Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

"A-ah...", he says, unable to hide some slight relief at that answer. He then gets hugged, and after an awkward 3 or so seconds he hugs her back.

"Doin' fine as always, mom.", he says, smiling. "And, uh, sorry about that. I've been kinda busy."

edited 24th Jul '17 1:21:01 PM by DevilPsyco

"I'm just worried, you answer the calls but this place is dangerous even for you."

He chuckles a bit.

"Yeah, it's a lot more dangerous for me than it is for you and Sandra, that's for sure, but you don't need to worry. I know how to keep myself out of fights."

Sandra, no doubt used to how timid Niko usually is and sounds, should notice that Niko's way of speaking has become a bit less reserved than it used to be.

There's also something off about the map he's holding. A few locations appear to have been marked with X's.

edited 24th Jul '17 1:31:31 PM by DevilPsyco

She notices but smiles, thinking that he's growing out of his shell.

"Marking spots for your pirate treasure, Niko ?"

Niko seems slightly confused at her smile, but figures she just feels reassured about what he said.

He then throws a hasty glance at his map when she points out the X's.

"Um... well..."

He looks back at Sarah, quickly smiling again.

"Y'see... I, um... I'm... marking the spots that demon seems to spend a lot of time in. Y'know, the demon who attacked those two kids before we took in for a while? I've been kind of studying it, and when I'm done, I can hand out this map to people so that they'll know to stay away from these places. Then there's less chance of it attacking people again."

"If it bothers you that much, I can smite it or ask Wanda to seal it."

"It's nice that you're helming out the people here though !"

"If something mess with my family or my family's friends, it'll have to go through me, though."

edited 24th Jul '17 1:44:37 PM by Bolded1

Niko scratches the back of his head.

"I'm not sure... I don't think confronting it is a good idea. I know you're one of the most powerful people in... probably everywhere, but we don't know how strong that demon is, and I don't want you to get hurt. Same for Wanda, who I think is busy with a lot of things right now, isn't she? I think it's better to leave it alone for minimal risk at casualties and only fight it if it tries to attack us.", he says, sounding pretty strategic as he's talking. Then he goes back to smiling.

"Well, I mean... better to make sure nobody has to go through what those kids went through, right?"

edited 24th Jul '17 1:49:19 PM by DevilPsyco

"Worst come to worst, I can teleport. But it's nice to worry about your old mother."

She winks playfully.

"Wanda is a busy woman, yes. She couldn't catch a break to save her life."

"That's a noble gesture, Niko. Do you want me to at least help with that ?"

"You don't really look old to me, mom.", Niko says, smirking a little playfully in return to her wink. A gesture he doesn't show often, but still occasionally, when he's in a really good mood. "Then again, nobody in our family looks old at all, huh?"

He starts to roll up the map so that he can put it away, and continues to talk while doing so.

"Yeah, that's also why we don't see her often, I guess. Makes me kind of wonder what sort of stuff she's up to all the time."

He then visibly ponders.

"Well... maybe, since you can teleport and I can't... or at least I don't think I can... once I've finished my map, you could spread it around quickly to people."

"The wonder of technology."

She shrugs.

"Magic probably. I'm not really knowledgeable with the mystic arts."

"Gladly !"

"I am. Kind of. I've read about magic a ton back at home.", Niko says. "Remember, I used to read a lot whenever Sandra was sparring with you or dad..."

There's something off about the way he said that sentence, but it's not really clear what that is. Though his smile seemed to slightly strain for a second as he said it...

"Ah, thanks mom! That'll help a lot.", he then happily says, sounding normal again like nothing had happened. Perhaps his words sounding off was just imagination? At no point in his life has he ever shown a strained smile before after all.

edited 24th Jul '17 2:09:09 PM by DevilPsyco

"She was annoyed about it."

She looks like she'll smile again but then she looks at him a bit oddly.

"Ho,,I'm glad to help !"

She smiles again

Niko looks a little confused again.

"Huh? Sandra? Was she annoyed by me reading? Why?", he asks as he puts the map away. He then continues to look confused, but this time it's because of Sarah's odd look at him. He's about to ask if something's wrong, but her smiling again seems to reassure him.

edited 24th Jul '17 2:14:17 PM by DevilPsyco

"Ho... you know, she wanted you to join in the training."

Niko blinks, looking genuinely surprised.

"She did? I..."

He glances away for a second and starts to look unsure, an expression Sarah's surely seen plenty of times on his face whether or not he himself is aware of it.

"I honestly always had a feeling that I was slowing her down, since she's much stronger than me."

"You both bear the same potential. It's up to you to awaken it."

"And you're no slowing her down, dont worry, you're able to... somewhat help her not to make reckless choices.

"... I haven't really noticed much of my potential to be honest. I haven't gotten any stronger in years, not even while being here, so I can't chalk it up to inactivity.", Niko says. He tries to smile again, and has relative success in doing so.

"Well, I guess being able to help her not run straight at deadly enemies is a plus.", he says, sounding a little amused, so at least he's cheering up again.

"Indeed for the running part !"

She laughs a bit.

"You do have potential, you're Demo and me's son. You can become much greater than I am;"

Now Niko laughs a bit as well.

"Now you're exaggerating, mom.", he says, looking pretty amused again. "I don't think neither me or Sandra can ever be that strong."

He glances down for a second or two after that, then smiles at her.

"... But I really appreciate that you have faith in me.", he says. He then moves in for a hug.

"I'm sure that you can."

She hugs him.

Niko snickers a bit.

"The day I actually surpass you is the day I'll eat Uncle Argo's pretty awful tasting goulash-soup hybrid willingly."

Yeah, there's no doubt that he's all cheered up again.

edited 24th Jul '17 2:50:44 PM by DevilPsyco

She laughs. "Haha, that would be a rare day indeed !"

When the hug eventually stops, Niko glances behind him at the tower.

"... Well, I guess I should continue marking my map soon. I think I've gotten most of the areas the demon likes to reside in, so this shouldn't take that much longer. Maybe... a few weeks? This place is pretty big..."

She frowns a bit. "i really can't let you just get around there so much, Niko. Just now, I can see and hear giant robots across the continents."

edited 24th Jul '17 3:03:30 PM by Bolded1

Niko looks in the direction of the continent the robots are on, though he naturally can't see them.

"Yeah, I've noticed them a few times before, but the demon doesn't go in that direction. It's probably intimidated by the sheer amount of numbers they have. So I won't be going in that direction either."

He looks back at Sarah.

"You don't have to be worried. You know I'm quick on my feet, so when it looks like danger is headed my way, I'll get out of there as fast as I can."