[center][img]https://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/b/b2/Koopa_Troop_artwork.png/658px-Koopa_Troop_artwork.png[/img] [h2][color=FD0000]The Koopa Prince[/color][/h2] [b][color=SpringGreen]wordcount:[/color][/b] 603 (+1) [b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 7 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (75/70) [b][color=SpringGreen]Location:[/color][/b] Limsa Lominscuttle Town - Pirate's Cove [/center] The Ri-class listened intently as her questions were answered. Names were apparently chosen by parents, which she apparently knew about con at least a conceptual basis for some reason that she didn’t question, which didn’t really help her pick her own one and mostly just made her feel more alien. Then she was bombarded by punk fashion and types of clothes she only kind of knew about. Whoever her parents where they hadn't instilled a vague understanding of human things in her without much concern for specifics. So while she knew what leather and jackets were for example but she didn't really know what they looked like when put together with studs and spikes added for good measure, or if that would be a good look for her, or what a good look even would be. “That might be easier. I don't want to be a burden” she told Sakura when put the breaks to her own enthusiasm and suggested just keeping things simple for now. It would be less for her to carry back just the one outfit. She got the impression that if not limited then Sakura would bring a massive collection of everything she thought might work and that was too much. She did want to try things out however, to see what would work and if she’d feel good wearing something else. Sakura’s enthusiasm and energy about, well, everything, was infectious. The Ri-class felt like she could sit and listen to her ramble on about Paris, french names and all sorts of other things for hours even though it was all confusing and mostly irrelevant to her. She was also completely right when she said all this was hard. It was very difficult, making decisions. The Cruiser wasn't used to agonizing over them either. The only kinds of choices she’d made till now were the ones that you made quickly in and about the moment, and if you took too long to act you’d die. That instinct was hammering in her head both that she had to be quick and that if she was wrong it meant the pain of being resurrected. But, now that she thought some more, with this if she was wrong couldn't she just change her answer? It wasn't like they were welding the name to her face, or the clothes to her body. She could decide something now, and if she saw or thought of something better later, then couldn't she just change it? That thought was rather liberating. The ship nodded to herself resolutely and then told the others that “I think I’d like to be called Rika. For now anyway” [hr] [color=SpringGreen]”Alright cool, thanks old timer”[/color] As someone who’s understanding of an airship’s lifespan was ‘until Mario gets there and wrecks it’ Jr had to wonder what they merchants were going to do if they lost all or even just some of the airships. Have ship girls take over, with packs of them running around like post women for small delivery, or hauling things between them like Olimar’s pikmin for the large stuff? The mental image was kinda funny, causing the boy to grin to himself. He also kind of wondered where stuff was going too or coming from, mainly in the context of getting a better understanding of all the stuff on the map they had. There were a bunch of other cities on it, some of which, he now realized, were a lot bigger than even this place. Were they active, or ruins? Old fashioned or modern? If there was anyone to ask it would be those ‘Independents’ the captain had mentioned. As he thought about this boy hovered back and looked at his limited handy work and then frowned. [color=SpringGreen]”gonna need more metal. And paint.”[/color] then he tilted his head to one side in thought and added to himself [color=SpringGreen]”I wonder if I can get a cannon from the market?”[/color] That could come later however, the prince was not interested in wandering around some bustling market and then hauling loads of stuff back to the ship on his own. So instead he put aside his tool box, landed his car, dismounted and wandered into the ship to see what Sakura and the others were up too. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5r7OTIh.png[/img] [b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 980 (+2) [b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 2[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]////////////[/color]////////////////// (12/30) [b][color=Aquamarine]Location:[/color][/b] Sandswept Sky – Before the Great Barrier Feat [@Dr Lovecraft] and [@ONL] [/center] Just as they were leaving they were joined by the medic’s companion, the Heavy. Having observed him in action, she knew he could be quite the asset but it was almost suspicious that it was these two specifically that were the ones coming with her and no one else. If the medic wanted to pull something this would be a fine time to pull it. The big man’s unprompted, as far as she could tell, joining and display of enthusiasm for the hunt mollified her suspicions somewhat, but she’d still be keeping an eye on these two. Doubly so because neither had any experience with fighting dragons [color=Aquamarine]”I’ve killed a few Argorok before. They’re Wyverns admittedly,”[/color] and also admittedly it had been Link’s doing the first time and she'd had an army at her back the second time. It was a shame the scout wasn't coming, his grapple was almost like a hookshot and those had been instrumental in all her Argorok kills [color=Aquamarine]”but that is still basically a dragon and a lot bigger than these ones are,”[/color] in fact calling them dragons might be over selling them, they were more like Aeralfos really. Not that those weren't also dangerous. [color=Aquamarine]”Can’t or won’t?”[/color] she had to ask when the medic refused to disclose the specifics of how his machine worked. The general explanation of the results was very encouraging, but it would have been nice to know what exactly made the magic sticking people back together tick. Hopefully he actually did know, and this was some kind of idea protection thing (she’d had to arbitrate on a few such cases between angry inventors, scholars and business people since she’d reclaimed her throne), rather than them being glued back together by un-understood means. She was also a little confused as to why the medic though she was missing an eye before realizing he had been misled by the way the Fused Shadow was covering one of her eyes but not the other [color=Aquamarine]”Oh, no this isn't an eye patch. I can see out of the other one just fine”[/color] she lifted the gilded black crown up off of her head enough to expose the eye beneath and then immediately regretted it. The Shadow had been saving the eye beneath from much of the glaring light and so when exposed to it the princess squinted her watering eye hard, bared her teeth and even hissed a little through them a little before putting the mask back on as soon as she’d demonstrated the existence of the eye beneath. She coughed, a touch embarrassed by her reaction to the sunlight and then explained [color=Aquamarine]”This mask is just one forth of a helmet called the Fused Shadow, which is why it doesn't cover everything. It’s an ancient and powerful artifact of my people that got broken into bits after they failed to take over Hyrule and got banished to the Twilight realm. You’ll get to see it in action soon enough.”[/color] Together the trio would head out across the sands between Va Nuboris and the abandoned tent that seemed to be home to a number of their prey. Minda, like poppy, had spotted it from above (using Va Nuboris’s eyes) and lead the way there, occasionally having her mount leap up atop a ruined pillar to make sure they were still headed the right way though the rolling dunes and fragmented ruins that littered the land at the base of the great cliff. The princess brought the team up behind a collapsed segment of bridge that had crashed against the base of the cliff and that was relatively close (about a 20 second run) to the dragon campsite which made a good vantage point of the upcoming battlefield. The tent itself was nestled against the cliff base and was home to two of the buggy [url=https://i.imgur.com/Eu8anJR.jpg]green dragons[/url] who were outside of it alongside a swarm of smaller, even more [url=https://i.imgur.com/XCZyb8D.png]insectile creatures[/url] that they seemed to be on friendly terms with. Together where tearing into the still living body of a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/4/49/Sandworm_1_%28FFXI%29.png]sandworm[/url] that had had all its limbs ripped off to prevent it from escaping and was being kept alive to stop its juicy innards from poofing away into an unusable, to the animals, spirit. Even in Galeem’s strange world life found a way to keep devouring itself. Outside of the tent was an expanse of mostly flat terrain, spoiled only by a few shallow dunes and a smattering unsuspicious round divots in the sand, which was home to two massive skeletons. One was a twisted combination of a whale and a chameleon, the other a fusion of a lobster and an elephant. Both sets of bones (and cartilage) had been gnawed on near their bases but were otherwise in rather pristine condition. The pair’s sand stripped remains lay locked together where they had perished in fight to the death, the lobster’s claws crushing the whale-chameleon's neck while its horns gored the elephant-lobster in the eyes, before the world of light had engulfed their remains as part of the terrain and deposited them here. To their right the desert stretched on seemingly forever, dotted by a few uninteresting ruins that gradually pestered out as they got further front he wall, while further down the cliff a fair distance past the tent there seemed to be a number of caves or tunnels in the cliff face in and around which distant shapes scurried and clambered. The princess popped her head over the top of their ruin vantage point to take this all in, quickly followed by her Wolfos doing the same mostly for imitations and inclusions sake. [color=Aquamarine]”Thoughts?”[/color] She asked the Heavy and Medic, who due to working together she assumed would be on a similar wavelength when it came to strategy [color=Aquamarine]”or if you just want to charge in first then be my guests”[/color]