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 Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2025 9:23 pm
Quote: Biting Chill ( 18 ) : The cold is strangely harsh, and even the still wind is vicious enough to sting. But the cold isn't the worst part of tonight--it's what comes with it. Out of a swirl of blowing snow, a massive, wispy wolf takes shape, enormous and snarling, with fur spiked like jagged icicles. Its eyes glow with a cold, wild intelligence, and before you can even react, it lunges as though you’ve trespassed deep into its territory. Every strike it makes feels like the bite of winter itself. Wherever its claws slash, wherever its jaws snap, frost cakes over. Even if you're lucky enough not to take massive damage, the cold seeps bone deep. When you manage to land a hit, the creature bleeds a strange, clear blood--icy water that freezes instantly into slush on the ground. The more damage it takes, the more its form flickers, shredded like wind-torn snow. The wolf fights with the relentless instinct of a dire beast, but it is not invulnerable. It will never run. It will fight until its body is broken and flickering, then--finally--a sudden gust will rip through the air and carry its dissolving body away. Howls echo on the wind. The rest of its pack probably isn't too far behind.
Note: This strange wolf is not a youma but can be used as a battle requirement for a character. It can only be used as a battle if there are two powered characters involved; you cannot write a solo and count this as a battle, and your character must be powered to meet battle requirements. You can use the prompt for as many characters as you like and it will count as a battle requirement, however if you repeat the prompt with the same character, only the first time will be usable as a battle. After work was wrapped up for the night, Luciana looked over the counter at Kinsley and contemplated some things. She needed to go look into something with Aaru, and considering Kinsley was a squire as well, she thought it might not be a bad idea to introduce them to her potential carpenter and contractor. Standing up from behind the workspace, she stretched and took off her work gear. "Let's go out on patrol. I need to get something for my clocktower and it would be good for you to come along. You might see something interesting too and learn some things." That was why they were here anyway, to learn things, and she was sure it was also to get away but that wasn't her business to look into. At least until it effected Kinsley's ability to come here and work and learn. Peering outside one of the windows as she came around the counter, she noticed the swirling snow and chuckled. It wasn't that bad here, a pittance of snow compared to back home. She might not even need her full coat and scarf for this. Looking back at them though, she tapped her foot and pondered. "You have a warm enough coat, yes? I might have some extras if you need one, though. It's not cold enough for me to need more than my outfit." That had been interesting to learn, though, that while she was Spasskaya, the temperature never hit as hard on her.
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 10:41 am
Lifting his head so pale blue eyes could observe the other, a slow nod followed after a moment. "Oh, sure." And he did get up, slowly, he took the time to stretch as he'd been sitting in the same posistion for a good while."A patrol, alright." Another nod, a bit more stretching, and he was moving to Luciana's side slowly. "What are you working on for the clocktower?" He knew she was working on getting it running but wasn't it already doing so? The gears were moving as far as he remembered. So what else was she working on? She had to have some particular aspect of the tower in mind, of that he was certain, she wouldn't go into something without a plan. If by interesting she meant seeing how a clock worked, from the inside, she was correct. He found it fascinating how a clock worked, how the gears worked together, it was why he was here and learning about it. He could put the knowledge to use with his own projects and builds, something which he took pride in, but was there something else for him to learn this time?
"No, I have a coat." He got enough allowence for that, not to mention his father didn't want questions raised so he made sure his son had proper clothing. It would be terrible, he would look terrible, if Kinsey went to school in clothing that wasn't warm enough for the weather. The man, if nothing else, cared about appearences and it meant Kinsey got certain things even if he might have to use some of his allowence in order to get a slightly better coat than what his father was willing to provide him.
"My uniform is good, I don't have any skin showing, and my coat over it will be more than enough." Though he should get a scarf, and maybe some gloves, he'd never had gloves before but that was a good idea. As he did a lot of work with his hands it would be a smart idea. He'd mention it to his father, in a passing manner, to get the man to provide him some gloves...because if his fingers got too cold and his fingers too pale someone might just notice.
"What's the plan for the clock tower?" Since he knew there was a plan, something she was focused on right now.
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 11:09 am
Cracking her neck slightly, she turned back to look at them. "I need to get the stairwell down to the basement, or lower level, fixed, and that door open. The storm got it running, but who knows if that's a permanent fix." It wasn't something she counted on, not without knowing what the core of it looked like. Every watch and clock was different, so she didn't expect things to work perfectly yet. Pulling the door open, she nodded and grabbed the small bag she used for hauling tools from the rack by the door before stepping out into the swirling snow. "As for the final plan, I need to see the rest to figure that out. I can't go changing anything without knowing all the details. Those blueprints aren't in a language I understand." Probably something from Pluto, but she'd figure it out in time, maybe. Heading down the street, she waited a bit before powering up. If anything, she felt slightly warm in her uniform, but then again, skating on the ice didn't leave her in the warmest of clothes, and she'd gotten used to that at a young age. Looking back out the alley, towards the new complex that was being built for some sort of business, something moved between the swirls of snow. Shifting slightly and pulling out her staff, she watched carefully. "Hrm... something's there."
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 1:20 pm
"So we're doing wood work then..." At least he assumed it was wood and not stone. "That's not a skill either of us have." He could do some wood work, he took woodshop in school, but nothing like building or repairing stairs or flooring, potentially. "What are you expecting to find in the basement that has to do with the clock?"
"So then...there are parts down in the basement." He said slowly, his question answered, or so he assumed. Not knowing how such large clocks worked he didn't know that would be possible, he'd have thought it would all be in the one area. Following her out of the shop, waiting for Luciana to lock up, he continued with her down the block till she powered up. He took off his coat so he could power up, and pull his coat back on over his uniform. "Those blueprints were hard to understand." And he liked to think he wasn't that bad at reading such things, considering all the building he did, but it had been so difficult.
Giving pause at her words, already a step ahead of her, his own walking stick was pulled out of nowhere. "Should we worry?" He questioned, moving to glance at whatever she had seen.
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 5:01 pm
"Maybe stone or wood, just something to make it down there first before I decide how sturdy they need to be. If I need to carry heavier items up from the basement or down to it, then I might need to figure something else out." It all hinged on what was actually down there, though, and until she managed to make it down there, it could go either way. While she would have continued to explain things to him, she switched her focus to the creature ahead. The wolf, one made of ice and snow, was prowling closer as it snapped its jaws. "Just the one, so..." Stepping forward, she focused on her signet ring and readied her staff. It didn't feel like one of those other monsters, so it was just another annoyance to get rid of before continuing the work that needed to be done.
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 6:40 pm
"Do you think there might be room for a pully system of some sort? Incase we need to get things up, or down, from the basement?" Because if there was than he could work on putting together a system to help her, to help move things, since it would help her and her wonder and that was what he cared about above all else as a knight - wonders. "I wouldn't mind help in building a pully system, or something similar." Because it fell into his wheel house really, building things, while Luciana was good with locks and watches he was good with other things.
"We'll talk more one this things been dealt with." Because while he wasn't a fighter he diodn't care to get into fights, but if something came for him he would deffend himself because as a knight he could. As a civilian he couldn't defend himself, couldn't fight back, but this wasn't his family and he wasn't incapable when he was powdered up. His hand tightened on tthe cane he held, raising it slowly, as the wolf got closer. The growl seeming to vibrate in the air, it was so deep and loud, and when it leapt for him the blue eyed male swung his cane like a bat.
It hit, and hard, but it didn't seem to do much aside from anger the wolf. "Snow....I think its made of snow." How odd that snow could come to life, could take such a form on its own, and it was getting ready to attack again as if his strike had done nothing aside from annoy it. "Great..." The only thing worse would be if it were made off solid ice, something harder to damage.
"Here it comes again." And it was coming again, this time fast and without leaping, as it decided to get around Novella and go for the shorter of the two knights. "Watch out." Turning as fast as he could, nearly tripping as he did so with how fast he had to turn, the wold had moved around him and with snapping jaws it went for the other.
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 7:53 pm
"It depends on whether the basement is directly below or if it reaches further outside of the main structure." It could be anything, she wasn't exactly sure, but she had looked into how some of the clocktowers were constructed back home while she was growing up, so with enough time and materials, she was certain she could get everything in working order. Seeing the wolf coming at her, she swung her staff at it quickly before sidestepping. The metal connected from what she could tell but otherwise the thing seemed only mildly bothered by it. It oozed what looked like something between sleet and slush. "Maybe if we hit it enough times, it will melt."
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 10:10 pm
Was it wrong that he hoped he'd need to build something to help her, with her clocktower? He didn't think it was wrong, or even selfish or greedy, it seemed normal enough to him. Though his normal might just not be normal, not according to most people anyway, but to be honest he also didn't care - he didn't have the energy to care. Infact, there was little that he actually did care about. It wasn't his fault, he was certain of that, he could easily and rightfully blame it all on his father and the choices he'd made as well as what he allowed to happen under hid roof.
"Maybe...or it'll just wind up with enough holes in it that it'll do it's equivalent of bvleeding out...since it seems to be already be working on that." Either way it didn't matter, so long as it died, as it seemed to be ready to strike again. Striking out himself Novella wasn't surfprised when he missed, it had enough time to react, as it moved to avoid him and sunk it's teeth into his leg. His leg, ujnderfstandably, went and on his knees thed pale eyed male reached out with a fist to hit it on top of it's head to get it off his leg. Cursing as it sunk them in deeper, blood leaknng from around it's mouth, he couldn't manage to get it off...till he managed to gouge it's eyes with one of his hands. When it let go, with a howl of pain, Novella fell to his side, his eyes remained on the wolf. <********." Another cursed, a hand went to his leg, thed pain and the chill was intense. He'd felt pain, he could grit his teeth against it, but the cold added to it sucked. This was going to be hard to hide, hard to handled, but he had to puoll himself together and deal with this. That in mind he slowly climbed up onto his feet, shifting his weight to favor the injury. He was ready; or as ready as could be.
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 10:28 pm
Seeing Novella get hurt, she rushed over and swung at the thing with her staff again. This time, swinging it more like a bat, she felt something shift when she hit it. A spray of whatever the thing was made of gushed into the air as it yelped and moved back. No time to focus on that, though, as she carefully helped Novella up. While he might be taller, she was by no means weak and was able to haul him up and carry most of his weight.
"Back inside the building, or at least not here." Looking at the blood, she cursed a bit as she wondered how this could get explained away to whatever parents they had. The relationship mustn't be good, she figured, and this wouldn't exactly make things easy for them. "I've got some first aid supplies in the workshop, but it's best to think of an excuse about what happened. Can't have them thinking I had you working on some heavy machinery." It wasn't easy to explain why she had someone so young working under her, and something like this being reported by pissed-off parents wouldn't be good for her shop or her overall situation here.
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 10:42 pm
"They won't notice provided I don't bleed on the carpet or die." The answer was calm, too calm, but it was also honest. It spoke to years of a bad familoy relationship, years of neglect, and the fact he didn't even cae too much about himself - so long as he was alive and well enough to build things. If he lost the few things he cared for, his ability to build and feed his creativity, like his wonder than he would care. But scars and other injuries - nope.
"I can help with the kit and cleaning myself up." Because he wa used to it, that wasn't a hard thihng for him, he knew his way around a first aid kit and while he wasn't proud of it he was infact glad for his skills. He was rather self reliant and self sufficent and those were good qualities, in his mind anyway, they were things he'd need later in life.
"They wouldn't care if I was working with heavy machines, they don't care what I do and I don't tell them." Shrugging as he spoke, lettging he support his weight as they headed inside. Stabbing once at the wolf as it tried to follow them, half turning in order to do so. "Their world and mine do not collide at all. Like a venn diagrom....the middle section is empty." The door closed behind them, giving them the safety of the shop, while the wolf either vanished or died, he let Luciana do as she needed to while he powered down and found a place to seat himself. She wasn't going to ask about his family, he knew it, so he was safe in saying what he did. She wouldn't just not ask but she wouldn't get involvd either. How nice.
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