Urban Nights: A Winter Goddess' Tale

There had been a lot of noise about some weird Fiore-wide party, and everyone seemed positively rabid about it. Everywhere, neon colors screamed at the eyes, and caught the attention. Everyone seemed to be in a very festive mood, and they were all up for partying hard until the festivities were over. Beira, for her part, was not known as 'everyone', and the effect of the whole felicities was lost on her. As a matter of fact, the Winter Goddess was more of the opinion that the general ambience was very annoying, and she was unwilling to debase herself by fooling around with the masses who seemed interested in only screaming, drinking, and dancing their lives away. For this reason, she had decided to travel to Oshibana, and wait until the whole noise was over, before returning to places wherein she was known to haunt. Hakobe didn't seem like such a good idea, though. Beira felt like she wanted to be around people, though the present energy was too much for her to stand. So she had selected Oshibana, because it wasn't very populated, and was quite quiet. She initially intended to spend the night in her room, just lazing around. However, the music booming from the streets sounded admittedly catchy, and Beira's curiosity, as it often did, had gotten the better of her, and so, on this warm and sultry night, she had slipped out of the motel whose room she had rented, and taken a walk down the street, which normally would have been empty, but was tonight full of party goers and clubbers.

Led by her nose, she drew close to an area with a lot of bar stools sitting around. A number of them were occupied, but there were some close to the bartender which seemed free, and he did look good-looking, in Beira's evaluation. Maybe she would talk a bit with him, while she had a drink, and get to know the whole purpose of this entire holiday. Drawing close, she took her seat, and shrugged her cloak, which concealed her entire body when she wore it, off her shoulders. The bartender was immediately distracted by her, but she pretended not to notice, as she placed her left elbow on the bar and leaned against it, looking at the revelers with mild interest.

"Hello, there. I guess you're not from these parts. Your dress style is... interesting. Quite. Welcome to Oshibana. So, what would the lovely lady want to drink?" the bartender asked drawing close, and shaking a bottle with a strange colored drink in it.


WC: 431/2000

Oh dear, oh no...

The member 'Fraag' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

OOC:Oooh, one of those lovely days when luck doesn't kick me in the rump.

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Beira turned and observed the man who had just asked her a question, as though she hadn't expected to be spoken to. Her expression wasn't hostile though. On the contrary, it was a slight smile still retaining the mild curiosity with which she had observed the revelers. ”In the hopes that I don’t sound too caustic,” the Winter Goddess replied, ”I’d say you’re supposed to know your job, so I’ll trust your judgment and have you choose one for me. Sweet is the only adjective I’m interested in though. You Fioreans have so many types of drinks, the names make my head spin. And yes you’re correct, I’m not from these parts.”

”Well then, if it’s sweet you want, then sweet you shall have,” replied the bartender, expertly twirling the bottle he had been shaking and sliding glasses about with an acrobatic grace. He was a show off, he was, but Beira was fine with everyone displaying whatever skills they possessed at an expert level. After all, he had devoted time and practice to be so good at what he was presently doing. The wicked side of Beira wanted him to slip up or something, and she would probably have a good laugh, but she did not like getting embarrassed; it was only fair that she not wish such a fate on others as well. So she watched him, entertained by his antics, as she drilled him with questions concerning the whole festivities, while answering his own questions with the grace of not seeming to curt or furtive, and the tact of not telling him everything. It was a fun experience, with him even inviting her to make ice for him, which Beira complied to, simply because she was feeling quite social.

Eventually, the bartender slid a large glass over to her, full of a light blue, cloudy liquid. ”A unique drink for a unique soul. I present to you, the Winter Goddess.”

”Me, or the drink?” Beira asked, raising an eyebrow in quizzical bemusement.

”The drink. I named it after you.”

After a few compliments to make the young chap’s head swell, Beira took a sip of the drink. It was quite amazing, and Beira let him know it. Perhaps mingling among people wasn’t so bad after all. Beira had just turned to ask the bartender something about the music, when a terribly cacophonic sound ripped through the air, as bright lights began whizzing among the partygoers. Everywhere went to hell in a hand basket. Even the bartender was at a loss for what was going on, so Beira decided to investigate. She noticed that while people were running helter-skelter, a girl stood close by, unbothered, tapping at the electronic device in her hand while chewing gum and having her ears plugged with earphones connected to the device. Beira would never understand why people chewed gum.

”Hey, you,” Beira said, drawing close, ”you seem awfully calm for someone who should be in distress. What’s going on?” The girl looked up at her, scoffed disinterestedly, and continued with the iLac, chewing noisily. Beira noticed that the girl had the letters PL4GUE on her jacket, but the God Slayer had no idea how that was pronounced, so she didn’t bother. Just then, she noticed some guy in armor, and the same strange word painted on his armor. They were in cahoots then. Unwilling to display aggression first, Beira once more tried the path of dialogue. ”Hey, kid. Take your pals and go play somewhere else. Some of us here would rather have a relatively peaceful evening.”

”Pfft, like, whatever,” the girl replied, ignoring her. Incensed, Beira snatched her earphones, disconnecting them from her iLac. The next sentence the girl threaded together was full of so many slangs that Beira didn’t even have an idea of what was being said. Taking advantage of Beira’s confusion, she snatched her earphones back and reconnected them. Beira couldn’t quite get what she said next, but she heard “thirsty”, and she knew it was an insult.

The slap sounded like a thunderclap. The armored fellow turned to see the girl staring with a totally flummoxed look on her face, a red imprint the size of Beira’s palm on her cheek. Then the girl was down and out cold. ”Orcana!” he yelled. Then he turned to look at Beira. ”I’ll see you pay for that!”


WC: 728 words
Total: 1159/2000

"Oh please," the Winter God Slayer intoned, expressing mild irritation. "I barely touched her." That was actually untrue; the Utgardian had smacked the girl called Orcana with as much force as her left hand could muster. And that, given Beira's physical strength, was no paltry thing. Thanks to her Cosmic Resonance, Beira could see another armored hoodlum, trying to keep out of sight, circling her from behind. No wonder the first one was stalling momentarily, most likely waiting for his partner to be in position before executing his attack. So, Beira played along, pretending to focus all her attention on the strangely clad goon before her. The two bulky goons were now in position, and Beira sensed them both manipulate their armors, whose chest pieces curiously resembled those sound-blaring devices people called loudspeakers. Teleporting to the back of the goon who had formerly been behind her and shoving him forward, Beira noted that the goons’ chest devices had released waves that rippled the air. Their intention was surely to catch the God Slayer between the blasts, but as she had avoided them, the magically charged sound waves smashed into each other and burst, creating a surprisingly powerful explosion that flung the two goons away like ragdolls. The God Slayer surmised that the goons had positioned themselves just outside the radius of their blasts’ effects, but having pushed one of them and shortened the distance between them, Beira had ensured that they were within the blast radius, while she wasn’t.

The blast seemed to have disoriented the goons, and a few well-placed punches and kicks laid them out cold before they could regain enough composure to resume fighting. That hadn’t been so difficult…

”I hadn’t thought it would be a pretty lady that would give me the most trouble tonight,” came a calm voice off to the side, as a man in a weird-looking armor stepped into view. He wielded a graceful curved sword which burnt a bright pink flame. ”How about you buy me a drink, and you and your punks clean up the mess you’ve made, and I’ll stop giving you trouble,” Beira replied. The samurai shook his head. ”No can do, fair lady. Tonight is the night of PL4GUE,” he pronounced it as ‘PLAGUE’, ”and it is we, not these unfortunate revellers, who should be running the night.”

”How do you get to pronounce ‘four’ as ‘A’?” Beira asked, obviously confused. ”Well, no matter. Your goons interrupted my drink, and they paid for it. So while you…” her words were cut short, as the samurai appeared behind her, swinging downwards at her with his bright sword, which he gripped in both hands. A polearm of nether rime appeared in her hands, and Beira used its shaft to counter the blow, though she immediately sensed that her ice would not survive prolonged exposure to the samurai’s blade. So, instead of pulling away, she stepped backwards, so that she was pressing against him, as the polearm vanished and was replaced with a short sword, with which she stabbed under her left arm, scoring a hit in her opponent’s abdomen. As he reflexively pulled away, Beira kicked backwards, almost performing a full split, as her heel connected with his jaw, sending him flying, although to his credit, he righted himself and landed gracefully like a cat.

Beira was already upon him, slashing downwards with her short sword, but he didn’t even attempt to dodge her attack, taking the blow on his shoulder as he countered with his blade. Too late Beira saw his purpose, and though she managed to shift at the last second, his blade slashed deep into her side, cauterizing the wound as it passed. Although Beira was confident of her regeneration capabilities, fighting through the pain put her at a mild disadvantage. But he was also injured, so they were equal. Before the PL4GUE boss could perform another attack, Beira utilized her Datum: Prismatic Spray, firing the colourful cone of light directly into his face. Then she jumped, smashing both knees upwards into his jaw. ”Stay down,” the God Slayer warned. ”It’s less painful, and safer for you.” But the samurai wasn’t done. Leaning on his sword, he snapped his fingers, and five scintillating masses of shiny colors appeared around him. With a flick of his wrist, they were attacking the God Slayer relentlessly. And they were fast.

Beira made it a priority to evade them, especially as one had grazed her leg, and it felt like liquid fire. But so eager was she to dodge that she too late detected the samurai very close… too close. His gauntleted hand was round her neck as he held her in place, while his other hand drew back, to run her through with his burning sword. ”Dictum: I impose!” Beira cried, and a strange wave seemed to ripple out from the God Slayer. In an instant, the summoned plasma elementi rushed in a single mass and smashed into the samurai, forcing him to release his grip on Beira, and devastating his armor. He responded with a single slash, which released a massive wave of pink fire. The wave smashed into the elementi and destroyed them at once, though Beira managed to narrowly evade it. And she was glad she did. The fire from the wave seemed relentless, burning everything whether cloth, wood, glass or stone. ”Prima Data: Damnation!” Beira thought, as she channelled her dark magic. As the rippling air created by the spell flowed past him, he froze in mid-stride, petrified by fear and pain, even as his pause opened him up to receive a roundhouse kick from the God Slayer that sent him flying. While her opponent was still airborne, Beira took in a deep breath, and expelled it in a torrent of frigid devastation, courtesy of her Winter God Bellow. The spiralling blast sent the samurai boss flying like a ragdoll, and slammed him through a wall.

Beira looked around. The place was a mess, and the pink fire was still burning. Returning to the bar, she took her half-finished drink, and walked off into the night. Law enforcement would come, and though she had done no evil tonight, she was never alright being around law enforcement agents. She would finish her drink, take a bath, and go to bed. The best way to end an urban night.




WC: 1061 words
Total: 2220/2000