. Bit better than last year, but that's probably because I didn't have to fight a wendigo this time. Or do the Kogasa Christmas Special."
"That was pretty awful when they made you do that," said the dark haired person, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "It was cold as hell outside and they expect you to wear a dress? I'm a woman and I wouldn't even go out in a dress in freezing weather!"
"Saria, you hardly go out in dresses anyway, honey."
Saria shot a look towards the white hair, who picked up a cup of tea and sipped. "Yeah, but back me up here, Vivian! Repeat after me: Nobody should go out in a dress in below freezing weather!"
"Oh, maybe if they wore warm pants underneath... or maybe nice leg warmers... Oooh, that reminds me, I need to get a few more-"
"Vivi, come on!"
Kevin watched as his mother shook his other mother's shoulders in an attempt to get her attention and giggled when Vivian gently pushed her loved one away before booping her on the nose. It was nice being home with them. The food was always great, there were tons of presents even if it was just the three of them, and it was just really relaxing, compared to having christmas alone in his own apartment after filming the christmas special. He may have enjoyed entertaining children and showing good morals, but the pressure... God, the pressure.
As the two playfully faught, Kevin picked up his fork and took a bite of baked chicken before he felt something fuzzy rubbing against his cheek. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Winter, the family cat, awaiting the offering of holiday food. He took a piece of chicken and handed to her and watched as she gobbled it up. She gave a dainty mew of thanks before licking his cheek, hopping onto his lap, and purring like a monster truck on sunday. His hand reached out to pat her head, to feel that soft, plush fur. This cat was a walking cloud. A walking cloud that has thunderous purrs when you pet her.
Vivian turned her attention back to her son and asked after taking another sip of tea, "Did you take the time to go out and play in the snow? Did it even snow in Melodia?"
"I wish," he said with a frown, scritching behind Winter's ears. "It's been rain, rain, rain all this week. Put a damper on everyone's moods, and it wasn't really ideal to film anything out in the rain. Especially when everybody's makeup would just run off!"
"Good thing it's snowing here, then!" Saria said, winking as her lips formed a grin. "We're gonna build a snowman!"
"A snow robot, if you will," Vivian corrected her wife. "Have to put your sculpting experience to good use, after all. Besides, wouldn't it be fun making something like that?"
"Viv, I don't think there's enough snow to make a Snow Gundam."
"I didn't mean a gundam, sweetie. Just a regular ol' robot."
"How about a snow robot with a cat piloting it?" asked Kevin.
Saria grinned. "Oh, we can do that, definitely! This is going to be the greatest snowman ever, trust me on this!" She paused for a moment, glancing at her son's plate. He had barely eaten any chicken at all. Or the rice, even. Heck, his other mother ate a lot more than he did! She tilted her head to the side, and asked with concern, "Kev, dear, is there something bothering you? You usually gobble up the whole plate by now!"
His heart stopped for just a moment. Kevin completely avoided eye contact as he said with a nervous chuckle, "Well, um, you know, not really all that hungry..."
"But you hardly ate anything today! Just a granola bar and a bite of chicken!"
"M-mom, it's nothing, just not feeling it..."
"But-"
Vivian grabbed Saria's shoulder tightly and shook her head for a moment. Saria looked at her wife with shock before making a small whine. Vivian then turned her gaze towards her son and said calmly, "Something happened, didn't it."
Kevin looked his mother in the eye before looking down at the floor, gripping at his skirt, grabbing the attention of the cat on his lap.
"Y-yeah," he said, voice shaky. "We're going to Vegas to film the next season of Nightmare Fighter Kogasa, but..." His hands were as shaky as his voice now, gripping the skirt even tighter. "Th-their new design for her... They made her even skinnier, and told me that if I didn't drop to 110 lbs by the time they start filming... I'd...."
The plates shook as Saria slammed her hand onto the table, looking like a tiger ready to rip someone in half. "They're asking you to become even more underweight than you already are?!" she roared. "It's like they don't realize that while you like crossdressing, you still have the bodily functions of a guy, and being that underweight is bad! Have they ever seen someone with less than 10% body fat before? Do they see the girls who have trouble with anorexia and just ignore that?!?"
"I know, mom," Kevin said, his voice quiet, "but... profits are everything. Appearances are everything. I could afford to lose the job, but... aside from all that, I really... I really like giving kids hope as Kogasa..."
Vivian glared, taking another sip of tea before saying, "As usual, the industry hasn't changed after I left. They expect us to be as pure as the driven snow. Slim, slender. They do nothing to represent the actual diversity of people, nevermind women. Even the headlines in magazines focus on more petty things, like how much weight a celebrity gained or their pregnancy or whatever."
Saria rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Yeah, I remember when they threw a fit when it was obvious you weren't dating Mr. Perfect. 'Ms. Moore Breaks Hearts! Celebrity actress becomes a lesbian!'" She let out a dark chuckle before continuing, "Good fucking riddance; they wouldn't leave us alone about that! Even bigger when they found out you had a child, but it was through in vitro. Ugh, they made a big fuss about everything!"
"You don't intend on leaving the industry though, I assume?" Vivian asked her son. "You dove in headfirst, trying your best to bring hope to children of all types, even after the rediculous requests your manager has given. But this... this may be too much."
Kevin stared at the ground for a little longer before meeting his mother's gaze. "If I can't show to little girls and boys like me, who struggle with loving their own bodies," he said, tears forming in his eyes as he spoke sincerely, "if I don't, when I'm in a position to do so, even if it's a horrible one... who will?"
In an instant, both of his mothers hugged him tight, gentle smiles on their faces.
"If that's what you wish, I can't stop you then, can I?"
"Yeah, we can't stop you if you really wanna go ahead," Saria said. She quickly narrowed her eyes after she let go of her son and growled, "Though I'm gonna get on the phone with your manager and see if I can convince him to see reason. There's no fucking way I'm letting my child become a stick to satisfy some sick fuck's idea of a real woman! And if I can't do that..."
"You're going to shove a boot up someone's arse," finished Vivian with a smirk. "Now, feel free to eat as much as you want. Can't let you go hungry, can we? And then you know what we have to do, right?"
Kevin exchanged glances with Saria before they both broke into a grin.
"Present time?"
"Present time."
"PRESENT TIME."
"Mreow," added Winter before hopping off and licking herself. Daintily, of course.
And so, when the plates were cleared and cleaned, the entire family tore the presents asunder like titans, wrapping paper scattered across the room as no box was spared from their eager curiosity. Their smiles were bright enough to possibly light up an entire street, happy with their ugly christmas sweaters and video games and cosplays. Winter sat and listened to the laughter of a happy family this Christmas Eve, purring up a storm as they got her the best gift of all: a heated bed.
When all the carnage of christmas eve was cleared away, there was only one thing Vivian had to say as she pulled out her phone to show her wife and son a picture.
"Look at this girl! She's happy how she is, just like you should be, Kevvy!"
"She looks really cute. Damn, I wish I could be that cute. What's up with the head towel, though?"
"I dunno what you two are talking about, but I think you guys are missing the most important part.
Dat ass."
"Oh yes, that's a pretty nice butt she has there. Oh my."
"Guys, she's taken! By a lucky Dirk Angelos."
"Lucky? More like the Goddess of Butts smiled upon him! Or maybe she IS the Goddess of Butts."
"She's got a pharmacuetical company, dear. Beautiful and successful!"
"Hey, mom? How'd you find this, anyway?"
"Well, I was looking for information on the other Angelos brother, Pit, but then I started looking elsewhere! Blogs on these Kobbers are really well kept, and I just couldn't help but look at them! Oh, Pit's another actor, and I heard he's getting married to a bird~ Wait, let me see if I can get the link-"
And by the time Christmas rolled around, the Moores had a good time finding things on the internet and sharing their thoughts before heading to bed.
And Kevin?
Well, he certainly went to bed with the biggest weight lifted from his heart.
Christmas Eve was upon them, with cheery christmas lights and wreaths and garlands hanging around the house. It smelled like an evergreen pine forest, for sure: the best christmas smell. The christmas tree sat in the corner as two ferrets played tug of war with a rope, a white cat sitting on top of the blue couch and watching them fight. She turned her head when she heard the clang of forks and knives against the table, her attention now focused on the three who sat at the dinner table.
Two had shockingly white hair and pale skin, both wearing glasses. The only things that seemed to differentiate them were that one was taller, her hair reaching down to her hips, and she wore a santa suit. The other was much shorter, hair kept in a frizzy ponytail, dressed in a long-sleeved, black T-shirt with a dragon design that shimmered in the light and a long, blue skirt. The last person at the table had dark hair and wore a red sweater and jeans, hair kept in a neat bun.
"So, Kevin," asked the tallest person, "how is everything going this year?"
The shortest shrugged and replied, "Eh, it's alright. Bit better than last year, but that's probably because I didn't have to fight a wendigo this time. Or do the Kogasa Christmas Special."
"That was pretty awful when they made you do that," said the dark haired person, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "It was cold as hell outside and they expect you to wear a dress? I'm a woman and I wouldn't even go out in a dress in freezing weather!"
"Saria, you hardly go out in dresses anyway, honey."
Saria shot a look towards the white hair, who picked up a cup of tea and sipped. "Yeah, but back me up here, Vivian! Repeat after me: Nobody should go out in a dress in below freezing weather!"
"Oh, maybe if they wore warm pants underneath... or maybe nice leg warmers... Oooh, that reminds me, I need to get a few more-"
"Vivi, come on!"
Kevin watched as his mother shook his other mother's shoulders in an attempt to get her attention and giggled when Vivian gently pushed her loved one away before booping her on the nose. It was nice being home with them. The food was always great, there were tons of presents even if it was just the three of them, and it was just really relaxing, compared to having christmas alone in his own apartment after filming the christmas special. He may have enjoyed entertaining children and showing good morals, but the pressure... God, the pressure.
As the two playfully faught, Kevin picked up his fork and took a bite of baked chicken before he felt something fuzzy rubbing against his cheek. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Winter, the family cat, awaiting the offering of holiday food. He took a piece of chicken and handed to her and watched as she gobbled it up. She gave a dainty mew of thanks before licking his cheek, hopping onto his lap, and purring like a monster truck on sunday. His hand reached out to pat her head, to feel that soft, plush fur. This cat was a walking cloud. A walking cloud that has thunderous purrs when you pet her.
Vivian turned her attention back to her son and asked after taking another sip of tea, "Did you take the time to go out and play in the snow? Did it even snow in Melodia?"
"I wish," he said with a frown, scritching behind Winter's ears. "It's been rain, rain, rain all this week. Put a damper on everyone's moods, and it wasn't really ideal to film anything out in the rain. Especially when everybody's makeup would just run off!"
"Good thing it's snowing here, then!" Saria said, winking as her lips formed a grin. "We're gonna build a snowman!"
"A snow robot, if you will," Vivian corrected her wife. "Have to put your sculpting experience to good use, after all. Besides, wouldn't it be fun making something like that?"
"Viv, I don't think there's enough snow to make a Snow Gundam."
"I didn't mean a gundam, sweetie. Just a regular ol' robot."
"How about a snow robot with a cat piloting it?" asked Kevin.
Saria grinned. "Oh, we can do that, definitely! This is going to be the greatest snowman ever, trust me on this!" She paused for a moment, glancing at her son's plate. He had barely eaten any chicken at all. Or the rice, even. Heck, his other mother ate a lot more than he did! She tilted her head to the side, and asked with concern, "Kev, dear, is there something bothering you? You usually gobble up the whole plate by now!"
His heart stopped for just a moment. Kevin completely avoided eye contact as he said with a nervous chuckle, "Well, um, you know, not really all that hungry..."
"But you hardly ate anything today! Just a granola bar and a bite of chicken!"
"M-mom, it's nothing, just not feeling it..."
"But-"
Vivian grabbed Saria's shoulder tightly and shook her head for a moment. Saria looked at her wife with shock before making a small whine. Vivian then turned her gaze towards her son and said calmly, "Something happened, didn't it."
Kevin looked his mother in the eye before looking down at the floor, gripping at his skirt, grabbing the attention of the cat on his lap.
"Y-yeah," he said, voice shaky. "We're going to Vegas to film the next season of Nightmare Fighter Kogasa, but..." His hands were as shaky as his voice now, gripping the skirt even tighter. "Th-their new design for her... They made her even skinnier, and told me that if I didn't drop to 110 lbs by the time they start filming... I'd...."
The plates shook as Saria slammed her hand onto the table, looking like a tiger ready to rip someone in half. "They're asking you to become even more underweight than you already are?!" she roared. "It's like they don't realize that while you like crossdressing, you still have the bodily functions of a guy, and being that underweight is bad! Have they ever seen someone with less than 10% body fat before? Do they see the girls who have trouble with anorexia and just ignore that?!?"
"I know, mom," Kevin said, his voice quiet, "but... profits are everything. Appearances are everything. I could afford to lose the job, but... aside from all that, I really... I really like giving kids hope as Kogasa..."
Vivian glared, taking another sip of tea before saying, "As usual, the industry hasn't changed after I left. They expect us to be as pure as the driven snow. Slim, slender. They do nothing to represent the actual diversity of people, nevermind women. Even the headlines in magazines focus on more petty things, like how much weight a celebrity gained or their pregnancy or whatever."
Saria rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Yeah, I remember when they threw a fit when it was obvious you weren't dating Mr. Perfect. 'Ms. Moore Breaks Hearts! Celebrity actress becomes a lesbian!'" She let out a dark chuckle before continuing, "Good fucking riddance; they wouldn't leave us alone about that! Even bigger when they found out you had a child, but it was through in vitro. Ugh, they made a big fuss about everything!"
"You don't intend on leaving the industry though, I assume?" Vivian asked her son. "You dove in headfirst, trying your best to bring hope to children of all types, even after the rediculous requests your manager has given. But this... this may be too much."
Kevin stared at the ground for a little longer before meeting his mother's gaze. "If I can't show to little girls and boys like me, who struggle with loving their own bodies," he said, tears forming in his eyes as he spoke sincerely, "if I don't, when I'm in a position to do so, even if it's a horrible one... who will?"
In an instant, both of his mothers hugged him tight, gentle smiles on their faces.
"If that's what you wish, I can't stop you then, can I?"
"Yeah, we can't stop you if you really wanna go ahead," Saria said. She quickly narrowed her eyes after she let go of her son and growled, "Though I'm gonna get on the phone with your manager and see if I can convince him to see reason. There's no fucking way I'm letting my child become a stick to satisfy some sick fuck's idea of a real woman! And if I can't do that..."
"You're going to shove a boot up someone's arse," finished Vivian with a smirk. "Now, feel free to eat as much as you want. Can't let you go hungry, can we? And then you know what we have to do, right?"
Kevin exchanged glances with Saria before they both broke into a grin.
"Present time?"
"Present time."
"PRESENT TIME."
"Mreow," added Winter before hopping off and licking herself. Daintily, of course.
And so, when the plates were cleared and cleaned, the entire family tore the presents asunder like titans, wrapping paper scattered across the room as no box was spared from their eager curiosity. Their smiles were bright enough to possibly light up an entire street, happy with their ugly christmas sweaters and video games and cosplays. Winter sat and listened to the laughter of a happy family this Christmas Eve, purring up a storm as they got her the best gift of all: a heated bed.
When all the carnage of christmas eve was cleared away, there was only one thing Vivian had to say as she pulled out her phone to show her wife and son a picture.
"Look at this girl! She's happy how she is, just like you should be, Kevvy!"
"She looks really cute. Damn, I wish I could be that cute. What's up with the head towel, though?"
"I dunno what you two are talking about, but I think you guys are missing the most important part.
Dat ass."
"Oh yes, that's a pretty nice butt she has there. Oh my."
"Guys, she's taken! By a lucky Dirk Angelos."
"Lucky? More like the Goddess of Butts smiled upon him! Or maybe she IS the Goddess of Butts."
"She's got a pharmacuetical company, dear. Beautiful and successful!"
"Hey, mom? How'd you find this, anyway?"
"Well, I was looking for information on the other Angelos brother, Pit, but then I started looking elsewhere! Blogs on these Kobbers are really well kept, and I just couldn't help but look at them! Oh, Pit's another actor, and I heard he's getting married to a bird~ Wait, let me see if I can get the link-"
And by the time Christmas rolled around, the Moores had a good time finding things on the internet and sharing their thoughts before heading to bed.
And Kevin?
Well, he certainly went to bed with the biggest weight lifted from his heart.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Christmas Special: Home with the Psychics
Snow fell gently onto the sidewalk pavement, drifting like dandilion puffs on the wind. Footprints of all shapes and sizes dotted the pavement, tire treads leaving marks on the roads. The skies were gray, but the laughter of children as they rolled out snowmen and the well wishes passed down from person to person showed that today was anything but gloomy.
Carlos couldn't help but smile as he passed them by, holding bags of groceries, gotten before the stores closed for Christmas Eve. Christmas was always a great time, even for a psychic like him. After all, there was nothing better than a snowy day to have fun and enjoy the outdoors. Well, that and have hot chocolate. With marshmallows and whipped cream. God, he could use one of those right now; he forgot to purchase gloves of all things and now his hands were freezing cold. He'd be surprised if he got home with his fingers intact-
FWUMP.
His face was suddenly cold as something smacked right into it, He could hear giggles as he wiped it off his face.
"We got him, we got him~"
"Indeed we did, Siren! Ah, yes, the look on his face... Priceless, is it not?"
Once he was done wiping the snow out of his eyes, he shot a glare at his attackers: a bard in green and red, his eyes glowing brightly under the darkness of his hood, and a fairy, dressed in blue, and somehow not freezing to death in her very short dress.
"Hardy har," said Carlos as the two grabbed each other, arm in arm, and did a jig. "Nice to see you two are getting along, but could you please not launch snowballs while I'm obviously carrying groceries?"
The fey snickered and asked, "Well, it's no fun if you know about it, is it, dear Carlos?"
"It's no fun being struck when you might get frostbite any minute, Siren," he retorted, walking past them and setting his groceries down for just a moment as he searched for his house key in his pockets. "It's cold outside, so how about you two go inside and maybe make out under an invisible mistleto-"
He stopped in midsentence and yelped, feeling snow dumped right in his pants. He turned around and saw what looked like a flying butt with hands holding his pants out as mini-sirens dumped snowballs right in. Of course, the actual Siren and her illusionist friend couldn't help but stifle a giggle.
Their giggles were soon silenced as a rain of snowballs fell upon them, barraging them mercilessly and banishing the ever-lewd butt-illusion conjured by the bard. Unfortunately, the most appropriately dressed bard couldn't handle the barrage and fell over dramatically with a thump. Siren was at his side immediately, Carlos watching the drama unfold as he got snow out of his pants.
"Ricard, no!" she cried. "My darling Ricard, are you okay? Speak to me, Ricard! Speak to me!"
The bard coughed once before saying, in a weak voice, "Siren... I am sorry. I was not strong enough to face the cold, bitter taste of defeat... The world of the dead beckons..."
"Ricard, no! Stay with me! You must stay with me, please! Don't go!
He stroked her cheek gently, eyes half closed. "Forgive me... I... Oh, gods above, I see the light! The world fades..."
His eyes closed, his breath leaving him. Siren whimpered a little before shouting out loud, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"
"Ignoring both of you," Carlos said grumpily with an eye roll, after making sure there was no extra snow shoved in awkward places, unlocking the door, and opening it up, taking one large stride in. Those two loved acting out dramatic moments just for the hell of it. One day, it might get him a ticket for being too loud in the neighborhood. He set his groceries down by the kitchen and set his hat and brown coat up on the coat hangers, letting out a relieved sigh before heading towards the living room and sitting on a reclinier. Groceries, check. Christmas tree in the corner, all decorated? Check. Cookies? Che-
Munch, munch, munch. The psychic raised an eyebrow at this mysterious noise and turned towards the kitchen. With no sign of anyone there, he stood up and took a step, preparing to check the other rooms.
Wasn't really necessary when the muncher was right beside him, dressed in a green sweater and long, black pants. With a lot of cookie crumbs on them. Kneeling by the small table where he left the cookies. The cookie thief looked up at him for a moment, their eyes locked...
" 'Sup, homie?" she asked as she polished off the last cookie.
"How long have you been here, Sammy?" Carlos asked, brushing off her question.
" "Bout 30 minutes. Was gonna surprise you but then I saw these cookies, and then I was like, 'maaan, one won't hurt'. Then I fuckin did a cookie massacre!"
"You know you're going to have to bake more to pay me back for those, right?"
Sammy stared at him before dusting off the crumbs and heading towards the kitchen, mysteriously conjuring an apron with a thunderbolt on it and scouring the cabinets for ingredients, yelling, "YO MAN SHIT'S ABOUT TO GET SAMMICAL UP IN THIS JOINT CUZ I'MMA BE BAKIN COOKIES, YO!"
Carlos wanted to roll his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile as Sammy got to work. "Try not to make too much of a mess," he said before returning to his seat and turning the TV on. "Sol and pals are coming over, and the last thing we need is something he thinks he needs to clean up."
-----------------------
"FFFFFFFFFFFFuck, I thought I had that one!"
Carlos stared in shock at the TV, which clearly showed a Captain Falcon triumphing over an Ike in Super Smash Bros.
"You need more discipline," said his opponent, crossing his arms and ignoring the chatter of a scientist and an electrokinetic over sugar cookies. "You are too quick to rapidly tap the A button, without any thought of what your opponent is up to. Use the field to your advantage, and think before you Smash."
"Well, gee, thanks Sol," Carlos said jokingly, setting his controller aside as Sammy and Angie set the living room table with dozens upon dozens of cookies. Angie was dressed up like Mrs. Claus, while Sol was dressed up as Santa. More presents were sitting under the tree, eagerly awaiting greedy hands to rip them open and find out what's inside. Siren and Ricard were conjuring illusionary mistletoes all around the room for fun, much to the confusion of everyone present. They used it as an excuse to make out passionately (or at least, Siren did!), while Mikey, wearing his trademark blue sweater and a pair of jeans, prefered to ignore tradition and instead, tried painting the happy faces of his friends on canvas.
It couldn't have gotten any better, really. Just the seven of them, having fun inside, waiting for the clock to strike 12. Carlos did ask other psychics, as well as Sammy's roommates, if they wanted to come over, but they had other plans for tonight. Oh well.
He stood up and ejected the Smash Bros disc from the Wii U and put in Mario Kart 8 before picking his controller back up again and smirking. "You may be good at Smash Bros, Sol," he said, "but do you think you have a chance in Mario Kart?"
Sol said nothing as he gripped his controller tightly, but Angie took a seat beside him and picked up another controller. "If you think you're getting away with winning against my hubby," she said with a wink, "You're going to find out the hard way that getting first even after that won't come easy!"
"Well, duuuuuh," Sammy chimed in, snatching the last controller in a flash. "That's 'cuz the RACE TRACK MASTER'S gonna fuckin' leave ya'll in the dust!"
"Sammy, you barely played this game," Carlos pointed out, unamused. "Meanwhile, I've been practicing just for this moment."
"Yeah, well, who needs practice when you're motherfuckin' SAMMY?!?"
"She has a point. Hard to be discouraged when you kicked a nearly murderfairy's butt. Or helped."
"That was more of Tenshi's doing, dear."
"True, but she still had help!"
As they picked their racers, Mikey couldn't help but peer over the couch and watch the races, laughing along with his friends as they zipped through tracks and made jabs at each other for fun. He soon went back to painting, a smile on his face as he finished everything up. Siren and Ricard started watching, too, splitting off into tinier versions of themselves and whispering not-so-helpful tips like a backseat driver. Carlos had to punt a mini-Siren off of him with his psychokinesis after she suggested "GRAB ALL THE COINS EVEN THOSE ONES ALL OF THEM" and tried to grab his controller, sending his poor racer into the drink.
In the end, though?
(Carlos: 12
Sol: 4
Angie: 19
Sammy: 1)
"Ha! Still got it!" said the perky scientist after doing a jig in her seat, Carlos dropping his controller in shock. Sol didn't seem too surprised at all, instead giving her a congratulatory hug. Sammy, being dead last, could only say one thing.
"Well, shit! Looks like I do need more practice."
"Told ya so," Carlos said, reaching over the table to grab a gingerbread cookie. He then turned to Angie and asked, "How'd you get so good at Mario Kart, anyway? I mean, I understand Metroid games and all, but Mario Kart?"
Angie smiled, wrapping her hair around her finger and making eye contact with the psychic. "Well, when you grew up with Mario Kart and the first game you ever played was Super Mario Kart... hard not to get good, am I right?"
Siren sighed dramatically after reforming herself, slapping Carlos on the shoulder. "Alas!" she said. "We should have gone for the coins from the start! Only then would victory have been ours! Oh, a sorrowful day-"
"Coins won't do jack all if you get hit by a blue shell," Carlos pointed out, standing up and checking the clock. 11:55. Man, where did all the time go? He turned towards Mikey, who was still painting, and asked, "Hey, you alright? You've been quiet the whole time you were here."
The painter turned towards his friend, eyebrow raised. "Huh? I was?"
"Yeeeeaaah. You didn't say much aside from hello and all."
"S-sorry! I just got so focused on my painting, I kind of... oops!"
Carlos peered over Mikey's shoulder and took a look at the painting. Mikey's art was as great as usual, although he clearly emphasized the cheer and joy by using bright colors. "Can't blame you, then!" the psychokinetic said with a smile, patting Mikey on the head. "You're doing a great job at what you love most. But we're about to open presents now!"
Mikey stared for a moment before setting his art supplies down. Carlos took another look at the clock. 11:59... and in another minute-
"MERRY FUCKIN CHRISTMAS YA'LL!"
Before the clock struck 12, Sammy dove into the present pile like a dolphin in the deep blue, scattering boxes and bags everywhere. Carlos groaned and facepalmed, while Mikey was more than eager to follow Sammy's example. Both emerged with a red and blue present, ripping them open faster than a sugar-hyped white mage. And both almost had their eyes pop out when they saw what was inside.
"HOLY SHIT CARLOS, YOU GOT OMEGA RUBY FOR ME!" Sammy squealed with the intensity of 10 nuclear ravens. "Holyshitholyshitholyshit"
"Well, he got me Alpha Sapphire!" Mikey said, waving his copy around before tumbling out of the present pile. "Team Aqua for liiiiife!"
"No bruh you on the wrong side, it's Team Magma that's smokin"
"Sammy, you don't understand: Team Aqua. Water. EVERYWHERE!"
"BRUH FITE ME"
Mikey took Sammy by surprise when he actually took her up on her challenge, tackling her back into the pile and scattering the boxes more than they already have. Sammy was more than eager to try to pin him down, but he was agile, slippery like a fish. Carlos took a step forward to try to stop them, only to be stopped by Sol, who shook his head.
"This is one battle that you cannot win," he said. "Let them be. In the meantime, why not open presents yourself?"
Carlos stared for a moment before shrugging and picking up the gifts that were addressed for him. The others did the same, leaving only the gifts for Mikey and Sammy scattered about as they fought for who was better: Team Magma or Aqua? Carlos opened his first gift, which was from Sol, and plucked from a box a very intricately knitted green sweater, with a matching hat and gloves. "Holy crap," he said, jaw nearly dropping to the floor. "You put all this work and effort into this for me? And you even made gloves, which I needed badly!"
Sol smiled meekly and replied, "It is winter, and it does get really cold here... and it was a nice change from intentionally making ugly christmas sweaters for you."
"Wasn't that Angie's idea, anyway?" asked Carlos. Sol exchanged glances with Angie, the only thing Carlos needed to know. He said with a smile, "Well, anyway, thanks man! Really appreciate i-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH LOOK WHAT ELSE I GOT CARLOS"
In the next moment, there was something in his face. Something incredibly pink and squeaking.
Carlos couldn't help but smile as he passed them by, holding bags of groceries, gotten before the stores closed for Christmas Eve. Christmas was always a great time, even for a psychic like him. After all, there was nothing better than a snowy day to have fun and enjoy the outdoors. Well, that and have hot chocolate. With marshmallows and whipped cream. God, he could use one of those right now; he forgot to purchase gloves of all things and now his hands were freezing cold. He'd be surprised if he got home with his fingers intact-
FWUMP.
His face was suddenly cold as something smacked right into it, He could hear giggles as he wiped it off his face.
"We got him, we got him~"
"Indeed we did, Siren! Ah, yes, the look on his face... Priceless, is it not?"
Once he was done wiping the snow out of his eyes, he shot a glare at his attackers: a bard in green and red, his eyes glowing brightly under the darkness of his hood, and a fairy, dressed in blue, and somehow not freezing to death in her very short dress.
"Hardy har," said Carlos as the two grabbed each other, arm in arm, and did a jig. "Nice to see you two are getting along, but could you please not launch snowballs while I'm obviously carrying groceries?"
The fey snickered and asked, "Well, it's no fun if you know about it, is it, dear Carlos?"
"It's no fun being struck when you might get frostbite any minute, Siren," he retorted, walking past them and setting his groceries down for just a moment as he searched for his house key in his pockets. "It's cold outside, so how about you two go inside and maybe make out under an invisible mistleto-"
He stopped in midsentence and yelped, feeling snow dumped right in his pants. He turned around and saw what looked like a flying butt with hands holding his pants out as mini-sirens dumped snowballs right in. Of course, the actual Siren and her illusionist friend couldn't help but stifle a giggle.
Their giggles were soon silenced as a rain of snowballs fell upon them, barraging them mercilessly and banishing the ever-lewd butt-illusion conjured by the bard. Unfortunately, the most appropriately dressed bard couldn't handle the barrage and fell over dramatically with a thump. Siren was at his side immediately, Carlos watching the drama unfold as he got snow out of his pants.
"Ricard, no!" she cried. "My darling Ricard, are you okay? Speak to me, Ricard! Speak to me!"
The bard coughed once before saying, in a weak voice, "Siren... I am sorry. I was not strong enough to face the cold, bitter taste of defeat... The world of the dead beckons..."
"Ricard, no! Stay with me! You must stay with me, please! Don't go!
He stroked her cheek gently, eyes half closed. "Forgive me... I... Oh, gods above, I see the light! The world fades..."
His eyes closed, his breath leaving him. Siren whimpered a little before shouting out loud, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"
"Ignoring both of you," Carlos said grumpily with an eye roll, after making sure there was no extra snow shoved in awkward places, unlocking the door, and opening it up, taking one large stride in. Those two loved acting out dramatic moments just for the hell of it. One day, it might get him a ticket for being too loud in the neighborhood. He set his groceries down by the kitchen and set his hat and brown coat up on the coat hangers, letting out a relieved sigh before heading towards the living room and sitting on a reclinier. Groceries, check. Christmas tree in the corner, all decorated? Check. Cookies? Che-
Munch, munch, munch. The psychic raised an eyebrow at this mysterious noise and turned towards the kitchen. With no sign of anyone there, he stood up and took a step, preparing to check the other rooms.
Wasn't really necessary when the muncher was right beside him, dressed in a green sweater and long, black pants. With a lot of cookie crumbs on them. Kneeling by the small table where he left the cookies. The cookie thief looked up at him for a moment, their eyes locked...
" 'Sup, homie?" she asked as she polished off the last cookie.
"How long have you been here, Sammy?" Carlos asked, brushing off her question.
" "Bout 30 minutes. Was gonna surprise you but then I saw these cookies, and then I was like, 'maaan, one won't hurt'. Then I fuckin did a cookie massacre!"
"You know you're going to have to bake more to pay me back for those, right?"
Sammy stared at him before dusting off the crumbs and heading towards the kitchen, mysteriously conjuring an apron with a thunderbolt on it and scouring the cabinets for ingredients, yelling, "YO MAN SHIT'S ABOUT TO GET SAMMICAL UP IN THIS JOINT CUZ I'MMA BE BAKIN COOKIES, YO!"
Carlos wanted to roll his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile as Sammy got to work. "Try not to make too much of a mess," he said before returning to his seat and turning the TV on. "Sol and pals are coming over, and the last thing we need is something he thinks he needs to clean up."
-----------------------
"FFFFFFFFFFFFuck, I thought I had that one!"
Carlos stared in shock at the TV, which clearly showed a Captain Falcon triumphing over an Ike in Super Smash Bros.
"You need more discipline," said his opponent, crossing his arms and ignoring the chatter of a scientist and an electrokinetic over sugar cookies. "You are too quick to rapidly tap the A button, without any thought of what your opponent is up to. Use the field to your advantage, and think before you Smash."
"Well, gee, thanks Sol," Carlos said jokingly, setting his controller aside as Sammy and Angie set the living room table with dozens upon dozens of cookies. Angie was dressed up like Mrs. Claus, while Sol was dressed up as Santa. More presents were sitting under the tree, eagerly awaiting greedy hands to rip them open and find out what's inside. Siren and Ricard were conjuring illusionary mistletoes all around the room for fun, much to the confusion of everyone present. They used it as an excuse to make out passionately (or at least, Siren did!), while Mikey, wearing his trademark blue sweater and a pair of jeans, prefered to ignore tradition and instead, tried painting the happy faces of his friends on canvas.
It couldn't have gotten any better, really. Just the seven of them, having fun inside, waiting for the clock to strike 12. Carlos did ask other psychics, as well as Sammy's roommates, if they wanted to come over, but they had other plans for tonight. Oh well.
He stood up and ejected the Smash Bros disc from the Wii U and put in Mario Kart 8 before picking his controller back up again and smirking. "You may be good at Smash Bros, Sol," he said, "but do you think you have a chance in Mario Kart?"
Sol said nothing as he gripped his controller tightly, but Angie took a seat beside him and picked up another controller. "If you think you're getting away with winning against my hubby," she said with a wink, "You're going to find out the hard way that getting first even after that won't come easy!"
"Well, duuuuuh," Sammy chimed in, snatching the last controller in a flash. "That's 'cuz the RACE TRACK MASTER'S gonna fuckin' leave ya'll in the dust!"
"Sammy, you barely played this game," Carlos pointed out, unamused. "Meanwhile, I've been practicing just for this moment."
"Yeah, well, who needs practice when you're motherfuckin' SAMMY?!?"
"She has a point. Hard to be discouraged when you kicked a nearly murderfairy's butt. Or helped."
"That was more of Tenshi's doing, dear."
"True, but she still had help!"
As they picked their racers, Mikey couldn't help but peer over the couch and watch the races, laughing along with his friends as they zipped through tracks and made jabs at each other for fun. He soon went back to painting, a smile on his face as he finished everything up. Siren and Ricard started watching, too, splitting off into tinier versions of themselves and whispering not-so-helpful tips like a backseat driver. Carlos had to punt a mini-Siren off of him with his psychokinesis after she suggested "GRAB ALL THE COINS EVEN THOSE ONES ALL OF THEM" and tried to grab his controller, sending his poor racer into the drink.
In the end, though?
(Carlos: 12
Sol: 4
Angie: 19
Sammy: 1)
"Ha! Still got it!" said the perky scientist after doing a jig in her seat, Carlos dropping his controller in shock. Sol didn't seem too surprised at all, instead giving her a congratulatory hug. Sammy, being dead last, could only say one thing.
"Well, shit! Looks like I do need more practice."
"Told ya so," Carlos said, reaching over the table to grab a gingerbread cookie. He then turned to Angie and asked, "How'd you get so good at Mario Kart, anyway? I mean, I understand Metroid games and all, but Mario Kart?"
Angie smiled, wrapping her hair around her finger and making eye contact with the psychic. "Well, when you grew up with Mario Kart and the first game you ever played was Super Mario Kart... hard not to get good, am I right?"
Siren sighed dramatically after reforming herself, slapping Carlos on the shoulder. "Alas!" she said. "We should have gone for the coins from the start! Only then would victory have been ours! Oh, a sorrowful day-"
"Coins won't do jack all if you get hit by a blue shell," Carlos pointed out, standing up and checking the clock. 11:55. Man, where did all the time go? He turned towards Mikey, who was still painting, and asked, "Hey, you alright? You've been quiet the whole time you were here."
The painter turned towards his friend, eyebrow raised. "Huh? I was?"
"Yeeeeaaah. You didn't say much aside from hello and all."
"S-sorry! I just got so focused on my painting, I kind of... oops!"
Carlos peered over Mikey's shoulder and took a look at the painting. Mikey's art was as great as usual, although he clearly emphasized the cheer and joy by using bright colors. "Can't blame you, then!" the psychokinetic said with a smile, patting Mikey on the head. "You're doing a great job at what you love most. But we're about to open presents now!"
Mikey stared for a moment before setting his art supplies down. Carlos took another look at the clock. 11:59... and in another minute-
"MERRY FUCKIN CHRISTMAS YA'LL!"
Before the clock struck 12, Sammy dove into the present pile like a dolphin in the deep blue, scattering boxes and bags everywhere. Carlos groaned and facepalmed, while Mikey was more than eager to follow Sammy's example. Both emerged with a red and blue present, ripping them open faster than a sugar-hyped white mage. And both almost had their eyes pop out when they saw what was inside.
"HOLY SHIT CARLOS, YOU GOT OMEGA RUBY FOR ME!" Sammy squealed with the intensity of 10 nuclear ravens. "Holyshitholyshitholyshit"
"Well, he got me Alpha Sapphire!" Mikey said, waving his copy around before tumbling out of the present pile. "Team Aqua for liiiiife!"
"No bruh you on the wrong side, it's Team Magma that's smokin"
"Sammy, you don't understand: Team Aqua. Water. EVERYWHERE!"
"BRUH FITE ME"
Mikey took Sammy by surprise when he actually took her up on her challenge, tackling her back into the pile and scattering the boxes more than they already have. Sammy was more than eager to try to pin him down, but he was agile, slippery like a fish. Carlos took a step forward to try to stop them, only to be stopped by Sol, who shook his head.
"This is one battle that you cannot win," he said. "Let them be. In the meantime, why not open presents yourself?"
Carlos stared for a moment before shrugging and picking up the gifts that were addressed for him. The others did the same, leaving only the gifts for Mikey and Sammy scattered about as they fought for who was better: Team Magma or Aqua? Carlos opened his first gift, which was from Sol, and plucked from a box a very intricately knitted green sweater, with a matching hat and gloves. "Holy crap," he said, jaw nearly dropping to the floor. "You put all this work and effort into this for me? And you even made gloves, which I needed badly!"
Sol smiled meekly and replied, "It is winter, and it does get really cold here... and it was a nice change from intentionally making ugly christmas sweaters for you."
"Wasn't that Angie's idea, anyway?" asked Carlos. Sol exchanged glances with Angie, the only thing Carlos needed to know. He said with a smile, "Well, anyway, thanks man! Really appreciate i-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH LOOK WHAT ELSE I GOT CARLOS"
In the next moment, there was something in his face. Something incredibly pink and squeaking.
"IS A KEFFYYYYY!" squeaked Sammy. "Angie, you are the best for getting me this how did you even get this"
Angie stared for a moment before pulling out her wallet and staring inside. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She then looked up at Sammy and said, deadpan, "I sold my soul for that shiny Cleffa."
The entire room fell silent for a moment, up until Mikey opened his next gift, given by Siren: a golden trident. That shot water blasts.
Needless to say, everybody got soaked.
"Woo, one step closer to being Posiedon!" Mikey said cheerfully as he waved his new gift around. "Now, how am I going to explain this to my parents?"
The rest of the presents were swiftly opened, from Sammy's new gift of an electric guitar from Jonesy ("Oh god help us all," Carlos mumbled as Sammy played it waaaaay off key), to Carlos's gift of Final Fantasy Tactics from Sammy, ("I think it has Alex in it"), to Mikey giving everyone Steam cards ("Happy Gabenmas!"), to Ricard getting and immediately putting on the obligatory christmas sweater from Sol. Even though now he had no hood to hide his face in. No, his real face wasn't shown; his face was still covered by an ever-mysterious blob of darkness, much to the confusion of everybody but Siren.
When all the gift wrap and boxes were thrown away and everyone had a steaming mug of hot chocolate in their hands, they all laughed together and chuckled, although Ricard caught sight of one box that was not opened. "Now, what have we here?" he asked nobody in particular, sneaking from the crowd to pick it up. A quick peek at the tag showed that it was addressed to Sol.
He picked it up and waddled over to the group. "Oh, great giant one!" he said. "There was one more gift under the tree for you. Shall we open it?"
The giant in question raised an eyebrow, plucking the box from Ricard's tiny hands. He opened it up with care, all of his friends watching with curiosity. The giant smile that followed was enough to make even Ricard smile underneath the shadows. A set of DVDs sat inside, with a cutesy title. He plucked that out and pulled out another thing: A giant plush cat, dressed as a knight with a sword an shield. And in the very bottom of the box, he pulled out a letter.
Carlos tried to take a peek, but he was having trouble, even when standing on his toes. "Hey, read it out loud!" he suggested.
"Bet it's sweeter than Alex and Sarah sitting in a candy store!" Sammy commented with a grin.
Sol turned to his wife, who couldn't help but try to look as well. With a smile, he turned to the letter and began to read.
"Dear Mr. Stanton,
Thank you soooo much for all the sweaters you sent and the dolls you made! I really appreciated the gifts and loved them! The needlework is pretty impressive! I think you'd do a great job at making cosplays for people, especially kids! And thank you for all the advice you gave me when I was down. I wasn't in the best of moods, since I've had a rough week after facing all those Nightmare Gang members, and it was taking a big toll. As thanks, here's a full set of Sweet Dreams: Nightmare Fighter Kogasa for you to watch with your friends! And have a copy of my favorite plush in the whole wide world: Guardian Cat, a cat you can trust to guard your belongings! Made by expert dollmakers and stuffed to the brim with sugar, spice, everything nice, and especially love~!
I'm just sad I can't send gifts to your friends, too! :S Either way, I hope you have a great Christmas and a happy New Year! And tell your friends I said hi!
With Love,
Kogasa Yamamoto~
P.S. Don't let any bully dictate who you should be! Belive in yourself! And know that your special someone loves you for who you are~ <3"
The room fell silent for a moment, Sol blushing harder than ever. It was Sammy who broke the silence after it lingered on for too long and said, "Guess you're BFFs with a Magical Girl! That's our Sol, cheerin' up anybody he makes friends with! And she's a star, to boot, ain't she?"
"That's just how he is!" Angie said with a grin. "Always looking out for others! A gentle giant~"
"A-A-Angie," said Sol, even more embarassed when his wife spoke, his heart fluttering in his chest.
"Well, it's true!"
"We're all like that, though," Mikey added, grabbing a cookie from off the table and taking a bite. "We all look out for each other, like a team!"
"Pretty much," said Carlos, taking a seat in his recliner and setting up his TV for a movie. "We've been through a lot and have to watch each other's backs, you know? Especially with things getting crazier in the Feywild. Christmas is just the best time for us to relax and bond without punching a fairy in the face."
"Ah, yes! The best time of year for bonding and gifts and love and oh, I cannot take it!"
In one fell swoop, Siren exploded with joy. And by that, we meant that she exploded into several mini Sirens, floating down on parachutes to hug everything they came into contact with, even little Cleffa. Sammy and Mikey couldn't help but grin and hug back, while Angie gathered them up and let them sit on top of her head. They all noticed that Carlos was setting up and squeezed themselves onto the couch. Sammy picked up her new Cleffa and held onto her on her lap, as Carlos used his powers to turn off most of the lights and prepared to press play.
And as The Nightmare Before Christmas played on the screen, Sammy held Cleffa close and whispered, "Best. Christmas. Ever."
"Keff~!"
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Character Development Infodump: More 365 Days of Sin Crew!/Levians
I CANNOT STOP CREATING CHARACTERS SAVE ME
Oh, yes, Levians! These are probably the oldest characters that survived with not much change, the idea for them arising from even before ZFRP. I stopped using them after 2011 (or planned to) because I sort of dislike using characters that won't get much character development after the main stuff is gone. However, since I'm trying to tie the Levians to the Orionians via Sinplot (for a common goal!) and Xavier being a thing for realsies, they'll get more char development for sure! YAAAAAAAAAAAY
except for garnet, garnet's too busy being awesome all on her own (and with pech)
365 DAYS OF SIN
-------------------------------
TINA HARMONICA- NUNCCUBUS WITH A BUTT...CCUBUS
I never expected her to be so fun to write. Started off as just Scarlet's sidekick, and now she turns out to be an accountant, full of white magic, and also with more dakka and excitement than ever before. One of my friends says that she reminds him of Flonne, and I guess... well... maybe she IS Flonne?
Well, Flonne if she had a chest and bounty hunts and isn't THAT naive.
She's pretty much Sarah, with a love for helping others, a knack for money, a love for sweets (though not to the extent of our dear, lovable white mage), and a possibly unhealthy obsession with anything that is adorable. She loves having fun (on a budget) and loves love and especially enjoys time spent with her superior, Scarlet.
In a way, she's probably the one that is most succubus out of the trio: she's more likely to use her innate succubus powers to her advantage. Hypnotism, life drain, sexy heal? You got it! She also has a collection of guns for just about every situation. Her favorite one is her treasured gattling gun, dubbed, "Storm of Love". Or "Sexy Dakka." Or something.
Personal preference of guys and gals? You gotta have the booty, or get out. :I
"ERZA SCARLET" - CONQUERER OF MORE THAN JUST THE BED
Came about when I wanted to RP a succubus. A buff one. And also RP as Erza Scarlet without actually BEING her.
I cheated, I admit. And so, this Scarlet came about. Thrilled for a challenge and probably a ton of booze, she's the kind of do-gooder that prefers slaying demons than to help grow crops, unless growing crops involves draining the blood of your enemies onto the soil. She's the commander of the succubus trio, with more power than her counterparts and possibly the least succubus-like of them all. She has the tail and black, pointed horns, matching her usual armor, but she rarely, if ever, uses her innate succubus powers for anything. She's more prone to doing what Erza does: relying on her own strength and her armor/weapon changing abilities to bring even the toughest enemies down.
She gets terribly disappointed when a supposed challenge isn't a challenge at all, and would probably fit in better with the Kobber life. Collateral damage? Eh, whatever. She also isn't very money-conscious, only searching for bounties that are "worth her time" and not really paying attention to her bank accounts. Of course, when she usually finds a good bounty, there's good money to be had anyway. Loud, hearty, not afraid to put her feelings on the table half the time. A pretty good leader, and strong enough to wield Ash like a sword. :D
In a Harvest Moon game, you better fucking give her protein shakes and work out cuz she ain't accepting no toothpick motherfucker
"SORA" - MAGECCUBUS WITH A CHEST...CCUBUS
When there is a white mage, there is a black mage. The Celestia to Tina's Helios. Not really, I think Tina's more of a Celestia than Sora is...
I can't say I developed her much, but I what I was going for her was more "scholarly, yet hyperactive succubus mage". She's sort of the brainiac that would probably gladly spew random trivia about Mario games at people and the most likely to play strip Mario Party on a rainy day. Strangely, her main weapon are claws. Usually embues them with magical power for devestating effects, aiming for weak points and using her speed and agility to her advantage. Always helps to be a speedy black mage! Though that would make her a biiit of a glass cannon... Guess that's why Scarlet's there to take heat off of her and Tina's there to buff her up.
She was also implied to be a bit of a fashionista, commenting on things that went out of style and such. She's the one usually searching for bounties and the proud owner of the Succubus crew cat, "Whiskers". The most likely to have a messy room. She mostly relies on magic that isn't innately learned, but she does use some offensive magic occassionally. Her horns are probably hidden in her hair, near her ears. Possibly.
The chest is where it's at with this succubus, and she is strictly into women. Strictly.
KEVIN MOORE/KOGASA YAMAMOTO - MAGICAL GIRL EXTRODINAIRE/DONUT HUNTER
Ah, yes, a reworked character! Let me tell ye a story, a story where this guy was actually named "Kazuki Moriyama". He was supposed to be a summoner-type, a snarky, pervy guy who was supposedly clever. Supposedly. Also had a fondness of dragons and had some demon form yadda yadda... yeah I made him when I was like 13 or something.
Alas, I did not use him! And so, he pops into my head every once in a while, screaming "USE ME". I forget what exactly triggered my urge to actually use him and transform him into a beautiful magical girl, but hey, at least he's being used, right?
He's a giant, giant dork who enjoys cosplaying and owns two ferrets, sort of based off Ivel's pets: Marco the ferret, and Lucy the dog(...ferret). Named after them, anyway. He's relatively calm, loves a good adventure, and got into anime due to Sailor Moon and other Magical Girl animes like it His moms were more than happy to let him get whatever he'd like, so usually the toy box was filled with a mix of Legos, Barbies, and action figures. He does a lot of research at home, too, mostly just for fun and to make sure he's up to date with the latest news. Sometimes, though, it could lead to shopping sprees for more plushes than most people can afford.
Good thing he's an actor, eh?
Well, being a magical girl ain't easy. So many standards to fit, including staying in a certain weight range. Not only that, he has to make sure that... well, he isn't outed as a guy, as the parents of kids who watch the show... Well, it wouldn't end well. Stressful, stressful work, enough to develop an anxiety disorder. Appearances matter the most, so underneath all that calm, all that love and kindness, is a guy who can't stop worrying so much about what others think of him. He doesn't have much of a spine to stand up to people as a result, and results in a lot of "doormatting".
I guess I put more of myself into him, but eh...
Some quirks is that he has completely white hair and very pale skin as a result of albinism, although he doesn't have red eyes. (That's pretty rare in reality!) He has to be careful with all his make up and everything, making sure to wear plenty of sunscreen when he's going out to avoid a sunburn. He also pretty bad vision, so thick glasses are always needed. He hates contacts, as they bother his eyes a lot, but he does wear them when he's acting as Kogasa.
He has the power to manipulate any weasel-like being. And by that, I mean stoats and ferrets and such. He's not exactly sure where he got it from, but hey, it's nice to make sure that his ferrets don't go digging through the kitchen for snacks and stuff! In addition, in order to be less useless in battle, he can also randomly gain up to two other powers at will. Nobody said it had to be good ones, though! And in case he gets into a hairy situation involving close combat, he did play baseball for a while...
You guys can probably tell I put a little too much effort/thought in this character, so he miiight be used? Maybe. I kinda like him for who he is. I might trim down on some stuff as to not make him the "author's pet".
Also, coconut donuts are his favorite food in the world. FAVOOOORIIIITE.
------------------------------
LEVIANS
------------------------
ALEXANDER TRIDEN - WARRIOR OF EARTH, MAY BE SMALLER THAN HE APPEARS
The ever lovable, short, idiot-hair extraordinare! Lover of sweets and cooking, sort of gullible, and soft-spoken! Also loves Sarah very much, thank you.
I know I spoke about him before long, long ago, but this is just a reminder that he hasn't changed much. He's still immortal (that he wants to do something about), still has his horse Shelby, and still as optimistic as ever. He tries to see the good in everything, and while that got him into trouble before when he was going up against the likes of Yursarsh and pals, that certainly doesn't stop him now!
Excalibur is still the weapon of choice, but he does have Ultima Weapon to Dual Wield for a nuclear option. Fisticuffs are also acceptable. But really, he just enjoys helping out in Levia these days, fixing up what was broken and delivering food to the people with some of Sarah's help. Healing the sick and wounded was also important! He wouldn't mind working as a janitor again, though.
But oh no, a dragon has appeared! Whatever shall he do? Good thing he has some help in the form of...
XAVIER DEAN - SCARLET TEMPEST, TIMID TIGER
The scholarly, even more soft-spoken, timid Xavier! Living to spite the one who would enjoy his death the most, this librarian lived a relatively quiet life in his library, writing books about the monsters of Levia and various myths, and making sure everybody has access to the knowledge accumulated over several millenia. He originally wanted to be a cleric, but the winds of change and the death of his family at the hands of the Orochi made him change into a black mage, fascinated with fire. His pyromania was pretty bad, resulting in more than just enemies burned to a crisp. His fascination with fire and repeatedly channeling it through his hands rather than his staff resulted in his trademark burn wounds on his right arm, to the point where he can hardly feel anything with that hand anymore.
Needless to say, training to become left-handed was pretty hard.
His Mask of Lies makes him more bold, but he becomes a rather rude braggart who swears like a sailor. He spent most of his adventure with Alex and pals with this mask on, leading them into more trouble. Nothing they couldn't eventually handle, granted, but Alex had to reign him in every once in a while. He was the Id to Alex's "Ego", for the most part.
Now? He still has remnants of being unable to trust, a scar left by the conniving Orochi. He doesn't want to burden his friends with troubles he got himself into, and so goes off to handle things solo with powerful elemental magicks and Time Magic without telling anyone. Will that keep flying? Probably not.
And he's so skinny! Sarah is going to fix that, though. Oh yes, she is going to fix that problem rather nicely.
EAT YOUR DAMN COOKIES XAV
Stella and Garnet are not mentioned yet because I forgot a looot of shit about them.
The most important thing is lolraincake
Oh, yes, Levians! These are probably the oldest characters that survived with not much change, the idea for them arising from even before ZFRP. I stopped using them after 2011 (or planned to) because I sort of dislike using characters that won't get much character development after the main stuff is gone. However, since I'm trying to tie the Levians to the Orionians via Sinplot (for a common goal!) and Xavier being a thing for realsies, they'll get more char development for sure! YAAAAAAAAAAAY
except for garnet, garnet's too busy being awesome all on her own (and with pech)
365 DAYS OF SIN
-------------------------------
TINA HARMONICA- NUNCCUBUS WITH A BUTT...CCUBUS
I never expected her to be so fun to write. Started off as just Scarlet's sidekick, and now she turns out to be an accountant, full of white magic, and also with more dakka and excitement than ever before. One of my friends says that she reminds him of Flonne, and I guess... well... maybe she IS Flonne?
Well, Flonne if she had a chest and bounty hunts and isn't THAT naive.
She's pretty much Sarah, with a love for helping others, a knack for money, a love for sweets (though not to the extent of our dear, lovable white mage), and a possibly unhealthy obsession with anything that is adorable. She loves having fun (on a budget) and loves love and especially enjoys time spent with her superior, Scarlet.
In a way, she's probably the one that is most succubus out of the trio: she's more likely to use her innate succubus powers to her advantage. Hypnotism, life drain, sexy heal? You got it! She also has a collection of guns for just about every situation. Her favorite one is her treasured gattling gun, dubbed, "Storm of Love". Or "Sexy Dakka." Or something.
Personal preference of guys and gals? You gotta have the booty, or get out. :I
"ERZA SCARLET" - CONQUERER OF MORE THAN JUST THE BED
Came about when I wanted to RP a succubus. A buff one. And also RP as Erza Scarlet without actually BEING her.
I cheated, I admit. And so, this Scarlet came about. Thrilled for a challenge and probably a ton of booze, she's the kind of do-gooder that prefers slaying demons than to help grow crops, unless growing crops involves draining the blood of your enemies onto the soil. She's the commander of the succubus trio, with more power than her counterparts and possibly the least succubus-like of them all. She has the tail and black, pointed horns, matching her usual armor, but she rarely, if ever, uses her innate succubus powers for anything. She's more prone to doing what Erza does: relying on her own strength and her armor/weapon changing abilities to bring even the toughest enemies down.
She gets terribly disappointed when a supposed challenge isn't a challenge at all, and would probably fit in better with the Kobber life. Collateral damage? Eh, whatever. She also isn't very money-conscious, only searching for bounties that are "worth her time" and not really paying attention to her bank accounts. Of course, when she usually finds a good bounty, there's good money to be had anyway. Loud, hearty, not afraid to put her feelings on the table half the time. A pretty good leader, and strong enough to wield Ash like a sword. :D
In a Harvest Moon game, you better fucking give her protein shakes and work out cuz she ain't accepting no toothpick motherfucker
"SORA" - MAGECCUBUS WITH A CHEST...CCUBUS
When there is a white mage, there is a black mage. The Celestia to Tina's Helios. Not really, I think Tina's more of a Celestia than Sora is...
I can't say I developed her much, but I what I was going for her was more "scholarly, yet hyperactive succubus mage". She's sort of the brainiac that would probably gladly spew random trivia about Mario games at people and the most likely to play strip Mario Party on a rainy day. Strangely, her main weapon are claws. Usually embues them with magical power for devestating effects, aiming for weak points and using her speed and agility to her advantage. Always helps to be a speedy black mage! Though that would make her a biiit of a glass cannon... Guess that's why Scarlet's there to take heat off of her and Tina's there to buff her up.
She was also implied to be a bit of a fashionista, commenting on things that went out of style and such. She's the one usually searching for bounties and the proud owner of the Succubus crew cat, "Whiskers". The most likely to have a messy room. She mostly relies on magic that isn't innately learned, but she does use some offensive magic occassionally. Her horns are probably hidden in her hair, near her ears. Possibly.
The chest is where it's at with this succubus, and she is strictly into women. Strictly.
KEVIN MOORE/KOGASA YAMAMOTO - MAGICAL GIRL EXTRODINAIRE/DONUT HUNTER
Ah, yes, a reworked character! Let me tell ye a story, a story where this guy was actually named "Kazuki Moriyama". He was supposed to be a summoner-type, a snarky, pervy guy who was supposedly clever. Supposedly. Also had a fondness of dragons and had some demon form yadda yadda... yeah I made him when I was like 13 or something.
Alas, I did not use him! And so, he pops into my head every once in a while, screaming "USE ME". I forget what exactly triggered my urge to actually use him and transform him into a beautiful magical girl, but hey, at least he's being used, right?
He's a giant, giant dork who enjoys cosplaying and owns two ferrets, sort of based off Ivel's pets: Marco the ferret, and Lucy the dog(...ferret). Named after them, anyway. He's relatively calm, loves a good adventure, and got into anime due to Sailor Moon and other Magical Girl animes like it His moms were more than happy to let him get whatever he'd like, so usually the toy box was filled with a mix of Legos, Barbies, and action figures. He does a lot of research at home, too, mostly just for fun and to make sure he's up to date with the latest news. Sometimes, though, it could lead to shopping sprees for more plushes than most people can afford.
Good thing he's an actor, eh?
Well, being a magical girl ain't easy. So many standards to fit, including staying in a certain weight range. Not only that, he has to make sure that... well, he isn't outed as a guy, as the parents of kids who watch the show... Well, it wouldn't end well. Stressful, stressful work, enough to develop an anxiety disorder. Appearances matter the most, so underneath all that calm, all that love and kindness, is a guy who can't stop worrying so much about what others think of him. He doesn't have much of a spine to stand up to people as a result, and results in a lot of "doormatting".
I guess I put more of myself into him, but eh...
Some quirks is that he has completely white hair and very pale skin as a result of albinism, although he doesn't have red eyes. (That's pretty rare in reality!) He has to be careful with all his make up and everything, making sure to wear plenty of sunscreen when he's going out to avoid a sunburn. He also pretty bad vision, so thick glasses are always needed. He hates contacts, as they bother his eyes a lot, but he does wear them when he's acting as Kogasa.
He has the power to manipulate any weasel-like being. And by that, I mean stoats and ferrets and such. He's not exactly sure where he got it from, but hey, it's nice to make sure that his ferrets don't go digging through the kitchen for snacks and stuff! In addition, in order to be less useless in battle, he can also randomly gain up to two other powers at will. Nobody said it had to be good ones, though! And in case he gets into a hairy situation involving close combat, he did play baseball for a while...
You guys can probably tell I put a little too much effort/thought in this character, so he miiight be used? Maybe. I kinda like him for who he is. I might trim down on some stuff as to not make him the "author's pet".
Also, coconut donuts are his favorite food in the world. FAVOOOORIIIITE.
------------------------------
LEVIANS
------------------------
ALEXANDER TRIDEN - WARRIOR OF EARTH, MAY BE SMALLER THAN HE APPEARS
The ever lovable, short, idiot-hair extraordinare! Lover of sweets and cooking, sort of gullible, and soft-spoken! Also loves Sarah very much, thank you.
I know I spoke about him before long, long ago, but this is just a reminder that he hasn't changed much. He's still immortal (that he wants to do something about), still has his horse Shelby, and still as optimistic as ever. He tries to see the good in everything, and while that got him into trouble before when he was going up against the likes of Yursarsh and pals, that certainly doesn't stop him now!
Excalibur is still the weapon of choice, but he does have Ultima Weapon to Dual Wield for a nuclear option. Fisticuffs are also acceptable. But really, he just enjoys helping out in Levia these days, fixing up what was broken and delivering food to the people with some of Sarah's help. Healing the sick and wounded was also important! He wouldn't mind working as a janitor again, though.
But oh no, a dragon has appeared! Whatever shall he do? Good thing he has some help in the form of...
XAVIER DEAN - SCARLET TEMPEST, TIMID TIGER
The scholarly, even more soft-spoken, timid Xavier! Living to spite the one who would enjoy his death the most, this librarian lived a relatively quiet life in his library, writing books about the monsters of Levia and various myths, and making sure everybody has access to the knowledge accumulated over several millenia. He originally wanted to be a cleric, but the winds of change and the death of his family at the hands of the Orochi made him change into a black mage, fascinated with fire. His pyromania was pretty bad, resulting in more than just enemies burned to a crisp. His fascination with fire and repeatedly channeling it through his hands rather than his staff resulted in his trademark burn wounds on his right arm, to the point where he can hardly feel anything with that hand anymore.
Needless to say, training to become left-handed was pretty hard.
His Mask of Lies makes him more bold, but he becomes a rather rude braggart who swears like a sailor. He spent most of his adventure with Alex and pals with this mask on, leading them into more trouble. Nothing they couldn't eventually handle, granted, but Alex had to reign him in every once in a while. He was the Id to Alex's "Ego", for the most part.
Now? He still has remnants of being unable to trust, a scar left by the conniving Orochi. He doesn't want to burden his friends with troubles he got himself into, and so goes off to handle things solo with powerful elemental magicks and Time Magic without telling anyone. Will that keep flying? Probably not.
And he's so skinny! Sarah is going to fix that, though. Oh yes, she is going to fix that problem rather nicely.
EAT YOUR DAMN COOKIES XAV
Stella and Garnet are not mentioned yet because I forgot a looot of shit about them.
The most important thing is lolraincake
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Time with Friends (Levia)
Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
The grandfather clock's pendulum swung to and fro, the librarian keeping a keen eye on the Prinnies that had no doubt invited themselves after Sophia and Princess Parfait told them about it. How the demons of another world managed to come here to Levia so freely, he wasn't sure, but he didn't mind too much. At least, not yet. They seemed to be goofing off more than they were reading: spinning in place, making faces at each other, falling asleep. Only three seemed to do any active reading: one in a yellow scarf, oggling at a Sports Illustrated magazine; another in a suit and shades, turning the pages of a massive calculus book frantically and writing down notes on a piece of paper; and one that... well, she didn't look like a penguin, but she had a magical girl-esque uniform, complete with a jacket and hat that looked much like a Prinny's... hide.
She was pretty engrossed in her book about animal anatomy. Xavier could only guess she was about 16, just from looks alone. Guessing her true age, if she was a prinny like the others, would be more difficult. She seemed to be enjoying herself as much as the others, so he didn't bother interupting her. Instead, he turned his attention towards the Vegas brochure he got from Alex and Sarah, enjoying the pretty pictures of neon lights and giant casinos.
For a brief moment, he smiled before he heard the door open, and two really familiar voices.
"Eeeeee, is this the place? It's huge! Gloria would love it in here! Oh, I can't wait to tell Xavier about Shelby and Manhattan and all the food we baked for him and-"
"Sarah, one thing at a time! I'm a bit concern about parking the Cossack Catcher outside; everybody is staring at it... I think they're convinced it's some sort of demon."
"Oh no! We'll just have to explain about that later! But hurry, hurry, I don't want him to eat the cookies we baked all cold! Nothing's worse than a really cold cookie.
...Unless it's cookie dough ice cream! Yum~! Ooh, I think I see him over there!"
Before Xavier could even blink, books were moved off his desk as baskets full of cookies, wrapped in plastic and tied up, were plopped on. The kind white mage and her paladin companion, Sarah and Alex Triden, left more gifts than he'd ever imagined. Ursula above, just how many baskets of baked goods did they have? Three, four, five...
"Hiiiii, Xavier!" Sarah said cheerfully as she set down a sixth basket, this time with brownies. "We brought you a lot of food, since we made a lot!"
"And by a lot," Alex added with a tinge of embarassment, "we mean a lot. We kind of went overboard with baking, and before we knew it, we were wrapping it up and decided to visit. Sorry for dropping by without so much a warning."
Xavier oggled at all the gifts before saying in a quiet voice, "O-oh, don't worry, don't worry at all! And thank you for all the gifts, although I don't think I could possibly eat them all..."
"You could always eat a few a day," said Alex as his mage friend opened up a bag of chocolate chip cookies and took a small bite out of one. "But nevermind that! How have you been, Xavier?"
"Never better, I suppose." Nibble, nibble. Chew, chew. "I still haven't found Envy's whereabouts yet, and so recovering the artifacts will be harder than I thought..." Another bite as his mouth twisted into a frown. "I was hoping to recover them sooner rather than later, but alas... I've also been looking into Vegas a little, since it does have a reputation for being called 'Sin City'..."
Alex shook his head with a smile as Sarah wandered around the library for a few moments to pick books off the shelves. "Haven't changed a bit, have you?" he asked. "Duty always on the mind, never taking a moment to relax."
The mage crossed his arms, looking rather cross for a moment before sighing and slumping down onto his desk. "I-I-I guess. It's my fault that the artifacts were stolen, and I have to get them back, before... before..."
"Don't worry!" Sarah, returning with cookbooks about baking monster-sized cakes, couldn't help but pipe up."We'll help you find them, and even if they do do something awful with them, we'll just set them straight! That's how we've always done it, even back in 2011, right Alex?"
"Definitely!" the tiny knight agreed, pumping his fist up in the air. "There was a lot of action in 2011, and we handled it all pretty well, even if some of it was pretty dreadful! Although..." The knight put a finger to his chin, puzzled, as he added, "I'm not quite sure if we solved the mystery of just why that sheep made a mess of my apartment..."
"Oh, yeah! That reminds me: Xavier, we never told you about the super evil guy, the Lord! He was the worst, almost on par with Pestus! Maybe even worse! He kept bothering us and corrupted people and-"
"Didn't it take the great efforts of WALL to help take him down?"
"Yeah, before he got defeated by the power of friendship~!"
Xavier stared at the two in shock, shamelessly whacking away the prinnies that caught sight of the cookie gifts and attempted to sneak them away. "G...go back for a moment: What did you say about a wall defeating this ultimate evil?"
And so, both white mage and tiny knight worked together to explain just how exactly the Lord showed up and made life pretty horrible in Manhattan 3 years ago, and explained just what happened in that fateful fight. Xavier listened intently to their talk, even as they sometimes veered off topic and spoke of different adventures that happened in 2011, and even went on to talk about Zoofights itself, the main reason they were all drawn to Manhattan. The prinny girl caught wind of it and sat close to the couple and their friend, swinging her legs back and forth as she followed along. Soon enough, they had a crowd of prinnies listening in about Jonesy and Erebus, Sine and Zephyrus, Oceanus and Widow Maker, and many, many more of the old guard Kobbers that protected Manhattan from harm.
When their tales ended, Sarah said with glee, "And now, everybody else carries on the tradition of beating up baddies and hanging out every six months, from May to October! We're all gonna meet up again next May in Vegas, and we're gonna same thing, and we're gonna have a ton of fun!"
"And it may be best to get as much rest and relaxation now," said Alex, "It becomes terribly hectic during the season, and we'll be dealing with more than just the Sins. I doubt they'll do anything so soon after Pestus was dealt with." And with a smile, he added, "So don't worry, alright, Xav?"
Xavier opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it quickly. Hard to argue against any of that. Instead, he contented himself by nibbling on another cookie. The idiot hair couple smiled for a moment before they could hear distinct yelling outside. Before the trio could react, some of the prinnies waddled towards the windows, taking a peek outside.
One such prinny turned to the group, flailing about and saying, "Doods! Doods! We just saw a dragon! A huge, black dragon! Like, dood, that's rarer than finding a Lugia!"
Xavier and Alex turned to each other, both pale as a sheet. Noticing this, Sarah couldn't help but ask, "Um, you guys? You look like ghosts! What's wrong?"
The two exchanged glances and started whispering in each other's ear, ignoring the pink prinny girl that leaned in to listen. When they were done, it was Xavier who spoke out loud first.
"U-Um.... Sarah? You know how in many cultures, a black cat is bad luck?"
"Yeah, although I don't see why. They're so cute! I think Antoniette has one..."
"Well," Alex spoke nervously, his idiot hair drooping like a sad flower, "black dragons are kind of like that for us, since they're so rare... "
"Usually, they stick to the shadows... caves and stuff. To see that one is active and outside..."
Sarah and the Prinny girl tilted their head simultaneously, confused. Alex and Xavier paused for a moment before they spoke in unison with fear in their voice.
"Something's wrong, and we're going to find out about it, one way or another!"
The grandfather clock's pendulum swung to and fro, the librarian keeping a keen eye on the Prinnies that had no doubt invited themselves after Sophia and Princess Parfait told them about it. How the demons of another world managed to come here to Levia so freely, he wasn't sure, but he didn't mind too much. At least, not yet. They seemed to be goofing off more than they were reading: spinning in place, making faces at each other, falling asleep. Only three seemed to do any active reading: one in a yellow scarf, oggling at a Sports Illustrated magazine; another in a suit and shades, turning the pages of a massive calculus book frantically and writing down notes on a piece of paper; and one that... well, she didn't look like a penguin, but she had a magical girl-esque uniform, complete with a jacket and hat that looked much like a Prinny's... hide.
She was pretty engrossed in her book about animal anatomy. Xavier could only guess she was about 16, just from looks alone. Guessing her true age, if she was a prinny like the others, would be more difficult. She seemed to be enjoying herself as much as the others, so he didn't bother interupting her. Instead, he turned his attention towards the Vegas brochure he got from Alex and Sarah, enjoying the pretty pictures of neon lights and giant casinos.
For a brief moment, he smiled before he heard the door open, and two really familiar voices.
"Eeeeee, is this the place? It's huge! Gloria would love it in here! Oh, I can't wait to tell Xavier about Shelby and Manhattan and all the food we baked for him and-"
"Sarah, one thing at a time! I'm a bit concern about parking the Cossack Catcher outside; everybody is staring at it... I think they're convinced it's some sort of demon."
"Oh no! We'll just have to explain about that later! But hurry, hurry, I don't want him to eat the cookies we baked all cold! Nothing's worse than a really cold cookie.
...Unless it's cookie dough ice cream! Yum~! Ooh, I think I see him over there!"
Before Xavier could even blink, books were moved off his desk as baskets full of cookies, wrapped in plastic and tied up, were plopped on. The kind white mage and her paladin companion, Sarah and Alex Triden, left more gifts than he'd ever imagined. Ursula above, just how many baskets of baked goods did they have? Three, four, five...
"Hiiiii, Xavier!" Sarah said cheerfully as she set down a sixth basket, this time with brownies. "We brought you a lot of food, since we made a lot!"
"And by a lot," Alex added with a tinge of embarassment, "we mean a lot. We kind of went overboard with baking, and before we knew it, we were wrapping it up and decided to visit. Sorry for dropping by without so much a warning."
Xavier oggled at all the gifts before saying in a quiet voice, "O-oh, don't worry, don't worry at all! And thank you for all the gifts, although I don't think I could possibly eat them all..."
"You could always eat a few a day," said Alex as his mage friend opened up a bag of chocolate chip cookies and took a small bite out of one. "But nevermind that! How have you been, Xavier?"
"Never better, I suppose." Nibble, nibble. Chew, chew. "I still haven't found Envy's whereabouts yet, and so recovering the artifacts will be harder than I thought..." Another bite as his mouth twisted into a frown. "I was hoping to recover them sooner rather than later, but alas... I've also been looking into Vegas a little, since it does have a reputation for being called 'Sin City'..."
Alex shook his head with a smile as Sarah wandered around the library for a few moments to pick books off the shelves. "Haven't changed a bit, have you?" he asked. "Duty always on the mind, never taking a moment to relax."
The mage crossed his arms, looking rather cross for a moment before sighing and slumping down onto his desk. "I-I-I guess. It's my fault that the artifacts were stolen, and I have to get them back, before... before..."
"Don't worry!" Sarah, returning with cookbooks about baking monster-sized cakes, couldn't help but pipe up."We'll help you find them, and even if they do do something awful with them, we'll just set them straight! That's how we've always done it, even back in 2011, right Alex?"
"Definitely!" the tiny knight agreed, pumping his fist up in the air. "There was a lot of action in 2011, and we handled it all pretty well, even if some of it was pretty dreadful! Although..." The knight put a finger to his chin, puzzled, as he added, "I'm not quite sure if we solved the mystery of just why that sheep made a mess of my apartment..."
"Oh, yeah! That reminds me: Xavier, we never told you about the super evil guy, the Lord! He was the worst, almost on par with Pestus! Maybe even worse! He kept bothering us and corrupted people and-"
"Didn't it take the great efforts of WALL to help take him down?"
"Yeah, before he got defeated by the power of friendship~!"
Xavier stared at the two in shock, shamelessly whacking away the prinnies that caught sight of the cookie gifts and attempted to sneak them away. "G...go back for a moment: What did you say about a wall defeating this ultimate evil?"
And so, both white mage and tiny knight worked together to explain just how exactly the Lord showed up and made life pretty horrible in Manhattan 3 years ago, and explained just what happened in that fateful fight. Xavier listened intently to their talk, even as they sometimes veered off topic and spoke of different adventures that happened in 2011, and even went on to talk about Zoofights itself, the main reason they were all drawn to Manhattan. The prinny girl caught wind of it and sat close to the couple and their friend, swinging her legs back and forth as she followed along. Soon enough, they had a crowd of prinnies listening in about Jonesy and Erebus, Sine and Zephyrus, Oceanus and Widow Maker, and many, many more of the old guard Kobbers that protected Manhattan from harm.
When their tales ended, Sarah said with glee, "And now, everybody else carries on the tradition of beating up baddies and hanging out every six months, from May to October! We're all gonna meet up again next May in Vegas, and we're gonna same thing, and we're gonna have a ton of fun!"
"And it may be best to get as much rest and relaxation now," said Alex, "It becomes terribly hectic during the season, and we'll be dealing with more than just the Sins. I doubt they'll do anything so soon after Pestus was dealt with." And with a smile, he added, "So don't worry, alright, Xav?"
Xavier opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it quickly. Hard to argue against any of that. Instead, he contented himself by nibbling on another cookie. The idiot hair couple smiled for a moment before they could hear distinct yelling outside. Before the trio could react, some of the prinnies waddled towards the windows, taking a peek outside.
One such prinny turned to the group, flailing about and saying, "Doods! Doods! We just saw a dragon! A huge, black dragon! Like, dood, that's rarer than finding a Lugia!"
Xavier and Alex turned to each other, both pale as a sheet. Noticing this, Sarah couldn't help but ask, "Um, you guys? You look like ghosts! What's wrong?"
The two exchanged glances and started whispering in each other's ear, ignoring the pink prinny girl that leaned in to listen. When they were done, it was Xavier who spoke out loud first.
"U-Um.... Sarah? You know how in many cultures, a black cat is bad luck?"
"Yeah, although I don't see why. They're so cute! I think Antoniette has one..."
"Well," Alex spoke nervously, his idiot hair drooping like a sad flower, "black dragons are kind of like that for us, since they're so rare... "
"Usually, they stick to the shadows... caves and stuff. To see that one is active and outside..."
Sarah and the Prinny girl tilted their head simultaneously, confused. Alex and Xavier paused for a moment before they spoke in unison with fear in their voice.
"Something's wrong, and we're going to find out about it, one way or another!"
Monday, December 8, 2014
A Demon's Grand Adventure, Chapter 6: Old Han's Gymnasium
-----OLD HAN'S GYMNASIUM-----
Ring, ring. Click.
"Yo, Scarlet here. Sup?"
"Hii, it's me, Tina! Guess whaaaat~?"
"You kidnapped puppies while you were out?"
"It was pretty tempting, but no. Guess again!"
"Found a nice AK-47 that shoots out lightning bolt bullets?"
"I wish! One more try!"
"Damn girl, this is tricky... hmm... Found a short knight to date?"
"Closer..."
"He's really short?"
"Hey, don't be mean! He's not that short!"
"Ohoho, guess you're putting your cute aura to work, huh? Well, good on ya to find a date, whoever he is. Or she is. I forget your preferences. But aren't ya supposed to be busy?"
"Well, I am busy, Scarlet!
....Busy getting married to Satoshi~! Listen to those wedding bells ring! Ooh, it's my turn, sorry I couldn't make you my bridesmaid so soon! I'll talk to you laaater!"
Click. The phone dropped to the ground with a thud, catching the attention of every workout-aholic in the room. The buffcubus turned to her dullahan companion, who was busy drinking one particularly huge bottle of a protein shake, while his prinnies tried lifting dumbells.
"Oi, cheesehead."
The dullahan's head twisted 180 degrees, towards her.
"Yeeeeesss?"
"You're responsible for paying off Satoshi's and Tina's honeymoon vacation spot now."
He stared, his grip on the protein shake loosening.
"Please tell me you're joking."
"Nah, she just called me. They're getting hitched, and I'll be damned if I don't buy all those wedding gifts! Need to get me a good wedding dress too..." The succubus looked down on herself, then added, "Probably tailored. I'm stupid tall and nobody makes things in my size."
The shake dropped, Gonzales zipping over and catching it before it hit the ground. Gluttony paled, his jaw slack from shock.
"Th-th-that's not fair!" he whined, his small hair antennae drooping like wilted flowers. "I was the one who wanted to go with Satoshi there and get lucky with him! That's... that's... Ooooh, that sneaky little Tina!"
He puffed his cheeks up in anger while Scarlet gave him a blank stare.
"Soooo... you're gay for Satoshi?"
"No," Gluttony admitted,"but my, it would have been quite an opportunity to tease him! If I had known you had to get hitched to get anywhere in there, I would have went in a heartbeat, ohohoho~"
"Well, good for you, but you're still paying for the honeymoon, right?"
Gluttony stared back at her.
"Me? Don't be ridiculous. The most I'm paying for is their catering service!"
Some gym enthusists looked on in wonder as Scarlet proceeded to crack her knuckles... and every other part of her body. All with a smile on her face.
"Oh, sorry, didn't hear ya," she said cheerfully. "You said you'd pay for honeymoon.... right?"
The dullahan opened his mouth to oppose, but when Scarlet cracked her knuckles again, he broke into a sweat and said, voice a little shaky, "Oh, yes, of course! Five-star resorts, complete with indoor water parks!" He then added with a glare, "You're going to owe me big time, though, my darling Scarlet."
"The only thing I owe you is a knuckle sandwich," she grumbled in response, putting away her phone in a pocket and doing a few stretches before walking around the gym. Treadmills, stationary bikes, and weights were everywhere, with TVs blaring about sports teams and wrestling. Scrawny cat demons did wimpy excuses for squats over yoga mats while big, buff elephant men grappled each other with their trunks in a giant wrestling ring. She found a door to another room and opened it, steam pouring out from the opening. One peek in and she saw various demons struggling to hold a simple Tree pose in sweltering heat, unable to see themselves in the fogged up mirrors.
Scarlet closed the door and mumbled under her breath. Where was this Kisandra girl? She had to be here somewhere, and this gym was like a maze. A maze full of treadmills and the smell of sweat and tears. A few men laughed at her, with their 12 packs and cartoonishly bulky muscles, but she decided that she'd crack their skulls as soon as she kicked Kisandra's ass. She wandered around a little more until she came to a room with a giant sign on the door, hearing the pained screams of demons behind it.
"Virtual Training Room," Scarlet read slowly. "Huh. Sounds all Techno-y. Oi, Gluttony!"
She turned around and saw him standing in front of a vending machine with his prinnies, trying to force a dollar in, only for it to be spat back out.
"Gluuuuttonyyy."
The dullahan turned his head towards Scarlet as Bonnie tried straightening out the dollar and inserting it again. "Myeeeeesss, Scarly? What is it?"
"What the fuck is a Virtual Training Room?"
"Well, why don't you walk in and find out by yourself? I'm kind of busy here. Important business."
"Snacks can wait, though, you cheesehead! Meanwhile, Kisandra's getting stronger with every stupid fuck she fights, not to mention the Dark Council's army getting buff! And I'm itchin to suplex something, anything!"
The prinnies watched with glee as the dollar was accepted and the buttons were pressed for that utterly cheesy snack. Gluttony had a bored stare on his face as he replied, "Well, I'm sorry I have my priorities straight; It's just one snack, so I'll be with you in just a-"
He turned his head around, only to see the prinnies pale.
"Dood?" Gonzales said. "I think we got screwed."
Scarlet walked back for a closer look. The poor cheese snack, so close to falling, got stuck in the hook. Not even a good thumping from Bonnie and Gonzales could get it down. For a moment, she saw the sorrow in Gluttony's eyes, heartbroken as he wasted money on a snack that would never fall.
The next? Well, she saw him take one giant bite out of the machine. Then another. And another. And another.
He then wiped his mouth with a napkin, ignoring the pitiful remains of the vending machine for the moment, and said cheerfully, "So, what was that about a Virtual Training Room?"
Scarlet groaned as she led the way, the two prinnies walking fast enough to keep up with her long strides. "Seriously," she said, shooting a glare at her friend, "it's hardly necessary to go eat the entire damn machine. If you wanted that snack down, you could have waited until I broke into it!"
Gluttony crossed his arms and replied, "Well, I couldn't wait for that! I was starving! That protein shake tasted like chocolate water! And while chocolate's great, in combination with water? BLUUUUURGH."
"Must have been that Gargoyle brand protein shake. All of their shakes taste like piss! I just go and make my own at home. Ever tried a peanut butter and chocolate protein shake? Great taste and great for drinking before a workout! Namely, before I snap some Minosaur bones in half!"
They reached the VT Room again, allowing Gonzales to lift up Bonnie as she tried turning the knob of the door. "It's locked," she said after the door didn't budge one bit, tugging at the knob as hard as she could. "Like, dood, it's locked. And I'm not in my super cute karate kick Cheerleader form, either, so I can't break this down at all!"
Scarlet glared at the door before cracking her knuckles. "Stand back, you two," she commanded. When they got out of the way, the buffcubus let out a cry as she slammed her shoulder into the door, putting all her weight into it. She did it again and again, and on the third time, the door flew open, soaring out and falling onto some poor sap.
Her eyes widened as she saw not another boring gym room, but that she was suddenly standing on a shelf of rock, staring down a volcano with bubbling lava. She looked straight ahead and saw a spire of rock petruding from the center of the volcano, with a much larger, flatter rock balancing on the top, shifting as a woman, gone commando, punched several competitors toward the edge before kicking them down into the lava below. She moved quickly and lightly as she fought the swarm of demons, her claws raking down their bodies and leaving nasty, infected gashes. Only when all of them were downed did she stop, balancing on one foot in the middle of the wobbly rock platform.
"Holy shit, this is awesome!" Scarlet said with glee. "If I had known she had a volcano arena, I woulda came here to kick her stupid, fluffy ass sooner!" She then turned to Gluttony and added, "Now come on! Let's hurry and beat her to a pulp!"
Without waiting for Gluttony's answer, she took off to the sky, grabbing him and the prinnies before diving down towards Kisandra. She hurled all three of them at the Kit Cat, Gonzales the only one smart enough to draw a blade and let out a battle cry. Kisandra turned her head slightly before her body followed to kick Gluttony and Bonnie back at Scarlet, only for Gonzales' blade to leave a small wound on her cheek. Scarlet catched Gluttony and Bonnie and set them down on the rock before landing, smirking at the cat woman fighter.
"Well, well," Kisandra said, wiping her cheek. "Look what the cat dragged in! Didn't think you'd stop by, Scarlet! You here to challenge me, too?"
"Damn right!" came the excited reply. "And I'm going to beat you 'til you're nothing but a bloody pulp!"
"You'll find that pretty hard. I don't pull punches, you know!"
"Wouldn't want you to! After the disappointment of a shitty bounty, I need someone who actually knows what they're doing!"
Kisandra smirked, and with a snap of her fingers, the room twisted and changed. The group no longer found themselves balancing above a volcano, but in a wrestling ring, surrounded by thousands of thousands of fans holding up signs for Kisandra. Scarlet's eyes widened in shock, while Gluttony rolled his eyes.
"Oh, so it's one of those things," he said, bored. "A little box of illusions, fooling the senses entirely into thinking they are where they aren't."
The cat woman snapped, "It's a virtual realty game! Or something! Which is like that, only nobody actually dies! See?"
She pointed towards the pile of demons sitting outside the ring out in the corner, some of them partly melted, while others were full of bruises.
Gonzales stared at the pile a little bit before commenting, "Well, dood, if they don't look dead now, they sure will be dead in a few minutes!"
"I think they all need medical help, dood!" Bonnie added, waddling over to the pile and pulling out a box of bandages, slapping them haphazardly over the injured demons.
"Whatever," Kisandra said, waving it off. "Either way, they're not dead, and I can use this to train just about anywhere I want! So, Scarlet... you think you have what it takes?"
Scarlet glared at Kisandra before saying, "Damn right I do, so start throwing punches already! I'm getting bored just listening to all of you yap!"
The cat woman's fur puffed up as she glared right back. "Well, too bad! I don't let just any shmuck walk up to me and challenge me these days! Do you know how many untrained, scrawny guys acting all macho tried to challenge me? I feel like I could kill them just by touching them, and that's boooooring! So if you wanna go at it with me..." She held up three fingers and grinned as she said, "You're gonna have to show me you're capable of three things: Endurance! Speed! And Strength!"
Gonzales gave her a blank stare. "Uh, that's nice and all, dood, but can't she show you that just by beating you in a fight?"
"Well, dood, I'm not accepting any more challengers until you show me how! And what better way than to show your skills in a wrestling match?"
Both Gluttony and Scarlet groaned as the kit cat spun around on her toes and did a dramatic pose.
"Time for your Fitness Test, boys and girls!"
Ring, ring. Click.
"Yo, Scarlet here. Sup?"
"Hii, it's me, Tina! Guess whaaaat~?"
"You kidnapped puppies while you were out?"
"It was pretty tempting, but no. Guess again!"
"Found a nice AK-47 that shoots out lightning bolt bullets?"
"I wish! One more try!"
"Damn girl, this is tricky... hmm... Found a short knight to date?"
"Closer..."
"He's really short?"
"Hey, don't be mean! He's not that short!"
"Ohoho, guess you're putting your cute aura to work, huh? Well, good on ya to find a date, whoever he is. Or she is. I forget your preferences. But aren't ya supposed to be busy?"
"Well, I am busy, Scarlet!
....Busy getting married to Satoshi~! Listen to those wedding bells ring! Ooh, it's my turn, sorry I couldn't make you my bridesmaid so soon! I'll talk to you laaater!"
Click. The phone dropped to the ground with a thud, catching the attention of every workout-aholic in the room. The buffcubus turned to her dullahan companion, who was busy drinking one particularly huge bottle of a protein shake, while his prinnies tried lifting dumbells.
"Oi, cheesehead."
The dullahan's head twisted 180 degrees, towards her.
"Yeeeeesss?"
"You're responsible for paying off Satoshi's and Tina's honeymoon vacation spot now."
He stared, his grip on the protein shake loosening.
"Please tell me you're joking."
"Nah, she just called me. They're getting hitched, and I'll be damned if I don't buy all those wedding gifts! Need to get me a good wedding dress too..." The succubus looked down on herself, then added, "Probably tailored. I'm stupid tall and nobody makes things in my size."
The shake dropped, Gonzales zipping over and catching it before it hit the ground. Gluttony paled, his jaw slack from shock.
"Th-th-that's not fair!" he whined, his small hair antennae drooping like wilted flowers. "I was the one who wanted to go with Satoshi there and get lucky with him! That's... that's... Ooooh, that sneaky little Tina!"
He puffed his cheeks up in anger while Scarlet gave him a blank stare.
"Soooo... you're gay for Satoshi?"
"No," Gluttony admitted,"but my, it would have been quite an opportunity to tease him! If I had known you had to get hitched to get anywhere in there, I would have went in a heartbeat, ohohoho~"
"Well, good for you, but you're still paying for the honeymoon, right?"
Gluttony stared back at her.
"Me? Don't be ridiculous. The most I'm paying for is their catering service!"
Some gym enthusists looked on in wonder as Scarlet proceeded to crack her knuckles... and every other part of her body. All with a smile on her face.
"Oh, sorry, didn't hear ya," she said cheerfully. "You said you'd pay for honeymoon.... right?"
The dullahan opened his mouth to oppose, but when Scarlet cracked her knuckles again, he broke into a sweat and said, voice a little shaky, "Oh, yes, of course! Five-star resorts, complete with indoor water parks!" He then added with a glare, "You're going to owe me big time, though, my darling Scarlet."
"The only thing I owe you is a knuckle sandwich," she grumbled in response, putting away her phone in a pocket and doing a few stretches before walking around the gym. Treadmills, stationary bikes, and weights were everywhere, with TVs blaring about sports teams and wrestling. Scrawny cat demons did wimpy excuses for squats over yoga mats while big, buff elephant men grappled each other with their trunks in a giant wrestling ring. She found a door to another room and opened it, steam pouring out from the opening. One peek in and she saw various demons struggling to hold a simple Tree pose in sweltering heat, unable to see themselves in the fogged up mirrors.
Scarlet closed the door and mumbled under her breath. Where was this Kisandra girl? She had to be here somewhere, and this gym was like a maze. A maze full of treadmills and the smell of sweat and tears. A few men laughed at her, with their 12 packs and cartoonishly bulky muscles, but she decided that she'd crack their skulls as soon as she kicked Kisandra's ass. She wandered around a little more until she came to a room with a giant sign on the door, hearing the pained screams of demons behind it.
"Virtual Training Room," Scarlet read slowly. "Huh. Sounds all Techno-y. Oi, Gluttony!"
She turned around and saw him standing in front of a vending machine with his prinnies, trying to force a dollar in, only for it to be spat back out.
"Gluuuuttonyyy."
The dullahan turned his head towards Scarlet as Bonnie tried straightening out the dollar and inserting it again. "Myeeeeesss, Scarly? What is it?"
"What the fuck is a Virtual Training Room?"
"Well, why don't you walk in and find out by yourself? I'm kind of busy here. Important business."
"Snacks can wait, though, you cheesehead! Meanwhile, Kisandra's getting stronger with every stupid fuck she fights, not to mention the Dark Council's army getting buff! And I'm itchin to suplex something, anything!"
The prinnies watched with glee as the dollar was accepted and the buttons were pressed for that utterly cheesy snack. Gluttony had a bored stare on his face as he replied, "Well, I'm sorry I have my priorities straight; It's just one snack, so I'll be with you in just a-"
He turned his head around, only to see the prinnies pale.
"Dood?" Gonzales said. "I think we got screwed."
Scarlet walked back for a closer look. The poor cheese snack, so close to falling, got stuck in the hook. Not even a good thumping from Bonnie and Gonzales could get it down. For a moment, she saw the sorrow in Gluttony's eyes, heartbroken as he wasted money on a snack that would never fall.
The next? Well, she saw him take one giant bite out of the machine. Then another. And another. And another.
He then wiped his mouth with a napkin, ignoring the pitiful remains of the vending machine for the moment, and said cheerfully, "So, what was that about a Virtual Training Room?"
Scarlet groaned as she led the way, the two prinnies walking fast enough to keep up with her long strides. "Seriously," she said, shooting a glare at her friend, "it's hardly necessary to go eat the entire damn machine. If you wanted that snack down, you could have waited until I broke into it!"
Gluttony crossed his arms and replied, "Well, I couldn't wait for that! I was starving! That protein shake tasted like chocolate water! And while chocolate's great, in combination with water? BLUUUUURGH."
"Must have been that Gargoyle brand protein shake. All of their shakes taste like piss! I just go and make my own at home. Ever tried a peanut butter and chocolate protein shake? Great taste and great for drinking before a workout! Namely, before I snap some Minosaur bones in half!"
They reached the VT Room again, allowing Gonzales to lift up Bonnie as she tried turning the knob of the door. "It's locked," she said after the door didn't budge one bit, tugging at the knob as hard as she could. "Like, dood, it's locked. And I'm not in my super cute karate kick Cheerleader form, either, so I can't break this down at all!"
Scarlet glared at the door before cracking her knuckles. "Stand back, you two," she commanded. When they got out of the way, the buffcubus let out a cry as she slammed her shoulder into the door, putting all her weight into it. She did it again and again, and on the third time, the door flew open, soaring out and falling onto some poor sap.
Her eyes widened as she saw not another boring gym room, but that she was suddenly standing on a shelf of rock, staring down a volcano with bubbling lava. She looked straight ahead and saw a spire of rock petruding from the center of the volcano, with a much larger, flatter rock balancing on the top, shifting as a woman, gone commando, punched several competitors toward the edge before kicking them down into the lava below. She moved quickly and lightly as she fought the swarm of demons, her claws raking down their bodies and leaving nasty, infected gashes. Only when all of them were downed did she stop, balancing on one foot in the middle of the wobbly rock platform.
"Holy shit, this is awesome!" Scarlet said with glee. "If I had known she had a volcano arena, I woulda came here to kick her stupid, fluffy ass sooner!" She then turned to Gluttony and added, "Now come on! Let's hurry and beat her to a pulp!"
Without waiting for Gluttony's answer, she took off to the sky, grabbing him and the prinnies before diving down towards Kisandra. She hurled all three of them at the Kit Cat, Gonzales the only one smart enough to draw a blade and let out a battle cry. Kisandra turned her head slightly before her body followed to kick Gluttony and Bonnie back at Scarlet, only for Gonzales' blade to leave a small wound on her cheek. Scarlet catched Gluttony and Bonnie and set them down on the rock before landing, smirking at the cat woman fighter.
"Well, well," Kisandra said, wiping her cheek. "Look what the cat dragged in! Didn't think you'd stop by, Scarlet! You here to challenge me, too?"
"Damn right!" came the excited reply. "And I'm going to beat you 'til you're nothing but a bloody pulp!"
"You'll find that pretty hard. I don't pull punches, you know!"
"Wouldn't want you to! After the disappointment of a shitty bounty, I need someone who actually knows what they're doing!"
Kisandra smirked, and with a snap of her fingers, the room twisted and changed. The group no longer found themselves balancing above a volcano, but in a wrestling ring, surrounded by thousands of thousands of fans holding up signs for Kisandra. Scarlet's eyes widened in shock, while Gluttony rolled his eyes.
"Oh, so it's one of those things," he said, bored. "A little box of illusions, fooling the senses entirely into thinking they are where they aren't."
The cat woman snapped, "It's a virtual realty game! Or something! Which is like that, only nobody actually dies! See?"
She pointed towards the pile of demons sitting outside the ring out in the corner, some of them partly melted, while others were full of bruises.
Gonzales stared at the pile a little bit before commenting, "Well, dood, if they don't look dead now, they sure will be dead in a few minutes!"
"I think they all need medical help, dood!" Bonnie added, waddling over to the pile and pulling out a box of bandages, slapping them haphazardly over the injured demons.
"Whatever," Kisandra said, waving it off. "Either way, they're not dead, and I can use this to train just about anywhere I want! So, Scarlet... you think you have what it takes?"
Scarlet glared at Kisandra before saying, "Damn right I do, so start throwing punches already! I'm getting bored just listening to all of you yap!"
The cat woman's fur puffed up as she glared right back. "Well, too bad! I don't let just any shmuck walk up to me and challenge me these days! Do you know how many untrained, scrawny guys acting all macho tried to challenge me? I feel like I could kill them just by touching them, and that's boooooring! So if you wanna go at it with me..." She held up three fingers and grinned as she said, "You're gonna have to show me you're capable of three things: Endurance! Speed! And Strength!"
Gonzales gave her a blank stare. "Uh, that's nice and all, dood, but can't she show you that just by beating you in a fight?"
"Well, dood, I'm not accepting any more challengers until you show me how! And what better way than to show your skills in a wrestling match?"
Both Gluttony and Scarlet groaned as the kit cat spun around on her toes and did a dramatic pose.
"Time for your Fitness Test, boys and girls!"
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Dream Girl Kogasa: Wendigo Hunt (Part 1)
-Orion Overworld, Zeal Kingdom, December 11th, 2013-
"No."
The pink magical girl dug her heels in as the cameramen began to set up, ignoring the winged demons flying overhead and perhaps a few tentacles flailing about from house ruins. Her manager, sweating bullets, wrung his hands together as the girl put hands on her hips and huffed.
"But Misaka, your popularity will skyrocke-"
"No," the girl repeated. "I refuse."
"Think of the possibilities-"
She whirled on him and snapped, "No, you stop thinking of ratings, ratings, ratings! Have you forgotten what took place here, oh, I don't know, 2000 YEARS AGO?!?"
"B-b-but that was then!" he stammered, flinching at her words. "There aren't any Sins here to devour you or turn you into a monster! Just demons, demons aplenty!" There were stars in his eyes, and perhaps cash as well, as he continued, "Imagine how much you will be appreciated when Misaka, Soldier of Love, defeats the foul beasts and purifies the kingdom stained with sin long ago! The ratings would go up! Your name would be remembered by everyone! Hell, the Sages would name you an honorary sage, the greatest honor that could be bestowed upon anyone! Think about it, Misaka!"
As she heard the groans of hungry demons, Misaka sighed and crossed her arms. "You're not paying me enough for any of this," she said. "Being able to kill actual demons was soooo not in my resume. I mean, I guess shrimpy ones like imps, I can handle, but eldrich beings and whatever else those Sins made just by existing here? No way, Jose!"
"We already used up too much money trying to get here, Misaka! Can't you at least try?"
"And whose fault was that, coming to a dead Kingdom that everybody and their mom warned you about?"
The manager flinched again before turning to the cameramen. At least they were getting some pretty good shots here. If nothing else, they could just edit the footage to make it seem like Misaka killed a demon. To think, he spent all this money getting here, only for his ace in the hole to refuse to do anything. The groans of demons became louder, the stench of death becoming stronger.
Misaka turned around and said, "Well, if that's done with, let's leave already! This place gives me chills just being here."
"W-wait!" the manager cried, following after her. "You can't just leave! We have to at least film somethi-"
Both stopped in their tracks, wide-eyed. Something towered over them, drooling, growling. They both took steps back as they heard the grumble of hunger, the stench of blood.
Misaka turned towards the cameramen to scream, shout for them to run away.
Their only warnings were a ravenous roar... and the crunch of bones.
------------------------------------------------------
---Melodia, December 12th, 2013----
The soft sound of a fiddle playing outside was welcomed with open ears after Marco and Lucy, once again, knocked over several Meloetta and Audino dolls, as well as a dozen mangas or so.
It was always nice to hear something calming, after all. That and maybe it would get the two pranksters to sit still for a bit.
Nope. They just went and wrestled with each other as their owner let out a soft sigh. "You little tricksters," he said. "You're always making a mess! You guys should be playing with the toys I got for you, or even that box filled with packing peanuts! Not with my mangas!"
Lucy, the albino ferret, looked up at her owner before dooking at him.
"I know you have fun with them," he retorted, "but if you're gonna do that, always put them back where they belong! You know I have pretty long days when I'm recording stuff!"
Marco, the sable ferret, scampered up to his owner and started picking up mangas with his mouth before doing quite a bit of gymnastics to put it riiight at the top shelf. Lucy watched as Marco went up and down before joining in fixing things up. Their owner smiled at them before helping them out for a little while. It didn't take long for the shelf to look just like it did before the little weasels knocked everything over: neat, organized, and with the cutest plushies ever.
With that settled, their owner took a seat at his desk, booting up his laptop and finding quite a few messages on his Skype. Some were from his manager ("Remember, December 23rd, we're recording the Christmas Special for Nightmare Fighter Kogasa!") while others were from people he made friends with on a role-playing forum ("hey remember that time where we dropped a boombox on, like, this super annoying ultimate evil guy and beat him with an epic rap? that was amazing. when are you RPing the bard girl again?" ). Most of the messages, however, were from one particular person. One person he worked with just about every time he had to record another episode of Nightmare Fighter Kogasa.
"KOGASA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN~!" one of the messages said. "It's meeeee, Nazrin-chaaaaan! You're so buuuusy these days! :< please respond because I wnna taaaalk"
With a smile, he began to type a response.
"You don't have to call me Kogasa-chan outside of the show, you know :S"
"Well, well, well, you're always Kogasa to meeee~! <3 What have you been up to?"
"Oh, nothing but organizing my stuff. The long hamsters knocked them down again."
"Oh nooooooooooooooooooooo! :CCC Well, is it at least nice in Melodia right now?"
He looked out the window for a moment to see colorful musical notes floating in the skies like balloons as the bards played their instruments. The sun was high in the sky, the perfect time for music. Then again, in Melodia, any time is a good time for music.
Turning back to his computer, the white haired youth typed, "Definitely! The bards are playing outside and they're really, really good! I love this kingdom so much! Well, next to the Cupcake Kingdom. For obvious reasons. o3o "
"You're such a goof, Kogasa-cha- er... Well, Kevin!" replied 'Nazrin'. "You just want all the donuts there, don't you?"
"Well, er...." Kevin blushed, glancing at a box of donuts sitting on top of his bed, guarded by the cat plush that defended the bed from terrors, before turning back to the monitor. "...Yes?"
"Hehehe! That's our Kevin! Loves donuts more than aaaaanyone!"
"Usagi would like to have words with you! And Sayaka! And several other magical girls. :I But yes, everything's fine here, Natalie. Just enjoying my break until the dreaded Christmas Special."
"Uuuugh, don't remind me! Doing things in the cold with a short dress is a pain! And we did something with a Yuki-oona last year! Brrrr!"
"Yeaaaah :C It's pretty cruddy, isn't it? I just wanna stay home and put on like 3 sweaters and hang out in a blanket fort, watching this new King of Beasts anime that came out on DVD. With a big mug of hot cocoa."
"With extra marshmallows? :DDDD "
"No. With EXTRA. EXTRA. EXTRAAAAA MARSHMALLOWS~~~ :3"
Kevin couldn't help but giggle at his comment until the next message showed up from his friend. He made a "hmmm?" noise, his glasses shining for a moment after he adjusted them.
"Well, I need to warn you about something," it said. He could only imagine how serious she would sound if she was talking to him directly. "You know that one kingdom everybody gossips about? The Zeal Kingdom?"
His heart jumped. This never ended well. Nothing dealing with Zeal, from what he heard, ended well.
"Y-yes," he typed in response. "What about it?"
"Well... Yesterday, I heard that 'Demon Slayer Misaka' was canceled, and it wasn't even past 20 episodes! So I went and looked into it, and I found out that they went to Zeal. And you know what happened?"
Thump. Thump. Thump. He was shivering, thinking of the horrible possibilities, replaying it over and over in his head.
"What happened...?"
A few minutes passed before the next few messages were sent.
"They found the star and her manager. Something took huge bites out of them. Their cameraman, too. The pictures... they're too gruesome to show."
The actor paled, his head feeling a little light. But that wasn't all.
"I heard that our manager is considering taking us there..." Natalie continued. "She knew Misaka really well, and she's really upset about things. She wants to avenge her death by taking out whatever ate her... but she knows he can't do anything. We, on the other hand, can. Sort of. Zeal's full of nasty stuff, and it's where the Sins originated, though, so..."
Another pause.
"Either way, I know how you like adventures, but I know that you don't handle certain things well. This is a pretty dangerous job, and I think we may need to call in a favor from one of our Relgion or Melodia fans. Do you wanna do this?"
Deep breaths. Deeeep breaths. Lucy scampered over to Kevin's side and climbed her way onto his lap and into his white sweater, where she poked her head out and nuzzled her owner. He reached out for her and pet her with a smile. Considerably calmer now, he finally typed out his reply.
"Sure, why not? Might be a thrill! Although I think we should get someone that can keep whatever it is distracted. You know, so it doesn't eat us. :S "
"Sure thing, Kogasa-chan~! We're going to rock the hell out of this monster, that's for sure! Nazzy and Kogasa, givin' a nice hot serving of justice and payback!"
"This is kind of a weird time to be joking about that, since someone got eaten and all. o.o "
"Sorry, but I had to lighten the mood somehow. Well... see you in a few days or so? Maybe start praticing your moves before we end up fighting the real deal. And... well...
Stay safe, okay Kev? ~<3"
Before Kevin could type out a reply, Natalie had logged off for the day. He sighed and turned to the lucky cat-shaped clock on the wall. 2 PM. Guess there was time to practice his abilities. Or he could just go for a donut run... Maybe both?
No, no... None of that. They say knowledge is power, right? Time to find out what sort of demons could have possibly eaten Misaka and her crew. Lucy watched as her owner adjusted his glasses, a serious look on his face, and opened up a net browser, setting himself to work...
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
A Demon's Grand Adventure, Chapter 5: The Dragon Tamer
After several trips on the Behemoth and Tiamat, spinning around for what felt like hours in tea cups, and swinging in a pirate ship like a pendulum, the bounty hunter slumped on the first bench he could find, white as a sheet and resisting the urge to puke. Tina happily bought corn dogs for both of them and sat beside him, watching the apparently happy couples go by. Satoshi gladly took one after resting a little, taking a big bite before glancing over at the giant manor in the middle of the park.
Tina poked at him and asked, "Are you having any fun yet, Sato-kun?"
"If by fun, you mean feeling like death after that blasted ship ride, then yes," Satoshi said bluntly, taking another bite of his corn dog and swallowing it. "I almost felt seasick after it went higher and higher still... and they call this entertainment?"
"People like thrills. Love being scared to death! That's what amusement parks are all about!"
"Uuuugh. It is not to my taste, then. Or at least, that one particular ride isn't."
Tina smirked. "For a moment there, I thought you were gonna lie about how much you enjoyed zipping through the air and doing loops on the Tiamat!"
Her partner shrugged and said with a slight smile, "Yes, I did. It was fast, but having your legs dangle from the seat... Well, I felt as light as a feather, and it was a nice thrill, for sure."
"I dunno," the nuncubus said, putting a finger to her chin. "I think I was more thrilled on the Behemoth! Those drops were insane!"
Satoshi stared at her blankly. "You nearly cut off circulation to my arm on that particular ride."
"Weeeeell, it did say it was guaranteed to make you cling to someone you like~!" Tina winked, a mischevious smile on her face before she took out the brochure Satoshi got earlier and opened it up, staring at the map. "Well, we still have a few more rides to go... Do you wanna go on the Tower of Doom? That's a super thrilling one, and it goes up up up and then does a sharp drop! Or maybe we should go do face painting? I mean, we have the minds of 20 year olds so maybe that won't work out but hey, I love that sort of stuff!" Her eyes widened in glee as she pointed at a particular point on the map and squealed, "OHMYGODTHEYEVENHAVEAPETTINGZOOEEEEEEE"
Her friend coughed, catching her attention for a moment. "As much as I would enjoy seeing the rest of the park," he grumbled, tossing away remnants of his corn dog in the trash, "we have more important matters to handle. Namely, Lady Jessica and the key she holds."
The nuncubus frowned, nibbling at her corn dog slowly before sighing, "Yeah, I know. It's just that... I haven't done anything fun in the past few days, or at least nothing like this!" She took a moment to chow down on the rest of her corn dog and looked down solemnly at her feet before continuing, "And I don't even know you well, because you came before Scarlet picked Sora and me off the streets, and I heard about you from Scarlet all the time. Always so serious on the job, using your smarts and Scarlet's power to take down loads of bounties. She said you hardly ever smiled, but when you did, it could light up a whole room. And, well, you did smile a little bit, but you don't really know anything about love and really relaxing and just having fun and stuff like that... you know... Happiness."
Satoshi stared at her for a moment, considering her words, remembering those old times where Scarlet happily presented the heads of her bounties to everyone she knew, boasting about her achievements while Satoshi quietly sat by the fireplace, watching with interest as her audience "oooh'd" and "aaaah'd". Simpler times, where they merely got directions from Gluttony (however awful he was) and had an adventure whenever they wanted. Something to laugh and smile about, at least to most. The others? They ran away in fear of the dreaded duo, who could and would scalp them without a second thought.
In the end, he could only reply in a soft voice, "Because now, I find nothing to truly enjoy, to be truly happy about. Not when everything underneath the surface is so... wrong."
Tina stared at him for a moment. It was only a moment, but he could see the pity in her eyes. His heart twisted in pain, but he did not let it show on his face. Instead, he looked up towards the ceiling, where magic mimicked the starlit skies of the outdoors. Magic, it may have been, but the stars were the sight he missed the most when he went to Limbo. At the very least, he could appreciate them, find some joy in gazing up and finding constellations. The one joy he never truly lost.
He felt something on his hand and turned his attention away, seeing his friend hold his hand and look up at the stars with him. Awkwardly, he held her hand as well, feeling his cheeks burn a little with embarassment and his heart flutter. A strange feeling, at least to him. Was this succubus magic working on him, or something else? How to tell the difference...?
A loud voice boomed over the intercoms, snapping the duo out of their romantic stargazing.
"Attention, all lovely couples~!" it said. "Turn your attention towards the Main Plaza and get ready for a show! Our daring dragon tamer, Jolene the Magnificant, will blow your minds away~!"
Tina raised an eyebrow and turned to Satoshi. "I heard of lion tamers, but never dragon tamers," she admitted. "Wanna go check it out?"
Satoshi didn't bother with a response, his eyes narrowing as he strode down towards the Main Plaza, his succubus friend struggling to keep up.
------------------------------------
"Step right up and be amazed!
Jolene's skill is sure to leave you dazed!
Dragons are at her beck and call
So come on up, one and all!"
The yamabikos were in full blast as crowds of succubi and their dates gathered around in a circle, leaving space for a succubus in a rather skimpy lion tamer outfit to walk right through, whip in hand and cape blowing behind her. A few other succubi pushed a massive cage on wheels towards the center, covered in steel painted red and gold, aside from the small, steel bars that attached to the top. The crowd whispered among themselves, pondering what kind of dragon lay within the cage. They were soon startled by a roar and the clash of something against steel bars. They saw the long claws clinging onto the bars, and maybe a red, slitted eye staring right at them.
Satoshi forced his way towards the front of the crowd, much to the dismay of those already there. Tina squeezed her way through and panted before asking, "What was the whole hurry about, Satoshi? You were walking a mile a minute!"
"Sssh!" The bounty hunter put a finger to Tina's lips, eyes focused on the cage. With a crack of the whip, the succubi assistants hastily opened the cage. Another crack, and thundering footsteps were heard as the creature walked out, tasting the open air with a forked tongue.
All the crowd stood amazed at the massive fire dragon, shivers going down even Satoshi's spine as its roars echoed through the cavern. It turned towards the crowd and lunged towards Tina, eager to devour some live prey. She yelped and closed her eyes, expecting a lot of pain. When she opened them, the dragon was an inch away from her face, slowly backing away as the tamer seemed to glare it into submission. While the nuncubus was more than happy to sigh in relief, the crowd broke into applause, wolf whistling and yelling with glee as the tamer took a bow.
"She's pretty impressive, isn't she?" Tina asked her friend, only to notice an angry look on his face. "Uh, Sato? You alright?"
"Not at all," he said bluntly. "Something stinks of deception."
"She's just taming a dragon, dude. No harm, right?"
Satoshi did not respond. He merely watched the act as the tamer's assistants held up giant hoops and, with mere gestures, made the dragon fly through them with ease. With a grand sweep of her arms, she cued it to breathe fire in spurts, lighting the faux night sky with flame. It got testy for a moment, lunging towards its tamer in an attempt to bite her, but with a glare, she made it sit down quietly like a puppy told to lay. The crowd applauded over and over, even Tina surprised by how relatively docile this mighty beast was.
None but Satoshi noticed it. The pained twitches, the slight trembles, the look of utter fear in its eyes. He stared, balling his hand into a fist and allowing his anger to boil in his heart. He saw the dragon take a moment to stare right back, and heard a pathetic squeak pass its lips.
Others laughed and "awww'd" at it. But Satoshi knew better. Knew better than anyone.
Help me.
Before the next part of the act could begin, the crowd gasped in shock as a lancelet of fire landed Jolene's feet. She stared at it before turning towards one approaching her, the one with an icy glare.
"I don't believe I asked for guests to aid me," she said coldly, preparing her whip. "Get back where you belong. Or do I have to show the crowd the true power of a dragon?"
"Oh yes," he replied with a snarl. "The true power of a dragon you forced into your service, made to heed your beck and call, lest it feels your wrath. I suppose you have no shame in using horrible methods to break even a dragon's pride."
Another gasp escaped from the crowd as the tamer gripped her whip tighter. "Go back where you were," she ordered again, this time with more force behind her words, "or I swear, I will make him devour you!"
Satoshi continued, walking ever closer to her, "Taming a dragon is one thing, Madam Jolene. There are ways to gain a dragon's respect and trust, enough of it for it to obey your orders without hesitation. But this?" He pointed towards the mighty dragon, the majestic beast that cowered before Jolene and said, voice cold as Shiva's breath, "It is a mockery of it, a flagrant abuse of dragonkin! It does all the fanciful tricks out of fear, not trust! And you dare call yourself a dragon tamer?"
Dragon tamer and demon hunter glared at each other, both unwilling to back down. Tina stared in shock for a moment before turning towards the dragon, still docile. She walked towards it and said in a calming voice, "It's okay, I won't hurt you... hold still..." She held her hands out, her eyes glowing as she looked for any magical spells that may have been cast. For a moment, she saw chains, hundreds of chains, wrapped around the dragon before she let out a gasp, her concentration broken, the world returning to normal.
"Satoshi!" she said, voice strained from shock. "Geas! I saw geas!"
The dragon tamer paled as the crowd whispered amongst themselves about it. Satoshi silently summoned his fire lance to his side, and asked, "Well? What say you?"
The whispers became louder and louder. Some people were glaring.
"Well..." she said, gripping at her whip and pulling it taut.
Tina was too busy using her white magic to dispel the geas, one by one, shooting a scornful look at the dragon tamer.
"Well...."
She began to sweat as Satoshi aproached ever closer, his hateful gaze never wavering.
"Wellll......"
The jig was up. Satoshi watched her every move.
"....Well," Jolene said with a small smirk. "dead men tell no tales."
And in a flash, he saw the glints of steel daggers as she pulled them from her cape and tossed them, two of them nicking his cheek. The crowd dispursed in a panic as the the succubus tamer took to the skies and launched lightning from her hands towards the demon hunter. Satoshi rolled out of the way and hissed as he launched fireballs from his fingertips, trying to catch her off guard. One singed her wing a little, but it wasn't enough to deter her from calling forth her assistants to launch sharp playing cards at their enemy.
Satoshi grunted as the flurry of cards sank into flesh, turning his attention to Tina. "Tina!" he yelled. "Distract the other succubi! The geas can wait a little longer!"
"But what if she uses him again?!" she retorted. "I don't want him to get hurt!"
"I know a way to handle him without hurting him! But I need the others distracted!"
Tina had a puzzled look on her face for a moment before it turned into one of determination. "Roger that!" she said before whispering an apology to the dragon and taking off into the skies. She summoned her trusty gattling gun and let out a battle cry as heart shaped bullets slammed into the assistant succubi's sides. They cried in pain before redirecting their cards towards her, although they did not have much luck hitting her. She gracefully weaved through the storm before lashing at one of them with her tail and hurling her right at her friends before shooting them down. They changed tactics then, pulling doves from their sleeves and having them peck at Tina aggressively.
"Nooooo, I don't wanna hurt you!" she wailed as she flailed about and tried to shoo them away. "Go awaaaaaay!"
Meanwhile, Satoshi was in hot pursuit of Jolene, who escaped from the chaotic storm of cards towards the line of game booths. He slammed his lance into the ground, watching as flames trailed ahead before rising like a geyser of flame up towards Jolene, burning her boots. With a snap of her fingers, cages fell from the sky, Satoshi rolling out of the way before he was trapped within. They left indents in the ground as they fell, Jolene laughing as the demon scrambled behind booths for safety. She launched a barrage of knives at his location, a few of them sinking into his arm and staining his robes with his own blood.
With a growl, the bounty hunter stumbled into a booth with baseballs to knock milk jugs over. He looked at them for a moment before grabbing one and pitching it at the dragon tamer, much to the boothman's dismay. It gave her a nasty bump on her head, but she didn't have time to retaliate as the demon pitched another one, and another, and another. One of them thumped her hard in the chest, knocking her out of the sky and right into a seat at the "Dunk Me!" booth.
"No fair!" she whined. "You shouldn't be using those for-BLBBLBBLB!"
She got a mouth full of water as Satoshi hit the bullseye and dunked her right into the water. The succubus came up for a breath before flapping her wings frantically and taking off into the air, narrowly avoiding lightning bolts streaming from the bounty hunter's fingertips. With a hiss, she summoned a circle of cages to fall around Satoshi, caging him in before she launched yet another barrage of knives. He sprouted wings and flew out from the death trap before the knives could impact, although not without a few new injuries. He flew close to Jolene and breathed a cone of cold, watching as her left arm and legs began to freeze over, but he flew too close: close enough for her to deliver a swift and painful lash to his chest.
He watched as she flew lazily back towards the Main Plaza and flew after her, keeping the pressure up with icicles and lightning bolts. She tried to weave through them, only to be zapped by a few bolts and knocked into some of her succubi assistants. The other assistants were being shot at by Tina, who successfully shooed away the doves and was on a rampage against those that hurt her. She stopped only when they were knocked out and turned to Satoshi before seeing the injuries he sustained.
"Yikes! Did you just let her use you as a pincushion, Sato-kun?" she asked with a bit of worry, hurrying to his side and using a simple cure spell after pulling the knives out of him. "That's dangerous, you know!"
"I'm fine," he replied, wincing as the magic knitted flesh back together. "Thank you for worrying, but it takes more than throwing knives to kill someone like me."
"Unless it's straight to the heart. Then you're kind of dead."
"Well, yes. That's why I have armor."
"And I have amor~"
"...Which is...?"
"It's love! Love in another language! Love, love, looove!"
Satoshi stared at her, completely puzzled as she twirled around in place. He then sighed, knowing that he'd die never understanding half of what Tina goes on about. It was only when a shadow was cast over both of them when both became alert, looking up towards the massive fire dragon looking down on them.
Jolene, the ice around her legs and arm melted with the help of her dragon, chuckled a little as she said, "Oh, and you said you shouldn't worry about the geas! What a fool you are! Now this dragon's under my complete control, and none of you can do anything but watch as I roast both of you into a crisp!"
To which Satoshi replied curtly, "I dare you to try."
A smirk formed on the dragon tamer's face. "My pleasure~!"
She lifted her arm up, the dragon rearing back and taking a deep breath. Tina flew off, far enough away so that she wouldn't be hit. But Satoshi didn't budge, not an inch.
"What the heck are you doing, Sato?!" she yelled. "Get out of there, fast!"
He still did not move. He only stared at the dragon dead in the eyes.
The dragon tamer pointed at the bounty hunter, and from the dragon's maw came red-hot fire. Tina tried putting up a barrier, but she was a moment too slow. She stared in shock, unable to say anything as fiery breath consumed Satoshi and the spot he stood in. The moment lasted a minute until the dragon stopped, looking down at the scorched spot as his master smirked.
The mage succubus flew closer, her heart nearly bursting out of her chest. Nothing could survive that. Nothing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She should have acted sooner, but the dragon...
Confidence turned to horror. A mage's horror turned to surprise.
Satoshi still stood, the ground scorched around him, but he himself unharmed. Tina noticed water droplets falling to the ground around him before he said in a cold voice, "Ixen shilta ti svent vi darastrix."
The fire dragon stared, wide eyed, at the strange bounty hunter. Jolene was even more surprised than her dragon was. "He... he sp-speaks... he speaks Draconic?!?" she sputtered. "What kind of... what the... I can't believe this!"
Her dragon stared a little longer before asking in a strained whisper, "Wux kampiun ve?"
"Nurti ricin batobot. Re wux ouith?"
"Si mi winhal. Shar nomeno... Wux re darastrix, thric?"
Tina turned to Jolene and asked, "Do you have any idea what they're saying right now?"
"Me? I never studied Draconic in my life!" Jolene replied. "I can only recognize it, not understand it!"
The nuncubus stared at her with unblinking eyes before she said, "You're the worst dragon tamer ever."
After a few moments, Satoshi turned to Tina and commanded, "Break the geas." She nodded and hastily went to work as Satoshi walked towards Jolene, who was quick to draw her knives. "It's useless," he said. "The geas are being undone. Your sham and Lady Jessica's sham will be revealed for the pathetic farce it is. Do you still want to fight, knowing that your life will end if you try?"
Jolene didn't bother with words. She responded by lunging at him and stabbing him in the gut. Blood splattered onto her dress, a smile plastered on her face as she waited for that look of shock to form on Satoshi's.
The demon's face did not change. He let out a small sigh before reaching up and untying his bandana. Puzzled, the dragon tamer looked up...
Eyes. Three more eyes. Slitted, bright blue... lizardlike.
And without letting her register anything more in her mind, he tore out her throat and left her to bleed on the ground. Just in time to see the geas break, the dragon freed. It allowed Tina to pet its head happily, while Satoshi turned his attention towards the Lovey Dovey Chapel looming ahead.
"Tina?"
The succubus stopped her petting for a moment. "Yes, Satoshi?"
"We've dawdled here long enough, and we may have caught Lady Jessica's attention. It's time to strike while the iron is hot."
"But Satoshi, how are we gonna get in?" she asked. "They said they won't allow anyone in if they aren't getting married!"
He turned towards Tina, all five of his eyes staring at her, a sly smile hidden behind his robe.
"Well... I suppose it's time to sound the wedding chimes for us."
----------------------------
(Author's note: I used the following translator for Draconic: http://draconic.twilightrealm.com/ Also I apologize for the long ass post but I'm not exactly sure how to split this one into parts. And you can probably tell when I got a bit to tired to write out a complete battle scene. Weep.)
Tina poked at him and asked, "Are you having any fun yet, Sato-kun?"
"If by fun, you mean feeling like death after that blasted ship ride, then yes," Satoshi said bluntly, taking another bite of his corn dog and swallowing it. "I almost felt seasick after it went higher and higher still... and they call this entertainment?"
"People like thrills. Love being scared to death! That's what amusement parks are all about!"
"Uuuugh. It is not to my taste, then. Or at least, that one particular ride isn't."
Tina smirked. "For a moment there, I thought you were gonna lie about how much you enjoyed zipping through the air and doing loops on the Tiamat!"
Her partner shrugged and said with a slight smile, "Yes, I did. It was fast, but having your legs dangle from the seat... Well, I felt as light as a feather, and it was a nice thrill, for sure."
"I dunno," the nuncubus said, putting a finger to her chin. "I think I was more thrilled on the Behemoth! Those drops were insane!"
Satoshi stared at her blankly. "You nearly cut off circulation to my arm on that particular ride."
"Weeeeell, it did say it was guaranteed to make you cling to someone you like~!" Tina winked, a mischevious smile on her face before she took out the brochure Satoshi got earlier and opened it up, staring at the map. "Well, we still have a few more rides to go... Do you wanna go on the Tower of Doom? That's a super thrilling one, and it goes up up up and then does a sharp drop! Or maybe we should go do face painting? I mean, we have the minds of 20 year olds so maybe that won't work out but hey, I love that sort of stuff!" Her eyes widened in glee as she pointed at a particular point on the map and squealed, "OHMYGODTHEYEVENHAVEAPETTINGZOOEEEEEEE"
Her friend coughed, catching her attention for a moment. "As much as I would enjoy seeing the rest of the park," he grumbled, tossing away remnants of his corn dog in the trash, "we have more important matters to handle. Namely, Lady Jessica and the key she holds."
The nuncubus frowned, nibbling at her corn dog slowly before sighing, "Yeah, I know. It's just that... I haven't done anything fun in the past few days, or at least nothing like this!" She took a moment to chow down on the rest of her corn dog and looked down solemnly at her feet before continuing, "And I don't even know you well, because you came before Scarlet picked Sora and me off the streets, and I heard about you from Scarlet all the time. Always so serious on the job, using your smarts and Scarlet's power to take down loads of bounties. She said you hardly ever smiled, but when you did, it could light up a whole room. And, well, you did smile a little bit, but you don't really know anything about love and really relaxing and just having fun and stuff like that... you know... Happiness."
Satoshi stared at her for a moment, considering her words, remembering those old times where Scarlet happily presented the heads of her bounties to everyone she knew, boasting about her achievements while Satoshi quietly sat by the fireplace, watching with interest as her audience "oooh'd" and "aaaah'd". Simpler times, where they merely got directions from Gluttony (however awful he was) and had an adventure whenever they wanted. Something to laugh and smile about, at least to most. The others? They ran away in fear of the dreaded duo, who could and would scalp them without a second thought.
In the end, he could only reply in a soft voice, "Because now, I find nothing to truly enjoy, to be truly happy about. Not when everything underneath the surface is so... wrong."
Tina stared at him for a moment. It was only a moment, but he could see the pity in her eyes. His heart twisted in pain, but he did not let it show on his face. Instead, he looked up towards the ceiling, where magic mimicked the starlit skies of the outdoors. Magic, it may have been, but the stars were the sight he missed the most when he went to Limbo. At the very least, he could appreciate them, find some joy in gazing up and finding constellations. The one joy he never truly lost.
He felt something on his hand and turned his attention away, seeing his friend hold his hand and look up at the stars with him. Awkwardly, he held her hand as well, feeling his cheeks burn a little with embarassment and his heart flutter. A strange feeling, at least to him. Was this succubus magic working on him, or something else? How to tell the difference...?
A loud voice boomed over the intercoms, snapping the duo out of their romantic stargazing.
"Attention, all lovely couples~!" it said. "Turn your attention towards the Main Plaza and get ready for a show! Our daring dragon tamer, Jolene the Magnificant, will blow your minds away~!"
Tina raised an eyebrow and turned to Satoshi. "I heard of lion tamers, but never dragon tamers," she admitted. "Wanna go check it out?"
Satoshi didn't bother with a response, his eyes narrowing as he strode down towards the Main Plaza, his succubus friend struggling to keep up.
------------------------------------
"Step right up and be amazed!
Jolene's skill is sure to leave you dazed!
Dragons are at her beck and call
So come on up, one and all!"
The yamabikos were in full blast as crowds of succubi and their dates gathered around in a circle, leaving space for a succubus in a rather skimpy lion tamer outfit to walk right through, whip in hand and cape blowing behind her. A few other succubi pushed a massive cage on wheels towards the center, covered in steel painted red and gold, aside from the small, steel bars that attached to the top. The crowd whispered among themselves, pondering what kind of dragon lay within the cage. They were soon startled by a roar and the clash of something against steel bars. They saw the long claws clinging onto the bars, and maybe a red, slitted eye staring right at them.
Satoshi forced his way towards the front of the crowd, much to the dismay of those already there. Tina squeezed her way through and panted before asking, "What was the whole hurry about, Satoshi? You were walking a mile a minute!"
"Sssh!" The bounty hunter put a finger to Tina's lips, eyes focused on the cage. With a crack of the whip, the succubi assistants hastily opened the cage. Another crack, and thundering footsteps were heard as the creature walked out, tasting the open air with a forked tongue.
All the crowd stood amazed at the massive fire dragon, shivers going down even Satoshi's spine as its roars echoed through the cavern. It turned towards the crowd and lunged towards Tina, eager to devour some live prey. She yelped and closed her eyes, expecting a lot of pain. When she opened them, the dragon was an inch away from her face, slowly backing away as the tamer seemed to glare it into submission. While the nuncubus was more than happy to sigh in relief, the crowd broke into applause, wolf whistling and yelling with glee as the tamer took a bow.
"She's pretty impressive, isn't she?" Tina asked her friend, only to notice an angry look on his face. "Uh, Sato? You alright?"
"Not at all," he said bluntly. "Something stinks of deception."
"She's just taming a dragon, dude. No harm, right?"
Satoshi did not respond. He merely watched the act as the tamer's assistants held up giant hoops and, with mere gestures, made the dragon fly through them with ease. With a grand sweep of her arms, she cued it to breathe fire in spurts, lighting the faux night sky with flame. It got testy for a moment, lunging towards its tamer in an attempt to bite her, but with a glare, she made it sit down quietly like a puppy told to lay. The crowd applauded over and over, even Tina surprised by how relatively docile this mighty beast was.
None but Satoshi noticed it. The pained twitches, the slight trembles, the look of utter fear in its eyes. He stared, balling his hand into a fist and allowing his anger to boil in his heart. He saw the dragon take a moment to stare right back, and heard a pathetic squeak pass its lips.
Others laughed and "awww'd" at it. But Satoshi knew better. Knew better than anyone.
Help me.
Before the next part of the act could begin, the crowd gasped in shock as a lancelet of fire landed Jolene's feet. She stared at it before turning towards one approaching her, the one with an icy glare.
"I don't believe I asked for guests to aid me," she said coldly, preparing her whip. "Get back where you belong. Or do I have to show the crowd the true power of a dragon?"
"Oh yes," he replied with a snarl. "The true power of a dragon you forced into your service, made to heed your beck and call, lest it feels your wrath. I suppose you have no shame in using horrible methods to break even a dragon's pride."
Another gasp escaped from the crowd as the tamer gripped her whip tighter. "Go back where you were," she ordered again, this time with more force behind her words, "or I swear, I will make him devour you!"
Satoshi continued, walking ever closer to her, "Taming a dragon is one thing, Madam Jolene. There are ways to gain a dragon's respect and trust, enough of it for it to obey your orders without hesitation. But this?" He pointed towards the mighty dragon, the majestic beast that cowered before Jolene and said, voice cold as Shiva's breath, "It is a mockery of it, a flagrant abuse of dragonkin! It does all the fanciful tricks out of fear, not trust! And you dare call yourself a dragon tamer?"
Dragon tamer and demon hunter glared at each other, both unwilling to back down. Tina stared in shock for a moment before turning towards the dragon, still docile. She walked towards it and said in a calming voice, "It's okay, I won't hurt you... hold still..." She held her hands out, her eyes glowing as she looked for any magical spells that may have been cast. For a moment, she saw chains, hundreds of chains, wrapped around the dragon before she let out a gasp, her concentration broken, the world returning to normal.
"Satoshi!" she said, voice strained from shock. "Geas! I saw geas!"
The dragon tamer paled as the crowd whispered amongst themselves about it. Satoshi silently summoned his fire lance to his side, and asked, "Well? What say you?"
The whispers became louder and louder. Some people were glaring.
"Well..." she said, gripping at her whip and pulling it taut.
Tina was too busy using her white magic to dispel the geas, one by one, shooting a scornful look at the dragon tamer.
"Well...."
She began to sweat as Satoshi aproached ever closer, his hateful gaze never wavering.
"Wellll......"
The jig was up. Satoshi watched her every move.
"....Well," Jolene said with a small smirk. "dead men tell no tales."
And in a flash, he saw the glints of steel daggers as she pulled them from her cape and tossed them, two of them nicking his cheek. The crowd dispursed in a panic as the the succubus tamer took to the skies and launched lightning from her hands towards the demon hunter. Satoshi rolled out of the way and hissed as he launched fireballs from his fingertips, trying to catch her off guard. One singed her wing a little, but it wasn't enough to deter her from calling forth her assistants to launch sharp playing cards at their enemy.
Satoshi grunted as the flurry of cards sank into flesh, turning his attention to Tina. "Tina!" he yelled. "Distract the other succubi! The geas can wait a little longer!"
"But what if she uses him again?!" she retorted. "I don't want him to get hurt!"
"I know a way to handle him without hurting him! But I need the others distracted!"
Tina had a puzzled look on her face for a moment before it turned into one of determination. "Roger that!" she said before whispering an apology to the dragon and taking off into the skies. She summoned her trusty gattling gun and let out a battle cry as heart shaped bullets slammed into the assistant succubi's sides. They cried in pain before redirecting their cards towards her, although they did not have much luck hitting her. She gracefully weaved through the storm before lashing at one of them with her tail and hurling her right at her friends before shooting them down. They changed tactics then, pulling doves from their sleeves and having them peck at Tina aggressively.
"Nooooo, I don't wanna hurt you!" she wailed as she flailed about and tried to shoo them away. "Go awaaaaaay!"
Meanwhile, Satoshi was in hot pursuit of Jolene, who escaped from the chaotic storm of cards towards the line of game booths. He slammed his lance into the ground, watching as flames trailed ahead before rising like a geyser of flame up towards Jolene, burning her boots. With a snap of her fingers, cages fell from the sky, Satoshi rolling out of the way before he was trapped within. They left indents in the ground as they fell, Jolene laughing as the demon scrambled behind booths for safety. She launched a barrage of knives at his location, a few of them sinking into his arm and staining his robes with his own blood.
With a growl, the bounty hunter stumbled into a booth with baseballs to knock milk jugs over. He looked at them for a moment before grabbing one and pitching it at the dragon tamer, much to the boothman's dismay. It gave her a nasty bump on her head, but she didn't have time to retaliate as the demon pitched another one, and another, and another. One of them thumped her hard in the chest, knocking her out of the sky and right into a seat at the "Dunk Me!" booth.
"No fair!" she whined. "You shouldn't be using those for-BLBBLBBLB!"
She got a mouth full of water as Satoshi hit the bullseye and dunked her right into the water. The succubus came up for a breath before flapping her wings frantically and taking off into the air, narrowly avoiding lightning bolts streaming from the bounty hunter's fingertips. With a hiss, she summoned a circle of cages to fall around Satoshi, caging him in before she launched yet another barrage of knives. He sprouted wings and flew out from the death trap before the knives could impact, although not without a few new injuries. He flew close to Jolene and breathed a cone of cold, watching as her left arm and legs began to freeze over, but he flew too close: close enough for her to deliver a swift and painful lash to his chest.
He watched as she flew lazily back towards the Main Plaza and flew after her, keeping the pressure up with icicles and lightning bolts. She tried to weave through them, only to be zapped by a few bolts and knocked into some of her succubi assistants. The other assistants were being shot at by Tina, who successfully shooed away the doves and was on a rampage against those that hurt her. She stopped only when they were knocked out and turned to Satoshi before seeing the injuries he sustained.
"Yikes! Did you just let her use you as a pincushion, Sato-kun?" she asked with a bit of worry, hurrying to his side and using a simple cure spell after pulling the knives out of him. "That's dangerous, you know!"
"I'm fine," he replied, wincing as the magic knitted flesh back together. "Thank you for worrying, but it takes more than throwing knives to kill someone like me."
"Unless it's straight to the heart. Then you're kind of dead."
"Well, yes. That's why I have armor."
"And I have amor~"
"...Which is...?"
"It's love! Love in another language! Love, love, looove!"
Satoshi stared at her, completely puzzled as she twirled around in place. He then sighed, knowing that he'd die never understanding half of what Tina goes on about. It was only when a shadow was cast over both of them when both became alert, looking up towards the massive fire dragon looking down on them.
Jolene, the ice around her legs and arm melted with the help of her dragon, chuckled a little as she said, "Oh, and you said you shouldn't worry about the geas! What a fool you are! Now this dragon's under my complete control, and none of you can do anything but watch as I roast both of you into a crisp!"
To which Satoshi replied curtly, "I dare you to try."
A smirk formed on the dragon tamer's face. "My pleasure~!"
She lifted her arm up, the dragon rearing back and taking a deep breath. Tina flew off, far enough away so that she wouldn't be hit. But Satoshi didn't budge, not an inch.
"What the heck are you doing, Sato?!" she yelled. "Get out of there, fast!"
He still did not move. He only stared at the dragon dead in the eyes.
The dragon tamer pointed at the bounty hunter, and from the dragon's maw came red-hot fire. Tina tried putting up a barrier, but she was a moment too slow. She stared in shock, unable to say anything as fiery breath consumed Satoshi and the spot he stood in. The moment lasted a minute until the dragon stopped, looking down at the scorched spot as his master smirked.
The mage succubus flew closer, her heart nearly bursting out of her chest. Nothing could survive that. Nothing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She should have acted sooner, but the dragon...
Confidence turned to horror. A mage's horror turned to surprise.
Satoshi still stood, the ground scorched around him, but he himself unharmed. Tina noticed water droplets falling to the ground around him before he said in a cold voice, "Ixen shilta ti svent vi darastrix."
The fire dragon stared, wide eyed, at the strange bounty hunter. Jolene was even more surprised than her dragon was. "He... he sp-speaks... he speaks Draconic?!?" she sputtered. "What kind of... what the... I can't believe this!"
Her dragon stared a little longer before asking in a strained whisper, "Wux kampiun ve?"
"Nurti ricin batobot. Re wux ouith?"
"Si mi winhal. Shar nomeno... Wux re darastrix, thric?"
Tina turned to Jolene and asked, "Do you have any idea what they're saying right now?"
"Me? I never studied Draconic in my life!" Jolene replied. "I can only recognize it, not understand it!"
The nuncubus stared at her with unblinking eyes before she said, "You're the worst dragon tamer ever."
After a few moments, Satoshi turned to Tina and commanded, "Break the geas." She nodded and hastily went to work as Satoshi walked towards Jolene, who was quick to draw her knives. "It's useless," he said. "The geas are being undone. Your sham and Lady Jessica's sham will be revealed for the pathetic farce it is. Do you still want to fight, knowing that your life will end if you try?"
Jolene didn't bother with words. She responded by lunging at him and stabbing him in the gut. Blood splattered onto her dress, a smile plastered on her face as she waited for that look of shock to form on Satoshi's.
The demon's face did not change. He let out a small sigh before reaching up and untying his bandana. Puzzled, the dragon tamer looked up...
Eyes. Three more eyes. Slitted, bright blue... lizardlike.
And without letting her register anything more in her mind, he tore out her throat and left her to bleed on the ground. Just in time to see the geas break, the dragon freed. It allowed Tina to pet its head happily, while Satoshi turned his attention towards the Lovey Dovey Chapel looming ahead.
"Tina?"
The succubus stopped her petting for a moment. "Yes, Satoshi?"
"We've dawdled here long enough, and we may have caught Lady Jessica's attention. It's time to strike while the iron is hot."
"But Satoshi, how are we gonna get in?" she asked. "They said they won't allow anyone in if they aren't getting married!"
He turned towards Tina, all five of his eyes staring at her, a sly smile hidden behind his robe.
"Well... I suppose it's time to sound the wedding chimes for us."
----------------------------
(Author's note: I used the following translator for Draconic: http://draconic.twilightrealm.com/ Also I apologize for the long ass post but I'm not exactly sure how to split this one into parts. And you can probably tell when I got a bit to tired to write out a complete battle scene. Weep.)
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