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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.

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"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.

A whole house was inside that teapot...like it was it's own little realm.

"Whoever created it must've been incredibly powerful. It's very fortunate you came across it indeed." Jun would almost say it was miraculous, but that felt a little off considering he was referring to the luck of a demon here.

But honestly Moxxie that's fair. So he'll glance over at Mikleo.

"...I suppose the prep falls to you then, Mikleo, if that's alright."

A whole house... It must be powerful magic indeed. Part of him wants to see it, but he shoves that down. Not appropriate right now. "I can imagine. It's not like you can apply for government assistance like this."

He nods to Jun. "I haven't done it in a while, but I remember how. I'll need a small sharp knife and some kind of flat clean surface, though." He moves closer to Moxxie so that he can take the fish in question.

"Yeah. It's been a pretty big problem."

Since most of the systems in place to help people depended on them being able to exist as a human. Hearing that this guy can handle the prep, Moxxie shifts to try and offer the fish, although the thing is so heavy for someone as small as Moxxie that it's a really awkward motion. Still, he figures the guy will be able to take the fish easily enough.

"I have plenty of knives in my teapot. I can see if there's something in there that would work."

"Mm, normal people being unable to perceive the supernatural means a lot of things and people fall through the cracks...."

Though he's sure he's just preaching to the choir about that one. Jun may have his own roadbumps with going about in the world, especially when it came to his past, but at least people still perceived him as there and human ...which more than these two have.

Ah, right. The grill. He'll get back to getting that all set up. Brushing out any cobwebs that have formed over the past few months, and getting the charcoal in.

"That'd be great Moxxie, thanks." He's not sure how much he has in the way of knives in his place. There's way too many things you need to buy when you live independently.

Even with a strength score of like -3, Mikleo takes the fish without issue. It helps that he's, you know, five and a half feet tall and not two. "Thank you." The lack of existing infrastructure to help the supernatural half of Kaisou is something that Mikleo has thought about before, but owing to his time with POKEGO, he knows it's not a localized problem. Change needs to happen, but where to even begin? He doesn't have the brain for politics and never will.

"Dressing a fish isn't something I do often, so I didn't think about getting a proper knife for it." He sighs. "Feels like the list of things you need for an apartment never ends..."

Moxxie heads over and climbs into his teapot. He's not really sure what makes a good fish dressing knife, though, so he decides to grab one of each kind of knife he has. A butcher knife, a steak knife, a cheese knife and several others including at least one of the chopsticks that has a hidden knife instead and his ice axe because hey, maybe that would work as long as Mikleo didn't activate the ice powers in the axe.

Emerging from the teapot with an armful of sharp implements, he says, "I wasn't sure what would work best for this kind of thing, so I just grabbed one of everything."

Edited 2023-03-30 23:39 (UTC)

Holy shit Moxxie--

Jun's eyes widen briefly as Moxxie brings out all those weapons and knives. He then quickly ducks his head behind the grill so neither of them can see him trying to hold back a laugh. Demons, man.

Whatever Mikleo is expecting, it isn't... that. There are so many knives. And even a fucking axe? Moxxie's enthusiasm stuns Mikleo into silence as he struggles to keep it together. One of everything.

Dear. God.

"C-careful, we don't need you getting hurt by accident." JUN ARE YOU SEEING THIS SHIT? Mikleo clears his throat. "Right, uh... let me see." After a few seconds, he picks one out of the bunch-- something that looks like a steak knife, but a little longer and with little serration on the blade. "This one. It's not exactly a fillet knife, but it's close enough. Thanks." He almost asks about the axe, then decides against it.

Now he needs a good place to gut a fish. It's a good thing that Mikleo comes with his own construction material; he conjures water with a spell under his breath, then gathers it into a stump shape and freezes it. He has to kneel to begin cleaning the fish, but does so after he tries to jog his memory... It was the partner before his last one that liked camping.

"I'll be fiiine!"

He's not worried about carrying a bundle of knives, so clearly no one else should be, either!

Once Mikleo picks his knife, Moxxie responds, "No problem! I'll get the rest of these put away."

And then he sets to work gathering up all of his knives...and the axe. Seeing how Mikleo creates his work station, Moxxie pauses to watch.

"Huh. That's pretty neat, I have fire powers myself, so I can't really build anything, but if you guys need help starting the fire on the grill I can help with that."

Yeah, Jun himself isn't going to comment because frankly? This lines up with the rest of Moxxie's whole...everything. Though he is wondering why the guy thought an AXE would be needed.

Maybe he just grabbed whatever's sharp.

"Actually, that'd be quite helpful." Jun will pipe up. "This grill is still a little damp from the winter, so I think fire magic would be more effective than matches to get it to light.

Mikleo decides it's better not to argue with the guy who has an endless supply of knives. Fire powers, however? He's a teeny bit jealous, if only because fire comes in handy for so many things... Water can't help you see better in the dark, for example. He'd never give up his element, though.

"Jun's got a point," he says, still working on the salmon. "Even minor fire magic will probably be stronger than matches." As long as Moxxie can control it, it'll be safer than a torch, too. He doesn't want to know just how many combustible things Moxxie might have around his teapot.

"Great! I'll just get this put away first."

He heads into his teapot, climbing in. He's gone for a minute as he puts the knives (and axe) away before popping back out of his teapot.

"All right, let me know whenever you're ready for me to light it."

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accidentally lost this tag, sorry!

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