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 Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 8:06 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.
The chibi shivered, less out of cold and more out of discomfort. Being Powered up meant she wasn't really all that cold out here in this weather, even though her sleeves were functionally made out of ribbons. But it was unpleasant how cold and nasty the weather was turning this Christmas. Sure, it didn't usually get this nasty in Destiny City, and it would have been dreadfully pretty and picturesque, if you ignored the dirty snow that piled up along curbs and in the corners of parking lots, and could avoid the wind.
The wind ripped and howled its way along, making Aquitania wish she'd elected to wait at home for her mother and brother, instead of deciding to walk herself to join them at the nearest commuter train parking lot, empty enough on a weekend to be a good place for Khaz to practice his winter driving without accidentally hitting anybody.
At least deciding to turn the walk into a patrol was keeping her warmer than she might be with just her winter clothes on. She'd still need to find a good spot to Power down before she got to the lot, but she still had time.
Around her, the wind howled, a primordial, animalistic sound. And then there was a snarl, like the scraping of ice from a windshield.
The chibi whipped her head around in time to see eyes glowing like the Aurora Borealis on the snow, and then a lupine shape was leaping at her, mouth open, claws extended, fur spiked like icicles.
With a muffled scream, Aquitania skidded out of the way, finding inadequate purchase on the icy snow beneath her boots.
Oh.
Nooo.
Well. At least she was already all Powered up and ready to go. Not as ready as she wanted to be, but startled little chibis ambushed by ice wolves didn't really get to be choosy about their battles.itspao_ Howsoever you'd like Weser to come in. 8>
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2025 10:41 pm
It was cold.
Even in her uniform, Weser, on one of her first patrols in snow-covered Destiny City, quickly came to realize that her uniform simply wasn't enough. And how could she have thought it was, honestly? But it hadn't been that bad! Not at first, before the snow. When it was just the wind and rain and threats of snow, it had been fine! But now... Now it was just too much, so she found a decent coat that she thought would match her uniform rather nicely.
And she was right! Or at least she thought she was right.
Clad in her new, pretty winter coat, Weser went along on her patrol, flute tucked safely away in one of the pockets. It had been a relatively uneventful evening, as most of her patrols blessedly were. The times that she had encountered things had been absolutely awful! She learned quickly that she wasn't much of a fighter, and her flute was made of very fragile, already nearly cracking, glass so not exactly good for making into a weapon, makeshift or otherwise.
Which was unfortunate for her because as she rounded a corner she saw it—the frightening form of a wolf materializing out of thin, freezing cold air. It was all she could do not to scream in surprise, but thankfully encounters with youma that looked far more disturbing had knocked that initial reaction right out of her. The Page leapt to action, not knowing what she could do but knowing she had to do something to help the senshi get away from it.
"Come on!" she said, taking hold of her arm and pulling her hopefully out of the wolf's immediate reach. She slipped in front of the senshi then, and did her best to glare down at the wolf, who was snarling at the pair of them, its head low and eyes focused on Weser.
"Are you okay? Did it get you?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2025 7:40 am
Aquitania briefly felt the flare of a friendly energy signal, before someone in pinks and yellows and blues skidded in front of her and pulled her out of the way.
Blinking owlishly, she glanced up at the figure. The older girl didn't look like a senshi; maybe a knight? Underneath the heavy winter coat, the girl wore a frilly outfit, emblazoned with what looked like it might be a heavily stylized crown, or maybe one of those headbands with a unicorn horn on it. Knight, then, but of a faction she didn't recognize.
The chibi relaxed slightly. That was good. Even if this was a new knight, she trusted knights. Frankly, she liked every knight she'd come across, and she seemed to run into an awful lot of knights.
"I'm okay, it missed me," she replied reassuringly. Looking around, she didn't see anything that would work for fighting back against the snow wolf, though, in her personal experience, even something as simple as kicking it, or using mundane objects, would work. There was snow, which could make for snowballs, but that might not be sufficient without something harder as a core. Besides, they'd need some time if they wanted to try some snowballs.
"Ummm, what's your weapon like right now? If it's not ready for a fight, I think we should consider running, or trying to attack it from two directions? Oh! Also!"
She pumped her free fist in the air, and shouted, "Aquitania Courage BOOST!" While she hoped it would help out the unfamiliar knight, frankly, if it brought wildlife to their aid, the chibi wouldn't say no to that, either.Quote: Aquitania Courage Boost!Aquitania pumps her fist in the air clutching a small ball of light and calls out this attack, and allies within a 5' radius feel a small boost of courage. The effects last for about 25 seconds. It will mostly counteract the effects of first stage emotional attacks, will only partially counteract the effects of second stage emotional attacks, and will not counteract the effects of third stage emotional attacks. The ball of light cannot be used for attack. It can be used three times per day.
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2025 7:09 pm
A wave of relief washed over Weser at the senshi's reassuring words confirming that she was alright, though the relief was brief as she turned her attention fully to the wolf. Nerves slowly wrapped its tendrils around her again as she assessed the situation. She wasn't the greatest at fighting, admittedly, and didn't have the strongest constitution among others her age. It was something of a sore spot for her, which was why when she first became a knight she'd been so ecstatic because it was the first time she genuinely felt strong and energetic and up for actually doing things.
She just wished fighting wasn't one of those things!
The Page bit her lip, about to say something when the senshi called out her attack. The nerves that had been starting to take a firm grip on her had let go, falling way and leaving in their wake an unfamiliar but very welcome sense of courage despite currently staring down a wolf, of all things. With it came a sense of confidence that they would be well able to get out of this situation perfectly fine, or at least in one piece.
To do that, though, she quickly came to the same conclusion: fighting wasn't really an option.
"I've just got a glass flute," she said, frowning slightly as she tried to think as fast as she could about what they could do. "But like this, I can run pretty fast. What about you?" She made sure to keep her eyes on the wolf, turning slowly as it started to circle them, its eyes fixed on them and its lips curled up into a teeth-baring snarl.
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2025 7:40 pm
"Chibis seem to be very good at running, so let's go!" she said, taking to her heels. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a sparkle of light, rather like the one she'd seen after the flaming turkey youma had been incinerated. Was it the same odd little ember of light? What was it still doing here?
It didn't seem to be doing anything at the moment, so there wasn't really any point in fretting about it.
"My best idea is hitting it with snowballs with something hard at the center. Or hitting it really, really hard. Do you have any ideas?" she called to the knight.
As she ran, the snow wolf attempted to snap at her heels. She kicked it, without really stopping to think about it. Frost seeped into her toes, abidingly cold, like summer would never come again--but the wolf's shape flickered a little, and clear icy water spattered from its muzzle, freezing to an icy slush.
The wolf howled angrily, as some of the snow sloughed from its muzzle onto the ground behind it.
More howls faintly echoed it.
More howls? Oh, no. Nope. This bad dog had to go now.
The chibi skidded to a halt, whirling around to face it, as it more cautiously stalked its way forward.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 7:56 pm
Weser was panting with the effort of running but managed to shake her head at the question. "Just... hitting it... I guess!" she said between breaths, and as the chibi senshi whirled around to kick at it she did much the same, skidding to a halt and doing her best to mimic what punching looked like in those action movies. She managed to land a solid strike to the wolf's muzzle just after Aquitania landed a kick. She watched in quiet horror as ice sloughed off of the beast, but more than that...
"My hands are numb!" she cried, clutching them close to her chest and trying desperately to breathe warmth and sensation back into them. But the sound of howling shook her, and she glanced up and around. No other wolves yet, but at this rate...
"Just keep hitting it!" she said, her voice shaking with fear but her feet carrying forward. The wolf caught her arm, sending a chill racing up to her shoulder she felt her knees nearly buckle. She took the opportunity to slam her free fist into its face several times, though, her whole body going numb from the cold.
And the pain.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2026 6:44 pm
Oh, this freezer pup did not get to do that to a poor, pretty young knight.
The chibi reached into the swirling snow at their feet, locating a small rock, and quickly encased it in snow. Pumping the fist clutching the doctored snowball into the air, she shouted, "Aquitania Courage Boost!"
And then, she hurled the snowball toward the snow wolf's head.
The wolf's shape flickered again, snow and ice sloughing off the strangely spectral form that seemed to be the core of the wolf. Unfortunately, as it was still trying to hold onto Weser's arm, it couldn't dodge the attack, and took it in the back of the head. Startled and in pain, it released the knight's arm, trying to howl and snarl at the same time, succeeding mostly in a confused gurgling sound. But the chibi now had its undivided attention, as it stalked toward the person who had made it hurt. And had made it less substantial.
But Aquitania knew, as she felt more rocks shift underfoot, that it could take damage. And it needed to take damage.
"Weser! Get a rock and pack it in snow! It makes a mean snowball!" she called, bending down to prepare another one as the wolf stalked toward her angrily. "We won't freeze, and we can fight back!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2026 9:18 pm
Weser felt just a bit steadier as the senshi called on her magic once more, a sense of courage welling up inside and flowing through her as she began to fight against the wolf in every way she knew how even as it held fast to her arm. Despite cheering when the wolf caught the brunt of an oncoming snowball, the Page let out a shriek of pain when it finally let her go, clutching her arm close to her as she put some distance between the wolf and herself.
"O-okay!" she said, her brows furrowed in mixed frustration at how badly her voice was shaking and determination at doing her part to get rid of this wolf. Weser scooped up a handful of snow alongside a rock, and packed a snowball best she could given her current state. She still had one mostly good arm, thankfully, so when it was done she chucked the snowball with all of her might.
It smacked the wolf on the side of the head, forcing what sounded like a very pained howl out of the creature. It flickered and faded a bit more, and riding the feeling of success she scooped up another such snowball.
"I think it's working!"
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