Though a little worried about the Avenger’s deployment system, especially having experienced its rather terrifying pickup system first, Nadia wasn’t about to show weakness in front of Juri. Just having the nasty woman around would be enough of a bummer without giving her extra ammunition. It helped that the feral happened to be a virtuoso in the art of putting on a brave face. She didn’t mind the other two who’d be traveling with her to Mafia Town, at least. Captain Falcon was a new addition, but from their stint together in the Film Those Freaks minigame he seemed solid enough. In a twist of fate, the two had been tied together by a vital secret, uniting them in their efforts to make sure it stayed under wraps at all costs; that secret being the fact that both had gotten themselves ‘killed’ by stationary laser grids at the end of that minigame. Therion, meanwhile, Nadia counted as a friend. They’d proved themselves birds (or rather, cats) of a feather during their campaign through the Under. After shooting her fellow thief a cheerful smile, Nadia climbed into her hellpod, watched its lid close above her, and waited for launch with a racing heart.
Of course, isolated in the hellpod’s cramped confines, she need not worry about anyone else hearing her screams of terror and excitement when the metal deathtrap finally shot out of the Avenger’s underside, hurtling toward the earth like a speeding bullet. In the chaos of a freefall like that, only one thing was sure: the roller coaster at the New Meridian Boardwalk had nothing on this.
Miraculously, the hellpods -and their contents- survived contact with the ground, thanks to a potent combination of retro rockets and shock absorbers. Of course, Nadia’s heart was still pounding her chest by the time the pod’s lid popped off and the mechanism inside thrust her up into the morning sunlight. Once she recovered from the dazzling brilliance of the bluest sky imaginable, Nadia could breath in the refreshingly salty sea air, listen to the lap of waves against the shore, and feast her eyes on the funny little island called Mafia Town.
Click for musicLocated off the World of Light’s southeastern shore, at perhaps the southernmost part of the region known as the Deep Blue Seaside, Mafia Town offered a climate of tropical warmth and humidity, featuring a colorful abundance of corals off the coast and plenty of palm trees on the island itself. Very little of the island remained natural, however, as most of it seemed to be paved over and built up into a densely-packed, multi-level maritime fortress of orange mosaic tiles, stone bricks of milk-white or chocolate-brown, and roofs of dazzling silver or shingles as azure blue as the sea itself. Each layer of buildings became the ‘ground’ for the one above, creating a winding upward path from the docks and shipyards past bustling markets up through narrow lanes between tall apartment buildings with hanging laundry lines and flower boxes on their windowsills. Toward the top things evened out and opened up a bit more, offering rooftop greenbelts among fountain plazas, poolhouses, and clock towers. Even that wasn’t the limit, though. At the very top and middle of Mafia Town there appeared to be a water source of supernatural proportions, not just feeding the high-speed aqueducts and cascades and that washed down through the town’s channels to the sea, but a spiraling geyser that seemed to hold up a massive plate like a support pillar. Whatever lay atop it couldn’t be seen from down here, but like an umbrella it cast a great round shadow over Mafia Town that traveled throughout the day, offering its many residents a little reprieve from the beating sun.
Most remarkable, perhaps, were the smells. Mafia Town boasted an abundance of restaurants and eateries, and even at a time when most folks would typically be thinking about breakfast, the island’s food industry was already in full swing cooking up meals for the day. It wasn’t just the briney tang of seafood on the wind, either. The aromas of fresh baked crust from
Possum Pizzeria, savory sauces from
Seaside Spaghetti, and so forth all filtered their way down to the inhabitants on the breeze, tantalizing their tastebuds. There was even one restaurant that floated on the water itself,
Bancho Sushi.
Of course, not everything was one hundred percent food-oriented. Even around the little
seaside plaza where the Seekers slammed down, they could see a
lovely flower shop and an
art display. Beyond the town itself, hot air balloons and sailboats gave both sky and sea a wealth of color. A large sign by the plaza read ‘Mafia of Cooks, #1 at Everything’. This place looked lively, lovely, and a little bit silly–all of which applied to Nadia Fortune as well.
The feral couldn’t wipe a smile off her face as she took in the scenery, sea breeze, savory smells. “Mafi-awesome!” she exclaimed after a moment. “I could get used to this!”
”Hmm.” Captain Falcon murmured as he rubbed his freshly clean-shaven chin in thought.
”Doesn’t exactly strike me as the ‘hive of scum and villainy’ I thought it would be. How dangerous could this place possibly be?” His attention was drawn specifically to the Mafia of Cooks sign. So the “Mafia” this town was named for was just a gang of chefs? Suddenly he got the sinking feeling that he wouldn’t be finding nearly as much bounty hunter work here as he thought he would. Well, at least this place was promising some good meals if nothing else.
Therion would have liked nothing more than to take a few extra minutes in the pod to cool down after literally being shot out of the sky, but unfortunately the way they were designed prevented that from happening. So once he was forced up and out, he begrudgingly dragged himself over to the others.
Balloons up, metal death traps down? Inhumane... he thought to himself. He had one of his fused spirits to thank for their apparent love of heights, because otherwise he probably would have had a heart attack already.
Once with the other three he smoothed his facial features into cool indifference, but if anything now that his tail was fluffier it gave him away more easily. Since there was more fur to puff out, it was clear when it was standing on end since it nearly doubled in width. He flicked it from side to side, trying to quickly get it back to normal while he surveyed the area. He found himself agreeing with Falcon, but felt he had to point something out that had stood true for Therion's entire stint as a Seeker of Light so far.
"You'd be surprised how easy it's been to find trouble in places like this," he told the pilot.
Juri had been grinning, flattening some stray strands of hair from the drop pod's turbulent descent.
”I think those Lost Number people hate the environment.” She said. The smile faded into a disappointed frown, shoulders sagging, as she looked around.
”Places like this? It is a lousy tourist trap! She gesticulated at the ridiculous water fountain in the center of town.
”I mean what the hell is that thing?!” She paused, and then tapped her chin.
”Though, on second thought, maybe they used slaves to build all this stuff. Lots of tourist traps are pretty exploitative…could be something like that!” She rubbed her hands together.
”This place could be rotten to the core.” Having maintained a sense of enthusiasm she jogged ahead.
”Maybe there’s a black market!” Juri felt like she was pretty good at picking out shady characters, so she was on the lookout for anything seedy or suspicious. Or maybe there was a dealer or a fixer or…anything, really. She doubted one of these ‘Guardians’ would just be out and about, all nice and honest about it.
Nadia breathed deeply in through her nose, then out through her mouth. “Thanks for your ‘input’,” she told Juri, her tone measured. As pretty as this place was, she attempted to put aside her intrigue for the moment, and study Mafia Town from a more objective purr-spective. Though impressive in its own way, this island didn’t seem that big. Both Carnival Town and the Home of Tears had been easily four times this size, and Limsa Lominscuttle Town not much smaller, though this place seemed a little bigger than Gerudo Town, at least. It was hard to imagine this place hiding a whole lot of secrets, and even a half-dead streetwise alley cat like her couldn’t immediately assume that darkness lurked behind these bright colors. In a way she felt bad for Juri.
Wow, she’s pretty far gone, Nadia thought.
What a bleak world she must live in.Naturally the feral couldn’t take everything here at face value either, especially given her run-ins with another mafia in the past. She would definitely need to take a trip up to that structure in the sky at some point, and thanks to Asgore she now knew that only continuous warfare could keep societies like this one alive. On the other hand, though, this already felt like a vacation. Mafia Town reminded her of Limsa in all the best ways. If the Seekers couldn’t find any objectives on the island itself, they could just wait for mission-relevant hints to wash up from the ocean. Wherever ships came to port to load or unload cargo, rumors and legends abounded. A bar in Little Innsmouth might as well have been a theater for the fantastical stories one could hear from the mouths of drunken sailors, and Nadia doubted that Mafia Town would be any different.
“So, we’ve just gotta lay low ‘til we hear from the Lost Numbers,” Nadia summarized, peering around. “No need to stick together and draw more attention, but we could still meet up once in a while to check in and go over whatever we find, I guess.” When she turned to address her teammates, she ignored Juri, figuring that the thug didn’t give a crap and would just go off doing her own thing no matter what. “Oh, we could get lunch together! How about over there?” She pointed toward a nearby restaurant with a recognizable octopus mascot, Seaside Spaghetti. “If you guys don’t find noodles pre-pasta-rous, that is. Oh, oh, and the last thing we talk about every day could be where to go for lunch tomorrow! Of course, anywhere’s good with me, long as it doesn’t cost a pretty penne!”
At the mention of money, though something occurred to her, and her eyes widened slightly. “Wait…if we’re gonna spend a week here, am I…gonna have to get a job?” Nadia groaned. “What a pain. When it comes to job skills, I cannoli do so much…” Her expression of dismay transformed into one of mischievous glee in an instant as she punned.
”I was hoping a place called ‘Mafia Town’ would give me plenty of bounty hunter work I could do.” Cap said, sounding a little disappointed.
”But now I'm not so sure. Won't know for sure until I look around some more, I guess.” He looked over at the spot Nadia pointed out and added,
”After breakfast.”"I doubt that you don't have a week's worth of funds," Therion said, then turning to Captain Falcon.
"And same goes for you." Or else what had he done with all that prize money? Surely he couldn't have been racing just for the
glory.He looked over to where Juri was going, the woman already almost out of earshot. Now she was probably broke, if he had to guess.
Therion touched a hand to his ear, intending to make sure Juri got the memo, before realizing that she wasn't connected by linkpearl like he and Ms. Fortune were. Cap wasn't either, as far as he knew, unless Primrose had distributed them at some point when he wasn't around. He let his arm drop down and held in a sigh.
"But sure, daily lunch." He agreed with Nadia's suggestion of keeping apart as well. He flicked his gaze up to the highest parts of the town.
"Assuming they've got more than one inn here, we should stay in separate places too."Nadia nodded. “Yeah, sure. Oh, and if Juri starts making trouble, don’t be afraid to kick her ass. I know I won’t!” She clapped her hands together, then rubbed her palms. “Welp. Guess we’ll get goin’ then, huh? Good luck you guys, ‘isle’ see ya ‘round!” With that, the feral turned and scampered off to explore the sunny seaside.
Member
stone
NoriWasHere
DisturbedSpec
Sylvan
Aku the Samurai
Damycles
Hitman
Majoraa
LG