2017-09-28: The Wayside Wayfarers

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<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

STAND UP, STAND UP, TACHIAGARI YO! INAZUMA CHALLENGER !

PUNCHING! SLIDING! FIGHTING POWER! STANDING! JUMPING! FLAG!

The ancient sport of FOOTBALL or SOCCER as Asteroid the Kid puts it is a recently rediscovered sport uncovered from the Colisea Arcadia but she's known of the strange sport for far longer. Overnight, Asteroid the Kid has carved out a section of Wayside and essentially built a dusty soccer field in the corner of Wayside behind the orphanage building as orphans are the best indoctrination group when it comes to sports! Asteroid herself has donated BLEACHERS to this project and there's plenty of metal benches to sit on for this level of playing field. The goalposts are still being worked on, so four metal dragons are presently perched with their mouths hanging open acting as goalposts. When you live for hundreds of years you can be pretty patient!

The orphans are bouncing the ball back and forth between each other, engaging in PROPER TRAINING this time before they challenge anyone to a match--Asteroid has learned from her past mistakes when it comes to teammates, and have been taught a basic understanding of the game. Soccer is incredibly easy to learn when you have a SOCCER HEART! Unfortunately, Asteroid didn't have materials to make jerseys so at the moment they're in their normal clothes wearing little signs around their necks indicating their 'numbers' and 'names' on the back and front of their sign despectively.

One orphan, a white haired youth with a FIERY SPIRIT kicks a goal past a rotund afro-ed child, sneaking in a goal, determination in his eyes!

"Yes! Good work! Hmm hmm hmmm! The people of Wayside won't know what hit them as their children succumb to the influence of DARK MISTRESS GINNY!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Since returning to Wayside from November City with Lily at her side, Riesenlied has transformed further, into an even more devious, more dangerous from than ever...!!!

... namely, the winged metal demon is seated on the metal bench on the side in a cream-colored knitted turtleneck sweater and clapping to cheer, "Do your best, everyone...!" next to a large thermos with drinks and a few lunchboxes with rice balls and sandwich. She's one mere SUV away from completing her transformation ... oh no, Riese...

Indeed, Muni-Muni has contributed herself to the project, and the normally very rotund metal dragon has gone 'aaaaaaa--' and currently has... turned her mouth into a box shape. ... it works pretty well, actually, and there's probably not even a risk of being inhaled and thrown into another dimension.

... well, maybe not.

One of the orphans is a blonde-haired girl with a big grin, aptly called "Curious Janey", though she one day wants to upgrade to Calamity Janey, after her idol and heroine. She turns and exclaims, "Come on, we can't let them beat us!" to a sniffly, vulnerable-looking black-haired girl kind of bobbling along behind her. "Waah, wait for me, Janey..."

<Pose Tracker> Serill has posed.

Wait a minute, who's that girl in the stands?

Serill is a small teenager with a slender staff who has managed to take over one of the best seats by the simple method of getting there early and sliding herself in, regardless of anyone who objected. (Since there are plenty of bleachers, nobody did; it was easier to just let her have it.) She apparently got to Wayside... today? Yesterday? while just passing through, and nobody has convinced her to go away yet.

"Is that a rice ball?" Serill asks Riesenlied, apparently having no idea who she is. But she saw the lunchbox, and some things can't be denied. This is better than not distracting her is likely to be, because she /really/ wants to go poke the Metal Dragons to see how they work.

<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.

A chain-smoking woman in a fur coat has sauntered up towards the bleachers, which are making her linger and poke at them because that's pretty cool, honestly. With her are two completely boring guys carrying wooden crates, and a third completely boring guy carrying a slightly smaller crate.

They set these things down and one of them hands Linvidia a cardboard megaphone.

She lingers there, and then raises it to her mouth.

"ATTENTION URCHINS! Do you want CHARMING TEAM CLOTHING? Finish your SPORT DRILLS and come here for alms!"

"That's how you do it, right?" Linvidia asks the area, rhetorically. The three unremarkable goons all nod along with her.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily came back with Riesenlied, though it wasn't precisely a pleasant trip despite the company. She hs her own reasons to be here, starting with her own transformation into... Well, a seriously injured woman.

She's dresed somewhat differently from Riesenlied, all in black; pants, boots, and a long-sleeved looser top with a necklace that has a strange gimbaled effect. She is wearing gloves, though more notably she is wearing a sling for her left arm and bandages over her left eye. A cut slowly healing runs down from above her eyebrow down her cheek, pressed shut with adhesive sutures.

She has a bottle of some kind f amber liquid as she looks down at the others.

'...So these are them?" she asks, and then pauses, turning to glance at Serill. She's on Riesenlied's left so that she can actually see her. And she's sitting ery, very stiffly.

Regardless, Lily tips back her booze with a little 'ahh' at the satisfying burn. Then she peers over at Linvidia. "...Riesenlied," Lily says quietly. "Is that black-haired girl all right...?"

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

On the other end of the pitch... in contrast to Muni-Muni, Big Shal is also assisting in being a living goalpost, though the golem's shape doesn't exactly lend itself well to being called a 'post' so much as a 'giant wedge of cheese'. That can mean only one thing - and true enough, one team includes a short but energetic bundle of pink, her red coat sat folded up next to Lily and Riesenlied as she bolts around the pitch in a fuzzy yellow sweatshirt, faded work jeans, and a million grass stains.

At least she's aware she's a fair bit older than the rest of the kids, so the mechanic is more 'playing babysitter' rather than just 'playing' - she's egging the kids near her on, all while easily shouldering the weight of a young girl with red hair who's apparently managed to convince Shalune to give her a long-term piggyback. The orphan seems just as upbeat as she is, so the two of them have become kind of a storm of eager orders yelled to each other as they race back and forth.

"Tackle Miss Riese!" cries the orphan in an overeager way, and Shalune's eyes light up with mischief as she abruptly turns to race towards the pair on the bleachers. "Wa~ah, Miss Riese, we're coming for--oh nooooo--," she adds as she just as abruptly 'misses', hopping onto the bench and then off as she reverses direction and aims back to the pitch. "Her aura is too strong...!"

So it goes, for the moment.

At least she's been helping out in off periods - linking a bunch of metal pipes together isn't exactly a big deal for her, so the goalposts that Asteroid requested have actully been /made/, lying off to one side of the pitch. Just that no-one's bothered to actually place them yet.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Of all the things Jacqueline had expected to encounter at Wayside, a soccer field...was not one of them. There could only be one person responsible for this transformation...

Asteroid.

Well, the kids seemed to be enjoying it, and that was the important thing. Jacqueline had been hoping to meet them all at some point, and this was a good opportunity for it.

Rather than getting the entire Carakin out here and set up, she's put together a small concessions booth at which she is sitting. She'd brought some of the more portable foods from the Caravan along in case any of the adults wanted to purchase something to eat, and for the kids...

Well, after Jacqueline trip to the Blackmoon Forest the other day, she'd come back with some ingredients, some of which had been transformed into some treats for them. Hopefully Riesenlied wouldn't mind too much, seeing as she'd already brought some things along...

Fortunately it's Jacqueline here, who wouldn't be tempted to overindulge them.

She's also ready just in case anyone needs some quick first-aid, but hopefully that won't be necessary!

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Suddenly, some chain-smoking woman is offering CHARMING TEAM CLOTHING.

"Finally," Asteroid says. "Our skill in soccer battle has paid off...and we have a sponsor!" Her glowing eyes blink a few times. "...Unless...it's a scam?" They didn't actually do any games before. Is this lady really just a SHREWD MERCHANT hoping to RIP OFF ORPHANS? Well, it's not like Asteroid cares about human or--er, that is to say, she cares very much about the orphans' well being which is why she better handle the urchins' getting their clothes right. Asteroid approaches Linvidia and says, "Hey--heeyy..."

She comes to a stop near her, but not too near, because she's smoking. "We don't really have, like, money if you're trying to sell them. And we've got a team name--" Asteroid says. "--So how can we help you?" She is still kind of excited by the idea of team shirts though.

This means her attention is off the kids for a while who hit each other in the face with soccer balls. They're having a grand old time. She continues to not place Shalune's goalpost because she finds the metal dragons posing as posts to be way cuter and Asteroid secretly has a weakness for the kawaii.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Wayside is generally not the kind of place Serill would find turns people away -- though the kind of villagers around are definitely a curious bunch, mostly humanoids with various kinds of disabilities... like the guard that has accordion tubing for legs, or the bartender lady that has a refrigerator for a torso and a pair of binoculars jammed in her head. They're relatively friendly, though, if a little bit worn-down. But there's a happy sense of community spirit going on around here.

The Metal Dragons present in Wayside are... ... perhaps a far cry from the menacing, Gear-sized tyrants the legends make them out to be, though. The tallest one present at Wayside is maybe 12 feet, and their penchant to bobble around with their tongues out and play with medicine balls and roll around on the ground waggling their tails is... ... well ... expectations have to be reset, here, maybe.

"Ah? That's Mikaia..." Riesenlied muses, and calls, "Mika, are you doing all right? Don't push yourself!" Riesenlied looks up with a smile at Serill afterwards, and expresses, "It is, would you like one?" as she holds the neat little lunchbox with the rabbit-cut apples and octopus-cut sausages to view.

The black-haired girl nearly trips again, but Janey grins to say, "C'mon, at least play this round out! You can't just sit inside and read books all day!" Mikaia timidly waves at Riesenlied and Lily in turn. She does perk up at Linvidia's call and pumps her hands. "You hear that, Mika? We're gonna win this and get sponsorship! We'll be rich! We'll be international superstars! We're gonna be... the winning eleven!" Mikaia bobs her head absent-mindedly, not understanding.

There's a gasp as Shalune and the redhead come charging at them, and Riesenlied 'eeks!' for a moment, before Shalune... 'misses' them, and she can't help but giggle in turn. "Ah, everyone's having a lot of fun..." Some of the kids who're resting after their own practice are starting to crowd around Jacqueline's table, gawking and 'ooh'ing at the various kinds of nibbles available.

The ball sails into the air for a moment as a child kicks it -- and it looks like it's going to sail juuuust a hair to the west of Muni-Muni... "Aww, I think I missed..."

... at least, before the dragon stretches her maw further to allow it to go in. "Or not?!"

<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.

Linvidia looks at the woman with Rigdobrite for a head and flicks ash onto the ground. "It's fine," she tells her, with a thin red smile. "Don't worry about it."

The children are looked at for a moment and Linvidia suppresses her tension at the sight of, well, children. "I hope you're all having fun, but I couldn't help but notice when I heard about your fun times and innocent childhoods that you were lacking appropriate clothing for Sport."

Linvidia points with her death stick at her goons. "Show them."

Crate one opens - it contains... flour sacks.

No, coffee bean sacks.

Ah, but this is the past, where flour and coffee sacks were made out of durable and /repurposable/ material. And all of the sacks have been dyed... albeit, it must be said, in kind of off-type colors. Dingy purple! Mustard! Puce! A kind of garish orange!

On the other hand they're free.

"And in HERE -" THe other crate is opened, revealing REAL LEATHER SHOES!

"And HERE -" The final crate has a range of paints and sewing materials!

"Now what's all this about formal sponsorship?" Linvidia asks, more genially. (Strangely enough, every cloth sack in there has 'ISLA DELLORO TRADING COMPANY' on it in impermeable black dye in multiple places.)

<Pose Tracker> Serill has posed.

Serill looks right back at Lily. She doesn't know her, but feels some sympathy for her injuries. /Someone/ looks like they had a fight with an owlbear or something and lost.

"Oh, no, I just didn't know you /had/ those here," Serill says. Where did they grow rice? Doesn't rice grow in a swamp? (Serill has a very sketchy idea of how agriculture works; her input into the process is to eat the results.) "I thought that would be something that would be... well, not here."

Having not grown up with stories of the Metal Dragons, Serill had no expectations. But she /does/ have expectations about regular dragons and these don't match it. Rising from her seat, Serill goes out to the side of the field to get a better look at Muni-Muni, who she immediately categorizes as 'weird as heck'. She'll be a moment.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily lifts an eyebrow as Shalune and kid come over but... suddenly they don't. She actually laughs softly, under her breath. "She's good with them, isn't she...?" Her voice stays low, and she raises her bottle again, setting it to her lips and having a drink.

She looks sidelong to Riesenlied as she hears the name. "Mikaia," she repeats, and sees the concern that Riesenlied has. She also sees Janey's response. She looks thoughtful, and dips her head back at Mikaia as she looks over to timidly wave at her. It's a clear acknowledgement but it isn't very friendly...

Watching Linvidia's work with the kids offhandedly, she looks a bit surprised, clearly so. She considers, and while she's considering, she sees Serill's look back at her and hears her question. "Around here," the black-haired woman points out, "They have whatever they can get their hands on." A beat, "If they could get more Kislevi food though..." This is obviously a little bit teasing. ...Well. Not that obviously, actually, it is Lily, who recently fought an owlbear and lost and is as calm as anything.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

"--Miss Lily, you shouldn't drink in front of the kids!" Shalune calls back over her shoulder with a playful grin as she and her charge bolt back towards the pitch; she's already fussed over the soldier's new wounds, grumbling as she peers at each of them apparently without reservation, before doing her absolute best to not look intensely and openly curious at the scales that have formed over Riesenlied's limbs.

Of course, this means she's not really watching where she's going, and the yell from the girl on her shoulders comes too late as her foot lands atop one of the footballs as it gets passed - sending the both of them tumbling forwards in a pile, skidding to a halt in a long drawn-out dual 'bwaaaaah' of noise before they drop their arms to the ground.

Fortunately, whatever ability Shalune has to recover from minor scrapes appears to extend to the girl she's with, as well, and in moments the two of them are rubbing at their elbows but otherwise apparently fine. "--we lost!" blurts the tiny redhead in a-- cheer?-- to which the pink-head throws her arms up in turn. "Our Dual Tech was defeated!" she chimes in, and then together they flop back to the ground, rolling around. "Noooo~!"

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Wow those look hideous.

But this is Asteroid the Kid so she's like, "Huh. Well, the colors should probably be...the same...but the shoes look really nice." She doesn't really want to have haggling in front of like all of Wayside though so she adds, "Let's talk about that later. We'll see how it fits on 'em for now. Deal?"

She glances over towards Janey and Mikaia gabbing to one another. It's starting to seem like she's going to have to do more managing than actual playing. Ugh! That's not what she was trying to help happen! She wanted to use the kids to have a soccer battle with the demons for the fate of the town!

Sometimes she feels she's not good at being evil. Maybe she needs to ask Ginny for more refreshers and/or encouragement.

"Hey--hey! Moving goalposts isn't legal!" She says, waving her arms up and down. "It's adorable, but not legit! I mean. I guess it's the first day! But you know!!"

She looks towards Linvidia and adds, "Wow...you even have minions... you must be a pretty high level merchant, huh!"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Now, now, there's plenty for everyone...just tell me what you like, and I'll pass it out to you." Jacqueline says cheerily as some of the kids start crowding around her table. Whenever there's clear interest, Jacqueline passes along the treat with a smile and a friendly wave.

Her attention is somewhat split between the kids at her table and Shalune. It seems like her friend had made another friend...Jacqueline chuckles a bit to herself, then glances to the side at a gentle tug on her sleeve.

"Oh, yes, this is..."

She launches into a simple explanation of one of the treats and hands it over. She wasn't making any money off this, but she still felt enriched.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied's smile is warm as she nods at Lily re: Shalune, saying, "She's given a lot of energy to the village, and the children really like her..." A pause, and then she nods at Lily's amber-coloured liquor... though she doesn't make a motion to actually stop her.

She looks to Serill again and holds her hand to her chest. "My name is Riesenlied... welcome to Wayside, I don't think I've seen you around here before...?" Muni-Muni does certainly qualify as 'weird as heck', but the way its tiny wings and stubby arms wiggle to either side of the goalpost could probably also qualify as... well, kawaii, as Asteroid would put it.

Janey's eyes shine as she gawks distractedly at the coffee bean-sack clothing. "Look! I can't even pronounce that name, that's how you know it's exotic!" Mikaia sniffles and rubs her nose, before walking beside Janey. "Eesla... Del Toro?" Mikaia gets a pat from Janey, and she bobbles over to Lily, Serill and Riesenlied as she takes a handkerchief and wipes her nose. "Miss Riese, your friend is..." W-wah, she's kind of scared of her...!

Muni-Muni turns its one eye towards Asteroid at her admonishment with a 'muniii...' that sounds kinda stifled because her mouth is gaping wide open. It seems sorry...!!

The kids standing over Jacqueline's stall sniffs to go, "Are these vine tips?" "Woow, isn't that really rare? It'll make you grow four arms, I heard!" "No it doesn't, you dummy...!"

Riesenlied gasps just a little as Shalune crashes, but... having some time around CaraKin does kind of remind her that the girl is kind of indestructible, and it does seem to extend to the child as well.

<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.

"Oh there should be enough for what, three? four? teams," Linvidia ballparks (get it?) at the Asteroid Kid. "I thought you'd at least want two for when they practice, right?"

Then she frowns. "Moving goalposts...?" Her brow furrows. She may have just 'got' an idiom.

She seems kinda mad about it.

"So are you the... coach, athletics director...?" Linvidia asks asteroid, even as she hears a key word and her eyes shoot towards the concession stall.

<Pose Tracker> Serill has posed.

Oh, she's being addressed. Serill turns back, ignoring Muni-Muni for a few moments, to speak to Riesenlied. "My name is Serill! I'm a magician from the Magic Guild of Neo-Vane."

She looks more like a student, honestly.

"And you haven't seen me because I haven't been here before, obviously. I, uh... was in the area, so I thought I'd see the town." Serill looks around at it. It's kind of small and haphazard, by her standards. "And then there was the soccer game, and that was that!"

When Riesenlied gets distracted by someone else (Shalune falling, probably) Serill takes advantage of said distraction to sidle toward Muni-Muni. She reaches out with her staff and, fairly gently and almost gingerly, pokes Muni-Muni's side! Are these /real/ dragons? she's thinking to herself.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily insisted to Shalune that she was fine, against all visual evidence to the contrary; even walking she's stiff, trying to stay up straight as much as possible. ...But she didn't insist hard enough to be harsh about it, or anything. More exasperated that no one will let her nurse her grievous injuries in peace.

But there's talk of not drinking in front of the kids, and Lily blinks. "What, you think so? People drank in front of me as a kid." The fact that she even considers it says something.

...Also she takes another drink.

She hasn't commented once on Asteroid's head. Some things are just too weird for her. That's all there is to it.

Her attention is thoroughly taken when Mikaia walks over, the tall woman only sparing enough energy looking elsewhere to check for anything untoward coming out of nowhere. Her bottle she sets down on the bench beside her.

"Hello, Mikaia," Lily says. "I'm told that's your name." She looks a little pained as she says, "I'm sorry if I scare you. I don't intend to hurt you."

She hesitates before adding... "My name is Lily. I'm an orphan, too."

Lily lets Serill go. She's sort of... distracted. Trying to be nice.

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid doesn't get it, this is a soccer field Linvidia! "Huh..." She says. "that makes sense... Pit the orphans.... against other orphans... for the amusement of the well to do." Linvidia didn't add that part Asteroid! She cups her chin, mulling it over as history is being mad. "I guess I'm the coach, being the only person who seems to know the rules!" No you're not supposed to play by pretending you're hurt! That's a HOUSE RULE only! "So sure, I guess! I mostly know soccer! But there are many ancient sports that are begging to be revived for the sake of evil!"

She turns towards the kids and says, "Hey kids! It's time to get uniforms, maybe! Uhh---half of y'all should take ... orange? Is that orange? And the others should take ... yellow? It looks kind of like yellow! So half yellow, half kind of orange! No fighting now! Ha ha ha!"

She looks towards Lily. "Woah are you?? I'm not, my parents just suck!"

Well maybe Lily can understand that too.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

There's a scolding glance from Jacqueline at that, when one of them insults the other. It's not one of her particularly harsh ones, though - certain individuals present here will be able to attest to that.

"Now, now, there's no need for that..." She says. "But unfortunately, no, you won't grow any extra arms...they are quite delicious, however! Here, why don't you try one?"

She's back to smiling, now, and hands over some of the Vine Tip treats.

She can feel eyes on her, though, and she glances over toward where Linvidia is speaking with Asteroid. She offers the both of them a friendly wave.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

True enough, Shalune and the child next to her seem to be completely unharmed as the mechanic bobs up to her feet, and then helps the girl up by hauling her up with one hand. It's probably the combination of upbeat energy and wiry strength that helps her corral the kids around, but this isn't the first time she's helped Wayside out, nor the first time she's let kids have a piggyback while she does something completely unrelated. Even if Big Shal gets most of the affection, in the end, just for being Big Shal.

"Okay, you should go get yours too," she comments to the girl as the call for uniforms goes up, patting off the dust and grass as she beams at the redhead disappearing off to get her things. It gives her a chance to make her way back to where Riesenlied and Lily are talking with a newcomer, the enormous smile bright on her face as she approaches and plonks herself down on the bench, arms strengthed out.

"Wah--... oh, this was a super good idea!" she comments to midair, too energized to really offer the statement to anyone in particular. When we faced off against Asteroid I was pretty sure it'd be somethin' to show the kids, even if Astie keeps talkin' about rules I've got no clue on. I mean, you already /know/ what side you're on, right? You can't change sides, so you can't be offside. So fussy," she pouts, definitely from the 'kick at 100% power no matter what' school of sports.

"Um, but Wayside looks so much better now..." she reports to Riesenlied next, bobbing a little in place. "I still haven't found anythin' for the water purifier, but I've got a lead on some materials in November City I can probably use. ... Miss Lily, they're gonna ask to try some and I'm not gonna help you if you get a drunk orphan on your lap," she adds, remarkably blunt about it. Maybe she's learning how to handle Lily.

<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.

"Well, I didn't say anything about THAT," Linvidia huffs as Asteroid seems to see a dark and secret game. Truly, who is the real poverty-stricken disabled orphan here. She purses her lips though and says, putting a hand on her hip, "The second one is butternut," Linvidia says, when suddenly comes --

PARENTS! ORPHANS! The topics Linvidia seems to hate the most.

Linvidia's face tightens again at the topic but she does not intervene. In her head she starts counting back from twenty, which always cools her off. Somewhat. Gradually.

She sidles towards Jay's snack stand rather than engage further. (The three goons happily but boringly disburse goods to the children, leaving the remainder for later use and/or theft by criminals.)

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Muni-Muni is really sproingy, is the only good way to describe her. Serill pokes at her side, and she kind goes 'sproing-oing-oing', along with a kind of whimpering noise of, 'Muniii--!'. It kinda looks like she's ticklish, and might not be able to hold Goalpost Form for too long if you poke her too much...!

"H-hi... yes, my name's Mikaia," she nods-- and when she bows, a little pair of stubby wings bobble on her back. A-aww, is she a beastman? Riesenlied scoops her up to seat her on her lap and wipe her nose off and say, "Good work today," while rewarding her with a little candy treat.

"You're an orphan too...?" Mikaia asks with wide eyes. A pause. "Does that mean you live here?"

Janey barges in next to Asteroid with a toothy grin and gawks at the clothing, saying, "Is this going to make me a star, like Asteroid?" She might not have the right idea of what a superstar is, but, she's got spunk, at least?

There's a tender smile from Riesenlied as she shakes her head at Shalune. "It's all right. It's at least working for now, and that's the best we can hope. We're still scavenging from nearby Ruins, so perhaps we'll find suitable parts for you to synthesise at some point."

There's a crunch as some of the kids try Jacqueline's treats, and one of them chimes up, "Wow, it's really tasty! With the CaraKin, you definitely always win!" "I wanna try one too!"

<Pose Tracker> Serill has posed.

That was weird. Serill squints at Muni-Muni. She is not entirely convinced that she /is/ a dragon, in fact, and not a... okay, so Serill has no idea what Muni-Muni actually is, but to Serill dragons are powerful figures of myth and magic, not... well, kind of springy spongy goalpoast imitators.

Pushing her glasses up with one finger, Serill advances more closely. She is now dangerously close to the pitch (honestly, does this count as game interference?) but she /really/ wants to touch Muni-Muni while the kids are distracted with treats and uniforms.

Serill looks left, looks right, and then equally gently rests one hand on Muni-Muni. She's also feeling for magic but, well, Muni-Muni has nothing to do with Althena's Blessing so she's going to be disappointed there.

After she does that, she steps back hastily, looking around to see who might have noticed. She's not interfering, honest! Maybe she should investigate Asteroid's helmet next. (How little she knows.)

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Asteroid calls over to her and Lily lifts an eyebrow at her. "Fair enough," she says to her, given how many people she knows of with parents like that. Similarly Jay working with the others...

Well, before anything else can happen, the tall sorceress is looking at Mikaia, watching her bow and seeing those little wings. Still she doesn't smile, but she has a gentle look in her single eye. She keeps focus on her as Riesenlied scoops her up.

"I am," Lily replies, and then shakes her head gently. "I don't. I'm old enough to live on my own now. In fact, I got to live somewhere for a while because they adopted me." She keeps it simple. "But..." Lily closes her eye for a moment, opens it again, "I'm going to be here for a little while."

Shalune mentions a significant possibility and Lily frowns. "I'll tell them no," she points out, and then considers that. "...But I see your point." It's very blunt, and well, it works; Lily caps her bottle and leaves it where it is rather than drinking more.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"You certainly do, I can guarantee that!" Jacqueline says with a bright smile. Those who are interested receive treats. It does pose the question of who wins if everyone's with the CaraKin...

Well, the real answer would be 'the CaraKin', but Jacqueline's not going to say that out loud. It would be no problem to her if things came to a draw.

As Linvidia sidles in her direction, Jacqueline smiles toward her.

"Miss Diargento. Or do you prefer Linvidia? Would you care for anything?" She asks.

Her eyes glance toward the field for a moment, watching Serill's studies. She's never seen the girl before, but she looked a little too old and too well-equipped to be one of the orphans of Wayside. Jacqueline was curious, but she's not about to call her out while she still had treats to pass out.

<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.

Linvidia side-eyes the child. But she's learning here. They've learned jingles. Perhaps with music, she can make them into free advertising...

"Hm? What's on the menu?" she asks Jay, blinking several times. "And please, darling, call me Linvie. All my best closest friends do." Wink~

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid the Kid gives Shalune a small deadpan look though waht exactly she's deadpanning isn't mega-clear. She says, "Oh well," to Linvidia. "I mean it's cool of you. Sorry it's just kinda going faster than I really expected?" That's how you make a sport popular. Give it to kids and tell them it's legal to hit someone else in the face with a ball.

Why is she apologizing?? She's supposed to be kind of a jerk! That's her thing! Being a kind of a jerk! Not like one hundred percent a dick, but like a certain percentage of asshole! Well, she thinks, she is giving free(?) shirts(??) so that's why.

She helps dispense shirts, nodding briefly to Lily, before Janey barges over and starts asking her question. Her eyes widen faintly, in shock, because literally nobody has said anything like that to Asteroid in her life.

She kind of wants to run away.

Instead she says, terrified. "Y-yeah, could be! If you keep practicing and do your best, and uh--the sports catches on thanks to the watchful eyes of helpful sponsors--"

She waves a hand towards Linvidia.

"Well, worse case scenario there's always drownball." She glances over to Mikaia with concern before adding to Janey. "The best way to be a star is to be good to your teammates and watch out for them."

SUCH VILLAINY!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Janey looks really fired up! She points to the skies and looks to Mikaia to go, "Yess! You hear that, Mikaia?! I'm gonna be the calamitest soccer player there ever was!" ... Curious Janey's favorite adjective for anything she likes might, in fact, be 'calamitest'.

No, she doesn't know who Lucia is or what a Lord of Calamity is but GOSH she'll think she's so cool.

Mikaia is still gawking up a little towards Lily, blushing a little as she says, "O-oh, okay... you-- tingle a little, Miss Lily." Tingle? Riesenlied pats her on the head to say, "That might be a bit rude, Mikaia..." and smiles apologetically to Lily.

Serill plants her hand on Muni-Muni's side, feeling for magic, and feels... well, nothing. Though one might think that Lailah would absolutely give her stamp of approval to such a round creature, so that's kinda like getting the Sub-Blessing of Althena?

More importantly, however, the handplant causes the dragon to finally go "Muniii--!!" and sproing so hard that it snaps back towards its usual round dimensions--

--at the same time the ball's kicked her way. Instead of falling into her mouth, it lands smack against her eye instead, prompting it to go 'muniii--' with a DX face... and she starts rolling down the hill, oh no Muni!!

"The goal's getting away!"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Linvie...?" Jacqueline repeats, a bit sheepishly. She wasn't sure they were /that/ close, but...

"Well, okay, Linvie, if that's what you prefer!" Jacqueline says with a nod. She wasn't really someone who was used to using nicknames.

"Let's see...we have here..." She lists off some of the food items she'd brought along. Most of the snacks are reserved for the children, but there's still some left-over for any adults, including the Vine Tip treats and some nut cookies. There's various other fare, as well, that's...

...Somehow perfectly appropriate food to eat at soccer matches?

It would seem to be unwise to underestimate the power of the CaraKin.

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid the Kid's head is a head! Asteroid glances over to Serill, but isn't paying much attention to her at the moment. She just tends to glance around like she thinks someone is about to jump her pretty much constantly which means a lot of little glances like that. She has the mannerisms of a goblin, except she's clearly not a goblin, and doesn't add 'Gob' to everything, so there's that!

"Oh like Calamity Jane..." Asteroid says. "I always wondered if Calamity Jane and Ginny were related. Evil Drifters Of A Feather! Ahahaha! Yes! Accept your calamitous nature!" She pauses. "I mean unless you mean like Lord of Calamity in which case--ehh--Lucia's probably okay too. True Calamitous Nature!"

But then there's a shout! The goal is getting away! Asteroid fires off two quick shots from the portal pistols, aiming them so that Muni falls into one portal and then back out near towards where Muni was stationed eventually. "Are you okay??"

Pause.

"I mean no escape!! Is everybody dressed in uniform??"

Muni might start rolling down again. "Ah--!"

<Pose Tracker> Serill has posed.

Serill didn't touch /just/ to feel for magic. She also just wanted to... touch.

"Oops," she says under her breath, as Muni-Muni snaps back to her normal round form. Now that Serill has a good look at Muni-Muni, she's... well, still not entirely sure what it is, but she's pretty clear that Muni-Muni isn't a dragon, at least not as she understands it.

Serill sidles away from where Muni-Muni had been playing goaltender. Goalkeeper. Goal... goal. She had nothing to do with it! Though she almost comes back to see the portal guns work. "Wayside... isn't a normal town, is it," she says to herself. Huh. She'll need to talk to the Guard about this!

Well, they already know, but she doesn't know that. Such is life.

<Pose Tracker> Linvidia Diargento has posed.

"Let me try one of those Vine Tips," Linvidia says to Jay, presently. After this she may go sit on the bleachers like a /plebian/ - perhaps to watch the sport she's now sponsoring*!

(* - adelhyde tax write off)


<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily watches Mikaia, seeing her blush, noting her gawking, and listens to what she has to say next. Okay, she--

The injured woman tilts her head at Mikaia, ntil Riesenlied pats her on the head and apologizes. "It was," Lily answers, "But that's... Fine. I don't mind." She turns very slightly to see Mikaia better and 'hmms' briefly. Her good hand lifts, palm-up. "Tingles," she repeats, and bends to blow on her hand, a blue-white mist coalescing there, a tiny snowstorm that becomes a snowflake floating on her palm.

"What do you think?"

She raises her voice to say to Asteroid quickly, "They will not be playing any game called drownball. Pick another if you change your mind."

She's admittedly considering the snacks herself, but right now she offers the gently rotating snowflake to Mikaia. "Would you like it? It'll melt soon, but it's nice now." She glances past her, and is pretty sure Muni-Muni is rolling away. But that happens. Back to Mikaia, something warmer in her gold eye.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Asteroid shoots her trusty portal pistol, and as we all know, the rule with portal pistols is: Speedy thing in, speedy thing out.

Thus, Muni-Muni rolls down the hill, goes in one portal... and goes 'gonk' as she lands square on what passes for her back, tongue sticking out and her eye somehow criss-crossing into a thick, black 'X'. "Munyuuu..."

Muni is defeated! Wayside Wayfarers gain 2 XP and 1 gold.

Mikaia's mouth gapes open as Lily creates her little snowstorm, and says, "I--it tingles even harder!" Is someone sensitive to magic, perhaps? Maybe that's what she's sensing, Lily's aura? Riesenlied pats Mikaia and says, "That's Lily's magic, dear." Mikaia nods and accepts the snowflake, and says, "I--I'll treasure it!"

And no, Serill, Wayside isn't a normal town.

Janey pumps her hands and says, "True Calamitous Nature!" chiming Asteroid, thus perhaps dooming her to pretend that she has a demon eye that she has to cover. "Like no one has before!"


<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

"Oh no!" blurts Shalune as Muni-Muni threatens to roll away and down the hill; before she even knows what she's doing, she's called out for the other girl: "Aki!" she yelps, making the girl with red pigtails hop up and suddenly rush over to the other goal post, where Big Shal has already extended a number of shelves out of slats on its body, one of them containing the folded-up form of the Little Dipper - which the orphan promptly throws over to Shalune with a heave of effort.

Fortunately, the craft decides to start unfolding itself in midair, beginning to hover towards Shalune at a fair clip. The device looks for all the world like a scooter if scooters hung unnaturally in the air, unburdened by gravity; the only hint as to how it works are a couple of thick white plates on its base, glowing gently.

As it passes the pink-haired mechanic she hops up onto it, taking the jump nimbly as she hangs onto the handlebars and guns it down the hill after the gonked-out dragon. Totally normal day in Wayside.

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid turns the portals off. Wayside is a pretty weird place.

"Oh it's not actually called drownball." Asteroid tells Lily. "So it's okay right?" Sometimes Asteroid's logic could use work.

"But the important thing is..." Asteroid says. "Is that I think we're ready to actually play! Orange versus mustard! Remember no actual pushing--you're not ready...for Hissatsu Tehcniques! Today we're playing the basics! Ha ha ha!"

Asteroid hates to admit it.

...But she actually is kind of having fun. It's the worst! She can't stop herself from giving Shalune a thumbs--

--well she was going to, but now Shalune is flailing down the hill. "....engineering is rough."

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