A Fort Aegis Thanksmas

[Gullara]

[Kids These Days]

Eliseo drops his snowball and steps closer to her. "You okay?" He crouches down next to her. He seems concerned. He didn't think she fell that hard.

[Arkhosia]

Kids These Days

"Ngh, yeah, I think... Anastasia breaks out into a devious grin! "I think I got you!" She bursts forth in a flurry of motion, shoving a loose handful of snow right into Eliseo's face! "Okay, okay, now I surrender - sorry, I had to get you first," she apologizes, giggling.

[Gullara]

[Kids These Days]

"Gah!" Eliseo throws his hands in front of his face and staggers backwards. "You little sneak!" He should get her back by piling snow on her head, but figures that might be a better idea with a buddy than his girlfriend. Instead he brushes the snow away from around his collar and offers his hand to her. "What'd I say before? You're a cheater." He accuses once more with a grin.

[Arkhosia]

Kids These Days

"Heh, maybe a little," Anastasia responds, clasping his hand, "but like, getting that reaction out of you? Totally worth it." She gives her boyfriend a fond if cheeky little smile, dusting the snow off herself and shaking her tails clean - though she doesn't get it all, a few white flecks still speckling the vibrant locks of her hair. The effect is actually kind of pretty.

"Well, considering you like, totally dominated me at that, and we've both got a little snow down our coats, maybe we should go get some hot cocoa? My treat." The kitsune seems to completely forget that Nadia's still there - or at the very least, she doesn't seem to be making the offer to both of them right now.

[Meowmai]

[Spraypaint and Blackfire]

"You know if you ever wanna try, I'd spot ya' a potion of lavadrinking and you could quaff it. I know some goblin types like it to help with acne or something." The warrior listens intently as Atsede gives her bitter blast of words. For a moment there is a flash of anger, but then the anger gives way to confusion. The whole instant seems to give Raine a significant amount of trouble to process, the warrior clearly taking several steps back and having to reexamine the words and reaction. "Yeah, you might be right, honestly. I've never been much good at doin' anything that doesn't put somebody in a hospital, and regardless of how you feel about your folks, you probably don't need to be doin' that to them." Raine rubs claws over her chin, leaving some streaks of feast grease. "But if it's that bad for you, maybe you need somethin' better then just sneaking out for a break..." The dragon hybrid laughs softly, a puff of black flame reducing the grease to nothing in an instant.

"Guitar, huh? Yeah I could see you shred some. And yeah, I'd imagine that I fit what you'd think as far as music. I got a couple basses, most of which I should get rid of, but I'm mainly vocal and synth. Something about my range lends itself to folk metal and industrial punk really well, which I like." Raine gives a wink and then mimes holding a mic. "Follow me, follow me, as I trip the darkness, one more timeee~" The half elf's voice is horribly melodic, and as the bright flash of sharp teeth shine in the firelight, the small singing seems to carry the power of a heavy industrial band even without instruments behind it. "Follow me, follow me, I awake from madness, just in timeeee~" Raine makes a show of the end of the small verse, a gauntleted hand beckoning as heatless black flame spills from her mouth in a sheet over the hand.

Which is followed immediately by raine's face cracking, and the blackfire beast leaning back into a hearty laugh. "I should probably sell some'a that stuff though. I only really need one bass to pluck around and mess, the synth stuff is all computer, and I'd probably need to get better at singing too, ya' know? Plus I hear band members fight a whole lot, and I wouldn't wanna hurt someone bein' an idiot, heh." Raine looks over and shrugs. "So I dunno, if you wanted to come over and jam or whatever, I could trade one of the bases over for a guitar and let you use it. At least one of them is an old bard weapon I got along the way anyways, and I should really get rid of before that bard comes back and haunts me for keeping his instrument baby from being played." Raine chortles softly, taking some more bites of food. "But yodeling? Nah, I'd go for some of that throat singing though. Next thing I'm gonna hear is that you feel like I should go sing in a temple choir. Trust me, not a good idea, hehe."

[Spraypaint and Blackfire]

"Y'know what? Yeah, yeah why not. Sure, I would like to try it" Why not try some lava bathing, if she can get the potion for free? It's likely not something she'd get the opportunity to try again, if she passed on it now. And it'd be a great story to tell! And as for the matter of her parents... "... Yeah. They... I... I mean sometimes I wish I could do that. As you put it, send them to the hospital. But..." She shook her head, seemingly realising how much of her personal life she was divulging and reluctant to say much more. "Wish I didn't have to sneak out all the time yeah. Uh." She quickly tried to steer away the conversation back to the other topics they were discussingg.

Atsede's eyes widened at Raine's sudden singing. "Woah. Woah. You're so good!" She exclaimed. Raine was just... way, way too cool. "Oh gosh, really? Would you let me do that! Cus I'd love to come over and learn to play!" In her excitement at the possibility of hanging out with Raine some more and learn to play guitar she completely forgot to try play tough and cool. Atsede laughed at the temple choir joke, "i dunno, would be kinda fun to see the looks on everyone's faces if you did." Back before the Nexus Atsede had actually been learning to be a part of her temple's choir. Well, the closest thing her church had to one. Thankfully for her, her arrival at the Nexus had nipped that in the bud, and now she had been exposed to far more exciting music in it's place.

[Gullara]

Kids These Days

"Heh, maybe a little," Anastasia responds, clasping his hand, "but like, getting that reaction out of you? Totally worth it." She gives her boyfriend a fond if cheeky little smile, dusting the snow off herself and shaking her tails clean - though she doesn't get it all, a few white flecks still speckling the vibrant locks of her hair. The effect is actually kind of pretty.

"Well, considering you like, totally dominated me at that, and we've both got a little snow down our coats, maybe we should go get some hot cocoa? My treat." The kitsune seems to completely forget that Nadia's still there - or at the very least, she doesn't seem to be making the offer to both of them right now.

[Kids These Days]

"Sure, you owe me after that cheap trick." Eliseo quips. He takes her hand as they head over to get cocoa, explaining that if she wants to beat him next time she should start playing dodgeball at intramurals.

Nadia watches the two with a smile. She'll let them have their space for now, but they won't escape her all day!

[Aurora Alchemi]

[Spraypaint and Blackfire]

"Y'know what? Yeah, yeah why not. Sure, I would like to try it" Why not try some lava bathing, if she can get the potion for free? It's likely not something she'd get the opportunity to try again, if she passed on it now. And it'd be a great story to tell! And as for the matter of her parents... "... Yeah. They... I... I mean sometimes I wish I could do that. As you put it, send them to the hospital. But..." She shook her head, seemingly realising how much of her personal life she was divulging and reluctant to say much more. "Wish I didn't have to sneak out all the time yeah. Uh." She quickly tried to steer away the conversation back to the other topics they were discussingg.

Atsede's eyes widened at Raine's sudden singing. "Woah. Woah. You're so good!" She exclaimed. Raine was just... way, way too cool. "Oh gosh, really? Would you let me do that! Cus I'd love to come over and learn to play!" In her excitement at the possibility of hanging out with Raine some more and learn to play guitar she completely forgot to try play tough and cool. Atsede laughed at the temple choir joke, "i dunno, would be kinda fun to see the looks on everyone's faces if you did." Back before the Nexus Atsede had actually been learning to be a part of her temple's choir. Well, the closest thing her church had to one. Thankfully for her, her arrival at the Nexus had nipped that in the bud, and now she had been exposed to far more exciting music in it's place.

[Spraypaint and Blackfire]

"Hey, yeah, of course I'll let ye hang. I'm chill, most of... er... occasionally. I dunno what with the way your home life sounds you'll be able to manage it for very long though..." The firebrand thinks for a moment, the dragoness clearly having a decent degree of analytic capability under her belt. But then, there is a finger snap, with a small pop of black fire. "Unless we can think up a way to get your folks to trust me. I'm sure it won't be that tough, I can definitely play a straight man long enough to spring a punk from a gilded cage." There is a several moment pause, almost perfect for comedic timing. "Er, probably anyways. I got suits, and it can't be nearly as hard as helping out the heros turned out to be." Raine rolls her eyes and makes a hand puppet complete with an annoying voice to mime some distant memory. "You can't do that as a superhero, Raine, that's a warcrime. Heros have to have standards."

The half-elf leans the chair back with a chuckle, balancing on one leg in a sassy, but cool manner. At least, for a moment. Then, there is a sly look at Atsede's moment of 'uncoolness' and the scaly fighter fakes a wobble, before clattering the chair back to four feet. "Whoop! Alright, alright, 4 on the floor, like the mages gripe about." There again is that hint of a calculating intelligence that peers at Atseed, seeing if the effort put into trying to be friendly works. "Either way, here's my number. Feel free to reach out whenever you need a breather, or just when you are down to hang. And think of some of them band names. Or, for that matter... if you see anyone who looks like they could take and give a punch.." Raine calls back to the sparing conversations, miming a few quick boxer strikes in the air. "I'm always down to spar. Or I dunno, maybe teach a bit too." The dragoness laughs, then shrugs. "How'd a gal with such a straightjacket family end up in the nexus, anyways? I mean I know I got here because it's a dumping ground for all the heinously stupid and dangerous [Redacted] that crawls out of the universe's [Redact that one too, before Arkh hears], but you seem to be... well, at least somewhat normal, at least in a cool little featherfriend kinda way."

[Meowmai]

[Spraypaint and Blackfire]

"Yeah." Atsede sighed. "My parents are getting suspicious enough already, even when I'm heading out with their blessing... they... don't like this place." She hesitated. "I mean, I'd appreciate that, but uh," Atsede looked Raine up and down, before shifting uncomfortably. "As I said they... haven't taken well to this place. They're... paranoid about everything. I dunno that they'd trust someone looking like you even dressed up all fancy..." She gave an awkward laugh at Raine's joke about heroes. She wasn't being serious, right? Right? Surely she was just exaggerating to mock some uptight heroes...

The dragon's ploy with the chair works like a charm, pulling another (much less awkward and worried) laugh from Atsede. The half-angel exchanges her number, nodding along as Raine spoke. "Yeah, if I find any walking steel beams or concrete pillars looking for a fight I'll be sure to let them know," she joked, poking out her tongue. The prospect of finding a band name excited her too. And as for how she got here... "Uh..." How much should she say? How much did she want to say? "It's, well, I ain't entirely sure still. A protection ritual went sideways, [stuff] hit the fan, and... I guess we somehow ended up here."

[Aurora Alchemi]

[Spraypaint and Blackfire]

Raine gives a shrug and a nod. "Alright, fair enough. We'll see in the future though, if they give you too much of a hard time that's no bueno. These years are your formative ones, ain't not one person should get in your way is what I say." Raine's half distant look makes it pretty clear there's a little projection going on. Uncharacteristically there is a bit of an idle hand rub, as if making sure something was still gone. "Hey now, they have to be willing steel beams. I ain't into that superhero stuff of working over innocent buildings to look strong." There is another sly wink from the blackfire dragoness, and the half elf finishes what little is left of their drink.

"Oh yeah, figures as much. Magic's messy, that's why I keep away from it. Every bit of magic in my armor and weapons does only one specific thing, and it's always tested tried and true. Playing around with the stuff normally is a massive firebomb waiting to happen. Just ask my dad how his super binding runes worked out for him, heh." There is definitely the hint of a story there, but before Raine gets to it, a bell tolls out the time into the frosty rime. "Oh wow, that time already? At least I don't have anything to be d- OH WAIT my marker board is updating with the targets and quests for the week." Raine groans like an overworked office clerk, but slowly stands. "I'm sorry, but I gotta run, see if there's any high level things to run back for a job this week. I'll... See you soon, ok?" The dragoness offers a fist bump as a goodbye, then starts to leave.

However, they stop just long enough to turn back and drop some advice. "Hey, if you get your hands on some glow sprays, try those. They'll look invisible the night you put them up, but after a day's worth of sunshine, they pop out in neon colors. Gimme a call later, we can jam, alright?" And with that, the blackfirebrand is off, though a quick glimpse into the court yard might catch a bit of a showy liftoff as the warrior takes to wings to leave quickly, with a small burst of the cosmic glittering blackfire where she leaves.