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WHO: Moxxie and you!
WHERE: Undertown for the open prompt, then Jun's apartment complex and the warehouse for the closed prompts
WHEN: Throughout March
WHAT: Moxxie getting fish for the open prompt (then frying fish and trying to clear out a warehouse for the closed prompts)
WARNINGS: N/A

[The Rainbow Connection – Open]
Guess who has the time to keep following a rainbow until he gets to the end? This guy.

Sure, he has no idea why the rainbows are there or what's going on, but he can definitely see that they look a lot closer than most rainbows do, and he's heard the stories about leprechauns and the pot of gold, so he figures...why not? He could use the cash now that Crowley, the guy who was starting up a business that Moxxie was working at, no longer remembers that he is not, in fact, a possum.

He is keeping in mind this time that he can, in fact, ask for help, but he figures he might as well try for some gold to see if he can delay that, right?

Then, after a few hours of searching, he finally finds it. The end of the rainbow, which is in a sad, dirty little alley in Undertown. He runs up to it and, since the three foot tall pot was taller than the 2'5 imp, he reaches up and pulls himself up to see inside the giant pot of...fish? Disappointing, but Moxxie decides not to let it go to waste. After all, if nothing else it's at least free food, right? He reaches into the pot, trying to catch the fish within, but he ends up leaning in a bit too far and--

"Oh!"

Splash.

Soon he's treading water inside the pot. After a long, beleaguered sigh, he dives down, catching the fish more easily and tossing them over the edge, taking a breath each time before diving back down. Once the fish were all flopping on the pavement he begins to pull himself over the edge, climbing out of the cauldron when he spots someone near the mouth of the alley.

He's shivering, cold and dripping wet, and now he just really hopes they don't want his fish because he just did way too much to just have it taken away.

"There's no gold here. Only fish. Nothing you'd be interested in," he calls out, hoping that's enough to get them to lose interest.

He continues to try and climb out...only to slip and go crashing down to the ground.

"...ow."

[Fish Fry - Jun]
He has way more fish than he can eat, of course, but that doesn't stop him. By the time Moxxie gets home, his arms are tired and sore, and he's shivering because he's still in his soaking wet clothes, but he has plenty of fish. Of course, he also has no idea how he's going to eat this before it spoils, since at his size he really doesn't need a lot of food, but he can always share it with the cat to get rid of some of it.

On his way to his teapot, he spots Jun.

"Oh, hi! Just bringing home some fish."

Some weird golden salmon, nothing to worry about!

[Where All Your Dreams Come True - Luz]
Now that Crowley's gone, Moxxie is going to have to find a new way to make ends meet, and that's where this job comes into play. It seems fairly straightforward. Go into the warehouse, and clear out the various monsters he finds down there. He's got his guns, a ton of ammo, and his fire powers, so he feels pretty confident he can handle this.

After burning up a couple of raccoon skeletons with a few fireballs, though, something catches his eye. A tail, not unlike his own, disappearing around the corner. Moxxie races after it, peering around the edge when he sees...another imp. This one doesn't look exactly like he does, of course. This imp has small yellow horns and a pair of tiny wings that appear to be vestigial, but his skin is the same shade of red as Moxxie and they're about the same size, and while this may not be an imp from Moxxie's own world, it's still very clearly another imp.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Moxxie stops, turning to look behind him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jun was in the courtyard today, clearing the garden boxes as he prepared them for spring planting. He looks up as Moxxie addresses him. He can't help but stare at the brightly golden fish.

"You...went fishing? I didn't know there were fish like that in our waters."

He doesn't sound suspicious, just curious. It's not like he was a fishing expert, so who's to he to say that there's something off about these fish?

"There aren't! I followed one of those rainbows that were popping up. I was kind of disappointed that there were fish instead of gold, but hey! Free food! ...unfortunately the pot was pretty big, like three feet tall, so I ended up falling in after I climbed up there, but I still got the fish!"

It's just one of the challenges when you're only 2'5.

"Golden fish at the end of a rainbow...?"

Well, that's a new one. You'd expect to hear something like that out of a cereal commercial, not every day life. But he supposes he has seen a lot of rainbows around lately.

Maybe he should be concerned about eating strange magical foods, but eh. You only live once and he's curious.

"That explains why you're so wet. Do you need help cooking it?"

"Apparently."

It's weird, but at this point he no longer questions things.

"That would be great, thanks! I mean, I can cook, but these fish are huge so I'd love some help."

Look sometimes it's best not to question too much. Sometimes it's best to just eat some food.

"Hmmm...alright. I think there should still be a grill in storage that could fit them. Let me grab that!"

He'll walk over to the storage shed in the courtyard, opening it up with his key and disappearing inside. After some sounds of him moving other stuff around, he's pulling out a grill along with some charcoal.

"Found it!"

Mikleo pokes his head into the courtyard from a side door, curious about what Jun is doing down here. Wasn't there supposed to be gardening or something? He's prepared to help water some seeds, but instead he sees Jun setting up a grill as well as someone's escaped ugly dog. It sends a moment of panic through him before he realizes... wait, that's not a dog. Okay. Whew.

Still, that's... oh, is that a demon? Mikleo is staring a little too long to be polite, and the imp appears to be on friendly enough terms with Jun that he'll step out of hiding and walk over.

"Hey Jun. And... hello there. Need any help?" Then Mikleo notices that Moxxie's soaked, and his purple eyes narrow. "You'll catch your death if you stand around in wet clothes. Hold still."

He doesn't actually wait for an answer. He gestures with his hand in a circle. Almost immediately the water seeps right out of Moxxie's clothes and into the air, forming a little donut of water. Mikleo then directs it over to a nearby flower bush and lets it go, so the plant can absorb it.

"Great!"

And the grill is certainly bigger than anything Moxxie would have to cook with in his teapot. Then he hears someone's voice coming from the direction of Jun's apartment and looks. For a moment he wonders who that is, and then when the guy magically dries his clothes he decides it doesn't matter who it is, he likes him already.

"Thanks! I needed that!"

It is way too cold to be going around in wet clothes, after all.

"I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?" Of course, he could have been around without Moxxie noticing. He usually keeps to himself in his teapot.

Jun was in the middle of setting up the grill and making sure no possums had climbed into it over the winter (nope, only possum around is Moxxie) when he hears Mikleo. He lifts his head and smiles.

"Hey Mikleo!" He doesn't react to Mikleo drying Moxxie's clothes. He's pretty used to the guy fussing. But it's only now does he realize he forgot to introduce these two. "He is. Mikleo's a water spirit. Normal people can't see him, so he's been staying with me."

In other words, Jun yet again took in another weird stray. He'll leave it up to Mikleo if he wants to fill in the rest of the details. And of course he knows Moxxie needs introducing too, so he'll look at Mikleo.

"Moxxie was a customer at the coffee shop, but he got turned into an imp so he's been staying here in that magic teapot over there." He'll leave it up to Moxxie if he wants to divulge more. "Moxxie brought back some fish he found at the end of those rainbows around town, so we were thinking of grilling some up."

Mikleo gives a courteous little bow when he's thanked, and meets Jun's expression with a little smile of his own. See? He can be helpful. It's a little strange, perhaps, to have a fish fry in the middle of the apartment complex... but maybe not. Especially if the fish is fried well. He's burned fish a little bit too much in his past life, but if someone else is cooking on the hibachi, perhaps disaster is less of a possibility.

"That's right. I've only been here a little while, but when you're invisible it's hard to settle in. Thankfully, Jun was nice enough to help me out." Not unlike now, where he's dragging a whole barbecue out of storage for the possum who lives in the teapot. ... That sure is a brand new sentence.

He decides to fill in some of the missing details, since Moxxie ought to know. "I'm a researcher with POKEGO, mostly studying ancient temples and the like. Technically I'm here on assignment but it's because I refused to work with anyone after the Willow incident. He nearly destroyed everything I've dedicated my life to overnight." Definitely no love lost there, judging by the bitterness in his tone.

But he shoves that aside so as not to bring the mood down entirely. "That sounds rough to go through, I'm sorry. A magic teapot, though... Is it cozy inside?" He can't help his curiosity! Oh, right, the fish fry... "How strange... So they're normal fish aside from the color?"

When Jun mentions that people can't see Mikleo, Moxxie pipes up.

"Oh, I can relate to that. People can see me, but regular people see a possum when they look at me."

Granted, since what he really is happens to be an imp, having regular people see him as he is would be an even bigger problem, but that doesn't mean it isn't frustrating to no longer be able to live a human life. He is glad to hear that this guy wasn't on board with the whole Willow thing, though, because that had been a pain.

"It actually is. I've got a bed and everything in there. It's bigger on the inside, but everything's sized for me."

Which is kind of nice, considering how annoying it can be navigating the normal world when he's only 2'5.

"Honestly, I have no idea if they're normal or not. I guess we'll find out!"

Yeah, he's sure these two can relate to each other. Good. Both of them could use more friends that understand each other.

"So that's what it's like in there. You always seemed content with that teapot, so I've been curious what it's like."

He just wasn't sure how to ask, because you know, that is Moxxie's private space and they hardly counted as friends.

"Mm, it's a bit of an adventure. I can sense some magic from them, but it doesn't ping me as anything dangerous." So, sometimes the best way to learn is by eating it! "Do either of you know how to debone and prep a salmon? I can set up the grill in the meantime."

Hahahah... Mikleo is thinking the same thing. He's always happy when he sees Jun talking to people, knowing how quiet he is firsthand.

"You're very well-spoken for a possum," he says with a small bit of a humor. "In all seriousness, I understand. It sounds like we have similar difficulties in a world not really made for us."

He listens to the description of the teapot, fascinated. "Whoa, it's tailored to your size? That's incredible... I wonder what kind of magic powers it."

He looks at the salmon, this time with more of a discerning eye. "I know how, but since Moxxie caught it, if he wants to do the honors he should be allowed." He can definitely prep a fish, but tends to burn anything that he tries to grill himself.

"Oh yeah, it's basically a whole house in there sized for me."

So pretty nice, considering he'd lived in an apartment before this. Technically an upgrade, though with added risk of someone walking off with the teapot.

"I have no idea what powers it, but I'm glad it showed up one day since there was no way I could afford rent for any longer."

He'd have probably been homeless that month without the teapot.

"Um...I don't know how to debone a salmon, no. The ones I get from the grocery store are already deboned."

He can cook, but he really doesn't have a lot of experience with ingredients he caught himself.

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Luz was doing her best to get things back to normal. Not having Amity around was pretty depressing, but staying at home sad about it was also something Luz couldn't do for long. So she was here, the necklace she'd had for Amity around her neck, Owlbert in hand. Might as well take a job to earn some money, right?

However, Luz found someone had beat her to it, and not just anyone.

"Moxxie? You're helping to clear out the space too?"

"Yeah. So...uh...that's what you're here for, too. Huh."

He glances in the direction he saw the imp go.

"So, just to let you know, we might not want to clear everything we find down here out by fighting it."

"Yup. That's the plan!"

Distraction to ignore the depths of sadness she felt seemed like a great idea!

Luz saw only the flurry of movement and had her hand in her pocket when Moxxie made the suggestion.

"Did you have another way in mind? I don't have to go in glyphs blazing, as far as I know. Can we reason with them?"

"Well...the reanimated skeletons we can just destroy, but...I just saw an imp down that way, so...I'd say there's a decent shot."

Since he's an imp, too. Even if he can't, he's not planning on fighting them.

"Oh, definite yes on the animated skeletons. I already had to deal with those months ago, when we were doing the whole pirate adventure thing."

Boy, she just got used to saying things like that out loud.

"An imp? Like you? Are they...friendly, like you too?"

"Yeah, like me. I don't know if he's friendly or not since he was down that way and I don't even think he noticed me, but I'd really rather not fight him."

While this wasn't the first imp he'd encountered since he turned into one, it's still an incredibly unusual occurrence and he doesn't want to make an enemy of one of the few imps he's encountered, and he certainly doesn't want to hurt him. Not when he has a chance to learn about his heritage, especially since after eating some of that golden salmon earlier that week he learned he's had more than one life as an imp.

Walking around the corner and heading down a path lined with shelves and boxes, Moxxie calls out, "Hello?"

The other imp peeks out from behind a shelf, then, making a noise, points behind Moxxie before ducking back out of sight. Moxxie glances back before turning back to the imp.

"Oh, that's Luz. She's not going to do anything."

The imp then jumps up onto the shelf, moving between boxes. "Are you sure? She looks like the adventuring sort. Those types are trouble."

"Well, go over and find out then, Moxxie! I'll wait here. If you're in any trouble, just let me know, but otherwise, go see what's the Imp's deal!"

Luz was pretty sure that Moxxie had a lot of questions concerning his heritage and people like him, so better he go and find out if they were friendly first. That way they didn't have to go all crazy and get dusted up if they could avoid it!

Luz's hand idly found its way to the necklace around her throat, and she sighed, closing her eyes.

You'll be fine. She's not here and that's sad and you miss her, but you'll be fine. Focus!

Luz did hear the voice, so thankfully that was a distraction.

"Oh, she isn't...well, she is, but she isn't going to do anything to us imps. Now, I hope you're not too attached to those walking skeletons, on the other hand..."

The other imp spits. "I hate those bear skeletons! They're a pain! She can do what she wants with those!"

"Bear..." Oh crumbs. "Right. Yeah. Of course, the bear skeletons. To be honest, I'm going to be helping with that to try and get a cut of the money since I don't get paid anymore--"

"You get paid?"

"Well, not anymo--"

"I want to get paid!"

"Well, me too.."

"I'll tell the others about this!"

And before he could say anything more, the other imp darts off. Moxxie feels a bit guilty since he left out the bit about them having to leave, too, but he'd been hoping to convince them to come with him to...somewhere. He hadn't figured out that part of the plan yet.

As the imp races past one of the offices, suddenly a large bear skeleton comes clamoring out, taking a lazy swipe at the imp that it easily evades. Deciding that prey is too difficult to catch, the bear skeleton turns its attention to Moxxie, slowly lumbering towards him. Behind him, another bear skeleton follows.

"...oh crumbs."

Edited 2023-03-17 20:15 (UTC)

Oh boy. None of that looked promising. Luz listened in on the conversation, and definitely heard Moxxie not include the instruction of them having to leave in order for anything to work.

"Moxie, we better tell-"

And that was far as she got before spotting the bear skeleton. Welp. That was happening now.

Luz cast an ice glyph, and it froze the first bear in place. The next seemed eager to continue the fight, and now Luz was turning to Moxxie.

"Can you fend it off?"

Tell? Nope. He's not telling anyone anything. However, he doesn't even get to hear the rest of what Luz wanted to say before the bears showed up, and at that point his attention was fully on the bear skeletons. Can he fend off the other one?

"Sure!"

Moxxie summons up a basketball sized fireball, throwing it at the bear. It chars the bone and has the skeleton staggering back a few steps, but soon it recovered, coming for them again. Moxxie then pulls out his gun, firing off a few shots at the bear, but this seems to have even less of an effect. At least, until a bullet hits the skull just right, cracking off a piece. That seems to make the bear skeleton angry and it charges.

"Oh crumbs!" he says as he continues firing.

Truthfully Luz has forgotten herself. Right now she was devoting her energy to the beat skeletons, which were likely just as strong as bears with skin.

More or less.

Oh, but Moxxie had some moves! She wasn't expecting that, but she sure was happy it was wor-

Oops. It wasn't. Oh Titan.

Luz threw down her plant glyph, and then muttered a curse as the weakened plant vines just tripped up the charging bear. She'd been hoping for the plant to hold it down, but this month had weakened the earth element, which apparently held the same drawback from her glyphs.

Well, she managed to trip it at least. That should buy him more time while he unloads more bull--he's out of ammo.

"Oh crumbs, oh crumbs, oh crumbs..."

Pulling out more ammo, hands shaking, Moxxie reloads the gun. By the time he's done, the bear is back on his feet, coming for him again, so he fires off one...two...three more shots into the skull before finally blowing it apart and the skeleton collapses.

Moxxie lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay, I took care of it. Thanks for those plants."