Replies, launched into the air:
Sephiria Arks- For sure, I have a whole lot of pairing today, so this is definitely a good interaction day!
Tech-Star 2.0- Yeah, Monty definitely is in a spot with a lot of quirky characters, so it'll be interesting to see how he fares with a more normal personality.
Epifanio Therion- I forgot that I did Submerged's intros in a super lazy way, writing a real one is super tough, especially with characters I don't have total control on their personalities yet.
W.G. Fenter- I'll make sure I work on that! I was totally surprised at the number of musicians in this cast, probably just under half have some of that as part of their personality.
lordgemini- Persephone was one of the few people who didn't get a cabin scene, which stinks, but I have nothing to say except today should make up for that.
Eternos137- Sorry I didn't get to accept your character! I said it some other places, but this is the first SYOC I've done in ages so I didn't wanna overwhelm myself with a giant cast. If this one goes well the next will probably be larger!
AZW330- Harvey and Alessia seem to be the most common two guesses so far, so I guess we'll have to see what that looks like!
The Feline Overlord- I used Power Peak as my sort of 'test round' of additional staff/characters and I think it definitely makes later chapters easier since there's more to focus on than a few characters. Rodin is a neat pick, but all the villagers will have something interesting about them to learn for sure.
It's time for our first challenge! How will things go?
Episode 2: Avalanches Aweigh, Part II
Now that it was empty, Chris and Chef had unpacked their things in the cabin, and it was much homier already. The fireplace downstairs was on, more carpets were rolled out, and Chef was already cooking up some good food in the kitchen as Chris relaxed by the indoor fireplace, sipping on some coffee. "Chef, I gotta tell you, I almost don't want to host this season, and just let those kids freeze to death out there." Chef raised an eyebrow, trying to see if the host was serious. Chris laughed. "Kidding, those villagers are far too interesting to just throw out the window."
Chris then turned to the camera, ready to recap the prior episode, which was really only an hour into the past. "Last time, on Total Drama Ancient Abodes," Chris announced as clips from the blimp began to play, the first one being Chander bumping into Harvey. "We met our colorful cast of characters! Some of them looked excited to be here, while others really didn't, and even some more looked...like they would be here?" The first clip was of Faye staring into the sky, Monty getting frustrated at all the company, and Winslow gazing out of the window. "Very soon after that, I took our campers to this cabin, where I very specifically never said they should unpack or that they would be living there. I made that as clear as day." Clips played of the contestants getting settled in the cabin, and shortly after, Chris telling them they would not be staying there.
"We're sending our contestants on a hunt to find their real place they are sleeping in tonight, and let me tell you, it's gonna be way worse than what we have!" Chris laughed as clips of Syd observing the junk pile and Winslow gazing up as it descended to in front of the cliff played. "Then, they'll be off on their first challenge, their team assignments, and the scariest part of the day, our first elimination!" Chris grinned excitedly with that. "Who will be the first to drop? Which one of these fools is going to lose it first? And who's going to be the first ones to meet our...friends? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Ancient Abodes!"
Opening Sequence
[Various cameras and other director equipment came popping out of various points of Crevice. The first camera appeared as it popped out of the window to the blacksmith's workshop. The next one popped out of the ground in the training arena, where spear promptly severed it from its wires. Finally, a camera emerged from the dock that was connected to a small hut, this camera falling right into the water.]
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine,
[The camera zoomed from the top of the cliff all the way down into Crevice, where Chef was seen lifting a heavy piece of stone into place on a house, putting it into place, only for it to be knocked out by a rogue explosion from one of Chander's pranks. Chef sighed heavily as Chander laughed nervously at the result. Nearby, Klase watched this all unfold apprehensively.]
You guys are on my mind,
[The camera turned to the blacksmith, where Harvey could be seen wielding a giant sword he had crafted. He performed a pretty terrible swing at a target, and turned to look at a confused-looking Alessia, who merely sighed in frustration.]
You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see,
[The camera switched to the middle firepit, which Nicolette was assisting with the cleanup of. Nearby, Setsuna was pitching in on a rock move with Monty, the archeologist clearly saying some things that made Nicolette nervous and Monty angry. The bassist lost his temper, punching a hole into the rock which startled all three of them.]
I wanna be famous!
[The camera moved from the firepit to the meeting hall behind it, where Syd was tampering with a machine she had created. Meanwhile, Persephone watched her to the side, grinning excitedly as the machine began whirring and lighting up some of the lights that had been placed in there.]
I wanna live close to the sun,
[At the bridge connecting the village to the forest, Shion stood proudly, and acknowledging the camera, gave a wink. He then stared out into the forest, where a pair of eyes could be seen in the shadows.]
Go pack your bags cause I've already won,
[The eyes startled Shion, causing him to quickly turn around, and he ran into Winter, who had followed Shion out to the bridge. Shion sighed and helped Winter back to the village, the bandwagoner confused as to why they needed help.]
Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day,
[The camera flipped to the abandoned shaman temple, where Winslow was digging around in search of something. They encountered an odd staff that was still glowing, which only intrigued them further on what was going on with it.]
Cause I wanna be famous!
[Back in the meeting hall, Chris was having a discussion with Zenthus inside the leader's quarters. Zenthus was accompanied by the other three villagers. The room itself had a dark shadow inside it.]
Na na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na na na na!
[Out by the dock near the hut, Zev was fishing with a very old rod as Sasha poked her head out of the hut, looking around for something, and then sitting down to relax. As soon as she did, Kaif appeared out of the water with a makeshift heart, which Sasha took. As soon as she did, Kaif went from flirty to confused.]
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous! I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!
[The camera transitioned to night, where Faye was gazing up at the stars. At one point, the camera zoomed in on one of the stars, which turned into a ball of fire. As the camera zoomed out, it revealed the firepit at night.]
I wanna be famous *whistling*
[The camera panned out further to show everyone circled around the campfire, where the villagers were present for as well, all very confused at the whole situation. Everyone whistled the theme song as Chris stood on the side, holding up a sign that the villagers could not see, which was entitled: Total Drama Ancient Abodes.]
Chris and Chef stood in front of the sixteen unsuspecting contestants. "So, just to recap from last time," Chris told them all, "your first challenge will be getting to your actual location that you will be staying in. But, we're not going to make this one easy." A few people looked nervous at how Chris said that second part. "In order to do this challenge, you will be flying into the sky first."
The host gestured to the junk pile. "We plan on launching all of you into the sky, and off of the cliff at some point after the challenge starts. You have until then to find anything in the junk pile that will slow your descent, or, if you're feeling up for it, speed up someone else's." Harvey smirked at the thought of making someone fall even faster. "But, making it to the ground safely is just the first part of this challenge!"
Chef rolled a TV screen up to Chris, with a remote as well. The cook turned the TV on, where a map of the cliff was shown, or rather, just the cliff, a finish line at the end, and a lot of woods in between it. "From there, you all will be going through the forest, and linking up with your team members, which is the fun part." Chris turned to the cast. "Teams will be assembled in four pairs of two. Your pair partner will be the first person you make eye contact with in the woods."
Everyone began to look around at who they may want to have guaranteed on their team. "Once you land...or not, you'll begin your trek through some woods before eventually stopping at our location. Just remember, move away from the cliff, not toward it, you can't miss it. If you hit the river, you've also gone too far. You and your partner will race to the marked location Chef and I will be at to be placed into more of your team. The final pair will be placed on Team B, and will lose the challenge with the rest of that team, so think about who you would like to lose quickly."
As Chris continued to explain, and the stakes were only getting higher, Chris cleared his throat. "One more thing," Chris pointed out. "In the woods, you may encounter some...things. We've received word that we are near an old location for something, and that the woods are populated with a bit more than just us." He narrowed his eyes at everyone. "You are not to tell them anything about the show, or anything about competing for a prize. If you are stopped and questioned, you are there to help." He held up a pile of the contracts. "Failure to do so will result in you going right to elimination, without any chance to appeal." He put the contracts away. "Do I make myself clear on that?"
Everyone nodded furiously, not wanting to deal with the punishment that came from disobeying that order, but it was clear that not all of them were on the same page about wanting to keep a secret from whatever they were about to encounter. Chris shifted back to his chipper demeanor. "Okay, then! With all that legal nonsense out of the way, let's get ready to go! The first challenge of Ancient Abodes starts in three...two...one...now!" He rang an air horn that was slightly quieter than normal, but it was more than enough to get the message across.
Persephone: "How annoying," she complained as she filed her nails in the cabin confessional. "Look, honestly, I don't have a giant preference on who I get as a partner, as long as it isn't Setsuna. I guess Syd would be my top choice, so I'll make sure I find her."
The new cast began to quickly scramble for some sort of thing that could possibly save them from a fall. The first person to emerge was Chander, who managed to find some giant inflatable thing. "This looks useful," he said as he held the uninflated object in his hand, "...as soon as I figure out what it is." Chander began to blow air into the large object as fast as he could as the others continued to scramble.
Meanwhile, as Chander worked on his thing, Setsuna removed a large rope from the pile. "This looks like it'll be good enough to get down," she said with a smirk. "All I'll need to do do is just hook it on somewhere before I jump off and I'll be safe on the ground." She glanced over to see Syd had been messing with the backpack she had on, rummaging through it with great speed. "I hope I get her..." the archeologist decided.
Winslow ended up pulling out two large fan blades. "This is...relatively ineffective," they said with a shrug, but then an idea came to them. "Or...they are the thing to make me just like Hootcifer." The wanderer began looking for leaves on the ground, gathering up as much as they could. "I suppose I need to also figure out who would be worth the trouble to find."
Monty continued searching through the pile as fast as he could, but stuff kept disappearing before he could get to them. "This is so annoying," he said aloud. "Why can't we just go to the location regularly?" He then noticed a small glider deep inside the pile. "Score," the bassist said with a grin as he reached for it, but someone else accidentally grabbed it first. "You!" Monty called out angrily as Shion, who smiled at his find.
"Oh, look at this awesome thing!" Shion said giddily, before turning to Monty to realize that he was going for it too. "Well, sorry," Shion responded playfully. "If you want to, we could always share it on the way down!" Monty shot an angry glare at Shion who skipped off with the glider. Monty sighed and returned to trying to find something to soften his launch to the ground.
Persephone sat behind everyone for a while, watching as they scrambled like animals to try and get something to save them. She casually glanced into the pile to see a parachute pack all the way at the bottom. "I can wait," she admitted as she continued to sit, hoping that no one else would see it before enough rubble cleared out.
Nicolette pulled out a glider similar to the one Shion had. "Oh, this looks like it could be good," she said with a smile. She then noticed that Monty looked very angry at Shion still for swiping the other glider at the last second. Nicolette sighed as she walked over to Monty with the glider. "Here," she said, "I can find something else, everything in here looks pretty useful." Monty looked surprised by that gesture, but was not about to say no to a free safety item.
Alessia then watched Harvey pull out a big set of rocks with a smirk. She sighed as she shook her head and continued digging on her own, getting more desperate as more people were finding things. She glanced over to see Zev crafting his own parachute with materials he found. "Harvey," Alessia pleaded condescendingly, "I'm having so much trouble finding something. Maybe there's a way we can share whatever you find?"
Harvey glanced at his rocks, then to Alessia, then back to the rocks. "Ugh fine," he said as he threw them down. "I can send someone falling to their doom another day." He grabbed a tarp and some string. "That guy looks like he's making a parachute, maybe we can too..." he grunted as he tried to find something to tie it, but he was having trouble.
Alessia gave him a warm smile and took the string, splitting the tarp in two pieces. "That should be big enough for two people," she said as she made both of their parachutes, a bit ticked off that she was the one having to do the work. "You better show me you can play nice, okay? I want everyone here to make it safely!" Harvey groaned as he heard Alessia say that. As he turned away, Alessia gagged again.
Alessia: "Don't judge me," she said with a huff. "I just need someone completely loyal to me right now before I start assembling an army of bodyguards. Harvey's just making himself the easiest. But, I don't know how much more of him I can take already."
Harvey: "Alessia and I are doing well," he said with a laugh. "I like that she can keep up with me. But, She needs to learn I don't really 'play nice'. So, I'll slowly warm her up to that idea." He pulled one of the rocks he allegedly threw away out from behind him.
Winter watched as Zev, Alessia, and Harvey all made their own parachutes. "There has to be more materials for me to join in on that too," she said excitedly as she looked around, only to not find anything. "Oh no..." She noticed Monty and Shion each with a glider, but when they checked the pile, there were not any of those left either. "Oh, this is getting bad..." Winter then found a flying suit that looked too small for anyone else in the cast. They glanced over to see Winslow assembling their wings too. "Good enough," she decided as she began to put it on to try and float to the ground.
In a similar fashion to Persephone, Sasha merely observed all of the chaos that had been going on. "Would you like me to fetch you something?" Kaif asked the temptress as he approached her with a grin on his face. "Anything I can do to help you at all? You seem very smart, but for some reason you are just watching from a distance." He held out his hand in a romantic gesture.
Sasha sighed. "Kaif, I appreciate it, but maybe you should worry about yourself. How about I help you out? That way we'll both get something that we can do together." Kaif nodded normally, in agreement. Sasha raised an eyebrow at how little Kaif had reacted to that suggestion. "Um...Kaif? I said, 'we would do it together, just the two of us'."
Kaif gasped as he realized what Sasha intended. "Maybe our hearts have been destined for fate!" he said excitedly. "Maybe there's a thing we could share to get down." Kaif rummaged through the pile to find a small fan that rotated rather quickly. "Okay, the fan helps one of us..." he continued to look through to find something. "Oh, look! A parachute pack just sitting here!" He handed Sasha the parachute pack.
"No!" Persephone yelled as she rushed for the pile, but it was too late, as Sasha already had it in her hands. "I need something fast that can get me to safety," the princess said desperately. She watched as Faye pulled a comically large umbrella out of the pile, satisfied with her find. "There has to be something in here...I shouldn't have waited that long."
Chander finally finished blowing up his thing, a giant inflatable ball that he could fit inside. "Hey, Klase!" Chander yelled out, grabbing the pianist's attention. "I think I can fit two people in this thing, it's pretty big, how about you hop in?" Klase hesitated at first, but with the poor luck he was having on the pile, he sighed and joined the performer.
Persephone watched Klase find his way down, and the princess began to get nervous. "No, I will find my way down." Persephone noticed that Nicolette was also still looking for something to get to the ground. "You!" Persephone called out with desperation. "Help me find something to save both of us, we're the only ones without anything to make it there."
Nicolette nodded as she saw her glider still with Monty. "I guess that's a good idea, we should move quickly though." The two began searching as their time was dwindling down, only to about a minute left. Persephone sighed as she watched Nicolette emerge from the pile with a large fan. "If we hold onto each other, it should at least get us safely to the bottom, and then we'll figure out what to do."
Persephone gagged. "I'm not going to cling on for dear life just to-" Her sentence was interrupted by the timer going off and Chris ringing the air horn to get their attention. The princess sighed. "On second thought, I suppose we all have to make sacrifices for this show, true?" Nicolette couldn't help but giggle at how quickly Persephone had changed her mind.
"Time is up!" Chris called out to everyone, who had just finished making the preparations they needed to. "Everyone make your way to the large circle on the edge of the cliff." Chris walked over to a spot where some grass was cleared out to reveal a large dirt circle. Chris stood in the middle as everyone followed him and joined him on the spot. "That was already way more entertaining than it should have been. Now, for part two of today, making it to our real location." He laughed sinisterly as Chef hit a button on a remote, trapping everyone but Chris in small separate circles within the large one. Only Chander and Klase, who were already inside their ball, were locked in together.
The circle began to tilt as Chris reminded the cast of the next portion. "Remember, as soon as you see someone in the forest, you are required to join up with them and make your way to the other end. You will stay in those groups of two for a while. And...a final reminder. Do not say anything about being on a show to any animal or other thing you may see in there. We will know." Chris laughed one final time. "Okay, have fun! See you soon!"
Everyone was now facing the edge of the cliff, locked in one of the circle tubes. Chef began hitting buttons. The first person to get launched into the sky was Monty, then soon after, Faye was launched, and then the pair of Chander and Klase flew into the sky soon after them. Persephone noticed that Nicolette was still separate from her. "Hold on a second," she said nervously as Setsuna flew into the sky next. "I partnered with someone and they're not in the same tube with me!"
Sasha was the next one to be sent into the sky, then shortly after was Harvey. "There's a way to fix this, right? I can get over!" The princess tried to climb as Shion got launched with an excited scream. Persephone slipped back down the tube as Kaif was launched next. "Please, Chef, you have to understand I don't have anything to land with!" Nicolette was then launched into the air. "Chef, that was the person I- AAAH!" And with that, Persephone joined the rest of the people in the sky.
As the sixteen contestants flew through the sky, some of them began enabling their landing strategies. Most had a pretty easy time of it. Faye descended slowly to the ground, and all the people who made makeshift parachutes began deploying them. Persephone noticed Nicolette flying further away from her. "No, come back!" she called out as she began to fall. "No!"
Just as she began her descent, a mechanical arm reached out and grabbed her. Persephone was stopped in the air, and turned to see Syd with a parachute that had emerged from her backpack she had on. The princess let out a sigh of relief as Syd rolled her eyes at her antics. "I knew no one would let me fall. You definitely have what it takes to be my partner." Syd realized then that because they were going to land on the ground together, they'd be teammates. She shook her head silently.
Setsuna found a branch on a high tree that was sticking out pretty far. "That's my opening I guess," she said with a shrug. The archeologist used the rope like a whip, catching it on the branch and swinging to safety on a branch below it. "Look that that...still alive." She smirked and began making her way down the tree to the bottom of the forest.
Nearby, Klase and Chander hit the bottom with a thud, their inflatable ball bouncing them around a few times before eventually colliding with a sharp stick and popping, freeing the two of them. They dusted themselves off and looked around. "Okay..." Chander said. "Cliff was right back there, so I guess the finish line is that way?" He pointed off in the opposite direction that they came from. "Oh, and I guess this means we're teammates."
"I guess so," Klase said. "I'd really appreciate some help out here," he admitted. "I don't really go outside, much and this is definitely way out of my comfort zone." Chander nodded enthusiastically. Klase smiled for the first time. "Thank you. Okay, let's get to this finish line."
Nicolette looked around for Persephone nervously as she slowly hovered down on her large fan. "Oh, I hope she made it okay," the saint said desperately as she began reaching the trees. "I'm sure somebody found her." As she descended, part of the fan got caught in between a bunch of branches. "No, no, no..." Nicolette said nervously as she tried to tug herself free, still too high to ditch the fan.
Someone else then descended nearby with a large umbrella. Getting through all the trees, Faye made a perfect landing on the ground. "Okay, time to find someone," she said as she glanced around. "Hopefully it's not that big guy." The astronomer walked around for a bit before finding Nicolette up in the tree. "Oh, hi!" Faye called out, catching the saint's attention. "I um...I guess we're teammates now. Do you need a hand?"
The stuck girl sighed. "Yeah, sorry for being a bother, but it's nice to see you, I don't think we've talked a lot yet." She reached her umbrella up and moved a branch over, allowing Nicolette to fly down safely to the ground. "Okay, we just need to find a finish line now...any idea where that would be?" Faye shrugged. "Okay then, we can try just moving forward."
The girls then stopped as they heard a whoosh by them and some leaves rustling. "What was that?" Faye asked. After a few more seconds of waiting in silence, nothing answered, leaving the two confused more than anything. "Okay, I guess we can ignore it for now. The sun sets in the west, so north is that way." She pointed toward a direction in the forest. "We keep going until something happens, right?" The two girls made their way in that direction, hoping to find something.
Way further down the forest, Monty successfully dismounted off of his glider without much issue. "Well, these people are all very...eccentric," he said tiredly. "I'm already sick of half of 'em." He pushed his way through the forest, barely able to see the cliff still. "Glider was a good call, I'm probably further than anyone else. Still don't know why that Nicolette girl just gave it up." Monty looked around one more time to find his bearings.
Suddenly, Monty heard a rustle in the trees, and on instinct, the bassist turned his head, only to see Shion land with the other glider. "Looks like both of our gliders worked!" the musician said playfully. Monty tried to look away as fast as he could, but Shion was not having that. "Nope! We made eye contact! You're with me today, and forever!" He waved ahead as he skipped past Monty. "Come on, we're probably in the lead right now!"
Monty rolled his eyes. "That's why you wanted the glider so badly, you wanted me to have the other one so you could torment me the whole game." Monty grunted. "Fine, but don't piss me off too much or I'll gladly give up our giant lead we have." Shion smiled, excited to be the one who found Monty first in the forest. Little did they know, nearby, someone was watching them.
Far out in the forest, but not as far as Monty and Shion, Winslow landed with the wings they had created themselves. "Successful landing," they said to themselves as they dismounted off of a tree onto the ground. "If only Hootcifer was here to see me now." They sighed. "I suppose I need to find someone to accompany to the end of this map soon."
Winslow wandered about the woods for a while before hearing a small yell and a crash behind them. Winslow glanced at the cliff, the direction where they heard the sound, then at the direction of the finish line, and with a sigh, turned around to explore what that commotion was about. "I pray that this is one of the more interesting parts of my day," they reflected as they walked back to the source of the sound.
The wanderer eventually spotted where the sound had come from, seeing Winter stuck in a bush, clearly with a set of makeshift wings that resembled Winslow's but made much worse than theirs. "Oh, it's you, the owl person," Winter said causally as they poked their head up from the bush she was in. "I guess we're working together now. Do you want to help me out?"
Winslow rolled their eyes. "That would be the preferable option considering I would like my team to be victorious, would it not?" Winslow put their hand out and Winter grabbed on, the bandwagoner eventually getting freed from the bush. "I see you attempted to also construct some wings. Are you also an admirer of birds?"
Winter blinked a few times as she listened to Winslow's response. "Um...you know, honestly, I sort of just saw you making wings and I thought that would be something neat to be a part of, I'm not a super giant bird person, at least not as much as you, probably." Winter struggled to denote any expression at all from behind Winslow's owl mask. "Um...I'm Winter. Do you like trends?"
The wanderer pondered the answer to that question. "I suppose I take an interest in what people will find fascinating over time and how that changes. In terms of participating in them...I would rather not." Winter frowned at that answer. Winslow sighed and pointed to the direction of the finish line. "We should get moving. Two boys in gliders are nearby and if we are moving faster than them, we can pass them and win." Winter nodded and followed Winslow.
Closer to the cliff, a lot of the parachuters ended up making their landing all at the same time. Alessia crash landed hard from her parachute, with Harvey following suit very quickly after. "Okay," Alessia said quietly to herself with a grunt, "remember to account for safety before splitting your parachute in half to flirt." After dusting herself off, she saw Harvey lying on the ground still. She glanced over at him, then to Kaif, who was landing nearby. "Okay, stick to what's going well, then get the flirty boy later."
"Harvey!" Alessia shouted as she shook the boy awake. "I hope you're not hurt. I had it rough all the way down with the parachute, but all I could think about as I went off that cliff was whether or not you would be okay!" The fake gamer girl grinned disingenuously at Harvey slowly sat up. "Oh, you're okay, that's amazing, and better yet, we're teammates! That's going to be awesome!"
Harvey smirked as he let Alessia help him up, which was much harder for her since he was rather large. "Well, it'll take more than a cliff to keep us from working together, I guess," Harvey said. "Now that we're partners, we need to move to the finish line." He turned with a dark grin to Alessia. "Or, we can spend our time slowing the others down instead and get us there faster."
Alessia sighed. "Maybe, that could be good. We should wait to see which team we'll be on, and then we can do that if we need to. Right now, we need to keep going." She pointed away from the cliff. "We fell from there, so I guess we just keep going this way? I wonder how big this finish line is..." Alessia and Harvey continued to move in the right direction.
Meanwhile, Setsuna continued moving through the trees, using her rope as a way to keep up in the air. She caught sight of Sasha ahead of her, and began swinging in her direction. "That would be a good partner," she said excitedly, but right as she was about to make eye contact with her, someone else crashed into the archeologist, sending them both to the ground. "Ow!" Setsuna called out. "What on Earth are you-"
She paused when she noticed who was there. "Hello?" Zev asked, snapping his fingers to regain Setsuna's attention. Eventually, the girl regained her focus. "There you go. Sorry about that, but it looks like we're stuck together now." He cut off his makeshift parachute, which was better made than the rest of the craft projects. "You need to watch where you're swinging."
"You need to watch where you're landing!" Setsuna shot back. "I was trying to get to someone I met at the cabin, and you crashed into me!" She glanced back. "How did you even get this far? All the other makeshift parachute people were way back there. Even Sasha's real parachute made it pretty far, but you're over here." She took a deep breath before adding, "Oh, I'm Setsuna."
"Zev," the larger boy said back. "I guess my handiwork was better than theirs. Sasha looked pretty smart though. Do you think she intentionally set herself up so she could be with Kaif? The two hit it off pretty well." There was a silence while Setsuna stared at him before Zev added. "I'm joking. That was a joke." He shrugged. "Sorry, people are normally terrified of me at first."
Setsuna groaned. "Well, whatever, we're a team now. My guess is Kaif set himself up to be with Sasha, and seeing as how Alessia and Harvey found each other first, they're the only ones left in this area. That boy's a giant dork but he's got game." She pointed away from the cliff. "That's where we go, I'll lead the way, I have a great sense of direction."
Kaif approached Sasha, who was packing up her parachute. "Well, it looks like fate has brought us together!" Kaif said dreamily as he sat down next to the temptress. "The two of us are going to be unstoppable now that we're together." Sasha sighed as she glanced off to where the crash was, hoping she'd spot someone, but did not see anyone in time. "Do you need any help?"
Sasha stood up. "I'm okay right now," she said playfully. "But if something scary comes up in this forest, you're going to have to protect me. Kaif nodded enthusiastically, but Sasha stared at Kaif as he did that, and noticed that his eyes did not have the same reaction with the rest of him. "Let's follow some of the others and try and get ahead at the last second." Kaif grinned again as he thought about scheming with Sasha.
"So you're from New Orleans then?" Shion asked as the two boys walked through the forest. "That sounds so cool! That's such a big music hub, so no shock that you play music. Maybe I'll have to stop by some time! That could be fun to meet up, after this is all done, you know?" Shion continued to talk as Monty trudged ahead, constantly walking faster to try and get further from him.
Monty rolled his eyes as Shion continued to talk his ear off. "You can't possibly find this much fun in small talk," Monty said bluntly as he continued walking. "Geez, how far away is this place?" A swish through the air was then heard, causing Monty and Shion to stop in their tracks. "Looks like that danger Chris was talking about found us finally," the bassist said as he hid in a bush, pulling Shion in with him.
"This is moving far faster than I-" Shion started, but he was quickly silenced by Monty putting a hand over his mouth. Both of them peeked out of the bush to see someone in a brown cloak holding a spear. "Oh...that's definitely the danger," Shion whispered, trying very much now to not move as to not alert whatever was looking for them just a few feet away.
The brown-cloaked figure removed the hood for a second to reveal Thea, who was clutching her spear tightly. "I could have sworn that I heard voices of outsiders in this direction," she said. "Leader Zenthus may not have allowed me to handle that man, but I can still protect Crevice from everyone else." Nearby, the sound of a large crash was heard, which made Thea perk up. "More sounds. I will surely get them this time."
As Thea ran off to apprehend someone else, Monty and Shion emerged from the bush with a sigh of relief. "Your rambling almost got us killed by that angry woman!" Monty said with a whisper-shout. "Let's go before someone else shows up and becomes a giant problem." Shion, a bit put off by Monty's much angrier demeanor now, continued their walk in silence.
"And that is the eighth time that kid thought he could run away from me," Harvey said with a hearty chuckle as he continued to walk in the direction Alessia was leading him. "Do you think we'll get there first? I'd be happy if the two of us could stick around more than a day." Despite the other contorted looks, the glances Harvey had been giving Alessia were getting more and more normal.
The fake gamer girl tightly clutched a stick she had found, the small twig snapping in her clutch. "Oh, yes, that would be amazing," she said excitedly, and previous hints of annoyance vanishing. "I don't know if we'll get there first, a few people got much further ahead than we did. But, as long as we are on the winning team, that's all that matters."
Suddenly, the girl stopped, the abrupt halt causing Harvey to crash into her. "What are you-" Harvey paused when he saw that someone was nearby. The two spotted Zev and Setsuna, who were clearly hiding from something. "I'm sure we could take whatever they're scared of head-on," Harvey gloated. He pulled out the rocks that he had held onto from earlier. "Come on, let's go and-"
Alessia pulled his arm back, and after a few tries, she finally got him behind a tree and swatted the rocks out of his hands. "If someone the size of Zev is scared of something, then we're definitely not going there." She moved stealthily to her right. "We can burn a few minutes and take a detour, that'll still get us there in time." Seeing no reason to argue this particular issue, Harvey nodded obediently and followed the streamer to the finish line.
Meanwhile, Chander was talking to Klase as the two of them ventured through the forest. "So, I guess that's why I stopped making my own flamethrowers for performances," Chander explained as Klase silently listened. "Odds are that I'll try again eventually, but I am so not ready to light up another tent for a little bit."
Klase surprisingly let out a chuckle at Chander's story. "Your life sounds pretty interesting," the pianist admitted. "Honestly, I've been stuck home for ages, this is probably one of the most interesting things I've ever done, so it's pretty scary." The two made it to an area that was blocked off by a river on one side. "Do...you don't think we have to cross it, right?"
Chander stared back at the forest they had just left. "Maybe that giant ball screwed up our sense of direction," he said. "But we didn't cross the river at all, so maybe if we just keep following it we'll eventually get where we need to go?" He shrugged. "At this point it can't make us any more lost than we already are."
Both boys stopped at the sound of movement nearby. "What was that?" Klase asked nervously. Both boys waited as something emerged from the bushes, this person holding a giant hammer in their hands, the handle of the hammer made out of bone. Croshia raised an eyebrow at the sight of the two. "Oh no," Klase said much quieter now, "someone found us...how will we-"
"We are here for the-" Chander screamed out at first, but caught himself. "We are...here to...help." The performer eventually made it through the sentence, staring back at the hammer-wielding woman. "Please put the hammer down, we are just here to help, we were sent by someone named Chris McLean to help you." Neither of the two seemed thrilled with that lie.
Croshia put the hammer down promptly. "Oh, it appears that man was not lying, he actually returned with help." She eyed up Chander and Klase, neither of which were very physically strong. "Well, I certainly expected some more people that looked like the Chef rather than you two, but I suppose we need to be grateful to the Spirits regardless. Come with me, I can show you where to meet, then I need to find the rest of your tribe before Thea does."
Chander and Klase followed Croshia, who was swinging around her giant hammer like it was no effort at all. "Well, consider us grateful," Chander said he kept a solid distance from Croshia's weapon. "Out of curiosity, what did you mean when you said you needed to find the rest of us before someone else did...Thea maybe? Are they dangerous?" Croshia let out a sigh as she glanced out into the forest again.
Setsuna propped herself up from the top of a tree, while Zev waited in a bush near Thea. Both seemed relatively nervous about what might happen. "Something dangerous lurks here," Thea concluded. "Regular prey does not hide this well, we are most certainly under attack." She paused for a second while listening around, and then, without hesitation, hurled her spear upward, severing the rope that Setsuna was using to keep herself in the tree. "Intruders!"
The archeologist flew down a few feet, only to be caught by Zev right before she was going to hit the ground. "Looks like that's the end of playing it safe," Zev admitted. "Hi," the taller boy said to Thea. "My name is Zevadiah, I am here to help you out with..." he sighed. "Setsuna, did Chris ever tell us what we were helping out with?"
Setsuna sighed as well as she stood up and faced Thea. "No, I guess he didn't." Thea raised an eyebrow at that. There was a word in there she had not heard before. The spear dislodged itself from the tree and returned right Thea's hand. "Look, lady, we don't want any trouble." Again, Thea looked confused. "We were sent by Chris McLean to help you, and we would love it you could guide us to wherever that is."
"You are lying," Thea said back spitefully. "And do not use your false words with me. I have no clue what a 'didn't' is." Zev and Setsuna finally realized why she was confused. "I refuse to lead strangers to my home. Crevice has to be protected. But, I can spare your lives for now, simply because I do not wish to deal with the consequences of a mistake." She flung her spear on her back. "Perhaps I will see the two of you later." With that, Thea ascended into the trees and began to fly around vigilantly, looking for more intruders.
Zev sighed as he watched Thea leave hastily. "This is suddenly becoming much scarier than what we originally thought was going to happen," he said to the archeologist. He glanced backwards to then realize they could no longer see the cliff. "And, our encounter with that woman also means we're lost now. Do you know how to get us back on track? We're definitely turned around now."
Setsuna nodded. "I have a great sense of direction. Just stay close to me okay?" She batted her eyelashes as she continued forward. Zev merely rolled his eyes as he followed, already sick of the large amount of flirting that was going on with him today.
"So...you're into space then?" Nicolette asked as the two girls made their way through the forest. "That must be pretty cool, do you wanna like, be an astronaut at some point or just like research it." Despite the turmoil with every other team, the two of them were progressing pretty well.
Faye shrugged. "I guess research for now. I'm definitely nowhere near going into space right now, and maybe it'll be easier to make it there by the time I'm old enough for that. Right now I just need the money." The two stopped at the edge of the river. "Does that look like...people we know?" The two spotted Chander and Klase on their way to the finish line, but the two were not alone. "They're...they're following someone. I don't think we know them. Maybe we should follow?"
Nicolette stared at Croshia as she made a choice. "That means they probably had to lie to someone already...that's just awful. Maybe we can follow them from a distance? I would feel bad stealing the win from them, and I don't think we're going to be in last." Faye nodded as the two began walking along the river behind them. "So...I guess people live around here."
"Chris did mention that we would find people, and that we were to tell them we were here to help. Maybe that means that part of what we're doing here is actually helping or some sort of service." Nicolette smiled at the thought of that. "But," Faye added, "Chris does not seem like the type of person to just let that happen. Nothing is ever free."
In the thick of the forest, Persephone and Syd were lagging a bit behind. "We have to be moving faster," Persephone insisted. "We are too far behind, and while I appreciate the fact that you saved me from certain doom, we are definitely close to last place." Syd rolled her eyes as she continued moving at Persephone's pace.
The two of them eventually stopped when they spotted someone in the forest. They were a giant in terms of build, but their face was very apathetic to anything. Persephone eyed up the person. "That must be one of the people who we're allegedly doing charity work for." She groaned. "He looks...ancient. He's a pretty big dude, not old, but still he looks like he's been dead for a thousand years or so."
Syd nodded, holding up the number two, implying she thought it was two-thousand years. "What do you think, short stuff? Do I just go up to him and start talking? Unless you want to say something." Syd shrugged, pointing to her mouth and shaking her head. "Okay, so you don't do it at all, that's cool too." Persephone sighed. "Fine, leave it to me to get us there."
Persephone stepped forward in a very apparent fashion to catch the attention of the person, which was Rodin. "Hi, you!" the princess said arrogantly to Rodin, who turned his head with a dulled expression. "We are supposed to help you, I think. Do you know where we are supposed to go? You should tell me this instant!"
Unlike the others who put up a fight, Rodin shrugged and pointed in a direction. "This is the help we were promised? I am surprised this is the extent that we were given. Follow me. I can take you there, but only because I am on my way back home." Rodin began to walk in a direction, without even checking to see if the girls were behind him. Persephone and Syd decided to follow since he did not appear dangerous at all.
Kaif and Sasha were in a different boat. "This is no fun," Kaif said nervously as a medium-sized bear approached them. "At least the two of us will die together as we try fighting this bear, right?" Kaif glanced around while Sasha stood next to the bear. She pulled out a thing of bear spray and instantly scared away the bear. "Oh...or we can do that."
"Did no one else remember we were going into the woods in Alaska?" Sasha asked plainly. "Kaif, we're losing time now, I am a bit concerned we're not going to make it on time. How do you think we could pick up the pace?"
Kaif took a look around. "Well, we aren't exactly close to anything right now. There isn't anything out here except that bear, which we probably won't see now that you're scared it off." His thought process was cut off as something else zoomed by, stopping right in front of the two with a spear aimed at both of them. "Oh, this thing too."
Thea held her spear without any remorse at the two contestants. "More intruders. I saved the last two because they could pass for people who were sent to help, but there is not a chance that the two of you are! I have to protect Crevice!"
Sasha sighed. "I guess I'll handle this one too." The use of the contraction again threw off Thea. "Your best option in the moment is to kill us, sure. But, there are more of us out here. You will want to know where they are, so how about you take us in so you can interrogate us for information? Would that not better protect Crevice in the long run?"
Thea blinked a few times. "I...I suppose you are right." She reached under her cloak and threw out a bunch of rope with her spear, and before Kaif or Sasha could react, they were both tied up instantly. Thea, despite her thin stature, had no issue carrying both of them back with her. "You will be subjected to questioning to help me protect this place." Sasha winked at Kaif, who looked too stressed from the whole situation to react.
Meanwhile, Winslow and Winter seemed to be the only ones who encountered no problems. "Didn't Chris say this forest was going to be dangerous?" Winter asked nonchalantly, trying to make some sort of small talk with Winslow, who was pushing ahead at a solid pace. "Are you certain you know where you're going?" The bandwagoner added on, definitely lost from the looks of it.
Winslow nodded assuredly. "Someone like me who has spent so much time wandering does not simply 'get lost' in the woods." The pushed a branch past them, gesturing forward. "Just as it was foretold by Chris, the finish line is right there, with...what appears to be an old civilization." The wanderer grinned to themselves. "That is certainly...fascinating."
Winter passed Winslow, who was still busy admiring the new village they had discovered, and went for the finish line. Right there, Chris was standing with Chef and Zenthus. "Looks like our first group has made it!" Chris said with a wave. "Winslow, Winter, welcome to the end of our first..." The host looked over at Zenthus, who was deep in conversation with Chef. "...challenge. You two will be on Team A, and get immunity for the night!"
While Winter was excited to be safe, Winslow wandered over to Zenthus and Chef. Zenthus took a look at the wanderer. "Ah, this must be one of the people you have brought with you to help out," Zenthus said. "Welcome to Crevice. My name is Zenthus, and I am in charge of the village, or, rather, what is left of it. I am hoping your groups are able to help us out immensely." Winslow nodded obediently.
Winslow: The Crevice confessional was inside a house in the village, complete with a bed and some windows, but they were boarded up. Winslow sat on the bed with a slight grin on their face. "This show lacked a uniqueness to it," they explained bluntly. "However, the addition of Crevice means that perhaps there is more to be discovered in my usefulness here."
Once Winslow and Winter stepped to the Team A side, Thea returned to the finish line as well with Sasha and Kaif. "Leader Zenthus," Thea reported formally. "I apprehended two individuals who claim to be here to help, but my suspicions arise from the lack of muscle mass." She sliced the rope open with her spear, allowing Kaif and Sasha to roll over the finish line. "What are your instructions?"
Chris shook his head. "Easy, hothead, they are with us," he explained. Thea grunted at the nickname. Zenthus waved Thea, off sending the huntress back into the woods. "Kaif and Sasha, welcome to Crevice! This is where we will be staying and providing our support to the villagers here." The two new finishers glanced at Zenthus, who gave a formal nod. "The two of you will be on Team B." He glanced over to Chef, who rolled his eyes and got Zenthus distracted again. "That means you two, while there first, are on the losing team today and will be sent to an elimination." Both contestants looked nervous about that.
Next to return was Croshia, with Klase and Chander. "Zenthus, Chris," Croshia greeted a bit more informally. "I have these two here as well, Chander and Klase are their names." The two waved to Zenthus, who waved back. "If you do not mind, I will be heading to the workshop to handle some structural issues with the hut Rodin uses before he returns and complains." Zenthus nodded, and Croshia went into Crevice to do her own thing.
Following right after was Faye and Nicolette. "Nice strategy following the ones with a guide," Chris applauded. "Unfortunately, that didn't seem to work out as you thought." He pointed to Chander and Klase. "Boys, you'll be on Team A, and safe tonight, which means the girls are headed to Team B to face elimination." Both pairs went to their respective locations.
Rodin then returned, with Persephone and Syd in tow. "Zenthus, I am back," he said coldly, then walked off without saying a word. Zenthus let out a small sigh before returning to his discussion with Chef. Syd glanced around, definitely amazed with Crevice's look, while Persephone was not nearly as impressed.
"Welcome, girls," Chris greeted the two. "You'll be the third pair on Team A, making you safe from elimination tonight. That means only one more pair is going to be on our winning team today, who will make it first, or rather, who will make it second?"
Setsuna and Zev appeared next, with Thea in tow. "Looks like we're not in last place, at least," Setsuna said optimistically. The two kept walking over the finish line, and while doing that, the archeologist counted up the number of people on each team. She gasped and turned to Zev before he made it over. "Zev, wait, don't-" It was too late, Zev had already taken a step over the finish line."
"Wow, talk about unlucky!" Chris said with a laugh. "Thanks to Zev, you and he will be on Team B, making the two of you up for grabs tonight." Setsuna sighed as she walked over to Team B, giving Sasha a wave as she joined the losing team with her. She then shot a glare to Zev, who laughed sheepishly. "One more team to go on each," Chris said. "Looks like we're just missing Harvey, Alessia, Shion, and Monty."
All four appeared out of the woods, Alessia and Harvey at a much better position. "We gotta go!" Monty shouted angrily at Shion, the bassist leaving Shion behind as he sprinted for the finish. Monty made it past the other pair just in time, and Shion was trying to catch up as well. "Why aren't you running faster?" He shouted angrily as Shion struggled to gain ground.
"Running...not my thing..." Shion said between desperate gasps. He tried to make it as best he could, but he just didn't have the speed Monty did to make up the lead Alessia and Harvey had. Alessia crossed first, and it was down to a footrace between Harvey and Shion. Shion was a bit faster, but Harvey's better starting position allowed him to barely outrun the musician.
"That's the end of that!" Chris called out. "Alessia and Harvey will be joining Team A, our winning team for the day, while Monty and Shion will gather up with Team B, making them our big losers for the day!" Harvey let out a yell of excitement, trying to go in for a hug with Alessia, the streamer catching sight of that and sidestepping it completely, making the man-child fall face first onto the ground.
Monty groaned loudly, getting all of the team's attention. "This is your fault!" He shouted at Shion. "All your small-talk and flirty nonsense is the reason we were in the lead and then we got last! I wouldn't be losing right now if I wasn't stuck with you!" Shion looked really disheartened by that. Monty let out a yell as he put his fist right through a tree, getting a lot of gasps from both teams.
Monty: "Yeah..." he said nervously. "Doing that right before elimination was probably a bad move, but I'm still voting Shion. He earned it."
Silence filled the air for a bit as everyone looked at Monty. "Well, as I was saying," Chris continued. "Monty, Shion, you'll be on Team B, so you're going to elimination tonight, which will be in one hour!" Syd raised her hand, and pointed up at the sun, which was still pretty high in the air. "Yes, Syd, but did you forget? We're in Alaska! The sun is up nearly the whole time in the summer! Voting soon, and we'll talk more about Crevice tomorrow!" He looked at the teams. "First, we need team names. I won't be picky, so whatever I hear first is what we do."
Both teams broke into discussion rather quickly, except for Monty, who was still standing off from the team. Eventually, someone decided to give up and walk up to Chris, stepping away from their team. Persephone opened her mouth, getting everyone's attention. "This team is naming ourselves after me, Chris. We are Team Persephone." A cacophony of 'what's could be heard in response to that.
Despite everyone's desperate pleas to change it, Chris gave them a thumbs-up, and Team Persephone was official. "Wait, we can pick whatever we want?" Kaif asked, gazing around his team. "Well, that's perfect! Chris, to honor how dashing everyone looks here, we should be Team Gorgeous!" Again, despite the pleas, Team Gorgeous was just as locked in.
"Great names!" Chris called out. "Now, to living. Team Persephone will stay with their partners in the four houses up there!" Chris pointed to the set of small homes to the north of the meeting hall. "Team Gorgeous, you'll be with the ones on the south side. I did warn you to get used to your partners." Most people seemed indifferent about that information, but people like Zev and Alessia were not thrilled to hear that information. "Okay, it's voting time! Meet at the fire circle in front of the meeting hall in an hour, Team Gorgeous."
Sasha: "As annoying as Kaif is, I'm definitely not done with him yet," she said with an indifferent look. "I have some theories I would like to test. So, since I was going to lose anyway, I'm certainly not picking the person who lost us the challenge."
Faye: "It's...pretty obvious." She said with a shrug.
Nicolette: "I think I'll be against the grain a bit," she admitted. "I don't think one thing should be the end of someone."
ELIMINATION I, TEAM GORGEOUS
The eight members of Team Gorgeous sat on the logs by the campfire circle in front of the meeting hall. There were only two logs. On the left log was Kaif, Sasha, Setsuna, and Shion, while the right log had Zev, Faye, Nicolette, and Monty. Chris and Chef appeared, the cook holding a bunch of rocks in his hand. "Here's the deal," Chef told all of them. "I've got rocks. We don't exactly wanna startle the villagers with marshmallows, and this felt fitting. So...no rock means you're out."
Chris nodded. "Right, and so far you've all done great to keep this game show part of your trip a secret. Keep it that way." He grabbed the first rock. "Not getting a rock means that you go to the river. We've got a boat there to take you to an island for losers! Surprisingly, there's even less there than here!" He laughed. "Anyway, rocks tonight go to...Zev." Zev caught the first rock of the game with one hand.
"Also safe tonight," Chris continued, holding up two rocks. "Sasha and Kaif." He tossed it over to them. "Isn't that cute? You both got your rocks at the same time?" Sasha glanced over to Kaif to see what reaction he would give off, and it was the similar tensing expression he used earlier on the blimp. "Nicolette is also safe tonight!" The kindhearted saint happily caught her marshmallow, but still looked nervous at the other four who were left.
Chris held up rock number five. "Faye, you're also good to go." Faye grinned as she caught her rock, keeping her in the game a little longer. "We're down to three...but it won't be Setsuna!" Setsuna looked unsurprised as she got her rock. "That leaves two, our challenge losers. Shion, you blew it for your pairing, and Monty, you blew up at Shion blowing it!" Both boys were quiet. "Tonight...the loser is...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...Neither of you!" Chris tossed rocks to both of the boys as they looked surprised, but happy to see they were still in the game. "Real talk, we haven't done any work here, so my deal I struck to keep Thea off my back goes south if I boot someone now. But, that won't happen again! We're sending home people all the time now, so get ready to be scared!"
As Team Gorgeous began walking back, Monty walked up to Shion. "Hey," he said roughly, getting Shion's attention. "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that. To be honest, I really wanted to win, but I'm also here to work on...well, that issue that you saw today. I guess I got too frustrated. So...I'm sorry." He held out a hand to Shion.
Shion sighed. "No, I should be apologizing too. I probably went overboard with you, and then when I needed to prove to you I could help, I didn't." He took the handshake. "I'm willing to work with you if you are willing to work with me." He groaned. "Besides, we may be called Team Gorgeous, but I think some of the ones on Team Persephone are a bit cuter, so maybe I'll have to work hard here to get to the merge with them."
The two walked off to their small house as Chris sighed. "Well, that was not what I wanted. I guess Shion and Monty are friends again, but anything could happen next time! How will our teams deal with living in their current situations? Who's going to crack first and get sent down to loser island? What's Sasha going to learn about Kaif? And how long can I keep this whole season up without getting hunted to death by angry frozen people? Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Ancient Abodes?"
Vote Confessionals: (Not broadcasted to contestants)
Faye: "It's pretty obvious," She said with a shrug. "I'm voting Monty."
Kaif: "I'll do whatever my dear Sasha wants," he said with an overly-dramatic sigh. "So, that means Monty."
Monty: "Still not proud of my outburst, but Shion's gotta go."
Nicolette: "I think I'll be against the grain a bit," she admitted, "but I'll try and force a tie and vote Shion."
Sasha: "I was going to lose regardless," Sasha explained. "So, that means that I can vote a powerful person who messed up, like Monty."
Setsuna: "Well, I wanna try and get on Sasha's good side, she seems cool, so I'll vote Monty. If he sticks around though, he could be fun."
Shion: "I guess I need to make sure I don't lose first," he said. "I'll vote Monty, but I feel awful about it."
Zev: "I think we're forgetting that we need Monty, the rest of us besides me aren't exactly powerful people. I am voting Setsuna. See that, Tatiana?
Current Teams:
Team Gorgeous: Faye, Kaif, Monty, Nicolette, Sasha, Setsuna, Shion, Zev
Team Persephone: Alessia, Chander, Harvey, Klase, Persephone, Syd, Winslow, Winter
That's all! This chapter took a bit longer than expected, but once I got going it moved fast. The wording of the challenge matches its original reference, making it the double eye contact to form a pairing. I think the pairs will be really fun, and some are for definite plot things, and some are really just more for fun. We can eventually figure out who is who.
No one was eliminated! I didn't want to do anyone the disservice of waiting this long and then, like, boom, their character's gone. But, that means it's game on from here. If you are familiar with the outline, there are eighteen chapters, so that means this is not a straightforward one-a-day elimination, there'll definitely be some weird stuff.
The cast has officially also met Rodin, our apathetic fisherman, and Croshia, our super tough blacksmith. Accepted characters will be reached out to again soon on those.
Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter in the reviews! I'd also love some additional feedback on how I did with your character this time around, especially in the context of the challenge. Thanks for waiting! See you next time!