Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

He keeps walking, but ponders a little.

Truth to be told, he was excepting her to ask if he was okay with having to fight his family. And he had to admit that he would've been screwed with it. To ask him to kill a man was a thing at this point. Grim, but excepted. But having to witness or assist in the death of his friends and family...

But at the same time, he couldn't betray the prince and Grima...

When called out, however, he cheer up and join the group, walking up to them faster.

Apologies for my slightly delay. he declares. I look forward to working with you, Lord Lekain. With your help and Lord Naesala, my safety is guaranteed.

Though I guarantee that it shall go as according to plan. he assures.

Edited by Bolded1 on Sep 18th 2019 at 11:03:01 AM

"Still as well mannered as when we met.", Lekain says, definitely pleased with that.

"We will be launching an attack on the merchant and her allies soon. It'll be a bit of a test, so I will be there to witness everything, albeit from a distance. Yours and Naesala's jobs will be to observe with me, as well as keep me safe. It is of the utmost importance that I survive this mission."

He chuckles.

"The attack will happen in a few days. Prince Julius' Falcon Knights have deduced the most likely path that the merchant will take. If she follows the predicted path, she will be open to attack within those few days."

"You may use this time to rest, possibly train, and get ready.", Julius says. "Now, keep in mind. Regardless of the success of our attack force, Lekain has to return alive. If the situation turns dire, this is your highest priority over anything or anyone else. Alright?"

Very well. I shall observe and witness the combat. It will give me an opportunity to see what I'm up against.

When the subject of protection come up, he nod.

Do not worry. I'm very zealous when it come to keeping allies alive. he "warns". If it is my task, then I shall do anything in my capacity to ensure that is it fulfilled.

Niagara kind of scratch the tip of his nose, casually enough.

Edited by Bolded1 on Sep 18th 2019 at 11:15:13 AM

"Excellent. In that case, I will leave you to your preparations.", Julius says. After that, he nods to them both and walks away.

Lekain nods back to him as a goodbye, then turns to Niagara.

"I shall return to my quarters as well, for the sake of preparation."

Then, I shall do the same. It was a pleasure.

He bows, and start to leave, putting the helmet back on along the way. In spite of the helmet's intimidating perma-glare, he has a pretty dopey, proud smile underneath.

Lekain nods to him as well. Once he's on his own, he chuckles and looks at the piece of paper he was showing Julius.

"And his loyalty, too, will be tested. I wonder, how will he react once he knows what this is?", Lekain smirks, then takes off.

Dimitri expects the attack this time, Rolling out of the way just in time to avoid the slimy slam from the Brachidios. He'd back up and down a vulenary to recover from that last injury, before yelling to claude. "Claude, fire a shot at this one! Byleth and edelgard have the Glavenus handled!"

Claude would keep his smug grin, snapping his aim over towards the Brachidios, firing the shot, then doing a backflip while firing another, midair. "Claude Von Riegan has you covered, Dimitri!" What a showoff.

In the meanwhile, Byleth would be in the process of assisting with the glavenus issue, choosing to instead move in with a normal Steel sword as to conserve the durability of the sword of the creator.

Edelgard would attempt to dodge the attack, but would take it head on, being sent flying by the hit. Some of her men would also be hit, their morale taking a blow as well. She'd get up, and would move in for a brutal swing with her axe... Something would begin to shimmer behind edelgard as she moves in to strike.

Brachydios jumps over Claude's shot, sailing clean through the air with impossible grace and swiftness. It lands fist-firsts right in front of Claude and its slime causes the ground to explode in his face, trying to blow the ranged attacker away.

Glavenus turns its back to Edelgard and responds to her attack with a downward smash with its tail. Her axe cuts a gash into its tail, but it seems not to mind.

Reyna fires her Clutch Claw into the side of Glavenus' right leg, grappling onto it.

Shadow, in contrast, seems a bit dejected by Tahn's observation, and he frowns.

   "Tsk...I really wish you hadn't reminded me..."   

He tilts his head, looking curious.

   "Well, not with that mood...while that outlook is certainly humble, it's also rather saddening. How so?"   

   "Well..."    he says, looking thoughtful.    "...now that I think of it..."   

He smiles.

   "...yes. You did, in fact, allow Hinawa to see Lucas so that they could spend Christmas together, after all."   

He then raises an eyebrow.

   "Really? Hm...well, I can't say I'm disappointed, no. If anything, it just adds another layer to your character. You hide it really well...hm."   

He smirks.

The immortal duo exchanges another glance upon Hisoka's remark, and, upon his quick card trick, Lucien cocks his head to the side and, without breaking his gaze, produces the cards from his pocket, gives them a glance over, and looks back to Hisoka, presenting him with the cards and giving the faintest trace of a smile.

"Impressive..."

Grymm takes on a confused expression.

   "Eh? I didn't say nothing about a Zodar..."   

Lucien gently nudges Grymm with his elbow.

"I do believe he said 'Botar', friend."

Grymm blinks, and then claps his hand to his face, groaning.

   "Right! I must have more cobwebs in my head than usual...yes, the big celestial construct fella'. He's the one you want."   

He grins.

   "You be sure to tell him Mister Grymm sentcha'!"   

Whiterun

Kibutsuji Muzan stalks the streets at night, taking in the sights and sounds.

He stops and sees a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl standing in front of him, hair obscuring her face.

   "... Hmmm."   

She holds up one hand in greeting.

Before they can do anything else, however, a young blonde woman stumbles her way onto the scene. "Uhp! Ano..."

Muzan's gaze slides over to her without turning his head, while the ghost girl does the exact opposite, her neck audibly snapping as her head twists unnaturally far to look.

There is a moment of stunned silence before she continues. "H-hajimemashite. Mearii Haato desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Sono wa... Dare desu ka?"

Muzan averts his glance.    "Your Japanese is subpar. Keep talking like that and you'll embarrass yourself."   

The blonde lets out a sigh. "Thank God. I'm Mary Hart. Who are you?"

   "Kibutsuji Muzan. You're not Japanese, are you?"   

"No, I'm from the United States. Arizona, to be exact."

   "... I've barely ever interacted with anyone from the States. So, Mary, can I... help you?"   

"Well... I just wanted to know where I was?"

   "I barely know more than you. Run along before you start sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."   

"O-okay. Thank you!" Mary runs off.

Muzan turns his attention back to the ghost girl, who also turns to him.    "And you are...?"   

   <unintelligible>   

   "I see. That is a strange name to me. I would ask if you are from the States like her, but you look to be a demon or onryō, so that wouldn't make sense."   

   <unintelligible>   

   "Really? What a fascinating story, Erma. While I'd love to know more about how that happened, I'm afraid I have to leave before sunrise. Farewell."    Muzan pulls his hat over his eyes as he departs, leaving Erma there alone.

Erma has a specifically planned interaction, but Mary and Muzan are both available to whoever.

Tahn looks confused.

"Why does that make you sad?"

He then looks unamused.

"I'm a thief and a killer.", he bluntly says. "Any peaceful place could miss me like the plague."

Then he looks shocked, and also embarrassed.

"I-I, you, b-but... agh... I guess you're right."

He groans rather comically.

"I'd ask you not to spread the word, but I'm sure that Luke's already told people. Ugh, that's gonna dent my reputation, isn't it? 'Ken Tahn, master thief, dangerous criminal... reuniter of families for the holidays'. ... ugh, well, don't expect me to do something like that ever again, y'hear?"

And then he looks confused again.

"You look thoughtful and I'm not sure if I like that.", he says.

Hisoka shakes his head.

   "Keep them as a reminder. One for each of you."   

He then smiles in a surprisingly nice manner.

   "What's even better... well, take a look."   

If they look at the cards, they'll find that, out of the entire deck of cards, the two cards that survived were the two Joker cards.

Then he nods.

   "Alright. Finding Botar shouldn't be too difficult. Then I'll be off."   

He starts walking, slightly raising one hand as a way of saying goodbye.

Hey, Dres !

No.

Hey, Dres !

No.

Hey, Dres !

No.

Hey, Dres !

No.

Hey, Dres !

No.

Two young women are walking nearby. Or rather, several, with clones of the former circling around the frowning latter.

Whiterun

Princess Ami walks the streets, letting out the occasional "Ahu?" She knows not wherems't the hell she is, other than... really far away from home.

Where is everybody, anyways?

Erma hears Ami's footsteps and sinks into the darkness, moving toward her in the form of a black spot on the ground. She makes no further attempt to conceal her presence.

—

Looking back to make sure Erma wasn't following her like a horror movie monster (she wasn't), Mary almost runs straight into the crowd of Bokuko. "Oh!"

Woops !

The turn around, blink, and all vanish, leaving only Bokuko and Dres. Dres keep walking but Bokuko warp her arm around Dres's shoulder to prevent her from doing just that !

Woops, sorry for the scare !

Ami notices the black spot moving towards her, and stops in her tracks.

"Ah?"

She stares at it curiously – too damn curiously if you ask me. Since it's moving... she tries a slow, friendly wave to it.

Hi!

Erma pops out of the shadow-spot up to her waist, looking up at Ami. She brushes her hair out of the way, revealing one eye, which is pitch-black save for the white pupil. Then she raises a hand in greeting.

—

"O-oh, it's no big deal! Really!"

Edited by KiriK on Sep 18th 2019 at 5:32:32 AM

So ! Who are ya ? I'm Bokuko ! And this grumpy head !

Dres grunt and push her back, causing Bokuko to laugh.

Dres ! Just think of Dress but with one less S !

"Ah!"

She waves again, this time a bit more directly and, well, even friendlier. Aw, she's so cute! Can't be older than seven or something.

What's your name, little girl?

   <Black Speech>   

Erma Williams.

There is a moderate-to-high probability that her first time hearing Erma talk will turn Ami into a mind-controlled voodoo-esque zombie for a brief time.

"Oh, cool! I'm Mary Hart!" Mary bows.

"Do either of you know where I am?"

I know where I'm gonna be. Away from her.

But you'd still be in the arena ! A place where a lot of people gathers and have fun and fight ! says Bokuko, leaning in and winking at Mary.

Edited by Bolded1 on Sep 18th 2019 at 3:45:56 AM

Her 'ears' flatten against her head, and she looks a little uncomfortable. But Erma hasn't done anything wrong... she's just a little, ah, spooky looking.

Ami forces a cheery smile and offers a hand to shake; "Oh!" She gives her name, too – just Ami.

Erma climbs all the way out of her shadow to take the handshake. She gently smiles back.

—

Loud Gulp

"Um... f-fight?" Mary asks sheepishly. "I'm... I'm just a college student, I couldn't really..."

The smile grows a bit more genuine.

"Ahu?" Where is this place, anyways? Do you know?

Ami certainly doesn't. It doesn't resemble the kingdom she's from, at least.

Don't worry ! Lots of cool people around here !

Bokuko grins kindly and offer her hand for a high five.

Like me ! I'm gonna protect ya !