Yang - Rooftop
"First, only, same thing, I can beat any dumb challenge you throw my way," Yang exclaimed, a fist-pump punctuating her words. "Uhh...." she said, looking at Lucy. "Yeah!"She lifted up her arm to try and pull the other girl in by the shoulder. "Two of us means twenty million, then."
Lusamine - Matsuya
"I think that sounds fair," Lusamine replied to Lillie with a smile as she drank her tea. "I wouldn't want my daughter to be taken advantage of, though. I do believe there are two different contracts to negotiate," she continued. "One million yen for the rights to Nebby's voice and likeness, and then one million yen for him participating in publicity events. Not that I don't trust you, but it's always preferable to have things written out should any of your employers or coworkers choose to intervene after you've acquired his appearance."Claw, Lot Of Work, This
It really was like a theater play. More or less. He was still having difficulty of wrapping all this around his head due to the sheer scale of the event, but - at its core - it was still a theater play.
A woman nearly pushed him into a room full of props, saying something about makeup. Oh lords, please no. The last thing he needed was lipstick or eyeshadow. That was why he was willing to go along with this "catsuit" thing in the first place; any more blows to his dignity were just cruel. She gave him the basics for his role. He recalled Gaige's (hopefully) worthwhile lessons on acting in these horror movies.
"Right. The costume probably doesn't need further adjustments." He said, swallowing his pride. "Does it make sense to assume it would come with its own weapon props?" Claw gestured briefly to his cutlass. "Something like this, for instance."
"I-" Whatever the lord of the fallen was about to say was cut short when her esteemed personage was volunteered for employment, however singular their shift would be. Ordinarily the woman would have succinctly denied any such request with scathing glare, but she was not of her own world and her power was greatly reduced. Worst of all, if she let Yang botch this up, it might mean even more debt and work, something rather horrible to the slothful angel in general.
If jumping through some small hoops would help them gather the required sum faster, then so be it. She didn't have to like it, this prideful ruler, but she was intelligent enough to know when she had to compromise. "Fine, I'm working too." Still, a rather disgruntled air emanated forth from the irate blonde.
For a moment, it was difficult for Togo to process what was happening. Mostly because of the talking cat. It was a bizarre sight, that she would have waved off as nonsense had she simply heard about something of the sort. Yet there it was, live and in living color, right in front of her own eyes.
Furthermore, it seemed that the old man knew they were there, as she had anticipated. The blindfolded woman seemed surprised, which also helped add more fuel to her inner paranoia... but what he said next simply confused her for a moment. And also bothered her a little. Particularly the part where she was called "Climber".
Apparently, she was meant to climb the building (a tower seemingly called The Tower, no less) and clear its challenges in exchange for... whatever her heart desired. Leaving aside the rather obvious difficulties with the entire "climbing" part of the task at hand, the challenges part clearly implied that there was much more to it than just going up some stairs. What they could possibly consist of, there was no way to know. However, the reward for reaching the top was nothing to sneeze at. "Anything you desire" could be either exactly that, in which case she would automatically obtain whatever she pleased... or it could be a trap to lure the greedy and unwise to their ends.
From that, it was simple to deduce that behind the closed doors were similar sets of stairs than the ones leading to the floor below, but going up in that case. It was very unlikely that they were at the top floor alre-what was she doing?! She couldn't simply assume that the old man was telling the truth! They were in an empty room with a talking cat and a blindfolded woman, there were no windows of any kind present, and the phrase "anything your heart desires" by itself was already raising all kinds of alarms in her head. He may as well have been offering her candy from inside a white van or something of the sort.
Nonetheless, she had to be extremely cautious. There was no way to know what the old man was actually up to. It was up to her to plan questions carefully, get as much information out of him as possible, and try to figure out what is actually going on. In case of failure, she could always flee by rolling herself down the stairs.
"I was chosen?" she asked, doing little to hide her lack of conviction in his words. "I do not quite understand. Why was I chosen? And by whom?"
The Judge ~ The Tower
As he listened to the explanation offered, the cat appeared to almost be lost in thought. He just simply kept looking at their presumed guides, almost as if he was mulling over their offer and perhaps their very existences.
"Assuming you are not, in truth, my own phantasmagorical delusions, I must say this preposition is truly quite tantalizing," he eventually said, "In fact, I'd be quite delighted to go along with these trials. Or I would, if I didn't find your description to missing a few minutiae."
He flicked his tail towards the girl to indicate her own concern. "Most importantly, you failed to elucidate on the nature of the none-too-insignificant task that lies before us. How you designed to separate the tasks at hand from this monolith we are to ascend leads me to assume there is more to this than simply reaching the peak in a most expedient manner."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!Sabrina, Theater Square
"Some of our group had already gone over there to try their hand at getting money," Sabrina explained to Kiryu when he brought up Sky Finance before looking at Baron, still crossing her arms. "I guess we don't have much of a choice but to go over there after this thing is settled."
Wizard Needs Food BadlyThe Tower
"Indeed, there is much to explain," the Locksmith replied to The Judge. "I shall answer any and all questions you have to the best of my ability, for it is my purpose to guide you to the top."
"You have been chosen by the Ruler," the old man said first to Togo. "The Ruler sits at the top of The Tower, choosing and challenging people from all across the Multiverse to climb. As for why you are chosen, I do not know, beyond the fact that the Ruler sees in you the potential to reach the top. None are chosen that can not climb all the way."
"On every floor of the tower, there is a locked door and a black and gold gate. It is my job to interpret the lock and figure out what Key is required to ascend to the next floor. It can tangible or intangible, items of great significance or something with no worth to anyone but you. Next, you Climbers walk through the black and gold gates and search for the Key in the world beyond the gates. Passing through the black and gold gates will take you to a different world, chosen by the Ruler to test your abilities. You may enter a feral world where monsters stalk the lands, or an advanced civilization, or a blasted wasteland where survival will be a challenge in itself."
"Take as an example, the door over there."
The Locksmith indicated the door adorned with the yen symbol and a number still very close to ten million.
"The door of this floor demands that you gather in total 10 million yen, the local currency of the world beyond the black and gold gates, and deposit them in the lock. When the sum is met, you may proceed to the next floor. The world itself is a moderately advanced human civilization, and the gates will deposit you in the entertainment district of one of the world's largest cities. The Challenge of this floor is to seek your fortune in this unknown land, in a city locked in conflict between criminal forces and those who would forge a justice from the lawlessness."
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!2B - Stands
"Humans can't upload memories for safekeeping, or easily repair your bodies, right?" 2B replied, cocking her head quizzically. "You're too fragile for combat. I would have thought you would avoid violence, not enjoy it."
The more she learned about humans, the more baffling they became. She would have turned away, ready to move on, but Gut's next words struck a chord with her. If you put your life on the line and you know what you signed up for, then you can die on the battlefield with no regrets. No android actually "signed up", but they still had a choice, didn't they? If they didn't, deserters would never be a problem. But how many of her YoRHa brothers and sisters could really have said they actually knew what the war was for?
After a moment, she shook her head slightly. "Barely anyone actually knows what they're fighting for." She said softly, expression solemn. "It's not as easy as that."
edited 9th Aug '17 6:21:47 AM by LittleMako
"A... horror movie..." said Asgore, unsure of what to think about that suggestion.
"Oh nononono! I'm a terrible actress! I can't take part in a movie!" said Alphys, noticeably wincing as bad memories suddenly came back to light and left her unusually worked up, although she began to calm down slightly as she began thinking of alternatives, "B-But, I could help with the equipment, maybe?" She suggested.
"''T-ten million yen?!"
Togo's eyes was truly astonished by the sheer number. Yet the evidence was clear as day. Etched on the door was a number next to a currency symbol she recognized quite well; and while the number itself did not quite reach the eight digits, it was close enough that it was far simpler to round it up. Not to mention the larger hole near it, which was probably where the money was meant to be deposited. This did add a small degree of veracity to the old man's words, but if what he said was true... then she was in for a very rough time.
Which reminded her... there was a very important thing to address before she did anything.
"How long is all of this going to last?" she asked, trying her best not to show any signs of the worry that had suddenly invaded her. "When will I be able to see my friends again? They will probably get worried if I disappear for too long."
Guts, Stands
'Uploading memories' sounded like gibberish to him, but that second part made sense.
"We can't just be repaired like a doll, so yeah, we're fragile. Doesn't stop us."
He raised his own metal arm in response, highlighting the part of his flesh that was forever gone.
As 2B grew solemn and lamented not having a reason to fight, Guts remembered something. He remembered when he wanted to know what he was fighting for too, when he wanted to find something of his own that he could use to lead his sword. His next words were completely sincere, absolutely lacking in his usual venom.
"Don't overthink things. If you do, the world will leave you behind, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Your reason to fight can be real simple, could be anything. Just as long as you stay focused on it and never look back."
He had a reason to fight now. He didn't need to worry about that problem anymore.
edited 13th Aug '17 1:13:49 AM by LatverianBadger
"Shake the dust." - Anis MojganiThe Tower
"That, unfortunately, is a question I can not answer," the Locksmith said. "How long each Challenge takes and how many floors you must complete varies. However, do not fret over your absence from your homeworld. Upon arriving on the topmost floor, you will be able to travel back to your world the moment you left."
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!Theater Square - Koishi
A frown creeps onto Koishi's face, slow and graceless. She hadn't thought of it that way before; she rarely does. But Kiryu puts her actions into perspective, and the more she considers them, the heavier their weight feels on her chest. She wouldn't like it if someone took her things and left her with nothing, and now that she considers how much work the people in the crowd must have gone through to get their things, stealing them seems like a rotten thing to do to them.
Not only that, but Koishi's thoughts return to times she's stolen from people back in Gensokyo. Are they as upset with her as the people whose wallets she stole are? Mostly she just slipped into their houses to sample their food, but the more she thinks about that, the more that feels wrong, too. Koishi's stomach does a turn. Are there a bunch of people back home who think she's no good?
Koishi fidgets remorsefully, hands clasped behind her back and her eyes glued to her shoes.
"...Yeah, I understand. I'm sorry." Koishi mumbles, still coming to grips with her newfound status as a no-good, dirty, rotten scoundrel. Has she fallen in with the wrong crowd? Her sister always warned her not to do that. But she likes this crowd! She doesn't want it to be the wrong one! She quickly decides it's probably not the wrong one. Her anxiety is briefly mollified.
"Um, could you help me, Mr. Kiryu?" Koishi asks after a shame-filled pause, looking up to meet his towering eye-line. Her remorse robs her of the forethought to just hover up to his eye level.
"We still need a lot of money to get out of here, and I want to be able to earn my part, but I want to do it the right way." Koishi declares, with a soft edge of hope around her words. If Kiryu and the crowd accept what she's said, that means she's on the right track and can still help. Staying true to herself is the next step, but she can figure that part out as she goes, she thinks. Stealing from people is more complicated than Koishi ever expected, especially since she's not going to be doing it anymore.
The unruly men in suits laughed at Reimu. "Holy shit, she's serious! Get real, you friging-"
They were cut off as the large form of Zazy appeared in front of them, making himself known as he slammed the butt end of his scythe into the grass.
"I believe it is time for you to depart."
Said men suddenly lifted their hands, backing up. "Woh, woh, shit man, chill, we're not looking to mess with you, big guy."
Meanwhile, the older man walked to the shrine. "Would you be willing to give this old man a reading?"
Majima nodded, and then leaned forward as Dio mentioned a fight,
"Oh?" He asked, his eye suddenly wide open as he sprang to attention. "You still want to fight me, pretty boy? Hope you're as tough as ya look then, cause it's your oil drum tossed in the riverbed if you're not."
Akiyama continued to sigh, questioning the wisdom of this. "No, no, it's still only 10 million, she'll just be helping you in the tests. Now come on, let's go before he wakes up and tries to get us to do laps around the city while he shoots at us or something."
With this said, he would lead them off the rooftop.
Before Kiyru could respond, he heard a voice behind him.
"Kiyru! What's going on here?" Akiyama said as he walked over, his new customers behind him.
"Just teaching Koshi here a lesson. Those people over there want to speak with you."
"Oh?" He said as he turned to the large group of alternates, clasping his hands together. "My name is Akiyama Shun, but you probably already know that. How can I help you today?"
Meanwhile, Kiyru continued to speak to Koshi. "Well, the first step is knowing your strengths. What can you do, Koshi? What are you good at?"
Apparently ready, the man withdrew two contracts, and slid them to Lusamine.
"All I need is your signature on the two contracts. First step will be the add shoot, which we'll go to as soon as the paperwork is signed."
He also hefted a briefcase onto the counter, which he popped open to reveal 1 million Yen in cash.
"Your payment for the rights to the likeness."
Gaige nodded.
"Oh, good idea, you two can have, like, an epic monster duel! And Alphys, we're going to make the best special effects ever! Now come on, we gotta hurry before they start."
With that said, Gaige quickly ran into the building, motioning for them to follow.
The makeup woman nodded. "That should be fine, yes, a pirate theme works for this movie."
Then she saw another man in a monster suit (Asgore), and ran over in a rush, pushing him as well into makeup.
"No one told me this was a two monster movie, god why don't the directors ever communicate? Sit down, quickly, and pick some props! I'll let you decide what fits your character. You're an ordinary Japanese buisnessman who put on a suit he found at a secondhand shop, only to find it was processed, and started running around, attempting to kill a group of normal Japanese high schoolers. Or at least that's what they told me when this was a one monster movie, I don't know if they're going to alter your backstory now."
"I'm gonna go negotiate more cash out of the director, just sit tight a minute!" Gaige yelled before she ran off, leaving Claw, Asgore, and Alphys alone.
Qrow, before entering, would be stopped by one of the workers.
"Remember. These are not deathmatches. No killing your opponent, or you'll wish you were dead."
With this said, Qrow would enter. The first two rounds would pass uneventfully, the opponents being defeated easily. Then, the last round came.
"And it. Is. Time! For the final match! We have today, The Grim Reaper, Qrow! He's come out of nowhere with a weapon unlike any we've seen and dominated his competition! But he might meet his match now. Because his challenger is none other then the one, the only-"
At this point, the other door opened, and a giant of a man entered the ring
◊, holding a large metal bat which somehow still managed to look puny in his hands.
"The Ultimate Warrior, Taiga Saejima! The man who was once condemned to death row after single handily gunning down no less then 18 Yakuza! How much of a chance will our challenger fair? Let's find out!"
Said man looked Qrow over. "Huh. Grim Reaper? The suit kind of ruins that image. Shouldn't you be in a black hoodie and skull mask like half the punks I see on the street these days?"
If he happened to look up, Qrow might also see Kage the Florist had taken a position near the very top of the viewing stands, in his own private section, leaning forward with his hands folded, observing the fight.
edited 18th Aug '17 8:55:04 AM by Meanken
"I did say modern humanity's pretty good a while ago," she said to her bodyguard, "but...I should've mentioned the corollary. Modern humans aren't always the best. Thanks." She gave him a pat...on the arm, because no way she was gonna get up to his shoulder without making herself look dumb. Or flying.
Her ears perked up, and her heart started to flutter, as she just barely detected the word she was dying to hear: readings! She couldn't have scooted back and abandoned her tall friend faster, Sumireko had a job to do!
"Yes, yes I would be glad to," she said, sliding on in next to Reimu. "We can do taro...tea lea...palm readings! It's my specialty."
She extended her gloved hands on the table, and suddenly sounded just a little bit more serious. "Give me your hand, your name, and when you were born, and I can give you much more in return."
Qrow - Cultural Miscommunications; Arena
"Yeah, well, turns out a Grimm Reaper is something very different here than how it is back home." Qrow replied, stretching his arms out.
The first two had gone down easy, nowhere near even a first-year Beacon student's level. Hell, the Arc kid could kick their asses, and he wasn't even good enough for Beacon.
But now was now, and what he was facing now was a giant of a man with a baseball bat. Big usually meant slow, which Qrow could work with. If he was fast, Qrow could work with that too.
"You see, back home, I hunt these things called Grimm." He held his sword
aloft, catching sight of Kage taking a seat behind it. "And I hunt them with this."
The four sections of the sword separated in a staggered fashion, each letting out a massive boom as it did so. The separated segments folded over in a crescent fashion, their bladed side upwards, as the handle in Qrow's hand began to lengthen to almost the height of the lanky man.
The inward edge of the now-scythe
forced it's way out of back of the blade's blunt edge, and as the transformation ended, Qrow rested the scythe upon his shoulder.
"Hence, Reaper."
edited 19th Aug '17 4:48:19 AM by GeekCodeRed
Claw, Monster Movie
"You know how these producers are." Claw grunted. Suddenly there were two more monsters to join the crowd. "Always trying new things."
"Still, we should be able to work with that." He looked at Asgore, somewhat happy that there was someone he knew in here. Gaige was... helpful, but she was still a little... kooky. Asgore, thankfully, was a more stable individual and though he didn't know Alphys much, if she was a friend of his then he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Is it too late to adjust the backstory? Why not making it into a costume party that went wrong?" He suggested to the make-uper before looking at the two monsters and giving them a sidelong glance among the lines of "Just play around".
Baron, Money
There Kiryu went and began preaching to the choir. Well, there went any attempt at using Koishi's talents for a higher purpose next time they needed her.
As a consolation prize, Kiryu's well-off friend showed up. "Yo, m'man. Mr. Chairman ova dere say ya can get us sum yens. Lotsa yens." He grinned at Akiyama, approaching with the casually swagging step. "And playa, do we need plenty. Ten million."
Reimu
Reimu nodded.
"You take care of that, Sumireko, while I get the o-mikuji ready."
As Sumireko did her thing, Reimu got out one of the smaller boxes, this one with a circular hole in the top. The ink had just dried on the o-mikuji, the strips of paper with various fortunes on them, and she carefully deposited each one in the box. Of course, there had been no time to make one for every aspect of life, so these were all general fortunes, but hey, a sacred lot was a sacred lot.
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!Lillie ~ Matsuya
Lillie glanced at the briefcase full of money with an apprehensive look on her face. She still had trouble wrapping her head around how she of all people managed to make more progress than the rest of the group combined. Of course, there was still the issue of getting all this back to the gate without getting waylaid by one thing or the other.
Maybe they should worry about that later.
"...Well, I hope it works out at least...." she replied to Mother.
The Judge ~ The Tower
"This task is truly of a most intimidating nature," the cat commented on the explanation given, "But given my previous circumstances, I see little reason not to at least make an attempt. It has been quite long indeed since anything so intriguing has presented itself before me...."
At that, he got up and started to make his way towards the gate in question. After a few steps, however, he looked back at the girl who had arrived alongside him.
"Now then, fellow Ascendant. The macrocosm into which we should quickly advance will likely be quite extrinsic to the both of us. As I see no other being beyond our two counselors," he waved his tail towards their two guides, "And as I suspect this campaign is not theirs to undertake, it is my suggestion that we collaborate in order to accomplish this most vast accumulation of what I am to assume is the local currency."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!The two monsters exchanged rather unsure looks with each other before following after Gaige. Once they got to the building where the movie would presumably be filmed, Asgore was immediately pushed around by one of the ladies who then began explaining the story.
"Kill high schoolers...?" said Asgore, wincing at the thought of having to play a role like that again even if this time it was fake.
"U-Um..." said Alphys, nervously glancing around and looking very, very uncomfortable with pretty much everything, but looking particularly concerned with Asgore "m-maybe we could have... one of the monsters be actually nice but... just misunderstood? B-Because he's scary looking?"
"I've had... a lot of time on my hand to learn I guess." Making the understatement of the millennium, the fallen angel's scowl lessened by a fraction so that now her eyes weren't boring a hole through Akiyama's head like a laser. "And I'm not a Huntress, sorry. More a ruler if you will... I dictate a portion of the realm where I reside, though there only those strong enough can hold power for any length of time." Explaining while keeping things vague enough that there wasn't any major freaking out episodes involved, Lucifer continued her grim jaunt.

Besides, advertising was still going on. She hired some guy to hold it for a while for the grand sum of ¥5,000, and like he was going to complain! He looked like he could use the money...or, at least, the promise of money.
Never underestimate the shrewd business practices of Usami Sumireko!
She got back around the tail-end of the younger guys starting to tear Reimu a new one. Good ol' Reimu, she seemed to hardly react to it, but Sumireko knew she still needed support. As soon as the shrine maiden was done placidly replying, Sumireko stepped in. Literally. As in, she walked in from the side unannounced.
"You don't think Buddha had enough money for a shrine when she started out, right?" She wagged a finger, peppering her message with a little nuh-uh-uh action. "Or Jesus? Or..."
She stalled for a moment by waving her hand around, because Confucius and Muhammad were two guys who probably did have enough money to start a shrine, and all the other ones were obscure cultists that nobody besides her, Esotericist Supreme, had heard of.
"Really, humble beginnings are always in fashion," she said with a final wave. "I can also help with whatever you need."