Bless This Mess - Ms Fortune, Ace, Roland, Geralt, Therion
Word Count: 3213 (+4)
While the Seekers picking up more people increased the group's strength and overall options, it also meant more mouths to feed. There were plenty of big eaters among the group already, but not many could pack it away quite like a monster hunter. Ace's metabolism worked on overdrive, and he had a large appetite on top of that - but even so he was good-natured enough to wait near the end of the food line
and not wipe out the entire buffet when he got up there. He did still end up with two almost-overflowing plates for himself and a mug of coffee with plans for seconds afterward if he could get away with it, but hey, a man needed to eat.
Thankfully after the waiting his preferred seat was still open, though whether it just ended up that way or it was saved for him was unknown. Ace took a spot beside Nadia at the first table, unabashedly close to her. Considering how well last night had gone, he also opened with an equally shameless pun.
"Good morning brewtiful," he said with a sip of his coffee, so while it could be argued he was addressing the drink itself it was pretty obvious who the line was directed toward since his eye hardly left her face.
"After all this time it feels kind of weird to finally be hashing out the Dead Zone, huh?"When Ace placed himself behind her, Nadia pushed into him with unabashed immediacy, first her hip and then her shoulder pushed against his with jocular roughness. Just the sight of that goofy grin of his was enough to make her forget all about the ominous (and, given the ‘equipment’ they’d been prescribed, perhaps morally questionable) task ahead of them. Unlike Primrose she hadn’t remembered that the BBs were stuck as they were for their limited lifespans, just like everyone else, so the feral was happy to push those thoughts aside for the time being. With one food-based pun delivered already, the game was officially on, so she reached for the most normal-looking vegetable on her plate, which she’d filled with a little of everything. “Good meowning yourself, carrot top.”
Crunch. That excited, electric tingle was tickling her again. Others would be headed over soon, so she’d only have Ace to herself for a few moments, but any amount of time made Nadia happy.
Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and the feral’s destination did way on her mind. “Didn’t mind putting it off, actually,” she admitted. “Zombies, ghost, parasites, literal demons…it was basically hell on earth. But that police station’s where I met the Seekers, so even if it was rough road gettin’ here, I ain’t gonna complain.” As she munched on a juicy pogofruit, she reminisce on the crypt where the Red Team fought the Skullgirl, Marie. The Skull Heart had been hers for the taking, but she’d made that same realization just in time–that as bad as things sometimes were, she wouldn’t want to change the events that made her who she was. By the time Nadia wolfed down her pogofruit, her fingers were covered in juice, so she licked them like a grooming cat, a playful grin on her face. “So whatever’s down there, I won’t be a-fur-aid!”
Ace couldn't say he was thrilled with going to such a place either, but once they got it out of the way they'd be that much closer to their ultimate goal, and hopefully they wouldn't have to deal with many undead afterwards. He was pressed thigh to shoulder with Nadia already, but he leaned a little closer ready to deliver some line about there being nothing to worry about if she stuck close to him, though at that point their table began to fill with other hungry would-be world savers.
”Oh? So the name of the area is literal then? Good to know.” Roland said, coming out of nowhere with a plate of various meats with dry spices on them and a cup of coffee.
”Just don’t raise any death flags by flirting a bunch while we’re down there now you two.” Roland said, making a bit of humor about how the two were acting towards each other, completely unaware of how true his statement actually was. He took a sip of his coffee, grimacing after he took a sip.
”Yep… Chesed ruined my taste for normal coffee alright…” he said in a lower tone of voice, clearly displeased.
Nadia raised an eyebrow at him, initially at how he knew she and Ace were an item, but then at his next statement. “Chesed?”
”One of the people I used to work with. Prim, proper, a bit too kind for his own good, and a coffee gourmand. Or I suppose ‘fanatic’ is more accurate. Made me try all types of exotic coffees and now plain coffee just doesn’t taste the same.” Roland said, grabbing a spicy sausage and taking a bite.
The feral shrugged, then took a sip of juice. “If you say so. I’m not much of a coff-feline.”
While the stranger chatted, Ace used the time to finish off his first plate of food (a collective of just about everything on offer, he wasn't picky) and move on to the second. He wasn't really embarrassed at being caught flirting, and it sounded like this guy didn't seem to mind, but it did make the hunter wonder if he should be more mindful in the public spaces...
Nah, he decided simply. At least not until someone brought it up as an issue.
"Yeah, types of coffees really don't mocha much difference to me," he said. Although he did enjoy a strong cup. He set his own mug down and then reached a hand over the table towards the man.
"We haven't met yet, right? I'm–" There was the briefest moment of hesitation as he decided whether to go with his title or his common nickname, something that always seemed to come up and he should really make up his mind about.
"–Ace."”Roland.” Roland said. He’d mention his fixer rank, but that really didn’t mean much anymore.
”Just make sure you guys don’t make any pawful puns. I got a feline Ms. Kitty here is used to them though.” Roland said, deciding to join in on the pun wars a bit. It looked like fun, or at least a bit amusing.
The hunter grinned.
"Yolk's on you, our puns are oat-standing."“Springing that a-pun us?” Nadia raised an eyebrow at Roland, tapping her plate with a nail. “Buddy, dishes not gonna end well.”
“I immediately regret coming over here.” Geralt deadpanned as he came upon the punning group of Seekers, but flashed Ace a half-smile and an appraising nod. “Good to see you back, Ace. I didn't end up with that one,” he said, gesturing to Nadia, “but I'm sure she was beside herself with worry. Literally.” He added, a smirk pointing out the flimsy pun.
"It's good to be back!" the hunter said, turning his grin toward Geralt.
"Feels like it's been way too long since I've seen everyone. And this ship? So Gargwawesome."The Witcher's mention of Nadia worrying over him changed Ace's smile from a wide friendly one to the slightly sappier one of a man clearly smitten.
"Yeah, so she told me yesterday. I don't plan on us splitting up again anytime soon." he said, glancing at Nadia and giving her a playful nudge. Given her fighting style he added,
"Well, me at least."Halfway through a mouthful of food, Nadia snorted with laughter.
Roland gave an internal sigh of relief at Geralt showing up. He was sorta out of puns to reply with at that time and appreciated the distraction.
”Oh? So the pun twins have just gotten back together? What's that all about?” He said, diverting the conversation away from a pun-off as he ate another sausage.
The monster hunter leaned back in his seat as he addressed Roland's question, jabbing a thumb at his armored chest.
"I haven't been around in a while, got stuck up north - long story. But I've been fighting alongside these guys for a while! Geralt and I fought through the Land of Adventure way back when, and together with Nadia when we had to cross an ocean." Geralt just gave a nod in concurrence, his mouth full of sausage at the moment.
Therion had slunk over to the table at some point before Roland started enabling the punsters. He'd gotten used to Ms. Fortune's linguistic antics, but now there was
two of her. And it had barely been more than an hour since they'd woken up. After losing his seat at his first choice of tables, it kinda felt like he'd been banished to this one the longer they went on. Thankfully Geralt had interceded, leading to as much of a break as the table could hope for.
It doesn't stop even first thing in the morning, huh? Therion thought to himself. He didn't care enough to voice his complaint, despite the way his ears were lowered like he couldn't stand to hear anymore. He didn't even comment on Ms. Fortune and the redhead sitting like they wanted to meld into one person, besides raising an eyebrow at his fellow thief. This was him being social. He could have ferreted away his food and gone off somewhere.
And now that Ace mentioned it, Therion did sort of remember him. He chewed through the apple slice he'd been eating then spoke up for the first time that morning.
"You were in Twilight Town with us, right? Got split up when the cats attacked us?"Ace blinked as if noticing Therion for the first time. His eyes flickered over the thief's light armor and then he gave the guy a nod.
"Yup. It was a real pain in the Astalos at first, but we figured it out. And you're...""Therion," he reminded the hunter, going back to picking at his platter of fruit and eggs.
"Oh, right. I didn't remember mew being part felyne," Ace said, now putting a face to the opinion Nadia had let him in on. He got a shrug in response - looks completely changing just happened in this world after all.
After chomping into a prickle pear and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Nadia jumped back into the conversation with a nod. “Oh yeah, he got kitted out while we were workin’ through those caves. Got into some purr-etty serious fights, but our fightin’ styles worked well together. And now we’re thick as thieves, huh?” That said, she didn’t want to push her luck too far. Despite Roland’s cheerful enablement, she knew that neither Geralt nor Therion shared her sense of humor. Her jokes were meant to lighten things up, so if they wound up annoying, the feral had missed the mark. Still…it wasn’t her fault that the puns came so naturally!
Thankfully Therion already considered her if not a friend, then at least a close comrade, so it would take a little more than mildly obnoxious wordplay to set him off. As for her latest pun though, Therion pressed his tongue to the top of his mouth to stop even a ghost of a laugh from escaping, though his lips did twitch upward slightly. He then rolled his eyes at her, not in annoyance but rather as a way of saying
alright, I'll give you that one.As she bit off half a sausage, Nadia glanced over at a neighboring table. It seemed like Juri was making a scene already, first waving around a hefty gun, then picking on the kids, and the sight of it made the catgirl’s eyes narrow. But Juri wasn’t her problem anymore. If she overstepped, the people she underestimated could knock her on her ass; Nadia didn’t have to play sheriff. Seeing Junior did remind her of what her long ears overheard during the briefing, though. He’d hailed one of the babies -or BBs, as Sandalphon called them- as Peach, and while Nadia got only a brief glimpse, the resemblance was too great to ignore. According to the others, Peach had died, only to live again as Moebius P. After everything she and Nadia had been through so far, how could that be anything but a betrayal? It got her thinking, though. If Peach still lived as P, but Peach existed here as a baby, that meant that there could be two of the same person. The possibility of meeting herself out there was a scary thought, and it got her gears turning to such an extent that for a few moments, Nadia was actually pretty quiet.
Starting on his bacon and eggs, Roland noticed that they were all talking about their previous adventures. Being a newcomer Roland really only had stories of Midgar, but he did have a lot of fixer stories as well. Maybe he’d retell some of them.
”Well, you two didn’t really get to see Midgar. According to your friends that went there, it was in a really bad shape. But I thought it was pretty alright. The Ever Crisis was a problem though, and I didn’t think following a lead to try to get rid of it, and following Consul C would lead to all this though. Nor that it’d lead to Shinra and Armstrong dying. Wonder if they got that city back up and running in the past week.” Roland said, trying to join the conversation himself.
“Not sure about the city itself, but Karin and Sakura managed to get a pretty serious group of folk together at that Satisfactory, and get it up and running.” Geralt mentioned, thinking back to the few days he'd spent there. “Ended up heading down there with Yen, my wife, and we found Ciri. She was alright.” The relief Geralt felt was uncharacteristically evident on his face as he mentioned having found his daughter, though he didn't speak a word of it. “They've got a lot of work ahead of them, but those four have got a lot going for themselves, too.”
Hearing about Geralt’s family -not a common conversational subject- made Nadia smile. She could only imagine how it would feel to finally find the people she cared about most somewhere in this messed-up world, and know that despite everything, they were safe and sound.
”Well if they took my advice Binah should help get everything up and running quickly. She might be lazy, but she's efficient. Although If I remember right one of them was a bleeding heart and I think if they saw Binah fight they’d regret asking for her help… huh.” Roland said, remembering what he told them before he left the city.
”We can check in next time we’re flying over there.”"I'd like that. It'd be good to get a chance to say hi," Ace said. He'd learned a little of what had happened in Midgar, but nowhere near the full story, so the names and terms went right over his head. Still, hearing that Geralt had reunited with his daughter was great news. It reminded him of another piece of news he should let the Witcher in on since he wasn't sure how much of what had happened in Edinburgh had been told to the others - if anything at all.
"By the way, you'll never guess who we ran into while we were stuck in the Highlands," he began, launching into an abridged version of the events surrounding Linkle's reappearance. Since Roland and Therion had never met the heroine and Nadia had heard it all last night, the short story was pretty much just for Geralt's benefit. Therion didn't tune out exactly, he absorbed the information like he did all mealtime gossip, but he also didn't question or add anything as the two hunters went over it. All the while he spoke, Ace gently pressed his leg against Nadia's under the table, intending on picking her brain afterward. At the moment he was just eager to connect with everyone now that he was back.
“No kidding.” Geralt hummed, pitching in with a bit of his own commentary throughout Ace's story. Not enough to distract, just enough to show that he was listening. Between Ace and Linkle, the story involved two people he'd grown to appreciate the company of here in the World of Light. He just hoped Linkle would be okay.
As she listened to the tale for the second time, Nadia pressed Ace right back. She’d been so tired last night -and so focused on the hunter himself- that not everything he told her sunk in, but now she could really connect the dots. Back in the sepulchral ruins beneath the Dead Zone library, exposed to the half-light of overcast day by the wild battle against Bloody Marie, she’d been terrifyingly close to becoming the Skullgirl herself. If she’d been even a little bit more tempted, it could have been her possessed by the Skull Heart and deported to the Frozen Highlands, and unlike this Linkle girl she was no hero. As much as she liked Ace, becoming the Skullgirl would not have been worth spending more time with him up there in Edinburgh. Just the thought of how close she came to her own ruination made Nadia shudder, though she focused on the remainder of her meal.
All too soon, the last bite disappeared with a loud crunch, its note of finality unmistakable. Around her, the noisy mess hall seemed a bit quieter than before. Breakfast was coming to an end, and the Seekers’ appointed hour in the Dead Zone was closing in. With a sigh, the feral rose to her feet. Her hand perched for a moment on Ace’s shoulder as her tail flicked back and forth. “Welp, that was eggcellent, but I’m full. Gonna go limber up. Maybe drop by the armory, see what’s there. Anyone else done?” she asked, offering to take their plates along with hers to the dropoff bin. It went unsaid that if Ace had business with her, he could join her on her trip.
Roland would’ve preferred a more flavorful display of food personally, but he finished his spiced breakfast soon after. He really had nothing to comment about this skull heart or anything as he had no idea what that was or the people involved and only listened while he ate.
”Take mine if you're offering. I’ll probably see what's in the armory as well. I could use more varied weapons.” Roland said, offering up his empty platter. A funny thing to say, considering he had the most weapons out of everyone here from his base kit.
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