Künrahd has no personal knowledge of handguns and tries to put out the flames with his bare hands.

Paranoia - The Most Fun You Can Have With Deadly Lasers!

Yi Min

She had expected Akari to take a swing at her. She was not prepared for what looked to be a mental breakdown. Yi Min realized with a pang of regret that Akari must be sensitive about this. The woman had the body of a goddess, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing - not when it meant others saw you only as a piece of art, rather than a person.

As Akari drew her guns to aim at the image on the ceiling, Yi Min grabbed her wrists to stop her. Akari would find that the monkey's strength was as superhuman as her own. "You are not simply a picture to be looked at. Your body is only a vessel - it is your spirit that defines you. And only you control your spirit."

She bowed her head in apology. "I'm sorry for poking fun at you. You truly are beautiful. I did not mean any disrespect." When Yi Min raised her head, she was smiling again, brightly. "I hope we can still be friends. You're pretty strong. If you ever wanna hit something, I'm always ready for a spar."

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

Briya

After some time her brain stopped recrashing while trying to process the fact that she's fictional. Now that her mind has accepted it she stops twitching and looks around. Uh. What happened and why is the cyborg aiming at the ceiling with her guns? Oh.

She goes over and tries to convince the Cyborg (Akari) to calm down and then overhears something about her body and the monkey girl is trying to calm her down?????

After looking closely at the Cyborg's... body parts... it suddenly makes sense. Holy @$*(, her chest is absurdly... big... and so is her butt. No wonder... she prepares a spell just in case things go south but tries to reason with the cyborg like the monkey girl is.

"Hey! I care more about how good you are at fighting rather than how you look. Trust me, there's more to you than how pretty you are! Now please put the guns away!"

She's trying man.

I have no idea what to put here, oh well!

Akari

Akari kept her aim on the ceiling, pistol in one hand and shotgun in the other, nearly wrenching her wrists away in anger. She wanted to burn it to the ground, bring the whole thing down over their heads! Was this what she was made for? Something to oggle at? Was she nothing more than some horndog's wet dream?

But then she stopped. The rogue barely got through, but she listened to the monkey's words. She wasn't sure what to believe, but she knew what she wanted to believe. That she was the strongest. That's what she wanted to be. Was she so weak she'd let some petty insecurities get in the way of that?

She lowered her weapons. Part of her wanted to hit something, but she managed to reign herself in. She lived on the streets, she knew better than to cause a scene. Something she'd forgotten. She glanced back at the monkey. Her face was still red, but not from anger or frustration. She hated to admit it, but she was pretty hot.

"...you really think I'm beautiful?"

Edited by kkhohoho on Dec 15th 2022 at 9:06:42 AM

Yi Min

Once it was clear Akari was calmed, Yi Min released the cyborg's wrists. Her smile didn't falter. If anything, it grew brighter at Akari's blushing face.

"Of course. I always speak from the heart." Yi Min offered a hand to grasp. "You are beautiful and strong. I would love nothing more than to count you among my friends. I'm Yi Min, by the way. I said it before, but, well, wild stuff's been happening. What's your name?"

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

Clara Sayre

"A shame, but oh well." Clara was a bit disappointed Badd turned down her offer but she heard something that caught her attention.

"Wait... I'm not real, hun?"

It was a lot to take in and the chaos involving a cyborg lady that resulted afterwards, didn't help matters. Her mind briefly went blank before she pulled out her flask from a secret pocket sewn within her dress. She wanted to drink badly but she figured it wouldn't hurt to share some of the alcohol contained in that flask.

"Anyone wanna drink?" She offered to whoever's still in the conference room. "It's some nice whiskey!"

Victor of HGS S320 | "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember."

The Paperboy - Hijinks Happens

Paperboy is just about to be ready to leave this weird and creepy place; he soon stops to see the old guy getting attacked by a boy in a weirdly tight suit and stopped by a furry-looking girl; the boy scratches his head and grabs his cap, he then begins to swing his free hand before throwing it into the cap: maybe he still has some food in here Paperboy then jumps from the metal woman attacking the old guy, and they then talked about them being from Fiction, and once more he scratches his head, is that poor man crazy? He soon gets a catch with an excited look on his face, Paperboy pulls out a hotdog with ketchup and mustard in the bun.

With some food, he licks his lips and begins to eat doing, so he watches one of them getting the same idea as he was before they get shut down by the woman with the cloak but after this, he wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening, some girl was singing, the old guy was talking about a 5G whatever that is, he, was distracted with his food, he didn’t even realize that he had already eaten his hotdog, now biting into his finger, the boy jumps up in pain slamming his head into the ceiling once more, he fell back down holding his head from the pain with a tear coming down his eye, why does it feel so bad on him, he could understand this new feel, but Paperboy instantly forgot it when one of them talked about alcohol, the grown-up drink, he always wanted to try it, but they say he was too young and now, the boy ran to the source of the voice Clara, she even looked like one of his folk, he shows off his gloved hand waiting excitedly to drink this alcohol.

I can do it. For the sake of my master and seonbae…

Clara Sayre

Clara noticed that the cartoon boy had approached her and seems to be wanting the flask. The way he appeared was vaguely familiar to some other cartoon short she once watched back in her novel.

"You’re quite adorable," She said as she handled him the flask. "Until I can find more alcohol, you can only drink a bit so others can drink it too."

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Dec 16th 2022 at 6:58:35 AM

Victor of HGS S320 | "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember."

Akari

Akari clasped the monkey's hand, squeezing it tight. She was almost flexing, gauging the monkey's strength as she squeezed, but there was no malice involved. She beamed, even if she was a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, sorry. Name's Akari Namba. Biggest badass in the history of baddasses and that's a fact! Better remember it cuz it's gonna be stamped all over your sorry ass, baby!"

She winked. She did want to stomp her sorry ass, that much was true, but there was a certain level of playfulness.

Edited by kkhohoho on Dec 16th 2022 at 9:00:05 AM

The Paperboy - Just a Sip

He gave the woman a cute face as there in his hand was the flask of alcohol; an exclamation point appears from atop his head, and he looked down at the flask; he was going to drink the alcohol; for once in his life; he follows someone’s order but only because he didn’t want to ruin this moment.

He takes a quick swing from the flask: instantly the effects take in, and his eyes turned to swirls, he felt his whole world going around before then stars appeared around his head as he was beginning to hiccup out bubbles before finally, the boy passes out, the stars fall off his head and onto the ground as all from one sip, he was out cold.

I can do it. For the sake of my master and seonbae…

The strange boy had fallen to the floor. It wouldn't do to leave him lying there so Joseph bent down and attempted to rouse him. He cast an admonishing glance at the woman.

"Look here, you can't just go and give alcohol to children. He's out cold for goodness sake."

Clara Sayre

Noticing that the cartoon boy had fallen down, Clara knelt down, poked his body and checked his pulse; it's still there. She picked up her flask which had spilled a bit thanks to the fall, closed the hatch and shaked it. There's still a decent amount of whiskey left in the flask, meaning the boy obeyed.

"Must've had a low tolerance then."

Then she heard a middle aged man who was also moving him and had called her out for giving alcohol to the cartoon boy. She glanced at him.

"I didn't know he was a child. Too cartoony for me to be able to tell."

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Dec 16th 2022 at 6:52:34 AM

Victor of HGS S320 | "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember."

"If you can't tell if somebody is a child, the err on the side of caution"

Joseph lightly moved the boy's head back and forth.

"Perhaps he's concussed, he did hit his head on that ceiling."

Clara Sayre

"Fair enough I suppose, though it looks like he's gonna be out for a while."

Clara stood up, raising her flask.

"Anyone who's not a child, I still have some whiskey to share!" She called out.

Victor of HGS S320 | "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember."

The Paperboy - And The Secret of The Cap

As Joseph was moving his head, his newsy cap fell from just holding to his head, showing a big head bump, somehow hiding from inside his cap which speaking of the cap, from inside the cap what looked like an endless void with no way of seeing what is inside.

The Paperboy looks to still be passed out the stars that were on the ground soon disappearing as he lays on the ground.

I can do it. For the sake of my master and seonbae…

The child lying before him had a bruise of immense proportion. It was quite likely that this ridiculous creature had suffered head trauma and the mob of freaks that flowed around him showed little sign of concern. Joseph sighed deeply.

He gestured towards the elderly gentleman who had previously claimed to be a doctor.

"Could you please help this boy sir? He appears to have a severe head injury."

Briya

Seeing that there is no more freaked out cyborg (Akari being her name), she puts the spell away. Well more like cancels the spell. Having overheard someone express concern for the cartoony child, she goes over to see what happened and sees said child on the ground. Judging by how they look... not human? Hard to tell though given her lack of knowledge on where he's from.

"Before I try to help this child, I need to be sure what he exactly is species wise. It's hard to tell given how he looks."

She did not mention that she assumed him to be a human though.

I have no idea what to put here, oh well!

Convention Room

The old man squirmed, wriggling and wreathing in place, a desperate attempt to break free. He didn't care about himself, but he couldn't let that insane nudist get her hands on the book. The world could go to hell, but such a wretched girl didn't deserve such power. He bit down on the tentacles, clawing and gnashing with his teeth, but it didn't do him any good.

But the book had other plans. As the tentacles crept in, it glowed, setting itself ablaze. The old man was unharmed, but the tentacles burned away, smoldering in golden brilliance. The book dropped to the ground, the flames shrinking and coalescing and condensing until they formed a solid shape. It was a gold barrier, a sparkling dome, protecting the book from harm. And those with ill intent. Those with purer hearts could pass through unscathed, but to Ydra, it was all but impossible.

Edited by kkhohoho on Dec 16th 2022 at 6:01:54 AM

Seeing one book protected by a golden dome, Kunrad redoubles his efforts to protect the other books around him from flame and any other madness going on.

Paranoia - The Most Fun You Can Have With Deadly Lasers!

Ydra, Lightly Charred - Convention Room, Mall of America

Tch, rejected then?

The burning tendrils detached from their main tentacle as it receded back into Ydra's spine, leaving only the tentacle wrapped around the old man as the one deployed. Ydra sighed with mild disappointment but seeing as she at least managed to get him to drop the book, Ydra lifted the old man over to the opposite end of the room. "Could someone else get that? It doesn't seem to like me."

Then from one end of the room Ydra felt the crackling of some unknown magic coming to life. Her eyed tentacle turned towards the source - a seafaring man backed by a row of cannons, alight with green flames. Immediately in response six more tentacles burst from the cyborg's back, placing themselves between her and the pirate poised to protect their mistress from harm as she turned to face him.

Ydra felt naturally inclined to threaten him but seeing two women step up to defend her and attempt to deescalate, she held her tongue on antagonisms and threats. For the moment, she had allies, and it would not do to set them off. "...as they said. This is no ocean and I am no kraken. Not to mention setting off so many cannons may attract attention we don't want."

Talitha, Austere Traveller

"I shall retrieve it," Talitha responded to Ydra, electing to disengage now that a few of the others had started to work on calming the pirate down. Turning her attention to the old man and the book, she approached said man, humbly took a knee before him, and bowed her head. She did not go over to the book immediately, instead deciding to lay out her intentions to him (and the others by extension) lest she be misconstrued as malevolent.

"Do not worry; I implore thee. This book shall be protected, albeit by removing it from thy possession. It shall be studied extensively, and forbidden from use for such harm as it has already been, but it shall also be safeguarded. So long as thou dost promise not to misuse it again, no hostility shall find its way to thee from us. This I declare, without exception."

Her eyes flicked over to the other at this, as if daring them to undermine her declaration that no harm should befall the man if he repented for his actions. Once that was done, she stood up and calmly walked over to retrieve the book, with no ill intentions in mind. Only the desire to protect others from harm, and to keep it safe from being taken advantage of by people such as the old man.

"Dost thou require a hand in healing them...?" she inquired in the meantime, turning her head towards the unconscious Paperboy and the others gathered around him. "I can use my knowledge of alchemy and holatavism to help them recover, should my assistance be needed from thee. Unless, of course, thou art adept enough to manage it alone. I do not intend to imply incapability ."

Clara's loud offer of whiskey briefly caught Talitha's attention, and she pursed her lips and shook her head in respectful denial.

"I'll abstain. Though, I thank thee greatly for thine offer of a drink."

Edited by Enirboreh on Dec 18th 2022 at 3:22:55 PM

bork

Octavius Klint - Mid Breakdown

Octavius was barely aware of the world around him, as he was back in that terrible moment, that awful experience. He felt cold, he felt clammy, trapped in his own mind, about to be set upon by some kind of terrible creature who wanted nothing more than to make him her...ply thing? Toy? Pawn? One way or another, he didn't like where this was, these new people, this new creature that could have been HER...

As she turned to face him, with one eye amidst a coil and cluster of roiling tendrils, his heart skipped a beat, his pupils dilated in terror, and he was prepared to order the cannons to absolutely obliterate her, the old man, the building, the block behind them-

A cloud of strange some suddenly hit his senses, and he was so confused by it, it knocked him out of his panic. With that, he was able to see the world around him for what it was. Someone holding a polearm before him and informing him he was drunk. Someone BEHIND him trying to put out his spectral fire and yelling that there were BOOKS in this room.

The reality hit him and he inhaled deeply. Gripping a fist tightly, in wisps of flame and smoke, the cannons vanished, the flame around his sword burnt out and mercifully, the flames on the books had there been any, snuffed out just as quickly.

He looked around, all eyes were on him. Never being the apologetic sort, he merely sneered at the attention he garnered and stepped away, moving his tri-corn hat over his eyes and sheathing his cutlass.

"Dammit." He mumbled, but only to himself.

Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?

Yi Min

As they grasped hands, Yi Min matched Akari's strength and grin with her own. "I look forward to it!"

Her golden gaze swept over the room again, taking note of the man with the ghostly weapons who was currently freaking out, and the mysterious woman taking the book before the metal octopus lady could get it.

She supposed that it made sense for a normal person to freak out at the sight of a woman with metal tentacles, but to Yi Min, shapeshifting like that was far from the weirdest thing she'd seen someone do.

A second Yi Min appeared, visually seeming to step out of the real one's shadow, before taking point between the pirate and the table of books alongside the barbarian. Swings of her hands seemed to blow away any flames that threatened to touch the book table.

Fortunately, the irate pirate calmed down relatively quickly.

"So," The real Yi Min turned back to Akari, "Where do you think we are, anyway? That old guy looks western, so... think we're in America? I've always wanted to go there."

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

Convention Center

The old man wasn't amused. He hadn't misused the book, not to his knowledge. Perhaps there were unintended consequences, but he didn't regret his actions. There was nothing wrong with wanting to escape, not when everything was in such shambles.

"Don't see what the harm was, lady. If your kids thought you were Satan, you'd want to escape too. Besides, it's not like I thought it would work."

He glared at Ydra, but he didn't push it. He'd seen what these freaks could do and didn't want to be on the receiving end. Not more than he'd already been.

"But hey, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. You do whatever what you want with that stupid thing. Whatever happens, I'm washing my hands of it. That work for you?"

Whatever the old man's intentions, the book was not judgemental. Talitha picked it up, no burning or adverse reactions, the book cool to the touch. Talitha was no saint, but she was an acceptable owner.

---

Akari

"Hard pass. America's nothing but a bunch of rich greedy bastards in speedos, lording it over everyone else. Makes Neo-Tokyo look like a spring picnic. Just thinking about it makes me want to hurl..."

It was true. Bad as Japan was, America was even worse. Nothing but slums for days on end and that's if you were lucky. If she ever got there, she'd tear the whole place apart, but Neo-Tokyo was first in line. She'd spent so long battling Sato that she'd nearly forgotten, but now she could focus on the big picture. She'd have to see if this world deserved the same scorn, but she wouldn't be surprised.

But seeing a second Yi Min was an even greater surprise. She wasn't sure how she did it. Fancy cloning techniques maybe? But seeing her in action only made her more incensed. She had her own tricks up her sleeve, but she could never pull that off. If she wanted to beat her, she'd have to up the ante. Maybe get in some extra training while she was it. But this wasn't the time or place. That was also true, but it didn't make her less frustrated.

She grabbed a spare mug from the counter, holding it out towards Clara with confidence. "Screw it. Fill me up, toots." She didn't know how things worked in America, but she was old enough to drink in Japan and that was good enough for her. She glanced at Yi Min, urging her to come on over. "You want some, babe? Or is the hard stuff too much for you? Bet 1000 yen it is."

Edited by kkhohoho on Dec 18th 2022 at 8:34:45 AM

Clara Sayre

"Very well," She said to Talitha declining her offer.

Clara took a sip or two as she watched more of the chaos unfold and listened to the rumblings of the old man. Then one of the cyborg women, the one in the red jacket to be exact, walked towards her with a mug in hand.

"Oh, you definitely need a drink by the looks of it, hun! You know what, 50/50 for the two of us!"

Clara pulled half of the flask into the red jacketed cyborg's mug and after that, she immediately chugged down the remaining alcohol.

"Say dear, what's your name?" Clara asked. "Apologies if you said it already earlier. In that case, chances are, I couldn't hear it amongst the madness. And for my name, it's Clara. Clara Sayre."

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Dec 18th 2022 at 8:34:13 AM

Victor of HGS S320 | "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember."