Yankee

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...another roleplayer

It seems you've already settled in just fine, but welcome all the same!

Ding Dong, Bell here!

Welcome~!

A Returning Player

Welcome to RPG! I used to do RP over AOL myself, and Gaia of course too haha. Enjoy your stay!

Hello!

Congrats on graduating from AI! And welcome to RPG!

New Here!

I already said hello on the discord, but welcome again!

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

Was kinda waiting on Takaya before I posted again.
@Yankee Are you still interested in this or should I reply to Ryuu by myself?

@OliveYou

I am, 'cause this is a good group of good writers with good characters, though I should probably do the responsible thing and step back. I've already left y'all hanging for a long time and I'd hate to keep doing so. Which, realistically, I probably will - times is tough. Also, with a return to the smaller cast Fey originally wanted it may make the story move faster with less people. Unless that ends up making the cast have an uneven number?

Basically, feel free to move on without me, or if someone is waiting in the wings that wants to join in I don't mind giving up my spot so you guys can keep on going. I'm still gonna hang around and read though, and if I end up with more availability and the story ends up needing another guy around to fill in gaps I can always jump back in in the future (if you'll all have me of course).

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 1124 (+2 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 363/90
Location: the Frozen Highlands

Ace had tucked the smooth, opal-like stone into his pouch when none could offer insight into what it actually might be. He'd do a little experimenting later, when the group had made enough progress and were safe enough to make camp. For all he knew maybe it was just a precious gemstone, but even that would be fine. He had emptied pretty much all of his zenny (again) buying the traps and other supplies, so he definitely didn't mind holding onto something valuable in case the crew needed more cash.

He walked along with the stagecoach rather than ride inside since the pace was still slow enough as the reindrix picked their way along the path. Once they got close to where Heismay and Roxas had gone to investigate the flames up ahead, they saw their allies were safe and sound for the most part. And that they'd found the source of the fire, another person here in the zoo. She was a girl, or maybe just a short woman, with long white ribbon-tied hair who was not dressed at all appropriately for the Frozen Highland's biting cold. It didn't seem to bother her though. In fact the girl, Mokou as she'd introduce herself, was really quite casual despite all the monsters roaming around. Either she hadn't been here long, or she'd been here too long, Ace figured. It was still kind of nice to find someone that wasn't afraid or panicking, despite what it might have said about the Mokou herself. The Cadet jogged up to the coach's open door and hopped up to hold onto the side so he could lean a little into the opening and offer their newest acquaintance a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you. Feel free to call me Ace. Welcome to the crew," he told her, even if it ended up that she decided to split after her rescue operation was completed. Until then she was part of the team.

He dropped off the carriage after the brief greeting, falling only a little behind as it pulled up ahead to an area that looked like it might have been some kind of canteen in the past. While not totally thoroughly searched, Sandalphon's intuition appeared to be spot on as Mokou returned with another viking in tow. Ace blinked at the man's massive form, but if both Sectonia and Ganondorf fit fine inside the coach then this guy shouldn't be a problem.

The actual problem came later, as they began to cross over a flooded exhibit. Ace glanced down into the water, somewhat surprised it hadn't frozen over. Was it deeper than it looked, or... was something living in it that churned the water enough that ice couldn't take hold? The Seekers were already being careful as they moved, so there wasn't much else to be done besides keep going. On that note Ace extracted his Breechshot to assist in taking out the infected mandrills as far ahead of time as possible before they became more of a problem.

There was an even bigger one already though, since it turned out that yup, there was definitely something living in the water. Something tempered by past battles, and huge enough that it had trees growing on its back, though whether for camouflage or from a sedentary lifestyle Ace couldn't guess. The way it lunged when it spotted the reindrix definitely did not suggest the latter though. Briefly the Cadet wondered if they could get out of this by just sacrificing a pal or two, but the Seekers were already bursting into action, himself included. Figuring that whoever was planning to stick close to the stagecoach would have their ranged offense covered, he swapped back to his sword and shield while Edward and Mokou detonated the makeshift bomb. Like Geralt he obviously he had melee in mind, intending to leave behind the casters and take the fight a little lower, away from the magic they were raining upon its back.

"Going in!" Ace called right before jumping from the board walk. He didn't leap at the monster like Geralt had, rather it looked like he was just going to fall into the flood. Normally that would be a near suicidal course of action when faced with an aquatic predator like this, but tons of hunters were trained to fight almost as well underwater as they could on land - naturally, Ace was among that number. Not that he was going to have to do that.

The ship rigging that had been folded in close to his waist and back expanded out as the hunter hit the water feet first. After the splash it was clear he hadn't sank in, and instead was standing on top of the waves, actually skating across them already as he got close to the leviathan. The two arms of his rigging flapped and seemed to flex as Ace then turned in an arc, firing the clutch claw at the monster's snout. The hooks caught on its nostril, and as soon as the chain went taut the monster hunter gave it a mighty tug. He was under no illusion that he could keep the gator locked down for long, but he was at least strong enough to yank its teeth away from his allies for a moment, give them time to get the coach out of harm's way, to beat on it a little, and for one of them to pull Geralt from the drink.

The alligator's maw jerked harshly towards the Cadet, dragging its head and neck with it. The hunter's gaze flicked around the parts of its body that weren't submerged. Normally a leviathan's weakest parts were its underbelly where the armor scales weren't as tough, though that was going to be a bit hard to reach while it was in the pool. Maybe they could drag it up onto land then, give themselves an advantage. Since they'd attacked it the monster was going to try and chase them down to finish the fight either way, so the best option might be to put it down here rather than risk fleeing with this thing behind them. Plus, well... those alabaster scales could end up making something pretty cool, if they got a hold of its spirit. Ace couldn't help but grin a little.

At present though Ace kept a hold on the chain, straining to hold the beast until it ceased trying to get at its quickly escaping lunch. Since the hunter clearly wanted the veteran leviathan's attention, it gave it to him - and only then did Ace release the claw and let his slinger reel itself in. With his weapon in hand he was more than ready to take the giant gator head on.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 1774 (+3 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 361/90
_{Wednesday Morning.}
Location: the Frozen Highlands

As the group continued, following Blazermate getting her unsettling zombie golem thing out of the way, any carcasses that happened close were swiftly put to sword. The walk -as they were back to a walk now, given the layout and danger around the area- was not leisurely in the slightest, but there was at least free time enough to look around and get a sense of where the path might take them. Heismay pointed out those distant flames and left with Roxas to look into them, and Ace pointed out the massive greenhouse that stood behind a tall, thick earthen wall.

"Once we swing around that way we should definitely check that out," he said. They still needed their secret weapon after all, and so far hadn't spotted any wild grown in the forests they'd traveled through or hunted the reindrix in.

The speakers around the area crackling to life and delivering a message from someone Sandalphon had aptly dubbed the 'mastermind' was a surprise, but the vague threat was not followed up on immediately, so the Seekers were left to keep their guard up even more as they progressed. Ace sighed. Just one more thing to look out for.

He considered going ahead to help clear out the way forward, though Edward's golems were doing a fine job of it - and once Geralt had returned from discovering a survivor among the zoo's ruins, he opted to follow the dreadnought's request to investigate the rather suspiciously healthy looking animal. He could have backed the Witcher up in this, but there was one other thing that the Seekers' leader informed them of. If she thought it important enough to mention, then someone ought to look into it.

"Strange like dangerous?" Ace asked her, already preparing to depart from the caravan to check.

Sandalphon tilted her head slightly as her pupils became loading rings for a brief moment. "Indeterminate. It's not a life sign, and what I can read seems low-yield, but one can never be certain." Her pupils narrowed into ovals as she glanced at Ace. "It is most likely magical in origin," she advised him.

Ah. Of course it was. There was a pause, hesitation clear in the hunter's expression. After a long moment of weighing the pros and cons of investigating, Ace pulled a smile back onto his face. It was perhaps less sure than his usual ones, but it was there all the same.

"Thanks for the heads up," he told Sandalphon. Knowing ahead of time had proven to be really helpful when confronting the mystical, even if it was impossible to truly know what the expect. And maybe he was still feeling a little confident since his experiment with the amulet had gone well, because he followed with, "I'll chill go check it out just in case. Besides, if I really wanna get over this thing I gotta freeze the opportunity for some easy exposure therapy while I can, right?"

He stepped to the edge of the emptied river and then slid down the steep embankment, drawing his sword and shield if only to be on the safe side. As the archangel has suggested and Geralt had demonstrated earlier when he doubled back for the wolves, it was a good idea to clear out as many dangers in this area as possible; for the Seekers presently here in case their neglect in ensuring their surroundings were safe led to an ambush, for the allies trailing behind that would have had to contend with whatever they left behind, and for future travelers on the that they could make a little less dangerous.

The iced over dry river bed didn't look much different from the bottom than it had from above. Though the water way had clearly been carved by human hands, once upon a time if looked that great lengths had been taken to make the river as natural a habitat as possible. The ground was hard packed sand, now frozen completely over and producing a soft crunching noise with every step. Smooth water eroded rocks large and small lay scattered around the basin, along with once-sunken logs that hadn't yet crumbled away from the elements. There were grates in the embankment wall that had probably been camouflaged when the river ran, and likely were part of the mechanism that pushed the water along in the first place. It might have looked nice at some point in time, filled with aquatic life. Now, there was nothing here.

Like, literally nothing. There were no carved runes or glowing circles, or anything else that indicated to Ace there was some sort of mysterious magic around the area. He wasn't the best at figuring that stuff out in the first place, so he was trusting Sandalphon's senses, but to his eyes all looked clear. The hunter wasn't about to let a job go unfinished though, so he took to looking around a little longer. Only when he stood at the deepest part of the river basin, a relatively wide area compared to the rest of the canal, did something happen.

Ace's scoutflies reacted first, stirring slightly in their cage and shifting from their green hue to a more subdued, blue-ish one. Then the soft sound of a chime filled Ace's ears, followed immediately by a shimmery flicker around him. Even with the heads up going into the empty river, there was no stopping the swell of anxiety at the sudden magic spell going off, especially when it was accompanied by movement.

The Cadet swung first before anything else, a hard and fast backhanded slash as he twisted around to actually get a look at what had happened. His sword collided with something, briefly solid before it yielded to the blade's edge and all but melted away. The hunter caught a glimpse of soft white wings before it was gone completely.

"Huh?" he said aloud to himself. That couldn't be all, could it? He hadn't felt any hex cast upon him when it died (thankfully), so what was that about? He turned back and spotted a pair of ephemeral butterflies floating off in opposite directions, white but bathed slightly in the blue light still showing through cage affixed to the hunter's coat.

Ace watched them for a moment, trying to puzzle out what their purpose was, if any. They couldn't have been a natural part of the exhibit, assuming the zoo had been normal even after being brought into this world's quilt and it had just degraded over time. As some kind of alarm system they seemed redundant, since this Markiona person already knew the group was here. Still, in the interest of not taking chances Ace raised his slinger at once of the butterflies and fired it. The chain shot out and the claw at the end snatched the insect mid-air, clamping around it and swiftly snapping back to rest in its holster, its capture target snug between the metal claws. Even with the odd situation Ace was elated to see Gemma's tune up had worked out, the speed and accuracy of the slinger increased enough to snatch distant things on the move. Unfortunately, the tool was still built for digging into tough monster hides, rock faces, or catching the hard-shelled backs of his own world's insects - so the clutch claw had actually crushed the butterfly, and this one too faded away before the hunter could get a proper look at it.

One more shot, he thought, flicking a small lever on the slinger and swapping it over to the net attachment. He wasn't sure if he should be destroying these butterflies or not, but he at least knew he didn't want to leave them alone. He shot the slinger once more, and this time the capture net flew out and closed around the last butterfly before it got too high up. It remained intact as it was pulled back in, and the Cadet gingerly pinched the insect's thorax between his fingers as he drew it out of the net.

It was large for a butterfly, and it was pretty. Ethereal, even, as it almost looked to made of delicate light. Definitely not natural, but neither was it hostile. It hardly reacted even as Ace turned it over to look at the pale designs on its wings. He considered what to do with it (bring it to someone else that might be able to deduce more about it, maybe?) when he thought he heard another, far off chiming sound. He was reminded that this thing was probably something like the summons of his allies - created from magic. And so, since it wasn't really alive anyway, Ace gave in to the urge to simply crush it in his hand. Best not leave anything to chance.

He hadn't been expecting an item to form like when crushing a spirit, so when he felt something smooth and heavy come into being in his closed fist a fresh wave of goosebumps formed on his skin. He snapped his hand open, on the verge of just chucking whatever it was, but he was not greeted with anything sinister. Instead, a beautiful opalescent stone sat in his palm.

He took a moment, and a deep breath to quell the last of his nerves, as the scoutflies' blue light faded back to their neutral green. Ace held the sphere up towards the sky, trying to catch any sunlight from behind the clouds. "Well look at you," he said, rolling the stone over between his fingers. It looked like a gem of some sort, the kind that might just slot perfectly into a weapon... or perhaps useful for something else. though the Cadet was still confused about the whole summoned butterfly thing, he couldn't complain when this stone was the result.

A few moments later after ensuring there was nothing else at the bottom of the river bed, Ace's slinger wrapped around the remains of one of the iron bridges leaning out over the dry canal. He pulled himself back up out of the basin just as Blazermate's zom-ball was rolling over, avoiding the thing entirely as it swayed around the area. Now the old river was being used as a dumping ground apparently, cementing its defunct status. Since the stagecoach's pace had slowed considerably it wasn't long at all before the Cadet caught back up. When he arrived to find Geralt back and flecked with ash and blood, he told the man light-heartedly, "man, you should have picked the other quest!"

He showed off his prize to the group, willing to part with it if someone among them could appraise the stone.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

Word Count: 1897 (+3 exp)
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 279/80
Location: Esaka, Forbidden Kingdom

The Pao Pao Cafe was a really neat place - spacious with a warm atmosphere, alive with glimmering lights and plenty of patrons eating, talking, and even dancing. It was easy enough to find the other Seekers in the restaurant; they were a colorful bunch after all, and Big Band's silhouette was particularly distinctive. There were only a few of the Gold Team missing, though they were mostly otherwise accounted for, so the Seekers' table was still a large party. When he and Amaterasu arrived, Pit slipped into an open seat with a smile on his face. He'd missed appetizer orders, but was just in time to overhear Terry's offer to pay for everyone. That was really nice of him, Pit would have to thank him later. Especially since he, Captain Falcon, and Amaterasu got busy when they seemed to be figuring out a team up.

Didn't Amaterasu sign up already...? the angel thought to himself, but by the time one of Terry's friends surprised them Pit had already turned his attention back to the rest of the table. Unsurprisingly the discussion started with the imminent tournaments and which each of them had signed up for. The spread turned out pretty even, and surprisingly there was even one entrant in Mortal Kombat besides Pit.

"You did?" Pit said, throwing a wide eyed look at the feral when Ms. Fortune announced her registration. She went on to demonstrate why it was a good idea, which Pit couldn't argue with. It was pretty clever. But if he'd known that was her plan, then he could have trusted that tournament to her and signed up in a different one!

If that thought showed on Pit's face, he quickly washed it away by taking a big gulp from one of the glasses of water on the table. He didn't regret his decision, at least not yet, so it was better to get rid of that selfish train of thinking. He cleared his throat before announcing his own choice.

"I actually signed up for Mortal Kombat too," he told everyone. "Because I didn't think anyone else would."

Pit had already been reassured about it by Lady Palutena, so Ms. Fortune's nonchalance just reinforced the feeling that the supposedly fatal fighting tournament wasn't as big a deal as it sounded. And if anything, have more than one person to rely on to make it all the way to the king at the end was a good thing. Pit looked back at Ms. Fortune, following up her teasing with a good-natured, "that's what you think, but I wouldn't go easy on you." After a beat he grinned and added, "well, maybe a little!"

Pit listened with one ear as Sakura warned Harry and Kim about the dojo they'd joined, or at least that was what he thought she was doing. As for himself, Pit turned his attention to Zenkichi after the man mentioned that there was nothing stopping the Seekers from just going straight to finding the Guardian instead of fighting in the tournaments. Technically Pit figured that was true, but he was also convinced at this point that the tournaments and the Guardian of this fighting-obsessed place were connected.

"I'm sure that the kings running the city have something to do with the Guardian," the angel told Zenkichi, adding his own opinion onto Roland's. "There's always a bunch of obstacles in the way, right? I bet these guys are that! They probably know where it is, or... maybe they'd guarding it without even knowing!"

He nodded his head, mostly to himself. Yeah, the more he said it aloud the more he thought this was the right course of action. "Kinda like a videogame when you think you get to the end and you beat the last boss, but there's an even stronger one waiting after that, y'know?" Pit had said the last part so earnestly one had to wonder if knew something more than what he let on.

A waitress appeared to take orders for entrees now that everyone had seemingly arrived, and Pit was quick to pick the first things that sounded good. He didn't even have to rely on pictures this time, which was fortunate because the packed menu didn't have many to begin with.

At about that time, a slightly staticky voice reached the Seekers' ears via their linkpearls. Table manners were not something Pit had ever needed to concern himself with, and that would likely be the case now as well considering the big group that was gathered in the cafe, so he had no qualms about pressing a hand to his ear and responding to Rika's report right then and there.

"Roger that, Rika! We're all set here, we all managed to sign up," he said. Well, he wasn't sure about Juri but barring Primrose and Therion who'd said they weren't planning to join the tournaments, everyone else that had stayed in Esaka had registered.

Speaking of Primrose, before Pit continued another voice briefly crackled to life through the linkpearl. "That's a good idea. I know you both can take care of yourselves, but do try not get into too much trouble before then... and don't trust any strange men," the dancer advised, to which Rika replied that ”We’ll try”.

She offered no insight into what she herself was up to before her connection cut out again, allowing Pit to pick up where he left off.

"When you guys get back you can cheer us all on and–" the angel cut himself off abruptly, but with the connection still live even if a bit spotty, it might have been possible for the Koopas to hear Ms. Fortune's exclamation and Band's statement as a hooded man appeared at their table. Pit's voice dropped low and he whispered, "uh, gotta go," before he pulled his hand from the pearl and closed the call.

It was Pit's first time meeting an Organization XIII member that he could recall. Well, besides Roxas, if the other boy counted. He'd heard all about them though, mostly from said ex-member. There were mixed accounts from the other Seekers regarding the Organization, and though for the most part the consensus was that they were helpful, Pit was inclined to take his friend's word for it when he said that they were up to no good. Pit eyed the man with open suspicion, up until the Organization member dropped a very important piece of information on them regarding the Forbidden Kingdom's Guardian.

I knew it! Pit thought, though he never would have expected all four Heavenly Kings to actually be the Guardian. At least not all of them together. Still, it was vindication that they'd made the right choice in splitting their force into different tournaments, and even entering them in the first place. Even if, like Ms. Fortune said, they were already going to depose the evil kings regardless.

Pit's suspicion was still present, though surprise had taken most of its place when the Organization member not only stayed seated at their table but decided to dine with them. So far he'd been standoffish, but forthcoming with information that would help them. So then this was like an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of deal that the Organization had going with the Seekers? That was just fine. Once they dealt with Guardians, the Consuls, and Galeem, then if Organization XIII tried anything the Seekers would just deal with them, too.

The surprise visit was not enough to put a damper on Pit's appetite, especially when the stranger in question didn't let it ruin his. While questioning got underway, the angel dug into a plate of barbecue dragon shank. There was also a dish with cheepchi horn moon cake in front of him, because he hadn't been able to resist ordering something with cake in the name. He listened while he ate though, making sure to pay attention to what the man -Xilgrev, as he'd told Sakura- had to say.

...which meant that he caught all the unfortunate details of the story Roland had randomly decided to tell. Once, Lady Palutena had said something about thinking his wings would taste good - Pit had thought it was a joke then, because who in their right mind would eat an angel's wings? But now hearing that it might have actually happened somewhere, maybe his goddess' words could have been more like an off hand warning. Pit stared at Roland with something like horror on his face. Unconsciously he tucked his own wings in tighter against his back. Actually, why had Roland picked that story to tell when he probably had a ton of them? Considering the location and the company, was it some kind of dig at Pit specifically?

"That's not funny," he hissed at the Fixer. If he hadn't already finished his lunch, he definitely wouldn't have been able to keep eating after that.

Since he wanted to change the topic to literally anything else, Pit flicked his gaze to Xilgrev. He shifted awkwardly in his seat, thinking up what he wanted to ask the Organization member himself. He wasn't going to waste time asking how the man knew what he did, since he seemed like the type that would just respond with vitriol instead, though that didn't mean that Pit didn't have a few other questions he was willing to ask. Might as well start one.

"So the kings," Pit said next, unsure if Xilgrev had even more details to share but figuring it didn't hurt to ask. "is this gonna be one of those things where we have to beat them all at the same time or they'll just like, revive themselves, or are they gonna merge into some super-boss once they're all defeated?"

The Organization member evidently lacked Pit's imagination. "A merge is... unlikely, since they will all be separated at their own tournaments during the concurrent Top Eights. No King seems to stay down for more than a day or two, so if they're to be beaten, it will have to be in the same tournament series."

Pit nodded. That actually gave them some leeway in when they defeated the kings, though not much. He wanted to assume that since they were all martial artists of some kind, they wouldn't back down from a challenge... but they were also all apparently villains, too. The Seekers might have to come up with a way to keep them from just fleeing and hiding, if it turned out that their weird split Guardian souls meant they didn't have to act like all the other gleaming people when it came to a fight.

The angel chewed on his thoughts a little more, and when Kim asked for general insight into the kings, Pit followed suit. Just not with Xilgrev.

What about you, Lady Palutena? Do you know anything about the four Heavenly Kings?

Other than that nickname being facetious? Hm, I'll see what I can dig up.

Whatever she may end up telling him, he'd have to make sure to let the others know. Not only just in the context of the tournaments, but in beating them at all if the Seekers mere presence flushed the kings out in an attempt to deal with them. Right now though Pit continued to listen, thinking on what he was hearing and what else he might ask.

my boss make a dollar, i make a dime. that's why i roleplay on company time.

Welcome to RPG! Very cool you do art, I really like your avatar!