Digital Devil Worlds [D&D 4e Game Thread]

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Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Wednesday Evening, May 27

quote:

: Slicking his hair back with a hand, Takashi takes off on a mission, lightly plucking up toothpick from a nearby street vendor's cart without a backwards glance. Stalking his prey, his single-minded drive gets him hurriedly through the foot traffic between him and the quartet, and with only a handful of meters to spare he whips out his phone to complete the illusion of a careless, very busy thug. Like an oncoming wave, he enters the space of their pack, "ORAA! Watch where you're go...," in an entirely calculated manner he lets his gaze find the petite and curvy girl's, "Uwoo~ ~Kawaii~." illusion complete, he resumes the a partially chagrinned street tough's persona, "Ahem. Apologies, miss. You should really be careful when you're out at night; a lot of rough types out," he smiles, pushing the toothpick to the other side of his mouth and angling it dangerously. "Or maybe that's just your style," the wink is Takashi dialed up to 11.

Passive Perception: Your charming feint gets the attention of the other three girls as well, though the tight-laced military dame is the first to look away and put on the body language of the annoyed.

-You zero in on the obvious target! The petite girl is over a head shorter than you and she looks up at you with open glee, giggling, "I think you're my style, mister.."

-The easy-looking girl gives you a hard shove to the shoulder. "Watch it, creep!" The petite girl giggles again and seems to enjoy this as well. Perhaps any attention does it.

: "Me? A pretty girl like you deserves better than me," Takashi turns the shoulder shove into a spin, keeping pace with the group, "Creep? Tch, so cruel," his attention refocuses on the bubbly girl, "But maybe your friend is right and I'm bad news," a momentary pause, a shift of his shoulders, "Then again, I might just be the best news of your night," his smile is lurid, "I bet a girl like you would be trouble," he draws a lone card from his pocket, holding it out to her between index and middle finger, "at the Wolf's Castle. I can already see the men lining up, fighting over you. Just to share a drink," he winks, "we men can be so insatiable." Drawing on his will, he manifests the image of her surrounded by adoring clients talking to a faceless concierge to ask if she's free in her mind's eye. Using Thought Projection.

-Offering your card to the most receptive girl, she accepts it with a happy laugh. You're surprised by a small ambush when the other girls size you up and the tight-laced military girl comes up beside you and pinches your rear. "Oh my God, are you really taking this guy's card? One of these mobster-lite guys.." The military girl laughs. "But you look really good when you're being bad, kid.." Your general repoire with the group goes over well and draws out another receptive girl, the tight-laced one having a hidden bad side. Ozawa gives you a big double thumbs up from the side...

... before he frantically points at you with both index fingers, gesturing to look out! You're able to react and duck as a boy about your size crosses out of a side alley and closes the distance between the two of you without hesitation! He throws a full round house kick that is caught by your guard.. vs AC 36 misses.

... and in the realm of the mind's eye the shadows of Kobe rise up, isolating the two of you in a sincere duel! In reality the four girls scream in shock and break off.. in the shadows, the girls uninterested in you fade and vanish, leaving two in coffins who resonate with positive energy synched to the aura of the dog.

: "Lousy night for creepin', ain't it?" He withdraws his leg, the shadow of his form drawing out a longsword in a matching arc. The drawl sounds a bit familiar.

quote:
Ambusher: HP: ???/??? AC/F/R/W: 36/32/35/32
Attack +30 with Weapon

Minor to pick up items or activate Coffins.
Trash Can: Occupies both hand slots. Range 4/6. Reduces Speed by 2. Ranged Basic Attack + 4 vs Reflex. On Hit: Bloodies Creature and Trash Can lands in random tile adjacent to hit creature. After two hits, Trash Can vanishes.
Rock: Range 8, vs Reflex-4, 8 Damage + Daze UEONT
Rebar: When using an At-Will or MBA, repeat the Attack. Breaks after 3 uses, hit or miss.
Chain: Range 8, vs Reflex, Immobilized UEONT
Knuckle: On your next two melee Attacks, roll twice and use highest. Breaks after these two uses.
Coffins: If adjacent to a Coffin, Activate it to receive a great boon!?

: Ducking his head fractionally against the roundhouse, Takashi's hair barely flutters as a massive wall of psychic force rises to greet the ambusher like row upon row of teeth in a gnashing maw.
Reaction: Curtain of Steel vs AC: 1d20+28 41 6d8+20 42 psychic damage, Ambusher suffers -2 attacks UEOMNT. Add Takedown Strike for +7 physical damage and prone. Triggers Fury, Takashi gains 40 THP

: "Brave words from the one creepin', kid," the voice echoes in the shadowy street and the recesses of the boy's mind, "Doesn't have to go down like this," the last is delivered as he walks away from his prey with his toothpick clenched between his teeth, the disregard immense and palpable, "L E A V E." (for clarity's sake, Takashi is speaking both verbally and psychically into the Ambusher's mind)
Move: to L6
Minor (x2): Activate both coffins

-Invoking the coffins grants you two great boons.. inside are the two girls you just chatted up who accepted your cards! Spiritual energy emerges from their spirits and these auras coalesce into two of your bodyguard girls from the Traveler!

(Tengus have your Bloodied Value as HP, your current Defenses and use your default MBA numbers, as well as being able to use your At-Wills. You can command them on your turn and they get their own Standard/Move/Minor)

: "Listenin' to a guy recruiting girls for a road leading down to escorting.. you ain't got much claim to being a hero." Minor: The Attacker rises from Prone! He draws himself up and his shadow sheaths its blade as he squares up and strikes a cool karate pose, taking a tentative snap kick to head height. "Beating up bastards like you is exactly how it should go down.." He chuckles. "But I never thought I'd run into a jackass like you." Drawing in the ambient energy of this Other Space, your Attacker's aura changes as he is overcome by building energy.. his Avatar manifests.. you know this one!

^{Hero 4 Hire}
Music

: The next showy kick is overtaken by the brandishing of a masterfully enchanted falchion, a new craft of platinum and lightning, leagues ahead of his flaming steel. He unfurls something and grins. "And I won't lose to you again. ^{Ancient Technique: Summoning VII} The scroll dissolves as waves of violent, teal and blue magic crash over the battlefield, flooding it with emerging phantasms in the shape of Hero's ganker allies!

quote:
Hero: Damage Taken: 48, AC/F/R/W: 36/32/35/32
Heart: HP: 1/1 + 1/1 + 1/1 , AC/F/R/W: 36/32/35/32
Exe-QT: HP 1/1, AC/F/R/W: 36/32/35/32
Mapple: 1/1 + 1/1, AC/F/R/W: 36/32/35/32

-With his final Move action, Hero dashes to the East and vanishes as he passes through one of the smokey shades!

: Fortune: Maragidyne vs Reflex (K9, M9, L12, M13): 4#1d20+27 29 40 30 31 2d8+12 17 fire - hits M9 only, which I believe kills it
Move: to L8
Standard: Shift to L11 (through K9) as a part of: Pressing Strike vs AC (aimed at L12): 1d20+28 44 2d8+20 28 - hits, killing it
Lightning Weapon Daily: Each enemy within 2 squares suffers 2d6 lightning damage - which damages K9, and kills M13
Command L7 Tengu Cutie to retreat 1, then turn and charge K9, while M6 Tengu Cutie also charges him: Howling Strike vs AC: 2#1d20+28 30 37 2d8+2d6+20 33 2d8+2d6+20 37 - single hit, reducing him to a lone 1/1 (I'll add Stone Fist Flurry to the adjacent K9 Sir Heart, which drops him. (but for flavor, just calling it the Tengu attack))

: Takashi grumbles underneath his breath, offering action instead of further discussion with "Hero". Clenching his fist heralds an arrival, the War God Ares with his bloodied spear at the ready; a wave of fire issues forth, claiming a single image of Exe-QT in a bonfire that turns the alley into a shining star. "Tch," is all the well-dressed boy offers as he takes a step forward towards the much more imposing image of Sir Heart. He disappears in a flash of bright blue lightning - only to reappear opposite the armored foe as he strikes another Exe-QT to ash. Two bolts of energy crack the air, blasting another Exe-QT into yet more ash and streaking along the armored foe behind him. Takashi whistles sharply, "Ladies," and his bodyguards move with ruthless precision, their metal shakujo staves ringing off the armored target, shattering another illusion.

-With each strike the shades are destroyed, the heartier visage of Heart standing up to a ganging up until the Tengu Cutie delivers the final cleave down the center! The second image of Heart lumbers forward and brandishes a spiked club, gesturing to Takashi and affixing a Warden's Mark to him. (Interrupts to pull at range or slow at melee if not including Heart in the attack.)

-Hero steps out of the approaching Heart's mass which gives off a brief wave of rolling smoke, heading further back into the alley where he picks up the length of chain on the ground. Then he burns his Standard to another Move and gets next to the coffins at the end of the street. He does not activate them yet(lack of actions!)

-Mapple's shade drifts closer and Curses Takashi before the two Shades attack in tandem! Heart smashes the ground in an Earth Shaking Rend! (Miss Takashi, damage value halved after Shade penalty for 3 Physical Damage and knocks Takashi Prone) (1 damage after Ares halving.) (Immune Prone Ares too.) Creates a zone that lasts UEOMNT: difficult terrain, and any creature ending turn in zone falls Prone.

Mapple aims for Takashi's prone form and delivers a pin-point perfect zap! Consuming Ray Crits! This deals 25% of 52, or 15 Necrotic Damage + 5 Ongoing Necrotic(Save Ends)

quote:
The Mapple Shade suffers Psychic Feedback!
Heart: 1/1 + 1/1 + 1/1, Marked Takashi
Mapple: 1/1 + 0/1, Cursed Takashi
Hero: 48 damage taken, visible

: HP: 146 / 146 -- THP: 19
Tengu: Tengu cuties charge to K11 and M11, using: Howling Strike vs AC: 2#1d20+28 37 42 - 2 hits, 1/1 remain on Heart - each Tengu falls prone for ending in the zone
FATE: Inspire Fervor vs AC: 1d20+28 42 - another hit, putting Heart down - Takashi advances to L12 as a part of the granted shift (using 2 to exit difficult terrain) - Tengu cannot benefit because of Prone
Move: to M21 then Shift 2 squares through Hero to end at 023 via Pressing Strike vs AC: 1d20+28 47 2d8+20 30 physical + 4 Physical Ongoing (God of War)
Minor: 2x (Minor + AP) to activate both coffins
Save: Save vs. Ongoing Necrotic: 1d20+2 18 - succeed

: As Sir Heart's spiked club comes down, only the shockwave can touch Takashi, his aura radiating an immaculate sturdiness around him. Into the booming crack of earth, twin red furies fly, perfect birds of vengeance. With two synchronized bell peals, the image of Sir Heart staggers to his knees. Mapple exerts her will masterfully, excoriating and vitriolic; but the boy's mind is now as much as weapon as his body - perceived but unseen teeth clamp down on her throat - her form flickers as it comes partially undone. "Guess you didn't listen," the alley and Hero 4 Hire's mind ring with Takashi's words, "I won't warn you again, H E R O," the last word booms with force, crushing the image of Sir Heart into dust against the alley wall. His athlete's body moving like a sudden spark, the distance collapses into nothing as the weight of inevitable violence presses upon Hero like a vice. A impossibly thin moment before fist finds purchase, the well dressed boy is simply gone... as Hero turns the punch buries itself in his kidney. Exerting his will, he reaches out to the occupants of the coffins in his midst... letting them loose. "Hands off the girls, creep."

quote:
Mapple: 1/1, Cursed Takashi
Hero: 82 damage taken

-Calling upon the receptive spirits inside another pair of your bodyguard quarter emerges, the full set formed! Destroyed, the shade of Heart cannot maintain the prone zone.

: Hero winces through the kidney punch but maintains a cocky grin. "It ain't heroics.. without a little hardship.." Drawing the dazzling blade out, he strikes a pose that shines with your own aura!

Fate: Relentless Hound Technique vs Takashi Reflex Misses
Deals 8 Physical Damage (half, then half) Effect: Whenever Takashi willingly leaves being Adjacent to Hero, Hero can Shift 1 in any direction. Hero can also deliver the second part of Relentless Hound as an interrupt on one of Takashi's attacks vs him.

: "Pisses me off how you guys swagger with the little power ya got!" His blade flashes as he crashes the tip against Takashi's braced forearms repeatedly, the silhouette of the God of War's shield parrying many of the blows as well. Laughing he flicks his blade to the side, the metal erupting as a flat plane of crackling lightning.

Free: Change all Physical Damage to Lightning.

-The Mapple Shade traces Takashi's path before drifting to the side and hugging the wall. She enters melee with the Tengu and provokes an OA in the casting but it seems these wisps aren't concerned with self preservation. At the gesture of her wand a cackling skull of lava and smoke erupts and splashes across the two before her!

Crackling Fire vs Tengu Orange and Takashi Reflex: Miss Tengu(Half), hits Takashi
Damage: Base Damage: 43 Fire/Lightning/Curse to Takashi, 21 Fire/Lightning to Tengu. Becomes 5 to Orange Tengu and 10 to Takashi.
Effect: Orange Tengu and Takashi have Vuln 5 Fire and Vuln 5 Lightning (Save Ends Both)

: "How about the real deal!?" Hero produces another scroll and torches it in the activation. The boundaries of the buildings around you strain badly, peeling back and bending like God had pinched the space between two fingers. The empty spaces flood with red static before reality reasserts itself and everything snaps back to normal. ^{Ancient Technique: Summoning IX}

-Shades flood into the alleyway again, an even greater wave this time! Hero is sweating things lightly, but he holds his blade ready to meet your next assault. As the troupe of the Drifter and the army of illusions meet the two lead actors meet in the center, Takashi's attempts to overwhelm Kane met with elusive maneuvers and frustrating counters. In the real world street one boy slugs the other in the soft tissues of the stomach before the other kicks to the organs around the rear hip. Sharp exchanges of pain, though one is better built to endure than the other..

-But this is not fair fight. Two of the Tengus are engufled by the steady presence of Heart's Shades and brought to death by a thousand cuts from the Shades of Assassin and Warlock swarming the street. As the girls are torn apart by blades and bolts things turn in reality.. two of the girls watching the fight are cheering for "that thug" to get his rear end kicked.

: In the shadow of the street Kane emerges from his last abuse of invisibility amidst the cloud of bright shades, brandishing his crackling blade. "Not so easy fighting alone, is it?" Kane has to retreat and heal periodically in contrast to Takashi's Rock solid stability. Things have shifted to a battle of attrition between two forces.

^BANG

: A silver streak of shadow shredding force tears apart the sky of the Other Street, everything snapping back to pure reality. Ozawa has drawn a pistol and fired skywards, the killing intent a foreign invader to the meta-magical battle. He lowers his arm and levels a steady aim on Kane, shouting an order. "Get the hell outta here, punk!"

: Kane's gaze drifts from Ozawa back to Takashi, the condescension in the smile unmistakable. He immediately slams off to the side and topples a set of trash cans, taking a route out of things that doesn't involve passing by the commotion in the main street, making an unmistakable superhuman acrobatic rise to a fire escape. As the cans scatter a heavy bird flies away, their perch lost.

: Ozawa's piece disappears as he closes to you. "Hey, Tak, you alright?" The street has emptied as those watching scatter.

: "What?" Takashi's gaze is still following Kane, his superhuman senses slowly dulling, "Huh? Yeah, Ozawa-san, I'm fine. That was a boy from my school, ah, we even are... friendly, I thought," he shakes his head as if to clear it, "We should probably leave before the police show up."

: "Good. You really let him have it.. but he had a knife. Don't worry. Nothing's gonna happen to the boss's kid on my watch." Ozawa holsters his piece and pats your shoulder, prompting you to follow him.

...

: Back at the club Mister Hirose listens to Ozawa's recounting. ".. and with Takashi-san breaking that guy's nose, he knows better than to cause trouble around here anymore, sir."

: Hirose looks Takashi over and seems to be appraising his scuffs. "Boys will be boys this time, huh. Good work. And it sounds like you're quite the good front of house, Takashi. Not every guy has charisma." After that all that is left is to text Ryoko and tell her the job is done.

: Takashi listens while the mundane reflection of his story is recounted, his expression as blank as a fresh notebook, "Yeah, just boys being boys, I guess. Hopefully, he doesn't pull that stunt again," his cheeks purple a little at the compliment, "Thank you, Hirose-san, but Ozawa-san taught me the ropes. Maybe I'm just a good student."

---

: On his walk home Takashi updates a few text chains with friends, spending a little longer with the chain to Takano as if putting off something. The realization that he is avoiding something ellicits a sighing exhale. He opens the empty chain to Tanabe-san:

Text posted:
: "Ryoko-san, I finished my assigned homework on time! My study partner brought the wrong textbook so we shared. I think I took better notes! His were all messy. He had to leave early when Niisan turned his music up too loud. He might not want to study at my place again."

: Sufficiently vague, but detailed if you knew the story you wanted to hear. The events of the night made him sick; he didn't even jog home.

: You receive two lines of text to end the night in Ryoko's strictly business tone. "You did a good job. If you feel you are not progressing at the speed you would like then I can guide you through further assignments."

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 01:13 on May 13, 2019

# ? Jan 24, 2019 23:18

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 12:21

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

(It took awhile but the Sunday Dinner at Takashi's scene is up. Part 1 and Part 2 to make sure anyone who missed it or isn't in the discord knows it is now there!)

---

Thursday Afternoon, May 28
Music

: Hayate comes forward suddenly and scoops you up in a hug like you weighed no more than a little cat. "Hahaha! Don't worry, Icchan! I've got a place on the beach!" She sets you on your feet and jerks a thumb up, indicating her proud self. "I'll put you up for the weekend!" A Tengu's place!? On the beach?! Well.. at least it's free! Hayate grins cheekily and brushes her thumb along her chin. "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning, OK? Here! Bring uh.. just a backpack, OK? What you can carry safely!" She rubs the back of her head and giggles.

Elsewhere...

Akio, Takashi: (You may join this scene if you wish!) At a certain side of the Naoki Main Building stands a long revered tree. For unknown decades it has stood strongly, the school built around it in respect of the beauty it would lend to the scenery. Since the school has opened enterprising young boys have determined that if offers a certain viewpoint, an ability to witness and enjoy the true beauty of nature. With solemn vow those boys have passed this wisdom on, gradually wearing the passing of Human hands and the small bits of natural oils they possess, the long passage of time adding an odd smoothness to the bark of the tree.

It still stands beautifully but today... today one of its largest branches has been destroyed. They say a second-year boy named Ichiro sat on it for a smoke. "He smoked!?" the whispers sweep the small crowd of boys, Ichiro having a reputation as a smart-alec hard-rear end that was a fan of the rules and not afraid to use them on those who crossed him. So it goes with projection and hidden secrets... but that was not the most heinous secret unveiled that day.

The branch was discarded. The mess was cleaned. Ichiro was badly wounded in the fall, they say he fractured a rib and tore open his palm, probably grabbing at the tree during the fall. But now that tree.. that tree could not deliver its fabled perspective. And worst of all, on that gnarled knob and with small bits of sawdust still remaining.. there was evidence of sabotage. A hacksaw had even been found tossed in the bushes.

: All of the boys are talking in muted disbelief and shared simmering outrage. Ken turns to greet his Senpai. "Yo boss. It ain't been this serious in a long time, huh."

: "Hoi, Ken. Yeah.. not since that shark-toothed girl wanted to swing a bat at our heads, eh?" Kunio chuckles and lets the past go like water off his back. "But this.. this is real bad."

Angry voices cut in! It must've been Ichiro! Kick his rear end! What are you, stupid!? He was the one injured! There's somebody else out there! Kick their rear end! But who!? How?! Why!? Who could know and who would do such a low down thing to a site of low down things?! Anger is slowly building as no answers are available. Paranoia is mounting. Somebody is hiding something.

: "Hey. Cool it." When the third year former banchou speaks, he does so with a curt exclamation, projecting from the lungs! "I've been thinking..." He produces his own pack of smokes and passes one off to Ken before lighting his own. ".. Since I met my spring breeze.." Ken and the other third-year goons share quiet congratulations for Kunio, who blushes a bit and waves it off. "Heh, shucks.. like I was saying." He takes a drag, then exhales slowly, letting the smoke rise as he looks skyward. "... This old tree has always given us something important..."

Truly.

: "... When we get intimidated as young guys, we think we ain't got what it takes. We get trapped in our own heads and defeat ourselves before the fight even starts.." He dashes some ash from his cigarette. "This old timer let us see that we're all human, you know? It was naughty, but that's the kinda thing.." The crowd's sharing some self conscious looks! ".. That takes off the pressure. Everything ain't gotta be difficult all the time. I'm thinking even God himself knew it and gave us that capacity for levity." He chuckles and takes another puff. "But now his blessing is gone." He gestures with the lit cherry towards the crowd. "I say to you guys: let it go!" The crowd balks! "It was nice while it lasted.." He pumps his free hand and looks dead serious! "But it's time you faced your fears head on!" He looks out over every boy there. "Remember the good fortune that old tree gave us and honor him by trying your best. Who knows... you just might meet your gal at the beach tomorrow, yeah?" He winks and the tension in the crowd dissolves a bit. Everybody's talking to one another and sharing some stories.

: "Ahh.. but it didn't have to be this way, Kunio."

: "It didn't, but it's come and gone. Besides.." He goes to finish off the last half of that cigarette and looks skyward again, grinning. ".. We gave it pretty bad odds when that robo-Hattori joined Student Council, yeah?" The two share a laugh.

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Jan 30, 2019

# ? Jan 25, 2019 00:23

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Thursday Night
Music

Everyone: (If you don't have a final sheet posted in the OOC thread, do so! Combat Blocks too! Don't forget that the Devil Link(+2 to all Damage) is currently out of commission. I'd also like players to state their currently equipped Personas, especially from the recent fusions of 6 stars. I can do some additional fusions including second shots at Arcana already fused for, but I'd prefer to only do it for players that absolutely can't find something they want to use at all. I also don't want anybody fusing extra stock that it turns out somebody else is wearing! Finish sheets, finish combat blocks, finish spending gold, finish leveling, finish fusing, select a Persona to be wearing!)

---

You won't be back in the comfort of your home computers for several days so now is as good a time as any to finish up any last minute business online. Shopping at Teufelsbrucke, visiting your Mindscapes, last minute Fusions. All that important and satisfying number juggling in your MMORPG.

Akio: You gain +1 Courage and +1 Charm through your club activities. As you review the steady trickle of interested players braving your Mindscape for the challenge sets you receive a discreet personal message:

Text posted:

: "Ambrose, my favorite nefarious villain and robber. How have you been?" Isabelle! She's been quiet since the House of Fortune raid! You've had no idea what is going on aside from the five of you being declared horrible griefers and gankers and kill on sight to most of the playerbase that thinks ORDER is good people! But then again you're not entirely sure what the mood is here... House of Fortune turned out to be Braxienne's Mindscape... and Isabelle helped you get past Headcount when you told her you were breaking in! The others don't even know that one fully..

Itsumi: You gain +1 Charm and +2 Academics through your club activities, your responsibilities in Student Council growing under Takano's guidance! You lounge about online in your idyllic city Mindscape which is steadily growing as your own renown and strength does. It has grown into a well-liked low-to-mid-level questing hub with a rumored dark side, a rare event set of quests that lead to working for the seedy underbelly rising from the expansive sewers of the city. And players surely speak in hushed tones about Sunbright, the deceptively cheery fiend that led the daring raid on the House of Fortune, her heart as black as coal, her tongue barbed and poisonous! So it is that while walking through your own city you are sharply addressed by a gentleman with a handsome yet imposing Avatar of a simple muscular gentleman:

^{<Bare-Knuckle> Bronson, [HOLY]}

: One of those rare followers of Charlotte herself! They say it takes an iron will to dedicate yourself to the advancement of others before yourself... these Knights Templar earn their reputations as helpful guardians! "Hoy, Miss Sunbright! A pleasure to see you today!" He offers you a friendly wave, his default height about seven feet tall.

Noriko: You gain +1 Courage and +1 Charm through your club activities. As you darken the borders of your graveyard Mindscape you receive an urgent contact from your Velvet Room attendant, Watanabe!

: "Madam Mori! There is a gentleman caller of the.. utmost insistence at the gate!" .. Akio? Sunder? Somebody else with a driving interest in you?! You soon receive a direct tell from your friend's list:

Text posted:

: "Salutations, my dear Khisanth. Perhaps you'd fancy an evening of entertainment?"

Hope springs eternal. Or thirst. You could indulge him or crush this weed right now, before it grows...

Takashi: You gain +1 Courage and +1 Academics through your club activities. Logging into your Mindscape you shift past your Velvet Room and attendant to join the Mindscape that hosts The Drifter. To your building delight your own growth in power has enriched the landscape. The onsen and surrounding city have emerged, for you have entered via the onsen itself and now look down over the sprawling cityscape! An urban combat dungeon zone with outdoor event quests... perfect. Above it reins the airship of your core dungeon, The Drifter taking on small vessels that zip in and out of it rapidly between the docks at the bottom and the city below. Heading up to your own domain and the arena it hosts you can spy only a handful of Paragon or better Avatars lounging around, watching a familiar Epic Avatar in the middle annihilate waves of your best NPC goon challenge waves. A set of four surly Tengu girls comes up, expertly striding about on tall spiked battle-heels and wearing sassy little micro-skirt and leather corset outfits with spiked pauldrons. As you get tougher, so do they... your bodyguard quarter join you in clear sulks, their outfits and assets bouncing as they stamp their feet or bite their nails. One points at the ring and whines: "Boss, he's been killing everyone who sets foot in there for two hours!"

: "How's the view, boss?! Not bad for a training room, yeah!?" Sunder_Life raises his javelins skywards and drinks in the crowd's jeers like a triumphant gladiator, leering up at you from the middle of the arena!

Tsukiyo: You gain +1 Courage and +1 Charm through your club activities, your popularity growing at school as your campaign does. As you arrive at the gate to your Mindscape something seems immediately off: the soundtrack has been drowned out by a thumping heavy rhythm, a powerful rave beat permeating every inch of it! And everything seems to be out of place... there's furniture objects wedged between area transitions and propped open gateways, there is strange graffiti indicating single pixel "clip!"s at random points on the walls and all of your lighting has been forcefully extinguished. The music only gets louder leading to the entrance to the tower and when you get there what you see is ridiculous! Dozens of Undead-themed players crowded around a few more dynamic and glowing Bards in the middle of generating music! Many of these players are using small geographical errors in the map to do things they shouldn't like clip into walls, rocket across the full length of it and pop out at heights they couldn't otherwise reach! Others are checking and smashing bricks and furniture to figure out clips through the floor, the rare success leading to somebody whooping and cheering from atop one of the tower balconies! They shouldn't be able to reach that without clearing the full dungeon!!!

: At the center of the party is the familiar face of Zinger the Singer and two of his friends that are also in [RAD]! When you arrive Zinger draws up a mic made out of a small skull and spine pair and howls into it: "Yoooooooooooooo! <FLAG-CHAN IN THE HOUSE!> GIVE IT UP FOR THE BLACK FAAAAAAAAANG! We gonna party ALL NIGHT LONG!" He resumes breaking it down as everybody else abuses the coded limits of your poor Mindscape!

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Jan 25, 2019

# ? Jan 25, 2019 01:36

Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

Flagelo - Tuesday Night

"You have thirty seconds to vacate." Flagelo says, her new avatar now depicting a lightly armored Dusk Elf Ranger/Samurai with a long black coat. She unsheathes both of her swords and glares at the undead ruffians. "I had the worst day of my life, and I don't want to waste my time with you small fry. So gently caress off before I consider venting out my anger on you!" The quivering rage on her voice makes it a believable threat!

OOC: Guess I'll take Bishamonten.

# ? Jan 25, 2019 04:22

Mirthless: Mar 27, 2011; by the sex ghost

Noriko - Thursday Night

"...heh. that's sooner than i expected." Memento-Mori smirks at the incoming message, flicking the window aside, she saves a number of open projects and pins them up on her board. "i'll take care of it, Watanabe-san, thank you."

From the outside, The Garden of Persephone is... closed. The iron gates are sealed, and the area behind is dark, a roiling mass of shadow hanging over everything in a persistent gloom. Noriko lets Thaddeus wait at the gate for a minute, letting him start to get impatient before moving in to great him. Something large moves in the shadow towards the gate, and the darkness parts, making way for the upper torso of a great giant to emerge from within, the darkness shrouding the rest of it's body from below the shoulders. The giant is vaguely human-shaped, but it is headless; instead, hanging a dozen or so meters overhead is a swirling black portal, a hole in space. A moment after the gate guardian emerges, Memento-Mori lands on it's shoulder, wearing her dragon form, albeit one even more amped up in sexiness than the last. She could bully him much worse on her own turf, after all. (mildly NSFW) "an evening? that's an awfully optimistic estimate, heh heh." she sits on the edge of the guardian's shoulder, crossing her legs as she looks down at Thaddeus below. "first of all, Thaddeus-kun, Khisanth is not my name, though expectedly arrogant of yourself to think you were owed such an honor. If you wish entry into my garden, you will speak my name when you are in it. I am Atropos the Inevitable. You may call me Aisa or Morta if you'd prefer. in this dead place I am the queen and I will be respected by all who come here."

Stepping off from the giant, she leaps back into the darkness and disappears, and the giant, too, fades back into the black. A moment later, the shadows seem to part, rolling away from the center to reveal a well-lit path down the middle of the mindscape. A cobblestone road used to ferry the dead, leading up to a great tree at the center. More giants like the one at the gate lurk on the edge of his vision, hiding in the shadows right out of reach. Mori lands on one of the upper branches of the tree, peering out towards Thaddeus at the now open entrance.

edit: taking granfaloon

# ? Jan 25, 2019 07:11

Look Around You: Jan 19, 2009

Kasaya Itsumi

IRL

Itsumi smiles and gives Hayate a big hug! "Thank you so much Hayate-chan! I'll see you then!"

DDW

Sunbright stops in her tracks, confused. A follower of Charlotte?? She /whispers back, "Hello there... Bronson? What's up?"

# ? Jan 25, 2019 18:13

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Wednesday Evening, May 27

Akio:

Continued From In-Thread posted:

: Hanae puts on a good smile. "It's nice to meet you, miss..."

: Madoka bounds over to the kitchen and clasps Hanae's hand with her own, beaming. "Just call me Madoka! Good to meet ya, Mrs Y!"

: Since everyone was smiling, Akio decides to join in. Not just because he enjoyed seeing Hanae's face blanch at Madoka's greeting, of course not! "We should probably get started and hit the books, Madoka, we have a lot of ground to cover! Come on, my room is upstairs." He motions with his head.

: The way Hanae tenses up when Madoka greets her.. she shares a look with Akio! This is not a traditional greeting!!!

: "Yeah, can I get a tea... Hey! Akio! What's the rush!?" You get this strawberry-scented firebrand up the stairs post haste! You step into your room, a glimpse of your private being put entirely on display. Dahlia is in a figurine pose of an elegant curtsey. Madoka steps in without commentary and sits on your bed, rummaging through her bag.

: "Alright, this is m-" Akio is about to present his room when he stops cold as Madoka sits down on his bed without further ado. It's not like he didn't already know the girl, but wasn't she being a bit more blunt than usual today!? Especially in front of Hanae. Dinner was going to be awfully awkward, wasn't it... Haaah... he exhales. He closes the door behind him and approaches Madoka. "So, um, is there any subject in particular you'd like us to start with? Anything you like... or really hate?"

: As you approach your bed with your guard up, Madoka sits up and swings her legs around so that she can prop herself up on her knees. She brandishes.. a math textbook and laughs a little. "Uhm, this is my worst subject!" You hear a muted "Mine too!" from Dahlia.

: Uh, guess they were studying on his bed, then?... Akio steels himself and takes a seat next to Madoka, though as he sits down he can feel his nerves dissolve into jelly. "Ah, m-math, huh?" He clears his throat and straightens his posture. "I'm not surprised, math is difficult, but it's also based on pure logic, so as long as you take your time to understand it should come natural. Is there anything in particular that you find difficult?"

: Once you sit down Madoka shifts to the side and leans against you, shoulder to shoulder. The initial movement causes some of her long hair to billow up and settle to rest on your arm. Smells like strawberries! "I guess remembering all the formulas.. and uh, using them.. and double checking my result.. cause they don't give credit if you just fire off an answer!" She rests the book face up atop her legs and occasionally presses something on the notebook you've got out, that resting in your own lap.

: Wasn't she sitting a bit close!? Ah, there's that strawberry smell again... N-No, remain focused! He tries to push the distractions aside and focus on what they were there to do, though it's made harder by her pressing on his lap. What? No! That's most certainly not what he meant by it being made harder! "Y-Yeah, um, that's what I'm talking about. You shouldn't have to memorize a bunch of formulas if you understand what the, um, the... um..." What was the word again!? Ah! "The logic that lies behind them. We'll just have to go over the math indepth until you've got a good... uh, grasp on it." Endurance: 1d20+23 28

: She nods eagerly! "Right!" Turning the pages, she comes to the basics related to your current course: angles. You work through some basic tutoring.. "This is a really acute angle, isn't it?" This acute girl ends up pressing against you every time she leans over to write. You're practically falling over each other studying like this! .. Yet it's still comfortable. Downright familiar.

: A rapid knock at the door interrupts this! Hanae: "Akio! Could you help me with the tea?"

: "Ah, yeah, that's, uh, plenty acute. So you see, now that you've been made aware of them, it's, um, kinda hard not to notice them, right?..." Akio explains as he tries to figure out if he should do something about the, uh, physical contact. He couldn't very well tell her that she was pressing up against him, that'd just draw attention to them- it! Hanae's voice offers a moment of respite. "Of course, I'm coming!" He turns to Madoka and points at her book while at the same time trying to not brush against her too much. "Why don't you try out these exercises on your own and we'll go over them when I get back? I'll be right back." He rises from the bed and goes off to help out Hanae.

: When you open the door your stepmother is standing about two steps out of convenient reach. When you close the distance she intimidates you into the hallway with sheer glare. Hanae whispers intently: "What about Noriko-chan? Shouldn't you two be studying together?" Now that's meddling! She firmly passes the drink tray to you, awaiting an answer!

: "What!" Akio scowls and throws his hands up in sheer disbelief, his voice a sharp whisper. "Just exactly what does studying mean to you?" What she was implying made him angry, and he would not stand for it. "Of course I'll study more for finals with Noriko, there's no one else I'd rather be studying with! But mid-terms only just passed." He takes the tray just as firmly as she passed it to him. "Madoka is my friend and she needs my help to catch up with her studies, before she falls too far behind."

: Hanae hears you out but only wears a look of displeasure as you take the tray and return.

: Inside Madoka claps her hands together and slides forward, setting the books aside and sitting on the edge of your bed. "Nice! Thanks!" She grins and checks her bag again, rummaging briefly before producing a small plastic bag of vibrantly decorated cookies. They're a bit thicker than usual. Madoka beams and offers you one with your drink.

: It's been a while since Hanae showed her true colors, it sure was nice of her to show that she hadn't changed. Akio enters his room in a foul mood, but tries to not show it. The cookies helped. "Ooh, these look tasty, did you make them yourself?" He smiles and chomps down on one.

: Wooahh! A palate pleasing blend of smooth cream and fruit jam filling in a soft sugar cookie! It's good! Madoka grins and offers you another. "Yeah, I made them!"

: "You did? Wow! They're *munch* really good! *munch*" He eats as many as she offers, it might ruin his appetite for Hanae's dinner but he didn't really care.

: "Thanks!" Madoka pats the edge of the bed, beckoning you to sit beside her. "Uhm, review what I've got so far..?" She presses the sheet to your non-cookie hand, her fingers passing over the top of your knee once delivered.. accidentally, of course.

: "S-Sure, let me see..." Akio's leg twitches a bit as her fingers graze against it, but he makes an effort to ignore the accidental touch, because that's all it was, right? Yeah, no need to be ridiculous just because of what Hanae said. He studies the sheet carefully, probably closer than he really needed for exercises of this level, but again he found it difficult to focus. "Mm, good work," he turns his head to her and smiles, handing the sheet back. "I think you're starting to get the hang of this."

: "Really?" She accepts the sheet with a smile. "Well, it's all thanks to you, Mister Tutor." After this little exchange a bit of quiet hangs in the room.. Madoka perks up suddenly and brandishes her phone. "Wanna take a break? We could watch those Crush-o-mania highlights!" Knowing she's being mischevous, Madoka slides closer to you and gives you a cheeky sideways smirk. "Rest is important, right?"

: Akio gives Madoka an almost stern look. "Rest? We've barely scratched the surface, you know..." He holds the look for a moment, then relents with a little chuckle and smirks back at her. "Ah, fine. It is important for you to be rewarded for a job well done after all, so that you don't lose your motivation. But only the highlights, then we need to get back to it!"

: Madoka shoves you over so that you're lying on your side and flops over beside you, holding the phone you so you can both see! Wow! It's when Guerilla Jumbo delivered the ten-ton press to Sharks Frenzy!!

: "Oof!" Akio grunts as he's pushed over. Seems like studying hadn't tired Madoka out, if anything she seemed friskier than usual! He props himself up on his elbows and enjoys the highlights vicariously. "Oh man, I can't believe I missed this!" Endurance: 1d20+23 40

: Akio seems to be guarded against.. something! He's not entirely sure what until ten minutes later when the doorknob turns too quickly! Hanae leans in and calls politely: "Akio, can you help me move some.." She pauses and stared expectantly at the bed yet just sees you two watching the same phone.. near one another. "Ah, move something?"

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Jan 26, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:28

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Wednesday Evening, May 27

Akio:

quote:

: "Move something?" Akio rolls his eyes to himself. Hanae. Hanae never changes. "Yeah, okay," he says and effortlessly climbs out of the bed. "Madoka, put it on pause, yeah? I don't want to miss a second!" He grins, then turns around and follows Hanae to do whatever made up job she had for him.

: Hanae has somehow gotten one of the countless new knick-knack furniture decorations into an empty state, ready to be moved. Or maybe it was always around waiting to be used. Maybe she bought it just now. Or conjured it up. Forged it with her bare hands. There's really no telling or limit with this woman. "Right in the master bedroom, please." She smiles patiently with you.. you've become used accommodating a newly pregnant woman. It's a pretty impossible battle to win, after all. Once you've relocated the furniture in your parent's bedroom Hanae corners you, in the same space where you just set your task down! "Akio, I know sometimes you don't always take me seriously." A pause. She continues with a look of stern determination. "But this time I need you to very carefully consider what I say! I think these days young men.. get into a lot of.. media, and games, and comics, and movies, and shows.. all the stuff you see depicts women who aren't of a realistic standard of beauty."

: This is it. This is Hell. Hanae speaks with a polite but firm tone, acting as though she is bringing you some sincere enlightenment. "And I think as a fine young man who just started high school, you're noticing some changes in your body.. and your father and I, we were very pleased to meet Noriko-chan.. but.. this girl, Madoka.. well.." She inhales and barrels ahead, utterly fearless! "Akio, you have to understand that women aren't objects. You can't just "trade up!"" She peers over at the door and exhales sharply, setting her hands on her own hips. ".. Now of course, any young man would notice a young lady like that, but I think you..." She keeps going!

...

: The smothering fog of parental authority eventually parts as this little talk finishes. "Well, I hope I've made my point. A healthy respect for women is important for any young man!" She nods curtly!

: Akio thought he knew hell, since he'd actually been there in person, but he saw now that he was wrong. Dead wrong. He realized that Hell existed right here, in this part of his house, at this very moment in time. Anything else was a pale imitation at best. He cringes horribly on the inside, but outwardly he's frozen stiff, his muscles unable to move even if he dared to. There was no escape.

...

: As Hanae finishes, he nods at her, very very slowly. "Yes, Hanae..." He says, though he wasn't really clear on what her point actually was. "Um, there's just, uh.... Are you saying that Madoka isn't, uh, realistic? I mean, I don't think she's, uh, done anything, like, surgically, to make herself less, uh, realistic?" He shifts uncomfortably, but continues to press on. "I feel like... maybe you're the one treating her like an object here? And, well, calling Noriko less attractive than her? Because I don't think that's true at all..." He frowns a little. "I just wanted to help one of my friends not be at the bottom of the class..."

: "You know what I mean!" She lets you go and calls down the hall: "Thanks for your help, Akio!"

: Akio simply shakes his head and leaves without another word.

: You return to your room where Madoka has gotten up and begun looking around. She's at your desk, grinning as she pokes figurine Dahlia on the cheek. Your arrival causes her to look up! "Oh! Hey! That took awhile.. uh, this figure's really nice. It must've cost a lot?" .. It is a high quality illusion, after all! From your point of view Dahlia is torn between clear pride in being complimented and some endured discomfort as her face keeps being pressed by a giant's finger.

...

: "Yeah, sorry, Hanae wanted me to move a bunch of stuff," he says to Madoka as he enters his room. "Oh, you've found Dahlia?" He smiles. "I got it for free, actually. It just came in the mail last week. I was really surprised." He didn't tell her to stop poking at her, Dahlia had chosen her fate when she failed to heed his warning!

: Madoka regards you oddly for a second.. "Free, huh.. like, you know somebody who likes these kinda dolls?" A minefield of social expectations! A guy!? With a super cute fairy doll?! In his room?!

: "Ah, uh, not really?" He scratches the back of his head, trying to figure out a way to explain his way out of this situation. "Um, I got her as prize from this video game I'm playing. DDW? Maybe you've heard about it? She's pretty cute though, right?"

: "DDW? Never heard of it. What's it mean?" Madoka heads back to your bed and actually grabs the math textbook again.

: "Really? It's pretty popular around school. It stands for Digital Devil Worlds." He motions to the textbook. "You ready to get back to it?"

: "Popular? Nah.. nobody I know talks about it." A bit of a deadpan look, then she smiles and nods at resuming the study. Maybe you've had some influence!?

: "Huh, Itsumi plays it." He takes a seat and continues with the next chapter.

: "Ehhhhhhhh!? Icchan does?!"

: "Uh, maybe I shouldn't have said anything?" Akio smiles nervously. "I don't know why she would keep it from you, though."

: Madoka turns to the next chapter, all those good formulas for determining the areas of circles. Curves. Spheres. That sort of thing. She snickers. "Probably cause it's lame of her.. uhm.. cause she's a cheerleader. I guess it's not so bad for a guy.."

: "Yeah, I guess that's how it is." Akio says with a shrug as he leafs through some of his notes about the rounder things in life. "That's a shame, though. I don't think it's lame for girls to play games, I think it's kinda cool."

: Madoka inclines her head down a bit to look up at you incredulously, lips curled in a snicker. "Nooo, not really.." The matter drops and you're back to the math tutoring!

...

: Time passes swiftly. You anticipate Hanae's second tea tray assault and are strategically stretching beside the bed when she pokes her head in unannounced. Perceiving the flow of possible events is simple for a master of the arcana! She seems satisfied and doesn't subject you to further gender role chat. It's a pleasant evening of studying but it is getting late...

: Akio stretches his arms and yawns, feeling a little tired. He turns his head to Madoka and looks at her approvingly. "You've really impressed me, I didn't think you'd be able to keep it up for this long since you're not used to studying. But what do you think, time to call it a night?"

: Madoka pauses to do her own stretching with a little groan, really getting into it. "Yeah! That flew by!" She stands up with a spring in her step and gathers her things, setting books into her pack. She rummages with something briefly by does so with her back to you, blocking sight of it! Then she whirls around and closes the distance to you, getting a bit close for comfort! "I bet if you were the teacher I'd be doing better, huh.." With her pack on her back she clasps her hands behind her, standing just a tiiiiny bit too close. Out of the corner of your eye Dahlia has thrown up a frozen figurine's thumbs up.

: "Ah..." Akio was keenly aware of Madoka's close proximity. Was she hiding something behind her back? The way she was posed in front of him only served to accentuate her... bountiful beauty of nature. N-No! That's the one place his mind was absolutely not allowed to wander! There lies danger! He averts his eyes from her, frantically searching for some safe haven for them to rest. Please, quickly, think of something else! He pleaded urgently with his own mind. It should be easy. Trivial even! But when push came to shove, the only thing he could bring to mind was the memory of her... exposed... curvatures... No! Something else! Anything! He desperately had to keep himself from recalling... how the morning sunlight had glistened on her wet, naked skin... Nooooo... It was too late, all hope was lost. He could feel himself starting to blush, which in and of itself made him even more embarrassed. "Ah, hehe, you think so...?" He rubs the back of his neck with a silly smirk on his face, then looks back at her, flushed as can be. "...that makes me glad to hear."

Akio: Despite certain instincts and your own lying eyes, you remain in firm control of your impulses. That leaves a simple question for you to make for yourself: Do you kiss the girl?

: In firm control of his impulses? No.

: As an elegant capstone to this rollercoaster of rigatoni, Madoka goes to perform a polite bow and accidentally bangs her forehead against your own! She cries out in alarm and embarrassment, gushing as she stumbles around and holds the spot hit. ".. Ah! Ow! Ow! Owww! Ohmigod, Akio! I'm so sorry!" She peeks up and offers you a red-faced smile.

: "Wha-Oof! OW!" Well, that's one way to have his head cleared. Akio falls flat on his rear end as Madoka unceremoniously headbutts him. "Ow-ow-ow..." Urk, he felt dizzy, the entire room was undulating around him and his eyes were tearing up from the pain. "It's fine, it's fine," he says, trying to calm her down as he rubs his forehead and peers up at her. "Don't worry about it, I'm not so frail," he grins and reaches out with his arm to her. "Gimme a hand?"

: Madoka sheepishly extends a hand to you, providing a strong grip to help you up but avoiding looking at you. "Ahh, I'm so clumsy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Once you're standing she laughs a bit and is able to look you in the eye again. "This was fun.. you're like one of my brothers, I feel really relaxed here!" She releases your hand and smiles. "Can we do it again sometime?"

: "Come on, I said don't worry about it," he says with a smile and takes her hand. "Well I'm glad you had fun studying, that's more than I could've hoped for." Like one of her brothers, huh? That was nice of her, so why did it make him feel somewhat irritated...? "But relaxed? Here?" Akio flashes back to Hanae hounding him the entire evening and shivers. It was like being torn from Madoka's warm company and plunged into freezing waters, completely at random! He barely got to relax for even a single moment, he had to be on edge the entire time! "If you say so," he says with a chuckle. "Of course we'll do it again!" he says, smiling, happy that she had suggested it on her own. "We got you decently caught up with math, but we've still got Japanese, English, history, chemistry, physics, biology, and more... I'm not letting you go until you're in the top 25% of students, minimum!"

: She laughs. "D-don't put so much pressure on me, ok?" Very self-conscious. "I'm not a very good student.." Madoka accepts your escort to the door and clutches her bag close to her chest. "But if you really think so, I'll keep trying, ok? Have a good night, Akio!" She leaves with a sporty run. You get the feeling she'll jog home.

: "Don't put yourself down, I think you were an excellent student tonight, Madoka," he says to her sincerely. "I had a lot of fun too! Good night!" He gives her a little wave and watches her go with a contented smile.

: As your start to close the door you hear a satisfied sigh from behind. "Thank goodness, a rowdy girl like that. Akio, I don't want you to see her anymore. It's nice that you helped, but she'll interfere with your studies!" She goes to get dinner ready, Father should arrive any minute now.

: But as he goes to close the door his mood is instantly torpedoed by Hanae's sigh. He turns around to face her, stony faced. "Noted," he says sourly and starts heading for his room. As he starts to ascend the stairs he stops for a moment and turns his head. "I'm gonna see her more, though. A lot more." He continues climbing the stairs to his room.

^{Thou shalt have the blessing of the Strength arcana...}

Your bond with Madoka(and other Onis) grows to Rank 4, granting you +3 Attack/Damage/Healing with Personas of the Strength arcana. You also feel that the time to fully realize this bond may come soon...

...

: When you return to your bedroom you see a little gift bag of a second round of Madoka's cookies on your bed's pillow! There's a nice handtied ribbon and Dahlia is poking it inquisitively. She looks to you for permission.

: "When did she plant those there!?" Akio asks, surprised by the unexpected appearance of more of Madoka's delicious cookies. He chuckles at Dahlia and unties the ribbon. "Go on, then. You can have one, but the rest are mine!" He laughs and takes a cookie for himself, saving the rest for later.

-Your Familiar rejoices and eats the single cookie as though it were a whole meal! Later that night you encounter some trouble when an already wound up Hanae correctly guesses that you were snacking all day and don't take to dinner with much enthusiasm. Your Father saves the day by eagerly wolfing down your portion and singing Hanae's praises!

: Taken to spying on you out of sight, Dahlia swoons at the gesture when you head back upstairs to go to bed. "Gosh, it really means something when a girl cooks for a guy!" Food for thought as you fall asleep!

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Jan 31, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:29

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Thursday, May 28th

Itsumi:

quote:

: As you and Hayate finish a fresh hug she seems to be thinking.. then gasps, clapping her hands together. "Icchan, I wanted to know.. did you ask him out yet!?" In this case you last told Hayate about Takashi, but now your target would be Ryo! And.. the trip is tomorrow! School is almost entirely finished today! Oh no!

: "Um... Takashi? I tried but he's an rear end. There's someone else though..."

: "YEAH! HE IS!" Hayate snorts so pointedly that steam escapes her nostrils at the mention of Takashi. She cools down a bit and grins when you continue. "Who, who? Did you ask him! Did he ask you! We're supposed to be comrades for this sorta thing!"

: "No... I didn't ask him yet," Itsumi says with a frown. "It's just been so busy the past few days! I really should though... His name is Ryo!"

: "Huh!!! But the trip's tomorrow! You've gotta ask him!" Hayate grabs your hand and pumps your arm! "You helped me meet Kunio, how can I help you?!"

: "I dunno, I dunno!" Itsumi says frantically! "There's got to be some way to see him before then!"

Insight: Ryo is a primary member of the Newspaper Club, and you are at the school during club hours..

: "Maybe if I stopped in on his club? But I don't want it to look to obvious to everyone else!"

: "Come on, we'll figure something out!" Hayate beckons for you to go into the school with her.. you two would head for the second floor to the space across from the photo lab.

: Itsumi goes along with Hayate to the photo lab where Ryo will hopefully be working, butterflies in her stomach the whole time.

-You catch sight of Ryo working with a single other boy in the newspaper club room, enthusiastically drafting headline ideas. Creep Cracks Crooked Curve, Crushed By Branch or Tentpole Tree Traps Tumbler, maybe Upperclassman Upended By Karmic Komeuppance

: Seems they want to write about Ichiro's fall. Hayate spies through the doorway with you, then whispers loudly "What do we do!?"

: "Umm... I dunno!" Itsumi whispers. "I guess we go up and ask him what he's working on??"

: Hayate raspberries at you. "We gotta get that other guy out! You gotta.. uh.. girl Ryo up! You can't do that with that other weasel around!"

: "Yeah, but now??"

: "When else!?" You can't imagine that perfect moment when a boy confesses to you involving somebody else nearby and gawking..

: Itsumi thinks for a second. "Hey, Hayate, you should go tell the other guy in there that you've got a scoop for him about that awful tree... maybe that you heard rumors of them cutting it down? Or something like that?"

: Hayate nods! "Oh! Good idea!" She grins and gives you a wink, and a head incline, and a thumbs up. Then she nonchalantly(very chalantly) strides into the room. "Oi, paper jockeys." The two turn to face her, already confused. "I heard there's uh.. some big thing at that tree."

: "Hmm? Yeah, all the boys really liked it. I guess they're mad about a possible vandalism?"

: Ryo looks intrigued by Hayate's strange nature but stays quiet.

: Hayate grumbles. "No, uh, it's something new!"

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Jan 30, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:29

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Thursday, May 28th

Itsumi:

quote:

: Itsumi follows Hayate into the room, "Yeah, I heard a rumor that it got really messed up? I dunno, but she's right, all the boys are super upset over it. I wouldn't be surprised if they were gonna hold a funeral at this rate!"

: Ryo and the other boy share some discreet whispers. Then Ryo smiles at Itsumi and nods. "Hey Jiro, maybe you should go see how they're doing? We still haven't settled on our angle yet anyway."

: "Ehhh, is there really anything more to it? They're all bummed because of that reason, so.."

Hayate clears her throat very loudly and grabs Jiro by the collar. "COME ON! I'll show you!" ... He protests helplessly as Hayate drags him off.

: Chuckling, Ryo gives you his full attention. "Nice to see you, Itsumi-san."

: Itsumi flashes him a wide smile, "It's nice to see you too!" she says as she walks in towards him. "What're you scoping out now?" she asks, in an attempt to be nonchalant.

: Ryo shrugs. "There's not too much to snoop out for a school paper, but it's fun practice. I can't really talk about what went down with Ichiro.. but at least I can cover that fall he took." He thinks for a moment. "Maybe a human interest piece on that "Hell Couple.""

: Itsumi laughs, "She's really not bad at all! I don't get why everyone's so upset about them!"

: "They say they beat up people 5 at a time.. each. I guess it's easy to see them that way if you're on the wrong side of that."

: Chuckling, Itsumi replies, "I suppose so! Anyway... I wanted... I wanted to say thank you for your help..."

: Ryo seems a bit surprised, then looks off to the side. "Ahh, it was.. it was all you, Itusmi-san. Really."

: She smiles, "Thanks!" She tilts her head and hesitates for a moment before continuing, "Oh! And um... I was wondering... if you'd maybe want to go out some time?"

: "You know.. last year, I was going to ask a girl out." He grimaces a bit. "But she ended up leaving this school after Ichiro burned her. It was all small stuff, but it was enough to make things rough with her parents, and having that bad atmosphere at school made her miserable." Ryo sighs and grins. "I think this makes for a nicer ending.. sure!" He steps over and closes the distance, between the two of you. "Uh.. you ever heard of Owl Night Long? .. It's a nice cafe, I work there part time! ... And I guess you'll definitely be going to the beach trip tomorrow, yeah?" Last Ryo knew, you had taken that money from Ichiro...

: "I haven't heard of it but it sounds great!" she says before a brief pause, "Um... so I actually gave Ichiro his money back. Taking it felt wrong... like it was just as bad as what he was doing to me... I wanted to do right for everyone, not just what would be good for me..."

: "Ohhh." He winks and points skywards in an offhand gesture. "Well, that's good. It didn't seem like you.. was that the idea of your friend?"

: "Taking the money? Yeah... I didn't really want to but she felt like I should try to get something from it, something to hurt him. I didn't really wan't that. I just wanted him to stop harassing people..."

: "That's admirable. Not many people can think like that, Itsumi-san."

: "I guess so... I'd hope more do than we realize. I... I mean... In the past I did some things that i'm not very proud of, and I feel like I want to be better going forward. Blackmailing Ichiro for money felt awful... like I said, it wasn't about that. I want to leave the world a better place than I found it, and that wasn't helping anything. I'm just tired of seeing people get hurt, and I didn't want to be hurting anyone myself in the process..."

-Ryo seems overwhelmed by your sincere speech. Or maybe time is slowing as the shadows in the corner of the room befin to grow, tour perspective shifting to that of the mind. Ryo's shadow grows. Your own shadow grows. Hayate, hiding at the second story window sill and watching you two? Her entire being darkens into her true Tengu form. From your two shadows emerge lingering things, malformed sentiments made of everyday human thoughts. They propagate rapidly and begin to crowd out the room.

: Shiokaze's form is ringed by an aura of red malice. It is impossible to see her as anything but a monster, and Tengu are known to be stern at best.

The perpetual gloom achieves full saturation and a single gray hand reachs for Itsumi's shoulder from behind!

-From the window comes a rising wave of light. It disperse the darkness. It annihilates the shadows. It restores humanity to Hayate, Ryo and yourself. The ghostly hand flinches and retracts, fading away.

^{If the world is unjust, I will be the light that shines upon it!}

Itsumi Awakens to the benevolent greatness inside that only she can bring to the world! She gains +2 to Attack/Damage/Healing for Persona of the Sun Arcana and +1 for all others, as well as full powers IRL!

-The other world fades away and you're in the newspaper club's room bathed in the light of the setting sun.

: Ryo grins. "You wanna head to a nice care right now? My treat." He leans in and offers his hand.

: From the window you hear a muffled "yoooooooo" courtesy of an unseen voyeur.

: Itsumi blinks for a moment after snapping back to "reality." She smiles at Ryo and quickly replies to him, "Sure! That sounds great!" before looking up at Hayate and nodding thankfully.

^{Thou shalt have the blessing of the Sun arcana...}

The Sun Social Link grows to Rank 3, granting your Soulshell +2 Healing Surges!

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Jan 30, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:30

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Thursday, May 28th

Noriko:

Online posted:

: Thaddeus is alone and dressed as he usually is, radiating the aura of a little red Napoleon. He smiles sweetly as you set your terms and he strides in like he owns the place, not the type to be scared at all, it seems. "How wonderful to see you, my .. Aisa!" The hesitation reveals the inner machinations of this roleplayer: he chose the name that was the loosest from "sounds like Death." There's a chance it's Draconic!

: The walls of shadow hang on the sides of the path like an ocean suspended, a literal sea of shadows parted aside to make way. The tree at the center of her mindscape, despite it's withered appearance, appears to be actively growing, the cobblestone split around it to make room for widening roots. Standing four or five stories high, the tree is hollow, with windows and openings formed naturally in the sides. As Thaddeus approaches down the road, she steps inside. A set of stairs at the base of the tree goes down into a crematorium, while a second pair of winding staircases lead up into the first level of the "tower", which is currently under renovation, with NPCs milling about on various tasks. Skeletal workers are hard at work on a tile mosaic on the floor, while a trio of young women in elaborate maid costumes are working on decor.

- Claudia <Cult> - Revenant
- Carmilla <Cult> - Vampire
- Callista <Cult> - Shade

: Claudia looks up at Thaddeus, looking a little surprised. "Ara ara? ...I'm sorry sir, the cafe isn't ready to open yet. You'll need to come back another- Oh!!! Mistress!!!" she snaps at attention as Memento-Mori, (as Atropos) enters from a staircase at the back of the room.

: "it's fine, he's a guest." Atropos strides into the room and everyone falls into line at once, the three attendant maids shuffling off to one side of the room to quietly gossip back and form. "Another gentleman caller? ooooh..." Reaching the center of the half-finished mosiac, she moves to sit as a pair of skeletal workmen scrabble over themselves to move in place, forming a make-shift throne out of their own bodies. Crossing her legs, she smiles. "so... for what do i owe the pleasure? if you've come for your money back, it's already been spent. i've never been one for keeping a personal hoard..." she says with a smirk. "or were you hoping to be... tied up and indisposed?" At that, the group of maids suddenly erupt into a fit of giggles. "Again!?"

: Moving by willing himself forward and hovering with an almost heroic countenance, Thaddeus seems impressed by what he sees. He glides fluidly up the full length of the stairs and whistles at the approach of the maids. When Mori joins the festivities he let's out a whoop of delight. "Ah, what a splendidly macabre kingdom!" He chuckles good-naturedly at the subject. "It was not my money, good Queen." Upon mentioning ropes he zips forward with an excited whoosh and sweeps Mori up in his arms, one hand definitely supporting her bottom! "I thought you'd never ask! squeeze!

: As Thaddeus closes the gap, the whole room seems to spring to life. It seems like the NPCs took more from Mori than an aesthetic - with a crackle and a dimming flicker, all three of her attendant maids teleport into melee range, each with a different weapon pointed as a different vital point of Thaddeus. Claudia with a flail raised overhead, ready to strike. Carmilla with a long dagger pressed to his gut. Callista with the loop of a mancatcher precariously close to closing itself around his neck. Even the throne is armed, a pair of rusted swords carefully weaving their way through gaps in Atropos' arms and legs. Claudia, the apparent leader of the maids, addresses the issue. "I'm sorry, sir, but even with our Mistress' command we can't let you endanger the Mistress."

: Atropos laughs at the sudden explosion of frenzy around her, leaning back in Thaddeus' now shaky grip, the small of her back arching as she reaches out to draw a finger up the arm of her weaponized throne. "hahaha. you're used to being able to do whatever you want to whoever you want, aren't you, Thaddeus-kun?"

: Grinning like a cheshire cat surrounded by a wall of knives, Thaddeus gives off an aura of imminent danger. You briefly reca that being surrounded is referred to in theory crafter circles as "Plan B AOE." He affects an exaggerated wheeze as though you weighed a ton and tosses you back to be throne, rear first. "Perhaps because I always have.. and if you disapprove, here you are inviting me back!" He sets hands on hips and puffs his chest out. "Or maybe meeting someone who pushes back.. is the real height of decadence!!"

: "it seems you understand hedonism quite well... i do disapprove of your behavior, of course, but that's nothing that can't be... hmmm..." standing, she pushes away from the skeletal throne and it immediately collapses into two exhausted skeletons. The maid crew takes a few steps back as Atropos raises one foot, pressing it lightly against Thaddeus' chest. "...corrected." with a light push, she shoves him back into Claudia, who wraps her arms around his shoulders, the revenant's bosom threatening to crush his little kobold head. "have you done much exploration of pain as a motivator, Thaddeus-kun?" Atropos is somewhat flush in the cheeks now, her voice taking a sultry, somewhat excited tone.

: This seat suits him just fine. The cheeky little lizard grins at you pervertedly, bouncing in place occasional to really enjoy the support of the cushions. "Ohh yes, you could say it's my primary motivation.. I am the King of Delivering Pain, m'lady.. but before we continue.. there's one very important consideration to first address.." His forked tongue traces the gaps in his pointed teeth.

: She smirks, tilting her head to the side. "that's not much of an exploration. awfully one-sided, really.... and i think if we address the royal issue, you will find this matter is relegated to the matriarchy." the statement seems to resonate with her maids, who all nod acknowledgement. "i wonder if a king whimpers the same as a beggar?"

: "Oh ho, I won't whimper just yet." He sits up straight so that his back is pressed firmly against those ghoulish knockers! Folding his arms the little tyrant looks you up and down before giving you an eye to eye glare, the spitting image of a haughty dragon! "You'll have to pay me tribute with your generous.. ahehh, booty, before I'll consider letting you on top for the night, my dear Queen."

Insight: He's dead serious! And you get the feeling he won't play ball without some tribute first..

: Thaddeus can feel Claudia tightening her grip as the expressions of her attendants seem to get somewhat murderous. "hahahaha, your ego really is your best feature, Thaddeus-kun... it's so..." she trails off, thinking of how to put it for a moment, before adding with a lecherous grin. "...kawaaaiiiii. i'm not that easy, i'm afraid. if you want more of me than my heel, you're going to have to work harder than that."

: Thaddeus purses his generous snouty lips and blows a ring of volcanic ash. "Oh, I can work. What did you have in mind?" His tone has already cooled.. mining this guy for benefits or even simple info is going to be a "shower afterwards" affair.

: She pauses, almost as if she hadn't expected this. drawing a finger to her lips, she considers it for a moment. "...so, you are capable of obedient service." With a giggle, Claudia gives Thaddeus one final tight squeeze before releasing him and stepping back with the others, who have resumed gossiping. Every once in a while they look up at Thaddeus before the muffled laughter and hushed whispering continues. "...it's getting late and we're about out of time for our session, so for now, how about we just have a chat? i'll consider the ways you can be of... service to me in the meanwhile." She motions to Claudia, who then in turn dispatches the other maids, one setting a table and the other returning a few moments later with a bottle of wine and some glasses. Atropos has a seat and motions for Thaddeus to do the same.

: Like a stone slab being dragged across granite Thaddeus permits himself to be carried to a seat by a maid and set down.. but he does not budge an inch in posture or expression. "We've enough time tonight for you to do right by me, Aisa." He waggles his eyebrows. "As I recall, you are up an artifact and several bundles of gold over me.. thus, I can never serve you without something given unto me." He eyes you. His beady pupils dance between the table and the ropes of shadow orbiting the room. He inclines his head forward! This is it.. plunge in or storm back to your car and insist your mother drive you home!

: She laughs softly, leaning across the table. "i suppose i have wrung a certain amount of... use out of you already, haven't I?" placing a hand on his cheek, she caresses it, leaning in close, her breath hot on his lips.... followed by a sudden, searing pain in his cheek and a resounding "crack" as Atropos soundly backhands him, sending him sprawling from the chair. Before he can get up, she's straddling him, bracing his wrists to the floor. "...but if you want to rush things along, i'm afraid you'll find that i don't switch for men like you." (the maid crew is really losing it!) NPC nametags rapidly flash to red and bellowing sounds echo around the tower as the sea of shadow flows back in around them, the candles in the room going out one by one. "don't squirm too much... i'd hate for you to be exiled before i'm done with you..." (fade to black)

: Sounds of utter surprise and delight populate the tree for about twenty minutes. Awkward, sweaty texts are exchanged. Thaddeus seems rather intent on brute forcing his way towards use of a switch(a wooden one) and <CANT SHOW THAT IN A CHRISTIAN MANGA>

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Jan 26, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:30

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Thursday, May 28th

Noriko:

Online posted:

...

: A bit later the dishelved little fiend is upside down on the table, resting on his upturned head and shoulders. Thaddeus laughs and puffs out a long line of smoke. "Right then.."

: Atropos yawns as she sets a peculiar looking implement on a tray of similar devices, quickly carried away by a skeletal attendant. Taking a long draw off a cigarette, she leans against the table. "hmph. for someone so experienced..."

: "The pros think past the day's first nova round, my dear!"

: Laughing ruefully, she taps off the ash. "even at their most sustainable, strikers still peter out a bit too fast for my taste. Mmm... Ambrose can endure hours."

: Thaddeus sneers. "Tied up and whimpering? Pffhah!"

: Poking him on the forehead, she grins. "he's a good boy. he knows his place." Finishing her cigarette, she smashes it out on the table beside him. "he's quite enjoying that lovely weapon you made for him. i'm quite enjoying his weapon, too." she adds the double entendre with a nonchalant shrug. "...i want you to tell me about Takamura. i understand you two had quite the rivalry."

: Bristling along his naked spines, Thaddeus fumes and blows steam right out of his nostrils. "Is this your aim at domming me? Talking about your ex's? Heh.. very well." He rights himself and struts about the table in nude glory. "Takamura was.. unforgivable. Ever at my heels. He exceeded my damage at several points! Bah! No Action Attacks! What even is "No Action", other than his lovelife!?" He chortles!

: "if he was so great, why'd he get pushed out of the inner circle? did you just get the upper hand in your rivalry? you must have been relieved to see him go."

: "Nyah hah! I wish! That bastard went and died before I could show him the real score.." He grumbles and winces. Holding back a sigh? "No.. Takamura was driven away by two others.. Charlotte and Royal. Him and Blade got some drat fool notion into their heads about those two.. bah, we were yelling for days. But clearly we took the right path, eh? The winner is always proven in the end."

: "any idea what they were fighting about? White Blade has been less than forthcoming."

: Thaddeus swooshes his robes back onto him "Of course he would be! He accused the best player in the game of being some rotsneak little griefer!"

: "Oh?"

: He cackles and drifts over to you, intent on pinching your bottom. "You're quite talkative.. and none too subtle.. playing the real Game?"

: "i thought that was obvious, Thaddeus-kun. did you think i invited you here because of your animal magnetism?" she raises one hand to cover her mouth. "ohohoho..."

: He looks at you deadpan. "But of course. I am the number one striker!" *Slidewhistle*

: The maids all laugh. Atropos looks over to the group. "hehe... do you see what i mean? kawaii." she crosses her arms, looking back to him. "you've already told me enough, in any case.... 'no action', huh? if you'd been the one who did him in, you'd have probably known he had a girlfriend. i think you're too pathetic to have killed him anyway, really. you just don't strike me as the type."

: Thaddeus squawks! "What! I.. I.. ohh, I'd never murder anyone! BUT I COULD!" Such a solemn declaration.

: "you know what I think?" Atropos asks, but the trappings of her character seem to have fallen away. It's just Noriko now. "i think if you smelled him in your nostrils, felt the cold touch of his corpse under your fingertips... i think you'd fall apart at the seams. have you ever handled a body before?" she pauses, adding to make clear: "...in real life?"

: Well.. yes, I have. I'm a med student." *Zing!*

: "...uwaa, wow, really?" Breaking character again! "...haha, i'm used to people freaking out. Japan has such weird attitudes about death..." after a pause, she laughs. "i guess that took the wind out of my sails. what can i even say? he really is dead, if you're wondering. the afterlife doesn't seem to be bothering him much, at least."

: "You're even weirder than the others, you know.. if you weren't hitching up with the losing team, I'd say you have a chance at winning the whole thing." He chuckles and leans in for that pinch while you're stunned.

: Atropos scrunches her face up at the pinch, flicking Thaddeus on the nose. "i'll take that as as a compliment. i'd still like to know the details of his departure, if it's all the same to you.... i could just ask Charlotte myself. but that doesn't paint a very full picture, does it?"

: Thaddeus snorts. "I doubt that.. but very well. You've earned it, after all!" He leans up and grins cheekily, waggling a finger like Bob Bossman giving you insincere praise at the office. "Charlotte is the best player the game has ever know.. and you can't be good at something without inspiring jealousy. She came to us at Heroic! Heroic! And leads us at the cap."

: Thinking about Takano, she nods. "...that sounds like her, yeah."

: "And some took that poorly.. they think there's something unknown behind it. Not of the game.. not fair." He shrugs. "You're in the real game, so you know what that could mean. Especially if you play ball with the Game Over Man, ah hah hah."

: The shadows seem to swirl around Noriko in an unnatural way... even for the game. The ink blot in her right eye shimmers around the edge of her iris. "....hmmm. i think i might."

: "It's just the way people are. An ugly accusation makes for an ugly fight. Hell, Royal started most of it. Exploded like a bomb."

: Noriko thinks about Akane, and nods. "...and that sounds like her, yeah."

: "They're a package deal.. and she's a bit of a load, hah. Now my Queen, perhaps I would be interested in a little turnabout, hmm?" He makes an exaggerated bow at your feet.

: "hmmm. that's right. turnabout..." planting her foot on his head, she kicks him to the ground. "...and leave." the shadows swirling around him, Thaddeus is pelted into the gloom outside of the tree. Vast shapes moving towards him with alarming alacrity, a bellowing, howling suction threatens to overload his audio drivers as dozens of targets aggro at once. Without being able to make out details, the only indication of his position is a minimap... where he is being flashed around from point to point like a pinball, eventually launched out the front gate, which slams shut behind him.

---

-A minute later, in the grass outside..

: Thaddeus presses himself up from the dirt and whistles! "Caliente.. !"

^{Thou shalt have the blessing of the Emperor arcana...}

An untoward social link established, the fondness of Thaddeus for Noriko. Whatever anyone may think of his character it bears the trappings of royalty and haughty arrogance! The Emperor Link grows in power to Rank 4, granting a +3 Attack/Damage/Healing bonus to Support Personas of that arcana!

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Jan 26, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:30

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Thursday, May 28th

Tsukiyo:

Online, Continued From Thread posted:

-The violet skull girl who looks like her entire torso is always on fire from the inside out strides over to you, a bit of a shorty with tons of plucky swagger.

^Hel

: "Or else what, big girl? You gonna fight all of us at once!?" She throws her hands up with a few rapid signs, then holds her arms out in a provacative stance!

: Zinger announces: "HEY! TWENTY THREE SECONDS LEFT! <WATCH OUT NOW!>"

: "You bastards..." Flagelo answers, slowly approaching the group, dragging her weapons along the floor and keeping a death glare pointed at Zinger. "A dozen cockroaches won't be enough to take on me. Ten seconds left."

: Zinger corrects you and announces: "<Hey!> Fifteen left! Move it you guys! Everybody begins to group up in clusters of 4! They laugh, hooter and hollar as they retreat into the tower entrance, entering new instances to distance themselves from Tsukiyo!

^{Matador <the Daring>}

: The super macho mustached skeleton steps up to you, gesturing dramatically. "Miss, are you looking down on us because of our guild tag? I assure you, we are every bit as violent as you are!"

: "I look down on you because you are not worth my time. Call your Princess, if she's the one who sent you small fry here. I'll deal with her and her only."

: "It's a public space! Maybe a dumb brute like you forgot!?" She postures in your face again from the side with chin out, rattling!

: "Fyo yo yo.. talking to our Princess, now you're the one who has poor appreciation of time and worth.." He tufs at his vest, grinning as his mustache twitches.

: Zinger turns off the beats and steps up between the two, politely placing his arms between them and you and prompting them to back up. He mouths to each five seconds. "Flagello-san..."

: "Last chance." She glares at them, and crosses her arms, the swords now facing different sides as she enters a stance. "Tell your reason to come here, that'll buy you some time."

: The camera zooms in dramatically on Zinger as he clears his throat, adjusts his collar as though loosening a tie with just three fingers and he sounds off confidently, without any of the usual spooky reverb and effects for his Avatar's voice. "You said this was the worst night of your life. Do you want to talk about it?" Ahhhh!!! The undead bard unleashes a wave of human warmth! It's a young man's voice!

: "...What the hell is this." She hesitates for a while, and drops the fighting stance.

: The other two just stand mutely as Zinger explains: "I can hear pain in your voice, and it's only right that I try to help!"

: "Help? From a bunch of hooligans that are under ORDER? You... Are you making fun of me?" Flagelo's voice cracks from behind the VR as she says that.

: "Isn't it only human that when you see something that makes your chest ache, you want to help!?"

: ". . ." She keeps glaring at them. "Everyone... I don't know when someone's being honest... I don't know if they want to hurt me... And now... Now she hates me."

: Zinger considers the words carefully, then speaks with a toothy smile. "I don't know why she hates you, but Flagello-san, do you really lose anything if you assume people are honest?" He rubs rhe back of his head which yields a nice little squeak. "I don't think anyone wants to hurt anyone day to day!"

: "..." She steps a bit back, looking confused. "That's some talk from guys who came in to grief my mindscape..."

: Hel snorts with an eruption of flaring flame. "It's just a game.. do you really take it so seriously?"

: "Shut up! It's serious! You guys, so buddy buddy. Trusting people... Not even my loving guild gives a poo poo! They have their dates, and keep meeting each other..."

: Brandishing a brittle blackened rose, Matador muses: "Trust is a two way street. Nobody can hurt you as much as someone you give it to.. but Miss Flagello, what is a life lived without any risk?" He throws the rose up. "Very safe. Very productive. Very.. dull." It dissolves as soon as it touches the ground. "And gone same as your friend's, in the end."

: Zinger rubs his head again. "Ehh, it's not a real grief.. it's public, and combat, and a dungeon.. you'll reset it at server reset, yeah?"

: "It's still an insult." Flagelo responds, her voice seething with a low anger. "You... You came here on that bitch's orders to humiliate me, didn't you."

: Zinger backs up a step and holds his hands up defensively. "Eh?"

: The avatar sits motionless for a while... And some hushed sobbing sounds can be heard from it, probably coming from the other side of the connection.

: Flopsweating, Zinger waves his hands erratically and babbles! "No no no! You've got it all wrong! We like this place! We came by to check it out! And and and we got to trying to find out everything about it, that's just how gamers are, hahahaha you know!? And and Royal didn't send us, Mister Bishop thought.."

: Hel slugs Zinger in the back of the skull, yielding a good hollow thunk and a <yow!>

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Jan 26, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:31

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Thursday, May 28th

Tsukiyo:

quote:

: "*hic * What...? You... Came here for that?" Flagelo looks somewhat confused to the group. "But... It's not supposed to be open like that... I thought I had secluded it..."

: The three exchange confused looks. Matador speaks: "Miss.. this Mindscape is set to public use!" He shows the search entry on the browser!

: "W-well." This is awkward... And while Tsukiyo would rather tell them to leave again and set the place to private, she... Hesistates for a while. "I... Guess you can stay. Do whatever you like. I don't care." This doesn't sound very sincere, however...

: But Zinger let's the call for party sound and new attendants flood the Mindscape in short order! He gets a pumped up rave beat going as Hel and Matador vanish back into the crowd!

: Flagelo just watches over the party, passing through the attendants silently while searching for Hel. "...What did Bishop told you to do here?"

: You catch her dancing, and she immediately sulks and crosses her arms when you catch up to and catch her. "After your heist? He wants to search every inch of your 'scapes. Probably revenge raiding, heh.."

: "Good luck with that, I almost put everything in personal equipment already." She shakes her head. "You'd be luckier if you went to Mori's landscape."

: "Ohh.. we've already been." Her flames and shoulders bob up and down with her contained laughter.

: "....Eh? Eeeeh?!? ... In any case... I..." This takes a while. "I... Guess I'm sorry. For mouthing off like that."

: Hel's flames go out for a second as her skeleton holds her hand out in a pose of utter shock! She reignites swiftly and gawks a bit still, jaw rattling. "Woooow. Every thing we've seen of your big raid on the House.. you guys are like, the toughest, rudest, biggest head bastards on the entire server.." She laughs. "But I'll forgive you!"

: "..." She sulks a bit, with a distant look on her eye. "We barely know each other... Like we did what, four or five raids together, but I really don't even feel we are a team or something. Having fun together... Going in as a team... What a crock."

: "They'll come around. You gotta have faith in people or else you'll be alone forever, yeah? Why not take the first step yourself? That's why we like Royal. She made it happen."

: "...Did she? How so?"

: "She picks up people that look like they're having a hard time and gives them someplace to belong.. it's like she collects misfits.. but she's kinda infectious in her enthusiasm about it.. we all started to believe it eventually. A few of the losers who just think she's a cute doll actually turn out to be OK at the game, like Zinger." Hel chuckles again.

: Well, considering how she pretty much beat him unscathed... Nah, better not make that comment. "Or it could be she's preying on people... Using their insecurities to manipulate them."

: Staring at you deadpan, she sighs. "It's a game, Flag-chan. What's she manipulating us for? Phat loot?"

: "For the hell of it. People like any kind of petty authority. Haven't you seen those horror stories of guilds run like cults? And... There's stuff about ORDER that doesn't seem right to me. Someone I knew who was a collegue of her and her friends before going to Alluridae... He got hurt, and we think it's one of them."

: Hel stands idle for a bit, quiet in thought. She eventually reaches a conclusion. "That sucks. But you got any proof? I don't think people do stuff IRL over a game."

: "Of course it wasn't because of just that. But..." We got the testimony of his ghost, we invaded the crime scene, we have the word of people we haven't even met IRL. "There's proof, I guess. And in any case... Well, I guess you guys aren't involved, so..."

: Zinger pops up between the both of you. "Evenin', ladies! Getting on well enough?"

: Hel shrugs. ".. Sounds messed up. Good luck with that."

: "Oh. Hey." She waves to him. "Hey. Zinger. How did you, uh... You got acquainted with your guild?"

: "How else!? Royal's an amazing streamer! When she got into this game she had a style! A flair! She drew so many of us into it! I got linked one night and knew I had to try this game! Why this one time.." Zinger gushes. ".. and then, it was so funny, I.." And gushes. ".. and there's the mods, but you can tell she's cute and..." There doesn't seem to be an end to this.

: Ah, of course... He's one of those types. The moe obssessed guys... "I see. I see." She gives an acknowledging nod. "I guess there's the reason why her streams are more popular than Attak's." Maybe... She should start doing the same?

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Jan 30, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 01:31

Mirthless: Mar 27, 2011; by the sex ghost

Noriko - Thursday Night

Soon dealing with a snappy chorus of cracks from her own attendants, Noriko is forced to log off for the night or die of embarrassment. "why did I set their cattiness so high...?"

Sitting in her room with her headset in her lap, she finds herself reflecting on what just happened. She'd hardly really done anything with Thaddeus - 20 minutes of bland ERP, mostly text, and the majority of the time spent waiting for his relatively unimaginative cues. It was nothing like what she'd done with Akio... It hadn't been serious at all. So why did it feel so bad?

She looked at her phone and considered telling him immediately. "but... we're leaving on the trip tomorrow... i can't just dump this on him tonight..." hesitating, she sighs, puts the phone down, and goes off to take a shower.

# ? Jan 26, 2019 02:11

Sockerbagarn: Sep 8, 2007; All makt �t Tengil, v�r befriare.

Ambrose <the Black Blade> // Thursday, May 28 - Bibliotheca Argentea

The latest and most popular addition to his challenge rooms, at least among defenders, is a recreation of the House of Fortune lobby, where you can pit yourself against an endless endurance survival challenge against an approximation of Headcount. Akio has been obsessively grinding it himself, still upset about his previous failings, and has managed to reach triple digits on the round counter several times now, holding the top score on the leader board by a huge margin. Not once in all of his attempts has he gotten done in by a double crit like when they raided the actual House of Fortune, though. Figures.

He smirks as he receives the personal message. He had been wondering when she'd contact him.

Direct Message to Isabelle posted:

Isabelle! My favorite devious schemer and auction house baron. I can hardly complain, I've been thoroughly enjoying my ill gotten gains. Especially that little surprise I picked up from our miniature lizard pervert.
Say, could we meet up somewhere? I've so been missing our t�te-�-t�tes, and I think we have a few things to discuss.

Sockerbagarn fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Jan 26, 2019

# ? Jan 26, 2019 20:07

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

(I've added the mid-week scenes done in Discord to the thread! Most of them are on this page, Takashi's Wednesday Evening starts at the very end of the last page and is still in progress! So just check this page of the thread if you only saw placeholders before this post!)

Akio Online Part 1 posted:

Thursday Evening May 28, Online

: Isabelle affects a quick "tut-tut" in her text and you can picture the scolding finger bounce on each syllable. "Awfully suspicious if we were to meet publicly, isn't it?" She extends an invitation to you to Party so that she may enter your Velvet Room. "Let's stick to private spaces for now. Do you still have that card game I linked you?"

Ambrose takes the nearest teleporter up to his office and accepts the party invite. "I never said we should meet in public," he says to her as she zones in. "Welcome to the Bibliotheca Argentea," he spreads out his arms to either side, proudly presenting his mindscape with a smirk while at the same time giving her a chance to get a good look at his new appearance. "The premier location of knowledge in all of DDW, if I have anything to say about it." He motions toward an opening in the outer wall of the tower, "come join me on the balcony?"

The view from the large balcony ringing the topmost level of the tallest tower of the cloud castle is breathtaking, overlooking the entire skyrealm the mindscape was located in. Birds of pure mana can be seen dancing gracefully around the cloud spires, then swooping down to feed off the luminescent river of mana below, forming their own little self-contained ecosystem. Far down below a handful players cross the walkways that would take them over the river on their way to library entrance, though from this lofty height they appear as little more than insignificant ants. "Runesigil? Yes, I've still got it installed." Ambrose pulls out a chair for Isabelle and helps her get seated by a small elegant coffee table made out of silver and glass, then takes the seat opposite of her. "Though I haven't played it much since last time. So, how have you been doing, Isabelle? I hope our assault on the House of Fortune didn't cause too much of a headache."

: Isabelle winks into existence looking as she usually does. Her cloak of starlight does a decent job of hiding everything, every her silhouette. She looks you up and down and chuckles. "Modest peacocking if I've ever seen it, Elminster." She accepts your seating and does seem to earnestly enjoy looking out over the view! "It really shows when somebody puts passion into their space." As you nothing draw up saved decks on the table Isabelle giggles a bit awkwardly. "It's everything I can do to not interrupt one of Thad's "woe is me" rants."

"Thank you, I try," Ambrose smirks as she praises his 'scape. As she mentions Thaddeus, he laughs. "I'm not surprised, I believe we struck a nerve with that man. I've never seen someone act so pathetically before. It was a sorry sight to behold, and not one befitting a founding member of ORDER." He shakes his head in disgust, then looks at her with a hint of concern in his eyes. "What about Braxienne? I tried to tell her to leave during the final confrontation, but she wouldn't... And I couldn't stop my party from taking her out."

: Isabelle accepts the start of the match and plays a single face down trap card, awaiting unknown criteria to activate and interrupt. "It's most unfortunate that he tried to finish his artifact on that day. Perhaps I could've given him a better date." She covers her mouth and demurely giggles. "Thad's odd, but I notice you still ran from him. A good call.. it's harder to strut with less than a full party. His numbers do not whimper." Waiting for your turn, Isabelle returns your look with a straight stare and a neutral expression. "Braxienne is well, but you can't expect people to back down. It's why I wanted to talk to you, actually."

"Oh? That sure was a most unfortunate scheduling," Ambrose grins wickedly and rubs the pommel of Gram with his thumb, only to shrug when she says she thought it was a good call to escape from Thaddeus. "He was at half health with no persona and I had him marked. I'm confident we could've crushed him without taking any losses, but I wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, so I instilled the idea in my party that he was a waste of our time and resources." He plays a small cheap attacking creature, no frills, no nothing, and sighs. "It would've been better if she did. I know what happens when you die and it's not something I wanted to inflict on her." He regards her with a guarded expression. "Go on."

: The trap remains inactive. Isabelle plays a strong guardian. "I've been watching you for awhile.. really, anyone would think you just spawned in at epic.. but I know better, don't I? And you came to me talking about Jokers and murders.." She remains on the defensive and passes turn. "But now I really trust you. It's nice to hear you want to limit the bloodshed. For awhile I thought you might aim to kill me... or work with someone else who would."

"Another thing we have in common, then." Ambrose scans his hand of cards and smirks. "When we met the first couple times after I learned about the great game I was terrified. Remember when you called me robo?" He chuckles darkly. "I thought that if I let on too much you would kill me." He lifts his piercing gaze and looks her in the eyes. "But now, especially after the House of Fortune, I trust you as well." He plays his own trap card and passes the turn while holding his creature back.

: Adding a bold charger to her lineup, Isabelle tests your line up and your trap by rushing you! "The stronger you are, the safer you are, hopefully. When you showed me some trust, I was glad to help you. Now I need your help, Ambrose." She watches the field doe the outcome with intense focus. "I want to survive this game, and I think someone with bad intentions winning it is disaster for us all." The idea of Thaddeus reigning triumphant teases the realm of possibility. He's clearly playing the real game. Or Fenrir.. or Joker.. Hell, even Mura!

Ambrose nods along to her words. "I agree completely. If the gift truly is the real deal, the wrong person winning could plunge the world into chaos and mayhem." He lets the charger through and takes it on the chin, while glancing curiously at her. "I think that's the first time I've heard someone say that they wanted to survive the game. Most everyone is so focused on winning it." He plays a strong creature with life leech, ready to start pushing some damage on the next turn. "You've helped me a lot so far, Isabelle. What can I do for you?"

: "Can you tell me what you know about that murder from before?" Isabelle gives you a very pointed stare. "Ambrose, consider that somebody killed over the game. Therefore, there's a reason, correct? And if somebody unknowingly crosses that line.. would they be targeted next?" She folds her arms to consider the state of the field. "I am in ORDER. We are playing that game. There are cliques.. teams." She summons an uncanny creature, a chaotic shifter that redirects both sides outgoing damage at random! "I want you to be the first member of my team. That is why I scouted you."

"I'm your first pick? That's flattering," Ambrose smiles and runs a hand through his hair as he briefly looks off into the distance, considering her offer. "...Yes, I think I'd like that. But before I accept I want to know more about the team. Let me tell you what I know about the murder first, though."

-He pauses for a moment to organize his thoughts, then starts speaking. "It's a lot to take in, I'll start with the summary. The victim's name was Hamada Takeo, though you'd be more familiar with his online alias, Takamura. He was murdered in his own apartment as he was playing DDW, sometime shortly after he overseered that raid on Royal's mindscape. The cause of death was... not natural. When he was found his eyes had been seared white by magic."

-He attacks with his weaker minion, which randomly targets Isabelle's defensive guardian and dies, elicting a shrug from Ambrose. "I've investigated the crime scene and seen ingame footage of the moments leading up to his death. I've even gone so far as to speak with him in the afterlife, but there's still a lot of questions left unanswered. Mainly, the identity of the murderer. I thought it was Bishop at first, I still believed that the last time we met. The ingame footage pointed directly at him. Takamura had just received mail from several people in ORDER, including you. The last message he read was from Bishop, who said he wanted to talk. Takamura went to the Tower of Destruction and blazed through it in no time, and soon he confronted Bishop. They traded words briefly, then started trading blows. The fight ended when Bishop grabbed Takamura's head and burned him with his hands. Takamura was still technically alive, but Hamada... was not. I was so sure Bishop was the one that did it, that he had figured out some way to kill someone in real life through the game. But it turned out that I was wrong, Bishop could not have done it."

-"Fast forward to last week, Hamda's girlfriend, Yuki, arranged it so that we, the group of real life friends I've been investigating the murder with, could gain access to Hamada's body at the morgue. We came prepared with a ritual that would let us speak with his spirit, and it worked. His memory was clouded, but one thing was clear: He was murdered in person. Someone had taken off his goggles before turning their magic on him. He said he remembered overwhelming power, and that he was fried by magic." Ambrose attacks with his larger minion, which immediately turns around and smacks him in the face. He rolls his eyes at his poor luck. At least he didn't suffer any damage since it had life leech. "And that's about where we're at in the investigation. On a tangential note, Joker turned out to be Takamura's brother. He's convinced that someone in ORDER murdered his sibling."

: "You beat my Headcount. You're capable, to say the least." Isabelle leans on the table with an elbow and rests her chin on an upturned palm, smiling at you with the compliment. "Hmm.." She listens intently to your summary. "Ehh.. your evidence rests on.. uhm, people using magic, for real? And you visiting him in the afterlife, are you trying to say.." A lot of disbelief here.

"You don't know?" Ambrose says, utterly surprised. "You're so advanced in the game that it hadn't even ocurred to me that you might not know. Yes, we can use our powers from DDW in real life, too." Insight: 1d20+23 33 Is she really unaware, or is it an act?

: With the field in disarray, Isabelle begins summoning creatures that will amplify further spells coming from her hand. It's a Stall Deck!

Insight: You get the feeling Isabelle doesn't like to let on more than she actually knows, or that she may still not fully trust you. There's also something subtler there that has nagged at you since the first meeting.. but what?

: "Is there something that sets apart those that can use and those that cannot? And I guess if you consider it, wouldn't that mean Takamura was targeted by people sympathetic to Royal? With the qualifier that they can use magic..." She muses out loud and ends turn, almost committing social faux pax by letting the end of turn timer come up.

In his heart he still had doubts whether it was alright to trust her, too. He wanted to, but he had to learn more about her to be sure... And what was that nagging feeling? "I agree, I've been working under the assumption that the raid on the zombiepalooza and the muder are related. There's always the possibility that it's just a coincidence, though." He taps his lips thoughtfully as he regards the playing field. "As for what sets those that can apart from those that cannot, it's not clear-cut, and there are different levels to how much of your powers you can access. It seems to be restricted to players of the Great Game, but I've also met some that claim they've never even played DDW, while still able set themselves apart from the average human, somewhat. I [u]awakened[/i], if you will, when I acknowledged my true desire, and figured out what I wanted if I won the game. Before then I only had minimal access to my powers. I'm certain that the murderer must also be awakened to a high degree."

Even though the chaotic shifter was still on the table, Isabelle had many more creatures than he did at this point, so it was likely that he would hit one of them if he attacked. Thankfully, random chance didn't conspire against him when he attacked this time, and the shifter goes down. Time to accelerate his game plan. Having conserved his resources last turn, he plays two charging creatures, one of them trading with her blocking defender, the other going straight for her life total. He had to move quickly if she was playing a stall deck.

: Although her trap remains unactivated, Isabelle smiles politely and uses a spell card to dictate that no damage will be dealt by all creatures this turn. Her spell-casting boosters are still up and reduce her costs, and she grins while playing additional card draw. "Thinking about what you truly wish for.. maybe that's it. I've just been dealing with the others for so long that I simply wish to evade the wrath of this killer." She reviews her growing hand and demurs to play any further cards, ending turn with the fog effect in place and sharing a private smile with you. "I believe that if I won.. I'd wish for new love." Isabelle then smirks at you, daring you to say a thing about it. "Zombiepalooza is your best link. What else do you know about relations to it? And that defaults to relations to Royal."

Ambrose groans as the fog effect comes into play. Hopefully she didn't have another one in her hand. "Love?" Ambrose says, deciding to push his luck just a little bit, and smiles back at her. "I think that's a nice wish. But is it really necessary to use your wish to find it?" He thought he had a good idea what the recorded conversation they found in Braxienne's office was about, but he still wanted to ask her about it. His smile tinges with sadness as he continues. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened with your old love?"

"As for my knowledge about Royal... It's sorely lacking," he says with a sigh. "I've never spoken with her, nor have I visited her mindscape. I couldn't say if she's capable of murder, but I get the impression that she's too green to have done it herself. But then the question becomes who else would go to such extremes to defend her honor? You would have a better idea than I about that." With nothing better to do, he plays another strong attacker and passes the turn back. He was starting to amass a decent board presence, but it would all be for naught if he never got to attack.

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Mar 2, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 00:01

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Akio Online Part 2 posted:

: "You must be an optimist to think it such a sure thing to find love. Do you really think people have soul mates to spare?" Isabelle sighs and takes on a pensive look, examining her full hand. "Especially if you were a bit of an introvert.." She summons a Runeweaver and triggers his first Loyalty ability, drawing another card! Then she throws down a new Fog effect and conjures up a fresh Guardian! Stall! Stall! Stall! You can't deal damage with creatures.. but maybe your spells will help you? "Well.. I was married once, and it went badly. That's all I can tell you, Ambrose." She throws up an emotional wall to go with the two on the field and you get the nagging feeling that this is that elusive trait surfacing again. Isabelle is good at guarding her emotions.. perhaps if you pried and threw her off guard you would learn something new?

She passes her turn and gives you a lurid account of an ORDER scene.. "I've always liked Royal, we get along and like a lot of the same things, but.. she's not terribly good at the game. I suppose the others would call it a lack of killer instinct. She tagged along in one of our supplementary guilds until Charlotte made a push to be included in ORDER itself. I'd say those two are joined at the hip." Isabelle snickers and idly shuffles her hand. "Once, there was somebody online and Royal and Charlotte were online too. All in our joint guild chat. Royal said something about some new music venue.. and this goon in Thad's guild calls her out on some stupid inaccuracy, like the date or the bands. Anyway, oh my Godddd. Charlotte was on him like a shark on blood." She starts laughing recalling it. "Every time he says anything, anything, about the game or some encounter, or even some random bit of trivia IRL, Charlotte corrects him. It was the most aggressive passive aggression I've ever seen. And she's smart, too! She's correct every time and just lays into him nonstop... hahahahaha!" She paws at her eyes with her fingertips, wiping the corners. "He quit before the weekend was done."

"I didn't mean to imply that finding love was the easiest thing in the world, but I don't think you should lose hope either." After all, if an awkward guy like him had managed to find someone, no one was without hope.

"Hm." Ambrose remains poker faced as the Runeweaver finally makes its appearance. There it was, the lynchpin of her fog deck's strategy. He had to deal with it swiftly, for each turn it was alive she would pull further and further ahead, and then when she eventually unlocked its ultimate ability the game was as good as over. But with all her fog spells and guardians she would ensure that he never got the chance to kill it. Then again, who said anything about killing it? He smirks. If there was one thing Isabelle's deck could not do very well, it was to go on the offensive. So what if he was the one pressuring her to act, instead? He shuffles his hand for a moment, casually observing the board, then throws a card on the table. Dominate Mind, targeting the Runeweaver. He takes control over it, uses it to draw a card, then passes the turn.

"Oh no!" Ambrose's eyes light up with joy and his smile turns into a broad grin as Isabelle regales him with the story, and soon he's doubled over and clutching his sides as he laughs uncontrollably. "Haha-hahaha! Oh that's absolutely brutal. What a poor guy. Hahaha! Hah..." He sighs happily and makes eye contact with her, tilting his head slightly and gazing deep into her eyes. "Isabelle," he says and somewhat suddenly reaches across the table to take her hand in his. "You're intelligent, funny, and you have impeccable taste in retro video game music. There's nothing more that a guy could ask for. Won't you please come out of your shell for me, just a little bit?" Perfect Arcane Mutterings (Diplomacy): 1d20+39 48 Perfect Arcane Mutterings (Reroll): 1d20+39 40

: Not expecting this twist of events, Isabelle fumes briefly before slapping down a second copy of the same Runeweaver, activating his further card draw and inviting you to round three of the fog wall! She puts up an Enchantment that lets her spell features spawn tokens as well, building her army off a second round of card draw. Once infinite turns chain, her ranks will swell endlessly!

Introvert like me? High levels of intelligence? Obsessive play with hobbies associated with nerdy as hell poo poo? A fixation on mathematics? You think you've cracked the code. In a rare display of your most hidden trump card, you affect some actual charm! Isabelle turns red and stammers at the compliment, very quickly composing herself and returning to idle behavior of adjusting her hand as she ends turn. "Ambrose.. you.." Her hand fidgets in yours until it is free so she can actually indulge her nervous habit. "You shouldn't say things like that." You've got it!

Isabelle is ... a socially introverted autistic!

He smiles at her as she flusters, that was pretty cute. It was fun to be on the other side of that reaction for once. "Well, I think you deserve to hear it," he says. "And you said you were married once, so I'd wager its not the first time you've been told that. Are you sure you can't tell me more about what happened?"

: "It's not easy for me to get along with people... I was an only child and my parents expected a certain kind of success." She shrugs. "I was happy to pursue it, but I think you're very familiar with the idea of the bookworm who prefers books to people."

"Yes, I'm quite familiar." He nods. "I was like that up until just a couple months ago. I still am sometimes... But you say you wish for love, so your first experience with it couldn't have been that bad?"

: Isabelle runs a hand through her bangs, the worldly literature fan telling her own story. "I didn't meet anyone until college! I'd say that's pretty bad experience with love.. but at the time I thought he was heaven-sent."

"Come on, that's not so bad," Ambrose says, absentmindedly playing with his braid as he listens to her attentively. "Who was he?"

: "I don't think we should freely exchange real names quite yet, Ambrose." She smiles sweetly and gestures to you to start your turn. "My husband and I dated for a few years, until I graduated. We moved in together, got married and I had an ideal career. Sounds dreamy, yes?"

"No, of course, you misunderstand me. I was wondering what our heaven-sent suitor was like, not what his name was." Ambrose draws his card of the turn and takes stock of the board. Another Runeweaver and yet another fog, it seemed to be a law of nature that those decks always had it... Still, the Runeweaver he stole would reach its ultimate before Isabelle's would, it was on her to do something to stop it. Content to keep up the arms race, Ambrose plays a couple creatures, a counterspell trap, and passes the turn. "Sounds very sweet..." He smiles back with a hint of melancholy. "But it wouldn't last?"

: You can see the contents of this brutally effective deck coming from a mile away. It's no surprise when she attempts to exile your stolen Runeweaver. It is a pleasant surprise that another fog isn't invoked. "Well, he was a big dork, like you!" Isabelle smirks. ".. But we had to have something in common.. when I graduated I was able to get hired by a big firm immediately. We lived a very cozy life for a pair of kids in Tokyo." Isabelle's passes a hand over her face, her eyes a bit glossy. She clears the corners of her eyes with her fingertips again, back to the tic of anxiety. ".. It demanded a lot out of me. And I didn't want to set it down.. and we fought about it because he wanted more from me.. but he was used to that lifestyle to quickly too.. and he needed me to provide it.. haha.. hahh.. "

"I wasn't home often enough."

"A big dork like me? He should've suited you perfectly then," he replies, adding a little snark to his smirk. The counterspell trap takes care of the exile spell and there was no fog hanging in the air, but were her shields really down? He found himself at a crossroads, he could play conservatively and protect his Runeweaver, or go on the offensive and try to take hers out. Both had risks. If she started taking extra turns with her Runeweaver in play, she would gain the lead. But if he attacked he was opening himself up to be punished for it. He only considers it for a brief moment, then sends in the attack. Ambrose listens silently as Isabelle speaks, his face unmoving but his eyes downcast. As she finishes he remains silent for a moment longer, then looks up at her with compassion in his eyes. "...did something happen while you were at work?"

: Isabelle's trap doesn't activate yet either. Your Attacks are carried out, though she designates blockers to protect her Runeweaver. Her magic boosters have gotten a lot of mileage already and her passive mana should cover late turn antics. She watches the battle resolve and her pupils rise to see your reaction. "Surprised?" She draws her start of turn card. "Not immediately. We became more distant. When we did see one another we would fight. He became.. fond... fonder of spending my money. I was saving a good deal of mine after the first big fight." She summons something not associated with her gameplan: a big hulking death-touch with decent health and a mana burn to regenerate! "And he was drinking more.. I was worried. I snooped a bit.. he was gambling online.. and soon enough for real." She grumbles. "I could see the signs after the fact, but at the time I was being put through stricter hoops every week to secure promotion.." Isabelle delivers a heavy sigh over her microphone, her Avatar pausing before issuing a command for her Runeweaver to draw a new card and end turn. "Maybe it was my fault. You know how men.. are.. that he'd eventually want another woman."

No, he wasn't particularly surprised by the blockers she put forth, he'd expected her to start trading off her creatures and then follow up with a board wipe to buy the maximum amount of time. What surprised him was the large meaty creature she then summoned. What game was she playing? He wouldn't be able to keep attacking for free anymore, but he had to keep the pressure up. He draws a card with his Runeweaver, plays another creature and casts a buffing spell to give it haste and a damage bonus, then attacks her Runeweaver again.

He could feel anger rising within him as she talked about how her deadbeat husband had been taking advantage of her. Guys like that belonged firmly in the trash. "Isabelle," Ambrose says, his expression hard and unyielding. "Do not ever accept any blame for what happened, you were not at fault. Maybe a part of him was genuinely missing you and wanted to spend more time with you, but I bet the real reason you were constantly fighting was because he was unable to handle how much more successful you were compared to him. That wasn't a man worthy of your love, that was a prideful spineless slime."

: Isabelle volunteers her new death hulk to wall off her runeweaver from your biggest threat, yet her plans are delayed by the secondary that follows. Her battlefield is starting to thin out too much. She offers an answer with a wave of spasmodically twitching trash elementals made of the leftover debris of the fights. "Ambrose..." You're reminded of Isabelle's choice to not filter her voice and that she speaks like an older woman, now someone who has experienced much, rather than Hanae lecturing you on the 1950's In The West version of what life should be.

"Do you think when we're born, that's the lot we get in life? Was he just a slime from day one? Is he slime until he dies?" She slides down in her chair a bit, posture sulking. "I loved slime." She points forward and waves of her trash swarm and explode across some of your creatures, destroying both sides of the skirmish. "But.. when we divorced, he fought me every step of the way. He hid and took things. Things vanished, because they were zero-sum, and if he had them I wouldn't." She sighs and adjusts herself, pushing up at the armrests to return to her usual formal posture. She invokes an Extra Turn, rewinding time!

Another wave of corpse-summoned elementals are drawn forward and she has double-Drawn with her wounded Runeweaver, refilling her hand and his sigils woven! "It was so ugly... we hated each other afterwards.. he really is slime." She ends her turn, her lone trap card still standing behind the clicking waves of mechanical minions. ".. If that was my soulmate, was that it? Should I ever try again?" She chuckles. ".. I guess that's why I'd wish for love. I don't like my odds right now."

"I don't know..." Ambrose looks down at his hand, low in spirits. "Some things, maybe, are predetermined. But even so, we shouldn't settle for being unhappy." He considers her trap card. It's been there the whole game, but what was it? This was probably the last turn he was going to get, he had to make a decisive play, he had to risk it. He was at the point where he could use the Runeweaver's ultimate ability, but after a quick analysis of the board state he concluded that it wouldn't do enough fast enough. Instead, he uses it to draw a card. As he pulls the card off his deck, he looks at it, stunned. Mass Phoenix Rebirth.

He closes his eyes as he takes a deep breath, then gives Isabelle a look of sheer determination. "Never stop trying, Isabelle. I don't think he was your soulmate, your true soulmate would never hurt you like that. And even if they did, they wouldn't let it end that way. They would fight tooth and nail so that you could be happy together for the rest of your lives." He lays down the card, engulfing the board in a wave of fire and raising his dead minions from the grave for just one turn, before they'd burn up entirely. "Whether you have to spend a wish on it or not, I think you'll find the one you're looking for." He sends in the final attack. It'd win him the game, or it wouldn't. "I mean, why wouldn't that be predetermined, too?"

: Everything but the Runeweavers falls, your final crash against Isabelle's life points going for all or nothing! Her HP drops to 1... when her trap finally activates! ICE BLOCK! She's immune to all damage and loss effects for one turn! Your Rebirth assault gradually flames out when you end your turn. Isabelle smirks triumphantly as her turn begins and she draws a card with her hand full. ".. I suppose that weighed on your mind all game, hmm? Maybe it affected your every move? Hmm hmm hmm.."

Ambrose shrugs, smiling at her. "You let me win last time, didn't you? Let's call this evening out the score."

: "Trying to make me feel better about my love lost? After all, tis better to have had than to have had nothing, they say.." Isabelle begins her turn and activates her Runeweaver's Emblem. She plays a creature that supports further spells. She plays card draw. She begins undoing your board state, removing your Runeweaver entirely. Then she plays an Extra Turn and does it again. And again. And.. well, Turbofog will be Turbofog. Once the sequence resolves to satisfaction(or you concede) Isabelle grins. "I'd prefer the +1 in the end.. but well played, Ambrose. That was fun."

"Oh don't get me wrong, I didnt hold back at all," he grins back and nods in agreement, "that was fun. Even though you were playing turbofog," he chuckles, before taking on a more serious tone. "I'm glad you told me that story. I know I said that I trusted you before, but only now do I really feel it," he says as he puts away his Runesigil deck and closes the app. "Dahlia!" He calls out to his familiar, turning his head toward the window in his office, where she's undoubtedly been spying on them the whole time. "I think it is time for the mana-infused wine, be a dear and bring it to us." He turns back to Isabelle and grins. "So, about that team... I was wondering what our goals are, and if you have any other prospective members as of yet."

: Dahlia begins the exhausting progress of carrying an entire bottle of wine herself, flying while holding it with both hands and slowly drifting over. "Oh, Ambrose. A boy with a fairy? Where'd you ever get that idea?" Isabelle laughs at your absolute highest snootery. She gathers her cards as the program begins to close. "Our goals are mutual protection and to defeat identified negative groups. Right now we must consider Charlotte/Royal, Bishop/Thaddeus and Fenrir to be their own competing forces. Other than you my only truly seriously consideration was Braxienne, who will likely need help if she has encountered the fabled dealmaker. And.. well, really, convincing the other ORDER elite to not murder people would yield good allies. But I want the wish to be benevolent and nobody to die getting there."

As he listens to Isabelle speak, Ambrose takes the bottle from Dahlia, uncorks it and pours the purple liquid--which is outlined by a blue glow and sparkling a bit like champagne--into two crystal wine glasses. "I think those goals are noble and I agree with them fully," he says with a smile and lifts his glass to clink with hers. "You can count me in."

: "There isn't a rush here. We don't know when or what leads to the last wish, and we're swearing here to avoid it being a battle royale." Isabelle raises her glass. "Just tell me if you notice anything unusual from other participants. Anything dangerous." She prepares for a toasting gesture. "To our friendship, Ambrose." She waits for you to complete, smiling indulgently.

^{Thou shalt have the blessing of the Fortune arcana...}

-The time and opportunity to fully realize this bond draws near.

"I will keep my ear to the ground. It's nothing I haven't already done for you before, after all," he says and raises his glass in a toast, smiling warmly. "To our friendship, Isabelle."

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Mar 2, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 00:01

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Itsumi Online posted:

Itsumi, Online:

: Bronson immediately replies to you in open /say, dramatically thrusting a palm forward in a big STOP gesture. "Ho there, miss! I shan't tolerate your barbed tongue before I've had a chance to say my piece!"

: Itsumi scowls from behind her monitor, curtly replying, "Barbed tongue? I didn't say anything rude to you. Now what do you want?"

: He snaps to attention, stands ramrod straight and clasps both fists to his chest in a cross arm guard. Or a salute. It could be both. "That's not true, <Dark Sun>!" ... ! The title appears affixed to your Avatar's screen name! Sunbright <the Dark Sun>! "The immense disrespect you showed to my comrades has been felt by every one of us!"

: A small smile appears on her face, "Oh, has it now?"

: His face is a mask of stern formality! "It has! We accept our honorable loss in combat... but your total lack of decorum is inexcusable! Digital Devil Worlds have no need for fiends like you!"

: "lol what?" she responds truthfully--his last comment actually caused her to laugh in real life behind her VR goggles.

: "You heard me! Even in an antagonistic spirit, there should be a sense of honor and dignity!" This guy really earns the tag of that overwhelming tower of do-goodery and nobility, Red Charlotte! Another elite of ORDER, standing side by side with snakes like Thaddeus and villainous thots like Braxienne.

: "Honor and dignity, huh? That's what your dad said too, I think..."

: Bronson presents his open palm again, this time stopping a few inches from your face. "STOP RIGHT THERE, MISS!"He lowers his hand and assumes his stiff formal stance again. "I'm not going to engage you in that kind of battle... I came here..."

: "to talk poo poo about me for swearing?"

: He clasps his fists together and flexes, giving off an inspiring platinum aura! "TO SYMPATHIZE WITH YOU!"

: "sympathize with me? then why didnt you start off that way instead of by antagonizing me without provocation?"

: Bronson throws his head up and laughs with manly bravado! "Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaaaa!" He slams into another pose and the ground tremors when he drops into a knightly kneel, his head bowed and an arm drawn tight across his chest towards his shoulder. "That was so you know..." He raises his head, one eye searing with passionate energy! "... that we'd never be intimidated by you! Who would accept help from a groveling dog?"

: "right... so what's /actually/ up then?"

: Bronson rises! "I'm serious! Malice such as yours can only come from a hurt soul!" He makes a raised fist and challenges the sky itself with his shout! "Could my code allow me to ignore such obvious distress!?"

: Confused, she responds, "what distress are you talking about??"

: He smiles. His handsome features make it rather pleasant! "Sunbright-san, it is when we are hurt that we are most likely to lash out. I cannot imagine what troubles you so.. to yield such profound profanity.. !"

: "but... nothing troubles me so? sometimes its fun to let loose on people!"

: He bristles with indignation, his shoulders straining! "Fun! There's spiking easy foes.. there's clever plans fully realized..." Bronson steps forward and lashes out with a pointed finger! "WHAT THE HELL IS FUN ABOUT DIRTY COME ONS TO GRANDMOTHERS?"

: "well... you see... people get really, really mad when you tell them things like, for instance, that you were loving their grandfather last night so hard he almost got a heart condition..."

: "Indecent..!"

: "...and then they play a lot worse"

: ".. Impossible.. !"

: "and also it's just /fun/ to get people that upset too"

: Bronson backs away, his arms held before him in disarray, but defensively, to hold himself steady. "Sunbright... you really are the worst type of player! The most dangerous kind! Only one other person.. was this bad!"

: Itsumi cackles in real life... "Honestly," she thinks, "Who takes a game this seriously... oh? who was that?" she types out, grinning ear to ear "oh, and it's called tilting, look it up "

-In your bedroom, which must be shared, you can hear your brothers playing a board game together.

: "Ehhh, Icchan's playing that game again.." Toshishiro moves his checkers piece.

: "Ehhh, she's really scary with those goggles on.." Tanabe jumps two in a row and sticks out his tongue at his brother.

Nearby your new cat Gero lets out a loud snore from one of their pillows.

: In the game Bronson smirks and gestures at you. "You don't know? Those auspicious tales of the most notorious ganker the game has ever known? After all.. it was only a reign of 6 months, and we're barely into the start of the second year.."

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Apr 18, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 00:03

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Itsumi Online posted:

: "obviously he never ganked me, so plz enlighten me"

: "The Calculator, Mage Isabelle.. you mirror her mantras!" Bronson looks very grave as he recounts the details. "When this game began, there was no ORDER, or even a top tier, but exciting new fields of competition and infinite ways to shape those battlefields. Everyone says that Wizards are the most OP Controllers.. but instead, one Wizard said she would be the single greatest Controller!"

: "She would not limit actions in-game! She would shut off real paths to victory in their actual minds!" He fumes and points at you again, arm shaking up and down! "What an ominous portent! To see someone who takes this game so seriously, to invoke that cruelty!"

You're reminded of Isabelle's design document for Headcount in House of Fortune...

... despite his amazing stats, he wasn't truly invincible...

... and his greatest efficiency came from the perception of it, including his Aura Weakness(Save Ends) on a Kill, exactly at the point that would cause a group to spiral into a wipe.

: "oh, really? i hadn't heard of /that/ part of her reputation..."

: "I'd think not.. two full patch cycles is an eternity in a game like this. Besides, it ended with a whimper, really. Or rather a few hundred of them. That witch taunted, teased and tortured people on the message boards for weeks. Every time she actually fought somebody it was her total victory.." Bronson points at you with both hands for a bit of variation. "It's a dark path to walk, Sunbright. Thinking only of how to win at the expense of everybody having a good time. It's no wonder defenders wouldn't even respond if she raided their Mindscape. Would it be any surprise if the same fate befalls you?" He retracts his hands and chuckles. ".. It's not like PvE monsters will respond to your words."

: "well... i suppose thats something to think about then, isnt it?"

: "Ha-rumph.. I thought you must be a fan of the legend. After all, you and your lot must be the hottest new griefer circle."

: Smiling again, she reponds, "oh, we are??"

: He crosses his arms. "The biggest rats around."

: "rats..?"

: "It must not bother you to be referred to as such, since you are so keen on tilting as weaponry yourself, correct? You are not just pvpers.. but really, gankers, griefers, a toxic lot."

: "so i mean... i don't mind, i'm just curious about where you got that from when in reality we went in there fully announced"

: "Hah! Hardly!"

: "hell, i got up on the center table and told everyone who didn't want involved to gtfo"

: Bronson assumes a look of maximum satisfaction. "Let me ask you this, Sunbright... And get to the real depth of your lack of character..."

: "lol, depth of my lack of character? go ahead"

: "Heh..." THE FINAL POINT! "You say you were fully announced... Yet I think if you truly wanted to show your superiority, would you not do so by facing the full force of your enemies?" He slams his fist into his other palm! "Fenrir! Thaddeus! Isabelle! Royal! Bishop!" A drum roll sounds from the distance... "... Ultimately, I doubt you rats would stand against Charlotte alone!" Ahh yeah. Fighting the #1 Waifu. Not a chance.

: "perhaps we werent showing our superiority, but rather showing their vulnerability. besides thadwick almost got pantsed, he's lucky we had bigger fish to fry"

: "I'm not hearing any disagreement with my last charge..." His [HOLY] tag shimmers with satisfaction.

: "dont worry, your princess will get hers when we feel like it... it's coming"

: "I take it you are blowing off my offer of good will.. that you'd rather throw this tantrum than aspire to nobility."

: "what are you even offering??? all youve done is come in here and call me a no good dirty rotten snake of a ganker?"

: Taken aback by this view, Bronson hesitates before speaking. "An initiate must be broken down and rebuilt!"

: "well then how about we start by breaking down how much your dad eats me out and build up from there"

: "Contemptible harpy!"

: "harpy? why thank you! you know, you think youre so high and mighty because you dont swear, but i guarantee you that youll be the one sucking these lips at the end of the day"

: "At the end of the day, if I cannot help you, it is my sworn duty to come to the defense of those you terrorize!"

: "right, go ahead and blow them while you're at it, you sanctimonious cock"

: Bronson puts on a look of great shock and departs the entire Mindscape with great haste and indignity! Some onlooking players in your Mindscape are having a good laugh.

: Sunbright waves as he leaves and simply lets out an "lol" in general chat.

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Apr 18, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 00:03

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Online, Takashi's Mindscape posted:

-Eyeing the rambunctious lizardman making a mockery of your pvp arena and seeing your girls in a state of open frustration you're only too aware that it is time to rally the troops. You are not terribly constrained by reality or budget in a video game and being the master of this space makes it easier. You gather your four Tengu gals and page for a Velvet Room warp to the nearby mountain!

: Standing atop the mountaintop, its warm water burbling downhill to supply the Last Resort & Spa, it is impossible to see the arena below as anything but a pitch of dirt and stone. Shifting his avatar from the friendly and small lava dog into the molten warhound, he swivels his muzzle towards the tengu sukeban behind him and bares his teeth in a jagged smile. He leaps into the air, far beyond the normal ability, like a rocket being fired. The air sizzles and pops around him, thick smoke billowing behind, as he arcs upward away from the mountain. As gravity begins to pull him downward he gains enormous speed, barreling towards the empty arena like a meteor. When he crashes down it is a cataclysm, earth breaking and rippling away from his impact site in terror. The beast emerges from the smoking crater, cresting the lip in an effortless hop, just as the wind begins to howl and lightning strikes several places behind him - resolving into his loyal tengu, their various instruments lazily held or resting against their shoulders. "You come here to scare away my patrons, Sunder? Just like a dragon, all brass, no bite."

: Sunder_Life must be a pro because he stands at a respectful distance and at full attention, watching the entrance with a clear grin of approval. He stretches his arms out to either side and flicks his twin harpoons. "This is your arena, isn't it? Is it my fault nobody can take me?" He laughs! Your girls are smoldering with restrained fury. "That's just the nature of the game, Dot Attack.." He reaches for one in thin air and it appears, a mic materializing in his palm as he let's the harpoon sheath through his body. "You may think you're the best of the best but it looks like even you have limits! Is it my fault that I met and bested your paltry.." Sunder licks his big lizard chops and jagged teeth whole the camera pans over the Tengu girls and their petite and toned figures. ".. guardians?!" As Sunder goes through his heel routine you can hear the crowd of Drifter attendants and actual players reacting, booing, cheering and jeering based on who they like and who is posturing. You have quite a healthy swell of support coming from players in beastial Avatare, though they lack any unifying theme. One Avatar stands out, never raising their voice, only applauding with the rest with a ting ting ting that stands out at any volume. Lounging in a center seat, first five rows sits the bio-mechanical robot figure belonging to Bishop, his transparent brain casing orbited by a pair of floating mechanical eyes functioning as cameras.

-It's your Drifter. Maybe a heavier hitter NPC could challenge Sunder. Or you could do it and give everyone a show. Or maybe there's something else you want to do. Occupying Sunder yourself would make conversation difficult. Unless it was with him, of course.

: "I can see that dragons are strangers to showmanship," he needs no mic for his voice to carry to every seat in the house - neither too loud, nor too quiet. His canine head swivels over the gathered avatars, hostile and friendly, not pausing over the presence of Bishop in his domain, "If my girls beat up every scaled idiot that climbed in the arena, we'd run out of scaled idiots willing to fight," he pantomimes an exaggerated wink for the crowd, his grinning teeth sparkling in the perfect Saturday morning cartoon way. "But if you came all this way for a lesson in manners, you wouldn't have brought a witness, would you? Unless I'm mistaken, we've got a celebrity in the audience tonight, everyone!" every digital screen in or around the arena suddenly fills with a close-up of Bishop, overlaid with the text "CELEBRO-VISION" above and "EVERYBODY CLAP" below in garish colors. "To what do I owe the pleasure of the Master of Mindscapes himself?"

: The crowd indulges in clapping, some text lines and voices rising in admiration of the designer of some of their favorite levels. Bishop himself unlaces his fingers and rises, gesturing to either side to spawn twin spotlights. He makes an exaggerated bow and straightens up, his robotic voice rising to stadium pitch with a pleasant reverb. "It is always in my interest to personally experience the good craftsmanship of my peers, Dot Attack. I am simply here to enjoy the show!" He raises his hands for crowd attention before bringing them down to an excited clapping.

-The rest of the crowd joins in and attention shifts back to the ring where Sunder_Life is holding a waiting battle stance. The decision of when(or if) to start combat is left to you.

...

-Sunder isn't put off by the delay. He extends an arm and makes a bring it on gesture with a harpoon. "Tail between your legs today?" He laughs and bulges our the frills under his chin and along his neck. One of the Tengu girls grinds her teeth and stamps her foot.

...

-The waiting contest continues. Several onlookers begin shouting and texting abuse. Macros of bared butts and raised middle fingers begin spamming the area chat. Heckling and cursing rises. Several choice terms about mothers are bandied about! Still, Sunder waits for you to make the first blow, his idle animation recycling.

...

-The arena seating is more than half empty. The only ones left are people emulating the beast man themes of .attack or the dragonborn and lizardman themes of Sunder. Bishop is the only stand out left.

: "And here we see another rousing round of.. DON'T gently caress AROUND WITH ME, BOSS!" The announcer of The Drifter screams into the mic, her mature tones rising in pure anger. The chilly Yuki Onna, big sister of the gang, sits in the booth, her temperament causing the ice on her clothes and exposed shoulders to give off dry ice smoke. Yuki slams a giant red button with her fist and the ring begins to dramatically unveil heavy vents in the floor. She angrily pummels the button and it accelerates through a procedure of venting heavy freezing mist that puts both Sunder and .attak in full body glaciers. A simple wedge prop tilts the entire area up and slides them out where they thaw harmlessly. Sunder looks up from being left on his back and grumbles, but manages a smirk at .attak. Bishop waves to the two of you and remains seated, watching you both.

: Victim to his charming Yuki Onna yet again, attak doesn't even flinch when he is engulfed in frost, sliding like an old video game sprite. When he's thawed he shakes himself like a mutt and immediately brightens back to full lava. A tiny microphone and stand appear next to his snout, "A big round of applause for the lovely Yuki, everyone! She's as beautiful as she is warm!" loudspeakers everywhere carry the message, "A round of drinks on the house for the disappointing show!" the mic stand winks out in a teleporter haze and the neon signs on all the drinking establishments light up simultaneously, alternating between ROUND ON THE HOUSE and THREE DRINK MINIMUM in snatches of pinks, blues and virulent greens. "So, either of you jerks going to explain yourselves, or what you want? You ain't exactly the usual riffraff, 'round my way."

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Sep 25, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 00:03

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Online, Takashi's Mindscape posted:

: Clambering to his feet Sunder turns around slowly, his tail dragging along the floor like a crocodile's. "I just wanted to fight you. He came to me first."

: Demonstrating unexpected capacity for stealth Bishop has crossed the distance between you and uses extra-long fingers to lift and probe your forearm, testing it as though a stove. "You surprise me, Attack. Your taror is Strength, yet you're no brute. You're clearly a dog, yet you deny him the alpha strike? Foso-so-so-so.." His voice is always heavily robotic, cheery yet hollow. "Very unexpected. That is data in itself.. but you saw through giving me my main course?" His eyes oscillate randomly, various extra lenses and lids flickering over the strange mechanical orbs.

: Even seated in his manse, the gaze of Bishop is unnerving. But perception wasnt always reliable, and attak had long used that to his advantage. "If we ever came to blows, tinman, I'd want you to be surprised. Wouldn't want to bore you."

: "If ever. We need never do so, o temperament of Kings." He withdraws his fingers and laces them together after they told back on themselves to normal width.

: "Kings? Feh, no use for 'em. I don't make a habit of picking fights, but I also never took you for the fighting sort. Why send a chump if you've actually got some mettle in you?"

: By this time Sunder has departed and is busy picking up an entire double armful of buffing drinks. Bishop smiles, which involves an opening around the mouth to audibly slide and make a crescent. "Would you believe I only want to help? You wounded his pride. I suggested he try to get to know you."

: Attak raises his snout towards Bishop, his molten coat pulsing rhythmically with a far away beat echoing through the hull, "Weird way of getting to know someone. But that still doesn't explain why you're here, and what you want. If you got an offer, I'm always willing to entertain. If this is a social visit, then I suggest you got get a drink before mooks realize 'first rounds free, three drink minimum' means they owe me two purchases."

: "I came here to test many things. Gathering data on you was merely a passive opportunity.. what really matters is to test your willingness to listen. I imagine by now you have heard of the mounting rumors, about the player, Takamura, who died pursuing an "optional challenge mode" in this game. One becoming available to many players. It is my intention to prevent any more tragedies like that. I have determined the only way to do so is to appeal to the most prominent players."

: Attak takes a seat on his haunches, his ears turned attentively towards the mechanical man, "Yeah, I heard of Takamura. How could I not, guy was in my guild. But I ain't ever heard of him dying cause of some... what did you call it, challenge mode?" his mouth drops open and a tongue of licking flames rolls out, the picture of a relaxed pup, "Prevent more tragedies... you're actually saying someone died playing the game and, what, you're here to help? How? If people are dying how are you stopping it?"

: Taking a step forward, Bishop brandishes a raised finger in a gesture of pointed confidence! "The nature of this challenge is hard to gauge. I am determined to measure all of the variables at play and find a suitable solution, a compromise that will not endanger life any further. But that may be a bit dry for you.." He leans back, withdrawing his hand. "From what concrete data I do have, I understand that this "challenge" appears to certain players of this game. It comes as a steady series of demands, often blurring the boundary between our online social graces and our real life responsibilities. From this we can determine that the driving force is a very human intellect and it has an interest or even a mere curiosity in the creation of "drama!"" Bishop's illuminated, see-through skull ripples with a wave of electricity, his eyes flickering and clicking. "Hard to gauge, yet absence itself is something to measure. In absence of a purely merit-based and efficient contest, we have more of a "Free For All" where tribal alliances emerge naturally. My solution is simple. I must address those tribes that emerge and sue for peace!"

: "Peace?" a plume of superheated smoke erupts from his nostrils, "Pal, if what you say is true and there is some puppetmaster pulling strings for drama, then they ain't gonna be real happy with a bunch of peaceful puppets. And if, and this is a big if for me, any of this "bonus game" stuff is true, then your puppetmaster is going to look on your peaceful tribes as easy pickings," molten tail wagging, he is the very picture of a dog at ease.

: "Puppetmaster? Traditionally you would not ascribe such qualities, or indeed an interest in "petty" affairs, all of it would be beneath the purview of an.. hmm.. evil outsider?" Bishop cups his chin for a big thinking pose. "You misunderstand. I do not think a puppetmaster is at work.. but a voyeur. If drama is the goal, it leads inevitably to conflict. Drama demands it. Why, tragedy demands it. A unified front can not only protect itself from the machinations of others.. it can keep people from hurting one another over these far fetched promises of power." He drops the thinking pose to brandish his index finger again. "There's nothing more important than preventing another Takamura. As long as players fights, it is inevitable."

: "Ah," his tail stops wagging, "So that's how it is, huh," pinpricks of red begin to sizzle and pop in attak's eyes, along his molten coat, "Don't fight for yourselves, join me in peace. And with you cowed then I get to rule, nice and simple. Or else maybe your shop gets wrecked, or your family goes missing, eh? Better to lie down and accept the harness, lest I have to make it a noose. Listen, kid," the tone of a senpai, "I know you think what you're doing is noble, that you're being benevolent, but history is rife with much smarter people than you trying the same bit. Being selfish, but dressing it up in white robes and calling it all sorts of different causes, cults, or empires. Even if I did believe you about your "bonus mode" or that Takamura died because of this game, the world doesn't need another tyrant, smile or not." .attak rises to all fours, his stance still casual, friendly, but his ears are forward, his tail unmoving, "Now, why don't you enjoy a drink on the house and then head on home. You look a bit parched, but maybe that's just me."

: Bishop hears you out in total, not given to overreaction. When you're finished he leans forward, the better to tilt his head. "Is it so impossible that someone wishes to prevent killing?" He shakes his head and an unfiltered Human sigh comes out. "If your wish is guiding you, then I am sad to say I thought better of you. Have a good night." Bishop absorbs a random scenery beverage into his inventory and departs. Sunder sticks around a bit on the off chance any of the pubs want to tangle.

(Fin)

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Sep 25, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 00:04

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Friday, May 29
Music

Everyone: Thursday ends with a rainy night and Friday opens with a sunny day, the radiant warmth of a full spring sun carried on a cool breeze. It is an ideal day to be outside! Be sure to pack for 4 days!

A Recap posted:

Recently your group has learned some pivotal information for the investigation into Takamura's murder..

Akio has shared with the group that Joker is Hamada Jun, a recent transfer to Naoki and Takeo's younger brother. Coming from Nekketsu he has been hiding his identity and befriended Takashi, saying he saw .attak's stream.

The Devil Link has been broken, although the exact details of what Noriko did to Ichiro and what happened between Tsukiyo and Manami have not been shared.

Takashi has learned that Takano is Charlotte and Akane is Royal. Noriko has as well, though both have learned this separately and have not informed the others. The Hattoris want to meet with Noriko and Takashi during the trip and tell them more about their situation. They've also warned that something will happen on Sunday the 31st, a Full Moon.

Akio, Noriko, Takashi: You go to Naoki as normal, although you don't have to be in uniform. Your belongings are documented, tagged and put into loading queue so you don't have to lug around anything more than a small carry-on. Looks like about 80 students are going on the trip. There's a small assembly, some prestigious things are said by Principal Kunieda, a set of five teachers will be chaperoning the trip. You will be staying at the Teramoto Inn on the beach! It sounds like a cozy little place if it's associated with cozy little Miho, but if it can support this big trip it must be a nice resort hotel! All the students are milling about and socializing excitedly after the assembly. You don't see any sign of Itsumi or Tsukiyo, though Tsukiyo hasn't told you about any problem making the trip. And even Noriko wouldn't know Itsumi returned the money.

Takashi: Takano sits with you for the second half of the assembly after being present sitting on stage during it with other staff and students helping organize the trip. After that she excuses herself briefly and you catch sight of her talking with Sakura, the both strangely similar when next to one another. It's like watching two pack matrons exchange pleasantries, though there's the occasional actual smile in all that ice. At some point she turns and gestures towards you to introduce or meet.. but Sakura raises a hand and abruptly bids goodbye, leaving quickly. Takano shrugs it off and rejoins you, linking her arm with yours at the elbow.

: "It feels so good to see all of this come together! Are you excited?" She's wearing a nice azure-blue summer dress with conservative top and a skirt to the knees, though the contrast between that and her immaculate uniform appearance is downright scandalous.

Noriko: Sitting through the old man principal talking on stage about the need to balance hard work with a life well lived is like the background music of limbo. Sitting with Hideaki, Sato and Akane you're able to survive it, your group hidden in the back row and able to get away with miming mocking movements around the principal. Sato demonstrates a fine form in his hand "kicking" the old timer in the rear end with his finger like a leg wearing a heavy boot. Akane giggles and sits beside you, relaxing with her head on your shoulder(or yours on hers!) Once the assembly lets up your group gets up and moves together, excitedly chatting about what they can do on a nice resort.

: Akane clings to your arm like you're an over the top lovey dovey couple, using both of her arms but with a light grip. She swings around with you to face the boys. "Sato, Hide, I gotta sit with my sister, OK? I'll see you at the resort!" Akane's wearing a cool purple and bright lime green shirt with a big TOXIC PUKE logo and pitch black jean short-shorts with sandals that sport big leather straps with Bowser-style spikes. This is aggressive fashion!

: "Yooo, cool. We'll sing all night when we get there! Have a good one, Nori-chan." Sato's in an exceptionally good mood and waves you off. He's wearing his usual nondescript casual shirt and slacks.

: "Yeah, it'll be good. .. Hey, Felix is going! Let's sit with him!" Wearing some black slacks and a grey GOLEM CORPS shirt with shiny silver hue Hideaki pats Sato on the shoulder, grins at you both and the two leave.

: Akane grins and tightens her grip a bit. "All mine now." She behaves in public and leads you around to find Takano and Takashi, who are also engaged in PDA. From hand holding in the halls to an arm lock. "Ohhh, this is too far, gross, wow, yuck, jeez, oh God.." Akane releases one hand from Noriko and uses it to wave her sister and Takashi off dismissively, sticking out her tongue.

Akio: You sit with Felix and Kane during the assembly, about mid row. Enough where you gotta behave a little, but you can exchange comments.

: "His power level must be amazing.." Felix regards the Principal with... serious respect? He wore his school uniform for now!

: ".. His beard level is over 9000." Kane nods and regards the Principal with... sincere admiration? Kane is wearing a red muscle shirt and jeans with sandals. Same cap with shades on top of the lid.

When the assembly wraps up the two stick with you. You'll need some good comrades to sit with on the long bus trip, after all. Hours of nothing to do but stare out the window or risk random socialization are a death sentence to any awkward teenager. Your keen senses detect that somebody you're divinely linked to is near.. but you can't see Noriko anywhere!

: Sneaking in on your three musketeer's set up, Madoka comes up behind you and Felix and rests her arms on either of your shoulders, leans in between the two of you. "Hey troublemakers, watch out. They gave me a stick and a badge.." She laughs and gives Akio a little push. Ol' Strawberry-San is wearing her uniform shirt and skirt with the jacket tied around her waist, though she did put on some surprisingly cute sandals with a pink-red color mix.

: "Wood's weaker than your fists, ya amazon." Kane smirks at Madoka and the two Karate Club alums share formidable battle faces for a second.

: "Hmm, Madoka was it? Good to see you!" Felix smiles warmly, then seems to notice something. "... Hmm? Where's Itsumi-chan?"

: Madoka sighs and stops putting up her playful scowl, instead looking genuinely dejected. "She didn't come.. I think.. I've been over to her place a lot and.. I've suspected it for a long time." She whispers to you three conspiratorially. "Don't tell anyone, but I think they don't make a lot of money." Felix and Kane nod respectfully.

This isn't the worst way to travel to the beach... but! You finally spy Noriko! Walking with Akane, to join Takano and Takashi! Akane and Noriko look like truly the best of friends, practically leaning on one another.

---

Itsumi: It's sad but for now you'll need to miss that big morning meeting, that huge social gathering and the warmth of the shared bus trip! Instead you'll be arriving an hour after the buses depart to meet Hayate. You end up standing awkwardly near another girl who looks like she might be waiting for the same thing... a girl you've met once, when she tried to bash your head in with a baseball bat turned giant two handed blade.

: Manami seethes at you every so often but tries to ignore you. Eventually she gives into her first snide remark. "... You forget how clocks work? You missed them." She's wearing a lacey black shirt with the shoulders exposed and a wrap-around black canvas skirt with a big obvious wallet chain looped around her waist from hip clip to pocket. And big rear end punk boots, making her feet look twice as large.

---

Tsukiyo: Miho greets you at the school early, you two stay for the assembly, then the two of you walk to take public transport to the little aquarium between Kobe and the resort that you're meeting Miyuki at. You've got all day to relax, since you'll just take the train to arrive at the resort a bit later than the school. Miho's wearing a heavy traveling coat, though it's clearly designed more for protection from rain and wind breaking than anything else. So it's fully concealing, far more practical than fashionable, but at least it doesn't look like it's too hot for her.

: "I didn't see Manami-chan.. but we'll have a great weekend, Tsuki-chan!" She beams earnestly.

: At the Aquarium you see.. Miyuki! Wearing a cute white camisole under a stylish but tough light leather jacket with a black skirt and heels, she looks stylish! She waves happily to the two of you and you can catch a few guy's looks of open admiration. "Tsukiyo! Miho! Hello!" Once the three of you are together she smiles at Tsukiyo. "You two really go everywhere together, don't you? I'm looking forward to this trip."

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Feb 1, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 18:46

Mirthless: Mar 27, 2011; by the sex ghost

Noriko - Friday Morning

Dressed in an all-black ensemble that screams "goth", Noriko is wearing a loose-fitting long-sleeve shirt with the word HATE in block caps, with a similarly loose maxi skirt and a pair of black sandals clasped together with skull pins. The two smallest toes on her right foot are misshapen, with the littlest toe being half-gone, though a small (but no less scandalous!) tattoo of a moth on the back of her ankle does a good job of drawing the eyes away. Around her neck is a choker with a heavy-duty metal ring hanging from the front. Happy with her outfit, she has Akane snap a cute pic, applying a filter and posting it to her social media profile a moment later.

Rose Witch, Noriko Mori updated her Instagriv! She posted:

going to the beach

wish me luck

Though she seems relatively chipper when she arrives (for herself, anyway), as the assembly goes on she finds herself getting increasingly agitated. Fidgeting in place and occasionally gripping Akane's hand for reassurance, she's lost in her own head by the time the principal finishes speaking. She makes polite conversation, happy to bury her discomfort in not-unusual periods of silence. "eheh... sounds fun... i'll see you guys later, ok?"

Pulling Akane off the route for a moment, she stops at a vending machine. "hey... it's... been a really long time since i've had a trip this long... we took a train when we moved, i can hardly make it to the other side of town on the bus..." buying a couple of relaxation drinks, she steps into the corner beside the vending machine and begins fishing around in her bag. "um... can you just, um..." looking embarrassed, she motions in front of her. "...can you stand here for a second?"

Waiting for her likely puzzled friend to block line of sight, she quickly pulls a couple of differently shaped tablets from a pill case, cracking them between her teeth before washing them down with a green tea drink. She looks up at Akane with a grateful, if somewhat sheepish expression. "um... thanks. i don't want anyone to get the wrong idea."

Mirthless fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jan 31, 2019

# ? Jan 31, 2019 19:42

Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

Tsukiyo - Friday

Tsukiyo has been staring at her phone while at school, desperately hoping that Manami would respond to her attempts to contact her. She now has quite a different look, her hair is now quite darker, but is it natural or...? Another change is that her demeanor has become quite more subdued, and it's only Miho's influence that gets her to show a bit more of energy. "Ah, yeah. Yeah, Miho-chan, I... We'll try to have enough fun for her as well." Guilt once again starts to mount...

At the aquarium, the sight of Miyuki at least manages to lift her spirits again! "Hey!" She waves as they join together in front of the statue of a silly-looking penguin mascot. "Heh heh, well, so do we start by taking a look of where Grape Jr. and the other penguins are at? They are so adorable..."

# ? Feb 1, 2019 02:05

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Friday, May 29
Music

Noriko: Akane covers for you, raising her arms and lacing her fingers behind her head so that she's a bit wider! Once you've pepped up she faces you head on and her eyes are sparkling as she gapes.

: "No problem, Noriko! You gotta share some of those with me sometime! If there's anywhere we can get away with this stuff, it's vacation!" She grips your hand and grins. "You'll be fine on the trip, cause you'll be with us! ... And Takashi!" She grimaces slightly with that last bit before the two of you join Takano and Takashi for chatting...

---

Tsukiyo: Miho seems really intrigued by your appearance change when you two first meet up but hasn't mentioned it.

: "Alright, but I hope they have a few sharks." The three of you walk together as a group of friends.

: "Miho really wants to see stingrays, or octopi.. something cute and cool." She bubbles at your left.

: "Like sharks?" Miyuki smiles from your right. "Hmm.. that's so interesting, Tsukiyo-san. Is this your natural color?"

# ? Feb 1, 2019 02:15

Look Around You: Jan 19, 2009

Kasaya Itsumi

Itsumi looks down at the ground before responding, "Oh, um... I'm getting there a different way..." After a brief pause, she realizes who she's speaking to, "Hey, you're in our class too, aren't you? Why aren't you going on the trip?"

# ? Feb 1, 2019 02:20

Mirthless: Mar 27, 2011; by the sex ghost

Noriko - Friday Morning

"ooooh! that's exactly what i mean!" Noriko says with an exaggerated frown, crossing her arms. "they're prescription! i need them for motion sickness and anxiety." Looking off to the side, she quietly adds, "...maybe later, though, eheheh."

---

Coming up on Takano and Takashi, she smiles slightly and waves. "hi-hii, Takano-chan." she keeps the greeting extra casual with her usual monotone delivery before turning to address Takashi. "...Takapochi." she grins, and suddenly seems to remember something. "oh!" Holding up her rather big purse, the crow pin is prominently displayed among a cluster of other pins and buttons, though it's clearly the largest and most centered. "...i brought some cloaks to wear with it but i thought this was a good place to put it for now. hehe."

Mirthless fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Feb 1, 2019

# ? Feb 1, 2019 02:27

Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

Tsukiyo - Friday

Miho finds Octopi and Stingrays cute...? Tsukiyo raises an eyebrow at that odd preference, but she decides not to talk about that. Instead... She shows initiative and grasps both her hands! "Natural... Well, that's something you'd better ask on truth of dare, tehe~" She says while walking the two of them towards the entrance line!

# ? Feb 1, 2019 02:42

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Friday, May 29
Music

Itsumi: Manami lets out a loud "Chh!" and turns to spit on the ground.

: She faces you again and grins with obnoxious contempt, like Rudebright but in real life. "Dumbass. I am going on the trip." As if on cue a distant muffled thump resounds through the area and a strong breeze ripples across the empty school grounds, all of the grass moving in waves as it passes.

: "Don't hit on me silly boys, I already have a boyfriend!" Bounding around the side of a utility shed, Hayate has appeared! She's wearing her usual Nekketsu outfit and carrying no luggage. Now that you think about it.. ! Manami has a small backpack on wheels hidden behind her legs!

: "Do I have to ride coach with this dumb cheerleader bitch, Shio? She looks like she'll lose it when her skirt flips up."

: "BE NICE!" Hayate crosses over to join you both in her dancing stride. She throws her arms up and sends her uniform jacket flying... it disperses into rolling mist, as does the rest of her appearance.

: "Icchan is my GREAT FRIEND! She's a magical love guru! So Machan, I don't care how cute you are.. I'll drop you in a lake if you pick on her." Standing proudly on her transformed geta, Shiokaze smirks with an extra half-foot of height from the giant single bases. And she's already bigger than Madoka.. she looks down and winks at you. "Ready to go, Icchan? I can carry you both!"

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Feb 2, 2019

# ? Feb 1, 2019 02:43

Mortify: Feb 4, 2005

Friday, May 29 - Morning

It wouldn't be Takashi unless he managed to look like he spent simultaneously too much and no time on his look, and today does not disappoint. Anchored by a pair of canvas lowtops, he is dressed in a pair of sand colored shorts, casual stripped crew neck, sailcloth sports jacket that flawlessly matches the shoes, and garnished with a crumpled handkerchief in the pocket. If it were anyone else, it might look overwrought, but somehow it just works while not making anyone else look under-dressed. He carries a canvas weekender that manages to be just the right amount of worn as he makes his way among various groups to slap shoulders, rub elbows, and bump fists with his peers before finding his seat near the front for the presentation.

As Principal Kunieda carries on and Takano returns he gives her thigh a little touch, a gesture meant to convey comfort and affection, without being overtly salacious. His hackles rise when he catches sight of her with Sakura, but the other girl's immediate retreat speaks volumes, "I don't think she'll ever be happy to see me," he says as Takano rejoins.

His casual smile moves firmly into glee at her contained excitement, "Of course I'm excited. When I'm not running around trying to put my eyes back in every time I see you in that dress," he gives her a brief mischievous wink while gripping her arm against his ribs, "This is such a huge undertaking; you're amazing," he rounds out the compliment with a light kiss!

Akane's sudden intrusion into their moment only changes the theme of the expression to a smirk, "Better not get too close, Acchan, or we're liable to infect you," he laughs softly, and then a little more at Noriko's nickname for him, "I'm glad you like it, Nori-chan. I'll refrain from barking at Akane as long as you keep her civil," using his free hand he pulls the lower lid of his left eye down and sticks his tongue out at Akane playfully.

Mortify fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Feb 1, 2019

# ? Feb 1, 2019 06:36

Sockerbagarn: Sep 8, 2007; All makt �t Tengil, v�r befriare.

Akio // Friday, May 29

"He's able to cast meteo for sure," Akio agrees with Felix and Kane, remembering his own close encounter with Kunieda-kocho. Having opted out of the concept of color today, Akio is dressed in a short-sleeved black military style shirt worn unbuttoned over a black t-shirt, with dark grey jeans and a pair of black and white Converse low top sneakers.

(Disregard the blatant display of arcane prowess.)

"Haha, I best stay on my best behavior then!" Akio laughs as Madoka swoops in and ambushes them after the assembly ends. He scrunches up his face into a frown as he learns that Itsumi didn't show up. "That's a shame, she's really gonna miss out. It's pretty drat unfair that not everyone can go... If only we'd known maybe we could've all chipped in for her payment? Then again, I can understand why she wouldn't want to say anything about it." He shrugs, there was not much to do about it at this point. Oh, there was Noriko! "Ah, I'll catch up with you guys later. See ya!" He says with a grin and walks off.

Approaching the quartet, he gives a little wave. "Hey, everyone. Senpai. Takashi. Akane. Noriko!" He nods and looks at each in turn, smiling. "Excited about the trip?" He sidles up next to Noriko and gives her a brief look in the eyes, a flash of concern, and speaks to her quietly. "You, ah... doing okay?"

# ? Feb 2, 2019 00:29

Mortify: Feb 4, 2005

Friday, May 29 - Morning

"Watch out, Akio, you're no match for Norkane," Takashi laughs while extending his fist in the universal greeting of peers, the fist bump, "Glad you could make it, dude," he's entirely genuine... how awful!

# ? Feb 2, 2019 02:55

Sockerbagarn: Sep 8, 2007; All makt �t Tengil, v�r befriare.

Akio // Friday, May 29

"You think it's the first time I'm faced by this profane construct? I dare say I'm getting accustomed," Akio laughs back and follows through with the fist bump. "Yeah, same."

# ? Feb 2, 2019 04:03

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Friday, May 29
Music

Akio:

: As you go you hear Madoka shout! "Meet us on the bus, Akio! Karate Club Rules!" You run off to join the others.

Takashi: The thigh squeeze is accepted and gets you a brief look of friskiness before Takano sits with and leans on you for the rest of the assembly. Your social stock and rumor mill presence is rising again... the later exchange with Sakura draws a curious look from Takano but she doesn't press it at all.

Noriko: Takano nods curtly to you, smiling at the sight of the crow pin.

: "Ohhh, did they let you bring Crowley?" Akane grins and gives you a super big wink. If you were just going to have him follow with magical guidance she knew how that went.

---

Akio, Noriko, Takashi: It feels almost unprecedented, so many of you mingling together at school. You have the bonds of your mutual metaphysical and magical struggles.. yet somehow you always seem to find your own paths and cliques when Digital Devil Worlds is turned off at the end of the night.

: "... Hmmm." The ice-cold upperclassman has warmed up today with her sun dress and open affection towards Takashi. Takano regards Akio for a moment before confidently stating: "Yamamura, Akio.. you're Takashi's friend?" She permits herself to smile at Akio at the connection but watches him closely when he moves over to Noriko.

: "Takapochi, I'll bark all I want, and definitely meow a few times too. And if I feel a ribbit, you'll get the brunt of it." Akane grins wickedly, then looks even more mischievous as Akio joins. "I know this guy too! He's my Right Hand Goon! When I say "jump" he says "I'm not very fond of athletics, boss!"" She uses her fingers to spread her eye lids and raspberry both Akio and Takashi!

: "We'll be boarding and organizing within the hour, and these are very fine buses. They're primarily set in clusters of four facing seats, two facing two." She pumps her arm intertwined with Takashi's, smiling at him, then beams at her sister. Akane and Takano expectantly look to Noriko...

---

Tsukiyo:

: Miyuki looks at Tsukiyo oddly but accepts her hand with a polite smile. "And your favorites, Tsukiyo? Or do I have to wait for that as well?"

: When Tsukiyo takes Miho's hand, Miho isn't expecting it at all! She lets out a high-pitched squeak, like a startled mouse! "Ts-Tsuki! Eheheh.." ... Miyuki is momentarily stunned by this before she boldly reaches over past Tsukiyo's face and gives Miho a pat on the top of the head.

...

After checking several exhibits and having a wonderful start, you stop by The Chum Bucket to get some nautically themed eats that came from the city fish markets, not the aquarium tanks! Miho studies the big hanging overhead menu with prolonged interest and sustained enthusiasm, clearly evaluating every single entry.

: Miyuki considers it briefly then sighs and smirks at Tsukiyo. "... Honestly, seafood isn't my favorite. What are you having?"

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Feb 2, 2019

# ? Feb 2, 2019 04:13

Look Around You: Jan 19, 2009

Kasaya Itsumi

Itsumi is very confused that Manami knows of Hayate's true form as Shiokaze. "Dumb cheerleader bitch? What did I even do to you?" she asks, genuinely befuddled at her hostility. Looking back to Shiokaze, she replies, "Sure, let's get going!"

# ? Feb 2, 2019 19:31

Mirthless: Mar 27, 2011; by the sex ghost

Noriko - Friday Morning

"ehhhhh... crows are everywhere, you know... hehe" Noriko shrugs, slinging the bag over her shoulder. As she adjusts the weight of the bag, it subtly rustles in response. Shifting ever so slightly so the bag is angled away from Takano, the top of crowley's beak peaks out of the flap, and he shoots a sidelong glance at Akane before zipping back into the bag. Between Japan's shockingly lax pet laws and Naoki's generally liberal approach to mental health, she figured she'd be fine if she got found out, since he was technically a registered emotional support animal. All the same. she made him promise to be on his best behavior on the bus (otherwise, he'd have had to take the roof, something Crowley is much too spoiled to do)

She did feel a little bad depriving her mother and grandmother of Crowley's antics, but she always felt more comfortable around the bird and they were so happy she was going on a bus ride - to the beach - that they didn't really give her too much of a hard time over Takashi picking up the bill or her telling them she was bringing the crow. This was a big step forward for her psychologically!

--

When Akio arrives, between his sharp clothes and him noticing her discomfort, she feels her heart flutter. Doki-Doki! "...you noticed. th-thanks, hehe. i'll be okay, i'm just a little worried about the ride. i haven't really been on a long trip since..." she freezes, stopping herself and taking a moment to swallow her discomfort. "...its been a couple of years." taking a deep breath, she seems to relax and smiles nervously. "i'll be okay. i'm ready for this. it's- it's j-just a bus ride, right...?"

Trying not to think too hard about it, she pulls Akio in with her other elbow, making a Noriko Sandwich! "he's the assistant to the manager of the occult club" she says, grinning to Akane. "we torment him together." Leaning on his arm, she adds: "he is also my boyfriend." she looks up at him and smiles. "i'm riding with Akane, though, unless you want to share a seat, ehehe."

# ? Feb 2, 2019 20:38

Sockerbagarn: Sep 8, 2007; All makt �t Tengil, v�r befriare.

Akio // Friday, May 29

Akio rolls his eyes at Akane and her feeble attempt to tease him. "I do alright at athletic pursuits, thank you very much." He then raises an eyebrow and smirks at her smugly. "Hm, now that I think about it, are you even in an athletic club, Akane? I hope you weren't trying to project your own feelings on me..."

As Noriko shares her worries about the trip, Akio puts his arm around her and gives her shoulder a reassuring rub. "It's just a bus ride," he nods and leans in to kiss her on the top of her head, "like countless people go on every day. And I'll be there with you the entire way," he beams at her, but frowns a little as she says she's sitting with Akane. "Oh? I really wanted to sit with you, we haven't gotten much chance to talk about the trip..." His eyes suddenly light up with an idea. "Ah, what if we three sit together?" He looks over to Takashi and grins, "I bet you two wouldn't mind some privacy anyway? You could take a twin seat."

# ? Feb 2, 2019 21:37

Doomykins: Jun 28, 2008; Didn't you mean to ask about flowers?

Friday, May 29
Music

: Takano and Akane instinctively look at Akio at the same time, each sharing a look with him that might be described as "a pack of lionesses have identified new prey." Your Senpai clears her throat and dutifully inform you that "Two passengers to a seat is not safety-minded."

: Akane stops leaning on Noriko's arm so much and straightens up a bit, smiling politely. "I'll stick with Takano, you and Akio can find a spot together."

: "I can invite Sakura to sit with us. She still likes you, Akane." After grinning at her sister Takano looks to Takashi to gauge his obvious favorable reaction.

Doomykins fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Feb 3, 2019

# ? Feb 2, 2019 21:56

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 12:21

Mirthless: Mar 27, 2011; by the sex ghost

Noriko - Friday Morning

Noriko frowns at Akio's obvious blunder. The Hattori sisters were more or less inseparable! Attached at the hip! But now that he'd wedged his foot in, she'd have to make an effort to save him before it got crushed in the door... It was her duty as his girlfriend!

"ehhhh, but i want to sit with Akane-chan..." she frowns, looking up at her. "it'll be boring chaperoning them, you know! they'll spend the whole ride being sexually frustrated and you'll come back from the bathroom and catch them making out. sounds terrible! are you sure you don't want to get a seat with Akio instead? we'll be with Takano the whole time we're on vacation anyway..." Noriko rolls her eyes in that way she does, before laughing a little and smiling. "please?" she asks, with a flutter of her eyelashes.

Beguiling Tongue Diplomacy: 1d20+32 52

Mirthless fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Feb 2, 2019

# ? Feb 2, 2019 22:14

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > Digital Devil Worlds [D&D 4e Game Thread]

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