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+--- Thread: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] (/showthread.php?tid=1611)
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Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Lubbock - 06-01-2015
The cold air hit Lubbock like a solid wall of ice, actually knocking the stud off of his horse, causing the black beast to disappear into that rainbow essence. He laid there for a moment, his body creating a person-shape in the gleaming snow. It kind of reminded him of some of the areas back where he was from that received a lot of snow. Before long Alain came up to his resting body and looked down, his red cloak seeming to block most of the cold.
"Hey, kid, stop lounging around," he commanded, and Lubbock obliged, but was instantly knocked back down as he felt a body collide with his back, murmuring something about 'bananas'.
"Oh, s-sorry!" Gin apologized as he picked himself up and helped his comrade out of the snow. The assassin finished picking himself up, and looked out to the enormous, frozen wasteland that was the Frozen Fields. Lubbock's eyes lit up at the glittering ice and snow, sending tiny spots and pricks of light dancing around the place. His face fell: it almost seemed like something Esdeath would create, like when she turned the South into her personal Ice Kingdom.
"Well, where to first, fellas?" Lubbock asked as he turned to his allies. After a moment's silence, Lubbock felt a lightbulb go off in his head. He skipped the green device out of his coat pocket and began to navigate across the strange, touch-sensitive glass on the front. It was easy enough to understand. He managed to find all the info about the different Verses, and accessed the Frozen Fields.
He scanned over the list of places and creatures, reading them aloud, "Dwarfholm, Zul'gurand... There's dwarves, giants, trolls, 'wumpas', and..." Lubbock's face was one of sheer awe as he looked straight at Alain and Gin, "Dragons!"
The boy was ecstatic. He slid his device back where it came from and summoned small dragon of his own, styled like the ones you would find at Japanese temples. Sadly, the minuscule thing could only get so far off the ground, but it should have been enough to go head-to-head with Alain's machine.
"Come on, Gin, let's go!" he called over his shoulder as him and Alain sped off through the snow, and the young redhead didn't even get a single word out before they were ages away.
"Assholes..." Gin cursed as he remounted upon Tonic and attempted to catch up to the speedsters.
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Alain the Carnedge - 06-01-2015
They didn't get far before he hit the brakes. The solid ground hadn't lasted long before they reached ice, thin enough that you could very clearly see where you'd end up upon if it broke. His attire made it a bit unlikely he'd die from the blizzard, but clothing offered a lot less protection against freezing cold water. Alain glanced at Lubbock, who had noticed he'd stopped and was now flying around on his dragon. It was a few seconds before Gin came along, coming to a halt when he saw that everybody else had stopped. "Has something happened?" He asked.
"Nope, but I don't think we're getting far with the ice. The dataverse said that the ground's gonna be more solid when we get further in, but until then, well..." Alain pointed at the icebergs floating around the frozen ocean. A few corpses, likely adventurers, floated on the waters. The mercenary turned back and shrugged. "Well, let's go. Lubbock, you can find a cave for us to summon supplies in, right?" Alain didn't wait for a response before taking a slow step forward. He knew it was slightly more unlikely that the ice would break as long as he treaded cautiously, as he wasn't carrying anything particularly heavy, but you never know. Lubbock and his dragon flew past him towards the mountains in the distance.
The mercenary kept moving, each step feeling like a game of russian roulette as time went by. His hood got blown down more than once by the winds, to the point where he had to hold it up himself. Alain was ready for the ice to crack, just hoping that Gin was as well...at which point he saw them flying in the distance on their bird thing. Goddamn it. GIn briefly stopped on some ground in the distance, then immediately took off again. Alain knew they'd yelled something, but the cold wind was almost completely deafening. Unfortunately he got the idea that stopping would lead to a cold death, so summoning a ride of his own still wasn't smart. He kept walking, making sure to stay as far away as he could from where the corpses were.
Thankfully, nothing happened. Every moment of worry seemed to be another one wasted. It was still freezing, but at least that danger had passed. The mercenary stepped onto more solid ground and took a few more steps until safety from drowning was almost certain. One part of him knew that he'd got lucky upon looking back at the ocean. If he was carrying anything heavy, he'd probably be dead. He turned back to Gin, who was sitting in the snow next to the black bird. The mercenary scowled. "N-ice to see you made it here." Alain said.
...Eck.
The mercenary put his head in his hands and lamented the loss of his sense of humor.
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Gin Yatreg - 06-02-2015
"Well it's certainly ice to not be left behind for once." Gin replied back. Alain gave him a look that said 'are you serious'. "What, I can't make a terrible pun?"
Before Alain could respond, Lubbock called down to them from a cave a few yards up the mountain nearby. "Hey guys! This cave looks pretty good! I've already got us some food for us!"
Alain and Gin looked at each other and set off towards the mountain, arriving a few minutes later. Gin looked around for a way up and spotted a path on the right. They take it and soon met up with Lubbock at the top. Gin looked inside, the cave was lit up by a few lanterns and a fire in the center. The dragon was curled up in a corner eating a hunk of meat that was most likely conjured by Lubbock. The cave seemed to go further on however, Gin thought about exploring it later, but at the moment he was hungry. "So what's for lunch, Lubbock?"
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Mami Tomoe - 06-05-2015
Mami tucked and rolled through the other side of the portal, then leaped into the air and summoned a musket in each hand. After quickly observing the area around her, it seemed she was in no immediate danger - At least she wasn't in any kind of danger she could shoot for any rational reason. She tossed the muskets into the air, aimed open palms at them and sent a vortex of ribbons to make the percussion-lock rifles disappear.
It was wonderful to have her powers back.
Mami winced as the snow around her kicked up in the wind. A shiver went up her spine as she looked down at herself. "I'm really not dressed for this," she complained through chattering teeth. Behind her was a portal - To where she knew not, but wherever it led, she wasn't quite willing to find out without a little bit of exploration here. "I can tough it out for a while... I just hope my legs don't freeze," she muttered to herself as she walked along. She held a hand out for a few minutes and as she walked, a shapeless orb of Omnillium formed in her palm which gradually formed into a crescent and then a pair of brownish-gold earmuffs. Anything to get away from the cold was beneficial, and so she without hesitation put them over her head.
Mitakihara was a temperate city. Rarely did she see any temperatures below zero degrees Celsius, and even rarer still did she see any temperatures above twenty-five, so this was a bit of a treat - Aside from the fact that she was afraid her thighs would be frostbitten in a matter of minutes. The snow wasn't bad, except for when it blew up onto her legs and melted, leaving her chilled and uncomfortably damp. Another possible risk seemed to be the ground below her, which didn't seem very stable at certain points, as she would occasionally hear a faint crack beneath her boots rather than just the simple packing sound of footprints being made in the snow she left behind. However, it seemed that the Magical Girl had yet to assess all the possible things to worry about in the environment as she felt her legs slip out from under her, and with a quick glance around for something to break her fall with (Or at least something to attach ribbons to so she could pull herself up), she came up short and tumbled to the ground.
Mami rushed up to her feet again as the bone-chilling ice made contact with the bare bottoms of her legs and some of her thigh-highs, though they didn't provide much protection against the bitter weather. "It's a shame leggings wouldn't really work with this outfit," Mami laughed a bit to try and ease the unfortunate situation she was in. On the bright side, it was certainly better than the Abyss... But definitely not better than before the Abyss. Oh, was it nice to just relax and enjoy life again... Why hadn't she taken the time to do that more often? As a Magical Girl, it wasn't much of a choice what she got to do - She had to hunt Witches to keep her Soul Gem cleansed, so she didn't get to have much down-time. But here, it seemed...
Right... I haven't needed a single Grief Seed here. Surely she had made the observation before, but it felt new. Odd... Mami shrugged the thought off. After a while spent trying to summon one, out of curiosity about what purpose it might serve in this world, she stumbled upon a cave. Inside there were voices - Someone talking about lunch and...
Oh, God. That name was familiar. "Lubbock!" Mami shouted and ran into the cave. She met the moss-haired man with a hug that had a little too heavy an impact for her liking. She didn't care how strange it was for her to do this - It had been so long since she saw a friendly face. "It's been too long," she chimed, stepping back a little with a big smile. "How have you been, and..." Her golden eyes turned to the person who seemed to have been talking previously. "Who might you be?"
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Lubbock - 06-06-2015
"Well," Lubbock began, scratching his head, "Maybe we could... no, that wouldn't work... ah, I know! No, wait..." he continued, trying to think of something.
"You don't know how to cook, do you, Lubbock?" Syura asked cockily. Lubbock went red-faced, and was about to blurt out a mindless retort as he heard a familiar, female voice. He turned his head to see a pair of bouncing, golden spirals dashing towards him before the girl wearing them embraced the green haired man, who was both in shock and relief.
"Oh, hey, Mami! Great to see you again!" he told her as he patted her head a little, then felt how damn cold she was. He quickly pulled away and swung off his hunter green coat before crouching down and wrapping it around Mami. He stood back up and shivered a slight bit as he looked down at his old companion, "There you go. Jeez, what are you thinking, being out here in those clothes? You could have frozen to death!"
"Mind you, death isn't the end," Alain piped up from the background, and Lubbock turned around, poking his tongue at the red-cloaked mercenary.
Lubbock finally replied to Mami's initial question, "This here," he pointed his thumb at Gin, who was smiling kindly, "is my friend, Gin. Met him before entering that bloodbath, Dante's Abyss," Speaking of which, I did remember seeing her name somewhere, but never saw her there... he thought, but shrugged it off as he looked to Alain, "And this is the douche who near on killed me with a large, four-armed beast-thing," he explained, receiving a grimace from him.
"It's nice to meet you... Mami, was it?" Gin greeted her, and extended his hand out, which the young girl cheerfully took. Lubbock slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans, now that he had granted the warm salvation of his jacket to Mami, and turned to his large pet, who by now had finished with his lunch. This caused Lubbock to reminisce about the original conversation, and he felt like he was about to sweat even in this cold hell. He turned his face, now a façade of a nervous wreck, to Mami.
"Um... question... do you by any chance know how to cook?" he asked, somewhat regretfully.
Quote:Yeah, decided to get rid of the flashy colour crap. Became too much trouble and I realised it also became taxing on the eyesight to read xD
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami] - Gin Yatreg - 06-08-2015
"Yes, I can cook. But most of what I know isn't really suited for a lunch." Mami answered. "But why do you need a cook when you could just summon all of your food?"
"Um...I...didn't think of that." Lubbock said, internally facepalming at that fact. "Nice one." Syura echoed mockingly in his mind.
"Well, no matter. Let's eat!" Gin exclaimed. He sat down against the dry cave wall and began to concentrate, a few moments later a BLT had appeared in his hands. Just as he was about to take a bite, a beak snatched the sandwich out of his hands. He turned to see Tonic swallowing the thing whole, letting out a satisfied cry as he did so. Alain let out a small chuckle and summoned up his own lunch, with Lubbock and Mami following suit.
***
Everyone was gathered around the fire, enjoying some cake Mami had summoned up for them after they were done with lunch. Tonic and Lubbock's dragon were asleep in a corner, huddled together for warmth. Outside, the makings of a snow storm had begun to take shape. "Looks like we'll have to stay the night in here." Alain pointed out.
Gin swallowed the last of his cake and stood up, volunteering to set up something to block the cold air and snow from coming in. Mami opted to make bedding for everyone, moving over to another part of the cave to have some room. Once Gin had the entrance covered, he slid over by Lubbock and leaned over to talk to him, "Soooooo, is she your girlfriend Lubbock?" he said in a bit of an impish tone.
Quote:I regret NOTHING.
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Mami Tomoe - 06-13-2015
Mami enjoyed sitting down to simply eat something nice - The cake she enjoyed making the most for her tea parties, however rarely she had them when she wasn't keeping any company. A little yellowish-white cake with white icing, a cherry on top and some chocolate sauce drizzled across it and the plate it was on. Nothing could quite be better, could it? Unfortunately, it seemed there was no means by which she could clean off her dishes... Maybe she would need to make a sink, water, soap and sponge for that. Or, she shuddered to think, she might need to just leave the dishes behind. She'd feel guilty leaving a mess behind, even if nobody lived here permanently. It certainly didn't seem like Lubbock and Gin did.
The Magical Girl heard at last some words to break the silence, coming from Gin. Gin's question was a strange one - Though it did have slight basis in how she reacted to seeing Lubbock. It seemed like he was trying to keep what he was saying between the two of them - Gin and Lubbock - But it had failed, because she had heard it. "No," she responded. "But wouldn't you respond a similar way if you had been alone for a long time and you saw a familiar face?" she turned her face from Gin to Lubbock then, and when she saw his face as bright red complimenting his green hair, she added, "Not to say I wasn't just looking for anybody. It's nice to see you again, and to know you're well."
The thought of changing clothes came to mind, into something warmer, but the next thought that came to mind was that there were currently three men in the cave with her. The next thought to come to mind was that perhaps she could make pillows and blankets with her ribbons, like she had done in that ocean world after the fight with Harry. That was just what she did, as it seemed there was hardly a limit to what she could do with her ribbons outside of battles. In a few seconds, Mami sent ribbons out both of her sleeves, which formed a pair of fuzzy blankets with gold-yellow trims and designs. Then she made a pair of fluffy pillows matching the design of the blankets, and the set of little cozies fell to the cave floor. Mami grabbed a blanket and pillow, leaving the other set to be taken by whoever wanted it most. "I don't know about all of you, but I'm exhausted after all that... And after the Abyss. I just want to sleep." What she was leaving out was that she also wanted to break down because, of course, she couldn't just brush aside the fact that she had been decapitated as easily as she was letting on.
After laying down the blanket on a flat part of the stone floor, laying down on one half and folding the other half over her, she put the pillow down on one end and rested her head on it. "Wake me up if you need me, but I don't think we're going to be in any danger if there's a storm going on out there." Mami yawned a soft, light yawn and tried to let sleep come to her.
Quote:*Was a total ass when it came to responding*
AT LONG LAST, I HAVE SOMETHING DONE! Here. Write. Go. DO IT.
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Lubbock - 06-24-2015
'Is she your girlfriend?' was the last thing the assassin expected to hear. Red crept, or more so flew, up his face, making him look like a tomato, red face and green hair. He slowly turned to Gin, and attempted to speak, opening his mouth many times, but failed to make any noises apart from choked audio. Thankfully, his ass was saved by Mami, who explained the situation to Gin. Relieved, he let out a breath and set the back of his head against the cool stone wall, hoping the over-the-top blush would recede soon.
Only just remembering everyone was eating, he quickly sat in a cross-legged position, looking like he was attempting to meditate (of course failing to seem that way), and set his mind and Omnillium to work on a curry dish, like the ones Akame would make back home. The golden curry sauce poured over almost perfectly diced pieces of meat and glistening white rice. Easy enough to remember how that dish looked. Lubbock's eyes swung open like a sit of tiny doors to see his creation exactly as he imagined it. It was crazy how he could make anything he wanted.
Faster than one could say 'Najenda', Lubbock had already started on the curry, ravenously digging into it, completely forgetting there were three others there with him. Even so, he continued to stuff his face, somehow not dropping any on the cave floor. When he was finished, he left the plate near his mouth for a moment, hiding his face, before lowering it to look around at his comrades. He looked like a red chipmunk, his cheeks full of food. He quickly let the food go down, licked the remainder of the food off of his mouth and spoke.
"I'm an embarrassment, huh?" he asked them, seeing the bewildered looks upon their faces. Silence followed, until Mami began making the beds. That's one way to break an embarrassing moment, Lubbock told himself. He was amazed at how little embarrassment he saw from Mami. She seemed to have quite strong pride, but not so much that she boasts about things. That's the kind of people he liked. Sort of because he wanted to be more like them. Lubbock's pride was... a roller-coaster ride, to say the least. He'd get embarrassed easily, but also could be very cocky at times. He liked the idea of people who had strong pride.
When Mami left the other bedding open for someone else, the boys looked at it. Lubbock was first to speak.
"I'm fine sleeping here. You two can fight over the bed," he told them. Sure, one reason why he chose to leave the bed to the others was because he couldn't really care less whether he slept in a bed or not, but mainly because after what happened a small while ago. After Mami was thought to be Lubbock's girlfriend, he didn't want to embarrass himself further by choosing to sleep pretty much next to her. That would lead to a sleepless night of embarrassment.
But at this point in time, he didn't care who took the bed: he just closed his eyes as he continued to rest his head against the cold stone. Sleep didn't take its sweet time to catch him.
-----
The blue-haired woman sitting in the throne of ice stared out at the establishment of Trolls. They seemed somewhat civil, but at the same time they looked like a city that would collapse before long. Not the kind of place General Esdeath would want to take over. Getting into the place wasn't too hard. It took only a little bit of... 'persuading', per se.
When she heard the heavy plodding of Troll feet by her right, her eyes quickly darted towards the guest. It - yes, it, as it was incredibly difficult for Esdeath to tell the difference between males and females at this point in time - seemed rather scrawny for a Troll, but at the same battleworn, with scars across its chest and face. One of its rather large ears seemed to have been bitten in half and one eye was almost black. It spoke in a high, gurgling tone. A female, that much Esdeath had learnt in her time there.
"E-excuse me, miss, but a few other Trolls have a b-bit of a problem w-with one of the raiding machines. Our leader is currently sleeping, so..." the young female Troll seemed to be slightly afraid of Esdeath. It was all too easy to see Esdeath as cold and sadistic. However, her heart wasn't all black. After all: she had fallen in love with Tatsumi, that much she will never forget in her time in the Omniverse.
Esdeath stood up and the throne behind her melted away. She turned to the 'girl' and crouched in front of her, placing a hand upon her blackened hair.
"I can help, little one. Come, show me where it is," she told her with a smile, something you don't often see upon the General's face. The Troll almost jumped for joy before taking Esdeath's hand and guiding her away, attempting to match her tiny steps to Esdeath's. The blue-haired General looked up at the frozen air above. I guess life here won't be too boring, she told herself with a slight smirk.
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Alain the Carnedge - 06-30-2015
The mercenary pointed Gin towards the remaining bed and merely leaned against the cave's wall, close enough to the entrance to jump somebody if they tried to come in. Gin didn't seem to complain and took the opportunity to get some rest. Alain almost never got tired, which seemed incredibly bizarre to most people. To him, only natural. Mercenary work can involve days of tracking people who stole some stuff or something similar, and sleep just allowed the targets to find more places to hide, or give them longer to run. Eventually, he got used to days and days of no rest, and the corruption only seemed to help with that. Though if it came to it, he'd sleep on the floor if necessary.
Alain took a few moments (that means an hour or two) to look through the Dataverse and use his Omnilium for something. Wasn't exactly much else to do, and it was best to keep someone on guard just in case a troll came by. So, he did what he needed to: summoning a drink.
-----
Urist and his men marched down the mountain path, disregarding the chill as if the blizzard was just an average day in the Frozen Fields...probably because it was. Their armor rattled with every step they took, making it sound like a metal elephant was dancing in the snow. "Oi, Urist! When're we findin' that dragon, eh? Ahd hope we din't come up here for nothin'!" One of the dwarves yelled, just slightly drunk. Urist gritted his teeth and turned to face his comrade. "Stop askin' already, I don't know! I'll buy ye a damn drink if it's not round here, 'aight!?" The dwarf scowled and continued marching up the mountain path, keeping eyes open for the beast.
It was then the group heard a guttural snarl, and in that moment they knew their target was close; and it knew where they were. The dwarves readied their battleaxes, swords and hammers in preparation for the inevitable fight. Despite the dwarves being...well, dwarves, they all looked around nervously. Saying that dragon hunting was a dangerous business would be an understatement. Every member of the party took a while to look around. There weren't that many places for a dragon to hide, was there? Except the sky...everyone looked up, but the blizzard had practically killed their vision.
Though it seemed the dwarven party weren't the only ones out for dragonbone. Trolls emerged from the snow, screaming, swinging their weapons wildly, and taunting the dwarves in anticipation for the upcoming slaughter. The dwarves had only one thing to say in return. "FOR DWARFHOLM!" The men yelled, rushing towards the trolls fearlessly. Blood flew through the air as steel met flesh, and bodies fell to the ground in mere seconds. Some were still alive but too wounded to continue, others recovered and attempted to continue the fight, only to get put down almost immediately by the boot of a troll or the axe of a dwarf.
Urist, as the assigned leader of the Dwarf party, found himself crushing various troll limbs with gigantic swings from his hammer, with assistance from his fellows. He swung his warhammer overhead which happened to connect with the skull of an unlucky troll, who fell like a rock. Another band of dwarves managed to overwhelm the troll leader, planting an axe into his neck. The troll writhed in pain for a second before falling, at which point a very angry troll crushed the dwarf with his own axe before fleeing. The dwarves started to advance with weapons in hand, the shieldbearers covering advancing to protect their fellows from any thrown axes. The trolls didn't like it, but they started to pull back.The dwarfish heads they'd claimed were enough for now.
A shadow passed over the battlefield.
The dragon dropped from the sky, with emerald scales that looked almost crystalline, and landed with a crash. Either side could only look up in awe, their battle forgotten for a single moment. They were slightly less awed when it let out an earsplitting roar and started to breathe fire, engulfing the entire mountain path in a sea of flame Trolls and dwarves alike screamed in terror and pain despite their usual nature. Some even hurled themselves off the cliff and into the ocean in hopes that they might survive the flame. Ones that did not attempt to escape learned why a dragon was to be feared; the beast devoured a dwarf whole, then slashed at the remaining fighters, and the mere movement sent snow and ice at both parties. The trolls had gotten out of the way, but the dwarves weren't so lucky, and a few of them flew off the mountain and into the frozen ocean below. With a scowl, Urist ordered a retreat. The dragon breathed flame so fierce it felt like they were already dead, but After all had perished or fled, the dragon ate the corpses of the dead before a Wampa could come by, then took flight again and disappearing into the blizzard.
Black Winter Night [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Gin Yatreg - 07-06-2015
Urist and his remaining dwarven brethren ran through the snow as fast as their small legs could carry them. The deep snow impeded their efforts, if they did not find shelter soon they would meet their death from either the trolls, the dragon, or the cold itself. Urist turned his head and spotted a light coming from a nearby mountain, it cut through the storm as if it was showing him the way to safety. He rallied his men, leading them to the mountain. Urist debated to himself of what the source of the light could be. It could be trolls, or perhaps a dragon's den. The possibility of adventurers crossed his mind, but he quickly shrugged off the thought as no group in their right mind would come here during the blizzard seasons. Even Urist's group was taking a chance by going dragon hunting this far off from home. Of course, dragon hunting is already dangerous, but do so during a blizzard season is near suicide.
The dwarves reach the foot of the mountain and climb the path leading up to the cave. Its entrance was covered by a tarp, most likely to shield whomever lay inside from the blizzard. Urist had his fellows ready themselves in case of the worst. Urist opens the tarp and charges inwards, only to meet a splash of some sort of liquid as a greeting. He felt a force against his chest, and soon felt his feet leave the ground. He hit the ground with a thud, the air left his lungs as a weight was brought down on his chest. Urist opened his eyes, and in his blurry vision he saw a red blob on top of him. His men, hearing the commotion, charged in with weapons raised. The red blob lifted itself off of Urist and retreated further into the cave, no doubt to get back up. Urist wiped the foul liquid from his eyes and waited for his vision to return. He signals his men to go on ahead of him while he recuperates, and they obey him without question.
***
"Wake up! We've got trouble!" Alain shouted as he ran back to the group.
Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14 [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Mami Tomoe - 07-07-2015
Mami had hoped she would get decent rest. The shouting that woke her from sleep told her she wouldn't get what she wanted. Her eyes fluttered open and she rose into a sitting position. In a matter of moments and a flurry of motion, she felt herself rise to her feet as a number of figures, about a foot shorter than she, charged into the cave. "I have to fight and I haven't even gotten to rub the sleep out of my eyes," she smirked. She turned her head back to Lubbock and said, "I have to admit, when you're around, I'm always on my toes."
The figures - A large enough group to be reckoned with, that much was certain - With gear she immediately related to vikings or some sort of primitive European warriors had stopped before Mami. "Storming in here without so much as a shout that you're coming beforehand... You're not a very polite bunch, are you?" The Magical Girl complained. "We have space to keep you, if you'd like, but I won't have you keeping anything sharp near my friends." She turned to face Gin and Lubbock as she finished talking and continued again. "That goes just as much for you two." She turned back to the group of warriors, who looked more puzzled than anything at this point. "Say, we had someone up by the mouth of the cave. Did you charge him down? I hope you didn't."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In about five minutes, Mami had turned the once cold and dark cave into what looked like a picnic-sleepover hybrid. Groups of dwarves sat around tables on ribbon-blankets, wrapped in blankets themselves, surrounded by pillows of matching material and appearance. Though her company wasn't courteous or polite by any means, they were certainly nice, and Mami was happy to keep friendly company. In about ten minutes, Mami had summoned a few dozen copies of the pastry she had eaten not long ago, which she distributed to each and every one of the warriors she was keeping. Though they were incredibly reluctant to do so at first, Mami had managed to convince Lubbock, Alain and Gin to sit among the dwarves while she served.
"I'll take requests, if anyone wants anything else. I have plenty of time and more than enough Omnillium for company!" Mami chimed. A few requests - Varieties of meat, drinks and a few sweets were shouted at Mami, which she gladly began to summon. After a couple of minutes, everyone had everything they could ask for, it seemed - Though from the looks of things, the leader of the group of dwarves - Or so it seemed, as he was sitting alone. He gestured for Mami to come over, and so she did. She sat with the soles of her boots to the wall, her lower legs underneath her thighs, and her hands resting on her knees. If she was a few inches shorter, she would be eye-to-eye with a dwarf. Yes, she was sitting, but it was still pretty sad. Or impressive.
"I don't believe I've properly introduced myself," she started. "I'm Mami - Mami Tomoe. I know what we're giving you here isn't much, but I hope you and your friends make yourselves at home. Ask me if you need anything." Mami smiled and stood up, but she was interrupted before she could completely rise. "Wait," the dwarf interrupted. "Sit down, would'ja?" Mami blinked a few times and then sat down again with curiosity burning in her mind. "The name's Urist. We weren't expectin' yer like to be here, so I apologize for the trouble with yer friend there." Urist gestured at Alain, who seemed to catch the gesture out of the corner of his eye. "What possessed ye to go out in blizzard season wearin' that? You ought to have frozen to death by now!"
Mami looked down at herself. That exact same comment had been made not long ago, and while she felt cold, she had yet to feel in danger because of the cold. It definitely wasn't that cold in the cave, especially with the fire still soldiering on in the center of the dwarf cafeteria, for lack of a better term. As she had been thinking, Urist had been busy laughing - A hearty laugh, fitting of a dwarf, she figured. Mami never really got into fantasy stories, ironically enough, even though she was the hero-type. "More import'ntly, there's a dragon about. You'd best be careful, Ma--" the dwarf struggled a few times with her name and his accent, which didn't seem to mesh well. "Be careful, lass."
Now this sounded like fun. "A dragon? I don't suppose you could use a few extra hands in taking something like that down?"
Quote:THE TITLE HAS BEEN CHANGED. Again.
GLAM's Magical Adventure [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Lubbock - 07-07-2015
These little men that just tromped into their cave... were they Dwarves? Lubbock quickly but clumsily pulled himself off the ground and readied his still sleepy legs. Did they really have to wake them up? And to add more confusion; where was Alain? He was supposed to be keeping guard right? When Mami turned to him and told him that when he was around, she was on her toes, he amazingly didn't go red. Instead, he replied.
"I would ask why that is, but I don't think it's the right time for questions," he told her with a grin. Thankfully it was Mami who began to speak to the small, stocky beings.
"Leave it to her, huh?" Syura said inside his head, "You're getting smarter and smarter every day," Lubbock was on the verge of blowing a fuse at the guy. Seriously, why did it have to be him who went insane?! Bringing his attention back to the situation, he noticed Alain sweeping into the cave, his red cloak billowing as he entered. Ah, thank goodness, he thought. Without warning, the little blond girl - Lubbock still wasn't even sure how old she was - began forming a kind of makeshift restaurant for the little men. This girl has no limits, does she? he wondered, grinning at his companion's capabilities.
Now that there was a crackling fire inside, Lubbock could understand Mami would be getting hot in that coat. She quickly strolled up to the green-haired boy and passed the green coat - nicely folded, something Lubbock never did - into his hands. She quietly went off after the two exchanged nods, and Lubbock placed the coat against the now basically thawed wall. The clothes he was in - a white shirt with a red collar, jeans and a pair of brown shoes - didn't really seem right for the occasion. I wonder if I can change my clothes using Omnillium, without going stark naked? he wondered. He didn't want to risk it though, so instead he went over to Gin and crouched down, whispering in his ear.
"I'm gonna check a little further into the cave, okay? Make sure the party doesn't get crazy without me," he told him with a little wink before strolling off towards his excuse to change.
-----
DURING THE BATTLE
Esdeath stood at the top of the mountains, watching the mortal combat down below unfold. The Trolls versus the Dwarves - interesting in the General's eyes. Nothing like a little bloodshed to liven up her frozen day. There were blunt weapons crushing bones and skulls, blades tearing through flesh and arrows and bolts piercing muscles and limbs. The blue-haired woman refrained from going down there and joining in the fun - it would be unfair on the group of Troll troops she had commandeered.
However, when a giant shadow flew over the mountaintop and down towards the battle, Esdeath couldn't help but smirk at the fact that the enticing battle was about to be rudely interrupted by the fire-breathing creature. Even so, she stayed upon her icy perch, extending out a pole of ice upon which she sat, directly above the fight. She saw the blasts of flame being emitted from the beast's mouth, scorching Dwarf and Troll alike. The smell of burnt flesh could be smelled from all the way up where Esdeath was, the heavy smoke drifting upwards.
It seemed the Dwarves were fleeing - they could barely see in the blizzard, making it hard to tell who was friend and who was foe. Esdeath watched their tiny legs carry them through the thick snow. I guess that's my cue, she told herself, and proceeded to leap off of her pole of ice, diving down towards the battle between the Trolls and the dragon. Four hundred feet, three hundred feet, two hundred feet... she could clearly feel the distance she was falling, her slim body piercing the air. One hundred feet, fifty feet... she formed a giant horn of ice in the air and stood upon it, gliding with it towards the ground. The giant horn pierced the ground between the fighters before shattering at Esdeath's command. She looked the dragon in the eyes, and fire began to boil within its throat.
"Cute," she said, before forming five icicles in a circle in front of her. The beast released, and the hot flames burst out at the General. However, all she did was grin as she sent the icicles at the ball of flame at a rapid rate, refreshing each icicle after its use. The flame was pushed back into the beast's mouth, and smoke burst out of its mouth, the dragon's eyes closing and passing out from backfire. Esdeath turned around to her troops, "We could use this one. Take it away," she commanded, the inhuman creatures doing her bidding.
I wonder... How much damage could this do to Dwarveholm? she wondered sadistically.
Ice-ing on the Cake (Gin/Lubbock/Alain/Mami) - Alain the Carnedge - 07-09-2015
The dwarves were a lively bunch. If anything, you had to praise their enthusiasm: went from dueling with trolls and a dragon to having a nice little party with the nearby adventurers, laughing about how this wasn't even the worst they'd been through. Gin and Mami seemed to be having a good time with the tiny men at least, but Lubbock had left to go deeper into the cave. The mercenary didn't particularly care about what he was doing, but if they ran into a monster the group would have some problems. So they got about 40 minutes before he went to investigate. Wampas apparently didn't kill quick, and it was just a tad unlikely there'd be a giant in the cave.
Alain himself was, for lack of a better word, lurking in the shadows as the crew enjoyed themselves. They were pretty noisy, but the blizzard outside would be more than enough to make sure no passing trolls heard them. The dwarves told stories of fighting some of the most dangerous beasts one could imagine to pass the time. Some tales may or may not have been entirely true, but they told the stories as if the tales were etched into their minds, so nobody bothered to question their credibility. The mercenary just kept to the side since the cave was now...rather crowded, and so keeping to himself seemed smart for the time being. He could ask questions later.
The leader of the dwarves, or who the mercenary assumed the leader was at least as he had the shiniest helmet, was having a nice chat with Mami before she left. Gin at least seemed to be enjoying the company. The guy also might have been drunk, but Alain couldn't tell seeing as he didn't drink. He also didn't know if Mami had even summoned alcohol, but considering how lively the dwarves were, it wouldn't be surprising if they had hid a bottle of whiskey in their helmets or something. Alain just opened his dataverse device and kept searching for something to do after this little adventure. Best to be prepared since death would likely be less lenient next time, and with how his luck was, a dragon would probably drop right outside as soon as they had left.
Meanwhile, the dwarves were discussing who had the best helmet and taking a few pints. One of them was also debating finally asking a cute girl he saw back at Dwarfholm out, but that is a slightly less interesting story. Back to the other guys, they were now taking bets on who was going to kill that dragon. And who killed the most trolls. Thankfully it hadn't escalated to the point where the cave was filled with alcohol and vomit. It was also slightly unlikely to, seeing as they weren't in Dwarfholm where they could get the booze they needed for such a thing, though killing a few trolls with slight casualties was still worth celebrating to them.
Though, the dwarves were rather nice regardless of their distinct lack of average manners. Aside from a few friendly jabs at attire, they all seemed like that outgoing friend who would go to any party he was invited to, see if you wanna come, and probably come back totally wasted when you'x decline. Urist had kept away from the others for a brief moment to discuss their problems with Mami, then joined in the party with everyone else. Naturally, the group had brought some supplies of their own, about as much as you'd expect for when you were hunting dragons, so after there wasn't much left of what had been summoned, the dwarves had dragged their bags into the cave to keep everyone happy and make sure that Mami wasn't too overworked with requests. They were nice enough for that, at least.
And back to Alain...
The mercenary felt kinda like a bouncer. Just kind of there to make sure the party doesn't get out of hand. He never really was one for parties, actually. At least not parties in a cave when he could summon practically anything he desired at a moment's notice, and especially not with people small enough that if he sat down, they still probably wouldn't be eye level with him. Though he'd sorted his plans for what to do after this adventure at least. Get to the "Void", and you get to Omni. Gates are rumored to be around in nearly every Verse, etcetera. Sounded interesting at least, and giving Omni a high-five or a punch in the face sounded like fun. Wouldn't be easy, but he hadn't counted on it. Though this party wasn't over yet, the mercenary just had to hope it didn't actually get too crazy or the death he planned ahead for might have came a lot quicker than he'd first anticipated.
Who gave him alcohol? [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Gin Yatreg - 07-17-2015
"An' thas tha story..." he takes another swig, " of how I defeated the giant *hic* slime beast of antioch!" Gin says, now drunk as hell thanks to the dwarves letting him have some of their liquor. "Unfort- *hic* Unfortunately.... after tha whole mess, I was never able to *hic* see Mister *hic* Stay Puft even again!" He said. "Even... *hic* EVEN NOW! *hic* I still search for that *hic* wonderful and fluffy ma- *hic* person. So that I may THANK HIM." he finished.
The boy's eyes drifted and gazed upon the drunken dwarves of dwarfholm that surrounded the dwindling fire, manly dwarven tears had welled up in their eyes. Finally one of them spoke, "Well, anyone else wanna share a storeh?" he asked.
"Aye, I 'ave one." one dwarf said, the others turning to face him. "'Ave ye ever heard...of the Frozen Catacombs of Dwarfholm? Some think tha' they ah only a story, a fun tale teh learn and forget about later."
One of the dwarfs scoffs, "Aye, because they are a tale. Dwarfholm's only a few years old, Dargo."
The dwarf telling the story just smiles and replies with; "Well ye wrong about tha' one Brogar. Because I've seen them before, an' they ain't no dwarfs-tale." the dwarf stops and takes a drink of this liquor and continues his story, "Aye, I seen them alright. But ye won't be catchin' ME goin' back in thar' again. Not after what we saw down thar." The dwarf paused, his face grew dark, his memories of the catacombs were obviously things he wish he could forget.
"Wha' happened down there? Wha' are the catacombs?" Gin asked innocently, not knowing anything about what they were talking about.
Dargo took a deep breath, "I guess I'll 'ave to explain then."
***
"As I hope ye know, us dwarves are the minin' sort. Course we also do other things, but its mainly the minin'. Anyways, we built our home inside o' tunnels we dug out ourselves. But o' course when diggin', ye 'ave to watch out fer air pockets and the like. During the construction of an extension to Dwarfholm, one ah the workers broke into an air pocket an' fell in. Tha' worker just so happened ta be me. What I found down there was a bunch a large tunnels, each one seemed ta be carved out by somethin massive. Against ma better judgement, I decided ta try and explore these tunnels. I was thinkin' we could use them for Dwarfholm, maybe move everyone inta these instead. But when I took the second or so turn, I stumbled upon something I woulda never believe'd if ya told meh. It was a group o' dragons. But there was somethin' odd about these, they seemed almost spirit-like. Like I could swing an axe at one o' them and not hit anything!"
"That's cause ye can't swing an axe te save yer life ya drunken oaf!" a dwarf chimed in, interrupting the story.
***
"Ye want ta say that again Gorm? I'm a fantastic axe-man!" Dargo shouted in protest.
"Aye, in ye dreams matey!" Gorm said back, before balling in laughter.
"Ah stow it ya harpy kow. Ey, where'd dat human go?" Dargo asked, realizing Gin seemed to have vanished.
"He said somethin' about a bath and wandered off around the time ye said 'spirit-like'." Brogar answered.
"Was' a bath?" Dargo asked.
~~~~
"Helloooooooo! Anybody *hic* in here?" Gin shouted as he walked deeper into the cave. "*hic* Whoaaaa, I feel... dizzy... I wonder how far Lub- *hic* Lub- *hic* that green haired guy went in here. *hic* Oh no! *hic* What if he fell in a hole an- *hic* and can't get out! HANG ON LU- *hic* LUBBOCK! I'LL SAVE YEH!" Gin shouted, and he took off on a run into the cave.
Quote:Lub can write about Gin meeting him, as for the dwarfs, you guys can do what ya want!
Re: The Tale of Many Names [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Mami Tomoe - 07-30-2015
"Ye don't look fit for fightin', lass, but 'ts kind of ye to take us in like this" was Urist's response. Mami's immediate reaction was to jump to her feet, send two ribbons flying from her sleeves towards a pair of stalagmites across the room from one another, wrap the ribbons around them and then around Urist. In but a moment, Urist was a few feet above the ground, bound tightly by bright yellow ribbons. Mami then offered a curtsy, and from her skirt came a pair of muskets which she picked up in a twirl. The room had gone satisfyingly quiet as her spectacle was taken in by the dwarves, some of which were reaching for their weapons.
"I'm sorry, but if I'm not fit for battle, how could you possibly be, either?"
Urist sighed. "I see yer point, lass. Now, let me down from this. Th' colour's too bright, it's hurtin' my eyes," he complained as he struggled and squirmed in the clutches of the ribbons. Mami gladly did as he said, dispelling the ribbons, then tossing the muskets into the air and watching as the ribbons that made them unraveled. They landed behind her like golden streamers as she sat down again with Urist. The dwarves, too, uneasily got back to what they were doing, though it soon seemed as if nothing had ever happened between the two.
Just as Mami was about to start talking again, Gin stumbled by drunkenly, going farther into the cave from the looks of things. Come to think of it, Lubbock had gone that way not long ago, hadn't he? Gin seemed to be hollering something unintelligible as his shabby bumbling went to a drunken charge. Drunken... Maybe it wasn't a good idea to summon alcohol. Wait, had she summoned alcohol? She hadn't thought so, but maybe...
Shrugging off what she did and didn't summon and whether or not it was legal, Mami rose and started following where she assumed Gin had gone. It was unusually dark where the two had gone, but Mami could make out what was just in front of her. A little bit, but it seemed to be enough. Before too long spent wandering, she could vaguely see a head of red hair ahead of her, but not much else. It kept waving from side to side, and its owner clearly didn't have a great sense of balance, at least not at the moment... So it was safe to assume it was Gin.
"I'll savya, Luberk! Juss'wait..." Gin hollered as unclearly as Mami could imagine, leaving her to wonder if what she assumed he was saying actually was what he was trying to say. It definitely wasn't a good idea to give him alcohol, Mami thought, in case she needed to remember.
And her thoughts were interrupted by Gin falling face-down on the ground. Mami let out a little gasp and ran over to him, stumbling a little in the dark. "What did you drink that left you like this?" she wondered aloud as she backpedaled him to one of the walls of the cave. She plopped him down on the floor of the cave with his back to the wall, then sighed. How would she find Lubbock if she even had trouble getting into the dark in the first place? She could always summon some kind of light, but what if it took too long and something bad happened? She didn't even know where he was, or if he was well... And based on how Gin was talking, she was worried. Even if he wasn't exactly in the most sober of mindsets. With yet another sigh, she turned around with her eyes shut lazily...
"Hi, Mami," Lubbock chimed as she opened her eyes. "What happened to--..." The moss-haired boy seemed to stop himself as he looked at Mami's expression - Shocked beyond belief was the first thing that Mami imagined had come to his mind. "You look like you just saw a ghost," he started again.
The Magical Girl responded, "No, I saw you. Where were you? Gin stumbled back here to find you. Though he doesn't seem to be entirely... With us," she explained rather concernedly, gesturing at a now-sleeping Gin. "I told Gin I was just going a little farther into the cave. Though I guess whether or not he told you doesn't matter because he's like this. And if what you said was true, then he didn't tell you..."
"It would've been nice if someone had told me," went Alain's voice as footsteps came closer in the dark. Despite his words, he didn't sound too irritated. A click echoed in the cave and a bright light came in Mami's direction - As she adjusted to the light and started squinting, she realized Alain was holding a flashlight. It felt a little silly, in hindsight, deciding not to summon one. "Oh! Well, now that everyone's here, it would be a good idea to ask--" Mami started with a smile. "How about we hunt ourselves a dragon? I was talking with the dwarves about one, and I offered our help. Now, I'm willing to help out alone, but if you guys are up for it, I'm sure they'd be glad to have you."
Gin regained consciousness and, with a smile and a brief time spent relatively sober, he cheered, "DRAGON HUNTING! DRAGON HUNTING! YEAAAAAAAAAH!" His head slumped down again and his eyes shut as he began snoring loudly. Lubbock chimed in next and decided, "It sounds like fun. Why not?" And, as it seemed the general consensus was 'yes', Mami turned her attention and golden eyes to Alain. "It could be interesting. And with all four of us, it can't go too badly. Sure."
"Great! Then let's go do it!... After we tell the dwarves. And figure out where the dragon is. I didn't work that part out yet," Mami explained.
Quote:Apologies for being a general asshat these past few days when it comes to posting. Though, in my defense, I had my post finished at one point, and then my browser closed and I lost all my changes. Said changes were about a half hour's worth of editing.
Regardless, it's finished now~. My God, dwarf-speak feels awkward. ;.;
A Capricious Journey [Gin/Alain/Mami] - Lubbock - 07-31-2015
Lubbock sat down in the dark against the hard cave wall. He shut his eyes firmly and visualised a set of casual clothes. A set of black track-pants, some sneakers, a white t-shirt with blue sleeves and his favourite cap for good measure. He felt the glowing material work around him, swapping out his combat-oriented gear for his casual clothing. After a few minutes, he glanced down and saw all of his clothes intact and saw his cap in his crossed lap. Picking it up and slipping it on backwards, he stood up and was about to check further into the cave, but was interrupted by a very, very tipsy voice calling down the cavern, "LUBBOCK! I'LL SAVE YEH!"
Damnit, Gin, I said not to- Lubbock began to complain in his head, but he didn't get to finish his train of thought as the red-headed drunk collapsed onto the stone floor. He began to rush in and help, but help was already on the way as a head of bouncy, golden locks arrived at the scene and dragged the poor bastard to safety. A smile played across Lubbock's lips and he pounced over to the other side of the cavern, further into the shadows.
He tiptoed around Mami and Gin before hiding behind a rock. She seemed to be busy thinking, so Lubbock took his chance and approached her from behind. As she spun around, Lubbock put his face a little closer to hers and awaited for her eyes to open. When they did, his response was ready, "Hey Mami," he said calmly before leaning back a little. He began to question Gin's situation before he looked at the absolutely stunned and somewhat unimpressed expression on Mami's face, "You look like you've just seen a ghost," he told her.
"No, I saw you," was her reply, and Lubbock felt a little ashamed, scratching the back of his head in mild embarrassment. She mentioned that Gin came looking for him, and he explained that he'd told the drunkard that he was going to explore...
But the moment was soon interrupted by another male's voice and the two turned to see Alain in the entrance to the cavern, holding a flashlight out and catching Lubbock right in the eyes. He put his hand to his eyes and signaled for Alain to lower the light and the latter did so swiftly. Mami mentioned fighting dragons, and that caught Lubbock's attention. Surprisingly, the drunkard at their feet woke up for but a moment to voice his utterly enthusiastic opinion on the matter before dropping like a rock again. Lubbock agreed of course, and Alain seemed to be slightly hesitant to agree, but it didn't seem to be because he didn't want to work with them.
Mami realised she hadn't thought over the 'finding the dragon' part of the operation. Thankfully, that was already something Lubbock had planned ahead for.
"My dragon should be able to find its mortal brethren just fine," Lubbock made an attempt at sounding sophisticated, but was unsure whether it worked or not, "If worst comes to worst and we can't find a dragon, we'll... uh... use Gin as live bait! That'll do it!"
Unfavourably, Gin awoke right at that moment for the second time in the span of two minutes and spoke in his still slightly intoxicated tone, "Pardon *hic* Lubbock? What was *hic* that?" he asked, a disappointed look on his slack face. Lubbock and Mami quickly turned to the boy and made a 'nothing happened' gesture while Alain placed a hand over his hidden eyes in shame.
All Bark, No Frostbite (Gin/Alain/Mami/Lubbock) - Alain the Carnedge - 08-01-2015
Alain, being the most social and outgoing person in the cave, was still checking the Dataverse in the shadows as Gin was starting to stumble further in to find Lubbock. Mami's brief display had distracted everybody who was still slightly sober, but the dwarves tossed their weapons back into a pile in the corner and went back to their drinks after seeing that their leader was completely unperturbed by the situation. Alain took a quick look into Mami's powers using his analysis magic since he had forgot to do so previously, and made note of her abilities just in case.
He then closed his phone, put it in a pocket in his cloak, and started to summon a flashlight. Gin had wandered in already, so if a giant was lurking in the depths of the cave, the danger of someone dying seemed far greater since Drunk Gin may or may not have been all that useful in a fight. Though that didn't stop him from taking three minutes to summon a flashlight, naturally. The mercenary still had a contingency plan in case he died, but he'd prefer getting beat to death by trolls rather than tripping over his shoelaces and breaking his head on a rock.
After summoning the flashlight, he noticed Mami was gone and assumed she'd followed the others further in. So he activated his invisibility and proceeded, making sure not to turn on the flashlight yet. It was dark, but could've been worse, and if there was something lurking in the depths, it was better to get the drop on it. Fortunately he heard Lubbock and Mami having a discussion and decided to interrupt them, deactivating the invisibility first. "It would've been nice if someone had told me." He said, turning on the flashlight and intentionally shining the light into Lubbock's eyes for a few seconds because he thought it'd be amusing.
Lowering the flashlight when Lubbock gestured for him to, the mercenary then went silent as he listened to and considered Mami's proposal. Fighting a dragon could be amusing, but he could also die. His train of thought was slightly interrupted by Gin yelling his own approval, but the surprising amount of energy that he had made the mercenary recall that he was immortal...or immortal so long as he interested Omni. But fighting a dragon seemed pretty interesting, so there wasn't much to lose.
"It could be interesting. And with all four of us, it can't go too badly. Sure." He said, hesitating for a mere moment. Mami and Lubbock had a brief chat about finding the dragon, and while Alain was thinking of a petty comment to make about Lubb's choice of clothing, they suggested using Gin as bait for the beast. At which point Gin immediately got up, spoke his mind about Lubbock's suggestion, and there was stunned silence for a good few seconds.
The mercenary was starting to wish that he hadn't followed. Hunting a dragon was fine, even if treading through the blizzard was going to be a gigantic pain. But then Gin woke up and the entire conversation suddenly turned incredibly awkward. Similar to a scene in a movie where the characters are placed in an absurdly embarrassing situation and it hurt to even watch. Only it wasn't a movie, and it hurt even more than it usually would. So Alain did his best to steer it away from the topic of using Gin as bait. The guy hopefully wouldn't even remember what they said soon enough. "Anyway, we should go. Something dangerous could be further in."
Lubbock apparently caught on, and decided to play along. "Yeah, the uh, dwarves might be wondering where we've gone." It took the trio a few more seconds to realize that Gin had fell asleep again. Alain shook his head to nobody in particular and threw Mami the flashlight. "I'll go inform the dwarves that we've agreed to fight the dragon, you should probably..." He glanced at the red-headed drunk. "...help him back up?" He suggested. Mami opened her mouth to say something, but the mercenary really wanted out of the situation ASAP, so he ran back up the way he came before she could finish.
Alain rose from the darkness dramatically and was met with the unflattering sight of the dwarves either sleeping, or bickering over who had the sharpest axe and who could tell the most amazing or dangerous tale. He sighed out of exasperation. This really wasn't an improvement. The mercenary turned to take a step back into the depths of the cave in hopes that the dwarves would run out of liquor by the time he got back, but got interrupted by one of the dwarves. "Oi."
Turning back around, thoroughly annoyed at the drunks and making a mental note to never serve alcohol at any party that he might host, Alain came face to face with Urist. "Can I help you?" He inquired. "Aye. Where be the lass an' the others?" The dwarf said. Alain pointed behind himself, deeper into the cave. "Helping our buddy back up. We've all agreed to fight the dragon, by the way. Lubbock, more specifically the green-haired guy, says that he might be able to find it." The mercenary answered.
He couldn't tell whether or not the Urist was smiling or snarling due to the beard, but the dwarf spoke fine nonetheless, accent notwithstanding. "Kind o' ye to offer. I din't think some o' ye would be fit fo' fightin', but the lass proved capable." The dwarf stretched and picked up his warhammer with strength that seemed unreal for a person of his size. "If yer sure, then I'll gather me men and wait for ye." Urist walked off to gather his men as Lubbock and Mami dragged Gin back up from the depths of the cave. "Please tell me he's sober."
Requiem for a Gin [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Gin Yatreg - 08-09-2015
Supporting Gin with his arms wrapped around their necks, Lubbock and Mami escorted him back to the makeshift den that they had created.
"--I mean you would think a midget *hic* wouldn't fit into one of those, but with a little work you ca--"
"Please tell me he's sober" Alain asked, cutting Gin off.
Mami and Lubbock shook their heads and set Gin down against a wall. "Yeeeah, I think we outta wait a bit before heading out. I doubt he'll be of much use like this." Lubbock said with a sigh.
"Hey who're ya callin' a sober yah . . . red . . . riding hood!" Gin mumbled in his drunken state.
Alain placed a hand on his forehead and sighed, "Yeah he seems to have had too much gin.", he paused to let the pun sink in. He then turned his gaze over to Urist at the other side of the room, "Is it alright if we wait a night, Urist?" he shouted over to the dwarf.
"Aye, but the longer we wait, the harder it'll be to find tha dragon again." Urist said
Alain turned back to his party members, "Well, you heard the dwarf. Wanna just leave Gin here?"
At that moment, Gin sprung to his feet. "Don't even think about leaving me out of a dragon hunt!" he shouted, with a startlingly sober tone.
The group stared at Gin, confused as to how he sobered up so quickly. Gin looked around at saw everyone staring at him, "What's everyone staring at?" he asked innocently.
Mami spoke first, "Gin, how are already sober?" she asked.
"Oh, that? There was an. . . accident back home." the boy paused and made a slight frown as he thought of home and the state he left it in. He continued, "And one of the side effects was that it sped up my metabolism. Why do you think I eat so much?"
"But...that's not..." Alain tried to say, at a loss for words.
"Come on guys! Let's go bag us a dragon!" Gin shouted as he ran off to wake up Tonic.
"There is something very wrong with that boy." Alain thought.
"Oh, and don't think I forgot about that using me as bait comment!" Gin shouted at them from the other side of the room.
Lubbock gave a nervous laugh and shrugged it off before following Gin over to where Tonic and his Dragon were currently napping. Alain and Mami followed suit, moving to their own areas of the cave to get ready for the groups expedition into the wild winter wonderland where wrathful wyverns wait.
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Lubbock - 08-20-2015
Quote:Mami couldn't think of how to progress, so I offered to write an Esdeath post to link up. If you guys like, skip my turn
General Esdeath marched her grotesque, green-skinned troops up the chilled hill, the entire parade reminiscent of an army of ants making their way through a mountain of sugar. The fire-breathing lizard they (or more accurately the General herself) had subdued not minutes before trundled through the snow behind them on a makeshift trolley, crafted from that strange ‘Omnillium’ mineral Esdeath had yet to wrap her head around. Of course, the azure-haired General didn’t leave without dropping off some reconnaissance troops to make sure there weren’t any… ‘safe houses’ nearby. She strutted out the front, left hand pushing downwards on her rapier as the cold wind beat against the cold-hearted woman.
The sound of a heavy object rushing through the frozen mounds caught Esdeath’s ear, and she spun around, blade outstretched, only to find it was the small Troll she had sent back to tail the tiny men. The little creature’s mouth ran like a motor, “G-General, th-there i-is a cave n-near the p-place the D-Dwarves r-retreated!” it stuttered. A sadistic grin played along the General’s lips. She was about to have some fun. She turned back to the lead Troll of the parade and gave him a commanding nod to take the dragon back to their ‘headquarters’. The little monster nodded back and began shouting in its native language to the others, while Esdeath rushed off, holding tightly onto her hat.
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She skidded to a stop, sending the chilly whiteness flying through the equally chilled air. Her view turned to the small hidey-hole in the mountain face. The monster was right, she mused. Once her eyes focused, she noticed the cave walls were bright, a flame blazing within, shadows flickering and dancing on the icy wall. It took her sheer willpower to refrain from laughing out loud. Instead, she forced her murderous intent into a dozen or two icicles around her; not from the snow, from thin air. It didn’t seem like more than freezing the cold air, but that was something to save for another day. She fired the cold spears into the cave, ricocheting them off of the curved wall, and she listened to the roars of rage and screams of ice-cold pain as she machine-gunned the icicles.
However, something caught her eye… a bob of green hair popped out of the cavern for a moment, wearing a pair of red goggles and swinging around a set of wires like whips. Her face fell as recognition dawned on her – it was one of the members of Night Raid; an Imperial Arms user like herself. She dashed off, back towards her Troll army, just before a set of prominent, blond curls came running from the cave mouth.
Seems like I have more than one problem on my hands, she pondered, running as fast as her legs would take her.
Re: Ain't Cutting no Ice [Gin/Alain/Mami/Jack Mitchell] - Mami Tomoe - 09-05-2015
Quote:MAMMERS DID A POST. Good? Not? I'll let you decide.
Also, apologies for... Erm... Doing jack-shit recently. ;.;
In a matter of minutes, the ribbony picnic area that the cave had once been was turned into a war room, or at least Mami's version of one: A room dominated by a large, round, dark wooden table with a square ribbon-woven blanket draped over it, exposing a small amount of the table beneath. Sprawled out over the ribbon blanket was a large piece of parchment-like paper with innumerable arrows, letters, numbers and other markings all over it, drawn on by pens and markers and even quills of various colours by everyone in the room. It had seen so many revisions and adjustments that, at this point, it seemed barely even legible. And so the Magical Girl decided to start things fresh, and since summoning a new piece of paper as large as it was would take a little longer than was ideal, she simply flipped the paper over (With some assistance from people in each end of the table).
"I'll begin again by proposing this," Mami started, twirling a golden felt-tip pen between her fingers, stopping when it reached her thumb and pointer finger. She quickly scrawled down some circles, a few arrows curved and straight alike, along with a large oval labeled "Fig. D".
"The plan consists of Figures A, B and C, to the left of, directly in front of and to the right of Figure D respectively. Figure B, headed by myself, will distract the dragon as I ensure it stays grounded. I'll be doing so with ribbons held in place by some of Figures A and C at the neck and just below the wings, along with saturation fire from my muskets at the dragon's wings. If all goes well, the dragon will be forced to stand its ground and fight. It'll be subject to the best we can do, but since we'll be taking away its ability to play defense, we'll be subject to its worst too. Lubbock, I'm putting you in charge of keeping the dragon's mouth shut, so if this thing can breathe fire, you'll make sure that's not a problem. Alain and Gin, you'll be leading asymmetrical attacks on the dragon's sides once the dragon's wings are crippled and you can let go of the ribbons. Are we clear? If not, does anyone have any objections?"
It was clear this was not thought of as a flawless plan. It was even more clear that many of those at the round-table discussion had objections, but after a long time spent trying to formulate some kind of a solid plan, not much had come that was a better idea. There had yet to be an idea to which none objected, and a time would come when the group would need to take action. They couldn't just stay in the cave forever.
"...I understand it's far from perfect. But I don't know how much better of a plan we could get." What Mami was saying was the truth - She wasn't entirely sure what she was getting into, and talking strategy when it came to such a large creature was... Worrysome. Not to mention Mami rarely employed strategy as a Magical Girl, mostly due to the fact that the labyrinths of a Witch weren't exactly predictable.
"I don't think we're alone," interrupted Lubbock with one eye trained on the cave's entrance. His expression was some sort of odd mixture of irritation and sickness, though there was a sort of strength in how he handled the two emotions. "Of course we're not alone. The dwarves--"
Before Mami could say anything more, the head of mossy hair was gone. Without another word, Mami bolted after him. He stared out the cave entrance, where she saw a figure in the distance through the snow, someone she had never seen before, who she didn't think was familiar in any way.
"We need to get ready. We're going to have a bigger problem on our hands than just a dragon soon," Lubbock said to the girl with flaxen hair. And, with that, the pair returned to the cave again.