[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 8[/b] Tora (66/80) and [b]Level 8[/b] Poppi (39/80)
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Sweet Canyon - Parnasse
Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris], Yoshitsune's [@Rockin Strings], Red’s [@TheDemonHound]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 812[/center]

As alarming as the revelation of mutative food was, Tora refused to let his team down be left behind as a burden. The idea that he would be left in the dust to nurse his wounds, if they could be called that, while the others went ahead to save the day fired him up so much that he bounced to his feet and ran after them, leaving Poppi to follow along.

Thus, the dynamic duo arrived at the tail of the group, joining them at the borderline where the candy trees stopped and Parnasse began. Even in the dark of night they were able to spot the hulking machines in the center of the town, illuminated by lamplight shining through wavy sugar crystal panes. And even from this distance Tora locked on to the captive fairy and commenced looking respectfully.

Rotating lights in the night sky informed the Yellow Team members they weren’t the only ones to find the confectionary village. As soon as he saw her Fox radioed Necronomicon, and the flying saucer slowed down to deliver a prompt response. “Hello! It’s Necronomicon! I thought I’d find you guys here, though I don’t really see you yet. You see them, Scout-kun?”

A crude voice reached Fox over the communicator. “Oi, what did you call me? I ain’t seen anyone ‘cept those giant robots!” Evidently, at some point the dwarf had given up dangling from Necronomicon and climbed inside instead. “Your radar thingie’s goin’ haywire. Red dots all over town, none of ‘em movin’! Oh wait, there’s…”

Joker leaned in again, once more making use of his counterpart’s device. “Don’t go any lower. We’re not in town right now, and those robots are looking straight at you. They might jump and grab you.”

“Ee!” Necronomicon jerked upward, prompting a bump and colorful curse from her occupant.

“Hold still you arsewipe, I’m tryin’ to read this thing! There’s a dot goin’ right toward the center!”

Joker kept his eyes on the scene unfolding. “We see her…”

As the heroes looked on, Midna revealed herself. The fairy had to stop herself squealing in excitement, and resorted to just squirming in anticipation as Midna swiped at the cage’s lock with a dragon claw. The mechanism parted ways, and the door swung open. Everything was going smoothly until the fairy squeezed through, at which point she promptly got stuck. An instinctive jostle caused a slight rattle in the chain, and she froze, staring in panic at the robots, but they had yet to notice. Her wide eyes returned to Midna, silently asking what to do.

This... She had not anticipated. The princess resisted the urge to hold her head in her hands, confounded by the fact that it was the fairy’s shapely figure of all things that was causing an issue. Instead she raised a finger to get the fairy to wait and then carefully brought out her shadow hand. She wrapped the chain up in the orange limb to hold it steady and muffle any more sound. Then she took the fairy’s two hands in hers, planted two feet on the bottom edge of the cage and then pulled, attempting to tug her loose from her metal confides without rattling the chain.

Trying to stay calm, the fairy complied, staying quiet until her rescuer gently seized the chain. After that a little tugging popped her free, which moved Midna just enough to give off a little clink of metal, but nothing that alerted the guardians to the heist occurring under their very noses. Just a little larger than the Twilight Princess had been when she first arrived in the World of Light, and not much slower, the fairy flew after her into cover. Practically the moment they got out of sight the fairy clamped herself around Midna in as big a hug as the little woman could muster. “Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she sang, her grip surprisingly tight. “I was in there so long I thought I was gonna starve to death! But hey, I guess this is the place to be hungry!” After releasing Midna she dove headfirst toward a nearby house, and with the help of a hat smashed through the candy pane no problem. Inside, she disappeared into the futon of a fudge couch. 

Outside, however, the fairy’s joyous exclamations [i]had[/i] reached the guardian machines, and when they noticed that their captive had been freed, they stirred to action. They did not vocalize, but their unsophisticated components heaved and clanked as the large bipeds split up, each heading for a nearby house to search it. Once in range they raised their great creaking fists and began the demolitions.

Necronomicon’s tentacles flailed in distress. “There are people in the houses! We have to help!” Without another word needed, Tora took off into town with Poppi right behind, and the Phantom Thieves on their heels.

[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Level 3[/b] Nadia (9/30)
[b]Location:[/b] Black Bay
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Hat Kid's [@Dawnrider], Frog's [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1881[/center]

Though thoroughly unnerved by the advent of the Helmaroc King, Nadia couldn’t afford to gawp for long. For every Abyssal that climbed aboard Shippy, five more remained in the water, bombarding the hard-to-miss hull with their armaments or tearing into its construction directly with their cruelly powerful teeth and hands. A monster poked its head above the railing and she raced over to deliver a dropkick. It raised an armored arm to block, but her extended legs blew its guard wide open. The next instant Blazermate’s spine-chilling new abomination, mindlessly bloodthirsty, careened into the vulnerable Abyssal and sent both overboard. Its malformed shape clipped Nadia on the way, who barely grabbed hold of the wood in time to keep from tumbling into the drink herself. And of course, a few opportunistic Abyssals shot up the area, too. Peppered with splinters, Nadia growled in frustration as she kept her head down, and crawled on all fours away from the railing. 

When she stood, she realized Shippy had begun to list. Even with Blazermate’s restoration totally concentrated on the vessel, the incoming damage outweighed her efforts by a long shot. Her medibeam only stemmed the tide. Link, Sakura, and a few others aboard the Atomos helped the naval accompaniment to take down Shippy’s assailants as best they could, but they continued to lay on the pain, with more than a few getting into the hold. Ace went below decks to deal with the unwelcome guests, and Nadia figured he might need some help, but Link volunteered. She ducked as a missile whipped overhead and smashed against the mast in a concussive burst of flame. “This sucks!” Nadia snarled, brushing embers from her hair. “There’s no end to ‘em, and we can’t stop them messin’ up the ship!”

“We need more healing!” Peach agreed. She waved Frog over. “Hey! I need you to team jump me over and over! Just boost me into the air and I can heal Shippy as I land!” 

[hr]

[center][hider=For Link]You have Acquired:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/Ph4NpsY.png]Ebony Battleaxe[/url][/b]
[i]A black metal weapon of great weight and destructive power, effective at both cleaving fleshy targets and crushing hard ones, but difficult to wield[/i]

And:
[url=https://cdn.thingiverse.com/assets/c1/0f/59/fa/ab/featured_preview_Armor_Plate_Front.png][b]Armor Plate[/b][/url]
[i]A specially crafted plate of metal. Once attached to someone’s gear, all non-critical damage will be rerouted to it instead of the wearer, until the armor breaks. If not totally broken, its remaining durability can be added to with additional armor plates[/i][/hider][/center]

Furnished with some new gear from the fallen Abyssals, Link joined the battle below decks not long after Ace Cadet made his own dynamic entry. He found a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kancolle/images/4/4b/PT_Imp_Pack_Full.png]troop of imps[/url] alongside a [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kancolle/images/7/77/Light_Cruiser_To-Class_Full.png]To-class Cruiser[/url] with a handful of the Cadet’s oversized arrows in it. Without much in the way of cargo or rooms, Shippy’s hold presented a decently open space for fighting, although it was that much easier for the heroes to see the woeful extent of the damage. There were full-on holes gushing seawater in a few places, which was already knee-level. Before their eyes a constant battle was unfolding as the ship’s carpentry attempted to repair itself, thanks to Blazermate. It prevented reinforcements from appearing constantly, but new [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kancolle/images/b/b2/Destroyer_Na-Class_Full.png]Na-class Destroyers[/url] kept pushing their way inside. Even down here, the odds were stacked against them.

[hr]

Bella took a deep breath as the Helmaroc King soared closer. Too smart, agile, and high up to just run into any of Bowser’s fireballs or liquid jets. It would be on the Atomos in mere moments. While Sakura and Bella occupied themselves with helping Shippy, she climbed out into the open with the help of her cane to where she could get a clear look. Thanks to the Koopas’ minions, the situation facing the Atomos had quickly begun to improve. The extra weaponry manned by the Toadies gave the team precise firepower to apply where needed, Kamek’s clones did some work, and the roving Striker quartet made the most of the limited time afforded them by taking down the highest-priority assailants. When it came to sheer numbers, it seemed, countering fire with fire was effective, and the versatility the minion horde offered certainly helped. That just left the elephant in the room--or sky, such that it was.

She turned backward and looked over her shoulder, allowing her leviathan tail to position itself and start charging. Geralt appeared at about the same time, climbing onto Bowser and delivered his plan above the scream of the wind. In order for the Witcher to climb onto it he would need Bowser to grab hold, but knowing what she did of the cunning Helmaroc King Bella doubted it would soar right into his arms. If anything, Bella worried that it planned to target the Atomos instead and put its talons through the already bullet-riddled cockpit.  Sakura might have been the one to save her, but even after such a short time of knowing Junior, Bella would not let anyone hurt him.

Her initial idea got thrown out when Junior drove the Atomos forward, along with her hat sailing off into the sky. She narrowed her eyes. Suddenly the airship and the avian were on a collision course, which presented a problem beyond the Atomos team being unable to cover Shippy and longer. Now the Helmaroc King would probably swerve out of the way long before it got close enough. A railgun shot would slow it down, however impractical that would be. But even if she couldn’t hit it at this speed, she didn’t need to hit it to pull this off.

With that in mind she waited, adjusting her aim a touch at a time, as the monstrous bird drew closer. The tension piled higher and higher as the wind whipped her hair, until finally she slammed shut her fist, her jaw just about splitting under the force of her yell. “FIRE!” With a thunderous [i]PCHOOM[/i] her tail discharged, hurling a shot past the Helmaroc with such speed that the bird shrieked, veering up and to the right, and right into Bowser’s clutches.

[hr]

As Peach got busy helping Blazermate heal, the medibot put her own plan in motion. She pumped the power of the Kritzkrieg into the living vessel just as Brineybeard took his fourth bullet. This one struck one of his peg legs and destroyed it, which dropped the wounded pirate onto his back in a shout of pain. A rumble of pure rage sounded out from Shippy as she began to inflate her cheeks, a baleful power building within. The intensifying tremor and ominous glow prompted Nadia to hunker down, but just as Shippy seemed ready to let loose Brineybeard’s strained, desperate voice roared above the clamor. “Hold yer fire, hold yer fire! Ye’ll kill our damn friends!”

Maddened by pain and invigorated by the kritz, Shippy did not listen. The gathering power swelled to a point where just about everyone on the battlefield noticed, and the next second Shippy opened wide. A blindingly bright pink beam surged from her gullet, more deadly still than Nightmare’s Domination, blew across the bay and annihilated all in its path. Luckily most of the shipgirls got out of its way, but a few too embroiled in their own conflicts did not escape in time and disappeared alongside the Abyssals. Evaporating a momentary valley in the water, the beam went on to crash against and blow a chunk out of the fortress atop Midway Island. Entire slabs of stone burst apart and fell away into the sea, and a few of the dangling anchors dropped to smash through stone and Abyssals below.

It was a moment before Nadia remembered to breathe. The amazed lull in the battlefield would not last for long. She glanced at Chao but shrank from her horrified expression. Instead she ran over to where Brineybeard lay by the prow of the ship. The sheer rage on his face as he unleashed a storm of swears nearly stopped her in her tracks, but she pulled him away from immediate danger. “You damn boat! They’ll kill us both! Our adventure’s already over! We’re done for...”

Any help Nadia wanted to offer died in Nadia’s throat. Friendly fire seemed like the worst thing possible in a military environment like this. She glanced around to see their escort thinning out. Did they plan to abandon them? “Oh, hell…” she murmured. If the Abyssal onslaught was bad before, it would be untenable now. The apparent fact that the Navy didn’t turn against the heroes outright was only a small comfort. Everything had suddenly become too much. How could she have ever thought she was ready for this!?

Heinrich’s voice crackled over Chao’s receiver. “Brineybeard! What the hell was that?! Some of our girls were in there!”

“I know, I know!” the old man cried. “It be an accident! I tried to stop it, but...Shippy just...she be in bad shape! Crazed from the pain!”

“You should have known better than to sail into battle on that animal!” The Commander growled. Through the radio the boom of her cannon’s came as a burst of overloaded static.

Peach staggered close, more than a little rattled herself. “Commander, I’m terribly sorry!”

“Peach! Did you vet this pirate at all? If we knew he had somethin’ like that up his sleeve, we coulda planned around it!”

Both Brineybeard’s and Peach’s faces tightened. Another impact shook Shippy, causing her to rock perilously. The captain spoke up before the princess could say anything. “Ma’am, it be my responsibility, and nobody else’s! Don’t blame the Seekers. They jus’ needed whatever they could get!”

Heinrich sighed heavily. “That’s nice an’ all, but we can’t be expected to defend a loose cannon like that and risk losin’ any more girls! I figure you’re lucky Merl hasn’t turned us on you. Unless you abandon ship, you’re on your own!”

The bad news did not stop there. Even as the Helmaroc King went for the Atomos and the Koopa King atop it, an [url=https://i.imgur.com/jQ98OvD.png]Abyssal Princess[/url] showed her face from Midway Island. From this distance her killer glare could not be seen, but she spoke into a microphone that sent her venomous voice rolling across the waters. “So you’ve come again, incautiously...fufufu, this...this is overconfidence. Explode...and sink!” At her command an entire armada of bombers, at least a hundred, took to the air like a flock of doves. The entire contingent spread out across the water, heading for Shippy.

Chao stood frozen by the sight, until a To-class hauled itself onto the deck. It charged her way, jolting both her and Nadia into action. She took a running jump for it and grabbed hold of its side, but found only sheer armor plating. It batted her away and opened fire on Chao, who blocked with her fan until the Abyssal ripped through with its arms. It ruthlessly clamped down on the shipgirl’s arms with both lateral jaws, and with its true head cut off her scream.

Despair reached for Nadia, and it took a lot of strength to fight it back. [i]I couldn’t...I didn’t…[/i] But her jaw clenched, and her eyes burned. Why the hell was she blaming herself, when the monster was right there!? Before she knew what she was doing, Nadia slid in beneath the Abyssal’s jaws. She bent backward, detached her hands, allowing them to rip through the bastard’s throat in an x-slash, then went all the way with a sharp-clawed flip kick that sent its central head lolling. Still alive, it flailed in rage, but Nadia ensnared the beast in muscle fiber and leaped upward. At the peak of her jump the elastic snapped back, bringing her down on the central neck hard enough to snap it. Nadia rose to her feet, reeling, in a pile of ashes. As her chest heaved from the effort she bent down for her hands, one of which she found to be holding Chao’s spirit. Poor girl--the feral hadn’t even gotten to know her. But her death had been avenged.

Still, her despair had not gone away, and in fact only deepened as the Atomos zoomed off. The Blue Team couldn’t fight this. If any of the remaining shooters like Hat Kid refocused on the bombers, Shippy would get wrecked that much faster, but if the bombers reached the ship, there would be nothing left to save. And if Shippy somehow survived the battle, there remained the consequences of killing friendlies. [i]Briney was right.[/i] Seeing all this, Nadia felt like she finally understood why conventional ships had been retired. Even with gimmicks and heavy armaments, there was no competition. The living vessel couldn’t even retreat with how fast these monsters moved. Shippy was lost, and it was time to switch gears.

With a final look of pity at Brineybeard she ran to the railing again. She could swim pretty well for a cat, but if she took a dive into these infested waters, she was doomed. Her airdash relied on blood pressure, so it only worked in bursts. The Atomos flew nearby, but Nadia didn’t know if she could reach it with an airdash plus fiber swing. A hand clapped on her shoulder and she met Peach’s eyes. The princess looked about as overwhelmed as Nadia felt, but angry, too. “It’s over! We already lost that shipgirl. We have to bail!” the feral cried.

Peach shook her head, yelling, “We can’t just yet! The guys are down below, and there’s nowhere [i]to[/i] go!” Another Tsu-class leaped aboard, and in no mood for more monsters Peach flung a Grenaduck at it. The bright yellow bomb bounced off the monster’s metal skull, and the next second Peach let loose a Boomshot blast that blew the grenade and the Abyssal to smithereens. Its ash sailed overboard, but its spirit floated down onto the deck. Remembering the last time her team saw desperate times, she snatched it up. 

Nadia recalled Sephiroth’s fusion, and her eyebrows went up. She pulled out Chao’s legacy. “The spirits! We can fuse with them to get away!”

Unfortunately, the problem that faced Rika, Bella, and Ranger lay fresh on Peach’s mind. “Not with Abyssals! We could get shot by our own teammates!”

She was right, but Nadia thrust the spirit at her anyway. “Well, you take this one! We just need to get some more!”

Peach looked out over the bay seeing all the smoke on the water. As awful as it had been so far, their own struggle represented only a part of the battle, and on the whole the Navy seemed to be winning. Having the Seekers and their vessels as distractions no doubt helped. Now that she looked, the Jackdaw had stopped [i]way[/i] back, so far removed from the fight that the few Abyssals that tried to head its way got shot down before even getting close. Alongside it were the supply rafts, which received continuous donations by the Armor Division dutifully combing the waves for fallen spirits. “There!” Peach realized. “I’ll go over as fast as I can and grab enough spirits for everyone. You just need to hold out until then!”

A series of explosions shook Shippy, prompting a tremendous groan like falling timber. “That’s our best bet!” Nadia shouted. “Please hurry!” Peach jammed the spirit into her chest, leaped from the ship in a flurry of Abyssal fire, and transformed before she hit the water.

[center][hider=For Peach]Notable Spirit Consumed:
[b][url=https://azurlane.koumakan.jp/w/images/thumb/e/ee/Chao_Ho.png/1024px-Chao_Ho.png]Chao Ho[/url][/b]
The host has gotten somewhat smaller and thinner, but gained mass elsewhere, as well as a narrow window across her top. Her dark blonde hair has gotten feathery again, with the previous shade occupying a central third of her hair while the outer thirds are white on the right and burgundy on the left. Two conical buns have also formed. White frills have appeared across her outfit and her pants+long coat combo have reverted to a skirt over white skinny jeans. This spirit confers the Power [b]Shipshape Type R[/b], giving her a Fan of War that’s a huge fan with built-in battleship elements. As long as she has the Fan of War equipped, either in her hands or on her back, she can move across water like a normal shipgirl. This spirit also confers the Weakness [b]Lightly Armed[/b], decreasing the size and power of ranged weapons other than the Fan of War.[/hider][/center]

[center][h3]Western Coast – the Courtyard[/h3]
[@Zavazggg][/center]

To either side of the wrought-iron monstrosity that provided the sole access point beyond the high stone wall, a pair of sniveling Gatekeepers crouched. Rather than attack or bring forth Sycophants, however, they stood firm with as much dignity as they could muster. One held out a clawed hand. “Good evening, fair madam!” he wheedled. “Your invitation, if you please?” Yet the guards, such as they were, proved unnecessary, for the gate itself swung open with a hideous creak when prompted by Sephiroth’s invitation. 

From the moment she stepped inside, the atmosphere changed. The all-consuming gloom of a night far from civilization held only a partial sway here, and where its clutches ended, Bloodlight began. From afar it had appeared as if the mists surrounding the Courtyard had been stained red by unseen torches or bonfires, but on closer inspection it seemed as though the very fog itself bore a scarlet luster that provided a steady if unsettling source of light. And in that glow, Sephiroth could see a sobering sight. Before her stretched an immense, infested swampland. Its overgrown hedges and tumbled-down edifices suggested that at some point she might have gazed upon a lavish garden of extravagant size, the sort that might precede a manor of palatial proportions. Now it lay in a sorrowful, even disgusting state of decay. Mold and moss blanketed neglected furniture and ruined masonry alike, twisted tangles of roots and branches scarcely qualifiable as trees rose like primeval titans from the soupy green morass, and mosquitoes swarmed around blood-red lanterns that hung from ghastly, one-armed statues. Everywhere Sephiroth looked she saw rivulets of sticky blood across the ground, some leading back to clusters of bulbous, translucent cocoons, through the translucent walls of which she could make out the squirms of shifting, bulging organisms.

The buzz of conversation and peals of laughter drew her gaze a ways down the path, where Sephiroth could see a [url=https://i.imgur.com/q7pqdhb.jpg]throng of partygoers[/url] amidst a tottering ruin. In the Bloodlight she could make out snippets of finery and prominent wigs along with unusually pointed noses. There was an intermittent clinking of glasses, and above the guests swarmed what could only be more mosquitoes. Yet that same Bloodlight provided an element of distortion that magnified the horrors it shed light upon, imparting a weak but needling unwellness.


[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/q7pqdhb.jpg[/img]

[i]Every Courtyard post will give 1 Stress. Sephiroth’s Stress is now 38[/i][/center]

A [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darkestdungeon_gamepedia/images/f/fd/Supplicant.png]loathsome supplicant[/url] approached Sephiroth, apparently the attendant tasked with greeting new arrivals. Around the head of the diminutive man closed the jaws of an engorged, repugnant tick, which fixed the new arrival with beady eyes. Globules of blood dribbled from its mouth as it opened just wide enough for a tormented voice to issue from within. “My lady’s trip...has made her quite...unpresentable. Hurry to...lavatory…’fore the gentlefolk...see...” He seemed to smell something and took another step forward. “My lady...fresh. So...very fresh.” Wormlike tendrils slithered from his mouth. “They want it...fresh blood...come here...my lady!”

Overcome by thirst, he lunged for her.

[center][h3]Snowdin – Survive Bar[/h3]
[@Gentlemanvaultboy][/center]

With a little direction from Albedo and the furrows her sled had cut earlier, the Skullgirl retraced her tracks to Snowdin. Her westward trip gave her a good view of the setting sun as it cast its last radiant hurrah of the day over glittering snowfields and frost-laden pines. As the trees became silhouettes against the rosy glow it might seem to a fanciful mind as if they had already donned their nightcaps for the coming evening. If the alchemist hadn’t been on the verge of hypothermia he might have produced his sketchbook, but he shivered even when huddled by his own arms. “I really...must g-get warmer gear,” he muttered as he eyed the approaching town. “Over there!” A pointed finger led the way to a [url=https://rpgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/yakuza-like-a-dragon_2019-12-20_001.jpg?x26532]solid-looking brick building[/url], with iron bars across the windows, a menu propped by the door, and a solitary bench out front that bore the imprints of use in its snowy coating.

Stiffly Albedo climbed off the sled and pushed inside, with a slight pause to kick excess snow off his boots. Though not quite as cozy as Grillby’s, Survive definitely sported its own style along with greater sophistication. Instead of bare walls it featured paintings, speakers, an entire shelf of records, and musical instruments. Magnets held lists, recipes, and reminders to the refrigerator. A piano dominated part of the room and a dark square device that neither of the entrants could claim familiarity with hung from the ceiling. All in all it felt more lived in, and though there wasn’t another customer in sight -or perhaps because of it- Albedo felt right at home.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CMYepp0.jpg[/img][/center]

“Welcome.” The bartender, a well-kept [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/yakuza/images/e/e8/Y7_Kashiwagi.png]man with black hair streaked gray[/url], glasses and a curved scar, watched the two come in. His keen eyes swept up every detail they could about his guests, both old and new. “You alright, kid? Need me to make something?”

Albedo shook his head as he seated himself at the bar. In the ambient warmth of the place he could let himself relax. “No, thank you. I managed to escape the worst of it, thanks to...my friend.”

After another look at Linkle, the man gave a slow nod. “Good to hear. If you need anything, let me know. I can make bouquets, medicines, and bentos. That said, even if there’s no real law around here, I won’t sell alcohol to minors. Alright?”

He stepped away to mind his own business, which offered the alchemist a chance to explain. “‘Bentos’ are a little like lunch boxes,” he clarified. “Mr. Kashiwagi was quite the cultured gentleman in his world. Yet Survive is often empty because he runs it more for fun than as a business. We’ve occasionally spoken of our worlds’ customs, and I have yet to quite wrap my head around his..” The manner in which he framed it obfuscated the likelihood that such things just didn’t interest him as much as research. After clearing his throat Albedo continued talking in an effort to stay active. “Ahem. That said, his mentions of ‘modern technology’ has stuck with me. For instance, that device keeps food and drink inside it cool for the sake of preservation.” He inclined his head at the refrigerator. “Where I come from, that would require Cryo slimes or something similar, but this uses electricity to change the matter state of a chemical, and that produces cold. And that thing up there--it uses electricity to activate a great many little lights in certain patterns to make moving pictures. Although my principal interest is the truth of the world, this is still fascinating, no?” He exhaled through his nose, the hint of a smile playing about his lips. “Ah, there I go again. Anyway, if you’d like something, I can cover the cost. It’s the least I can do to thank you for your help.”

All the while, a jazzy song played softly in the backdrop, emanating from the record player situated by the karaoke stand.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xu4T1wWB7I[/youtube][/center]