Yankee

What Are You Listening To?

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

Word Count: 743 (+1 exp)
Level: 9 - Total EXP: 467/90
_{Thursday Evening}
Location: Christmas Village, the Frozen Highlands

Royalty he may have been, but the Ice King was still a cat - and so the white team's appeasement worked like a charm. No felyne could resist good food, good pets, and a stroke of their ego. The Ice King turned out to be quite magnanimous even as he joined the festivities himself, letting the party continue. The ruler of winter's summoned storm grew weaker and weaker as the merrymaking went on until both the blizzard and the celebration worn down.

What remained was still a warm, jovial atmosphere. Snow still fell and bonfires still burned, and as party goers gradually made their ways back to their lodgings it made the festival area feel more cozy. The Ace Cadet could have lingered there for the rest of the night, but duty called.

Though before setting off for the stagecoach, Ace took a moment to actually open the mysterious gift he'd gotten. Or that was was pretty sure he'd gotten. It was possible someone in the village just had the same name as him, so best to check the contents either way before leaving just in case. It was a small cube, and the wrapping paper was already fragile; the exterior did not last long before it revealed a plain looking box. And inside of that... a snowman figure on a metal ring, about the size of Ace's palm.

It was actually pretty similar to the stuff he'd been making earlier, save for the craftsmanship which was of a higher level despite the simple detail. There didn't appear to be anything special to it, but just the sight of it brought a smile to the hunter's face. Not only was it sure to be a reminder of a fun day, but the snowman's design perfectly appealed to him. Someone could have made the argument that a snowman with sunglasses was some kind of symbol for facing adversity, but to Ace it was just a clever little visual pun: a cool snowman.

It looked like the ring also had a heavy duty magnet that could be used to affix the figure to, say, a weapon or other piece of equipment. Instead, Ace fastened it to his backpack where it was little less likely to get jostled around too much. Pleased with the token, Ace made one last round of the area to say goodbye and thank the few locals he'd met and chatted with - and when he did return to regroup with the Seekers at the coach, he was redressed in his big coat and cold weather armor, along with a few ample containers that he hadn't arrived with.

The Cadet poked his head into the coach to set these containers down in it, nearby the stew pot, before glancing at Sandalphon.

"Aw, couldn't we stay overnight here, boss? Everyone's so nice," he said, and as if that fact needed anymore demonstrating he continued by explaining what he'd brought back, saying, "I asked if we could take some food for the road and they gave us all these leftovers!"

With such a large group the extra food probably wouldn't last for whatever remained of their journey even stretched out by being made into stew, but it would definitely help. Their hosts in Christmas Village really had been kind, even if technically the Seekers had been put to work (on a volunteer basis). Ace would have liked to stay longer, but his remark to Sandalphon was far from a plea or complaint. If the boss said it was time to go, it was time to go - and she made a good point anyway about getting as far as they could today while they were all well fed and in high spirits.

He hopped down into the snow again to head to the carriage's front to assist with getting the steeds hooked up and ready to go, passing the professor who was about to enter and giving the man a friendly nod. Ace intended to ride along up front again like he'd done that morning, mostly for the same reasons (quicker reaction in case they came across anything interesting or dangerous), but also so he could easily take the reins from their designated driver if the dreadnought wanted a break from it, now or later.

Settled on one side of the driver's bench, Ace glanced at the Seekers he could still see and declared his status with a thumbs up. "Ready to floe when you guys are."

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

_{Thursday Afternoon}
Word Count: 379 (+1 exp)
Level: 10 - Total EXP: 367/100
Location: Bamboo Forest, the Forbidden Kingdom
𝙱𝙿 ●●●●●

Given that the hulking Jack-8 units seemed to overwhelmingly prefer power to technique and fought like barbarians, swinging their hefty limbs around in brutal punches, swipes, and kicks, it was harder than it looked for a fighter like Therion to get in close without sustaining serious damage, even with another person taking the brunt of the robot's enmity. He did what he could, darting in to stab at the thing, every connect coming with a dose of debuffing: defense downing, speed lowering, stamina sapping, whatever the thief could get away with.

Thankfully with Anji tangling with the robot Therion didn't have to deal with a tangible debuff of his own due to one of his absorbed spirits, at least until the Jack turned to intercept his latest strike. The red light on its visor swept towards Therion, glinting dangerously, and the Orsterran skidded to a halt. His tail puffed up and he scrambled to backpedal away as a metal fist came down onto the ground where he'd just been standing, making a small crater in the earth.

He was saved from the Jack-8 giving chase by the dark little claw of Junior's living doll, and Anji's continued attacks against the android. Out of immediate danger, the thief's hackles lowered, though only a little.

Without a means to heal or otherwise empower his companions, it was looking like Therion's options would have to lean more towards damage dealing. He took a brief moment to get his brain working to keep track of when his applied debuffs would be close to running out so he could plan to slap the Jack with them again and keep it as enfeebled as possible. Then, he raised his hand as a small orb of blue water appeared above his palm. It turned silvery as Therion powered it up, and after the thief himself was covered in a pale aura of power thanks to his Battle Boost the orb grew stronger still. The water whirled and rushed violently in the tight little sphere until Therion threw his arm out towards the Jack-8 and the concussive orb was flung toward it, growing swiftly until it had gone from baseball to basketball in size before it was set to burst against the metallic menace.

_{Thursday Afternoon}
Word Count: 1472 (+3 exp)
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 328/80
Location: Esaka's Pools, the Forbidden Kingdom

"Oh there's one! Look, here."

"The match is over, but it's a victorious result."

"And... right there!"

"Another win."

"Heheh, told ya we're pretty strong."

"I did not doubt it."

"Okay, next one... ugh, why does the board change so fast?"

Pit and Ashrah stood in front of one of the tournament bulletins, watching the golden glow of the Heavenly Principles updating it as the Pools matches went on. It flipped through the four tournaments and both the winners and losers brackets faster than the angel could comfortably read, but he wanted to see who was still around and what their tournament status was. More than once Ashrah had offered to quickly find his friend's names, but Pit had insisted on doing it himself. Plus, he wasn't completely sure how to spell some of them but figured he could recognize the names when he saw them.

"In the Netherrealm, withholding knowledge like reading and writing was a common tactic of manipulation. To keep those under one's thrall from the risk of becoming independent," she'd said at some point, and Pit had bristled but kept quiet. As his partner in this tournament Pit had been completely candid with her, and so far she with him, so naturally when she was curious about why they'd been standing and reading for so long he'd told her. He ended up a little surprised, and pleasantly so, when she continued with, "but I can see how this would instead demonstrate the level of trust there is between you and your Lady of Light."

"...exactly! Yeah, see, you get it!" Pit said, practically beaming at Ashrah.

So they watched the stats on the board magically scroll through each and every bracket a few times until Pit had all of the tourney standings for the Seekers. One disqualified, two dropped into losers, the rest going strong in winners. That was pretty good, right? He didn't know the math, and it was still only day one, but he thought it was good.

"Looks like almost all the matches are over."

"Yes. Given there are four days to fight through, each fighter sees only a couple of matches per day since they don't normally hold them at night," Ashrah said. There were always exceptions to the rule, but with the Heavenly Principles striving to keep each fight fair the daytime schedule was rarely deviated from.

Since it was growing more unlikely that they'd run into any of Pit's allies still lingering in this tier, the demoness was about to suggest they head elsewhere when Pit -still reading through the brackets- suddenly pointed at a name with sparkles in his eyes.

"Ashrah, look! Right there! That says 'Ryu,' right?!"

She looked, and indeed found the name of the illustrious World Warrior champion. "It does. I wasn't aware that he'd returned to Esaka. Are you... a fan of his?"

"Yeah! I mean, who isn't? Besides bad guys I guess. His matches aren't done for the day, are they? We should try and watch one!" the angel chattered happily. "Oh, I gotta tell Sakura! I wonder if she already knows he's fighting in the same tournament!"

She'd probably be really excited to know if she didn't already. Would he be able to find her up here though? And now that there wasn't some kind of home base for everyone to go back to, the Seekers were sure to be scattered throughout the city... well, he'd just have to give it a try! She was a fighting enthusiast, so maybe she was loitering around watching the last matches of the day! And if that failed he could always just trying calling her, not to mention everyone else when the time came.

Pit spun around, away from the board that the angel and demon had monopolized. He intended to run off and try and find his fellow fan when he came face to face -or rather, face to stomach- with a bearded man garbed in red. The man towered over Pit and even Ashrah, surprisingly sneaky for being so big. Despite the sort of suspicious sack he carried with him, the man did not give off any sinister vibes. Instead, he smiled pleasantly at the two kombat partners.

"Oh ho ho, did I hear you say 'Sakura'? Looks like I got lucky running into you, Pit!" the jolly man said, reaching into his bag and searching for something inside. Pit's brows furrowed as he shared a glance with the equally confused Ashrah.

"Uh, how did you know my name?" he asked, then after a beat added, "oh! Did I get famous already?"

The man just chuckled. "Why, we're dojo buddies! Zeus was quite excited to tell the rest of us all about our two new members," he explained. Pit brightened up now that he knew he was talking to a fellow member of Fight of Gods, though he let out a soft squawk of surprise when four boxes wrapped in shiny paper were shoved into his hands.

"You'd be surprised how many gifts get sent to people's favorite fighters, ho ho! I've got a lot more deliveries to make; would you mind helping me out and giving these to your friends for me?"

There was indeed a box with Sakura's name on it, along with one for Bowser Jr., Rika, and Ms. Fortune. Pit looked over the gifts before glancing back up at the red robed man. "Uhh, I guess so. But I dunno how to find Ms. Fortune..."

The man stroked his mustache for a moment before taking the thief's present and placing it back into his mystery sack. It wouldn't be much more trouble for him to take care of it, in true Santa fashion by slipping in and out of her chosen sleeping quarters unseen and leaving the gift behind.

"Ho ho ho, not a problem! I just appreciate you lending a hand."

The jolly gift bringer turned to continue making his rounds, though not before Pit asked, "um, you wouldn't happen to have any presents for me, would you?"

His cheeks were tinted with a slight pink for even asking. The god reached out to ruffle his hair.

"Not this time I'm afraid," he said, prepared to make a short speech about the act of giving and being thankful for what one already had, but Pit did not act particularly saddened by the news. Instead his wings drooped so low that his feathers brushed the ground and he hung his head back over his shoulders, letting out a drawn out groan.

"Aw maaaaaan, that's so not fair," he complained. Santa chuckled and gave the angel one last pat on the head before he left, disappearing just as swiftly as he'd arrived.

Amused by the entire interaction, Ashrah stifled her own quiet laughter with a hand over her mouth before she coughed lightly to clear her throat.

"Never have I met so many colorful characters so quickly then after meeting you," she said.

Pit blinked, pulling himself out of his overly dramatic reaction and giving Ashrah a more sheepish smile.

"Yeah, kinda comes with the hero territory. But, uh, you don't have to hang around if you don't want to, or if you've got something else you wanna do," he said, thinking briefly of Sareena. But Ashrah shook her head.

"Getting to know each other like this will help our teamwork just as much as sparring will," she told him. "Although I think if we have time today, we should do some physical practice as well."

Their first two matches together had gone well, but they would just get harder from here. Pit nodded in agreement.

"Totally! We'll go back to the Order of Light later," he said. That way they actually could end up taking Sareena up on her offer at the same time. There were of course a few other items left on the to-do list, including the most recently added one. "I guess let's figure out what to do with these first..."

Wait a sec, if he's part of Fight of Gods then does that mean I just got roped into doing another god's errands? As he thought that, Pit shifted the gifts in his hands and started to carefully unwrap the one labeled Bowser Jr. More than who'd sent the presents, he was really curious about what they'd ended up getting.

Pit!

The sudden voice in his head made Pit startle before he could even take a peek.

You're not being naughty right now, are you? Palutena questioned, her tone becoming teasing.

Nope! Not me!

Good. If you're curious, you can always ask.

Oh yeah, you can use your X-ray vision to see what's inside!

I meant ask the recipients after they open them.

Right, that worked too. After crudely sticking the tape of the koopa prince's present back on Ashrah offered to carry one of the boxes, and the two of them set out once more.

Gregor dipping his toe in

Welcome (back) to RPG!

hello!

Welcome to RPG!

Hello from Tribs

Hello! Welcome to RPG!

Specchio's art looks great, is it a commission or did you draw it yourself since you mentioned you're an artist? No need to answer if you don't want to, just curious!

Hello!

Hey there, and welcome to RPG!

Masks & Magic: The Awakening

That sucks Lyla, I'm sorry to hear that. Take whatever time you need!

What Are You Listening To?

{ ᴀ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ ᴏꜰ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ & ᴛᴇᴀʀꜱ }

Nika Surt-Kallin

---

Nika's first impression of the infamous 'Magekiller'? Poor.

The man seemed cautious, shrewd, and no slouch in the strength department judging from his frame; or what Nika could tell of it under his garb anyway. They were all fine traits for a mercenary, and the man's reputation preceded him, but it didn't stop Nika from feeling a prickle under his skin. It wasn't the magekiller's clear disdain for him that made Nika feel that way (this was Fenris, it would be strange for anyone living here not to feel some wariness if not dislike for those that looked Luxun), but rather his blase attitude with Brig.

He didn't expect a stranger to prostrate themselves in front of the members of House Fenris as it was just not the way of Northmen to do such things. A little respect wouldn't have killed the man, though. Perhaps, having spent most of his life with Brigitte, he didn't need to develop the 'acquired taste' some may need with her. Or, perhaps, he felt that way because he'd already sworn his life over to her.

Was he biased? Naturally. And he could admit that. He could also recognize that Brig wanted the man's prowess, and that they may even need it considering what they were going to do. It still wouldn't change his initial feeling, though.

As the door closed and the four of them gathered in the tavern's backroom, Nika scowled at the magekiller. It was an expression that the pact knight rarely wore, and it didn't look quite right on his face... especially as there was a undertone of exhaustion in it from the road, the attack itself, and the emotional whiplash of it all. He held his tongue from saying anything to the man - it was Brig's role to hire her own mercenaries, and Maeki's to mediate if they needed it. Leaning against one of the walls with his arms crossed, Nika made himself a silent but strong presence in Brig's corner as she prepared to go over everything.

Nika let his eyes slip closed for a moment, let out a long, quiet exhale through his nose. When he opened his eyes again he noticed it: there were two extra people in the room.

No matter how subtle they were trying to be, there was only so much one could not to be noticed in a small, empty room. Even if the nobles hadn't been on alert already, it would have been pretty hard to miss the additional people slipping in. Immediately Nika pushed off from the wall, putting himself between the two additional mercenaries and his ward.

"This's supposed to be a private discussion, Maeki, so what's with the scavengers?"

Because the half-dwarf had been the last one in, so he had to have let them enter unless they'd picked the lock with impressive speed. The pale red of Nika's gaze was hard, questioning, as it studied the two. A man and a woman. A Northwoman and a foreigner. Difficult to tell if they knew each other or had just had the same idea at the same time to invite themselves in. Both about to be bodily tossed out if their presence wasn't swiftly explained.