[Center][color=bc8dbf][h2]Grima & Nadia[/h2]
Level 6 (holding 2 level ups)
8/60 EXP

Location: Forbidden Kingdom - Fields of Gold
Wordcount: 2400 (+3 exp)[/color][/Center]


While Nadia had no idea what Amaterasu was doing or how she was doing it, her work on the bridge quickly convinced the feral of two things: that Nadia didn’t need to do anything, and that she did in fact have some time to do what she wanted. Two of her favorite things! Without any contrary evidence, Nadia accepted this state of affairs straightaway. “Aaaalrighty! Well, I wooden mind helpin’, but I’d definitely get board, so, if you’re not gonna rope me into fixin’ the bridge, I’m gonna stretch my legs. Just be careful not to fall in the water, or you’ll get planked-on!”


Chuckling to herself, Nadia turned tail and sauntered away. She gave a friendly greeting to the young vendors from the village but left them for the Koopa Kids to chat with as she walked upriver, mostly curious about those round blue critters atop the cliffs upstream but eager to see whatever this lovely little valley had to offer in general. As she walked along the riverside, a spray of water prompted her to look back over her shoulder and see Rika skating across the sparkling current. That reminded her that her own rigging pack was still sitting in the NMO dojo’s locker room, along with her boxcutters and blade case. [i]Dangit.[/i] Missing out on the fun of waterskating was no fun, but now that the catgirl had fused with Maya’s spirit, she actually did need her dual blades back sooner rather than later. Still, as long as the Seekers’ afternoon journey didn’t have lots more water in store for them, it’d be fine for now.


Nadia’s attention quickly turned to a handful of small, [url=https://images.wikidexcdn.net/mwuploads/wikidex/0/02/latest/20230119085239/Tatsugiri.png]colorful fish[/url] she spotted swimming in the river. “Ooh~” She knelt by the edge of the water and considered how much bother it would be to try and catch some. Her time at Bancho Sushi in Mafia Town had really brought her around on raw fish, but Bancho was a long, long way from here, and it would take a while to dry out if she got wet. Still, she enjoyed just watching them, so she crouched there for a few moments longer. “Here, fishy, fishy…if you came straight to me, it would be very e-fish-ient…”

With the journey halted, Grima had ended up taking a walk, not even intending to go anywhere specific. Yet she still ended up walking upstream as well, her eyes staring at her reflection in the water as she walked. Eventually, she came across Nadia, nearly continuing on her way without a second thought… At least, before she sensed something of note on the catgirl. A faint trail of an immortal life, ever-so distinct from regular mortals.
	
And if it was notable enough to get her attention, it was enough to try and investigate further.

[color=bc8dbf]“Hunting for a quick meal, I suppose?”[/color] Grima asked calmly, taking a step to stand at Nadia’s side, still facing the water but glancing to the side to look down at the catgirl.

The feral glanced up, not used to Grima’s voice. Although the swordswoman didn’t exactly look friendly, the fact that she’d approached Nadia to initiate conversation was a good sign. And if Nadia could get along with Ganondorf (or at least reach enough of an understanding to hunt pigeons with him) she could probably get along with anyone. 

So naturally, a little teasing was in order. 

“Huh? Catch and eat raw fish, like some kind of [i]animal[/i]? Just what do you take me for?” Nadia feigned indignation for all of three seconds, then relaxed with a chuckle and a grin. “Haha, just kiddin’. Although it’s true I’m not big on raw fish, actually. Unless they’re made into sushi by Chef Bancho. Now [i]that’s[/i] good eatin’.”

Her tail swished from side to side as rose to her feet on the riverbank. Her height had shifted slightly thanks to her latest fusion, but as it stood, Nadia was slightly taller. There was still something offputting and a little intimidating about Robin that she couldn’t quite place, but Nadia put her apprehensions aside, and her hands on her hips. “So, ‘water’ you up to? I was gonna check out those li’l blue guys upstream. Looks like they’re in a pickle of some kind.”

Grima held her tongue to avoid stating that she *did* think of her as a kind of animal, as she did all mortal life. But she (or more accurately, Robin) restrained her from saying so. Instead, she simply sighed at Nadia’s pun, “I am simply taking a walk. We have time to spare due to the bridge repairs” she pointed out, now slightly turning to the upstream again to see the blue creatures ahead, “...[i]Do[/i] they need help? If they were smart, they would simply try to find another crossing. Or simply wait for us to fix our bridge then use that.”

“We-he-hell, not everyone has the luxury of an intellect like ours,” Nadia confidently told Grima, who was too new to the team to be familiar with the kind of intelligence quotient Nadia brought to the table. “And even if they don’t, I figured I might as well check ‘em out, see what they’re up to. Never know what you’ll get if you step off the beaten path.” So saying, she led the way by continuing upriver, hopping and climbing up the elevation changes when necessary. “This one time, we were fightin’ our way through this giant evil flesh tree, and I leaf no stone unturned. Got into this little lab thing and found a couple pistols made of meat that shot bone bullets. They didn’t work that great, but they were purr-etty cool!”

Nadia rotated her head all the way around to raise an eyebrow at Grima. “So whadda you do? If we’re gonna be teammates we oughta know each other’s strengths. Me, I’m a scrapper. Whoever we’re up against, I get in close and cut ‘em up, fast as lightning. You’ll see.”

[color=bc8dbf]“[i]Pistols made of meat? Human ingenuity to create the most needless weapons of war never ceases to astound[/i]”[/color] Grima thought to herself, letting out a sigh as she found herself instinctively walking alongside Nadia, her body moving on its own, [color=bc8dbf]“I am many things. A mage, a swordswoman, a strategist. Alas, I appear to have lost much of my skills during the recreation of this world… But nevertheless, I remain strong enough.”[/color]

After only a minute or two, the duo finished their short climb and reached the rocky ridge upriver from Qingce Village, where a pair of [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/506762850b64.png]rope bridges[/url] spanned two opposing cliffs. Nadia got a better look at the round blue creatures on the near side, which glanced at her when she arrived but otherwise did not react much to her presence. Though their bodies seemed identical they featured a variety of eyes, nose colors, legs, and hairstyles, and all seemed focused on the situation at hand. The cliff on the far side sported two stone faces, and when a zoombini with sunglasses attempted to cross, it sent the poor thing flying back toward the rest of its companions. More worryingly, it loosened one of the four remaining pegs that for some reason kept not one but both bridges up. Nadia inspected the spot, incredulous. Even she could see how dumb this was…who designed this thing? As she watched, the zoombini that got blasted stepped back up and crossed the other bridge without issue, where it joined two other zoombinis with yellow noses on the other side.

After a moment, Nadia’s eyes went wide. “Wait…is this a puzzle!? Oh no.”

[color=bc8dbf]“... This is insultingly simple. These bridges are tied to specific traits to these creatures”[/color] Grima pointed out, gesturing in the direction of the cliff faces, [color=bc8dbf]“The yellow nosed creatures can move without issue over a specific bridge. Which tells me that the faces do not react to certain physical traits. So, you figure out what they don’t react to and cross appropriately. Or, you can simply take the easier option”[/color] Grima explains, raising a hand to aim at one of the cliff faces, several rings of magic appearing around as she prepared a magical blast.

The stone face shifted to an expression of terror. “Wait, wait! Can’t we talk about this!?”

“We can’t help being allergic!” the other face cried.

Nadia was all for cheating, but the please of the cliff faces made her feel bad. Theirs had to be a pretty sucky existence, but not so bad that it warranted putting them out of their misery. “Uh, hang on, one sec!” she said as she stepped forward, motioning with her hands for Grima to settle down. “There’s an even easier option than that! Watch this.”

The feral grabbed two zoombinis, tucking one under each arm like a basketball, and crouched down. She pumped blood into her ankles, increasing the blood pressure sharply, then after a moment allowed her seam to separate enough to let the pressurized blood out. As a result she launched into the air, leaving a bloody trail behind as she soared over the gap between the cliffs. After landing with a roll in the grass near the other zoombinis, she dropped the two off and dusted her hands. “Five down, one, two three, four, fivesixseveneightnineten, eleven to go!”

The pleas of the cliff faces normally wouldn’t have stopped Grima. But Nadia’s request to hold on was effective enough for the Fell Vessel to let out a sharp ‘tsk’ and quickly disperse their magic, [color=bc8dbf]“I will [i]not[/i] be putting that much effort for this”[/color] she commented, yet reached down to pick up one of the zoombinis with a yellow nose by the head to guide them to the bridge. Had she possessed proper wind magic, she could easily just blow the zoombinis to the other side, but the slow way would have to do.

Although, Nadia’s performance was interesting. Grima had noted the blood trails that erupted from their feet. Evidently, they did have some strange biology. The next time she did something like that, she’d have to pay closer attention.

… Nevertheless, for now she simply organized the zoombinis to a proper order to get across the bridge. Hopefully the threat of death would encourage the cliff faces to hold their breath.

Even with Grima’s minimum effort, the two made quick work of the task at hand. Nadia ended up having an even better idea than manually ferrying two zoombinis across at a time: hyper-extending her arms by stretching out the muscle fibers that linked her segments, which allowed her to more-or-less grappling hook the critters across. In the end, while the rather rough treatment of the zoombinis left most of them a bit discombobulated, all of them wound up on the far side of the canyon with the bridge still intact.

The zoombinis gathered around Nadia as she patted their heads one by one to make sure all were okay. “You guys good? Those faces nearly ‘blue’ you away!” Their made happy gibbering noises endeared them to the feral somewhat, and she ended up feeling pretty glad that she made this particular detour. Her feelings only improved when one of the zoombinis offered her its colorful [url=https://cdn.wikibound.info/e/ee/BaseballCapArtwork.png]baseball cap[/url]. “Oh, thanks!” Nadia put it on more to show her gratitude than anything, but with it on her head she did get a faint impression of being just a little bit sturdier. After that, the zoombinis began to trickle away, resuming their logical journey. “See ya later!”

At the same time, one of the stone faces addressed Grima. “Ahem! Please, allow us to thank you for sparing us. Here, this is yours.” He made a chewing motion with his mouth, then hawked out an object. It flew up from the gorge and landed atop the cliff at Grima’s feet: a [url=https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/5/54/Dream_Hard_Stone_Sprite.png]hard stone[/url] with the power to boost the equipper’s rock-type moves.

… A stone was a pitiful tribute to someone like Grima, and for a moment she debated destroying the faces for the insultingly simple offering. Yet, she could feel… Something of note within the stone. So she restrained herself, simply kneeling to pick up the stone and then placing it within her cloak, already turning around to return to the rest of the group with Nadia.

The catgirl ran over across one of the rope bridges, but luckily the stone face on that side wasn’t allergic to felines. She fell in alongside Grima as the two began to retrace their steps downriver toward the broken bridge, anticipating that it wouldn’t take Ammy much longer if she wasn’t done already. On the wait, Nadia spoke up again. “So, I guess you’re a no-nonsense, shoot first, ask questions later kinda gal? There’s a guy on the other team named Ganondorf, I bet you two’d get along.” If the Fell Dragon hadn’t already realized, Nadia was something of a chatterbox. “I’m pretty sure he wants to rule everything once this is all over though. Some of us wanna take out Galeem to put things back how they were. Others would rather take over the World of Light for themselves. Me, I dunno…what’re you hopin’ to get outta all this?”

[color=bc8dbf]“I don’t intend to rule if that is your concern. I would much rather undo this farce and return to the originals. But that is a far off goal. For now…”[/color] Grima tilted her head slightly, pondering just how much to divulge to the feral. Pit already knew plenty, but did he seem like the person to lay out all her goals in one conversation?

… Yes, actually.

[color=bc8dbf]“... This vessel is but a tool to interact with the world. My true self is locked away. So, I help you Seekers with your long term goal… You help me be free from my chains. Everyone wins, as they say”[/color] the Fell Dragon says with a shrug, continuing on without care. The Seekers were clearly willing to work with other individuals similar to her, so there would be no issues with them knowing [i]some[/i] of her intentions.