[center][h3]Esaka - the Pools[/h3]
[b]Setting:[/b] Clear Thursday Afternoon
Lvl 15 Ms Fortune (196/150) Level 11 Big Band (89/110)
Amaterasu’s [@DracoLunaris] Roland’s [@Archmage MC] 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]  2080 / 1933[/center]

After stooping to pick up her fallen daggers with a flourish, Maya stepped away from where Nadia lay on the wrestling ring, smirking as she crossed to the other side of the stage to reset the fighters’ positions. “You’re not worthy prey.” When she reached Mira, she did not congratulate or high-five her half-sister, but simply stopped and stood there with a casual confidence. Though she was breathing heavier from her exertion, the amazon was ready to finish the match.

Nadia, meanwhile, never actually lapsed into consciousness, but it took a few seconds for her new cuts to scab over and her second wind to kick in. Determined to not give her opponent the satisfaction of seeing her groan, she composed herself in silence, her breathing and heart rate accelerated. “Heh, not bad!” A playful smile covered her face, but it belied the nerves beneath. It had been a while since she’d been so thoroughly worked over, barring serious opponents like Guardians and Consuls. Even if she had the time to think the match over, analysis and reflection weren’t her forte. With her nerves rattled by the beatdown, could she get it together in time for a comeback?

She didn’t notice Robo-fortune until the robot bent down to bodily pick her up and plant her on her feet, holding on just long enough to make sure that Nadia was steady. The unsolicited aid surprised her, since she’d half-expected Robo to be nursing such a grudge that she wouldn’t mind throwing a match just to see Nadia lose. Even now she expected a scathing rebuke. Instead of criticism, though, the dispassionate doppelganger offered her just the bit of insight she needed. “Suggestion: stop blocking her knife throws. Doing so seems to power them up in some way.”

[i]Don’t block?[/i] After a wide-eyed second, Nadia gave a curt nod. That sounded just fine to her. It had been second-nature to easily block those projectiles, but dodging them wouldn’t be much harder, and she hated blocking anyway. “Got it.”

“Hey! No mid-match coaching!” A young woman’s voice, high-pitched but intentionally made as growly as possible, reached the two from the sidelines. Both looked over to see Ferra riding piggy-back on her brutish partner Torr, both fresh from their first Losers-side match against Hsu Hao. Of course, the catgirls didn’t know who they’d been up against, but judging by the blood dripping from the duo's weapons it probably didn’t matter any more.

The two split up, Robo vaulting over the ring’s wrestling ropes while Nadia turned to face Maya. “Oh?” Her opponent smiled as she got ready to fight. “Does the kitty want another scratching?”

Sharpening her claws, the feral flashed a toothy grin. “Fangs for the warm-up. Now, let’s fight ‘fur’ real!”

[b]ROUND TWO: FIGHT![/b]

This time, Nadia did not blindly rush into action, but stood firm. She watched Maya walk forward, calling Mira as she approached. When Mira jumped in, she shaped streams of silver blood into a six-foot scythe then burst forward, its blade dragging along the ground. At the same time, Maya threw herself into a forward roll that ended with a spring, launching her toward Nadia in a long, low hop that would take her over her opponent’s head.

Right away Nadia realized she had only one instant to decide where to block. High or low? Forward or backward? It was a dirty mixup, and she was almost impressed. Her eyes were sharp, though, and her reflexes were good. More importantly, in the heat of battle, the feral was too caught up in the moment to second-guess herself. She ducked down to avoid any fly-by attacks from Maya as she soared overhead, which allowed her to block Mira’s upward scythe swing. Its lethal point still hurt a bit when it slammed into her guarding arms, but the blow jarred Mira as well, leaving her off-balance.

By then, Maya had landed behind her, and Nadia whirled around just in time to see her foe flip over for a double cartwheel kick. “Hah!” Straightening her legs, the catgirl blocked the first kick, then the second that followed it. When Maya went for a double overhead knife plunge, however, Nadia went low again. She [url=https://i.imgur.com/Dcji6cW.png]bent forward[/url] enough that her chin almost touched the floor as she extended her arms like the stakes of a barricade. “Hand-le this!” Her nails sank into the ribs of both fighters, and when Nadia snapped her arms back the next second, Maya and Mira stumbled forward and into one another.

“Taste de-feet!” Leaving Mira to retreat, Nadia launched into her first real combo with gleeful aplomb. She planted her hands to deliver a [url=https://i.imgur.com/5Wt4gF3.png]One-Two Punisher[/url], striking first with a disjointed kick and then with her tail. From there she stabbed her hardened ears into the ground, then whirled her legs and tail around like a giant upward propeller. “Tail n’ nails!” A light Fiber Upper launched Maya into the air, and after snapping up to her hyper-extended Mantreads, the feral flipped once before landing an aerial light kick into [url=https://i.imgur.com/r18YdeF.png]X-Scrape Claws[/url]. “Alley[sub]cat[/sub]-OOP!” A quick somersault allowed her to bounce Maya off the ground with an axe kick.

She landed on her feet, dashed forward, and caught her foe with two light slugs. “Cat pun-ch!” Still grinning, she delivered a [url=https://i.imgur.com/59CpXUW.png]Fishbone Flop[/url], then took off her head and spun it like a drill with one rotating hand. “Stick to the bit!” A couple moves later, she wrapped her combo up with a three-hit Cat Scratch rekka into her level-one blockbuster, Furserker Purrage. One manic chain of upward and downward slashes later, she finished with a headbutt that knocked Maya against the laser ring.

The amazon was on her feet in a flash, wincing both from the barrage of blows and her newly-burned back. “So you do have some fight left in you!” She had no time to talk, though, with Nadia’s head already bumped like a volleyball and on its way.

When the feral tried to give Maya a taste of her own medicine, though, she stopped it short with a hurled dagger, then launched her Leap Kick to anti-air the head. “Ow!” Nadia yelped, her head sailing away just as her body blocked Maya’s purple dagger, Vengeance. Sure enough, the gem in its hilt began to glow with some sort of power, just as Robo said. ”Damn it, she breathed. Her head hit the ground behind her body with a splat as Maya threw her other dagger and rolled forward to collect the first. This time she dove to the side to avoid blocking Temperance, the dagger landing blade-first only about a foot away from Nadia’s head. “Whoa!” 

Maya then sprinted toward her lost property, which gave the feral an idea. “Metal cat, puppy guard!” At her command, her Kameo leaped in to fire a heavy Theonite Beam at Maya. Surprised, she managed to sidestep, only for Nadia’s body to come at her from behind. The claw slashes of her Cat Scratch rekka put Maya on the defensive. When Nadia’s body ended with an unsafe El Gato, Maya went to punish her, only for a blast of blood from the catgirl’s neck to smack her head into her foe’s ankle. “Cattering ram!” Her body didn’t have enough time to combo off the counterhit, but a throw seemed like a safe bet. Sure enough, Maya tried to back toward Temperance while blocking, and once Nadia got her hands on her foe she delivered a palm thrust, knee lift, and palm uppercut to floor Maya once more.

Nadia pulled off her tail and went for a hefty downward chop at her downed opponent. Her hack fell a little too early, and with a panther’s grace Maya rolled sideways, snatched up her other dagger, and then sprang into the air. As she vaulted over the catgirl’s headless body, she readied her weapons for throwing, but this time Nadia was one step ahead. With her tail-blade right next to her head on the ground, she chomped down on the end of her tail, then swung the impromptu sword and released her bite at just the right moment to send her noggin flying. “Heads up!” It slammed into Maya’s stomach a split second before she hurled her daggers, throwing off her aim just enough that both stuck into the ground at Nadia’s feet.

“Haha, knife try!” As Maya flipped away and landed on her feet, the catgirl chased her down, catching her falling head on the way. She popped it on, then ran straight into a low kick from Maya. “Oh, hell nyah…” Gritting her teeth, she endured a series of cartwheel kicks, followed by a double knife slash, double whirling sweep kick, a backflip kick that popped her the other direction, and a songbird upper-kick followed by a powerful Shadow Version of the same move. “Ugh.” As Nadia sprang backward, Maya ran forward, then tried to grab her. For once in her life the feral actually saw it coming and managed to fend off her foe’s grasping hands, pushing the two away from one another.

Immediately Maya threw Vengeance and caught Nadia in the face, though since this didn’t result in a Vengeance charge or a combo the feral wasn’t deterred. She threw herself forward with Cat Slide, and Maya jumped away. In midair she somehow inverted her trajectory and dove forward, her Temperance blade raised for a plunging assault. She landed on Nadia right after the latter got up and slid on top of her a short distance before plunging her dagger beneath her foe’s shoulderblade. She then flipped off, calling her sister. Mira jumped in to provide fire support with three batlike projectiles as Maya collected her lost dagger.

“Oof…you don’t know when to quit! Robo, drone me!” Nadia took off running around the ring as a headdrone from her Kameo joined her, outspeeding the homing of Mira’s silvery Blood Seekers. This round had really heated up. Both fighters had landed a combo, although Nadia’s had been much better. Now Maya knew that she really couldn’t afford to get touched, but nobody could fight perfectly. When the amazon moved to intercept her, Nadia had a plan.

She skidded to a stop so suddenly that her head rolled off her shoulders and then fell into her hand. Like a baseball player she hurled it at Maya, but the amazon was ready. With Cobra Bite, an upward knife slash, she opened a long, bloody cut on Nadia’s face as it flew away. Then she threw her own daggers, one after another. Their impact drove Nadia into the laser ropes right behind her, and when she touched them she recoiled from the sizzling flash, stumbling forward. Maya smelled blood and cannon forward with a flying kick.

In the nick of time, Nadia recovered, and revealed her Blue Monday counter. Even though Maya’s kick connected, it was her that got popped up by the feral’s knee instead, allowing Nadia to grab and side-slam her backward. Maya smacked into the laser ropes face-first and blasted, smoking, into the air. With just one eye open, Nadia’s head smiled through the pain at the sight of her helpless opponent. “You really…blue it!” As Maya fell, the catgirl’s body leaped up, [url=https://i.imgur.com/bWygNH7.png]grabbed her[/url] out of the air, and unceremoniously tossed her down into the water beyond the wrestling ring’s edge.

[i]PLOOSH![/i]

[b]MS FORTUNE AND ROBO-FORTUNE WIN![/b]

As Mira nonchalantly watched her half-sister drag herself up from the water, Nadia grabbed her head and took a quick breather, cackling to herself (despite her blood loss) as she returned to her Kameo’s side. The handful of onlookers assembled nearby seemed entertained, if nothing else. A second-round winners-side pools match probably didn’t warrant much attention, even for Mortal Kombat. “See that, Robo? Down for the count-er!” Maybe she was just imagining it, but even Robo-fortune looked amused.

Truth be told, though, Nadia was a lot more relieved than she let on. Her comeback was all thanks to her foe’s mental state: once she got serious, a professional duelist like Maya had been so focused on the fight that she hadn’t anticipated a cheap trick. That probably wouldn’t work a second time, though, so she’d need to keep her head on straight for the final round. With momentum on her side, though, how could she lose?

[hr]

When Band finally reached the stage for his third pools match, he was happy to see that it wasn’t a rickety wooden raft this time, at least. Of course, a free-standing [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thekingoffighters/images/6/63/Fatal_Fury_Team_Stage_'94.gif]wharf[/url] surrounded by gondolas (which a couple yokai spectators had already claimed as front-row seats for the upcoming fight) wasn’t much better, but at least he didn’t need to worry about flimsy boards buckling beneath him.

Probably.

Instead, it seemed like he’d be primarily worried about his opponent. Just after Band got close enough to view the stage for himself, he saw a white robot a couple dozen feet ahead of him leap from the walkway, flip nimbly through the air, and land on the dock with ease. As he approached, Band narrowed his eyes to try and get a read on her. Although she stood a couple heads shorter than the cyborg, she seemed to be one hundred percent mechanical, even if her face and overall shape closely mirrored that of a human female. Primarily white with bronze accents, she looked lightweight and agile, not least thanks to a helmet that resembled the beak of some tropical bird and the ponytail of red metal feathers that hung behind her like a knight’s plume. He even managed to catch a glimpse of the inscription on her collar: [i]IX-CHEL[/i]. This was definitely his next opponent.

When Band jumped over the gap to the stage, landing with a grunt, Chel turned his way. “Ooh! Se aproxima el robot gigante!” Just as with Victor Chevalier and Heihachi Mishima, the detective was cognizant of the machine speaking a foreign language, yet somehow he still understood her meaning. [i]The giant robot approaches![/i] This automatic translation still confused him. Could ‘mutual understanding’ be a decree of the Heavenly Principles? Well, no time to think about it now.

“Not me, miss,” he replied, trusting that his own speech wouldn’t be lost in translation. “I’m mostly metal nowadays, but the parts o’ me that matter are still one hundred percent human.” He extended a little mechanical pincer to tip his hat, revealing his middle-aged face. “The name’s Big Band. I’m all there is of the most real.” He had yet to tire of using his introductory catchphrase.

Chel gave him a peppy wave. “Hola, señor Band!” She then raised both arms, pointing two thumbs toward herself. “Salude a la heroína. Me llamo Ana Itza, y este es mi mech Chel!” [i]Greet the heroine. I call myself Ana Itza, and this is my mech Chel[/i]. The robot extended her arms, playing to the crowd, such as it was. “¿Listos, todos? Vamos patear algunos traseros!”

The detective snickered. He hardly needed the Heavenly Principles to understand when someone wanted to kick his butt. “Good luck with that!”

More importantly: if this robot was actually a mech, did that mean that there was a tiny person somewhere inside it…?

[b]ROUND ONE: FIGHT![/b]

“Gimme a hit!”

“...Estrella!”

Band started off with Brass Knuckles to test the waters, while Chel dashed backward. The detective’s giant slide punch fell just short, and before he fully recovered, his foe tagged him with an energy blast from a small cannon formed around one arm. It didn’t hurt all that much, but it gave Chel a chance to push forward with a quick one-two, each punch augmented by the plasma jets in her palms. Band blocked it with his music stand, then answered in kind with a jab from his musical triangle, which Chel also blocked while backing up slightly.

She then launched a high, long-legged roundhouse kick that caught Band pushing forward at the very edge of her range, which she could only combo into another Night Sun plasma shot. [i]Playing the range game, eh?”[/i] Band crouched down to belt out a row of pipe organs, aimed low. Chel was already backing up, though, and her fast walk speed put him beyond even Low Rank’s range. Anticipating another projectile, Band jumped forward, his massive frame airborne for only a brief moment. His foe turned out to be more patient than he expected, though, and another high roundhouse kick anti-aired him.

“Estrella!” Knocked down, Band teched backward, far enough away that the Night Sun he predicted didn’t combo, but did force him to block. “Haha!” The next moment she launched forward into a flying triple kick, the first two hitting nothing but the third connecting with Band’s guard at the very tip of its range, which allowed her to land with enough to to block her opponent’s would-be punish as his saxophone uppercut clanged off her armored limbs. [i]So this girl knows her spacing,[/i] Band thought as she raised her cannon for another Night Sun. [i]But can she handle this?[/i]

“AAHHAAY!” A giant brass fist extended from Band’s body as he burst forward with a second Brass Knuckles, plowing straight through Chel’s plasma. She let out a metallic yelp as she flew a decent way, rolling halfway to the stage’s edge before she flipped to her feet. Thinking herself safe from this distance, she fired off another Night Sun, only for an oversized drum pedal to create a quake that knocked her back to the ground. “Giant Steps!” Band then thundered forward with Brass Knuckles to armor through the projectile again, canceled his momentum with Emergency Break, and slid to a stop only a couple steps away from his foe just in case she had a surprise ready for him. 

If she had a reversal, though, Chel did not let it fly just yet. Instead she leaped up into the air, perhaps conscious of the corner. Her mechanical body contorted in ways that would be impossible for a human to ensure maximum airtime, and Band opted for his own anti-air, Beat Extend. Before the tambourine halves could snap shut on the incoming mech, however, Chel stopped her momentum with a downward plasma blast that splashed against Band’s head, knocking his fedora right off. “Baloney!” Unable to follow up from that distance, Chel landed a few feet away, blocked a light Brass Knuckle, and left the two right back where they started.

“Hmph. Try this!” Band jumped forward. This time, Chel did fire off a true anti-air at him, rising with a twirling uppercut. But this time the detective thought ahead by air-blocking instead of attempting a jump-in, and though Chel’s Crush Breeze pushed him back as he landed, it left her so unsafe that he could dash twice to close the distance by the time she landed. “Hot Socks!” Ever pragmatic, Band knowledge-checked her with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/s9XGnoI.png]deceptive standing attack[/url] that used a tiny drum pedal to hit low, opening his opponent up at last.

Without further ado Band hopped up, immediately letting out a [url=https://i.imgur.com/efgWF7c.png]punchy note[/url] from his lowest left-side cap. “Tenor!” From there he filled with Jelly Roll, his three-hit knee tambourine, then spiked Chel with the first hit of a downward clarinet. Her groundbounce gave him enough time to land, fire off two honks from his bike horn, then popped her up again with his saxophone uppercut. “Saximum!” Following her into the air let him continue the combo with a middling Baritone Blast, the full stab and spin of Sweet Clarinet, and finally his signature five-thousand-pound dropkick. With only one bar of Dramatic Tension to his name so far, Band decided to save it and simply fall flat on his back, reasoning that the dropkick should be enough to ring Chel out.

Instead the mech bounced off the floor with a handspring and landed on her feet right at the stage’s edge, comically swinging her arms as she attempted to keep her balance. “Wha-ah-ah!” She managed to right herself, after which she pumped her fists in excited celebration. “¡Haha! ¿Cómo te quedo el ojo?” [i]How do you like that?[/i]

Band sighed, his broken respirator whistling flatly. [i]Always finish your plate, Ben.[/i]

He rose and threw out a Brass Knuckle to try and finish the job. Chel nimbly leaped over him, her flip kick whiffing thanks to Band’s forward movement. She backed up a step after landing, then jumped again. Not expecting her to willingly corner herself, the detective ate her jump-in, and it was the mech’s turn to combo. She hammered him with a plasma-infused one-two punch, a low punch, a Night Sun that she used Kinetic power to cancel into a forward dash, and a couple more punches followed by her three-kick Dancing Wind. After the last kick bodily launched Band upward, Chel’s used her Crush Breeze uppercut, finishing with an axe kick that bounced her foe off the ground and right back up into an airgrab. “Alley-oop!” With a cheerful farewell she fired a point-blank plasma blast that threw Band to the ground.

The detective teched backward and got to his feet, bruised and grumbling but hardly beaten. More plasma shots were headed his way. He blocked one, then saw Chel jump to fire a downward shot before shooting a grounded Night Sun upon landing. The zoning reminded him of Rasputin, and he was not happy. Next time Chel’s feet left the ground, he splurged the Tension he’d saved to deploy a [url=https://i.imgur.com/NTXvqE0.png]giant French horn[/url] and blast forward like a missile. “Super…SONIC!”

The startup of Super Sonic Jazz annulled the Night Sun about to hit him, and the extra hit of armor after that pushed him through the next ball of plasma. He smashed into Chel as she fell and hammered her for full unscaled damage, ending with a downward flip that sent her skidding behind him. He added on a Giant Step for good measure, the tremor hitting Chel off the ground, though without more Tension Band couldn’t keep the pain train rolling with more Super Sonic Jazz.

Even so, Chel wasn’t doing so hot. Another combo would be enough to power her down, and she knew it. This time, she used her Night Suns a little more carefully, while still forcing Band to come to her. Boasting even more patience than his opponent, the detective silently blocked and walked her down, jumping over plasma shots whenever possible. Finally, she used Kinetic to cancel a shot on startup and dash toward Band, then jump straight up. More lucky than anything, Band leaped after her, snatched her out of the air between the halves of a giant bell, then [url=https://i.imgur.com/Ke409A0.png]clanged that bell[/url] to drop her to the floor, her head ringing.

Unlike Chel, Band could combo after an air throw, so after a quick clarinet spike to pick her up he laid on the hurt, even mixing in the Sound Stun from Beat Extend for good measure. And as it turned out, he didn’t even need to go the full distance; just over halfway through the combo, Chel’s chassis began to spark, and the mech plummeted to the ground.

[b]BIG BAND WINS![/b]

Band dropped after her, landing heavily, then began to back up to prepare for round two. Nearby, spectators drawn by his musical beatdown offered their claps and a few cheers, but Band didn’t feel so good. While he’d seized an early victory, his breathing was too ragged. With the sorry state of his respirator in mind, had he overexerted himself too soon? The detective fought to get his breathing under control, his brows furrowed sharply. From here on in, he’d need to pace himself if he wanted to seal the deal.

[center][h3]The Midnight Walk - Christmas Village[/h3]
[b]Setting:[/b] Cloudy Thursday Noon
Lvl 9 Sandalphon (68/90) Level 7 Heismay (7/70)
Edward’s [@DracoLunaris] Blazermate & Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC] Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee] Roxas & Ganondorf’s [@Double] Ramattra and Tenna’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX] Mokou’s [@Goggy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 838

[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]

Even with all the pre-written letters out of the way, and Sandalphon’s mechanical efficiency when it came to inscription, putting the Christmas wishes of the rest of the populace took a long time. When she finally finished, such a big stack of letters addressed to ‘Santa Claus’ that she needed both hands to hold it, she emerged from the village’s central workshop to find that the morning had just become the afternoon. Of course, the dark cloud cover overhead meant she couldn’t discern the time via the sun’s position, but the presence of a big clock in the town’s square revealed what time it was. Furthermore, it seemed that the last night’s snowfall had finally stopped, leaving a fresh blanket of pure white powder over just about everything in sight. 

Sandalphon paused for a moment, simply taking in the sight of warm cabins, festive lights, and joyful people. Then, careful not to drop a single letter into the snow, she deposited her load into the mailbox she, Roxas, and Layton used earlier. She wondered if the student-professor duo had actually gone through with their mission of visiting the antisocial Vanessa in her mansion in order to find out what she wanted. With such a pleasant, peaceful atmosphere around the village it was hard to imagine that anyone could come to any real danger, but appearances had been deceiving before, and locals like Maeve had regarded the reclusive with an unusual amount of dread. Still, if the makeshift team had managed to get to Iorveth, hopefully Vanessa wouldn’t be much harder.

When Sectonia also left the huge workshop a few seconds later to begin her outfit deliveries, she found one person on her list only a few feet away. Once the wasp queen got her attention, Sandalphon turned to receive a surprise present from Sectonia’s sack, her pupils shaped like question marks. Knowing no reason to wait, Sandalphon opened the box then and there, her dextrous fingers making quick work of the ribbons and wrapping paper. Inside, she found a gorgeous [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/7b8a225e078a.jpeg]choir robe[/url] of cream-colored silk, richly embroidered with gold in the shape of suns and starlight, very well complimented by a splash of deep poinsettia red. It was so lovely that the archangel scarcely believed it. “For me?” she confirmed with questioning eyes, to Sectonia’s (slightly impatient) affirmation.

Better still, the costumers had provided her an [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/f451f96ac203.png]alternate outfit[/url]. It was nice, but it looked like it would make her armpits very cold, and the horns did remind her somewhat of a demon’s. Sandalphon returned it to the box, set it side, and held the choir robe to her bosom. “...Thank you. Sincerely.” Sandalphon’s pupils became teardrops as a true smile played across her features.

She soon after found herself endowed with a package that seemed suitable for Layton as well. Sandalphon didn’t actually know where he was right now, but it would be easy enough to track him down once she called him. Thanking Sectonia again, she moved aside to let the big bug go on her way. As she flew off, so did the young fleas found inside the Christmas Clothier’s section of the workshop, which reminded the archangel that she’d actually forgotten to look for fleas earlier. [i]Not like me,[/i] she thought, frowning.

Just after the fleas went out, a couple more Seekers moved in. Heismay and Mokou had approached the big cabin from the fishing pond to the east, both hauling a sled laden with fish. Sandalphon stopped and stared, quite impressed by the quantity and variety of their catch. She examined their hauls as the fishers received their own costumes from the Ace Cadet and Blazermate.

Already in a good mood, Heismay received his outfits with a smile. “What’s this?” The fur-lined red suits looked a little silly, but very warm, so after taking a deep breath the eugief made up his mind. He’d been feeling cold again anyway. “If this attire is customary for such festivities…” He put on the red coat from the first outfit over his parka, then donned the black boots from the second getup. Even the reindeer cap fit, since his big ears were already tucked beneath his hood. “I shall play my part.” Hopefully he wouldn’t regret muffling his ears with so much cloth. At the very least, now he felt warm and toasty.

“Taking these to the kitchen?” Sandalphon asked him and Mokou.

He nodded. “Indeed. Most of them should bake up nicely. This one…” He narrowed his eyes at the molten, aberrant char. “A heat source, perhaps.” He and Mokou parked the sleds, then began to transfer the fish inside, so Sandalphon gave them a hand, although her stiffness of movement indicated some sort of bothersome pain as she exerted. Once the two were all set and ready to cook, the archangel wandered back out to the to-do board, wondering what she could do next. With so much work to do, the thought of play never even crossed her mind.