Idunn; Zone 5, Smith, Smith, and Smith

J.J's request for my presence when interrogating Brand is a reasonable one on its face, and I nod in assent before Vivy and Matsumoto begin to speak. Their plan seems sound enough, but there is one element I am not certain of, so I ask, "If the reason you are not providing cubes to those speaking with Brand is the fear of detection, are you sure that Jenny will not detect them as well?"

Maggie - Margaret, I suppose, though she would most likely be uncomfortable if I addressed her as such - says that she cannot meet with Brand due to personal reasons. Her apparent sympathy for the United Front seems motivated by a desire to help those in need, rather than a desire to cause violence, which is interesting.

Even more interesting, however, are J.J.'s remarks, which I realize were almost certainly not simple banter. Perhaps she is physically delicate, but given the inherent dangers of reporting for the Concordia Concordance, I doubt that she does not possess some basic self-defense maneuvers. Given her tone, it is possible that this was a joke, which would make some sense. Her second statement also gives me pause, as I am well aware that my presence is not conducive to creating comfortable situations. Perhaps this is a rather more mean-spirited joke, although I am unsure what I have done to provoke it. I make a note to ask about it later.

So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my Tumblr

To the Spadome, Areum

I am surprised by the Yakumos' reaction, though perhaps I really shouldn't have been. We have, after all, known each other for far longer than my tenure at the diet, so I'm not sure why I assumed that this move would cause them to turn me away.

I give Yukari a hug.

"I guess I just wasn't sure how you were going to react, but… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted you all to begin with. Of course, let's go to the spa."

And with that, I head over to the spa with the Yakumos.

Zone 7 - Nameless Chapel

The commander left the others to their chatter, and turned instead to Toyosatomimi-no-Miko. He had no idea what committee she was referring to, but given the number of meaningless committees the Diet has thrown together and then forgotten about, he didn't doubt it existed.

Probably thrown together by the Houraisan faction. Which would explain why Miko was on it - he was fairly certain that Miko and Kaguya hail from the same world, which appeared to be one where demons wear the faces of young women.

Regardless, he must assume it exists. Whether said committee has any authority, however, is another matter. Still, best to be thorough.

"I caught a glimpse of memory. That monstrosity was one of Sulyvahn's unfortunate followers. There may be more; the Pontiff was quite a busybody." He spoke firmly, yet somewhat softly. It is not a secret that he can peer into memories, but he'd rather not have Myn wondering how much he knows.

"This perhaps might be insight into the origins of such beings as Lorem Ipsum. If some other faction exists within the Incoherence, well. Given what the Pontiff could do, imagine the horrors wrought by a group that found comfort in endless, shifting hell."

He left that thought hanging in the air.

---

Incoherence - Room 523179

Even as the plants die, Amaterasu prepared to regrow them. But the thing with the many mouths caught her eye, and she stared as Lorem Ipsum emerged from the roil of mouths.

While Bondrewd signed frantically and attempted to interrogate, she instead turned to the mud from which the collective being had been reborn. To come back from death was impressive... but that supposed Lorem had truly been killed. If they were indeed a gathering of many souls in one, then who was to say they were limited to one body?

"Communal living does not mean consuming one another, my children." She intoned, glancing over at Lorem Ipsum, "A true community is not brought together by force."

Looking back at the mud, she experimentally swirled her tail, painting a circle around it. Flowers and grass sprung into existence, but the power of Bloom did not merely offer life. It was a cleansing power. If, perchance, this mud held any kind of curse, her divine power would fight against it, seeking to push it out.

Edited by kagescorpionakki on Sep 25th 2023 at 11:31:14 AM

What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?

Zone 6, Egress Eternal ~ Kiel

Well, it seem I was ignored by one of the Zone's Guardian, Nigel. Now, I don't mind it since I figure he's more important than any other Peacekeepers, myself included. Besides, from what I know, Nigel is the only zone guradian that hangs out with the people, and I admire him for that. So, I just wait until they're done talking. At least, that was the plan, until the black cloak people decided to come in here and harm more people.

I let out an unsubtle annoyed sigh, not surprised that they're just going to harm more people for the sake of peace. Like, if you really want the Diet to be remove, then violence can't be the answer. Then, they decide to attack Nigel, despite telling them to stop. Do I left him for dead? No, that's the last thing everyone needs...at least that's what I think.

So, I immediately use light barrier on myself and Nigel.

"HEY!" I yell out to the black cloaks. "Just what do you think you and your group are doing?! You're harming more innocents whenever you guys do these kind of stuff!"

Edited by Xabbynip09 on Jul 21st 2023 at 6:31:16 AM

“You bowl with 3 middle fingers” Oh hey, a troper wall

Zone 7, Near The Last Outpost; Nathan Grey

"Y'know, I haven't been out to Zone 7 before today."

"I suppose that make sense, you did mention that you were born in Concordia... so it makes sense you would not have seen this place before, Vult."

"Yeah, that's about right."

"Course, I'm not exactly that much more familiar with it, honestly. I had an idea of trying to set up a hideout out here but... well, I wasn't really comfortable with everything I've heard about Reality Quakes out here."

"Reality quakes can happen anywhere in Concordia, Grey."

"That may be true, but anyone can get cancer, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't avoid eating uranium."

Vult turned towards me once I said that, before saying "Didn't know you knew about Zunton."

"...I have no idea who that is." I replied, incredibly confused.

"Oh." She said, matter-of-factually, before turning back towards the path ahead of us.

Naturally, I wanted to know more about Zunton, so I spoke up and said, mildly frustrated "So I would like an explanation on who Zunton is."

"What's there to say? They ate uranium and died, not much else to it."

"...Well, why did they eat Uranium then?"

"They were an idiot?"

"That tends to be the default assumption in this kind of situation, but even idiots have reasons to do things. Admittedly, often really stupids reasons, but still."

"Didn't know 'em. Didn't care to look into it."

"Lovely, so now I'm going to wondering about that all fucking day." I grumbled, mildly frustrated.

"Is that the place?" Vult suddenly spoke, pointing towards a shack, two floors tall.

If I remember from what that surprisingly well-traveled disheveled man told me, this should be it.

The Last Outpost.

He said it was some kind of-

Alexi Vult

Oh for fuck's sake.

He's just staring at the building intently and not saying anything.

Better snap him out of it.

I drew in a breath, and shouted out "GREY!"

"AH!" He yelped out, flailing in shock.

"...Are ya gonna answer my question?" I asked.

"Oh uh... what was the question again?" He asked, as if lost.

"...Is this the fuckin' place or not?"

"It is where we are meant to arrive, yes." He stated.

"Alright. What's this neutroamine stuff that ya dragged us both here about so important for?"

Seriously, he was really excited about the whole thing.

"Ah, well you see, neutroamine is a vital compound neccesary for the synthethis of various chemicals and drugs, which include drugs such as Go-Juice, which is a ..." He began, droning on.

I let him keep going. Seemed interesting enough, I guess.

Besides, no one seemed to be here right now. So might as well listen in on Grey's ramblings while we wait.

Edited by Mindris on Jul 21st 2023 at 10:34:03 AM

Alex Mercer - Zone Four - Pedea Island Room

You plugged a finger into your ear as the talking plushie screeched nearby. Relief came quickly as Yukari whisked it away, and the only lingering sounds were those of the waves and Chen playing.

"What a brat," you said, sitting up and throwing your legs over the side of the chair again. "Couldn't have done that sooner, huh?" You feigned rubbing the side of your head. Your hearing would recover, which was more than you could say for the front-row victims of some of Areum's concerts.

"Ah, well," you said, standing up and stretching as Yukari mentioned moving the festivities on. "Guess the party's over for me. Got business waiting, leads that need following. Plus, hot water and I don't really get along well." You paused briefly as you turned to walk away towards the exit. "You ladies keep having fun without me."

Then came the rejection from Areum, and you stopped walking and turned back around to face her. Really, you couldn't say you were surprised. Masks came... naturally wasn't quite the correct word, but it worked nonetheless. You were very, very good at masks. Maybe even better than anyone else in the City, to your knowledge. Very few people could flick a switch in their brain and become another person. But that didn't mean you couldn't understand where she was coming from, getting sick of them.

"No," you said, a faintly grim smile dawning upon your face. "'Goodbye' is you siccing your cuddly little friend over there on me. I'll see you later, Areum. I'll find some skulls for you to crack soon enough. Don't you go getting into trouble without me, now."

You nodded at Yukari. "Thanks again for the invitation. Had a good time. I'll see you around."

With that, you split away from pleasant company and wandered off into the bowels of Concordia again, chasing after fresh scents where you knew to expect them.

V and Johnny blanched a bit when they heard "Wall of metal" and "Borged up Psycho".

"Only one 'saka corpo cunt that can be," Johnny muttered.

"Smasher," V said out loud. "You got faced with Adam Fucking Smasher."

He stared at Rebecca, now acutely aware of a potential outcome of what she had been faced with. Was... was this place some form of purgatory, where people went when they died.

"Doesn't strike me as a Mikoshi type. Keep that part quiet V."

V chose to be... polite and opted to say. "Anything can happen when facing Smasher. If they're lucky, they got out and away from him."

Zone Four, Mount Fuji Hotsprings Inn, Mixed Bath

Prushka breathed in deep and let out a long, blissful sigh. "This sure is nice, huh, Leo?" she asked - rather rhetorically, because of course being on a day-long luxury spa trip with your beloved and sitting next to him in the hotsprings was not nice, but great. "Even better, like the staff said, there's basically no other patrons around right now, so we've basically got the entire place to ourselves!"

A persistent thought she'd been having since she first heard about the possibility of this outing nagged at her and pushed its way to the forefront of her mind again. "You know..." she began quietly, "Since we're alone here, and everything... why don't we ha—"

WHAM!!!

"EEEEEEK!" Prushka squeaked loudly, about jumping out of her skin as her entire body flushed crimson as a tomato.

"Ahhhh, hotsprings! Did you know I had these ones modeled after the ones back home in Gensokyo, Areum?" Yukari mused after slamming the sliding door to the bath open with almost cartoonish enthusiasm, then took note of the two existing occupants. "Oh, hello there! Are you alright? Haven't been in the bath too long, have you? You're quite red."

"H-H-H-H-Hi! I-I-I mean, hello there, Councilors!" Prushka stammered, trying to stop herself from babbling incoherently and mostly succeeding. "What an honor to meet you here, in this place, on this fine day! And no, I'm fine! Completely fine! I wasn't going to- Uh, nothing's wrong! We pretty much just got in the bath a few minutes ago!"

"Oh, that's good!" Yukari nodded sagely, either totally oblivious or otherwise not caring. "Come on, ladies, let's get that sand washed off before we get in the bath!"

"Yes, Lady Yukari," Ran agreed submissively, following her mistress over to the little shower things nearby that you know Japanese hotsprings have for washing off before getting in the bath but don't know the proper name of.

"Affirmeowtive~!" Chen cheered, doing the same.

GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs

Zone Four, Mount Fuji Hotsprings Inn, Mixed Bath, Areum

I walk through the door with Yukari.

"Is that so? You'll have to tell me more about Gensokyo sometime. Feels like there's still quite a bit to learn about your homeland."

I go to wash up before getting in the bath.

I then noticed… Prushka and Leo? You know, I had kind of assumed this was a private bath house for some reason. Boy, this is kind of awkward.

"Prushka? Leo? Wow, I didn't expect to see you two here. Uh… how's it going…?"

But then I see that something's wrong. Leo is wearing bandages over his eyes.

For a moment, I try to rationalize that maybe Bondrewd needed to perform some sort of surgery on Leo for some innocuous reason due to his unique eyes and the complications they might bring him, and this was something that would be fixed right up with time.

But that doesn't make any sense. God Eyes or not, what kind of optical surgery could someone like Leo really need, especially one that would require him to keep his eyes wrapped in bandages?

I grit my teeth for a moment as I come to a grim realization. From what I've pieced together through talking to Leo, his eyes don't exactly work like normal human eyes. Not just because of their abilities, but also in the sense that they're basically magical artifacts. Which means in theory, someone could, and indeed likely did, steal them from him. It's not hard to imagine why someone would want them, with what they're capable of. It seems obvious all too quickly that this is almost certainly what happened.

God. Dammit.

"Leo, your eyes… what happened?"

I think for a moment about what I'm going to do to whoever is responsible for this. Maybe I'll just beat them to death. Or blast them with lasers until they die. Or perhaps I'll use my magical charming voice to force them to commit suicide. Make them wrap barbed wire around their neck and hang themselves while they remain hopelessly aware that they're facilitating their own torture and demise. It'd be a fitting end for one who would take advantage of someone smaller and less powerful than themselves. But one thing is certain - they don't get the privilege of living anymore. That is precisely what being alive is for other people when witches are involved. A privilege. A fleeting whim to be extinguished the moment the situation calls for it.

Edited by HilarityEnsues on Aug 9th 2023 at 1:54:45 PM

Satsuki - Zone Five; Kiryuin Residence

One of the first things that Satsuki had done, once the chaos of her graduation had abated, was to teach herself how to cook.

Perhaps it had been some lingering impulse to spite her mother, who would have never stooped to something as domestic as chopping tofu, but there was more to it than that. Satsuki had realised that, after a lifetime spent with household staff providing her every meal, there was something she didn’t know how to do for herself. And that would not stand.

Now, it was a comfortingly ordinary task. Something she was good at that didn’t revolve around life and death. Broth boiling, vegetables ready, a second pot of rice sitting to one side finishing in its own steam. Asuka a comfortable presence across the kitchen, piping up about the news. The mark had fallen yet again.

“Hm. That’s going to make things tighter.” Satsuki replied, stirring broth into the miso paste with a pair of chopsticks.

The city would adapt, of course. Half of the neighbourhoods in Zone 5 operated on barter as much as they did on the mark. Factory workers in Zone 6, on the other hand, and imports from the inner zones…

Satsuki noticed Asuka’s eyes narrowing over the top of the paper and realised her own brows had furrowed in thought. She let her face soften into a faint apologetic smile, stirring the miso into the pot.

”But it’s nothing we haven’t accounted for already.”

After the last month, Asuka must have worried that she was about to throw on her coat and storm out the front door. Satsuki would be lying if she said she’d broken the habit, the urge to find the next task, the next problem. But the Zone was at peace again, relatively speaking. She’d turned her will inward and made herself take advantage of the quiet, snatching a few moments at home, with Asuka.

There hadn’t been some profound moment of reconciliation between them, after their last fight. It had stretched out, in fits and starts and a slow easing of tensions. Small peace offerings and snatched conversations.

Making herself forget the Militia for a few hours, every few days, was worth the effort to try and heal the gulf the war had exposed.

Ladling out portions, Satsuki padded around the counter to the table, setting down two bowls of soup and two bowls of rice.

“Come eat while it’s hot.”

Another Time, Another Place

Things had settled, in the broadest, least helpful sense of the word. Settled enough that all the doctors and specialists had been allowed to pack their bags and move on to the next oddity, leaving the family to pick up the pieces. The itch in the crook of his elbow was the only remnant of the IV stand that had kept him alive through his catatonia.

He'd never known the difference between that and a coma. Some grisly part of him almost felt like he would've preferred the latter.

The monotony was the worst part, even if it had been responsible for luring him back to the land of the living. Days on end of staring at the same ceiling, the minute crevasses of every brush stroke now so clear to him that he could picture the painters at work. The same walls, same window, same dust motes flitting through the air. When first he'd regained his senses, he'd immediately spun onto his side just to break the view.

It was dark now, save for a crack of light from the doorway. With it came voices, hushed and biting - he didn't have to strain his ears to know what they were arguing about. That, too, was the same as always.

"Psst!"

The light fanned wider.

"Hey, you up?"

She had already rolled herself into the room before he could answer. She fumbled to shut the door behind her - he could see it as clearly as if the light were on - and their parents' argument quietened to a harsh murmur.

"Should you be moving around?" he asked.

"Why not? It's not like I lost my legs." She gave a gentle smack to the wheels of her chair. "Not again, anyway!"

"Please stop making jokes like that."

With practiced movement, she spun herself around and pushed towards the bedside. Her movements were fluid, unnervingly so, a character of a thousand frames where used to be a hundred. Heat pooled within his sockets at every strand of hair, crinkle of fabric, eyelash, pore, cuticle, until soon that heat melted into shame as he forced his eyes away. Yes, that was why he couldn't look at her. Nothing to do with the gaping expanses where her optics used to be.

She, of course, didn't notice his movement. "You must be feeling better if you're chastising me again." she said.

"Mm."

"D'you think you can get out of bed?"

"Dunno."

"We can try it tomorrow! God knows your body will need the exercise."

"Michella..." There were too many words he wanted to say, all of them uglier than the last. Why was she smiling? Didn't she feel even worse than him? He could still see it, the aftermath of their encounter with the divine: his parents rushing to him, collapsed on the ground; his sister behind them, staring down at her splayed palm and seeing nothing; pursing her lips, just for a moment, before joining at his side and calmly asking for an ambulance to be called. Wasn't it too much, even for someone as strong as her?

Her hand rested now atop his, which is what made him realise that he was grasping the covers. "The world's still going round, even if I can't see it." she said. "I could waste all day feeling sorry for myself, orrr I could convince my darling brother to get his butt out of bed and take me up to the lake."

His eyes grew hot again, for reasons different but painfully familiar. In spite of himself, he smiled. "You're seriously obsessed with that spot."

"Ohh, is that a smile I hear?" It was perhaps fortunate that he was still turned away, saving him from her mischievous grin. "Get it? Hear?"

"Please don't."

---

Zone Four, Mount Fuji Hotsprings Inn, Mixed Bath - Leonardo Watch

Spa resorts and the like had always been a little too indulgent for the Watch family, so this marked Leo's first time with anything fancier than a squirt of bubble bath in the tub. He was surprised to find that it lived up to the hype - there had been a spike of panic as he navigated down into the bath, clinging to Prushka until his feet hit the bottom, but otherwise the trip had been as relaxing as promised, shedding layers of stress that had built over the past few months.

He had been content to sit in silence for a while, filling in his own mental image of his surroundings as the steam and water lapped at his skin. Sonic had balked at the idea of coming along - still sore from the pool barbeque - and scampered off to lands unknown, leaving... yep, just the two of them. He wouldn't have known if Prushka hadn't brought it up. "Yeah, this is great," he replied. "It was really cool of your dad to get us the invites."

He didn't bother questioning how Bondrewd had set it up. Probably just knew a guy who knew a guy, as was often the case for the Master Draughtsman.

But this wasn't about him. It was about the two of them, alone, and Prushka's desire to take advantage of it. Leo's cheeks flushed red - and yes, it annoyed him that he couldn't tell if he was the only one to react that way. He fumbled around in the water until he brushed against Prushka's hand, which he intertwined with his own as-

-something slammed behind them, Prushka squealed, and Leo's immediate fight-or-flight caused him to jerk his arm and splash himself in the face. While he coughed out the water, Prushka greeted the two, three, four (?) people who had apparently entered. One of them, at least, he recognised the name of. "Areum?" he said, once he'd finished wheezing. "Wow, crazy running into you here! And, uh, the Councillors as well, of course."

He bowed his head in the direction their voices were coming from. He would've turned to Prushka next, asked her in a whisper who he was talking to, but Areum sniped the elephant in the room before he could. There was an edge to her voice - or, at least, he thought he heard one. It wasn't hard to extrapolate from there: she hadn't been in the best of moods when last they'd met, things had only gotten worse in the city since then, and now here she was, at one of the best stress relief spots that money could buy.

Did he want to be the one to bring her mood down? Quite obviously not. And even if he had wanted to share all the grisly details, he'd already promised not to. As such, after an uncomfortable moment of silence, he scratched his neck and said "They got. Um. Stolen?"

It was silly to say, even if accurate, and he leant into that as he continued. "Had to file a police report and everything. And then it took three doctors after that to get an assessment. It's almost like I haven't left the states at all, haha... ha..."

Geez, Michella had made it seem so easy. "Anyway, that's old news." He settled back into the water, slightly apart from Prushka out of consideration for their company. "How have you been? Were you guys just at the beach?"

they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob

Zone Four, Mt. Fuji Hotsprings Inn, Mixed Bath

"Indeed!" Yukari confirmed with a warm smile both on her face and in her voice as she slipped into the bath after rinsing off. "We had quite a lovely time at a private beach nearby and worked out a lot of stress! Chen here made some excellent sand sculptures, too! Isn't that right?" She looked to her fellow Councilors with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Ran agreed with the air of an enthusiastic parent sharing her daughter's latest art piece as she and the bakeneko also dropped into the water. "They were absolutely excellent, weren't they, Chen?"

"Hee-hee! If you say so!" Chen let out a pleased giggle as she leaned back against the rim of the bath. "Ahhhhhh, this water is so nice!"

"Isn't it?" Yukari agreed, then put a hand to her mouth as if suddenly remembering something. "Oh, but I can't believe we almost overlooked doing introductions! I'm Yukari Yakumo, and these two are my shikigami, Ran Yakumo, and Ran's shikigami, Chen; pleased to meet you both!" She moved over to extend her hand to Prushka for a shake, followed by Rand and then Chen.

For her part, Prushka sucked in a shocked breath as the Gap Youkai announced her name, and grabbed the offered hand in an almost panicked manner. "P-Pleased to m-meet you as w-well, S-Senator Yakumo—" she began fearfully, only to be interrupted by the purple-eyed menace.

"Please, there's no need for all that formality!" the blonde mistress of boundaries assured, eyes twinkling. "You can just call us by our given names, dearie! No titles!"

"O-Oh! Okay!" Prushka replied as she smiled more genuinely, and audibly relaxed. "Nice to meet you, Yukari, and Ran and Chen! I'm Prushka, a junior Draughtswoman!"

"Hmm-hmm-hmm!" Yukari nodded and made a series of satisfied noises, then released Prushka's digits and drifted to the side to grab Leo's hand for a handshake as well. While Ran and Chen each went in for handshakes and exchanged "Pleased to meet you"s with Prushka, the blind man was probably preoccupied with the Yakumo matriarch, especially since she was talking directly to him.

"And you must be Leo Watch, that young man Areum calls... what was it, again? 'My little Pogchamp'?" she asked, her curious head-tilt obvious in her voice, which then melted into sympathy as she continued, "I'm sorry about your eyes. I can already tell that it couldn't have happened to a kinder gentleman."

Edited by darksidevoid on Aug 22nd 2023 at 4:56:50 AM

GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs

Zone Six; Industrial Atelier - Dio Brando

"Concretely?" I said. "Only that she'll burn this city to the ground. She keeps a foster child, dull little thing, she is an exceptional swordfighter, and I am almost certain she's a player of the game of flats. A woman of the twentieth century."

There was a profound and ordinated listlessness to him, actuated in all things, so it seemed, by a gnawing but subdued ennui. I could not rightly tell you where it was he'd pulled the chair from - some miraculous convenience, I am sure, mine for three installments - but I can tell you precisely what he intended; to sit down. That was it. Exacting as he was, there was simply nothing to display. It wasn't that he wished a thing should be seen, simply that he saw no reason it should not.

I was quite horridy enthralled.

"All this " I said, "and she has come of interest to the Diet, quite later than she should have. The affair with the assault on Guardian Houraisan - ex-Guardian Houraisan – was the work of her footsoldiers, acting without her orders. I'm told her foster child was present too. I think you can imagine the rest. There's a bloodless little man who likes to pay me visits after things like that, you see. He thinks I don't know who he works for."

On the shelf beside to my left was a box of billhooks, sterling silver, excellent for herbals and knifefighting druids, and to my right a crate of beakers enchanted for the sanctity of Icecold Drinks.

"The wounded party is Councillor Cuan. I imagine he'd designs on little Theo from the moment Ainsel started making noises, and I'm sure you've been here long enough to notice his attentiveness. As for Kiryuuin, she's never much been given to lapses in discipline. You should consider this affair ongoing."

In my pockets were a book of matches, a steak knife, and a bottle of Eggmanol's Premium Lighter Fluid.

"What will that buy me?"

Kayné Ainsel & Moloch "Moko" Kothys—Zone 7, The Last Outpost

Soon, steps echoed down the well-trodden dirt road, as well as they could echo, and Kayne greeted the scientific duo from a good distance so as to not startle them. "Welcome, my guests, and be at ease," she said, a rather archaic turn of phrase uttered in a folksy Southern drawl. "Just came back from a hunt, y'see, so if you'll give me a moment, this ol' girl will turn from a ranger back to a belle!"

After giving the pump near the door a few vigorous strokes of the handle, she washed her face and hands—that having to be the most freshening up she did for now—and turned back to her guests, offering them both bread and salt from her pockets. Kayne then led them down a short path to a small pond with a perfunctory research station set up next to it.

"I found a way to make a variety of algae from a newly cohered Room produce the drug that you were looking for," Kayne explained, using a hook to pull up long strands of blue-veined algae from the water before carefully using a syringe to extract the blue liquid. "I believe this is it, though you'll have to do your own testing as to its purity and efficacy. Additionally, I'd like to request your aid in bio-engineering the algae so that it won't become an invasive species for the rest of Zone 7. That's reasonable, don't you think?"

Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 28th 2023 at 1:46:28 AM

I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.

Areum, Zone Four, Mt. Fuji Hotsprings Inn, Mixed Bath

I can't help but be saddened at the frankly kind of unnatural extent to which Leo is taking this in stride. He lost his eyes, for God's sakes. That shouldn't be something that you're just used to. Just what kind of life has he led? Was he not allowed to reckon with his emotions before?

"The beach was fine," I answered. "Someone showed up and put me in a bad mood, but... it is what it is, I guess."

I'm still sore over that. It may seem like a small, petty thing, but I don't get to hang out with my friends very often. Hell, I don't even have a lot of friends period. Maybe if my life was less shitty, Mercer's appearance - and the fake miko's, for that matter - wouldn't have bothered me. But they did. Quite a bit.

"Beyond that, I've been thinking. And… I'm going to be leaving the Diet. I'm sure that's probably not a huge surprise to you, honestly. What probably will surprise you is that I might actually be quitting music, too. I mean, who actually likes listening to my music, and isn't just desperate for any kind of entertainment in this… this barren desert in space with no real culture or history? Is it even appropriate to make this upbeat kitschy pop music, given how completely untrue it is to the experience of the people actually living here? And besides, I'm not sure I can continue to do it even if I want to. My creativity is starting to go to shit because my mind just… doesn't function as well as it used to, and I'm even starting to feel weird and uncomfortable going on stage."

I cringe a little bit as Yukari calls back to the nickname I've used for Leo for a while now.

"I uh… I think I'm going to stop calling him that. It doesn't feel right."

Edited by HilarityEnsues on Aug 22nd 2023 at 9:03:31 AM

Rebecca - Zone Seven - The Nameless Chapel

She hadn't expected anything, and was nonetheless surprised. It wasn't the pleasant kind. David spent so much time looking out for everyone else it was only a matter of time before it would cost him. Calling it a job would've been delusional. There was no payout, no victory celebration for that op. Her crew had been whittled down to almost nothing by that point.

No, the "reward" for that final "job" was helping him accomplish what he wanted, for the first time since things had gone to hell with Maine. Nobody who went along with it could've honestly expected to walk away. She'd seen it in his eyes on the approach. Every enemy was a petty obstacle, his consciousness endlessly distracted and his mind singularly focused. By that point, there was only one thing that mattered to him anymore.

She remembered the way he talked to his mother, long dead, as she injected him with another round of military-grade immunoblockers. Even she could see what the future held for him, then and there in that moment. But she held onto the foolish hope that Lucy might be enough to reel him back in from over the brink.

Her eye twitched as the Edgerunner spoke, and her face tilted up to match his gaze, her expression annoyed bordering on boredom.

She recognized the name that spilled from V's mouth, but only by reputation. Smasher was a legend among solos, but the only people who'd run into him in recent memory weren't around to tell the tale anymore. If one believed the rumors, he could square up against a battle tank and walk away grinning. And the cunt worked for 'Saka. It didn't matter if it was actually Smasher or not. She already knew the result of their attack. Smasher's potential involvement wasn't even a factor.

It certainly gave her a name to direct anger at, though.

"Yeah, sure," she said, voice cracking in irritation as she waved a hand dismissively in the air. "Maybe she did." She turned away from V and started walking towards the smell of food.

"He sure as fuck didn't."

Zone Six; Industrial Atelier (NIGHT EDITION)

Darien Brand sits on his chair and considers your information. Or at least, he pretends to consider it. You know very well the look of someone who is pretending to know.

"Theophilus Houraisan? Yes, I see what you're saying. Princess Kaguya is an old friend of mine. I understand that she was also an old friend of Councilor Cuan's."

He does not mention Kiryuuin's lapsed footsoldiers. He almost certainly knows that you know.

"I didn't know about that connection," he says. "I think I'll talk to Councilor Cuan, when I have the chance. It's good info, Mr. Brando. You have a way with words."

He folds up the chair, vanishes it completely, then stands up.

"You can take Greed," he says. "Come back when you have something else to sell me."

He turns around, as if to walk away, but then he glances back over his shoulder.

"You should be careful, though. He leaks a bit. And next time, Mr. Brando, talk to my secretary. You're not the first vampire to do business with me, we'll get you an umbrella or something. Pleasure."

With that, Darien Brand actually does walk away. You wonder if killing him now will be worth it, and weigh it up against the possibility of getting an umbrella.

The balance, as always, hangs on a single hair.

---

Zone Six; Inside and Outside the Egress Eternal

The black cloaks don't stand a chance. Together and separately, they are knocked out, evicted, tossed up and down, and otherwise shaken into submission. Rufus even fires his quantum blunderbuss at the ceiling a few times, although whether he hits anything is doubtful.

Meanwhile, Nigel huddles in a little ball, shielded by Kiel and Arsene. The flame and light spin around him, turning into ribbons, and all things considered he huddles very bravely.

After what feels like a lifetime, everyone is either outside the Egress, or laid out inside of it. Rufus stows the quantum blunderbuss under the bar, then wipes his nose with the felt Addward.

"That was fun," he says. "Are you alright, Nigey?"

Nigel coughs, pulling himself out from under his two defenders. He glares at Joker and Kiel, as if being protected from assassins is beneath his dignity.

"No thanks to you," he says. "I will be making a formal complaint about this establishment."

"Oh, goodie," says Rufus. "Andy, darling? Another one for my wall."

Outside the Egress, the patrons are wiping their eyes, sobbing, drinking, or drinking and sobbing. When Nigel exits and raises his hands, everyone cheers.

"People of Zone Six!" he says. "As you can see, I have survived this assassination attempt. The United Front has tried its best to eliminate me, but it cannot destroy the will of the people! It does not know that it is the one that will be eliminated!"

A very clumsy sentence, but a modicum of patience is perhaps understandable in these circumstances. Everyone cheers.

"Councilor Nigel!" says Tintin. "What do you have to say to the United Front? Is this a sign of things to come?"

"If they continue to go to war with the Diet, then we will go to war with them," says Nigel. "The good, peace-loving citizens of Zone Six will not stand for this. Our industrial might is booming! Eggman could not take us down, and neither will the Front! Six cheers for Zone Six! Hip hip hip hip hip hip!"

"Hooray!" says everyone dutifully.

The Peacekeeper detachment trails in, looking very uncertain of itself. Eventually, they decide to start arranging the assassins. Among them is a girl with two prosthetic arms, who carries two black cloaks to a waiting ambulance.

"And a hooray to you also, Councilor," says Tintin. "How did you escape the assassins?"

Nigel opens his mouth, but before he can, an old lush jumps to his feet, takes a deep swig from his empty mug, and screams.

"I SAW IT! IT WAS THEM! THEY WERE ON FIRE! THEY WERE BURNING UP! THEY'RE ANGELS! ANGLES! ANGLES SENT TO PROTECT OUR COUNCILOR!"

He points to Kiel and Joker, then passes out.

"Thank you!" says Tintin, pulling out his notebook for the first time. "Sirs, may I have your names? What prompted you to achieve this great act of heroism?"

---

Zone Three; Inside and Outside Jenny's Office - Vivy, Teto, and Friends

Spreading Matsumoto out takes a certain amount of time, but after a while, you manage to outfit each of your allies with a piece of your cubic friend. The connection between Jenny's office and the group is fragile, but you hope that it'll hold well enough without anyone getting in the way. Having established this futuristic game of telephone, you approach the office with Teto and Matsumoto, trusting the backing of your friends.

"Hello?" says Jenny. "They did what to the bar? Oh, God."

The phone slams and the door swings open. Jenny stares at you, her mouth agape, but then she quickly regains her composure.

"What are - I mean, why are you two here? I didn't call you. Look, I have something I need to attend to. I can't talk now."

Jenny's office is as cluttered as ever, mostly with charts of your most recent single, which has been a surprisingly big hit, and may even be picked up for radio. You recognize only some of the writing on the whiteboard from yesterday.

"Alright," says Jenny, when it's clear you won't give in. "What is it?"

Just as you lean in for the spiel, the unthinkable happens. Down on the ground floor, right by your assorted friends, a piece of Matsumoto is swallowed by a large seagull.

---

Zone Six; Industrial Atelier (DAY EDITION) - J.J., Idunn and Friends

The Industrial Atelier was opened to a huge amount of fanfare, a ticker-tape parade, several buffets, and multiple full-page Concordance spreads of happy workers happily working. You remember, because you had to write the spreads. There's a stupidly large clock on the wall, yellow lines on the floor, and a huge amount of conveyor belts, lined with all kinds of clearly magical geegaws, at which assorted workers do exactly one thing at a time for eight hours in a row.

Factory stuff, basically. What you don't remember is seeing anything that talked about the smell in the air. It's bold, bright, perversely exciting. It smells of cinnamon and petrol fumes. You can feel it in the air.

For the first time in a long while, Zone Six is moving.

"You're from the press, aren't you?" yells a wand scorer. "Tell them that Eggman can suck my giant schnozz!"

This is met with a good deal of hearty laughter, all through every line. It seems more like a cafeteria than a factory.

"First time I can feed my kids something that isn't vat gunk," says the janitor. "If you told me I'd be making this much last month, I'd tell you to jump off the Edge."

Part of the problem with being J.J. Macfield, reporter for the Concordia Concordance, is that everyone and everybody thinks that they can just feed you soundbites. Perils of the job.

The logo of Artifacts Incorporated, a pastel eye with eight chains in it, beams brightly from the banner on the rafters. People look at you and come up to you, way too close, until they see Idunn. It's the cloak, probably. That, or how serious she looks all the time. Good choice.

"I didn't think that Brand was right in the head," says a potions potter. "I thought he was just another factory boss. But he's different. He's not like Eggman, he's not like Greed. They didn't care about us. Brand gives us fair wages, he lets us go home at night. He did what he said he'd do."

A well-groomed lamia meets you at the front office, which is a little pasteboard outpost on the ground floor itself. This is Brand's secretary, who got word that you were coming. Her face-scales are immaculate.

"It's an honor to have Ms. Macfield from the Concordance," says the secretary. "I'm Lora. Mr. Brand asked you to forgive me, but he can't be here just yet - he has a meeting with shareholders out in Zone One. Until then, I'd be happy to take your questions."

She folds her hands and blinks at you, looking a bit nervous.

---

Hatch 526A-Theta ->

Lorem Ipsum shakes his head and smiles.

"I did not attack the Last Watch, Councilor Bondrewd. I saved them. They were in need of assistance. I gave them assistance. Isn't that right, Maia?"

Pith stares at Maia and steps back, through Amaterasu's ring of flowers. The mud itself shimmers, but nothing in it changes.

"I understand now," says Pith.

Lorem Ipsum nods and spreads his hands. His fingertips grow more hands, which spread themselves also.

"The last time we saw each other, Maia put me inside of a large glass tube. I was then detonated by your Chinese elf, after telling you a nice little story about Neptune and his bride. Do you remember that story? It is the same here. The girl is brought to the bottom of the sea, to marry the god. But she does not wish to marry the god, and instead of immortality she is given nothing. Do you think she was proud of her Lifetime movie on her deathbed? Or did she curse her proud willfulness, that prevented her from being the bride of the god, from living forever, all for the sake of a funny story?"

Est the xpiqerjnsadlfj trembles. Your heuronaut has gone from a pink triangle into a little point of blue light. He is clearly no longer interested in detecting hostiles.

"You will come with me," says Lorem Ipsum. "I will take you where none of your kind has ever gone before. I will show you the Last Watch, and reveal to you the secrets of this Ship. Then you will understand why your Diet must die, and why you must also help me kill Darien Brand."

Lorem Ipsum turns around and slides away through the mud. He has not exactly given you a choice.

---

Room 523179 ->

Walking through the black mud of an uncharted Room is very strange, but it isn't the worst experience in the world. Est is still there, to light your way and fix the ground in front of you, and Pith provides a comforting marker in the earthy gloom. He is tall and thin, but he seems like he belongs in a sea of mud.

Still, the questions refuse to leave you alone. Why is Lorem Ipsum being so friendly? What is Pith, and is everyone in wherever you're going made from trees? What even is the Last Watch?

Lorem Ipsum hums the tune to Thoroughly Modern Millie. Ten minutes pass, and then Pith speaks, his high voice like the rustle of willow leaves in the rain. His sister's rotting head is still in his left hand.

"I do not blame you for killing my sister," he says for the second time. "She hoped to find sanctuary in your city, though she knew that you kill those like us. She was fleeing the spores, and she ran into you."

There is very little emotion in his voice. He looks ahead, his high features noble, despite the scores and scars on their bark.

"Her name was Theca," says Pith. "I loved her dearly."

Lorem Ipsum stops. He has not been walking at all, but rather surfing, atop a little wave of his own parts. Now his bits dispel themselves below him, at a spot in the mud with nothing in it save for a large spider.

"Your Ship-Scientists, seeking to name something that they did not understand, borrowed the language of the Multiversal Mausoleum. Hatches, Rooms, Corridors. All useful and noble terms, good and true. And like all useful terms, filled entirely with misconceptions."

The spider disappears, lapped up by a tiny mouth. Where it was, the mud begins to bubble. The bubbles grow, wider and wider, until the mud is popping against your feet, spattering it with little fetid specks of black.

"You call this place the Incoherence," says Lorem Ipsum. "Hostile to sentient life, filled with illogic. Antithetical to existence. You term its inhabitants monsters, and you hole yourself up in your shining city on a hill, and call yourselves the Sun of Life! Concordia, Concordia!"

The air is ripe with the smell of sweat and dead skin, like the thick yellow shavings from a hospice bed. The mud is yawning.

"Come over to our side," says Lorem Ipsum. "See how things really are."

"Oh," says Est. "Oh, no."

The mud surrounds you all like a bubble, and then suddenly, with the lurching feeling of falling, you find yourselves in a different place.

---

???

You're sitting in the desert, covered in sand. You look up at the night sky and you can see the stars.

The sun is dark blue overhead, like a bead of lapis lazuli. It is small and very cold. The sand is so fine that you could swim in it. It is pure white, the color of bleached bone.

"I see," says Pith. "It is a test."

Lorem Ipsum has disappeared, as has Est. There is an old woman regarding you, astride a large six-legged mount. The mount is a large furry beetle, and you see, beneath her papery shroud, that she is also made of living wood. She is small and wizened and hard, like an ancient shrub.

"You have returned, Pith. The head is retrieved?"

Pith bows. Theca's head lolls in his hands.

"The head is retrieved, Mother Root. I bear with me strangers from the grafted place."

The old woman — Mother Root — fixes her gaze on Maia. She stays silent for a good while.

"I was not aware that the grafted place possessed their own scouts," says Mother Root.

"She is the lost one," says Pith.

Mother Root shakes her head. A sigh escapes her shriveled lips.

"You come too soon, and with ill-tidings. Why did you bring them here?"

Pith swallows. It may be just a trick of the light, but he seems nervous.

"It was not I, but the Eater. He opened a path, but we were spat out here, at the departure point. I do not know if he means harm by this, or if this is merely the limit of his power."

"The Eater always means harm," says Mother Root. "We distract him, so that he does not bring harm to us."

She looks at the rest of you for the first time. Her eyes are rheumy, but that does not seem to bother her.

"I will take you to our grove, but the scout must stay here. You must understand that they are vicious, and that they do only the Eater's bidding. I will not bring her sisters down on us."

Her words seem final. Pith stiffens, but says nothing.

Edited by troydenite on Aug 31st 2023 at 12:33:44 AM

'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023

Zone Six;the Egress Eternal - in the place, out of the public ~ Kiel

The black cloaks pretty much lost by either running away, or getting killed in the process. Good; I was tiring of it. I look over at Nigel and see if he's doing good, which he is thankfully. However, for some reason, he was glaring at and the guy with the mask. I don't get it. Shouldn't he feel happy that we save him from the black cloaks? I want to say something to him, in lines of we save your hide from the black cloaks, why are you glaring at us?

However, no matter how much I want to say it, I couldn't able to find the courage to say it as Nigel walk out. Now, as for the other big guy, I...don't know him. Like, he appear out of nowhere and defend Nigel as well, so he's not someone or something want to hurt the public. Plus, something tells me that guy with the mask probably knows him, so there's that.

I also head outside and see Nigel doing his speech with no mention of me and that big guy saving him. To be fair, he has the right to do that. Besides, there's no point of me trying to help those that needed, right? If anything, everyone has right to think that peacekeepers are up to no good, which is pretty ironic cause as far as I'm aware of, I'm up to doing good.

As I was about to head inside to pick up the bags filled with food for those that are homeless all while feeling slighty disapointed, some...creature screams that it was me and the big guy who save him. Well, at least we both get some credit for protecting Nigel. I need to thank him for mentioning us later.

Tintin look at us and begin interviewing us. Wait, interviewing us?! I mean, I am a big fan of reading, espically newspapers, but having myself being on the news is rather a strange feeling. "My name is Kiel. I work at the library, but I also work at the peacekeepers."

Okay, I was fully aware that mentioning peacekeepers was a bit bad, but since Nigel refuse to mention neither of us...

"Since I work at the peacekeepers, it's pretty obvious that I want to help those that need it, escially when Nigel is in danger, so I use Light barrier on him as a way to protect him from the black cloaks that we saw from earlier. Plus, I was buying some food for the homeless prior to the black cloaks arrive, so it was either luck or good timing that our good counciler Nigel was saved by me and the big guy other there."

Was I being a bit salvage to Nigel for not mention us? No, maybe I'm just being a bit tick off is all...

Zone Three; Inside of Jenny's office ~ Teto

Alright, so, here we are, trying to confirm whenever or not Jenny is apart of the united front. The conection is probably weak at best, but at least it ain't non-workable.

Jenny was on the phone, talking to someone else. So, like anyone else would do, we just wait until Jenny ask us what we want.

"Sooo, Vivy and I been hearing about this so call united front and we both figure that we want to for that group. So, since you're important to us, we want your input and see if you want us to make music for the united front."

Yeah, no, I feel slightly uncomfortable doing the sweet talking. I just hope that Jenny isn't apart of the goddamn group though...

“You bowl with 3 middle fingers” Oh hey, a troper wall

Zone Four, Mount Fuji Hotsprings Inn, Mixed Bath - Leonardo Watch

Leo had some vague memory of seeing the elder Yakumo about, whether on propaganda for the Diet or during one of his visits to Zone 1 on Draughtsman business, so he had little problem with slotting an appearance over her drifting voice. The younger two weren't as familiar to him, and with little else to go on, Leo was forced to concede to the mental image of Small Yukari and Smaller Yukari. Maybe with little wings and a pair of fangs? He didn't actually know what shikigami were, but he had some far-flung memory about a cartoon with a shinigami in it, and how far apart could the two terms be?

This line of thought was, of course, to distract him from the simmering anxiety of interacting with someone far above his station. It wasn't his first time (it was hard to top having the president dropkicked into his apartment) but he was also in a remarkably vulnerable state right now, and he had to suppress an unsightly sound as his hand was grabbed without warning. He laughed instead, a certain world-weary edge to it, as Areum's nickname for him was brought up. "Ah, well, I've been called worse." he said, not untruthfully. "But yeah, Leo, that's me. Also a junior draughtsman - or, at least, I'm usually one. They don't have much use for me right now."

He thanked Yukari for her words, quick to move on from the slight bitterness that his own had ended on. Areum was right that news of her stepping down didn't come as a huge shock - he hadn't forgotten their conversation from a month ago - but her musical retirement caused his eyebrows to raise, difficult as it was to discern between the bangs and the bandages. He didn't reply immediately, and when he eventually did speak, it was clear that he had been thinking over his words. "Are you sure you want to quit music altogether?"

He turned so that he could rest his arms atop the spring's lip, facing vaguely towards the entrance. "Maybe I'm just talking out my ass, it's not like I've been around the last month, but... I remember last time we talked, you said that music was the one thing you really liked doing. And, I mean, even if it's true that "no-one likes it" or "there's more important things going on", that doesn't mean you should give up something you like. Honestly, it kinda sounds like you've just hit a slump - and who could blame you, with how the city's been." In an unconscious gesture, he scratched a portion of his cheek just below his right eyesocket. "If you don't like the stuff you're singing or getting up on a stage, then maybe take some time-off to make something in private. You know, treat it like a hobby instead of a job."

"...Not that I'm one to talk about having hobbies." he said, capping off a nearly successful speech by dropping his head into his arms and sighing. If it hadn't been for Prushka's unyielding effort, he would've spent a lot more of the past month wallowing in bed instead of re-learning the absolute basics of the city's layout. He spoke once more, voice muffled but now more chipper than his pose would suggest. "But hey, I guess that makes us unemployment buddies now, right?"

Edited by whizzerd on Sep 1st 2023 at 6:59:14 PM

they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob

???, White Sand Desert

"Mother Root," Bondrewd began respectfully, placing a hand over his heart and bowing the wizened wood-woman's way, "My name is Bondrewd, a man of science and seeker of knowledge from what you refer to as the grafted place. What I seek in coming hence is to understand the origins of the one you call 'The Eater', as he has begun to infiltrate the society I come from with uncertain but doubtless nefarious aims. I also wish to know of those you refer to as scouts and those who created them. Having crossed paths with yourself and Pith, I even wish to know all I can of the two of you, your people, and where you come from. However..."

He straightened himself, and brought one of his gloved hands to rest atop Maia's head, mussing her hair a bit. "When this one became 'lost', as you say, I retrieved her, repaired her as best I was able to, and adopted her as my daughter. Because it was the only name she could recall from her fractured memories, she took on the name 'Maia'. Along with my first daughter, Prushka, Maia and I have spent many days and nights of the course of the ensuing years forming cherished memories with one another."

"It is my belief, Mother Root, that it is not genetic or blood relation that makes a family, but mutual love, the strongest force in this or any other universe. And I could not say that I love my daughter Maia if I left her here to fend for herself while I went elsewhere in pursuit of knowledge, even with how important my mission is both to me personally and to the society which I represent. Although she escaped from him without becoming infected with his taint, The Eater has already taken all of Maia's original sisters from her, and I do not doubt that he will follow us here and do the same to her if given the chance. Therefore, if you truly insist that she cannot follow you to your grove, I will remain here with her, and do my best to fight off The Eater when he pursues her. I will not leave my daughter in this place by herself, because I love her," he emphasized with a firm finality of his own.

"If you are to depart without us, however, then I wish you a safe journey, but I have a few questions I wish to ask you before you leave," he continued in his calm, methodical way, moving his hand from Maia's head to her shoulder. "For example, who was it that originally created the 'scouts', as you call them, for what purpose, and what became of those creators? If the wider area we are in is truly a Ship, and the scouts were its Crew, then what are your people in relation to the Ship? I would also like to know where we might find a means to control the Ship so that those who have been brought aboard against their will may find their way home, but perhaps more pressing is the question of the spores, which I gather precede the growth or appearance of The Eater. Where do they originate from, and how may they and The Eater be best defended against?"

Edited by darksidevoid on Aug 30th 2023 at 12:54:09 PM

GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs

Zone Six, Egress Eternal, Caught in the Act

"Good evening, people of Zone Six." Joker grins devilishly with a flamboyant bow. He wasn't expecting to still be caught in the aftermath, but he decided not to press his luck too much. Quick introduction. "I am simply a public servant, one who wishes good on all you lovely people." He prayed his mask would hold firm, and that Moko and Kayne wouldn't notice him.

"The public may have heard of me, but I make my debut to you now! I am Joker!" He spreads his arms as Arsene explodes from his back in a burst of blue fire, grinning madly. "And I... need to go." he mutters, Arsene disappearing as he pulls out a smoke bomb and throwing it down. Hopefully he can use this time to get away. Despite himself, he smiled.    "You're having quite a lot of fun, Trickster."    Arsene chuckles. "What can I say?" Joker shrugs. "I want to steal the show."

You piss off the Venom T-Rex. Roll initiative.

Zone 7, Outside of The Last Outpost; Nathan Grey

As I was telling Vult about the various uses of neutroamine, I was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of one I had come down to talk to in the first place. Kayne Ainsel.

Apparently, she had been preoccupied on some kind of hunt while we were gone, although I cannot help but question what exactly she was hunting in this city?

I suppose it was more likely than not one of the various... 'cryptids' (as some people call them) that have been reported around the city, some of which have even been borne by my hands, although not by my designs.

Honestly, I am very much uncertain over why those specimens ended up showing such... aberrant behaviors. My current theory is that there may have been some level of contamination within the samples I utilized.

I suppose such things would happen if you harvested from random corpses you find lying in the streets and alleys of Zone Five. Though I have no idea of what the exact nature of the contamination could be.

Well, there's no way for me to check now, especially since those samples were either destroyed or depleted.

...actually, didn't I keep a spare sample copy in one of my stashes somewhere? Should look into that.

Hmmm? Oh, she just offered up some bread and salt. Quite courteous of her.

I suppose I'll have to come back to this whole line of thinking later, once we're done here.

Alexi Vult

So this is Kayne Ainsel. Don't know what I was expecting.

Probably someone a lot less friendly. Especially considering the kind of person Grey is.

Still, hopefully we won't be too long at this pond.

...Huh. Don't know what that term means.

Aaannnd, looking at Grey, he doesn't know either. Not that he'll ask about it, with his pride and all that. Better ask for him, it'll make this go quicker.

"The fuck's an invasive species?"

Yep, he looks pretty relieved that I asked that. Good. Maybe I can get a favor from him down the line.

Areum, Zone Four, Mount Fuji Hotsprings Inn, Mixed Bath

I pondered Leo's words. It was true that I needed something in my life that I liked to do. Without that, I might eventually just stop leaving the house…

I think back to why I even started doing this in the first place.

"When I started doing this… I just wanted to make music that would make people dance and feel happy. I wanted to make people laugh, to be this larger than life figure that would be immune to Concordia's dreary atmosphere."

I frown a bit as I wonder how my pursuit of such a simple thing could've gone this far off course.

"Of course, things eventually got more complicated. I found another singer who seemed to take each of my performances as a personal attack on her very being, and was willing to potentially do whatever it took to ruin my life, including a frivolous lawsuit, until I sunk away from public life. To see such hatred be birthed around something I loved… maybe that was the first moment where I really started to have doubts about all of this. The pop music industry seems to attract truly bitchy, spiteful people who will do anything to get the spotlight. And well.. I'm old, frankly. Too old to deal with that kind of childish, petty bullshit."

I settle into the bath, my body now submerged in the water.

"I wasn't immune, and it was probably kind of stupid to think I would be. But I think you're right, as… Well, you often are. Stepping away from that side of it might be a good idea right now… but I guess I can still make music. I can still do something with that, even if it's not quite the same anymore."

I scratch my chin as one persistent thought burrows its way into my mind.

"And Leo… to be honest, I can't really say I know what you're going through right now, because what happened to you far eclipses anything I've experienced in Concordia. That's the truth of it. But if you need help with anything right now, I've got your back. Even if me just directly giving you money might make you uncomfortable, I'm sure there's something I can do. Just think about it."

Hiroki/Viktoria, Zone Six; Inside and Outside the Egress Eternal

Hiroki couldn't help but sigh softly from the sidelines as Nigel gave his speech and the oligarch was showered with cheers from the crowd.

But he doesn't think much else of it. This is probably the first time he's felt like a neurotypical person in months, and he wasn't going to let it go to waste over this, or over the United Front coming in to interrupt one of his few moments of normalcy.

Still, Viktoria hears him sigh and becomes concerned.

"Are you alright?" she asks him.

"Oh uh," Hiroki shrugs. "I was just thinking about how unfortunate it was that we were so rudely interrupted back there. But eh, it is what it is. Um… we probably should find somewhere else to go, though. This isn't really my scene."

They thought it over, but struggled to really think of anywhere interesting to go. It was at times like this that it was particularly unfortunate that Concordia was a tiny city with like three locations.

Maggie, Zone Three, Jenny's Office

I sit awkwardly, now alone with the Smiths. I don't like being around psychics. Petunia openly admitted that he was planning on probing Jenny's mind, which means he could do that to me at any point and I'm not even sure I'd be able to tell. Spending any amount of time around Darien would undoubtedly be the far, far worse option, but this still isn't great.

By myself, I'm left to think about what I'm actually doing here, and what I'll do as the investigation progresses. These people don't have a simple curiosity towards the Front as I do - they think they're evil, and they want to stop them. If it does get to the point that Idunn tries to arrest United Front members, am I going to stop her? If I did, I'd be breaking the law. I'd be a fugitive.

For that matter, I'm completely unqualified to even be here. I failed to understand the vast majority of JJ's explanation of events, and just sort of acted like I did. I have no idea what I can even contribute…

Whatever. Let's just get this over with so I can leave and go get drunk. I watch Matsumo's recording.

…For about 5 seconds before I hear the flapping wings of a bird and then the feed goes black. Some critter must've flown in and swallowed the receiver.

"God dammit…"

Having no patience for this, I try to grab the seagull and pry its mouth open.

Edited by HilarityEnsues on Sep 2nd 2023 at 9:16:43 AM

Kayné Ainsel & Moloch "Moko" Kothys—Zone 7, The Last Outpost

"An invasive species is an artificially introduced species that can become overpopulated and can hurt its new environment," Kayne explained, still extracting the blue liquid from the algae. "According to that definition, humans can count as an invasive species, as can many bioengineered organisms released into the wild. Here, so near to the Incoherence, a lot of things come in, and most manage to find equilibrium in the ecosystem, but occasionally, something or someone comes in, and they're a danger, so occasionally a hunt has to be called for everyone's sakes. Which is what I was dealing with, incidentally."

"This bit of algae uses the precursor drug we're looking for as a way to deter predators with toxins, and as a way of edging out any rival species of algae by diffusing it into the water," she continued, unrolling a sketch of the algae's life processes on the nearby table. "As it is, this algae already spreads quickly when introduced into any body of water, and it has little to no natural consumers. If it spreads to other bodies of water, it could seriously poison the nearby water supply, leading to serious problems for everyone and everything around. Do you understand the gravity of this?"

Edited by JumpingFruit on Sep 3rd 2023 at 11:14:12 AM

I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.

Zone 7, The Last Outpost; Alexi Vult

I listened as Grey promptly started lying. "Oh yes, I definitely knew that."

"Liar" I mumbled under my breath.

"Pardon?" Grey responded, confused.

"Nothing. Go back to your talking."

Nathan Grey

...fair enough Vult, now where was I? Oh yes, these invader species, and providing an explanation for any... unfamiliarity I may display with the term.

"Truefully, back home we did not have any sort of species capable of disrupting the ecosystem en masse like that, as the terraforming systems would probably see to it that any overpopulation would be... dealt with." Well, some say the insectoids would breed out of control if not for the mechanoids, but of course the same does apply in the reverse. Not that I would ever expect such brutal machines to triumph over such a masterwork of genetic engineering.

Even if control of the wild insectoid population was almost entirely lost, they still excellently keep those damned mechanoids in check.

I went back to speaking, done with my inner monologue. "Regardless, I should be able to figure out a way to prevent any unwanted infestation of... what did you say this algae was named?"