[center][h3]Esaka - the Pools[/h3]
Lvl 15 Ms Fortune (181/150) Level 11 Big Band (77/110)
Amaterasu’s [@DracoLunaris] Roland’s [@Archmage MC] Zenkichi’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] Pit’s [@Yankee] Sakura & Juri’s [@Zoey Boey] Captain Falcon’s [@Double] Harry and Kim’s [@Eviledd1984] Terry’s [@Terry Bogard] Yayama’s [@Chevaleresse] Grima’s [@Goggy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2293 / 845[/center]

Still full of excitement and riding the high from her clash against the cyborgs, Nadia led the much less expressive Robo-fortune away from the arena at the tier’s edge and to a nearby rest area. In addition to the typically free-standing platforms, rafts, and islands where the competitors fought their qualifying matches, the Pools boasted many smaller structures that served as the hubs connecting the network of stone bridges and wharf-like wooden walkways which pedestrians used to traverse the tier. These ran the gamut between purely decorative, with burbling central fountains and picturesque flowerboxes, and purely functional, with such amenities as food carts, drinking fountains, trash cans, and restrooms. A few were dedicated observation decks for viewing the fights below, [url=https://i.imgur.com/thJvLIF.png]some[/url] surprisingly tall. Pretty much all had benches for the duelists to sit and rest on between their bouts, though, and most also featured a gilded bulletin board to provide up-to-date information about the ongoing tournaments–fighters need only ask, and in a shimmer of golden light the board would shift to display whichever tournament bracket they wanted to see.

The nearest rest area for Nadia and Robo happened to be a [url=https://i.imgur.com/0GdiXNB.jpeg]simple stone cylinder[/url] at a four-way crossroads between bridges, with different arenas in the other quadrants. One of the other matches had concluded before the catgirls’, evidently a quick and easy stomp for the victors, but battles still raged on the other two, and Nadia couldn’t help but pause and look over on her way to figure out her next match.

The first fight to catch Nadia’s eye was a slugfest between two strange beings: a bipedal [url=https://i.imgur.com/k81uQjW.png]green ant[/url] with an armored exosuit, supported by a  and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/PaBleaA.png]man with teal skin[/url], blue pants, and silver hair. While the latter commanded ice powers, which he unleashed in the form of frigid boomerangs, the insectoid held him off with an extremely defensive fighting style. The ice man (Freon, according to the nearby bulletin board) preferred to keep a distance and chuck projectiles, but after the ant (Cyclic) established an early life lead with a snappy combo, Freon needed a lot more than the chip damage from his ice-a-rangs to retake the lead. With no good options to open his opponent up, he had to take risks to try and freeze Cyclic for a combo, which led to mistakes, taking stray hits, and falling even further behind as desperation mounted. Nadia figured Cyclic would probably take the win, but it wasn’t all that exciting to watch, so the cat burglar looked away.

Meanwhile, the other duel involved a maroon-clad, sai-wielding [url=https://i.imgur.com/HztZ8XZ.png]assassin lady[/url], supported by an [url=https://i.imgur.com/472KedL.png]elegant princess[/url] in blue, armed with bladed fans. Their main opponent was [url=https://i.imgur.com/BC6GADm.jpeg]another blue person[/url], this one striped, redheaded, and possessed not just of a gleaming twinblade, but a minimalistic purple fashion sense. In her corner was a [url=https://i.imgur.com/hmoBGe5.png]pink warrior woman[/url] with a sword, a shield, and four-horned helmet. They looked fierce, but unfortunately for the two barbarians, the opposition -who did look similar enough to be sisters, now that Nadia thought about it- appeared to be beating the snot out of them. Armed with not just superior skill and training, but practically effortless teamwork, Mileena and Kitana anti-aired every jump-in, punished every whiff, and shut down every attempt to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat. Nadia watched, impressed and just a little intimidated, as the sisters crushed the opposition in their second straight win.

“Whew,” Nadia remarked, tugging at her collar. “Wouldn’t wanna get on that lady’s bad sai-d.” When Robo just looked at her, her deadpan stare questioning, Nadia rolled her eyes. “I’m kidding, ro-bro. We got this.”

When the cat burglar went to consult the tournament bracket, her bravado quickly turned to disbelief. “Huh!?” She scratched her head, squinting at the listing for her next match-up. “One-thirty? My next fight’s in the doggone afternoon!”

Robo-fortune crossed her arms. “Plenty of time to rest and prepare. After multiple combo drops, it seems like you’ll need it.”

Scoffing, Nadia brushed her off with a dismissive wave. “C’mon, I got it eventually. I’ll pre-purr, all right…” She sighed and looked out across the glittering water of the pools, where countless fighters were still fighting, some still on their first pool matches while a lucky few got the chance to proceed to their seconds. Her eyes came to rest on a long, rectangular stone platform a few hundred feet away, where a familiar diminutive dark knight stood waiting for her next opponent. Nadia narrowed her eyes, then nudged Robo-fortune with her elbow. “Hey, we got time to kill. Wanna go see how the others are doin’?”

With a nod, Robo opened her mouth to deploy a small radar dish to ping her surroundings. “Affirmative.” Naturally, the sounds she emitted had no relation to the movement of her mouthparts. After her head spun around to the southeast, her body did an about-face as well. “Annie and Filia registered for World Warrior. We should proceed to that section of the pool.”

The two catgirls got moving, traversing the tier at a leisurely pace. Now that a number of matches had concluded, plenty of fighters were in a similar boat, either loitering around the rest areas, heading to their next matches, or leaving the tier. The number of spectators had probably increased a little since the tournaments commenced, but it was impossible to tell registered fighters from Esakans just here to watch, so Nadia couldn’t say for certain. Bit by bit, she and her Kameo made their way out of the Mortal Kombat portion of the pools and into the much more expansive World Warrior section. There was less of a marked shift between the two groups than she expected; kombatants she expected to be vicious and bloodthirsty, but plenty of street fighters still fought like belligerent hooligans, dashing forward and attacking with reckless abandon in a bid to seize and keep control of their fights’ momentum.

There did seem to be fewer non-human World Warrior competitors, and fewer who used weapons, but there were still plenty of outliers. Not long after she entered the section, she spotted a [url=https://i.imgur.com/bodxagm.png]strange white being[/url] in the middle of a brawl. While it could be mistaken for a human in a milk-colored body suit at first glance, the sight of it morphing its body parts into blades, whips, drills, wings, and needles shattered that illusion. Nadia spectated as she walked along a pier parallel to this creature’s stage, captivated. When she reached a two-story observation platform, she made for the bulletin board to find out just what this thing was. [i]Twelve[/i], she read. With an arsenal of bizarre, long-reaching attacks, it seemed to control space well, especially in the air. The more Nadia watched, however, the more obvious Twelve’s disadvantage became. Its opponent, an only slightly less white [url=https://i.imgur.com/FLqiKsz.png]girl in a fancy dress[/url], could summon weapons as even better pokes, had a slew of defensive techniques, and had some surprisingly long-range grabs as well. Moreover, she had one thing the shapeshifter definitely didn’t: the ability to combo. Even if it did land some pokes, Twelve could never link into a combo. When Artifactor converted a stray hit into yet another combo, her target on its last legs, Nadia shook her head and moved on. “No wonder they call that guy Twelve. He ‘dozen’ do damage!”

Nadia tried not to get too distracted with other fights until she finally spotted Filia’s distinctive raven-black hair. Her fellow NMO representative was embroiled in a heated duel with a tomboyish [url=https://i.imgur.com/KW3Afr8.png]Japanese teenager[/url] in a white karate gi. Thanks to Samson, the parasite that inhabited Filia’s hair, the girl wielded solid movement and unpredictable techniques. As Nadia looked on, she jammed her hair into the ground to create a ringlet drill beneath her foe, then rolled up into a hairball to dodge her jump-in. What her opponent lacked in supernatural abilities, though, she made up for with excellent instincts and sheer aggression. The martial artist pushed forward with alarming boldness, forcing Filia to scramble to keep up. Nadia wondered why Filia seemed to be jumping so much until the tomboy seized her in a command grab and lifted her into the air by her throat. After squeezing, she followed up with a combo that left her foe floored and senseless.

Grimacing, Nadia sucked in air through her teeth. A quick look around confirmed the presence of Annie nearby, also watching Filia’s duel with crossed arms and pursed lips. Nadia trotted over, waving. “Hey! How’s it goin’?”

“Fine for me,” the Girl of the Stars replied, offering a curt wave in return. She then looked back at Filia, who was picking herself up as Samson dusted her off. “Not so good for her. Filia won her first match against some guy named Hakuowlo, but that Makoto girl is dynamite. She’s got skills and power…Filia’s a round down, and I’m worried she’s too shaken to pull the momentum back.” Although the girl couldn’t hear her from this distance, Annie kept her voice down, just in case. As the second round kicked off, Annie turned her one eye toward Nadia. “Won your match?”

“Yep!” The catgirl grinned as she put her hands on her hips. “Fought a couple cyborgs. They kept it interesting, but we cleaned ‘em out. Two rounds straight.” She gave Annie the double finger guns. “How ‘bout you?”

Annie just nodded, impassive. “Yeah. Some tasteless soldier lady.” The two turned their attention back to the match as Filia, already on the back foot again, woke up from a knockdown with [url=https://i.imgur.com/EMfsRoG.png]Fenris Drive[/url]. Not knowing about Filia’s reversal Blockbuster, Makoto got taken by surprise and snapped up in the empowered Updo. Samson formed his fanged face and his host’s hair into the head of a wolf, chomped on Makoto, and then dove to the ground for a final slam. The moment the martial artist regained her feet, though, she grabbed Filia and headbutted her. Filia stumbled back, groaning, with Samson’s eyes wise and his tongue sticking out. Without delay, Makoto fired off a light punch, then light kick, then launched forward in a zooming dash punch. On hit, she planted her foot as her energy seemed to flare. After a strong low punch, she hammered her opponent with a flurry that ended in a dramatic launcher that left Filia’s head ringing from the [url=https://wiki.supercombo.gg/images/5/50/%28makotosa1%29.gif]combination[/url]. When she dashed up, Filia tried to cover her retreat with jumping hair attacks until her back was to the water, at which point she launched a desperate Updo. Makoto blocked the reversal, making Nadia wince. No way Filia wasn’t going out of bounds. Instead of taking the easy ring out, though, Makoto decked her foe with a strong chop, and the other girl slumped to the floor, defeated. 

Makoto breathed in deep, bowed to her opponent, then turned to go. The next moment Nadia landed on the stage, then jogged over to Filia’s side to crouch down. “Hey, you okay?”

“Ugh…” Filia clamped both hands on top of her scalp, her expression tightening. “I think so. Ow…”

“I’m good, thanks for asking,” Samson growled gruffly, wriggling beneath Filia’s touch.

Nadia looked over, brows furrowed, at Makoto as she left the arena. “She’s cracked or somethin’, I dunno. Guess you’ve had your fill-ia?” She focused on one face at a time, but neither looked amused. “No?”

Samson clicked his tongue as he extended Filia’s hair to pick her up onto her feet. “Can it, kitty cat. Things just got a lot harder for us.”

“Well, we probably weren’t going to win anyway,” the girl admitted, brushing her hair back. “There’s just too many fighters. We mostly wanted to see if we’d improved any thanks to Annie’s training.” As her mentor jumped down and walked over, Filia smiled sheepishly. “Sorry…”

“Nah, you did fine,” Annie assured her. “It’s like Fortune said, Makoto’s just that strong. Bad luck running into someone like that early.” She jabbed a thumb back toward the boardwalk. “We better clear out for the next group.”

The three rejoined Robo-fortune on the walkway as two more World Warrior competitors took Makoto and Filia’s place. As Robo ran a quick scan to make sure Filia would be okay, Nadia looked around. “Where’s Beowulf, by the way?” 

“In Tekken,” Annie replied. “Said he wanted to see how he stacked up against King, one of their famous wrestlers. Go say hi if you want, but we’re gonna be up again pretty soon. Never a moment to rest in World Warrior.”

After wishing Filia and Annie luck, Nadia set off again to watch more World Warrior pools matches on her way to the Tekken section of the tier, with Robo at her heels. The feral figured that she and her doppelganger probably ought to spend some time on their teamwork, maybe even get a couple Kameo combos figured out, but for now she was caught up in all the excitement. Locals might not think much of pools, but Nadia felt like a kid in a candy shop, with fascinating fights in every direction almost as far as the eye could see.

[hr]

Following his rather annoying match against Rasputin, Band decided to take a rest. He wasn’t actually gassed yet, as tiresome as that last bout had been, but the detective knew that he’d need to take every breather he could if he wanted to make it through this bracket. Unfortunately, the various benches that populated the Pools’ rest areas wouldn’t be much better at supporting his weighty frame than the chairs in Quick Rise, so he’d have to make do another way.

Luckily, it didn’t take long to find a spot where he could hunker down and park his bell-shaped body. The pools matches in his vicinity were a tempting distraction, but rather than spectate his fellow competitors’ qualifiers, Band tried to tune them out in order to focus. Even if he’d completed only one match so far, he could still learn a thing or two from every exchange of blows. No amount of late-night combo practice against motionless target dummies would make up for experience, after all.

So, what had that last duel taught him? Thanks to his powerful body and huge arsenal of weaponized instruments, he did wield a great deal of strengths, but his weaknesses were just as pronounced. His low mobility and large size made him susceptible to faster, projectile-happy opponents. Keepaway was a well-established art, and Rasputin had been a disciple of that school, if not a master. In fact, he’d been neither particularly fast nor especially skilled with those rather limited spells of his, so even though the detective did ultimately win both rounds, it probably should have been easier.

Then again, idealizing what ‘should be’ was a mental trap that meant one would always fall short, so maybe Band didn’t need to dwell on it. His answers for zoners would be the same as always: Brass Knuckles, Emergency Break, and a forward tech after a careful whiff of 5000 LB Slam. If he could calmly keep a hold on that game plan, it would hopefully serve him well in future matches. It would only get harder from here though. Truth be told, he worked best in a team. If he had someone like Peacock around to cover his weaknesses, he could easily become a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut on the battlefield. 

After a couple minutes, Band took a final deep breath and picked himself up in order to consult a bulletin board. It displayed the current World Warrior bracket, and it took the detective only a couple seconds to find his next matchup. He would be facing a competitor by the name of Rhajang on stage S-51 in…twelve minutes. Band’s eyebrows went up as he noticed that last detail. “No rest for the wicked, huh?” He looked around at the expanse of the Pools dedicated to the World Warrior tournament, then shrugged. “Guess we do got a lot of fighters to get through, huh?” 

To get there on time he figured he better get going now, since navigating these bridges and walkways could get a little tricky when many weren’t much wider than he was. He set off, his passage through the tier marked by intermittent mutterings. “Scuse me…comin’ through…scuse me…beggin’ your pardon…” Some of the fighters, whether in between matches or here just to watch, didn’t exactly appreciate his disruption, but the Pools were no place to pick fights. Fortunately, most people in his path didn’t really care. One elegant woman with a long purple braid and lavender kimono even shot him a smile as he passed, which really stuck in his mind. Band seldom found himself on the receiving end of any smile, after all, especially from a lady as pretty as her.

Seven minutes later, Band stood on a pier staring dubiously at the unremarkable [url=https://i.imgur.com/5JMIfXr.png]raft[/url] floating in front of him. It didn’t look very sturdy. “This thing gonna hold my weight?” he wondered aloud. Even if it held, whether or not it would survive repeated impacts from different competitors was another matter. Well, if it was still in one piece after all this time, it would probably last a little longer. Plenty of stuff in the World of Light was tougher than it had any right to be. Himself included.

Band double jumped to the stage. It shifted and creaked beneath his weight, but he didn’t break through the planks. If this raft didn’t drift around, it probably had a rope or something that anchored it to the bottom of the pool. At the sound of a growl, he looked up to see a [url=https://i.imgur.com/qLnVDMh.png]bulky tiger[/url] leap down onto the stage. Not a humanoid tiger like some of the anthropomorphic animals he’d seen around the World of Light, but an actual tiger, albeit weirdly proportioned. The big cat mad-dogged him with gleaming red eyes, its killer intent implicit, and Band could only stare at it, shaking his head. “You’re kiddin’ me.” Rhajang curled its lips at him in response, and Band sighed in resignation. “Well…at least it won’t be playin’ keepaway…probably.”

[center][h3]Frozen Highlands - the Midnight Walk[/h3]
Lvl 9 Sandalphon (54/90) Level 6 Heismay (56/60)
Edward’s [@DracoLunaris] Blazermate & Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC] Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee] Roxas & Ganondorf’s [@Double], Ramattra and Tenna’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX] Mokou’s [@Goggy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2480

[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/p76VSWM.png]Nameless Stagecoach[/url][/b]
𖥞: 6/8 | 🛡️: 6/8 | [color=blue]◆[/color]◆◆◆ | [b]Equipment:[/b] Stewpot/Windchime/Lamps/Vegetubes/Lightning Rod/(None) | [b]Companion[/b]: Ratshaker Rat[/center]

Although the warmth and aroma of the invigorating stew tempted Sandalphon, she did have a couple administrative duties to take care of before she would permit herself to recharge. A number of her fellow Seekers were of like mind as they took inventory. Many itemized the spirits they obtained during their battles against the Naytibas, but a couple seemed interested in fusion, as nasty as those mutated monsters had been. Sandalphon was not eager to see the result of Ramattra’s fusion with the abhorrent Democrawler, but if that was what he wanted, she saw no grounds for interference. He at least stepped outside the stagecoach to come to grips with his new form with plenty of room to spare. The same could not be said for Ganondorf, who climbed through the stagecoach’s rear exit with the proof of his victory over Belial in hand.

Sandalphon had known that the sword-wielding Naytiba would return sooner or later, so with the heroes on the verge of escaping Spire 04, it made sense that Belial reared its ugly head soon after she departed for the space station. This time, it seemed like there had been enough of them to put the monster down. “Well done,” she remarked, her eyes on the Naytiba’s spirit. At the very least, Belial had been more or less humanoid, so if Ganondorf did not mind becoming a cyborg, fusion with it would probably work out. Sandalphon sympathized with him about the healing deficiency inflicted by the Gravemind spirit. If they continued to face stronger and more skilled opponents, the Seekers would continue taking more and more damage; if their bodies and equipment did not improve at a similar rate, it was up to the healers to make up the difference. Being unable to restore Ganondorf did stress her to a surprising degree, so if he could find his own ways to regenerate, that would be a weight off her mind.

She watched as he transformed, filling the stagecoach’s interior with a dazzling prismatic lightshow. When it subsided, the warlord boasted a more technological appearance, his proportions, hairstyle, and left arm most altered by the change. For a moment she thought his left arm completely replaced, but the alloy armor plates seemed to be grafted onto his skin. For now, he still seemed predominantly biological. Maybe he would stay that way, thanks to the Gravemind spirit. Regardless, the being before her projected a more pronounced aura of danger and power than ever. Sandalphon felt distinctly uncomfortable, especially once ghostly purple fire flared up within the stagecoach’s confines. This king of darkness, fused with a handful of strong warriors and now two mutagenic flesh plagues…he might as well be a demon, perhaps even on par with Lilith. When Ganondorf went to help himself to some stew, the archangel gave him plenty of room.

Somewhat put off eating, she turned her attention to the conversation with Edward. As someone who always wanted as much information about the things around her as possible, she listened closely as the strategist filled in the blanks for her about the conflict between androids and humans in Eve’s world. Others came, ate, and went as they talked, and it didn’t take long for their chat to turn into philosophical musing that ultimately didn’t go anywhere. The reminder of her own expiration date, impending but indeterminate, as well as her makeshift plan to defy it, left Sandalphon stiff with a dreadful feeling of doom.

By the time that her mind stopped racing, Ganondorf was gone, so she tentatively ladled herself a bowl of stew as well. Maybe not every angel needed sustenance, but at the end of the day Sandalphon was a dragon, and every dragon needed to eat. Unfortunately, with no ingredients found and added to the stewpot over the course of the team’s trip through Spire 04, the stew was thin and lacking. Even if it did sustain her, it did little to invigorate her. It would probably be necessary to use some of the expedition’s travel rations to keep the bigger, more physical members’ strength up.

Though the warmth of the stagecoach’s interior had been sorely missed during her time in the Raphael Space Center, orbital space station, and especially in that rinky-dink spaceship, Sandalphon did not sit still for long. After about half an hour, she noticed that the stagecoach had gradually slowed down, and decided to stretch her legs.

Once the parka-clad archangel opened the vehicle’s rear door, shivered as the chill wind caught her, and stepped out into the wintry night, she found herself in a pine forest. It was tall, ancient, and very, very quiet. It was snowing, and though the evergreen boughs overhead deflected the worst gusts, plenty of flakes descended to the fluffy white frosting that coated the underbrush and blanketed the forest floor. Thanks to the Highlands’ cloud cover, neither moonlight nor starlight filtered through the trees, so the darkness was absolute. Only the lamps and lightning rods of the stagecoach beat back the gloom. If not for the hooves of the Shieldrix, the creaky rattle of wagon-wheels, and the occasional murmur from the ratshaker rat, the silence would be absolute. It felt much less evil here than in the haunted Reaver Woods that morning, but Sandalphon didn’t exactly feel at peace, either.

She walked after the stagecoach as fast as she could reasonably manage, very determined not to lose the light. A quick look at the wagon’s roof confirmed the presence of Heismay, sitting in his customary spot as a lookout with a light coating of snow on his hooded head and shoulders. Though he sat in a relaxed position, the eugief certainly wasn’t asleep. His big ruby-red eyes scanned the darkness between the rows of gnarled, knotted trunks on either side, alert for any sign of danger. Sandalphon assumed that he must be as tired and hungry as the rest of the team, but it seemed like Heismay would stray right where he was until the Seekers found somewhere to camp for the night. She wondered just how long the hermit had lived alone, without anyone to watch his back, forced to sleep lightly and jolt awake at the slightest disturbance. Hopefully he could get a good night’s sleep tonight, now that he was among friends.

Eventually, word reached the rest of the team that Ace and Geralt’s two-man scouting party had found something in the midst of the dark forest. It turned out to be a two-story lodge, sitting in neglected silence not far off the beaten path. The hunters reported no signs of life, only layers of dust and that it was just as cold inside as it was outside. Although seemingly abandoned for some time, the house itself and all its furnishings were in remarkably good condition.

With no dangers around that Ace’s scoutflies or Geralt’s superhuman senses could suss out during their search, Sandalphon’s decision was a no-brainer. Virtually anything would be safer and more conducive to a good night’s sleep than tents and sleeping bags out in the snowy woods. Even if the team couldn’t heat up the place, its walls and roof provided some much-needed security against the elements and any potential threats that might stalk their way in the dead of night. “Excellent. Let’s inhabit this lodge for the night,” she told the team before relaying the directions provided by Geralt. Once the stagecoach pulled to a stop at the building’s doorstep, the Seekers could disembark and begin to make the house into a home.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/XFiHxeS.png[/img][/center]

Heismay climbed up the steps to the door warily, pulling his hood off so that his long ears could pick up any sounds that the others might have missed during their perusal, however unlikely that would’ve been. He paused as he peered at the porchlight by the door. “We’ll want to douse that before retiring,” he recommended. “It’s visible from the Midnight Walk. I’m surprised we’re the first to have seen it.”

Once inside, he pattered through the utility room, then entered what appeared to be a kitchen. The counters in here were almost at eye-level for him, but not quite, so he couldn’t quite see atop the granite surfaces. This was no surprise to him of course; out of everywhere in Euchronia, only dedicated Eugief villages were built with his tribe’s diminutive stature in mind. The other Seekers had entered the house by now and were exploring the place. Some stomped up the stairs to scope out the second floor, while others opened all the doors to peer at the rooms inside. There were a couple bathrooms and half a dozen bedrooms, definitely not enough bedrooms for everyone. He wondered who would stake their claim to one, since he certainly didn’t need that much space. If one or both of the hunters really did want a room, he figured they’d probably earned it.

Heismay proceeded into the living room, a rather lavish two-story affair with cushioned couches arranged around a couple sculpture-laden coffee tables. He hopped up onto a loveseat, then sat down, his legs dangling over the edge. Overhead, a large decorative object, made from a number of interlocking metal hoops, dangled from a rope attached to the ceiling. “Tis spacious, and well-furnished,” he observed. “The property of a well-to-do noble house, I should think. Yet…uninhabited, and oddly insecure.” He looked over as Sandalphon stepped into the room. “I’ve heard it said that rich families occasionally purchase additional dwellings, which they inhabit on a seasonal basis. One home for winter, another for summer.”

The archangel nodded. “That could be the case. If we are truly as fortunate as it seems, we should be grateful.” She looked around with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms for warmth. “We should also endeavor to secure it ourselves, and make it warmer in here.” Putting two fingers to her ear, she manifested a sigil in order to contact the team’s strategist. “Edward. How feasible would it be to deploy drones to keep watch over the premises? If not, we’ll need to establish a night watch rotation.”

“I can see about heat,” Heismay volunteered, sliding down from his couch. “Perhaps the owners had a furnace somewhere. If we’re lucky, they kept a stockpile of fuel. If not…well, there’s plenty of wood outside.” Chopping logs sounded brutal after such a long, exhausting day, but the Seekers didn’t have much choice.

Heismay made a beeline for the door that Ace and Geralt entered a minute prior, and descending the steps beyond it brought him to the basement. It was no wine cellar, so unfortunately Ace and Geralt would probably return empty-handed, but it did seem to be the storage space for various practical objects. It was nearly pitch black down here, but like the bats his tribe resembled, Heismay had no trouble seeing in the near-total absence of light. He did not find a furnace, but among the various tools and materials stored in the basement, he did discover both a [url=https://i.imgur.com/iuHXpsa.png]bag of charcoal[/url] and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/XwpzDfJ.png]stack of logs[/url], probably set aside for the exact purpose he wanted them for. “Hm…’tis our lucky day after all.” He scratched his head. “Though, thinking back on it, I suppose we do likely have some coal left over from creating those creatures earlier.” Shrugging, Heismay lifted the bag, then retraced his footsteps. If the coal bag was this heavy, he’d need some help to get those logs to the fireplace.

After returning to the living room, he set the bag down by the fireplace, then paused. He could hear something new: the sound of little footsteps. By now, he knew the pattern of his allies’ footfalls (minus some of Edwards’ new creations and acquaintances) so he felt confident in saying this didn’t belong to any of them. In truth these footfalls, light and barely audible, were much harder to hear than the click-click-click of their accompanying toenails against the floor, and this sound was getting louder. Heismay turned in the direction of the back door through which everyone entered, and after another moment, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/ScNV5Jr.png]little white dog[/url] trotted into view.

“...Oh.” Having unwittingly tensed up, Heismay allowed himself to relax, but only just. “When did you slip in, little one? Or were you here all along?” Either way, neither Ace nor Geralt had mentioned any animals, and it was stranger still that such a creature would be alone in an abandoned house or the inhospitable woods outside. The dog padded toward him, wagging her tail, and stopped about a foot away. Thanks to Galeem’s influence, her black eyes gave off a gentle sunset red shimmer as she stared at him expectantly. She let out a soft bark, springing a few inches into the air.

A moment later, Sandalphon appeared at the upstairs banister. She’d been examining the master bathroom, where she’d just determined that the kiddie pool-sized tub was fully operational, when she heard the sound. “What’s this doing here?” she asked, her pupils in the shape of question marks.

Heismay shrugged as the dog yipped again. “Not sure when it got in. Or how it evaded our hunters, for that matter.” When he looked back at the critter, he noticed a disconcerting fact: her eyes were redder than before. She barked, then jumped again, twice in quick succession. “Ah. That’s…not good.”

“Her eyes are glowing,” Sandalphon acknowledged as her pupils became exclamation marks. The dog grew more impatient, barking and whining. “She wants something. Can you calm her down?”

Heismay looked increasingly uneasy himself. “How?”

“Pet her?” Sandalphon ventured. She'd never owned a dog herself, but she knew that most enjoyed physical touch. She thought of that retriever she helped to catch back in Midgar's Quarantine Valley.

“I don’t like dogs…” Heismay scrunched up his nose, but he obliged, reaching out and stiffly patting the dog on her head. He half-expected her to bite him, but instead she gave off a bunch of little hearts, leaning into his hand to be pet more as the glow in her eyes subsided. Relieved, Heismay continued to give her attention, scratching her behind the ears. “How peculiar.”

Sandalphon came down the stairs, keeping an unblinking eye on the little beast. “Although her vital signs are a little erratic, I’m sure we could deal with her if she became aggressive. That said, if there’s no need for violence I would rather try to keep her happy. Perhaps some food would satisfy her.”

Sighing, Heismay looked around to see if anyone else could help. “If she must be doted upon, I’d much rather somebody else do it.”

With that situation defused, everyone could continue settling in for the night. If Blazermate didn’t use her tinderbox to light the coals and logs Heismay found, it’d be easy enough for Mokou to fire them up. Either way, the living room would be heating up before long, its warmth slowly radiating outward to fill the lodge.