"Hahaha, I think I can handle a little needle." Georgia said confidently.
She hadn't. She hadn't been able to handle it. It was a painful ordeal full of flinches and half-starts, but eventually she had managed to work up the nerve and hold still long enough for him to just do it.
She examined the thing in the mirror the next morning. She'd have to take care not to let mom and dad see this when she went home, they'd think she was falling into a world of corruption and vice. It didn't matter whether their blood was warm or cold, parents were parents wherever you went.
She had spent the night having her heart to heart with with Asher, studying the "true" history, and even managed to work in a quick chess game with Hirutila. She'd lost, but had been putting up a good fight until it came time to use the knights. She could never quite get a handle on the way those things moved.
Overall it hadn't been a very eventful night, and when the time came she had laid down as Snopes curled up beside her bed and drifted into a deep sleep. So when they were called down to ops to depart she was fully awake and raring to go.
Only to find that it was going to be a while. The Nazi extermination party was going last. She shook her head. "Hurry up and wait." She said ruefully as she followed after the bothers. "No need to rush there, edgemaster, we're all headed to the same place." She called out after Ignito. That dude reminded her of her own brother, and she couldn't help but grin. "Seriously though, good luck boys. Watch out for those black coats." She said to the other two.
Linkle squealed in delight as Peach just gave up the milk, totally for free. She shouln't have expected otherwise, such nobility of spirit was inherent to a true princess. "Thank you your majesty." She said, running over to pick it up. As she ran she felt a quick few pinches on the side of her neck and slowed to a jog. She looked down slightly dishearten at the somehow jagged bowstring that crossed her chest, part of which occasionally scraped across her neck. That was an annoying problem, but not as annoying as what she realized when she reached her destination.
Last night, before falling asleep to the noise of the loud synchronized breathing of both of the Bowser's lying in the throne room just beyond her makeshift bed, she had decided to finish out the day with a bang. Or, at least, a pop. One by one she had smashed the spirits of the monsters she had slain, and had accumulated quite a collection of stuff to replace the hood she'd seen Junior using as a blanket.
Skeleton Bow an angular wooden bow that takes a second and some strength by even a practiced hand to draw. Arrows fired by it fly without any regard to wind deviation. Even normal use of the bow will result in its destruction after a while
Simple Arrow x4 – an angular and primitive but functional arrow. It itself has no special properties, but after getting a hold of one, its owner is able to make additional identical arrows by combining a piece of flint on top of a stick on top of a feather, which immediately become a finished arrow with no further preparation required
Creeper Heart – an organ filled with volatile chemicals. Rupturing it will cause a strong explosion, but careful extraction could yield those very useful chemicals. Eating it is not recommended
Gunpowder x2 – fine chemical grounds that detonate if exposed to fire or electricity. A useful reagent for crafting things
Spider Shield – a shield belonging to savage mountain bandits. Grants resistance to poison
Everything was odd! She recognized the bow and arrows instantly from the few close calls she'd had with the skeletons, but seeing them up close it was a wonder that they flew at all. Linkle was no expert bowman (she'd stumbled upon a bow she could use during her travels but hadn't been able to do any flashy combos with it) but she was pretty sure arrows needed to be sleek to fly true and bowstrings weren't meant to look like they'd been whittled out of wood. Yet it worked, she'd fired one of the arrows at the far wall that night and the thing flew true and tinked off.
There were a pair of weird looking...at first she'd thought they were burnt cookies but they didn't taste anything like burnt cookies! They tasted like sand. Well, no, not sand exactly, but in her mouth it had felt like some kind of powder. She wasn't sure what they were for, except maybe watching them float in midair when you put them down. They'd come from the spirit of one of the hissing exploding green things, along with what Linkle had just started thinking of ominously as The Organ. It was like a cookie too, except it squished when you squeezed it and felt just like holding cooked meat. It smelled like the black cookies, and when you squeezed it had enough it started to Hissssssss like the monsters had before they detonated. She'd stopped squeezing it quite so hard after that.
The last thing was so weird simply for how normal it was. It was a shield that, unsurprisingly giving the design on the front, had come from one of the spiders. It was regular wood, not flat or jagged at all, and sat on the floor like it was supposed to when you put it down.
A weird haul, but not overall a bad one. The hero was expected to have a bow and shield, after all.
The thought that the hero was also expected to have a sword to go with that shield fluttered through her mind for a moment before being violently purged. She'd blow up that bridge when she came to it.
That morning when getting dressed Linkle slid her black cookies and jagged arrows into her waistband alongside the Bwah Blaster, but was at a loss with what to do with The Organ which she really wasn't keen on accidentally sitting on. She was pretty sure of what would happen if it took a blow, so anywhere she was liable to her hit was out. Finally she decided to stick it behind her ear like a pencil, where it unexpectedly sat snugly and was likely to get knocked loose and away instead of taking a direct attack and violently blowing her to pieces. Plus this way is just kind of looked like a hair clip. A squishy, uncomfortably moist hair clip.
The shield had been easy. Since it was an ordinary shield all she had to do was stick it to her back and it just stayed there, defying gravity in a completely ordinary way and allowing her to quickly retrieve it if the need arose. The bow she placed over that.
She admired her image in the washroom mirror for a moment. With all this equipment she was starting to really resemble the hero of the legend.
But now there was more stuff, she realized. Stuff that wasn't flat or just adhered to you. She had already carrying the pokeballs Mr. Stone had given her, and now she had to find a place to put the milk. The balls she shoved into her boots, alongside the crossbows that were hanging there, and the milk she shoved into the rapidly diminishing space of her waistband.
All this figuring out what goes where, how did heroes do this? The legends always said they carried all this different equipment, but all that was ever mentioned for how was bags and bottles and as she'd just learned you had to carry the bottles too. There was never any mention of a magic sack or backpack where they put everything. She shook her head. It was just one more thing she had to learn on her quest.
Speaking of learning, right nearby Michael, Franklin, and Ratchet had been drawn to the estranged looking thing that had popped out of the box, and the cat man was explaining what it was to them. "Wow Michael, you haven't seen that type of gun before?" She said, genuinely surprised. He'd spoken so authoritatively when he'd explained how they worked to her, so this evoked the same semi-uncomfortable feeling of seeing your teacher get schooled.
Before she could say anything else she heard Bowser yell his warning. There were enemies in the road ahead, rising around in cars. She wasn't sure what a car was, but it sounded like it was something like a cart. Did that mean they could keep up with them? She thought maybe she could drive one of those carts, but fighting on one?
She looked over to Franklin. He'd joined them last night, out in the scrapyard, and had worked alongside Tora and Junior while she'd fended off the monster. They hadn't talked back then, mostly on account of being too busy and tired, but actions spoke louder than words and his actions then had been saying "I sure know a lot about carts."
"Excuse me?" She asked him. "Sorry we didn't get a chance to talk. I'm Linkle, it's a pleasure to meet you. Your friend Michale taught me everything I know about guns and I was wondering...well...I've never been on a cart before, but you seem to know your way around them and I was wondering if you could show me how it works?"
She pointed over to where the horse shaped two wheeler sat on the grass. "I mean, I know Tora said it was simple but if we run into enemies on the road I don't want to mess up and fall behind. Please?"
Just so this post contains useful information, I'm not adding the "Linkle acquires" hider to my word count.
Linkle
Level 4 - (6/40) +
Location: Peace's Castle, Yard
Word Count:
Linkle squealed in delight as Peach just gave up the milk, totally for free. She shouln't have expected otherwise, such nobility of spirit was inherent to a true princess. "Thank you your majesty." She said, running over to pick it up. As she ran she felt a quick few pinches on the side of her neck and slowed to a jog. She looked down slightly dishearten at the somehow jagged bowstring that crossed her chest, part of which occasionally scraped across her neck. That was an annoying problem, but not as annoying as what she realized when she reached her destination.
Last night, before falling asleep to the noise of the loud synchronized breathing of both of the Bowser's lying in the throne room just beyond her makeshift bed, she had decided to finish out the day with a bang. Or, at least, a pop. One by one she had smashed the spirits of the monsters she had slain, and had accumulated quite a collection of stuff to replace the hood she'd seen Junior using as a blanket.
Skeleton Bow an angular wooden bow that takes a second and some strength by even a practiced hand to draw. Arrows fired by it fly without any regard to wind deviation. Even normal use of the bow will result in its destruction after a while
Simple Arrow x4 – an angular and primitive but functional arrow. It itself has no special properties, but after getting a hold of one, its owner is able to make additional identical arrows by combining a piece of flint on top of a stick on top of a feather, which immediately become a finished arrow with no further preparation required
Creeper Heart – an organ filled with volatile chemicals. Rupturing it will cause a strong explosion, but careful extraction could yield those very useful chemicals. Eating it is not recommended
Gunpowder x2 – fine chemical grounds that detonate if exposed to fire or electricity. A useful reagent for crafting things
Spider Shield – a shield belonging to savage mountain bandits. Grants resistance to poison
Everything was odd! She recognized the bow and arrows instantly from the few close calls she'd had with the skeletons, but seeing them up close it was a wonder that they flew at all. Linkle was no expert bowman (she'd stumbled upon a bow she could use during her travels but hadn't been able to do any flashy combos with it) but she was pretty sure arrows needed to be sleek to fly true and bowstrings weren't meant to look like they'd been whittled out of wood. Yet it worked, she'd fired one of the arrows at the far wall that night and the thing flew true and tinked off.
There were a pair of weird looking...at first she'd thought they were burnt cookies but they didn't taste anything like burnt cookies! They tasted like sand. Well, no, not sand exactly, but in her mouth it had felt like some kind of powder. She wasn't sure what they were for, except maybe watching them float in midair when you put them down. They'd come from the spirit of one of the hissing exploding green things, along with what Linkle had just started thinking of ominously as The Organ. It was like a cookie to, except it squished when you squeezed it and felt just like holding cooked meat. It smelled like the black cookies, and when you squeezed it had enough it started to Hissssssss like the monsters had before they detonated.
"I'll let'er down once we get inside. Look at her, she ain't more than a snack to the things lurken round here." Claude said to Kaze, lifting up the small cat to him as far as she could without letting her stuff fall all over the ground.
She smiled wide as their teacher mentioned mealtimes would be getting more "interesting" before disappearing into him room. "Think that means we're going huntin? That is right up my alley right now." She said as she walked in. Normally in a building over one story instinct would draw Claude up to the highest floor to claim as her own, but as she got a view into the first floor room, through it's big window, and right into the think woods beyond she knew that she had to have that one. Hastily she moved in, sliding her bags under the bunk bed after setting her furry friend down in the room. "Ground floor! Squatch huntin HQ." She said loudly before leaning down to the cat. "You go scamper around, cutie pie. Familiarize yourself with the place. Just they not to get underfoot."
She stood up, cracked her back from the bus ride, and walked over to the window to gaze out into the woods. She took out the video camera, clicked it on, and raised it up to her eye to film the pines. Animal Planet had this sort of stock footage up all the time, so maybe the video would be more appealing if she got some for them.
"Huntin log, day one. Just got in to base camp. Somewhere out in them there wood could lurk the ferocious and powerful Sasquatch and I," she flipped the camera around, filming her face in a completely unusable closeup, "Claudia Rhodes, ultimate fighter, am going to find him. And when I do? I'm gonna kick his hairy ass."
YIIK is like someone who read Haruki Murakami and played Earthbound and didn't understand the appeal of either but wanted to make something that was inspired by both to the point of plagiarism at times. It's pretty much the closest we've legit come to a The Room for video games except unlike Tommy Wiseau, the dude what wrote and made YIIK had a melty.
Also this person is legit in love with Elisa Lam and let that bleed heavily into it.
Ria wiped her brow in relief at Celestine's proclamation that Andras was okay. That was some good news at least. She would still have to explain to King how the girl had been lifted right out from under her all seeing eye, but at least she wasn't nestled in some demons stomach. "Might be for the best she ain't here, I can't imagine what happened was more traumatic than this...shit." She waved her hand to all the ashy black outlines of where bodies had been before Brutus had obliterate them.
Stepping forward she grabbed Diana, or that thing she had confirmed wasn't Diana, by the hand and Kheraket by the shoulder, rushing them both out of the room and insisting the others follow. Now she needed him more than ever to find out what this possession thing was and how to get it out.
Naserph road along silently in the back, his head leaning against the window listlessly. It was apparent that whatever emergency their was they were moving away from it, but if King was on the scene everything would probably be settled before he managed to run back to the stadium. Besides that, he had no clue how to get back there. He hadn't exactly been paying attention to their rout, after all, and he didn't imagine Wolf would be willing to show him the way back.
He clenched his fists and pressed his face even harder against the glass. How was it that luck wasn't with him. This would have been the perfect way to earn some prestige and glory. If he had known that something would happen at the arena he would never have invited himself on this adventure.
Damn it all. He didn't have time for this.
As they pulled up to Vera's home he didn't go in. Instead he scaled the side with a series of jumps and settled on the roof, turning his ears in the direction of the stadium.
The wind was good today. Sometimes on a day like today the wind could carry the sounds of the stadium all the way up to the peak of the sacred mountain. You could hear the faint sounds of the announcements if you knew where to listen from. They as he might though, he couldn't hear a thing.
That should be all right at least. If he couldn't hear whatever chaos was going on over there it certainly couldn't worry anyone back him that might be listening. So he crossed his legs and looked out over the street.
If he was lucky that Gal character would try again tonight.
Vera stood there, with Wolf's armored hand on her shoulder. He held her close to his side, as if guarding her. She was sure she was safe, but she didn't feel comforted -- just the bitter cold of the metal. And then, silent as ever, he released her and began walking back into the battered old building. She followed, reluctantly. That house was mostly bad memories, but Andras was in there. Her friend and fellow victim.
She hesitated a moment. When Wolf got back to the main room, he stopped in front of Meredith, however the blade remained sheathed. She couldn't imagine him actually hurting Meredith at this point... or at least she was trying to convince herself of that.
She heard Nas say something about 'everything belonging to her and Andras now' and shuddered. She didn't want to own the place, she wanted to burn it. It was also a hilarious insight into how the guy's mind worked.
"Screw looting this dump, let's just get out of here. Gonna need more than just one drink before I can forget today-" Speaking of drinks, it looked like Andras had tried to mimic her. And made a mess of it. Vera stood there for a moment, her brain just shutting off. Andras failing at alcohol was such a hard shift from the all the shit she'd just been through.
Finally she managed to finish her mental reboot.
"C'mon," she held her hand out to the girl. "I had way too much of that stuff on an empty stomach, let's get moving while we can still stand." She couldn't tell how much Andras had actually had, but she hoped a novice like her wouldn't have managed to down much of something that strong. She glanced at Nas next, "If you really wanna help, see if you can find his car keys. I refuse to walk home like this." Nas's shirt was nice and all, but she was one stiff breeze away from flashing the world.
Nasearph quirked eyebrow at Vera's...reprimand? He was just trying to get something out of this absurd situation.
He scoffed, rising back up. The gal of this woman, telling him to not bother with looting then telling him to get right back to looting. "Fine." He grumbled, turning and regarding Andras. "You look like you enjoy," he leaned in and squinted, studying her intently, "Art." He concluded, turning around and starting toward the other room to find keys, his gift, and to hell with everything else. "I'll grab you an art." It would at least let him leave the drama in the main room behind.
"Ah..." Andras's throat was still sore from the burning drink she took. She couldn't really think of anything to say. She was completely blanking on her fellow Vigilante's name. The realization of that made her more embarrassed, and while she tried to mouth a word or two her face burned bright red. "Y-Yes, art..." She managed to mumble, far too late for Nas to hear her.
After Nas judged that he would have to find a trophy for her without her input, Andras sniffled, wiping her face. While she was painfully aware that Vera probably thinking she looked pretty uncool, there were extenuating circumstances. She decided to try not to call attention to it all and simply took Vera's hand wordlessly, standing up. Andras rocked a little, keeping Vera's hand to steady herself.
'Ah, I feel like I can barely stand. Is it the drink, or just the strain from today? Or maybe both? That drink seemed really strong. Does it work that quickly? I can't just ask. Play it cool Andras. It's probably just the stress. But there's a chance it's not too. What if the drink acts faster if you're stressed out? Is it supposed to kick in after the warmth stops? What if the warmth means it's already acting?' Her mind was racing in circles, and she backed up against the wall to stop from needing to clutch Vera to keep steady.
Wolf stood before Meredith, staring down at her. Just... staring. And staring. His hands clenched into fists... and then smoke began to rise off of the armor, more and more as if it were disintegrating until it just completely evaporated, leaving a pale-skinned, completely exhausted looking Wolf standing before her.
His mouth twitched, opening slightly, but nothing came out. So many words fighting for their place, and in the end only one, simple syllable was able to make it through.
"Why?"
Meredith was still hiccuping and sniffling, when she suddenly noticed the presence of Wolf. Her eyes met briefly for a second. That was her friend. But something was different. He had... become some kind of thing. Unapproachable. She tried to open her mouth, but nausea overtook her. As tired as she was, she could not move much, and she honestly wanted to tell something...
"Well...I..." She began to fidget, grabbing the remains of her shirt, unable to maintain her gaze. "I ... mean...I..."
"You need not to answer that if you want to, monster tits."Glass crunching was heard, as some sure steps grabbed the glass bottle next to Andras. That fool had decided to forfeit the medical equipment. Cat was out of the bag. He took a powerful swill of the bottle, before smashing it against a wall. "He still can't believe this sort of betrayal. After all it's his girlfriend, you should respect her." He said.
"Even if she's a completely toxic, abusive shrew... and you've been always in love with him like if he was your morning sun." Celestine said, before picking up his bronze mask, and wiping it off dirt, placing it on his face. "Love... wars have been waged for that."
"No one asked you..." Wolf didn't even have the energy to look at Cel.
"Well?" He looked to Meredith to confirm or deny. "After all these years you can at least give me a straight answer, can't you?" It took most of what he had left to keep his voice from shaking. "Because for me, after all this time, if you said you were sorry right now and promised never to do it again, I'd want to believe you despite my better judgement. So the least you can do is look at me and say something!"
Meredith just seemed to lose all energy, before trying to hiccup even more. Wolf, despite his best judgement was asking her why. And now that masked transvestite had spilled the beans. "I did it... because all this time, i wanted to be human to achieve my goals. To not be rejected. To have friends, and be h...happy. And yet, wicked people wormed their way in. They made you miserable. Nevermind me, who I am just a filthy halfblood, but you, Wolf." She added. Gritting her teeth. "You! The same boy who never scoffed at me and my weirdness! You were taken over! You never smile these days! You get ensnared in stupid plots! You let... that woman walk over you, when you're so much more worth it!" She said, her fists clenching. "And ... I ... was tired. I listened to whom I should not. Sacrifices. I tried to sacrifice an innocent girl for just your smile. That's how desperate I was!" She added, as she finally let loose. "And yes, I am sorry, I will not do this again! But I will -never- stop trying to wish for you..."
"...your happiness. And I don't think -she- can give it to you. Because she's Mother given human flesh!" She let a glare at Vera, before keeping her poise.
"Ooh snap". Cel's inopportune and bored comment followed.
Andras tried to lean against the wall before letting go of Vera entirely and Vera, beginning to feel the alcohol herself, nearly lost her footing. She braced herself against the wall as well for a moment, but then froze up as she heard Meredith's rant. It was almost refreshing that she could still feel the familiar tension of anger welling up inside her. Feeling herself kick into "attack mode" deep down was a welcome change from the overwhelming sense of vulnerability she'd been swimming through this whole time.
Andras might see or hear Vera's nails dig into the plaster of the wall next to her head. However, as Vera went to turn around, she stopped as her vision passed over Andras. Maybe she just couldn't bring herself to just abandon Andras while she was so vulnerable herself, or maybe seeing the girl in such a way reminded her of what she herself had just been through, dropping a wet blanket on her rage before it could even fully ignite.
"Come on..." she spoke. There was still a slight chill to her words as she pulled Andras's arm over her shoulder to support her and began leading her out of the building. Even so, she stopped for a moment as they passed Wolf and Meredith.
"Get on your high horse if you want, but after all this time you finally grew a spine just so you could use it to stab him in the back..." Vera spoke bitterly.
"Vera." Wolf said. "Just... get Andras out of here."
She had no idea what to make of this. Was he honestly not on her side with this one either? Either way, she just wanted out of the room now and did as he suggested. Wolf was silent. He couldn't think of what to say to Meredith at first. All this because of him? Maybe it was the word 'mother' that finally sparked a proper response from him. As Vera walked way, his lips finally twitched back into action.
"After all the time we spent... to make sure you got to choose who you wanted to be... to choose this. How could you do that and then talk about my happiness?" He looked down at the floor. "You..." he shut his eyes tightly, but then just went sort of limp. "Go home... Meredith..." He didn't want to look at her again, as if avoiding her would keep what she'd become from cementing itself as her image in his mind. He didn't want that.
Meredith's flames seemed to recede as soon Vera left the room. When Wolf finally spoke, Meredith looked at the ground. It was what she feared. She was truly at loss. For listening to her dark side, she could count her blessings by being alive. How deluded had she been. Wolf... was after all the one she had wounded the most. But it was so hard to ask what he truly wanted? Did he want that shrew that much? She would never find out, as betrayal stung even more. And that's what she was, a betrayer. Wolf had told her to go home. That had never been truly a home for her, at least not without Wolf.
Cel, for his part, just began to giggle initially. And then let out a more prominent laugh. "Fools and fools tales. Takes one to know one, believe me. Just ask Vera who was the first one who fell for her wiles, nerd. " He began to walk past the exhausted knight. "You say that, and you do not realize two important things, Wolfram Koenigsmann. One is that you're sentencing her to go back with her hellish mother for atoning for her crimes, and the second is ..." he leaned to whisper. "Who do you think would try to tear my throat apart should I try to kill you here and now. Vera or Mer?" He indicated, before moving onto the distraught half -succubus.
"Well, my sympathies, you've been Vera'd. It feels like crap ... doesn't it." He eyed the stunned junior. "Fortunately, I find you interesting. I can rebuild you. I will make you a dark angel worth of songs and tales. I only will ask for what is due, a small fee for my... tutorship." Celestine added. "I also have a nasty mother, you know. Someone who would rather remember to water the plants than remembering he has a child." He stretched his hand for Meredith to take.
Like the once broken, flightly thing she had been, the girl hesitated at first. But in the end choose to take the hand of Lightbringer. "Yes...home is not what I want to go. There was one, once, but I burnt it." She confessed.
"Excellent... do you want to dance in the moonlight, Meredith? Do you yearn for happiness?" Celestine added as he drew the taller woman towards him, making her dance. "One...two...three...very good." The Lightbringer said, a smile underneath his mask. "Pity the man who let such a fine girl go. You can fly, you have allure, and you have enough firepower to bring down Vigilantes to their heels." He finished, his dance stopped. "Let's get out of here. Let's have a nice dinner, and tomorrow will be a brighter day. " The masked man announced, before leading Meredith past the spent Wolfram. "Waste not. This one is better than Andras." He whispered once to the Vigilante, before resuming his pace outside the building.
"I couldn't find his keys, but there were...other...spoils." Nas trailed off, stepping out of the other room with a handful of paintings under one arm, a velvet purple sack clutched in his hand, and a pair of fancy looking pants slung over one shoulder.
He looked around the largely empty room.
Looked at Wolfs face.
Looked at the spot where the Meredith wasn't.
"Wolf," he said. "Where do we go from here?"
Andras's looping thoughts slowly settled down as Vera guided her out of the room. "Ah. Um. Ah." Andras quietly mumbled to herself, trying to think of what to say. The situation was clearly still fairly heavy, but she was also concerned with how close Vera was. She couldn't come up with anything.
As they left the room, walking from the hallway, Andras was lost in thought. 'It's normal. We're supporting each other. Calm down. Saying "calm down" doesn't help. It's because you're not staying calm. She's warm. Maybe you should stop arguing with yourself in your head. Maybe YOU should take your argument and-'
Andras found herself hugging Vera, and sniffling. "Veraaaa... That was awful... How did this all come to this?! Jusht- Just as I find new friends all of this happens..." She groaned, trying to keep herself from crying again. "Uuu... I couldn't stop you from getting shto- stolen from that guy... And my eye hurts... And my legs... And I'm hungry..." She tightened her embrace around Vera.
"Wh- n- bu- can y-" Vera's protests were drowned out by the tick known as Andras as the girl clung to her pathetically. "OK, OK, OK!" she choked out as the girl's grip tightened. She awkwardly patted Andras's shoulder, "We'll find food, but first I need better clothes!" Something nice and normal like eating might go a long way to making her feel better, she hoped. It had been too close. She'd fought back with all she had, but someone like Galbrek could have easily just forced the issue a little harder and then who knew what could have happened to her.
But Wolf had shown up, just like she knew he would. Like he always did. Whenever she needed him. Even though...
"Now calm down, everything is fine now. We're safe..." Vera herself managed to relax just a little as well, resting her chin on Andras's head. Whether it was out of affection or just because the other girl's height made her a convenient head rest was hard to say... Wolf took a moment before he responded to Nas.
"I..." He let out a long, defeated sigh. After everything, he still felt like he'd lost. In the end he'd still lost someone, hadn't he? He wasn't sure he could just accept that fact, but he could do nothing about it now. He was all out of fight. "Let's just get them someplace safe for now." Their goal had been to save Andras and Vera and they had, so actually getting them away from this hellhole was as good a short-term goal as any. And so he began tiredly limping his way outside...
Celestine's steps were brisk and energetic. It did not feel like he had witnessed such a struggle and revelations, as besides his bruises and cuts, his attitude was like of a completely detached new arrival. He only showed a noteworthy reaction when he noticed Meredith, who was tensing upon the sight of Vera, the remnants of the fiery feelings she had not experienced long ago still stirring.
"Forget it, today is not-eat-faces day, my sweet demon lady." Celestine calmly remarked, as he eyed the wreck. "No, the reckoning will be more drawn out." He whispered under his breath as he began to fiddle with his phone as he picked it up, brushed it aside and made sure it worked. Luigi Vile certainly knew how to craft things. He made a gesture to move towards the girls. "Safety?" He added, letting a loud, debased laugh. "Well, here's a funny thing for you people. Apparently the city's going aflame with some sort of demon fanboys crossed with goat worshippers or something like that. And the stadium was one of the targets. So... if you had not been kidnapped and being made actresses of this cheap boo hoo horseplay, which -by the way- ended in some ugly things like berserker idiots, and people kneecapping people we would've been actually doing something useful. Oh and slit throats... I guess I had a bad day." Celestine then showed the containts of some blurry footage that he had managed to snag.
"Andras is drunk, the nerd is spent, birdboy is plundering, Vera is a joke who only knows how to talk back. Don't you know the meaning of saving up some cards? Ah well..." He eyed Andras. "Well, I guess I will take my leave now. Be happy and safe and all of that. I kept my promise not to harm your friends, after all. If someone commits betrayal is no longer a friend, i guess." His eyes then rested on Meredith, who was still trying to rein herself in, biting her lip, and with a ghastly, stunned visage. "Oh, but I guess I could consider myself fortunate, there is an actual demon lady before us. Meredith is the real deal." He smiled, in feigned warmth. "Say, I think our dinner could wait. You feel terrible. So do I. We could bash a few skulls, rescue some people, let the bile out." Meredith looked left and right, and her eyes finally left Vera. She was... smiling. "Sounds like a plan." Meredith said, her visage becoming composed all of a sudden. Her arms reached for the Fallen one. "We can reach the place flying." She added. What's done is done...Wolf doesn't want me near him, so he will have his wish. And... I feel so hungry. So tired and hungry... She somberly added mentally as she carried him away, her wings fully spread.
Nasearph watched the pair leave with nearly the same detachment Celestine displayed. He had walked out just in time to catch the tail end of their little rant and really couldn't make out the point of it. He really couldn't make out the point of anything they had done today. Coming to save one person from another person who'd kidnapped them. Murdering the kidnapper. Shit talking the person you'd come to save, trying to get them killed, the leaving with the kidnapper as though you were friends with them?
Naseraph was insane. He knew that. It was what everyone had told him since he was a young child. There was something just wrong there, something broken inside his head that made him...difficult. Unruly. Empty.
Looking at the actions of this person, though, he realized that he didn't understand what empty even was.
He held out the pants and bag to Andras and Vera with one hand and said, simply "That person is a lunatic," Before starting down the stairs. As he stepped he carelessly knocked over one of the potted plants on the stairs, sending it crashing ton the pavement. As it did so he noticed a glint, and reached down.
He rose holding a shiny ring of keys between his thumb and fore finger. He turned back to Vera, and held them up. "Found them."
Andras cast a sideways glance towards Cel from her embrace. She didn't have anything to say, but tears welled in her eyes, distorting his figure. She couldn't understand why - or how - someone could be the way he is. And furthermore... What about her made her interesting to him? It made her feel uneasy. As she blinked the tears away, he was gone.
As Nas approached them, Andras looked blankly at the pants. "I can't eat these-" She had begun talking before her brain figured out who the pants were for. "Oh. Ohhhh." Vera was after all, barely clothed. Just a little bit donated from the bird boy. It was almost like she was wearing nothing at-
Andras almost leaped away from Vera. "Omygosh I didn't- You're- Erm-" Andras loudly hiccuped, stopping her bumbling stream of words. She covered her red face with her hands and turned away. She weakly mumbled, "Just tell me when we're leaving... Before I make things worse..."
Vera slow blinked at Andras's panic.
"Right, because me not wearing pants got more embarrassing over the last thirty seconds..." she sighed and walked over to Nas. She took the pants and quickly pulled them on before anyone could find out if the carpets matched the drapes. She didn't bother trying to turn around or make Nas look away. For some reason the bird boy didn't register on her radar, not that she had any shame left after today anyway.
The pants were... loose, hanging low on one hip. She adjusted them only for them to slide off her other hip. With a defeated sigh she just snatched the keys from Nas and did her best to hold the pants up with her other hand. "We're leaving..." She grumbled and made her way to the car. She didn't need them to fit, just to stay on until she made it to the car.
As she sat in the drivers seat, she recalled that she was technically drinking and driving... well the adrenaline had probably burned off all the alcohol right? No? Whatever, it had been one gulp, she'd be fine!
"Get in!" she turned the key and revved the engine to make sure it hadn't been somehow killed in the crossfire.
Once everyone was in the car with her, she began driving. She was glad she'd learned how to because she was pretty sure no one else still there ever had. If Andras knew how to drive she'd eat her sho- . . . Oh right.
On a related note, driving barefoot wasn't very comfortable.
Neither was the drive itself. It was... creepy. The streets were barren, for some reason there was a pillar of smoke rising in the distance, and there were strange people staring at them from the sidewlaks and alleyways they passed by.
Not a lot of them, just the occasional group of two or three here and there. She was pretty sure they'd also passed a body or two. All that was missing was an air-raid siren. Then they came across a police barricade.
"Shit..." She recalled hearing that masked psycho mention something about how rescuing her had wasted time better served elsewhere. This must have been what he was talking about. Fortunately in the end they were just able to take a detour. She drove them toward one of the outer rings of the city. Whereas where Galbrek had taken her was practically a slum, this was a rather upscale area. More importantly, it seemed the chaos in the city hadn't quite reached this far out.
She pulled along the side of the street rather than a parking lot and shut off the car.
"This'll do for now... unless you want me to drive back into whatever all that is..." Vera said.
"Wait, isn't thi-" Wolf began to speak but Vera got out of the car. She went to Andras's door and dragged the girl out of the car -- she didn't trust her to walk on her own right now. She'd probably get lost or something...
"Come on," she said and led them to the front door of the nearest house and opened it. "My parents are out getting murdered or something, so make yourself at home. Just try not to break my shit." She deposited Andras on the nearest sofa. "I'm gonna go take a shower and die. No peeking unless you're Andras." Whether that was a jab to make Andras uncomfortable or just because they were both girls was impossible to say...
Linkle actually managed to work up a good sweat digging through garbage and dragging around big metal contraptions, but as the moon rose and the skitters and moans of the creatures of darkness began to resound around them she switched from pulling carts to shooting arrows. She set herself up on a patrol rout around their worksite, climbing on the more stable looking piles of scrap to spot the enemies that came close and feather them before they could disrupt the work.
It felt good, honestly. When she'd first heard the noises she'd feared that her premonition earlier had come true, especially seeing the silhouettes of what looked like robots, but was pleasantly surprised to see these monsters where much more classic if a little blockier than she was used to. Stalfos, Gibdos, spiders the size of Skulltulas and...well, she had to admit she had no clue what she could compare the last ones to but that wasn't important because they died all the same. No plinks and plonks of arrows bouncing off. These guys weren't even as tough as what she was used too, no paralyzing screams or hordes of numbers and save for the couple of suprising arrows from the stalphos she had to narrowly dodge she felt like she could almost take these guys out without stopping. She was in her element; running around, identifying problems, and then eliminating them while her comrades accomplished their mission. After the day she'd had it was something Linkle had desperately needed.
She even managed to grab a few spirits while on the run, just like the monster parts she'd grabbed on the battlefields back home. She didn't found how many she pocketed, but regardless she was planning to smash them before bed just because she was curious.
Of course this fun couldn't last forever. With a roar Linkle felt the earth shift under her and Junior, who had earlier disappeared deep into a scrap pile, exploded outward along with his rabbit minion in a cart that was bigger than any she had ever seem. The awe at the thing was enough to make her overlook the fact that he had exploded from out from under her, causing the pile she was perched on to collapse and Linked to end up looking at the behemoth upside down. Luckily the roar of the engine seemed to put the fear into the monsters, at least for now, allowing them to get the carts over the bridge without major incident.
That was for the best, as Junior announced they were done for the night with a yawn and stated leading the group back inside the castle. Linkle wanted to thank the prince for holding her rabbit cloak for her, but as she saw the tired boy trudging along all snuggled up in it she decided that getting it back wasn't that big a deal.
By the time they got in the feast was over and it looked like mostly everyone had gone to bed. Still, the leftover scent of the cooking that had gone on was still hanging in the air and elicited a loud growl from Linkle's stomach. She wandered over to the kitchen, where a few of the mushroom men were still cleaning up the leftovers. As one of them busied herself carrying a platter of what looked like some sort of mushroom saute that had been barely touched Linkle reached down and took it off her hands. The toad looked up as Linkle plopped one of the mushrooms into her mouth and eagerly chewed. "I got this one." Linkle said, waving her off. The toad bowed slightly and started making her way down the hall when Linkle thought of something and called out to her again. "Hey, sorry, do you know where I could get some pajamas?"
Linkle stood there in a long frilly pink nightgown and matching cap staring at the weird machine the toad had fed her dirty, sweat soaked, moat water and grass stained clothes into. Presumably everyone else's was in there too, at least the ones that had cloths they cared about. She watched it intently as it shook and rumbled, and almost got lost in the hypnotic sound it was making while she waited on the toads judgement.
Beside her the toad that had brought her here was conversing quietly with an elder one over the scrap of green they held between them. Linkle, afraid that what was left of her cloak wouldn't survive whatever washing process went on in there, had urgently fished it out and explained that this wasn't just some cloak, but a symbol of heroism.
Seeing how important this was, the toad girl had called over the Elder and the two were now looking it over. Linkle saw the elder carefully running over the rough edges of the burned patches with her fingers. "Can you fix it?" Linkle asked, but the elder toad held up a finger to silence her. Then, with a moment of consideration, nodded her head as though accepting a challenge and made her way out of the room with the garment. Linkle was about to follow her, but the other one tossed a pair of blankets and a big fluffy pillow into her hands and hurried her out the door.
Unfortunately the scrap crews late arrival meant the rooms were already taken so she bedded down on one of the couches in the entrance hall. That was all well and good to her though. It meant she would be able to watch the door, which she wasn't even sure locked. She got comfortable, slipped off her compass and placed it safety under the couch, made sure her crossbows were well within reach, and crushed the spirits she'd picked up earlier to put a capstone on the night. Then she finally allowed the tiredness everywhere else in her body to reach her eyes and slipped into a deep sleep.
Linkle closed her eyes tighter as the rays of the sun shone in through the windows, but couldn't shut out the hustle and bustle of the castle nor the scent of frying eggs that wafted out of the kitchen. Sitting up she yawned loudly, stretched, then hopped off the couch as though the light had refilled all her energy. "Yosh! Brand new day!" She said' rolling her shoulders and wiping the sleep out of her eyes with a determined look on her face. "And today, I refuse to fall behind."
She fished her compass out from under the couch and slipped it back around her neck before heading to breakfast. It was delicious, and as if to make up for yesterday she dug like a woman possessed, slurping up whole eggs and using so much syrup on her pancakes that it was more like she was drinking them. It was also her first time getting a good look at some of her new comrades, including a man fascinatingly clad in green that reminded her of the rabbit she'd bonded with. There were more rabbits too, white ones. Maybe those were what the hero rabbit had been trying to reach?
She didn't have to long to ponder that before the toads made the rounds, telling them all the the princess required their presence on the field. Linkle stood up from her chair and looked around, wondering if she should head back to the washing machine to get her clothing, but as she walked back to her couch to collect her gear she found that the bedding had been collected during breakfast and her clothes were laying folded in its place. She rushed over, pulling her green cloak out from under the pile and eagerly unfurling it.
She stared at it in awe, then hugged the good as new garment to her chest. That old lady was a miracle worker. Linkle swore, right then and there, that on their next adventure she'd find some present to repay her with. Finding a room to get dressed and make herself presentable for meeting a princess, she rushed out the door onto the lawn after gathering all her gear.
Linkle smiled with not a little bit of pride at the lineup of carts she'd helped get, but not as widely as when she actually saw the princess for the first time. Wow! Just like the monsters last night had been classic this was a classical princess. Pink dress, beautiful eyes, shining crown, the complete package! She felt a bit of yeaterday's funk slipping in at having not contributed to rescuing her.
It wasn't any less of a bummer that not everyone was coming with them. Minako and the Master were especially hard blows, though she could understand why. Mina and the Master had to regain their strength, after all. At least with all these heroes staying behind they didn't have to worry about the castle all that much. The black rabbits might not be especially dangerous, but those robots still had that base on the hill.
The new face of Mr. Steven Stone was also spirit lifting, although she had to wonder what the Master had been doing up so early in the morning. It got much better once the man explained that you could capture monsters without destroying them. She also looked on with interest as the princess pulled out what turned out to be a treasure box, opening it with some weird paper key. A number of treasures popped out, but Linkle's eyes were instantly drawn to one in particular. A glass bottle, filled with milk. She knew it was milk, because it had the famous logo of Lon Lon Ranch plastered right on the side. She almost started for it before the Princess dropped the bombshell that she was going to be accompanying them. The statement that she intended to fight earned her a cheer from Linkle, who had met two warrior princesses in her life and adored both of them.
The conversation then shifted to the adventure ahead in the aptly named Land of Adventure, a name that almost had Linkle vibrating with excitement. With the shift came a new speaker, Tora, who took the time to explain how each of these carts actually worked. The demonstration did make it seem simple and Linkle let her eyes wander to the strange horse headed motorcart she'd pulled out of the scrap last night. She could almost hear it neighing becomingly at her.
She had never had a horse of her own before. A hero needed a noble steed.
She put a pin in that though. She turned around, back ton the princess and Steven Stone. "Hey, I'll take three balls! Monster taming sounds fun." She shouted, running up. She glanced to the side to meet the eyes of the princess, and after a moment quickly gave a bow to her. "Greeting Princess. My name is Linkle, it's a pleasure to meet you." She hadn't stood on ceremony with Zelda or Midna, but they had been in the middle of a fight at the time. "I have a request. Can I have that bottle please? Pretty please?" She pointed to the milk bottle sitting on the grass. "I know what that stuff is, it's premium Lon Lon Milk. I've only ever had it once, and that bottle had gone bad." Lon Lon Ranch wasn't anywhere near her out of the way village, and the one time she'd gotten a chance to try the stuff it had still been delicious even after it had gone slightly chunky. "I'll trade you. You want this rabbit gun?"
Bak breathed a sigh of relief as man went away, and she lowered her weapon to clank against the ground. She looked around at the mysterious light as it melted like snow, falling to the ground and gathering in puddles before evaporating into nothing.
What had that been? Who had done that? Had it been King? Was it some power of Alto's? Had the nun lady done it? No, that couldn't be. They hadn't been around. So who? Who had done that? As Bak pondered that question she could feel a steady drip drip drip on her arm. She looked over to see her missile pod, still dripping the strange black substance from its opening. She tried to fire missiles again, just to see, and the thing actually shook violently and seemed to vomit up more of the stinking stuff all over her arm and the ground.
She had done it? She had done it, hadn't she?
How?
Everything was quiet now, save for the breathing of those around them, but as she listened she picked out the groans and moans of the unlucky souls that hadn't made it out of the stands and the distant wail of sirens. The noises pulled her back out of her own head. She looked around. Rurik was there, where he fell. David was there, where he'd been thrown. Yuuto was there, where he'd been left. She was here, aga is the wall. Sparring David, they were all attempted murderers.
Bak shoved her hands backwards, pushing herself back to her feet using the wall. There was no time to breath, they had to get away. Go, find Vittorio, find Celestine, leave, just get away before they found him. She clanked forward. She went to Yuuto first, collecting him and resetting him comfortably where he'd been before, then turned around to check David.
"Are you all right David? Can you stand? Bah, this does not matter. You do not need to to." She said, lifiting him back into posion. After all, who knew how portals worked. Mayne she had to have everything just the same. "We will need to get away from this place. Back to park, da? I will get Rurik and we will leave before police arrive."
She turned back towards where Rurik had fallen, now being stood over by three avenging angels. This would be the harder part. She had to get over there, gather him up, and then they could all leave. No point sneaking she walked quickly and semi-confident to the boy that had...saved her life...
She's been so mad and desperate at the time that it hadn't really had a chance to sink it. Rurik had saved her life. He had been home free, dropped everything, rushed back, and risked his life to try and protect her. She opened her mouth, trying to say something, but the only thing that came out was a quiet chocking noise as she tired to find the words. She couldn't move, stunned into inaction as she tried to sort out conflicting feelings that flooded into her small mind. Guilt, gratitude, rage, joy, confusion, it all bubbles together in a volatile witches brew in her stomach.
She might have stayed that way for a while were it no5 for Nanaca's accident.
The girl, who had been as instrumental in saving Rurik as Rurik had in saving Bak and David, suddenly was reduced to her drawers by a faulty wasteband and as the girl let out a shriek Bak cupped her face and screamed with her in sheer smypathetic mortification. It added one more feeling to the pile, but at least with this one she could make an inroad to resolving it.
Without even thinking about what she was doing she reached out her hand to grab Kings collar. Then in one swift downward motion she stripped him to the waist and tossed half the ruined shirt to Nanaca. "Quickly, make yourself decent. You will be on television soon." She said earnestly. "At least you are not pervert like other girl I know, she would not care at all being fully naked on evening news."
Wait, that reminded her of something. She spun back to King, getting a glimpse of her handiwork. She blushed deeply and focused on his face, only letting her eyes dip lower one, maybe two times tops. "Alien King. You will tell Brutus that we are not done until he apologizes."
Wait, that reminded her of something else. Like a line of dominoes building up energy all her problems lines up in front of her and knocked down in turn.
She turned her attention to Alto, pointed an accusatory finger at him, and gave him a look that packed more malice than a gun barrel. "You do not need to apologize, because I will never ever forgive you. You have greater evil to fight now, so stop bothering us!"
With no other avenues she could pursue to distract her but just as amped up she reached down, slid her hands under his armpits, and lifted him up like you would a beloved cat. "Rurik, we are leaving now you village idiot." She said, her voicing starting to crack under the weight of furious gratitude."You have all done such good work today. Rest now. I will take over from here, you fool. You moron. Thank you!"
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