Yankee

Shoujo⁴: Hatsukoi Reunion

Also, I should note that I did get one more person interested in playing as a male chara, so we should have a balanced cast going forward.

@Feyblue

two nerd types combined into one

Chihara Takaya

千 原 昂 也
千 原 昂 也

^{Chihara Takaya}

^{"They did what...? Again? I'm so sorry, please allow me to apologize on their behalf...!"}

___________________________________ Identity Full Name - Takaya Chihara Nicknames - Takkun, Chi-chan (childhood nickname) Age - 16 Gender - Male Bloodtype - A Year - Second-Year Class - 2-2 Personality A Perfect Student Always punctual, his uniform always clean and in order, his scores always among the best in not just his class but his year. He takes his studies seriously and has a genuine love for reading, so he is seldom seen without a book in his free time whether it be a study guide or a novel. He is a tidy and organized boy, and as he retains information very well he is usually the person to go to if someone has a question, though its not a natural talent. It's hard work to keep on top of the curriculum of all of his classes (including those of the cram schools he attends) and build up good study habits so much that they become routine. And of course he always brings extra supplies in for those that inevitably forget theirs... A Known Pushover ...because everyone knows they'll be able to get whatever they need from him. Fellow students and even teachers consider Takaya to be a responsible and trustworthy person, so its not unusual that he gets roped into helping people out with various things. He does not go out of his way to volunteer, and yet things seem to fall into his lap regardless. Maybe its a weird sense of duty, or maybe he just hates to see things left unfinished, but... at the end of the day when there are still so many little things to be done before the next morning, leave it to Takaya. When its your turn to clean the classroom, just half ass it and let Takaya fix it. Got into trouble and need bailing out? Have Takaya cover for you. Have a chore you really don't want to do and can't find Isshiki-san anywhere? Just dump it on Takaya instead. He's not so naive that he would fall for a scam or let the extra work interfere with his other responsibilities, but he usually won't stand up for himself and just goes along with what others say. This includes his parents of course, as he follows the course they've charted for his life. If he could change one thing about himself, it would certainly be... A Prudent Young Man ...well, nevermind. What's the use of worrying about things like that when there are much more important things one could fret over? Not that Takaya is a real worrywart or anything. Instead he is very much a "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst" type of person. The kind that brings a small umbrella in his bag even during long, dry summer days. That learned CPR and first aid but is really nervous about ever having to use it. That had a back up plan for his back plan if he doesn't get into his top choice for university. And the type of person that never leaps before he looks. He's not particularly good at lying or anything, but he has practiced his poker face and does have a few excuses ready should his deep, dark secret ever be discovered... A Secret Identity...! ...which he doesn't actually have. No, really. Its just some harmless fun. Takaya is not a secretive person by nature, but he does have to hide one facet of himself. Something that isn't even bad - it wasn't like he was getting into fights or drinking, but one can only take so many instances of scolding or having their 'childish' things thrown away. Takaya will tell you he is not an otaku, but he has to admit that he has... otaku-like interests. He loves games. Most any game, from MMOs to mobile games, mahjong to Monster Hunter to even Magic: The Gathering, was something Takaya was guaranteed to like. He loves anime and tokusatsu, manga and webcomics, classic literature and trashy light novels. At first he tried to completely give up his interests after he was told he shouldn't enjoy them since he wasn't a kid anymore, but nowadays he just does so on the down low. And feels guilty doing it at times. His phone is his trusty vehicle for keeping up with the latest media, and he's always watching, reading, or playing something on it when he thinks no one is looking. He keeps a few of his favorite manga volumes stashed away among his collection of 'appropriate' novels, and some collectible paraphernalia like cards and charms under notebooks in his desk drawers as if they were as heinous as pornography. It is a rare occasion when he gets the chance to indulge or talk about his hidden interests in person, but when he does the normally mild-mannered Takaya's eyes light up, and he becomes more passionate in his speech and mannerisms. Character Relationships Osanai Suzuka "..." Isshiki Mikako "..." Fuji Eikichi "..." Morioka Haruto "..." Shinomiya Koharu "..." Arashiyama Junko "..." Sakamoto Ryuuichi "..."

Physical Description There is nothing particularly interesting about how Takaya looks. He stands around 172cm tall, which is decidedly average among his male peers. His brown hair and eyes are a little lighter than usual, but not striking at all when compared to bleached blondes and redheads. He is not an athlete, but he eats well - which makes his body type pretty average too. He wears a pair of simple glasses, but so does about 20% of his class. Once, in middle school, a group of girls stole his glasses to see if he would have a shoujo-style transformation and actually turn out to be handsome. The results were inconclusive. Takaya does not stand out, and he is more than fine with that. Even outside of school it is very clear that Takaya is a student in the way he dresses. His parents still insist on buying his clothing for him, and so his free days are spent in slacks, sweaters, and button downs. He really likes sweat pants, but would never be caught outside of the house in them. If it was up to him, he might choose something different... maybe a graphic tee shirt for once. Personal Story The Chiharas have always been a rather traditional family of well-mannered and meticulous people. Strict, but not to the point of abuse. Both of Takaya's parents are like that, and their own parents, and so on. Takashi and Narumi had no complaints when they were arranged to be married, moved to Kumoriyama when Takashi was promoted to be manager of new department store branches opening on the island, and bore a single son. They were very particular in choosing a name for their son, hoping to raise him to be a confident, proud, and successful person. ...so far it hasn't worked out exactly like that, but not for lack of trying on any of their parts. Takaya's included. Takaya was an introverted child, but he didn't have much trouble making friends for the simple fact that he loved what most other kids did. Games, television, movies, manga. Connecting with others was as simple as talking about what happened on Sunday morning's episode of Super Sentai. It was only the growing up part that made things difficult. Where was that mysterious line that everyone else could see but him, that cut off point where it was no longer acceptable to have hobbies like anime and online games? What made a deck of Vanguard cards so much more immature than standard French-suit playing cards? Why was manga more juvenile than a novel? Takaya grew up early not out of necessity, but obligation. If his parents told him to abandon those childish things and focus on the future instead, then as a humble only son what else could he do but oblige? It seemed he lost a lot of the things that really made him happy. His interests tossed to the side, and his friends from back then fading out from each other's lives for one reason or another. Part of the latter was surely his fault, as he was left with a lot less time for getting together and hanging out. Since then, Takaya has focused on his studies and -as his parents put it- his potential. Throughout middle school and his first year of high school, he was consistently at or near the top of his year's academic rankings. After being pushed by his family to be part of student councils since his first year in middle school (it looks good on university applications), he's continued the trend and has now taken up the position of student council treasurer going into his second year of high school. For two nights a week he attends a cram school in the city's center, and on Saturday mornings he takes a ferry to the mainland to attend yet another cram school. ...although what his parents and peers don't know is that those Saturday classes are only three hours long at best, and he spends more time in the bigger city using his allowance on playing games at internet cafes, reading comics at book stores, and participating in matches at card shops. He doesn't intend anyone to find out, and since he's still on track to be able to attend some of Japan's more prestigious universities, it should be fine to indulge a little bit... right? He already regrets not joining Kumoriyama Private High's gaming club in his first year, especially after the club's disbanding when the mostly third year members graduated. The rest of his high school career is looking to be the same humdrum. He's seemed to have convinced himself that he's fine with it, but really, he'd be lying if he said he wouldn't welcome something to shake things up just a little bit... Other Information He is saving up money to buy a gaming console as soon as he moves out of his parents' home. He has an online presence that is much more enthusiastic than he normally is in his day to day life. He leaves comments on message boards and under videos, chats with many other fans of his favorite media, and has even tried his hand at writing web novels before. He doesn't have a favorite genre, though if pressed he might say he leans towards dramas and fantasies. He enjoys and keeps up with the full demographic spectrum when he can, from kodomomuke to josei media. He really loves a good story, but finds a simple plot can be just as good as an in-depth one. For games he considers the actual gameplay a far more important factor, but those that blend mechanics with story are best. He really admires people that aren't afraid to be themselves and silently roots for them when he sees them. If he had a 'type' then it would probably be... someone warm and authentic. His dialogue hexcode is #E5BFB0.

I hope this character is suitable for everyone. I wanted to fill a niche that wasn't present yet, especially among the guys, so here is the result. I gave him some similarities to a couple of others in the cast, but in a way that I figure is different enough that it doesn't step on anyone's toes and hopefully doesn't feel contrived. I also hope it makes for a couple of easy connection points to others, I have a few ideas already. As for his backstory, I left the mention of others vague (and also did not fill out the quotes yet) just to more easily fit them in after relationships are figured out, or to explore it through the RP itself.

If the pairings are already decided, that would leave Takaya here with Koharu; and so Kensai, I hope he is to your liking. He's a little bit of an opposite Koharu (stable living situation, 'certain' future, reserved to her outgoing, a smart outside with a goofy inside compared to her goofy outside and smart inside), which should be a good dynamic. I think it will be cute if she starts off the more forward of the two, but since she actually gets flustered with romance that when the tables turn she gets to have a super blushy moment at least once.

If the pairings aren't set in stone (I think at least Eikichi and Suzuka are at least?), well then we'll see what happens haha.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

@flux for the options you listed before, I also think the second is probably the best for now. And you already know my thoughts on the rule set you've been working on, I think it'll work out fine (though I realize now I forgot to get back to you in a PM...whoops). And I hope you're feeling better!

Also added a small part to the end of your most recent beach day add.

@SporkoBug@The Savant sorry for the wait, also added two beach scenes for you both. They are in section two, right after Glade's entrance and before Herald's part. I added on my phone so they aren't marked out for easy finding yet lol.

@Andre Valias Hello~! Interesting detectives!
As for what Savant said above, I get where they're coming from. Just consider if one may work better as an NPC attached to the other, bit I think it might be okay because they are the same faction? And seeing how they work together (or possibly against) each other would be neat. Although I think Elena should have some secrets of her own too!
If you join in, I'll probably PM you some possible connections if that's alright with you.

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

Roomies Playing Cards

Pit & Roxas

Level: 10 - Total Exp 1/100
Level: 8 - Total EXP: 217/80
Word Count: 2446
Exp: +3
Rapport: +3

Although Pit had intended to go right to the cafeteria as he was (still very fresh from the fight), the master of the ship's stockpile caught the angel in the hall and ushered him into the infirmary next door. Pit complained that he was fine, and Eleison had yet to return from tending to whomever needed it at the Seekers' arrival point anyway, so instead Sagi basically just hosed the angel down before letting him loose in the Avenger once more. Thankfully, other Seekers that happened to pass her by had already taken the time to at least rinse before they even thought about being around food.

So it was that Pit was still slightly damp when he got to the mess hall, was handed a plate of food that smelled mouthwateringly good, and parked himself at a table to dig in. The timing meant he wasn't one of those that had already come and went, nor was he one of the last to drag themselves into the cafeteria. He was just in time to see a friend join the food line and call him over, though.

"Over here!" he called to Roxas, raising one of his wings since his hands were busy tearing apart a meat patty with a pair of forks. The Nobody lit up a bit and approached to sit with the angel.

”Looks like everyone had the same idea.” Roxas commented as he pulled his plate closer to him. Before he could do anything with the food, he felt a familiar nudge at his shins. ”I know, I know.” He said as he plopped a second plate down on the floor for his Yamper to eat from. ”Don’t worry, Scamp, I didn’t forget about you.” Only then did he finally start digging into his own food.

”Figured it’s easier just to give him his own plate so he doesn’t get tempted to swipe from mine.” Roxas commented as he chewed his bite. ”Things got... pretty rough back there, didn’t they?” He was referring to what happened in the final hollow of the Qliphoth naturally.

Pit had peeked under the table to greet Scamp as well, though as usual the Pokémon was more preoccupied with getting fed.

"Oh. Yeah..." It had definitely been rough. The general mood going into the Dead Zone had been sort of grim from the start, and even after returning victorious there was a solemn air that lingered in the common areas for obvious reasons. Pit glanced at Roxas, wondering how close he'd been to those that had sacrificed themselves. Rather than bring it up though, he went in a slightly different direction. "I can't believe so many Consuls teamed up against us. And all of them played really dirty too."

He huffed, then tried a heartening smile. "But we still won, didn't we?"

”Heh, define ‘winning’.” Roxas replied with a small chuckle, ”I’m no stranger to having the bad guys team up on me, though.” He added, briefly setting his fork down and sipping from the cola he had brought to the table along with his food. ”They tried that a lot in the world I came from. Still… they’re only gonna come at us even harder, though. If every fight against them goes like this one did…” He trailed off, not really wanting to think about that.

For a moment Pit didn't say anything, just chewed on his food with his wings slightly droopy. Roxas was right of course, even with a numbers advantage that should have been overwhelming, 'pretty rough' was still an understatement in regards to how the battle had gone. And now, two of their comrades were gone as well. It stunk to say the least, but they had prevailed. Even if celebratory was too much, now that it was over the mood should be a little more cheery, he thought.

Pit lifted his plate up and shoveled the remainder of lunch into his mouth. Then he stood up, placing his palms on the table with a light smack.

"We'll deal with that when it happens," he said, his tone confident. "But right now, let's go do something fun instead! Hurry up Roxas! Scamp's already done eating too!" And he was right. Scamp was looking up from his now empty hand and gave his little ‘bow-wark’ in reply.

”Yeah, sure!” Roxas said as he quickly scarfed down the rest of his plate before grabbing the cola can and taking a long gulp out of it to wash it down. ”So what kind of fun things is there to do on the Avenger, anyway?”

As the boys and Scamp left the cafeteria, Pit's eyebrows pulled together in thought.

"Uh... good question." When he suggested it, he hadn't considered where they were. But the Lost Numbers weren't all serious old people, surely there was something on the ship that could entertain them. "I bet we could find something though!"

He lead them over to one of the many maps of the Avenger. "Maybe there are board games in the common room. Or we could kick something around in the gym - or we could go see what kind of other things they're inventing in the labs?"

”Board games in the common room?” Roxas echoed. That didn’t seem likely. Then again, all the Lost Numbers were kids at one point. And they had to have had some way to entertain themselves, right? ”Guess we won’t know until we look. A game’d probably be a good way to destress after all that chaos in the Qliphoth.”

Pit grinned and nodded. "Game it is, let's go!"

Considering that they were looking to unwind after the battle, they didn't really need to rush around the ship - but even so they had another friendly race to the common room with the Yamper at their heels. Unknowingly Roxas and Pit had ended up trading places with Rika, Blazermate, and Bowser Jr. as the latter all headed for the dining hall after using the space, while the former had arrived after already eating their fill.

The common room was pretty simple, with all of the comforts one might expect from a small recreational space. Although there were actually video games in the room due to its prior occupants, they had been collected and stowed in one section of the room somewhere near the TV, tucked away enough to be overlooked until their owners could return to claim them. The angel didn't seem to notice them as he went over to some shelving, rifling through drawers and cabinets to see what he could find. There were regular playing cards, a chess board, a puzzle in a box, books of riddles and number games... nothing particularly interesting, at least until he spotted something at the back. He pulled the box out and opened it up, finding a board and a deck of simple cards, along with a six sided die that had letters one it instead of pips. There was also a small pamphlet that couldn't have been more than three pages that Pit tossed to Roxas without thinking, momentarily forgetting he could read in his curious drive to get the game set up.

"How about this?"

”Whoa!” Roxas yelped in surprise as he barely managed to react in time to catch the pamphlet. He opened it up and skimmed over the three pages. ”Triple… Triad?” He read aloud. ”It says we deck turns placing cards from our decks onto the board. When opposing cards are placed next to each other, they clash with the numbers that are directly pointed at each other, the higher number determines which card is stronger and wins the clash. The winning card flips the losing card over so that it’s controlled by the winning card’s owner. When all the board’s spaces are filled, the player with the most cards under their control on the board is the winner.”

There were actually more complicated rules than that pertaining to card elements providing certain bonuses that should be applied when cards clash on the board as well as optional styles of play. But those were on a page that Roxas hadn’t fully read yet. ”Sounds easy enough. Are we giving this game a try?”

"Why not?" Pit picked up a card, getting a look at it. There was some kind of person or character on the front (he noted others had monsters and animals) with four numbers arranged in a diamond shape in the top corner. It definitely seemed simple enough for anyone to grasp, which was good for quick play. Pit set the card back down with others in the same color, of which there were only two.

"It sounds kind of like a battle game." But with the flashy cards, less boring than the likes of chess, and with less rules to remember. "You want red or blue?"

”Red, I guess.” Roxas said with a shrug, assuming there wasn’t much difference between the colors. What he didn’t realize was that the red and blue deck utilized completely different characters and monsters for their cards, and the red deck he picked seemed to lean a bit more toward monsters. The first card he noticed in the deck he picked up looked like a big fireball with a scary grin on it. Another one looked like a picture of a humanoid cactus in the middle of running. The cards' names were ‘Bomb’ and ‘Cactuar’ respectively.

”Guess I’ll start with… this?” Roxas said as he tentatively played the Bomb card in the lowermost left hand corner of the board’s 3x3 grid.

"So I just have to match a higher number against your lower number... Alright, let's see...!"

With the Bomb on the side of the board and its largest value at its right, the only option would be to put something directly above it. With a glance at his own hand Pit put down a Gesper card, which showed a funny looking humanoid. More importantly, its southern number was four, which would beat the Bomb's northern two. Of course that left the Gesper with its own openings of one and five.

”How about… this one!” Roxas said as he placed a Tonberry card directly above the Gesper. It’s southern four was more than a match for the Gesper’s northern one. And now the only way to take either of those cards back was to play something that beat their eastern six and five respectively.

Which unfortunately, Pit did not have in his hand. He could match the five, but... He turned his eyes to the center and right hand lanes.

"Okay, let's go with this!" he said as he rather dramatically put down a card called Belhelmel, a clown-looking totem on its face, into the top right spot on the board, with its western three and southern five open.

”Hmm…” Roxas reread his cards and found one that could work. ”Let’s go with… this.” He placed a card called Grendel to the west of Belhelmel. Its eastern four managed to beat the latter’s western three. Its opening was a southern five. Its weakest side, the western two, was protected by the Tonberry that was still in Roxas’ control.

Suddenly Roxas had an overwhelming advantage, with four cards on the board to Pit's single one. The angel blinked, then squinted at the playing space. And all of the open numbers were five! "What the... that was so quick! But I'm not out yet!"

He still didn't have a card that could beat an eastern five, but what he assumed was one of the strongest cards in his deck could beat the two southern ones. He slapped down a Chicobo in the center space, capturing the Grendel card and evening the playing field. "How about that! Your move, Roxas!"

”Huh?” Roxas said, surprised. ”How am I supposed to top that?” He asked as he frantically re-examined the remaining couple of his cards that he hadn’t played yet, seeing that none of them could capture the Chicobo’s southern or western sides. He decided to mirror Pit’s move and play his strongest card as well, called Cerberus. Ironically, Roxas had no idea that Cerberus’ western A was actually stronger than the Chocobo’s eastern four. So what he did was play the card at the bottom right corner of the grid, thinking it was a defensive move that would keep him from losing any more cards for the remaining two turns.

And with Cerberus’ western A and its northern seven? Roxas’ guess may well have been correct.

Of course, seeing the letter on the card made Pit tilt his head and ask, "what does that stand for? A... eight...?"

He was completely wrong of course, and figured as much because then why would there be two ways to show an eight? Regardless, Pit thought for a moment before putting down an Iron Giant in the space above Cerberus. Its southern six didn't beat the number on Roxas' card, but since Cerberus was already played it didn't flip the Giant. But the Belhelmel that was previously Pit's returned to his control, which just left the last open space on the board on Roxas' turn.

”Wait, what? Aw, I completely forgot about Belhelmel.” The Nobody groaned, realizing he couldn’t win now. Roxas’ remaining card - which was Cockatrice - couldn’t beat the Chicobo. He slapped it down anyway, which ended the game. ”Looks like you won. Not sure what the ‘A’ means, though…” Roxas thumbed through the pamphlet again for answers, and what he found made him groan even more.

”Are you kidding me?” He exclaimed, ”’A’ beats any number? But that means I could have beaten your Chicobo and-”

"Hahahaha! I'm still counting that as my win!" Pit said, pleased with himself even if either of them had taken the time to read all of the rules the game would have ended very differently. He scooped up the cards and went to shuffle both of the decks again so they could draw new hands. "C'mon, let's go another round!"

After both of them actually read through the full rules the boys set up again, carefully choosing their spaces and slapping cards down dramatically. It was simple fun, but fun nonetheless, especially as they traded wins and losses. They kept their commandeered table for a little while, trying out the other play modes in the rule book (finding that some were too confusing to play more than once) until they'd had their fill.

The plan to take their minds off of the serious and solemn events of the morning had more or less worked. While Roxas retired with his Pokémon to their shared room, Pit flitted off to see what else he could get up to.

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

Do not fear the known

Edward Portsmith: Level 4 (12 cells) ///////////////////////////////// (43/40)
Ace Cadet - Level: 9 - Total EXP: 313/90
Location: The Avenger
Word Count: 6032 (+7 exp/rexp)

Edward Gained

Cardio Gain: Edward’s successful (damage dealing) melee strikes regenerate one mana fuel cell.

Edward had sat himself next to the Ace Cadet and Miss Fortune to eat lunch, and immediately regretted doing so as he found himself functionally third wheeling as the two focused on each other. An entirely fair thing to do, given the circumstances of what they’d just lived through, but it certainly managed to be a fair bit awkward on his end. As such he made a concerted effort to hustle his way through his meal, though by no means as fast as the feline-form had her first burger, so that he could then politely excuse himself.

He did, to be fair, have things to do.

Setting his cutlery neatly down, the man lightly cleared his throat and then said ”Well, it has been lovely, but I will need to head off take a stint in one of the workshops repairing my magelock rifle, if it is at all salvageable” intending to be on his way.

Ace gave the man a quick nod of acknowledgement, almost half forgetting he'd been there in the first place, but a few moments after the man had departed the hunter properly registered what he'd said. Repairing a rifle. Ace had taken note of the man's equipment during the day when he could (as he took an obvious interest in that kind of thing) and found that while there was definitely an air of magic around what he carried, it was far from what Ace had come to expect from the magic users among the Seekers. There was also a technological aspect as far as he could tell. Ace had only really spoken to him just recently when they both ended up out of the fight, but he didn't get the sense that the dreadnought was a loner or anything like that... so this might be a good opportunity, for a couple of different things.

The Cadet stood up rather suddenly, scooping the couple's empty plates up.

"Sorry, there's actually something I wanna work on too," he told Nadia. Rather than offer her any more explanation or an apologetic smile, the hunter leaned over the table to give her a fleeting kiss. Then he moved to dump the tableware with the rest of the dirty dishes, calling back, "I'll see you later!"

The feral wasn’t one to dwell on such things. She just made an exaggerated smooch sound and waved Ace off. “See ya!”

Edward hadn't actually gotten too far, so it was easy enough for Ace to catch up with him. The monster hunter fell into step next to the other man.

"Hey! Uh-" Oh, dungpods. Had they actually been introduced? "They call me Ace. Is it Ya-cool with you if I tag along?"

Edward seemed a little surprised at Ace’s appearance by the look on his face as he turned to Ace, but it was quickly put away, the man nodding and saying that ”By all means” Ace was free to come along.

That journey could wait for a moment however, as he paused his stride and turned fully to Ace, before saying ”My apologies for not introducing myself after you saved my life” before offering Ace a hand to shake and rectifying his mistake by introducing himself as ”Edward Portsmith, at your service”

Now it was Ace's turn to be surprised. Not having expected his newest acquaintance to stop he ended up a couple steps ahead. Edward's formal tone didn't bother him, though it did make Ace take the introduction a little more seriously. He grasped the offered hand to return the handshake firmly, though it wasn't long at all before a friendly smile made its way onto Ace's face.

"I can't really take credit fur the felynes. Or at least not full credit," he said honestly. "Nice to officially meet you though!"

With the introduction complete, the two could continue on to Edward's workshop of choice. The day before Ace had used one of them to make a bunch of ammo, and he considered going to collect the materials he'd taken from the Qliphoth that he'd dumped with the bulkier pieces of his armor for now. Ultimately though if he got to crafting it would be more of a distraction than anything.

As they walked, Ace didn't hesitate to start a conversation. "When we were crossing the Dead Zone, I saw you use a bowgun that could heal. I was Quru-ous if it used special ammo or if it was something built into it. Is that the rifle you mentioned?"

”Ah, no, that would be… something Midna acquired…” he paid briefly, rather than simply roll forwards without a moment of silence for the dead, and in that moment decided to retract the complaints he was going to make about the rifle’s design and instead simply answered the question.

”and it was the ammunition that did most of the heavy lifting there, which is now spent” He explained, before giving it some thought, saying ”Though it did have a somewhat interesting firing mechanism now that I think of it, hmmm” mostly to himself, before getting to the point, which was that ”The rifle that was broken was of the same origin and design as my magelock pistol”

He retrieved the firearm in question from its holster, holding it by the barrel as he showed/offered it to Ace. The gun mostly appeared to be a flintlock pistol (a bit one with a spiked finger guard) where it was not for the amber glow leaking out from both the barrel and the point where the hammer was intended to strike.

”Much more effective and reliable than a flintlock, self loading, and entirely self powering, mana wise” he explained, indirectly confirming the weapon's magical nature.

So it really was a magic gun. Unlike a staff, or a wand, or simply conjuring spells from thin air, the Cadet could more easily intuit how this weapon worked. He still hesitated to take it though, some wariness showing on his face. After too long a moment he accepted the pistol gingerly, like it might explode if he handled it wrong.

"I'd like to get a look at the one Midna brought back too, see if I could alter it to accept new ammo," Ace said as an aside, mostly to make sure his nervousness didn’t come through too much in his voice. He’d been able to tamper with the Breechshot enough to do the same, so he figured he could do it to any gun that wasn’t totally outside of the scope of his knowledge. Not to mention it wouldn’t do to just set aside something useful just because the person who’d found it wasn’t around anymore. There was no way either Midna or Goldlewis would have wanted that. Ace kept his eyes on the magelock as he went on.

"So it uses... magic to ignite instead of a real spark." He slowly turned the firearm over in his hands, avoiding the glowing parts where he touched it. He thought about opening it up and getting a look at the chamber, but he wasn't quite there yet. "I guess it wouldn't need a firing pin, but in that case why does it even fire rounds at all...?"

He glanced at Edward. "Or does it?"

”It both does and does not. Here, I can show you in a moment” Edward replied as they entered the workshop Edward had been guiding them too. It contained advanced fabrication tools, but also a number of humble workbenches and more conventional tools.

It was one of these Edward claimed, tapping away at the armory interface as he did until it summoned the rifle he needed to repair onto the bench. The burn, bent, and broken weapon looked entirely unsalvageable, but it took only a bit of levering and unscrewing for Edward to retrieve the core part of the weapon, namely the source of the glow, which turned out to be a series of ritual circles going up the barrel warped, all hovering in front of a glowing stone that the hammer of the gun would strike instead of a flint.

”It’s rather simple, excluding the specific bits of spellcraft” Edward said, removing the gem so that the weapon was no longer live as they inspected it

”The hammer strikes this” he said, referring to the gem, holding it up, before pointing back down at the core of the gun and continuing ”which produces the energy to launch the round forwards via the generating an explosion, just as gunpowder would”

”The clever part is that the other circles then absorb the excess heat and energy left behind, converting it into energy for them to cast a spell to conjure a fresh round directly into the chamber of the gun, and another to pull back the hammer, thus automatically reloading the weapon”

Ace wasn't quite hovering, but he did pay the dreadnought curious attention. He put the pistol down on a nearby table for Edward to reclaim when he was finished, instead peering at the broken rifle as Edward took it apart. He watched from a slight distance, feeling the now unfortunately familiar unease when the magical inner workings were exposed.

"Huh." Ace crossed his arms, regarding the weapon. Its design really wasn't all that different from the firearms he'd come across in this world, or from the bowguns in his, but if it actually worked as Edward said it did then it really would be a lot more efficient.

"When it... 'conjures' ammo, is it... summoned from a stockpile, or created from thin air?" he asked somewhat clumsily, still not very used to the terminology. His eyes then flicked to the gem. "And is the energy in the igniter unlimited? 'Cause that would be Kut-kurazy."

”You’d be surprised how much more complex moving matter in space is than creating it” Edward replied, before explaining that ”the round only needs to exist for enough time to strike its target, which rather simplifies things. Magical constructs decay without a constant supply of mana, you see, but if they only need to exist for moments to minutes, things become a lot simpler” the man having left out some of the complicated pre-battle operations needed to prime the gun to be fired in the first place.

”The stone, meanwhile, can draw in the ambient mana of the surrounding environment in the exact same way any mage does, but, ingeniously, without the training such a spellcaster requires. Thus we bring the power of magic to the masses. In this case, sadly, for war, but the basic principles have innumerable civilian applications that we can apply once peace is achieved” he continued, that last sounding very much like a much repeated line despite the honest desire also evident behind it.

At the mention of ambient mana the Ace Cadet blinked in surprise, and he looked up from the workbench briefly as if he might be able to see such a thing.

"Hm, yeah, if it can ignite a bowgun's firing mechanism then it could light a stove or a forge, or turn a steam wheel," Ace mused. "I think... maybe Edinburgh Magicapolis ran on something like this. I was pretty distracted at the time but they had lights and carriages and all kinds of things with those glowing circles around them."

Edward's explanations were all informative and to the point, which the hunter appreciated. Though he couldn't understand how, exactly, the gemstone worked to absorb mana, he likened it to any other system that drew power from nature - like a windmill. The basic principle behind the magelock, how and why it functioned, was easy enough to grasp.

This was good. Magic in small, easy digestible doses like this was much easier to handle.

"Though it wouldn't work if you were in a place that didn't have mag... mana," he finished with, cutting another glance at Edward.

"That's what my world's like. We have fairy tales and stuff, and there were a couple of times another world's magic kind of crossed over into ours, but it didn't last long. Normally there's no magic at all." If anything, Ace sounded sort of glad for that fact. "At first I thought all the magic was pretty radalos, but the longer I was with the Seekers the more it kind of..."

He trailed off, motioning with his hand to try and grasp the words from the air. "...started to bother me. It seems like there's no logic to a lot of magic. Once, we ended up trapped in this sea vessel where a woman had turned us all into little kids. And everything was trying to kill us while we were stuck like that. There was cursed food, and all this stuff started growing on my arm... It giggisucked. After that's when magic really started to freak me out, but everywhere we go seems like all the enemies we face can do more and more dangerous things with it."

He chuckled a little at himself. If no one else felt like he did, then his fear was irrational - and though his uneasiness with magic had been somewhat manageable at first, lately it had caused all kinds of problems. Maybe he wouldn't have been defeated in the final hollow if he could better control his reactions.

"That's why I tagged along, I figured if I could sort of understand how it worked I wouldn't be as jumpy around it. And since a magic bowgun is more technical than a magic sword, I thought it would be easier to get if I saw the pieces while you worked on one." Ace gave Edward a small grin. "So far so good! ...you don't mind, right? I could even help out if you need it. Might not look it, but I'm pretty good with my hands."

Edward had to resist the urge to start taking notes despite his intense urge to do so when presented with so many hanging threads of information, but resist it he did, just as he resisted the urge to pull on those threads. He’d seen this sort of fear before, as when faced with the horrors magic could be used to create even the most hardened soldier could lose their nerve, and it was important to take it seriously.

”Caution around the unknown is entirely rational” he affirmed, before expositing on his own philosophy around the topic ”but as you intuited, learning about what you do not understand, and thus making the unknown known is an excellent way to ward against the fear it can induce. Then, once you begun to peeled back the curtain and have burned away the veneer of mysticism, it becomes clear that all things, be they magic, miracle or material, have an explanation just waiting to be discovered”

”and I’d be entirely welcome to your help. Perhaps we can even learn some things together, seeing as I will need to salvage some spare parts to get my rifle working once more” he then replied to the request, before tapping at the armory screen again and summoning the Charr Pirate Musket to the table.

”I was thinking of dissecting this one to see how it ticks, and to see if I can salvage components from it to replace the broken ones from mine” he explained as he moved the dismantled rifle parts to the side and set the musket at the center of the stage.

Now this was really something the Cadet took interest in. He was no Ace Gunner, but ever since she'd taught him how to customize bowguns it had been a fun and cathartic hobby to soup them up. Plus if they were going to rebuild the rifle, isolating the practical parts from the magic components would be easy and he'd get a much better look into how it all functioned together. Even better was that Edward seemed an old hand at things like this, and though Ace assumed he'd been around magic all his life he didn't treat it like common knowledge, nor balk at the hunter's misgivings with it. Ace didn't necessarily need validation in his feelings, but truth be told it was kind of nice to have it anyway.

"Does the gemstone need a special piece to hold it in place? If it doesn't then I don't see why scavenging parts off other guns won't work. There were a few others in the armory too, and I've got a bolt action I've worked on if needed."

He didn't mind giving up the Breechshot in the name of fixing the magelock if it meant he'd be able to work on his weakness. Ace got closer, though he gave the screen Edward had used a funny look. He sort of recalled the dreadnought mentioning the system before they’d set out in the morning.

"I'm surprised Sagi let you set that up."

”Possibly, but this one seemed the most in line with the magelock, as opposed to say, this” he tapped the screen again to summon the Glyphid Trophy Hunter Deepcore GK2 which, as he noted ”has a somewhat different design”

”Not that I amn’t incredibly interested in taking it apart, at a glance it seems to be entirely mechanical bearing the trophies, but that might be a task that will take longer than we have before landing” he said, entirely genuine in his disappointment it seemed.

Placing the gun aside he then replied to the question regarding Sagi’s allowance of the armory system to be used, saying ”A very thorough women that” approvingly before explaining that ”we went through all the potential issues beforehand, and supplied her with notes on the subject as well” and then asking ”I take it the two of you are familiar? Don’t suppose you might have an idea of what sort of thing she might appreciate as a token of thanks for her hard work?”

"Not anymore than you might," Ace replied with a tilt of his head. "I only got to the Avenger a day before you all. Just spent a lot of my free time in the armory so far, and since she looked Wyverian I got to talking with her."

The small familiarity on the high tech ship had been a welcome surprise, even if Sagi also happened to sport a very un-Wyverian set of wings.

"If I think of something I'll let you know. For now..." The Cadet went to fetch a set of his own tools in the workshop, and dragged another table perpendicular to the one they'd already been standing at. More room to take things apart and sort pieces. "Let's take a crack at fixing this thing! If we have time we'll take more apart too."

He grinned at Edward again. "Have you met Tora yet? If we can't get the rifle working again he might be able to help. He's a mechanic... or an engineer? But he makes all kinds of things. I’m sure he could fashion replacement parts, but who likes taking the easy way out first thing?"

That little bit of bravado got a grin from Edward, before he replied that he had ”Unfortunately not” met Tora, but saying that ”You’ll have to introduce us”

He then began a proper inspection of the musket, and was quickly disgruntled by the state of it saying ”This had not been particularly well taken care of. Or rather was created in a state of poor care I suppose” unaware that Midna had simply stolen this weapon rather than gotten it from a spirit. Either way, the weapon could have very much done with a good oiling, as patches of rust scarred its outsides, and discoloring on the stock and cloth wrapped around the barrel.

”Still, does not mean we can’t make some use of it, or see what makes it tick” he said, as he began to carefully disassemble the weapon, a process that required a bit more brute forcing of rivets than his own had required.

Completely lacking any sort of firing pin or internal mechanisms, the entire inside of the barrel was instead carved with rather simple runes that looked almost like scratch marks that seemed to all be at least a little bit misshapen. ”Almost like an inverted wand” Edward described it with interest, due to the complete lack of mechanical components, before pointing out ”see how the runes are warped? I think they might have engraved them on a flat sheet of metal and then bent it around into the tube shape afterwards. I can’t say if I am appalled by the crudeness of it or impressed by the durability of the spellcraft to endure that process”

Ace had pulled the Deepcore assault rifle over to him out of curiosity, but otherwise separated the pieces of the magelock out to get a better look at them all, more easily tell which were damaged even if slightly. Thankful he was still wearing his gloves and kote, he gently picked up the gem stone that served as the core and conduit of the weapon. It looks polished. I wonder if its naturally occurring or man made...

He looked over at the runes when Edward pointed them out, noting that it seemed to be an entirely different kind of 'practical' magic.

"How does that even work...?" he wondered aloud. "I guess pulling the trigger activates it same as any bowgun, but without a spring or a pin what tells the 'runes' to start... doing whatever they do?"

And that wasn't even going into how in the world inscribing runes produced magic anyway. Ace turned his attention to the musket's trigger itself once Edward held it up. "Would it have a matching engraving...?"

”Good question, let’s find out” Edward replied as he slid the musket back together, sans the entire barrel, leaving them with just a stock and trigger sections, before promptly aiming it at the closest wall and pulling the trigger. There came a small flash, and from the chamber a glowing bolt of magic flashed forwards, before impacting harmlessly into the metal it had been aimed at.

”Interesting. I think the trigger itself might be a wand that casts upon being flicked? That spark flys forwards, lights up the runes, and does something to create the projectile” he said before thinking for a moment.

”Here, maybe if I just replicate this” he said, getting out a scrap of paper, and then making a copy of one of the scratch mark runes on it with his quill and ink, before setting it down on the workbench. After that, he crouched down, aimed the baraless musket over the scrap, and fired it again.

Again, the bolt flashed forward, but, as it passed over the rune, it pulled something from it, and, in doing so, became both more solid and moved faster, making a light but audible ping as it hit the wall, scattering a fine mist of metal shavings out from the impact site. Said site was notability below where the man had been aiming.

The paper, meanwhile, had been shredded as a result of the spells passing, limited investment of power spent in the singular shot.

”Fascinating” Edward described the result of his test, before saying that ”I can see why the warping of the runes didn’t stop the weapon form working, as even if some fail the round is still made solid enough by the sheer volume of them”

Ace blinked in surprise at the demonstration, trying to wrap his head around how that had even worked at all. Leaving aside the nature of 'wands,' Edward had only copied the lines of the runes - he hadn't even cast a spell or anything like that. So the rune shapes were all there was to it? Letters that powered up the projectile as the trigger itself cast it through the barrel? That was so... weird... but a little ingenious too.

"And the runes being carved into metal must prevent them from being destroyed after shooting, so it can keep firing at least until the barrel itself eventually breaks down."

It was a completely different make than the magelock, but... the Ace Cadet was sort of starting to get how and why these strange weapons worked. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities, even if the major thing they had in common was still beyond his grasp. Hopefully it wouldn't stay that way for long though.

”Along with a less ad hoc investment of power, a better environment to do it in and so on and so forth. There are many ways to do it, because magic is inherently very flexible.” Edward added, before giving some context as to why he thought that way.

”The world I was born on was connected to many others, and in my travels across them, I found numerous different ways in which magic was made to do more or less the same thing. I can only hypothesize that Galeem’s patched together world will be like that, but even more varied” before adding that ”why this is I unfortunately cannot say. Some hypothesis that all magic made by mortals is a lesser imitation of some true, perfect works used by higher powers to create reality. Others that magic reacts more to intent and repetition, and that ways to do magic are not discovered, but instead imprinted onto reality by mortals”

”It is not exactly my area of expertise, you see. Laryssa, a dear friend, would know more. My focus is more on the practical implantation of magic, and the meddling of wit with machinery, rather than the deep dives into the hows or whys of its roots” he apologized.

Catching the other man's tone, Ace shook his head once. "It's fine, this is good - groovios even."

It was a great bridge between the understood and the misunderstood. The hunter could only hope that from here he could move up to getting comfortable with the more... esoteric and strange stuff, but he'd leave that for later.

"So was none of this-" Ace waved his hand in the air to gesture very generally. "-that weird for you when you got freed, if you were already used to other worlds?"

”My home of Athla was but one world hanging in a space known as the astral sea, a fact we were rather brutally introduced to when worldgates connecting our home to other worlds opened and the Godir marched fourth from them to conquer it. In the process myself, Laryssa and an army of the Commonwealth that we had assembled to stand against the Godir were tossed out into the astral sea, which is a rather unpleasant place, and then eventually wound up on another world entirely. It was quite the unpleasant introduction to the whole affair, to say the least, and it only got worse from there” He replied, retelling part of his story, before hypothesizing on the nature of reality by saying ”Given what has been explained about this one, however, I have to assume that the astral sea in its entirely must itself have existed in some greater ocean of some sort. One that contained numerous other worlds or seas of worlds that Galeem devoured and then used to make this a singular world. Thus it is both strange and yet also familiar”

Even abridged, it was quite the tale. Ace let out a low whistle.

”You mentioned your world briefly interacted with others that had magic earlier, so I assume you were at least somewhat in the same boat in that regard?” Edward added.

As he talked, the man began assembling all the parts he had acquired onto the one table, and in his head considered how best to assemble them together again. And also if that was even a good idea in the first place.

"Not even close. It only happened in the New World, and it was only two days I think," he told Edward. "A few monsters popped out of some portals, some people followed them, and once everything was taken care of they left. That was that - nobody had a clue what caused it."

There had definitely been an adjustment getting used to the current world they found themselves in.

He looked over the pieces again himself. "The rune bowgun looks like it's too simple to be able to replace all the broken parts in your rifle... but... how do you think the engraved barrel would work with the rounds the magelock summons?"

Edward said magic was flexible, but he had to wonder about two entirely different systems. Besides that it would also be nice to use parts from the Deepcore rifle after all since it was looking like just one extra gun wasn't going to cut it. The thing had a nice quality grip, among other things.

”I have to agree, it seems like they are too different to really be safely combined. I can’t exactly say what the two would do together, but I’d certainly prefer to test such a thing in a firing range rather than a workshop for one” Edward replied, before adding ”and with a golem pulling the trigger to boot” because the result could be quite explosive if the summoned round got coated in enough extra metal to jam the barrel before it exited.

”An entirely mundane weapon might well be a better bet as a basis, despite the outward appearances being so different” which gave them both the excuse they needed to take a look at the deepcore rifle.

That said, while it did not have magical components, it did have an electrical one, one that powered a glowing display, currently displaying 0/25 on it, facing the user. Other than that, it seemed like an entirely mundane rifle, but there was the slight issue in that neither of them had really worked with one of those, or, in-fact, seen them up close.

”What do you think?” Edward asked Ace, as he began carefully taking the weapon apart to see how it ticked.

"Well the fangs on the front are pretty cool," the Cadet said first. He studied each piece as Edward pushed them over to him once his own look over was done.

It was definitely the most high tech gun Ace had handled so far, in pieces or otherwise, but compared to a magic weapon? He felt like he already had a better grasp on it. Once opened up and disassembled he could see how the ammo would have been stored and loaded, how the bolt and springs could work together to push rounds into a firing chamber. The wire and display connected to the lower receiver probably just counted the number of times the trigger was pulled (or more specifically that the hammer was released) after a new case of ammo was locked into place, but he could be wrong and it was actually able to keep track of each individual round.

It was sophisticated, with a lot of little parts working together, though the overall process wasn't actually that complicated as far as Ace could tell. But as for how it would interact with the gemstone igniter?

"...seems like a lot of internal parts with functions already handled by the magic can be taken out, which should leave room for the gem without having to file anything down, but it could end up being too much room. It might need a custom piece between the hammer and the gem, and one to hold the gem in place, 'cause if you just replace the pin with the stone... see how there's a track? I think it will be moving around while the bowgun... while the gun is firing. You'd know better if that will interfere with how it works though."

The hunter scratched at his head, considering some things. "It won't need this port for spent husks, so maybe something could be fit in there to help instead. Probably doesn't need this shielding either if it will be able to siphon its own heat away..."

”Yes. I can see what you mean. It would be overall quite the task to retrofit this to be a one shot rifle, and likely one we’d need extra materials for as well” he replied, before admitting ”I think I might have been over ambitious, and in hindsight, and as a result all I’ve achieved is breaking two more guns rather than fixing one. Something I could fix, where it not for the hour at hand”

Indeed, while he could probably put the weapons back together, the reality was that such a process was a fair bit more complicated than taking them apart, and as a clock on the wall helpful informed them, time was ticking away.

"Raincheck?" Ace said. He didn't sound put out, as the prospect of building a chimera-gun was something they could look forward to in the near future.

”Can’t say I am familiar with that expression?” the very British sounding despite not being British man replied.

"Oh - like when a festival is gonna be held, you check the sky for rain, and move it to another day if the weather doesn't cooperate."

”Ah, I see, another time, yes. Perhaps with some extra local expertise like that Tora fellow you mentioned” He replied after it was explained to him.

”Still, I can’t say this was entirely fruitless” Edward added, as he neatly sorted the 3 dismantled guns into piles of parts for storage until the metaphorical rain was off ”as we certainly learned a thing or two”

"Definitely," the monster hunter agreed with a smile. "I could barrel-ly stand to be around magic a few hours ago, but seeing it put together with something more familiar... now it kinda feels like my brain is firing on all cylinders."

Edward grinned at that, before declaring it the "The power of learning" before adding "Speaking of, I think we're all set to learn who’s actually running this whole operation" as he set the broken down guns to be sent back to storage via magic circle.

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

Ace Cadet & Nadia Fortune

Tuesday afternoon aboard the Avenger
Word Count: 2467 (+3)
_{@Yankee@Lugubrious}

The monster hunter kept all but his helmet, rigging, and the bulkiest pieces of his armor on even after washing the remnants of the morning's battles off of himself and his equipment. The Avenger was a safe haven, but there was still plenty of time in the day... and he felt it would maybe be awkward to completely relax so soon after their mission was completed, especially in the wake of what they'd given up to do it. Being half-armored was about as good a compromise as Ace could come to with himself.

He sat directly across from Nadia rather than beside her this time, with his own two plates in front of him. One had the day's hamburg steak special, the other was piled up with more simple food fare such as sandwiches and wraps. The Cadet could have easily demolished much more, but he remained mindful of everyone else that still had to eat. When they touched down next, he'd probably wipe out the closest food seller of their stock. That was a thought for the future though - at present Ace kept his attention with Nadia, letting out a light chuckle at her joke.

"Fair. I think anyone'd give you a pass-on that one."

Was their making light of the situation a little morbid? Maybe so. But it was the pair's way of coping, and not letting life's various horrors get them down. The Seekers had come out of the Dead Zone victorious, and Sandalphon had mentioned a memorial later tonight. There would be time to properly and appropriately dwell on the team's sacrifices then.

Though meal time made the mess hall lively, when compared to breakfast the tables at lunch were not quite as packed. Ace and Nadia's own table wasn't so small that they had it all to themselves, but neither were they totally surrounded by other Seekers. They ate and talked together, occasionally following each other's gazes as they passed around the room. Such as now, when Ace glanced over at Dawn and her family when Nadia's eyes lingered there.

They were a cute family, especially the young ones with their father's Shepherd Hare-like ears. So why did the feral have a look of apprehension, however brief?

He remembered talking with Nadia about the future back when they were on the boat headed for Twilight Town, well before they knew the full story of how the world worked. If what they knew now even was the full story. He couldn't quite glean the feral's thoughts from her face at the moment, but maybe some of the things Moebius had said had gotten to her a little. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it too, but... well, for now he tried to steer Nadia's thoughts away from uncertain, possibly depressing topics.

"You know, we didn't get to catch up as much at breakfast as we could have," the hunter said, giving her a slightly sheepish smile. "Guess I was just excited to talk with everyone else again. But hey - I'm all yours now."

Ace’s voice swiftly retrieved Nadia’s train of thought from the nebulous future it had meandered into, and for his gallant rescue the hunter received an appreciative grin. The events of this morning had cast an unavoidable pall over even the sunniest Seekers, and after so much running and fighting Nadia just didn't have the energy to affect her usual unflappable cheer, but the joy she felt when around Ace was very real.

“No worries,” she replied with a wink. “I knew you'd come running back eventually. And, well…” As demonstrated by their earlier puns, neither of these two were above laughing through the pain, but after coming so close to actually losing Ace in the fight against the Gravemind, and getting bone-chillingly close to annihilation herself, Nadia couldn't pretend everything was hunky-dory. She let go of her cheekiness with a sigh. “Gotta hold on to our people while we can. Right?”

Her words came out a little more ominous than she intended, so Nadia gave an apologetic look as she stopped her coffee. She tripped over her words for a moment afterward, brushed her hair back somewhat self-consciously, then tried to verbalize her feelings. “I mean, I really am glad you're here. Honestly… part of me is afraid to grow fond of other people, ‘cause it makes losing ‘em that much harder. But I can't help it.” She chuckled to herself, shaking her head. “You're just too likeable. Besides, what good is keeping my heart safe if I can't ever use it?” The feral smiled at Ace. “Anyway, all this to say… well, let's keep trying our best to stay alive, eh? We might not be as invincible as we think sometimes.”

"Nadia..." Ace breathed. He knew she'd been through a lot, but he could hardly imagine being scared to get close to people for that reason. He was glad that despite her doubts she hadn't closed herself off though, and he was definitely going to show her it was the right choice. After a moment he returned her smile.

"The same goes for you - you're amazing. I'm happy you're here too... it's nice to have someone to fight and come back safe for, makes you want to get back in one piece all the more. So you're not gonna lose me that easily," he said, meaning to sound reassuring. Of course, it had seemed frustratingly quick when he'd been overwhelmed and felt the harsh cut of the scythe before darkness took him. At some point he'd fallen behind the other Seekers; he'd have to get better and stronger if he was going to keep that particular promise to Nadia.

But it could wait at least until lunch was over.

"And... well, not to be a worry-Wulg but like I said, same for you. Even with your gem, when everything's said and done we gotta make sure you're safe in one piece too. No ifs, ands, or Congalala butts."

His tone was lighthearted toward the end, if only to slightly counter the topic.

Nadia grinned at him. “Bein’ in one piece isn’t really my thing, but I getcha. I’ll do the best I can.” Though she’d allowed the darker topic to cloud her horizon, Ace’s attitude and praise were rays of sunlight that cut straight through. “I appreciate the compliment, by the way. Usually, the best I get is ‘a-mew-sing’. But you’re totally right. Gals like me light up the world–that’s why it’s called ‘broad daylight’.” She snickered as she tossed a cucumber slice into her mouth, then started crunching away. Ace could not help the snort of laughter even if he had wanted to.

“So,” she began again after a moment. “I’ve been curious, so help meowt. In my world, everyone who’s anyone’s got some kinda magic, freaky parasite, or livin’ weapon. But you’re all natural, right? How the hell’d you get so crazy strong? You can swing around weapons even bigger than I am without even breakin’ a sweat, runnin’ and jumpin’ around like nobody’s business, all while decked out in heavy armor and carryin’ a boatload of items.” She smiled as she shook her head, incredulous. “The heck are they feedin’ you guys over in your world?”

Before he answered her, he had to point out in slight amusement, "you know this is the second time you brought up parasites while we've been eating."

The first had been way back in Limsa. It hadn't been enough to ruin his appetite then, and it didn't now either though. He took a moment to wash down part of lunch while he thought of what to say, because really... it wasn't all that interesting. The times he'd talked about his home world were few, since learning about everywhere else had been more intriguing.

"All normal stuff, same as you'd find anywhere. Just, y'know, a lot of it." He grinned. "I dunno, I guess the humans from my world are just different from those in other worlds? We monster hunters usually start young and do a ton of training, but otherwise its the gear that does most of the work."

Ace shrugged. A good blacksmith was as important if not more so than a good hunter sometimes. "Not that exciting of an answer, but yeah - all natural. Except the, uh, boon thing."

Maybe humans from Ace’s world really were just built different, but the idea that someone could attain strength and stamina like that just from exercise and diet intrigued Nadia. After a glance at the Cadet’s plate, she raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh! Since you’re a monster hunter…does that mean you guys eat the monsters you hunt? That’d definitely explain it!” She popped off her head into her hands, resting her elbows on the table. Her sea-blue eyes glittered with curiosity. “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?”

"Yeah, of course we eat them! Never really thought if that would make a difference... Weirdest... Probably a Rathalos tail?" he said, touching a hand to his chin in thought. "Maybe a Basarios tail..."

He was quick to explain a little more, figuring the names alone meant nothing to her. "Basarios are juvenile Gravios, they live in the ground and eat minerals so their hides get really tough. They even grow rocks on their backs as camouflage, so when you eat them you have to crack off all their scales and soak the meat for a while. It's pretty much as tough and chewy as you imagine - and Rathalos are venomous, but only in their claws. Females have poison stingers on their tail though, so some Rathalos, especially young ones, have a vestigial venom gland in their tails you have to watch out for if you're cooking it. Goes really well with Wyvern Amber Ale though."

Once more he thought about being able to show Nadia the Grammeowster's place in the Frozen Highlands. It would be nice, and maybe if the two of them could slip away they could have a date night or something.

"Want me to try and cook one for you sometime? If we find an edible monster," he asked her with a toothy grin. "As long as you like frontier style food."

“That’d be AWESOME!” Nadia chirped, her eyes lighting up as a huge smile spread across her face. “A guy willin’ to cook for me? I knew I’d hit the jackpot, but wow!” She stuck her head back on and leaned back in her chair. “I’m not picky or anything either, not after livin’ on the streets as a kid. Plus, everything tastes better when you make it yourself, right?” Her eyebrows shot up. “But then, we’d have to hunt it ourselves too, right? I’m excited already! I mean, we’ve been takin’ out tons of monsters, but the only thing I’ve actually hunted lately is pigeons.” She glanced around for Ganondorf, wondering if the king of evil remembered that fun little morning in Dirtmouth. “Guess we’ll have to keep an eye out when we touch down again!”

Her enthusiasm melted Ace's heart a bit, and his grin turned a little more dopey.

"It's a plan then! I know you'd make a Gargwawesome huntress."

Of course despite her words, she might change her tune when she actually got a taste of his cooking, but that would be a future problem if it even turned out to be a problem at all.

"Did you have any unique eats in your slice of the world?" he asked. Then he actually thought back to everything Nadia had told him about New Meridan and Little Innsmouth, as well as her apprehension about possibly seeing pieces of her home town cobbled together with something else. Would talking about them keep her mood up or risk pulling it back down? Hopefully the former. "Actually, is there anything back home you haven't been able to find in this world in general? Like something you kind of miss?"

The question wasn't exactly subtle, but the Cadet himself wasn't a very subtle person. And who knew how much longer they'd be here fighting now that their opposition was onto them and getting tougher by the day.

A heavy sigh escaped Nadia as she flopped down on the table. “Ohh, you have no idea. I mean obviously, I Miss Fortune, but for eats? Gotta be Dagonian food. It…well, I guess I mean Dragon Empire food, ‘cause not all Dagonians are from the Empire, but it doesn’t roll off the tongue, you know? Back home, my favorite Dagonian place was my buddy Yu-Wan’s. Dim sum, gong bao, Peking duck, chow mein…the man was a culinary genius. Stick me and the gang ‘round of those rotatin’ tables, with a Dagonian feast and a round of beers, and I could die happy.” Her fond reminiscence quickly gave way to dejection. “Buuut I know the odds of findin’ that stuff is pretty low. If we didn’t find any traces of Little Innsmouth in Limsa, where could it possibly be…?”

Though her silly joke had Ace chortling, as Nadia went on it looked like maybe bringing up her world might have been the wrong move.

"There's a lot more ocean, it might be out there!" the Cadet said. It might even be on some other body of water, of which there were a lot according to the constructed world map... Though whether they'd naturally run into it during their world saving duties, only time would tell. He'd have to remember the names, but at the very least Dagonian and Dragon Empire were sure to stick in his head.

He offered Nadia another light smile, "we'll see if we can find sum of that out there."

“Even if the outlook is dim? Nyeheheh!” Though Nadia put on a dramatic act, she wasn’t too bothered by the lack of Dagonian cuisine, in truth. There were much more important things than finding her favorite food going on, and the mishmash of worlds she’d found herself in meant there were plenty of great things out there to try, like today’s hemborger. And who knew what they might find waiting for them once they disembarked in Hammerhead? As long as it wasn’t more Consuls, Nadia was game for whatever adventure the World of Light might throw at her next, especially with Ace by her side.

Nadia pushed her trey away with the last few vegetable scraps intact, crossed her arms, and leaned down to lay her head down on them. “Okay, next question. And this one’s important, so no fibs.” She narrowed her eyes. “If you were a dessert, what would you be?”

The Cadet made a show of very seriously considering the question, and the two passed the lunch hour with inane, casual chatter to lighten the mood.

Helloo!

Welcome to the Guild!

Hello, Justine here.

Welcome! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Salutations

Welcome to RPG!

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Added a small bit to beach collab (below you Qia, I saw you were still WIP). Will probably jump into other scenes from here. @The Savant maybe visit Asterion since we haven't been able to collab in canon yet and have mentioned it a few times before haha.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

EDIT 2: We might have another player joining soon, would others mind if they join in on beach day to get a feel for the crowd/characters?

@flux

Ooh interesting, I don't mind but outside of beach shenanigans with Iron Gate the only unclaimed district left would they be alright there? Assuming they'd still be taking a district even during the pause.