Wrestling With The Heart To Find Spare Parts

[Kami-Gaz]

The atmosphere seemed to be electric, with the sounds of the waves crashing against the sea walls around the port and buzzing air of the locals. The city of Grapplemat that covered the slopes of Mount Grapplemat was alive with hype as everyone moved about with an energy that, today was the day of the Grand Exhibition and that just pumped everyone up. So much in fact that everyone had donned their wrestling attire, every man, woman, child and pet. Even some of the wildlife had donned masks or some form of garment.

As an outsider to the island Xena was seeing some of this and had a sense of wonderment, outside of Xelor people were so weird! So free… it was infectious to get into the spirit. That riling energy that would get the blood pumping and adrenaline surging was something the young woman was enjoying as she started to bounce from store to store looking for something this island just might not have. Her best friend and brother D4RW1N needed some key components to repair his right arm and left leg, without at least the leg moving they were going to stranded here until something could be figured out.

This was the eighth store of the day, a large wrestling themed trinket and antique shop that had some promising mechanical looking pieces in the window. The shopkeeper inside wore a sleeveless button up shirt that was left undone to show quite the physique of what could only be described as a peak dad bod. He wore floral swimming shorts and had a loose headband around his neck. “Welcome to Penta H’s Antiques and Wonders, how can I help?” He asked, in a jovial yet gruff tone.

The young woman walked straight to the counter and leaned on it, pulling out a rolled-up paper in from the back of her shorts, it was sticking out of the back quite a by bit. “Hey, I’m looking for a few unique parts…” Xena started, getting straight to the point as she unrolled the blue print and pointed at some key areas of it.

~~~

Five minutes passed and the door to Penta H’s Antiques opened, and the short blonde was flung out to land on her rear, skidding slightly on the dry cobbles, making some dust rise. “And stay out of my shop! Damn Brat.” The door slammed a moment later.

Xena stood up and stomped her foot as she balled her hands into fists. The flare of anger that welled up in her eyes was only contained for a moment. “FFFFFFFFFFF-” She started as the door opened again and the roll of paper was tossed out, landing beside her as she stomped forward. “UUUUU- What about my wrench ass hole?! You going to rob me of that? This guy can’t even haggle, let alone wrestle!” She growled out.

The door opened one more time and a long and heavy looking metal wrench was tossed out, directly at the young woman, which she caught aggressively as it stopped her forward momentum. Penta H stepped into the light to reveal a black eye that he had been left with before tossing Xena out. “And you’re just an angry little brat.” He barked, obviously not happy with the events that just transpired.

“You don’t even sell triple valve pressure converter gauges. You’re just a hack, a damn jobber.” She hissed, she didn’t know what that meant, she had heard it used a few times when referring to people one didn’t like.

The door slammed, the sign in it being turned to say closed.

---

Post 1
Xena: ff6565
Penta H: 818181

[The Prettiest Squish]

"This can't be the right spot...Can it?" Two weary lavender eyes looked up at the burly sailor accompanying him. When confronted with a sinister gaze, he darted his peepers back to the surrounding area only to find it was exactly as dilapidated and decrepit as the first time he laid eyes on it. Run down shacks lined the decayed roads of shattered cobblestone barely held together. Not a soul could be seen or heard that the boy could swear he had crossed over into the land of the dead. "Um, sorry sir. I think you took me to the wrong place? I thought you said this was-"

But the hefty man was already leaving before he could get another word in. As one last gesture, he tipped his hat and nodded, "Welcome to Grapplemat kid, enjoy 'yer stay. Or whatever, I don't really care." And just like that, the unhelpful fellow cruised along the sea leaving one sorry sap by the seashore. Befuddled, he stood there and watched as the last remnant of his only companion disappeared into the horizon, never to be seen again. 

The boy was speechless, bewildered in fact that someone could be so brazenly uncooperative that they'd leave him alone in a god forsaken island without a shred of assistance. He squeezed the strap of his pack with a tight grip. "The outside world's a bit less wonderful as I imagined...But no matter!" Unwilling to accept these precarious circumstances, he turned around to face the dangers that await him in this new world and popped his chest forward ready to take on whatever it had to throw at him! "This is just the beginning, I can't turn away already." He raised both hands to his cheeks and gave himself an encouraging slap, sandwiching his face between the flats of his palms. "Seize the moment, adventure awaits!! Huzzaaah!!" 

Without fear nor hesitation, he sprinted forth into the wild streets of Grapplemat, ready to face the outside world head on.

Post: 1
Boi: #fdc100

[pepsi]

-- CHAPTER 1 // WRESTLING WITH THE HEART

Liidia huffed. Three damn general stores she'd been through, and none of them could offer her the kind of food she was looking for? Outrageous, absolutely outrageous. The girl slammed both her hands on the desk, between the luchador-mask-shaped candies and the chocolate squares: "Come on! Is there at least one place where I can get dog food on this forsaken island!" she yelled, right in the cashier's face. Liidia brushed her fiery red hair aside, and crossed her arms.
The man on the other side first recoiled from the brash behavior of the woman, and tentatively replied with: "Well, miss, there's the other general store on the other side of the ro-" "I've been there already, and they told me to come here!"
The woman shook her head, and took the exit.

Out on the streets a reasonably dense crowd of passersby had already formed. She tiptoed higher to try and look over the people's heads, even going as far as blocking the sun off with one hand over her forehead. All this was to no avail, as she couldn't see what she was looking for - better, she couldn't see who she was looking for. "Where did he go?..."

Bonk!

That moment of distraction costed her, because someone from the middle of the crowd crashed into her shortly after. Liidia was knocked on her rear; "Ouch!" she lamented, rubbing her lower back. It took a couple seconds to regain control of the situation, and most importantly scan whoever it was that just knocked her down. "Hey," she said to the blond little boy, "are you hurt?"

-- NAME // Liidia Hundi

-- CLASS // E

-- TECHS USED // None.

[Kami-Gaz]

With the door slammed in her face the short woman took a step forward and shook her wrench at it. She spat on the floor and turned around to see the crowd that had gathered at the spectacle. It caused her to puff her cheeks out before turning around to stomp off away from the shop, people here were just brutes that had no clue how to haggle. “Idiot has biceps for brains, not a single clue what he had in that shop.” Xena grumbled, completely ignoring her own surroundings.

It was then when a pair of big meaty hands grabbed her shoulders, lifting her high above the head of a severely pissed off shop keeper. “Wah-!” She managed to speak from above the head before with a massive effort she was thrown over the crow, effectively yeeted with enough force to clear a good number of heads before impacting yet another passer by with enough energy to knock them on their rear.

“Call me a Jobber again and I’ll throw you from the top rope!” A voice yelled as Xena rolled off of her and heard the feminine tones of someone showing concern to her. The person she landed on? The yeetee didn’t manage to get a good view on her rough landing, just the fiery red locks of a very pretty looking woman.

“No…” Xena replied, it was more of a groan as she grasped for her giant wrench and pulled it closer as if it were a security blanket… This wouldn’t happen if Darwin were here. “Did anyone get the registration of that truck that hit me?” She asked before looking over to this other person and her jaw fell open. “Pretty…” was all she could say, lying there in a small daze after her interaction with the man that had already marched back into his shop.

---

Post 2
Xena: ff6565
Penta H: 818181

[The Prettiest Squish]

Running, running, running. Under the warmth of the sun, the golden haired child zoomed past the locals on his quest for...something important. He wasn't quite sure what it was, perhaps the jogging had diverted all focus away from his brain and into his legs. That was no good. No good at all. So he came to a screeching stop in the middle of the road and quickly took in his bearings to gauge the situation. 

He looked left, he looked right. Everywhere around him stood confused citizens pointing at him and whispering among themselves. Had his little marathon attracted so much attention? Maybe the island had a serene culture and his presence disrupted the peace, that would be a shame. He certainly did not wish to be a burden on the locals. 

Apologetic of his misdeeds, the boy bowed humbly before the masses. "Forgive me, people of Grapplemat! I am but a lonely wanderer from o'er seas come here to - uh - partake in your customs and festivities! If thee could direct me thy nearesteth cordial event, I would be in your debt~" The theatric lad flourished his hands with an ostentatious gesture as a finisher before standing upright only to find the crowd of locals even more puzzled than when he started. "oh," he whispered. "Did I overdo it this time?" Frantically sweating, at least mentally, he turned around back to face the road and ran blindly to escape the awkwardness of the situation.

Unfortunate for him that he made it not a few meters before crashing into a solid body and falling onto his rear. "Oof!" He grunted with some discomfort. Perhaps sprinting with both eyes closed was not his brightest decision today, of which he had made in abundance in such a short time. "Sorry about that," the boy apologized yet again. Though this time, the response he received was neither callous nor cold. A concerned voice responded, "Hey, are you hurt?" 

The lad looked up only to find a gorgeous woman towering over him. But before he could answer with a reply, another voice came from behind her, stealing the words out of his mouth. "Pretty..."
She was right, whoever she was. "Y-yes. Very pretty, you are. And not hurty I am. I mean - uh - what I mean to say was that you're very hurt and I'm pretty - I mean - uh - the thing here is that er..." He could feel the blood flushing his cheeks red with color and quickly covered his portrait with one hand while using the other to help stand back up on both feet. "P-pardon me. I'm a bit of a mess today, haha! Ahem." Doing his best to compose himself, the young man cleared his throat, puffed up his chest and confidently stood with both hands at his waist - grin beaming from his face. "My name's Kiran, epic explorer of the seas! And uh who may you two ladies be?"