Despite being pretty thirsty after her long nap, Nadia kept herself under control and sipped her Mai Tai slowly, savoring the sweet and tangy blend of syrup, lime, and Curaçao that overlaid its rum. Her gem-given ability to regenerate made her a lot more resistant to inebriation than the average skinny twenty-year-old, so she wasn't worried about that necessarily, but today's mission was to slow down and relax, after all. She propped herself up with her elbow on the standing table by the bar and watched people come and go, up and down the beach and through the shallows of Heaven's Edge. Even if the Kanzuki Estate was private, the strip of sand between it and the sparkling water was not, so all sorts came and went in a steady trickle between the resorts to the north and Boiling Bay to the south. Though spared a night of gruesome conflict and eldritch horror, the cityfolk of Limsa Lominscuttle Town seemed just as eager to celebrate the end of the Abyssal war as the Seekers. Even a number of shipgirls, mostly unrecognizable as such without their rigging, showed up to enjoy the simple pleasures of the ocean blue. Nadia only realized that fact because she recognized
Heinrich from yesterday's naval battle, thanks not just to her distinctive giant braid and their shared appreciation for crop tops, but for the shipgirl's incredible courage and tenacity against overwhelming odds. While they didn't really know one another, their shared struggle and victory made them sisters in arms nonetheless. As Heinrich went by on her way to the bubbling hot springs of Boiling Bay, Nadia gave her a wave, filling it with all her gratitude and respect, and the shipgirl shot her a casual salute with a grin.
It wasn't just locals that happened to pass Nadia's way. In the midst of her people-watching, she heard a familiar light
clank-clank-clank, and turned with a smile to see Blazermate approaching. "Heya!" Nadia greeted, waving the Medabot over to her table. "For 'shore'! I've been havin' a whale of a time 'round here. Good food, good games, good vibes! After we got done with volleyball, me and Ace wandered around the shallows a while. It was paw-sitively delightful--more kinds of fish and coral and stuff than I knew even existed! I ran into some otters, and they were
so cute! If you can go underwater without, y'know, rustin' or shortin' out or anything, you really 'otter'!"
She giggled at her terrible pun, shifting her weight from one hip to the other. "Anyhow, I'm glad to hear you're havin' a good time. I was kinda worried ya might feel let down, actually, 'cause you can't enjoy restin', sunbathin', or even food and drink. 'Specially 'cause...well, you really, really deserve it! I mean, the whole crew would probably be sleepin' with the fishes withoutcha. So, I guess what I'm tryin' to say is, thank you. Thanks for keepin' us alive, Blaze."
"Good to hear! Yeah, I can walk underwater no problem, but without aqua parts I can't swim or anything, I just sink like a rock." Blazermate said, grabbing a spot at Nadia's table. Nadia then made a few comments about Blazermate not being able to participate in all the organic pleasures Limsa offered, at which Blazermate shrugged.
"To be honest, I miss TV and the internet. Thats how medabots usually get their enjoyment without going out and doing stuff. I can dream though, but I also don't need to sleep. Naps can be fun, but until like, today, there hasn't been a chance to have one!" Blazermate said, getting more animated as she continued to speak exemplifying Nadia's point about all the healing she had been doing.
"Thanks though. I appreciate it. I've been on medabot teams where they just ignore the contribution the healer gives the team And those are.... yeah...." With that said, Blazermate went into describing the day she had, having walked around and toured Limsa itself, noting how there was only one shop here that had any experience with her level of technology to do some kind of examination, and how she ran into a big guy with a big beard that could maybe be a relative of Tora, being a big round mechanic.
"... And he told me to come back in a little while as he might have some piece to make this shield arm thing less glitchy. He was really worried that it was evil or something." Blazermate concluded.
As the Medabot recounted all the adventures she'd gotten up to, Nadia was happy to just listen and drain her glass bit by bit. Blazermate really gave off the impression of the perky, chatty friend who could go on and on about the little things for hours on end, the sort of steadfast companion who helped keep things real no matter how weird stuff got. It was easy to imagine her as a person, maybe a nurse, with giant pigtails and bright blue eyes, too desensitized by her profession to be innocent and bubbly, but happy to open up and make the most of her days off. That a machine could be one of the most normal and relatable people around really was amazing.
"It does look pretty evil, to be fair," Nadia remarked at the end of her friend's tale. "You got it from the Dead Zone, right? You couldn't pay me to fuse with anything outta that zombie-infested hellhole. I'm just glad you guys came along when ya did, 'cause that was the worst police station I've ever been stuck in, and considerin' how things are in New Meridian that's sayin' something." She sighed, shaking her head, and downed the last of her Mai Tai. "Still, runnin' around with those pro demon hunters for a bit was pretty hiss-terical! Just mowin' through all the creeps without a care in the world. And those fights with that Minos monster and Marie were badass! Even if we did almost get killed. Or worse." The memory of Linkle wishing on the Skull Heart in her place sent a chill down Nadia's spine despite the tropical heat. "I hope that poor girl's okay, wherever she is."
She looked back at Blazermate with a wry smile. "Either way, the Dead Zone's history nyaow, and good goddamn riddance! First that, then the Bottomless Sea...it's really just one nightmare after another, huh? Makes a carefree day like this that much sweeter. Life's a real beach sometimes."
"Ugh, tell me about it. I got this part just to deal with all those zombies! Like... Did you see all the zombies in that place? I figured being able to command them would make things easier. It did.... for awhile til those fungus things came around. " Blazermate said, agreeing with Nadia about the Dead Zone.
"At least this thing came with a fairly decent shield and making zombies has been somewhat useful, but yeah." Since Blazermate didn't have to worry too much about being comfortable, unlike Nadia her stance was a bit more rigid with her upper body being the only thing that was really moving while she talked. Blazermate didn't really mind Nadia's puns. Where she came from puns were enjoyed, not hated, by the vast majority of people, so while others might find it annoying, she was completely fine with it. After all, to keep on punning took skill.
"I've got a feeling that the 'almost got killed part' is going to be a constant thing here when we're beating what are essentially things that were assigned by something that was strong enough to destroy worlds. Which really sucks, I miss just having a fun fight with a medafighter from a rival school or something. Then suddenly, BAM, your on this whole 'defend the multiverse' thing." Blazermate said, showing a bit of exasperation.
"And yeah, the whole 'spirit' thing.... yeah.... I'm glad that they follow Medabot rules for me. Seems to suck for everyone else though. I mean, have you SEEN bowser? He went from a dapper dragon turtle in a suit to some weird monster thing. Sure he can hide some of it, but still, jeez!" Blazermate said, trying to spin the topic to be a bit more gossipy.
"Looks good on you though Nadia. At least so far." Blazermate quickly interjected, almost forgetting Nadia had also absorbed some spirits.
Nadia's eyebrows rose when Blazermate mentioned Bowser. "Yeah, no kidding. I mean, he was mostly fine until he took that one shipgirl. Turned his shell into riggin' and kinda warped his proportions. I mean, I feel bad pointin' it out, but he's like a totally different beast!" Talking about Bowser behind his back kind of rubbed Nadia the way, especially since he'd been nothing but a rock-steady ally and caring Koopa Troop captain since she knew him, but she just couldn't contain herself. At the end of the day, she was by no means too good a person for gossip.
The compliment brought a smile to her face. "Thanks! Almost like it changed my insides more than my outsides, what with the blue blood and all. The only weird thing's this fish tail." Nadia raised her tail and wiggled it around, giving Blazermate a good look at her new fins. "It's thicker and heavier, so its takin' a little gettin' used to, but it sure came in handy when I was swimming. Can't use it like a sword anymore, but when stiffened up it kind of works like an axe." She pantomimed a big swing with her arms, then settled back down against the table. "Other than that, the eye is okay, and these swirls on my skin are better than tattoos. So yeah, lookin' purr-ty good overall, especially with the new clothes. And you're not the only one who thinks so, either. Normally my whole deal throws people off, but Ace said he digs how I look! Guess I'm just one lucky cat." She closed her eyes and leaned on the table, looking incredibly smug, but after a moment the thought of how goofy she must look made her laugh.
"Anyway, I'm down to try some more, but after seein' the Koopas get weird and Link get fishy for a minute, I'm gonna be a bit more choosy. No more monsters for this chica--just good-lookin' gals like yours truly. New powers would be paw-some too, but my head's already spinnin' just from what Rhodeia gave me." Copycats and hydropower were one hell of an addition to her arsenal, and with all the ideas she'd had already, Nadia felt like she could spend hours figuring out how to make the meowst of them. "Thing is, with fusion...I don't really know what Ace likes. If I pick wrong, things could go south fast." She drummed her fingers on her cheek, thinking.
Blazermate didn't feel too bad about talking about Bowser behind his back, after all, she didn't mean anything mean by it, it was just an observation. Still, as Nadia talked Blazermate caught onto something, it sounded like she had a crush on Ace! Blazermate could get it, he was a strong guy, but not Blazermate's type, at least not yet? It was tricky since she had only known the guy for like a day or so and medabots weren't really attracted to physical characteristics. Of course she also relented that at least he wasn't one of those neets that seem to buy female medabots for.... As that thought crossed Blazermate's mind she visibly shuddered before recomposing herself.
"So... you like Ace huh? I don't know much about him myself, he isn't from my world so I can't help ya there, but I can help you by being your wingbot? Just if I get a crush on someone you gotta do the same for me alright?" Blazermate said, her face getting close to Nadias as she spoke in a bit of a lower tone so people couldn't hear that part of the conversation. With that said she went back to her spot across the table then began to think as well.
"But yeah.... not sure what hes into. didn't he say he fought monsters' at one point though? So at least we both know monster spirits are out of the picture. I think he likes cats though, with those things that show up when they get knocked out in his presence and all. So maybe your like, halfway there already?" Blazermate thought, idly.
As it turned out, even if Nadia didn't exactly mean to spill the beans, Blazermate caught on quick. There really wasn't much use in hiding her affection for Ace; with how bumbling she could be it must be pretty obvious, in retrospect. Rather than tease her about it, however, the Medabot immediately offered her support, which took Nadia by surprise but left her excited by the thought of conspiracy. That wasn't all that Blazermate suggested, though, because after she volunteered to lend a hand she asked if the feral might do the same in return someday. The notion of robots falling in love and going on dates amused Nadia greatly. After all, why not? It sounded cute. She was super down to help Blazermate find love if the opportunity came up, and if it meant getting a little help in return, all the better. "Sounds like a plan to me!" she agreed without a second thought. "When it comes time I'll be sure to pay you back for helpin' meowt! Just remember, I'm super new at this, so don't get settin' your expectations too high!"
Nadia's new wingbot put forward something that she hadn't considered be-fur. After thinking about it for a moment though, including her commentary on that very same topic during her earlier chat with Ace, she ended up shaking her head. "Nahhh, I dunno. Seems unrelated to me. If I had to guess..." She wracked her brain for a few seconds in an attempt to make connections. "Well, he's super buff, right? I mean, I dunno if you noticed during the games, but
wow. Athletic too. I basically had to goad him into showin' it off, though. Either he's just a super humble dude, or that sort of things just normal where he's from. I'm in pretty good shape myself, not to brag or anything, but I'm more, uh..." As her gears turned, Nadia lifted up her own arm and flexed, but basically nothing happened. "...Lithe, I guess. Maybe if I..."
A flash of self-awareness struck her, prompting a sudden cough before she straightened up. "Agh, what am I sayin'." She clapped a hand to her face and massaged her eyes. "This whole spirits thing is weird enough without me tryin' to game the system. All these new feelin's got me actin' like a fool. Just forget I said anything, will ya?" Nadia cleared her throat and led the way back to the bar, where she requested a refill on her Mai Tai. "It's still hard to wrap my head around the whole infinite worlds thing. I mean, yours must be super crazy compared to mine, right?" She glanced at Blazermate as she waited. "Why doncha tell me about the place you come from?"
Blazermate giggled.
"Don't worry, I deal with students quite often so I'm used to all this. I am a schoolgirl medabot after all!" Blazermate said, giving a flex.
"And if all else fails, good food will do the trick." With that, Nadia was a bit done talking about the subject, much like a schoolgirl who was caught out unawares. Ah.... it was just like home, even if Nadia was some kind of aqua cat girl thing. If Blazermate didn't know better, she would figure that Nadia was some kind of Nyan or Nekko type medabot!
Speaking of home, Nadia, after snapping back to her sense, was curious as to Blazermate's world. Considering Blazermate hadn't actually talked about this before, as the situation never came up before, she was pretty willing to talk all about it.
"Well.... I don't know about your world, but my world is a lot more technologically advanced than Limsa here." Blazermate started, pumping her chest out.
"Its a world where... well, how do I put this...." Blazermate started, thinking about how best to say this. Even though she knew it was a fact, she didn't like the idea of medabots being 'bought', even if other medabots didn't care at all about it.
"So medabots usually have human partners with them if they aren't independent like I am. These partners can be anyone really from school kids to any kind of adult. Most medabots are used for robattling, which is where two medabots fight until one can't fight anymore and the loser also loses one of their parts. Thankfully for those losers, parts aren't that expensive unless they're aero parts like mine." Blazermate said, starting to hover to show what she was talking about.
"After all, can't have kids flying around on a medabot when its super dangerous." Tapping her chin a bit, Blazermate sighed and relented as she couldn't really think of any better way to say this.
"As for Medabots ourselves, well... I did mention everyone, including kids, have one pretty much right? Yeah.... We're not that expensive at the store... And I'm a BLZ-mate model, so as you can guess, I'm not the only one of me running around, at least part wise." with that bit of sourness done, Blazermate shaking her head, she continued.
"I'm pretty unique though, I've got a rare medal and everything. And by rare, I mean rare. There are like.... I don't know, maybe a thousand rare medals in total? or less? I don't know, but they are so rare people want to use them to conquer the world." Blazermate said. Nadia would then notice a very weird look on Blazermate's face, as if she couldn't decide to be serious or not with what she'd say next.
"This group I know of are called the Roborobo gang. Basically adults in rubber gimp suits with antenea on their heads that make them look like aliens. They are either so childishly cartoony evil that you can't even take them seriously, or are so underhanded and sneaky they got one up on the Medabot Professor. You can never tell with them and that is what makes them weird to talk about." Blazermate said, deciding to go with a shrug.
"Thankfully that unique brand of incompetency means they fail when they try to take a rare medal to take over the world. How a rare medal lets them do that I have no clue, they just seem to drive non rare medal medabots berserk when they tried which is really counterintuitive but they are kinda counterintuitive themselves so.... yeah." Blazermate, deciding to fly a bit more so she could lounge instead of stand, continued.
"And then there is this guy running around where I'm from called Phantom Thief Retort, he kinda looks like a gentleman thief guy, tophat and all, with a mask on. He tries to steal rare medals and unlike the roborobos, he is actually good at it. But at the same time, he's also a bit clumsy. He can beat most medabots in a straight up fight as a human though, so that's pretty.... neat? scary? Besides them and the aliens though; Yeah, there was an alien invasion at one point with medabots from space, things are pretty peaceful. There is this thing called the medabot federation which runs all the tournaments and stuff. And uh.... Mr. Uruchi scares me. Like, he scares a lot of people." Blazermate then leaned in a bit for a moment, as if this was some kind of wrong opinion.
"I don't think he's human, or medabot personally. He shows up when a robattle is going to happen like 95% of the time and the ways he shows up are... bizarre. If we ever meet him, you'll know what I mean. Straight out of a horror novel sometimes!" With Blazermate done explaining her world, she then asked Nadia, laying in the air with her hands on her chin as if she was lying on a bed belly down.
"So what about yours? You said it wasn't that good?" The deluge of information, not all of it contextualized or coherently structured, left Nadia somehow feeling like she knew less than when Blazermate first began to explain. So there were medabots, machines so mass-produced and commercially available that basically everyone had them, but they also had personalities and wills of their own? But they were also mostly used for fighting? That seemed like a recipe for disaster in and of itself, but apparently the only criminal organization worth mentioning also happened to be grossly incompetent. But there were also people stronger than medabots like this Phantom Thief guy, who evidently wasn't related at all to Joker or any of the other Phantom Thieves found in the Dead Zone, and a monster called Uruchi that crashed medabot battles. And aliens, which wasn't exactly treated with the gravitas that Nadia might expect, but maybe they just weren't that big a deal in her world?
In the midst of trying to process the information, Nadia got asked about her own world. She took a long sip of her drink as she thought about what to say, then cleared her throat. "Well, it's flawed I guess, but isn't that just the way things are? The country I live in is called the Canopy Kingdom, and I'm in the capital, New Meridian. Mostly Little Innsmouth, which is the port district, but I go all over the city for...errands. Ya know, pickin' up stuff. Anyway, after a big war with its neighbors, the whole country went through a big economic boom, a so-called golden age, though some folks call it 'gilded' instead, 'cause under all the showbiz and shine there's a whole lotta rot. Crime, corruption, you name it. Unlike where you're from, the bad guys are real good at what they do, and there's tons of 'em. And the cops who're meant to be keepin' people safe? Just as dirty as the scum they're supposed to be after. For most folks it's just hard scrapin' by." It felt weird giving a run-down on her world for the second time that afternoon. Nadia was trying not to just repeat what she said before. "The biggest problem is the Skullgirls. They're crazy strong freaks of nature who control the dead, usin' em to kill people and make more dead. Just think of 'em as one-woman zombie apocalypses. The last one was so bad it took all three kingdoms workin' together to put her down, singlehandedly endin' the war. It..." she windmilled her hands, searching for an appropriate term. "...Sucks. And after what happened with Linkle, it ain't hard to guess why new ones keep comin'. No wish is pure enough for that damn thing."
Nadia sighed again and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. "All things considered though, when there's no Skullgirl around, I guess it ain't
thaaat bad. Just gotta keep your head down, an eye out, and work hard to earn your livin'." Her voice went low as she gazed off into the horizon. "And hope nobody comes along to take it all away..."
Blazermate took in the information Nadia told her. So she was basically from a city that was corrupt. That felt... normal in a way? But then she descried things on how it went way deeper than what the roborobs did. And then the zombies...
"Huh... seems like its a lot more...... grimy compared to mine. Besides roborobos and the occasional evil guys, we don't have to worry about that stuff. Zombie apocalypse? yeesh. That would be really bad where I'm from if they were stronger than most medabots... And our cops are kinda incompetent too. After all, they lose to the roborobs, so... yeah. Not corrupt though, at least I don't think so?" Blazermate, landed and started to think, tilting her head as she did so.
"Do yo think all worlds have stuff like that? I mean, stuff that tries to destroy or take over the world?""Uhhhh..." Nadia hadn't expecting such an existential question, especially over a topic that she was so poorly-equipped to handle. Still, after a couple moments, she managed to drum up the best answer she could. "Ya know, probably not. I'm sure there's a bunch of nice, peaceful worlds out there. Just green hills, white picket fences, blue skies, and sunny days as far as the eye can see." Such idyllic countrysides were a tough image to picture outside of very optimistic advertisements and children's cartoons, palatable to only the young and desperate for their idyllic naivety. Was such a place, cloying saccharine and conflict-free, something that Nadia Fortune wanted? The cat burglar shrugged. "Then again, a world like that...it'd be pretty boring, right?"
Blazermate agreed with Nadia.
"Yeah... no conflict means things would get boring fast. Its like you need a balance otherwise bad things happen one way or the other. " Still though, she was just making an idle question, and Nadia had to make her think as well! guess thats what happens when you just ask rhetorical questions....
"Hey, I just thought of something!" the feral exclaimed suddenly, her ears going rigid with excitement. "I've never actually flown before. Do you think you could carry me up into the sky and gimme a bird's-eye view of the coast? That'd be so cool! I'm only like, one thirty. Maybe a little more with the new tail. Whaddya think?"
Blazermate thought for a moment before getting into her flying stance.
"Yeah sure, do you want to ride on my back or have me carry you?" Nadia was by her side in a second, visibly giddy. "If I go on your back I can't see past your head things, dummy!" she teased before turning to present the medabot her back "Here, just grab me around the middle."
Blazermate shrugged, and grabbed Nadia by her waist.
"Alrighty, so, don't try to shove your hands into my hair and all things will be fine. I know they look like they're good to grab, but I assure you they're not!" And with that little joke she took off, lifting off gently before she started to fly up. Thanks to her increased strength gained by the spirits she had absorbed Nadia wasn't that bad to carry, and while she was a bit slower than she normally would be, she was up in the sky, soon flying over Limsa and following Nadia's direction on where she wanted to go.
Or at least, she would be, if Nadia wasn't mostly preoccupied with losing her mind. "Wooooooooooo!" she yowled, holding up her arms like she was riding a roller coaster. "I'm on top of the wooooooooooooorld!" Seeing as Blazermate had no direction, she just zoomed over whatever caught her fancy.
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