"Maybe if she had someone else around like you, she'd be able to not do things like she did... everyone needs friends after all." Sighing and wondering myriad what-ifs, the magical girl perked up after hearing a certain phrase. "I knew it, Ms. Qing really is a good person!" Laughing gaily as the slightly heavy mood dispersed like sunlight breaking through the veil of thick fog, Hibiki relaxed once more as she heard the woman's words.
"I'll try not to bother you too much with my problems but... it means a lot to me that you're willing to do this for someone you just met." The determination to protect only grew stronger as the fuel fed itself to the roaring fire that was her conviction, the Touhou now squarely the most important person alongside Yuna and the others in this City.
"What about you, Ms. Qing? An immortal like you must have done so much with your life!" Indeed, this was something that Hibiki always felt guilty about, not knowing the burden of the long-lived that drove them to do their deeds. If she could understand even a part of their ideals, maybe she could be able to truly talk with such people in the future... fists clenched at the thought of being able to communicate without violence, the girl looked toward the future with idealistic eyes.
Stop Killing My Titles
Two, Outside of Library
She looked up after a moment since being prodded. Caboose. Good old Caboose, always on the lookout to try and cheer up his friends. "Oh... i-it's nothing, Caboose. It's just... I suppose I'm feeling confused." She said after a moment, resting her chin on her knee, wiping away the few tears that showed up.
"Miss Valentina, she... I don't think she's a good person." She muttered quietly, staring off at the distance. "But... what she did, while terrible, had to be done. Just not like this..."
"But it seems everybody else sees her like a villain. Ben, Louie, Rex, that girl and the strange skull demon with her... s-she went overboard, yes, but..." It sounded like Two was deeply conflicted about this. "I don't... don't know what to think."
grah
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
"The plaque?" I offered up. "Well it said the challenge was just to 'keep the city from exploding'. Pretty ominous, I'd say, but it's too vague to really make heads or tails of. Are things just gonna randomly explode? Is there a bomb somewhere? What are we supposed to do?"
I wondered if the newly-arrested cackling supervillain had any ideas. Speaking of, that was probably something I should bug Garrett about. I had his number and all.
I stopped just before the gate, looking at Yoshika, who sounded disappointed that she never did get a gun from Miss Tairee. (Would it be irresponsible to give her the flamethrower?) "Hey, actually, could we hold up for a sec?"
I took out my phone, glanced at the guard tower, and texted the thief.
Hey so your crime buddy got arrested apparently?
The militia says he wants to talk to you, or something
Well they didn't actually name either of you that's just what I inferred
I haven't left yet, I can play middleman if you want
"Just a little bit. I don't think I've exactly exploited most of my time that well, considering I've spent most of it living in one country," Seiga admitted with a nod and a smile. "I've gotten to see Japan change quite a lot in my time. There's a great number of stories I have, but..."
Oh yeah, that but. Now, this wasn't exactly knowledge that anyone outside of Yoshika was privy to, but now that Seiga thought about it...it'd make for a great sob story. Hibiki would be ready to throw herself in front of a car for her after this, mark her words.
"...Well, I'd have done more, but unfortunately...I am hunted, back home," she said, still sounding content, but with an newly introduced current of melancholy. "There are some people who are opposed to my very existence as an immortal."
How someone would stop a rock from exploding was beyond her, but everyone here's pretty ingenious when it comes to getting rid of dangerous things. Maybe Yoshika could explode herself again~
Lewis, being a hip young middle-class kid, had some texts to sling out. Yoshika nodded to him when he asked for time, but soon enough she was peeking around his arm to look at it. "Where'd you get that?"
edited 19th Oct '17 12:47:57 PM by wikkit
From the Library
Garrett didn't answer via text message (he had no idea how to do that,) but soon after sending his text, Lewis would receive a phone call:
"...That message was from you, right? By my "crime buddy", you mean the Riddler? Guy in a weird green costume and a domino mask?
"Here I was wondering where he was, and turns out he went and got himself arrested," Garrett grumbled. "...And now he wants me to come over and chat? Like hell am I going to walk straight into the lion's mouth. ...Can't I just talk to him over this phone?"
edited 19th Oct '17 1:02:10 PM by Korodzik
Happy Box Hater
Outside Library
The blue soldier looked on with his expressionless gaze as Two explained her heightened emotional state. Trusting the task of helping someone navigate complex feeling regarding moral gray areas to Caboose was perhaps not the best move, but he'd try his best.
As the soldier began to speak, his head bobbing up and down, he sat down next to her. "I don't know much about what's happening," Caboose started to say slowly. "But I don't think you should worry about what everyone else was saying. People who are good can do things that are bad, because they do not know it is bad or because they think it will be good later. Even if she did something bad does not mean she is a villain. She's a bit mean but I think the tall skeleton who says he isn't a skeleton is more mean. Even mean people don't have to stay mean anyways. Agent Washington is the best and he only joined Blue team after trying to steal Church."
Why is a yam attacking me?
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
The funniest thing about this talk was that Yoshika didn't know the difference between an asteroid and a bomb. "Bombs are manmade, asteroids aren't," I explained. "Bombs also aren't made of rock, they're made of metal and explosive chemicals."
She leaned over, mystified to discover a rare and fabled 'smartphone' and wondering where I got it. "A magical wizard bestowed it upon me and sent me on a quest to free the US from an evil whale. Jk, the librarian gave it to me the other day."
Just then, I got a call. From Garrett. What, did he not know how to text? I picked up. And now we were actually talking. With our voices. Near the guard. Even with the previous reassurance that the militia didn't want to lock him up thus far, and having hopefully gained at least a few reputation points for bringing in Pyro McLeafyson, I had a sneaking suspicion that I looked suspicious as hell right now.
Note to self: explain how texting worked.
Deciding to at least leave him off speaker, I answered, "You never learned how to text, did you? Yeah, that guy. Probably. Yes, I was offering to put him on the line for you. Probably gonna have to run it by the militia, though, obviously. Uh, let me just double check something first."
"Hey!" I called up to the guard. "Thinking about it, could you give a name for the guy you're looking for?"
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
"You know, the only people who ever unironically say things like 'doing what must be done for the good of their people' tend to be terrible people," said Rick from his table. "Why speak euphemistically?" he added after taking a quick swig from his flask. "Why not just be direct? It's like... 'burning down a village,' people should be more offended by that than how you say it."'
"Rick has a point," offered Morty. "I-it's like when people talk about, I dunno, 'clearing up loose ends' or 'silencing the opposition' or whatever."
"See? And she was - she was going on about 'loose ends' too - like - a couple paragraphs ago, Morty. You get it."
edited 19th Oct '17 9:37:24 PM by Locoman
feeling blue
So Rex had some business of his own to attend there? Well, that was convenient, they could get both things done at the same time, but Chise had to wonder what exactly was in that bag he had to deliver. Rex also seemed to be trying to leave Elias behind, which wasn't much of a surprise given how the two of them weren't getting along very well. It was a little strange, considering that it looked like they went from being polite to each other to such animosity really suddenly, making her wonder what happened between the two while she and Elias weren't together.
Luckily Rex was distracted from actually trying to run off when someone else arrived and he went to check. Chise followed after him and looked at the man who definitely looked like the military type, probably a member of the militia. She couldn't quite tell how high ranked he was though. He did suggest that they could just talk to Silanea over the radio but...
"I'm sorry, sir, but... What we need to talk to her about is not exactly something that should be discussed so publicly." She explained.
Elias then walked over to them with Rex's phone in hands, giving it back to him.
"Your very transparent attempt to leave me behind while you ran away with Chise aside, I will be heading to the prison alongside you. I can teleport us back here as soon as we're done and so we can see whether she's still in the bubble then; and if she's not, it shouldn't make any difference either way."
edited 19th Oct '17 7:22:21 PM by FullMoon
She was so mad with this obvious failure of communication* that she crossed her arms and didn't offer any helping words to try and figure out whoever they needed to capture.
So the one from Silanea's world was in fact one of the adventurers that slaughtered the lamia village. Yeah, that would definitely complicate things... For the moment she tried to ignore the sorcress as there wasn't anything to be done about her at the moment anyway and turned to Rex "Wait a sec, is this about what Tester told you yesterday?"
Elias didn't bite and insisted on coming along to the prison. It was obvious that was gonna happen, but at least Valentina's talk with Caboose had given Rex something to distract him with. It wasn't gonna work, now was it?
"Hey, she gives conferences about magic. I'm sure you guys have a lot to talk about"
Wells meanwhile, wasn't sold on the idea of discussing things with Silanea just yet and for some reason asked Valentina to learn how long ago she had attacked the lamia village. With that, he proposed calling the prison since Silanea was still there. Chise on the other hand didn't think talking about her world through the radio was a good idea. Things were getting nowhere and Rex still had Makoto as an excuse to leave the library and "accidentally find" Silanea.
"You heard the lady, we need to talk to her in person"
As he got downstairs, Rex noticed Curly was there with Wells. She wanted to know if all this had something to do with what Tester had told him.
"Probably. If we change her views maybe they will be less likely to burn down another village"
Elias was right about one thing, though. Chances were Valentina wouldn't leave the bubble anytime soon. And if they had to reason with her it was better to do so after she had calmed down.
"Tairee, can I get a black marker?"
THE SLORG!
"Huh?" the militia guard turned around to look back down into the courtyard where Lewis was. "His name? It was uh... Gary? No! Garrett, that was it" the man answered, having to think about it.
"I wasn't referring to the lamias specifically" Valentina said to Rick, frowning. "And today is the first time I've ever met anyone offended by the fact that I led the cleansing. My people threw a large banquet in my honor, and the king confided to me that he nearly declared a new holiday to my name. And I've heard that many newborn daughters now hold my name" the sorceress explained.
"You people meanwhile have been quick to judge me without knowing all the facts. And you have seemingly seen fit to condemn me despite the fact that none of you were even involved, so it is not your business. Which seems ironic, considering what you seem to be angry with me about. Judgement on the lamias was brought due to generations of hostility; it was not 'quick'. And it was in my homeland, which I was charged with protecting, so it was my business" Valentina added at length, in a chiding tone.
Meanwhile, Wells was mostly still thinking. "Yes, I suppose that's true" Wells had muttered after Chise responded to him, and was still thinking after that.
Miss Tairee looked over and perked up somewhat when she noticed Curly. "Ah, Curly; I have that information you requested ready, if you still want it" Miss Tairee said, then looked thoughtful. "Did you just say 'Tester'? Hmm..." the librarian trailed off, rubbing her chin in thought and turning to her computer. First she did some quick typing, and with a blur, a black marker appeared next to Rex. Then Miss Tairee continued typing, then there was a quiet beep from the computer, followed by her typing some more, followed by another quiet beep, and so on continuing for a while.
edited 19th Oct '17 9:47:40 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
Yoshika got upset. And she still looked super moe. I tried to rein that particular reaction in. "You said 'whatever the difference'. I thought you meant between a bomb and an asteroid since you mentioned those right before."
In more serious matters, the guard called down that actually yeah it was Garrett. "Oh, it was. I think that might have been the guy, actually. We were just talking over the phone, actually, and I realized. Uh, he says he'll talk over the phone, he's not comfortable doing it in person, considering."
A certain woolly animal, looking distressed and irritated at all the noise, meandered crankily toward the nearest Tairee, only to bump into Valentina's bubble and, in what may have been confusion, start licking it.
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Rex felt a little jealous of Valentina. She had killed innocent people left and right and she was hailed as a hero in her homeworld. Sure, he was admired and several people told him he was changing the world but no one threw a large banquet in his honor. But those thoughts were a distraction right now.
"Look, I know you won't believe me but I'm like you. Before Providence found me and put me to work it really looked like the world was going to end. I don't know how I would have handled it in your place but I've actually seen what you did and it has to stop"
But that would probably just bounce right off Valentina's face. Or rather, her bubble. Which speaking of, Tairee had just given Rex a marker to write on it with.
"Anyway, I don't think Tairee is going to let you go in a while so whenever you feel like talking, ask her for a cellphone and call this number" he started writing down his number on one side of the bubble alongside his name. He wrote it mirrored so Valentina could actually read it. Rex was a lot of things but he had enough foresight to realize that.
A random alpaca walked to the bubble and started licking it. That was enough to warrant a laugh and taking a picture of the whole situation "Say cheese" Bobo would have a field day with that one. And hey, other people would too, why not share it?
Rex messaged Makoto and sent her the photo of the sorceress and the alpaca.
Hangar
Makoto looked away from the ship building process again when her cellphone buzzed a second time. She flipped it open to check who it was.
"Oh, Rex is coming back here soon," she said out loud, skimming the text. It hadn't been that long since he had left, but she still hadn't eaten anything since getting up, and using her Persona for brute force work was slowly starting to wear on her. It wasn't as draining as the fights yesterday were, but eventually, she'd have to take a break. Makoto wondered who he was talking about when he said "we", but maybe Wells had decided to come back with him. At least he hadn't asked about the flashlight. She typed out a quick response.
And what did "XD" even mean? After she sent the first text, Makoto received the actual image. She tilted her head and frowned slightly as she tried to figure it out. Why was someone stuck in a force field that was being licked by an alpaca? A long minute passed before she sent the second text message.
edited 20th Oct '17 12:11:13 AM by ScorpioRat
Arcade looked from Valentina back to Eve a few times. "I don't think I want to stay here." he muttered.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
For the Horde!
Ben just sighed and looked at Arcade. "Me either," Ben muttered. He listened to Valentina and just sighed, shaking his head. "No one had a problem with it? I guess the people that did were burned at the stake or something," Ben told her, shrugging. "Well, I'm adding your world to the list of worlds in the multiverse that royally stink. I could listen to you rant like a crazy person or I could go. I think I'll do that. Anyone else wanna come?" Ben asked, starting to walk out of the library with his hands in his pockets.
If the arcade thing was true anyway, he would wanna see if they had any of the new Sumo Slammers games available. And if anyone on the way was in trouble, they'd have no need to fear either!
edited 20th Oct '17 11:50:33 AM by AllHailThrall
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Stop Killing My Titles
Two, Library
The Intoner had to wonder if Caboose knew that through his unique way of thinking he often brought more wisdom than he - or anyone - realized. "Yeah, I guess "mean" is a good way of putting it." She sniffed, wiping the last remaining tears away with her arm. With a sigh, her head rested on his shoulder. "Back when me and my sisters were freeing the land from its previous rulers, we've killed a lot of people. Most of them were soldiers loyal to them and... well, they weren't really doing anything bad, were they? But, at the same time, One always said it's necessary if we want to make the people happy. They suffered a lot under the tyrants of past."
"We still meet some of the remaining soldiers from back then..." Another sigh. "Well, I guess what bothers me is that everybody is taking her for granted. Ben and Louie, in particular. They can't see anything but a villain in her."
grah
Happy Box Hater
Outside the Library
Caboose could understand what Two was saying to some degree. Fighting people because you needed to didn't mean they were wrong and you were right. Deciding to share his own experience in the matter, he said "I told you earlier about how me and my friends stopped a war, right? It didn't happen at first. We got separated into two groups, aside from Church and Carolina who already left without telling us, and each side was helping an army to save us from the other army. We were pretty wrong about it, but all we knew was that the Federal Army had our friends. It was only once we met again that we realized they were angry at each other for bad reasons and helped defeat the bald guy who wanted them to destroy each other so he could take everything like some big bird!"
After saying that the blue soldier paused for a second. Uniquely, not even Caboose was so sure of what he was about to say. "Well, maybe it's because..." he continued uncertainly. "I've heard a lot of people say that memory is the key. I don't know what it means, but maybe they are not good at not using their memories to decide their feelings?" He paused for a second and then finished his train of thought. "They know people who were really evil and did that stuff and can't ignore the past when thinking about what they are seeing?"
Why is a yam attacking me?
someone
Eve | Library | Taking The Escape Route While I've Got One
Eve nodded to Arcade, and began to walk out of the library. When Ben made his announcement, she veered over to join him, hopefully taking Arcade with her.
[TOP SECRET]
"I see" Curly said simply as Rex quickly moved on. From what she could tell of the conversation thus far, convincing the sorcress that the Lamia shouldn't be wiped out seemed like a tall order, at best.
Rather that concentrate on that the robot simply nodded at Miss Tariee and approached the desk "Thanks, sorry about that. I've been pretty busy the past few days"
edited 20th Oct '17 2:50:07 PM by BlitzTrain
THE SLORG!
"Oh, so you have him on the phone now? Alright, then we'll... Wait a minute" the militia member said, thinking about something. "... So you're telling us now, that the criminal we have in prison, that's looking for his friend to talk to is also your friend, and now you've called him up? That's pretty suspicious" he pointed out, looking down at Lewis with a sort of weirded out expression.
"Yeah, let's go Ben" Louie agreed, recalling his pokemon and starting to follow. "I guess we're just leaving Thomas?" the trainer asked, though after a thought added, "though he does seem to need the rest."
Valentina glanced at the alpaca, curious for a moment, but quickly turned her attention elsewhere, to Rex, with a somewhat dull expression. "'It has to stop'? Well lucky for you, it already did. Because as I already mentioned, the cleansing is done. Finished. Your 'friend' is the only lamia left, and if she's now here then she's hardly a threat to my home" Valentina said, shaking her head. "It's not like I can very well wave my hand and bring back her village, so I don't see why I was brought here to deal with this resentment. If this is about Tristen tricking her, well, I wasn't even aware of that, and why wouldn't you bring him here if that was the case?" the sorceress then asked.
"It wasn't our doing. And besides, everyone was brought here at random" Wells pointed out.
"... Um, actually, no" the Miss Tairee at the central desk spoke up, standing out of her seat now. "Lady Valentina is an exception, as part of the challenge around Silanea that some of you just went through. She was specifically chosen to be brought here" the librarian explained.
"She has other exceptions too" Miss Tairee then added, looking to the bubble. "Unlike other powerful people brought to the city, such as some of you, she was not weakened in any fashion; she is exactly as strong here as she is back in her home. But... She does not abide by the rules of death here either. If she dies here in the city, she stays dead. Other than that, she is like the rest of you" the librarian went on.
"... So let me get this straight" Valentina began, standing up from her cross legged position. "All these people here, who seem so hostile against me; if they die, they just come right back? But I don't? So I can't even properly eliminate a threat to defend myself if they decide they want me dead?" the sorceress asked, scowling, then muttering, "well that hardly seems fair."
The Miss Tairee at the central desk then glanced aside at Curly and nodded, then tapped a few keys on the keyboard. A fairly small book appeared with a blur in front of Curly. In it, it first summarized Miss Tairee's history before she became Sekreh Tairee,
then went on with some simple explanations.
I am not the first Sekreh Tairee; there were many before me, possibly a countless amount. To my knowledge though, this is the first time my boss has done something like this, with the city.
Humans are so common in the multiverse, and by extension here in the city, because we are the ultimate example of the Bleeding Effect in action. In fact we are so prevalent, that the other most commonly recurring races of the multiverse are basically just variations of us: beautiful, pointy eared, haughty and smug humans; short, sturdy, strong humans with a penchant for large beards and digging underground; green colored, violent humans. The list goes on.
Arcade followed Eve, head bowed. His thoughts were still a swirling mess, and it left him feeling like nothing made sense. Why did this kind of stuff keep happening? Was it just human nature to be so utterly cruel.
No, no. He knew that wasn't it. There were always good people who deserved to live. It was just the cruel ones that had too much power, too often. The only thing keeping him tethered to reality was the hand he placed on Eve's shoulder so he wouldn't accidentally lose track of her while he thought.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
Library
The blue soldier's brain finally caught up with Two leaving the room in a distinct state of unhappiness. Deciding to check it out, Caboose closed his conversation with Valentina off by saying "Well, I hope you get home soon."
Hurriedly walking to where he thought Two had gone, Caboose soon found he was wrong. And so he tried another entrance. He not so systematically went through every door before coming through the only one left, which was one of the closest to where he started, and finding the crumpled up intoner.
That... was not shaped like a happy friend, Caboose decided after a moment of thought. He walked over to Two and poked her shoulder to get her attention before asking "Oh, what happened Two? Did something happen?" His first thought was that someone might have stolen her ice cream, but she clearly had no ice cream before leaving and there wasn't anywhere you could get some in sight. Hopefully Two wasn't holding out on him.
Why is a yam attacking me?