I found the typo too!
Developments
Ghid:
“I was.” Relic answered, not bothering to turn his head towards the pair as he lumbered onward. “They say it had the pattern of a skull on its face, but I got a great view of it when I shielded Red Scare from its attack. He drove it back afterwards, and it was just a white pattern.”
“Do you know who got rid of it?” Ado inquired, tapping Kauri’s knee and pointing her finger down.
“I cannot say I do.” Relic mused, paying little attention to Kauri clumsily standing and walking towards the entrance of the shipping container, which swung up and down with each step that the stone giant took. “Many believe it was Red Scare that slew the creature, others say it was a ghost that felled it. I saw only the smallest dot challenge the beast, and the entire creature disappeared two hours later.”
Hmm… Either the skull bear is going to be important later, or this is to establish Red Scare as being a powerful entity; I am confident that will become clear later.
Ghid:
“I need to know.” Kauri leaned against the cabinet, Uchū recoiling slightly at his presence. “You’re a yokai, just like the onibi. So is Relic. How likely is it-”
“He’s not a yokai,” Uchū protested. “He’s a jötunn.”
“Yeah, I don’t care.” Kauri grumbled. “You’re both the same. You both popped into existence just over two years ago, you’re both supernatural spooks.
Alright, so we’ve got some Relic lore to work off. I am excited to see what other creatures will appear later, given the appearance of both Japanese and Norse mythological creatures so far.
Oh, and something happened two years ago, apparently.
Ghid:
Now can you or can you not get into the deep zone?”
Uchū was silent for a moment, his giant eyes scanning the air in front of him for a definite answer before worryingly returning to Kauri’s visible eye with a restrained gulp. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’d be scared to find out.”
“You’d be scared to do a handstand.” Kauri huffed, pushing off the cabinet and returning to his full height. “Do us all a favor. Next time wait until someone confirms it’s safe before sticking your head out like that. The wrong person finds out you exist and you’re dead.”
I’m definitely rooting for Uchū. I wish him luck in “the deep zone” against whatever dangers may lie there.
Ghid:
“Now let me guess.” Kauri folded his arms, staring down the intimidating creature. Its monkey-like visage preceded a massive, rounded spine, framing a huge body coated in thick bristly fur which peaked at the arch of its shoulders. Tiger-like stripes ran across its limbs, with menacing claws and puffy fur similar to the fur framing its red face. Its scaled tail rattled viciously as Kauri dragged on the silence for as long as he could.
I love this description. It’s very clear and vivid, but it also establishes the tone well.
Ghid:
Steadying herself, Ado lifted a toothpick into the air, resting on her curled forefinger and braced by her thumb. Activating the power of her glasses, she flicked the toothpick forwards, using her glasses to substantially increase the acceleration of the toothpick until it cracked through the air like a bullet.
Mask power reveal! I checked the Boards for mentions of toothpicks, and here’s what I found:
Lots of Random Quotes
Shortly after him, although wisdom compelled one not to verbally make such a comment, came the only female member of the team, glaring up at her leader with a toothpick in her mouth.
Before Shinsuke got the opportunity to be properly offended at the comment, the toothpick rebuilt itself, flying into the open fingers of Pakka. “I had to demonstrate a little to get him to listen.” Tossing it upwards, the toothpick reinserted itself back into one of the rafters.
There was an open box of toothpicks in his hand. Several of them stood on end as he glared at Ren out of the corner of his eye. No further detail was required to understand his intent; Ren’s eyes were staring past him anyway, focused on the calm and casual form of Oisim Makuei, still at the bar, watching his every move.
Ren’s action of immediately falling backwards to avoid the first few toothpicks that flew past his face was only just enough to avoid the beginning barrage, but the motion he was in left him open to the next. One skidded off his kneecap, just missing its target of sliding underneath it. The next collided with a rib, sticking into his side and refusing to fall out.
Two more dug into the muscle of his thigh, wedged quite deeply inside. All of this occurred before Ren hit the ground, and when he did it was mostly with a sharp hiss, his muscles tightening heavily as he tried to fight the urge to rip the toothpicks out.
“I have to go kill a fish.” Pakka turned away, closing the box of toothpicks. “When it’s dead, you had better be gone. Maybe Usul will kill you, maybe not. But if I see you again, you’re history.”
With that, Pakka slowly trudged further inside, breaking into a sprint as the massive koi smashed its deformed body against one of the steel supports, smashing through the statue and buckling the metal underneath, with Odgu right in the middle. With great restraint Ren slowly pulled out the three toothpicks that had managed to stick in his body, staggering to his feet and feeling his bleeding leg.
Pakka seems to have been pretty connected to toothpicks. Perhaps Ado is @Pakari ? Racie also had one line in The Wild Masks associated with toothpicks, but a majority of the evidence points towards Pakari.
This is inarguably a 100% accurate empirical evaluation that is entirely irrefutable by future evidence. /s
Hmm… Is this set in the post-apocolypse? Is that why the man pets are lost? Perhaps this event led to the appearance of the yokai and jötunn like Uchū or Relic two years ago?
I guess Kauri doesn’t know Ado as well as I had assumed. Intriguing.