MASKTOURN

The following list of fights is posted on a board outside the arena: Clove Thomasyouri Eripmav vs Valerie Marcoyouri Gallo ~~Peregrine Axelyauro Marvell~~ vs ~~Darcy Lovettyauro Sterling~~ Kyrie Korlanyouri Coalfoot vs ~~Isi Ronaldyouri~~ Invo Khalidyauro, son of Hmarab vs Lacey Miguelyouri Aguilar Evan Isaiahyauro Rei vs Seki Lloydyeiren ~~Aarni Amosyauro Repo~~ vs Kallum Hugoyauro Byrd ~~Ace Lao-Jiangyauro Lao~~ vs Gale Steveyouri Davenport Eremurus Alphanzeyauro vs ~~Armand Anatoliusyauro~~ ~~Kenji Eijirou Himura~~ vs Ellie Eivindyeiren Halvorson Zhi-Yin Chang-boyauro Luo vs Leo Emileyauro Von Claret Carrion Salvetoreyeiren vs Enzo Marcoyauro Vanth ~~Levi Alphanzeyauro~~ vs. Enya Liamyouri Hayes Kal Marcoyauro Valdez vs ~~Asha Eliudyouri Issa~~ Roman Kimbalyauro Ricci vs ~~Ryuoske Suijinyouri Yasuda~~ (edited)

Aarni had heard Naiyta listing names at the gala, but had completely missed his when Kenji had suddenly gotten ill. He now wondered if it had to do with the fights, and who he might be fighting... Then, as he wandered aimlessly, he just so happened to stumble upon a list of the fights. He stepped closer and skimmed to find his name and his opponent. ".......ei jumALAUTA! Ei vvviTTUJEN KEVÄT! EI, EI HELVETTI! Se ei voi tehä tätä! Ei, ei saatana, se tappaa miut, ei vittuvittuvittuvittusaatanaperkele....!!" [cussing]. It can't do this! No, no, it's gonna kill me, [cussing]. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy had simply wandered over to the fight board, still wanting to explore some more. He paused as he saw someone cursing very loudly in Finnish, and frowned as he recognized who it was. "Ah... are you alright?" He asked cautiously. @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni was pulling on his hair, staring at the fight list in distress, and flinched when he heard someone talk. "Uh, Dh.. Darcy?" Aarni stuttered and tried to compose himself, but didn't know what to do with his hands, so he grabbed his left wrist and wrung it. "I.. I the, fight, fuck, fuck, I... they make me fight my friend..!" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy frowned. "Oh- that's awful. I'm so sorry. It seems they're... very fond of putting us against people we know." He glanced up to the board to find Aarni's name and likeness, as well as his opponent's. "Kallum... Byrd?" @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni nodded robotically. "It's bad. It's not. My Kallum. He's different, from tifferent timeline. He's going to kill me. He's going to fucking kill me." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Oh- that... certainly is a predicament." Darcy hummed. He had no advice for this scenario. "That's- awful. You're certain he'll kill you? What kind of powers does he have?" @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"He already punched me... and he is strong, and scared. He doesn't see me as his friend. He was trained to fight, and I know he can kill. If he's never done it he has the ability to, He, uh, has fire powers. If someone tells him we need to fight to death he's definitely the one to do it... fuck, fuck shit...!" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Mhmm...." Darcy listened. This wasn't the sort of scenario one could solve with pithy motivational sayings. Still, he wanted to help Aarni- in part, just because he reminded him of his students, and that was his job. "You don't think he'd listen to reason, do you.... hm. And I assume you don't want to fight him..." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni shook his head, and his voice pitched higher from stress. "I tried talking to him, but he didn't listen to me! He just, said I'm lying and punched me. He thinks I'm a spy or something.. And I don't want to fight him, he's still my friend... even if not here..." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Hey- panicking isn't going to do you any good right now," Darcy advised. "Take in some deep breaths. Let's think about this rationally... maybe there's a way to stop the fights entirely?" @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni closed his eyes with stern eyebrows and nodded, taking in a deep breath. He sighed, and put his hands to his eyes and forehead. "Right, right... maybe.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Your friend Albanes- if it's the same Albanes you knew, she might listen to what you say. She might be able to change something, or- and this is me being very hopeful- stop the fights entirely." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni put a hand on his mouth with a concentrated expression. "Mm... I'm.. not sure.. I could ask, maybe she can switch us around. I doubt Naiyta will allow her to stop the fights, though.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Well... you won't know til you ask. It might be our best chance of fixing any of this." Darcy hummed. "And I think, of anyone here, she might listen to you." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni frowned and took a deep breath again, nodding. "Yeah... okay, yeah.. I'll go ask her." He sighed. He folded his arms over his abdomen, and seemed still anxious, shifting his weight and tapping the floor with his foot. "Mmh. Who were you going to fight?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy glanced back to the board, and pointed to where his fight was listed. "Peregrine Marvell. He's... an asshole I know from the last tournament I went to." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Oh.. well, you probably don't feel as bad as me, then", he let out a forced chuckle. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Ah, no. I can't say I feel good about potentially killing someone... but there won't be any love lost between Peregrine and I." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Mmh... I don't think killing is... yeah. I think they will kill the loser if we don't..." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Mhm.... well, Peregrine was wasting his life anyways." Darcy said incredibly bluntly. @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Uh. Huh, that so?" Aarni blinked @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy nodded. "Mmm-hmmm. He's awful." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Ah.." He eyed the little picture of Peregrine. "Is he like a bully or?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I guess that's one word for him. He's been harassing me for years." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Years, huh?" Aarni frowned slightly. "Have you talked to police about that?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Ah, it's- not anything they can really act upon, plus we live in different countries so there's the complication of that." Darcy sighed. "Besides, I don't think there are police here to make a complaint to." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Oh, okay, hm... I thought you could maybe get him to uh. Not be allowed to be near you. But if you already live in different countries, you're already far apart. Can't you just block him or change your number? Not here, yeah, but at home." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy sighed. "It's just... a lot of work." Darcy sighed. "If he dies here, he'll stop being a problem." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Yeah, well... something good in everything, huh." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy nodded. "Mhm. Yep. I think I'll be able to win our fight easily, too. He's kind of pathetic." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Ah, hm. Well, I'll be cheering for you." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Thank you. I appreciate it." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni smiled a slight, lopsided smile. "Hm. Do you know what his powers are?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Yes, he can fly. He has these big bird wings- and he can't do much else. At least, not much that would be useful in a fight. And I can do ranged attacks." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Oh yeah? Hm.." Aarni nodded. He missed flying... "Then you're pretty lucky. That's good." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy nodded. "I mean, I guess it depends on what kind of arena we get. If the arenas are as themed as the last tournament I was in." He thought out loud. "Were they themed at yours?" @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Hmm, right... They do like their weird little games. Yeah. Mine was a mirror maze with spinning mirrors." He shook his head and grimaced at the memory. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Oh, wow. I was stuck in a volcano." Darcy grimaced at the memory of his own fight. "My fight was actually the first in my tournament... I hope that's not the case again." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"In a volcano?! Goddamn... yikes. Yeah, hopefully not.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"It was... frightening. My opponent from that fight is actually here, too." Darcy said, and pointed to Kal's portrait. "We're good friends, I'm sorry to see he's here too." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Aw, that sucks, yeah. I'm glad you are not fighting him again, though." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Me too. He's fighting Asha, a kind lady I met yesterday- I don't know how to feel about their fight, I don't want either of them to loose. Asha just had a baby. But Kal's my friend..." (edited)

12:58 PM

@Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Mhm, this is all awful", Aarni sighed and shook his head, brushing his hair back. "...Yeah, I need to ask Albanes... what she can do."

1:11 PM

@innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"It really is." Darcy sighed. "I think Albanes has more power here than she's letting on. I don't know, it's just... a hunch I have." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Mmh, maybe. But I don't think she would lie to me.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"... Are you sure? The Lifebringer at the tournament I attended, Yeonaixho, was a very good liar. If she's anything like he was..." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni frowned. "Albanes is not like him. She's not a liar." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Darcy looked doubtful. "If you say so... I just think we should be on guard." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"If we need to worry about someone, it's Naiyta. They're behind all of this. Albanes has trie to reason with them." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I know. Naiyta seems like... a much bigger threat than Albanes does." Darcy nodded. "I just don't want to be caught unaware again. I don't want people to be hurt because they were putting too much trust in the wrong people again." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

Aarni didn't seem happy about Darcy's distrust of Albanes, but he sighed and nodded, his expression softening. "I get that. That's probably good, anyway." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I don't mean to be distrusting, I... just don't want anyone getting hurt." Darcy sighed. @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Yeah, I understand. I don't want anyone to get hurt either." He shook his head. "Hm.. I better go talk with Albanes right away." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"That sounds like a good idea. I hope everything works out for you." Darcy nodded. "Tell me what you find out, please." @Twig | Seki / Aarni

"Yeah, okay. Oh yeah. There's apparently some haunted statues around the island. I don't know what those are for, but Albanes warned me to not go near them. Just... take that as you want. Stay safe, too." Aarni waved his hand, and insecurely picked a direction to walk off to. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Huh. Okay. I'll keep that in mind." Darcy nodded, and walked off in a separate direction. @Twig | Seki / Aarni

As Kal approached the arena, he was, of course, confronted by Cansu. He glared at at Cansu as he stopped walking. "What do you want?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Becareful, if you annoy me, I'll poke you, since you're apparently scared of that." "I'm not scared." Cansu shrugged. "But, you're the one who should be. After all, you have an exciting event ahead of you. Do you know what you'll do?" Kal's glare deepened. "That's none of your business." "I suppose I'll just see once the fight begins," Cansu hummed. "But, consider this a bit of encouragement. You wanted to know more of your roots, correct? Make it out of this, and perhaps, I'll answer a few of your questions." Kal's expression looked conflicted. He glanced to the floor. "Right, sure. Whatever. As though I care." He continued walking and stepped up to the arena. "You do," The deity hummed. He offered Kal a small wave as he passed. "More than you'd like to admit. Put on a good show, Kalel." The young man's eyes widened. He lifted his head and glanced back to Cansu. Of course, the deity had somehow disappeared. He glanced around the area before frowning. "Dramatic ass weirdo.." He huffed. He then made his way inside of the arena.

fight list

aarni and darcy

kal and cansu