prontissimo | kaisou inbox

[Monkey business indeed. This is a trio of people prone to chaos. There's no way it'll go smoothly. But for that first stretch, it does? The horse seems to know what it's doing and Katsuki lets it do its thing. Just keeping an eye out for any sign of danger.

It's when the horse needs to stop for a break that things go sideways for the first time. It comes to a stop, huffing and hoofing at the ground. Dislodging snow in search of grass to graze on.]

Guess it's tired. Maybe we should take this chance to--

[To what? Unknown. Because something is making a ruckus and the horse makes a sound of distress. On alert, Katsuki doesn't finish his sentence. He stands up in the sleigh--a mistake--and scans the are for sign of what's making the noise.

The answer is a couple of demons have caught sight of their sleigh and are rushing down the side of the mountain. Katsuki fixes his attention on them just as the horse moves, jolting the sleigh.

Katsuki rocks, cursing, arms waving to maintain balance. Comical, save for the fact they need him to fight the demons descending upon them.

While this is happening, the other animals also get upset by the shift in noise levels and the jolting sleigh. The monkey climbing up on Alberto's shoulders and shrieking as Katsuki finds his balance and braces himself, conjuring up a fireball and hoping for the best.]

Whatever happens, stay on the sleigh!

[Odds are good the horse will bolt. Odds are also good he isn't staying in this sleigh if it does.]

[ Alberto does as told, handing off a fistful of trail mix to Luca for whatever his monkey wrangling idea is... But the horse comes to a slow stop, and it grabs Alberto's attention. He goes to ask – ]

What's going on?

[ But Katsuki's answer is cut short by the horse's worried whinnying, which puts Alberto on edge. It's a weird noise. He doesn't know much about horses. But it seems— b-baaaad...? Bad sound. Sounds bad. And before Alberto can even register what it is that's upsetting the horse so, Katsuki's on his feet — and then off them — and they're lurching forward in the snow. Then it's clear what's going on, but just as Alberto's figured out they've been targeted, there's the monkey, back on his bull shit — and back on his back. Alberto shrieks when the money jumps on him, shrieking itself, and clings to it desperately... which would also be comical, save for the fact that they need to survive the demons descending upon them. ]

Luca, hug your chicken!

[ Words he never thought he'd say, but, well, here they are. In a sleigh. In the snow. Hugging a chicken and a monkey. While their friend whips up a— fireball? Good grief... At least one of them has magic, but... good grief... Alberto wishes he could be so useful. ]

[Luca hugs his clucking, flapping chicken, petting it and desperately trying to calm it down while he looks off in the distance to see what had spooked all the animals...and he sees demons coming closer. He then looks toward Katsuki, who has at least regained his balance, but is now summoning a fireball. He tenses, unsure of how this is going to go.]

[Katsuki braces himself as best he can and hurls the fireball at the nearest demon, near its feet before conjuring another.

The horse makes another distressed sound and digs at the ground with one hoof while Katsuki focuses on hurling fireballs at the oncoming attackers. And then it bolts. Katsuki sways, falls and drops the fireball.

He curses as his jacket sleeve ignites. The sleigh now bouncing and bumping its way along as the horse books it across the mountain path in a panic.

Aaaaand the demons are giving chase.]

Shit! Shit! Shit!

[ Alberto's eyes go wide, and he lets go of his monkey to reach out and shake Katsuki's shoulder from behind. ]

Katsuki! Fire! Fire! There's fire on you!

[ Thanks, Alberto. He probably noticed. Just in case, though, y'know, there's a lot going on. He has no idea what to do, their canteens are packed away with all their stuff, not easily accessible, and the monkey is hopping up and down beside him screeching loudly. Alberto spins round to check on the demons giving chase behind them, and starts panicking even more, turning back to check on Katsuki, muttering to himself loudly. ]

Holy sharks holy sharks holy sharks holy sharks...!

Oh no!

[Katsuki's on fire! And the horse is racing too fast for them to try and get over to help him.]

I wish those demons would just go away!

[Because they don't have time to fight the demons now.]

We need to put this fire out, we don't have time for this!

[Luca gestures, frustrated, and instinctively he summons a small amount of water midair, just enough that it would fill a glass, that drops onto Katsuki's burning arm.]

What was...how?

[Katsuki stares at where the water fell, just enough to extinguish the small flame on his jacket sleeve before it can get out of control.

What the...?

He turns his head, staring up at the boys behind him, piecing it together.]

What the hell?? You have water magic??

[They're still hurtling up the mountain with demons on their tail. But at least he's not on fire?]

[ And suddenly, in the midst of all this chaos, everything around them seems to simply stop for Alberto, as he gapes at Luca in shock. Luca— has magic? Water magic? He watched that happen right before his eyes. He'd heard about this — Bruno got random new powers all the time! — but to see it himself is surreal. Luca is magical... Luca is magical!

The sleigh lurches over a bump in the snowy path, and it's like it knocked reality back into place. He grabs onto the back of the sleigh for support, grabbing his monkey with the other hand. But after a second, as Alberto tunes back into the danger they're actually in, his shocked reaction abates... And he starts grinning — smiling and laughing and whooping. ]

Oh my— Ahah! Luca, you're magic! Whoohoooooo! Yeah, man, hah!

[ The monkey screeches shrilly, scrambling in Alberto's lap, almost like he's joining in on the celebration. Not the time, guys. This is not the ideal moment for two crazy little monkeys screaming WOOHOO. ]

Um...

[He looks down at his hand, surprised, before looking back up at Katsuki.]

Apparently!

[It may not be the ideal time to be shouting, but Luca's pretty excited himself and doesn't even try to be quiet, either.]

Yeah! Oh! I bet I could use this to splash water on those demons, so then they'd have to fight while being cold and wet!

Honestly, I'll take any advantage we can get. Even if it's make them uncomfortable.

[Katsuki works on getting himself back on his feet. He's thinking. Actually...

Hang on.]

Got a thought. I've got really weak ice magic. Usually can only make small walls of it. But if you got water magic, maybe we can combine it. Your water, my ice, we could try to block the way behind us.

[Once he gets this horse under control of course.]

Up to try it?

[ This isn't the moment to think Luca's funny and cute, but Alberto can't help it — making the monsters uncomfy is a pretty great battle strategy, whether or not it's a very effective one. He's still just so excited that Luca has magic, wow...! Though there's some odd feeling in the back of his mind he can't quite put his finger on.

But then Katsuki comes up with that idea, and it kind of pops Alberto's bubble. Useless. Right. That's the feeling. The same way he felt when he was on the rescue mission to save Bruno in October, fighting alongside Isabela... He felt like such dead weight behind her. He sits back down, fully back in the sled, and clings to his monkey in his lap, eyes darting between Luca and Katsuki and the demons chasing them. The best he can manage is protect the animals, he supposes...? So he reaches out and grabs Luca's chicken, too, bringing it closer to his side, keeping it tucked under his arm for safe keeping – which it doesn't seem to mind, frankly. The monkey, steady screeching and panicking and wriggling, peers over Alberto's shoulder, clinging to his coat, watching the demons chase them, too. They're not bringing much to the table here, either. It'd be real useful if the monkey or chicken suddenly gained magic powers like Luca just did, he can't help but imagine how that'd be so amazing. Though it'd be much more useful and amazing if Alberto did, too... ]

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