Cooking with Slime (Party of 2;Takumi)

[Frederick Cooper]

”Well, the sizes vary a bit. Around here, I usually see smaller things, so I guess that's one of the rarer, bigger guys. But they get pretty big overall. There's an old museum that may be wrecked by now, but that place had a T-rex stomping around like it owned the place. So they can get pretty big. Tanks, giants, dinosaurs. Entirely too much. Oh well. Gotta kill 'em or avoid 'em, either way. Not even sure if these things have a set amount, or if we just keep fighting and they keep coming back.” Frederick sighed, scratching at his cheek with his thumbnail. For a moment, he was silent, as though in thought. In fact, there was something that was bothering him. It was a matter that had flown through his mind already.

”Ah, so, you don't have to answer if you don't want. I did say temporary partnership, after all- not that a lasting one would be bad, I think we're doing pretty well overall. But, uh, you got a name, man? I'm Frederick. It's Western, so I know some people have problems with it. A lot of people I've been around have shortened it to 'Riki', so that works, too, if you want.” He shrugged, giving the obligatory name on his end. Only a first name, though. He didn't want to make the other guy feel obligated to give more than he wanted. ”Definitely would be fine working with you in other places, though. A reliable partner and healer is something that'd be a relief. I may hate RPGs, but I can appreciate the tried-and-true balance, you know?” He wasn't even trying to butter the guy up. If he had a reliable partner, he didn't have to worry about relying on luck for meet-ups.

”Naturally, I can hook you up with the good stuff each trip, too. My cafe doesn't run off of sandwiches just for their convenience. People get 'em 'cause they're good.” He wasn't quite boasting, more like assuring the other that the prize was, in fact, a prize.

And, well. It was.

[Takumi Fujioka]

Most people would probably have shown surprise at the hearing of a Shadow T-Rex appearing out of nowhere, when their idea of shadows were far smaller in size. Takumi simply went straight from deadpan to something that could only be described as an exhausted, but slightly pissed off expression. So there were bigger fish to fry, huh? Though, he wouldn't mind frying fish if they were edible. Still, hearing that made him just a little less anxious to help out these people. Not that he was all that anxious in the first place. I see. That doesn't sound very fun at all. Not for the people getting hit by them at least. Hopefully he wouldn't be one of those.

Takumi. Fujioka Takumi. Nice to meet you Riki. He didn't sound all that enthused. Though, that was mostly him still digesting that other news. On the other hand, this guy seemed to be defying all of his first impressions as they spoke. Was he really this bad with people? He liked to think that he could at least manage on some sort of personal level. As for his name, he just didn't feel right not giving his full name. It just seemed like something to do naturally. As for this guy, he seemed really keen on keeping him around. Were healers hard to come by? Well, it would be nice if he was a valuable commodity. It certainly made him more valuable than other people. It was such an evil way of thinking, but he shrugged it off regardless. I see. I don't plan on fighting these things alone anyway. His answer seemed unenthusiastic; but honestly, most people wouldn't be risking their life over the possibility of answers to something they may not even need to solve. There were way too many blanks in this equation for him to reliably start deducing. And yet, here he was out in the open with some large dude with an axe and a punch ghost trying to buy him as a support mercenary with sandwiches. What the actual fuck.

Sandwiches are good.

He'd. . . get over it.

[Satanick]

Curious Cupid
Resist: Pierce
Weak: Slash
Skills: Twin Shot, Magaru, Tarukaja

Fun Seeker
Null: Wind
Weak: Strike
Skills: Zionga, Agilao, Power Charge

[Frederick Cooper]

”A good to meet you, Takumi. If first names are fine.” He gave a thumbs up before smiling- no, grinning- widely. ”Good to see you understand. You've got a good help on your shoulders!” Of course, Fred's logic on what made a good head was probably a bit skewed. But he was a simple man, when it got down to the bare essentials. He felt it was fine, though. Not everyone needed to be a multi-faceted diamond of a personality. He was simple. He was aware of it. He was just about to say something else- probably preaching to the choir, going by his still-happy expression- but the appearance of two more of the monsters stopped him.

”Ah, well. I guess that's enough talking for now.” His tone didn't seem too depressed, though. If anything, that joy at finding a kindred spirit persisted. One was a strange little floating archer shit. The other was- that was that thing that spewed fire at him before. Great. He knew the bat-eye-caster-thing was annoying, but he'd still opt to fight the archer first. He lobbed his ax- an action that he was proving to be very proficient at by this point- at the thing before Zouchouten slammed its heel into the shaft, burying it into the already-dissolving enemy. Well, that was simple enough. The caster seemed to have cast something on the archer, but, well. That didn't get very far at all, now, did it?

”Must've been weak to something. Or just weak. Or both?” Riki thought aloud with a shrug. He was getting stronger, slowly but surely, so it was entirely possible that the enemy, compared to him, was weak. Additionally, it was also possible that one of those attacks was pretty effective. Either way, the annoying one was still left. He gave Takumi a nod before rushing in, letting out an annoyed “blugu” as a blast of fire slammed into him. Zouchouten shot in and dropped its heel on the face, slamming it into the ground. All in all, it could have been a better first exchange, but, still. Frederick twirled like a top, putting his weight and strength into a swing at the face. The blow connected and sliced both cheeks open on the face. As he spun out of the way, Zouchouten landed another smashing kick. It didn't die quiet yet, though.

A shot of lightning dropped on the man, causing him to jerk back. It didn't hurt quite like the fire did, but it was still. . . quite a shock. Lobbing his ax at the thing's face, Fred let out a victorious chuckle as the blade swished through it and hit the ground. The blow finished the enemy off. And the day was sa- no, not really. The day was going to continue on, either way. And these things would persist in their existence for a while yet. Unfortunately.

”You still good for more, or you think you wanna try getting out of here, just in case?” He knew he'd be fine with a short breather, either way. He wasn't sure what all the healing was going to cost Takumi, though. If it was anything like a game, there was probably different costs per cast involved.

[Takumi Fujioka]

Well, at least he's enthusiastic. That's all Takumi could really say about this guy. That, and 'he could kill things.' That was fine. Takumi wasn't looking for amazing prodigies to join his group. He wasn't planning on building an army filled with the best of the best. He was just a guy who could heal and maybe help people out a bit here. Even if he'd like to say things were different when he was younger. Indeed. I'll just stay back for now then. He got behind the big guy to get ready and support. These two didn't seem very strong. He could probably just let him handle them and heal when necessary. So, he did.

Honestly, he handled them pretty easily. Did he even need healing this time? Well, whatever. He honestly wasn't even paying attention to if he was hit at all. He just tossed out a constant heal as he let the guy pummel the two enemies down. Why was this job so damn boring?

Well, even though he wasn't really paying attention, he noticed a hit or two landing on him. Whatever. He healed. When Riki finished, he seemed rather happy with his victory. It must have been fun to swing around an axe like that, shrugging off attacks. Takumi was actually a little envious about it. Well, nothing he could do he supposed. Not unless his slime managed to learn some new silly attacks. Meanwhile, his partner presented him a question. Well, Takumi considered his options for the time being. Let's call it for now. Next time we convene, we can probably explore for much longer. There was no use in pushing themselves if it meant death. He was pretty sure there would be no reviving once killed. He also doubted there would be any 'second wind' abilities. Those seemed a lot stronger compared to what he was seeing right now. Unless the ability ceiling was much higher than it led on.