Chimneyfoot, Tavern of the Ass (Pretty Sure That's 2023's Stunt Double)
"Man-sized parasitoid wasps?" One would think that Chim would be shocked and somewhat scared by this, but nope. Mild intrigue at best. He glanced out the window to verify that there were indeed massive insects outside. "Oh. Huh. What do you know."
When Stocking asked him about his name, he responded, "Yeah, I was born with it and named after it. It makes sense. Foot's a chimney, ergo Chimneyfoot. I'd be more interested to hear about your name, Miss Socks With No Centralized Government."
"...And yours...Crow?" he continued once Akechi revealed his name.
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
THE SLORG!
Brigitte Lindholm - Grön armor - Auto... Beetle garage? - At least the food's good.
Brigitte raised an eyebrow slightly at Daisy's description. "I'm pretty sure those all went out of style really long ago, but uh hey, good to know," Brigitte said, noting to herself that Daisy could apparently be more knowledgeable than she first seemed... At least, about certain topics.
"Some breakfast does sound good though," Brigitte agreed, going upstairs and using the notepad to make her own quick and light breakfast. Well, 'light' relative for her, so it was still a large amount of more crispbread sandwiches which she could whip up in a hurry from the respective ingredients.
Tron's questions got a response from Cheetor about what he apparently consumed normally, which got Brigitte to shake her head. "Doesn't sound like anything from where I'm from," she answered about the energon, but then looked thoughtful and grinned after his other comment. "Nectar? No no, bees don't really eat nectar, but they do use it to make what they actually eat," Brigitte commented, picking up the notepad and writing something on it. "Here, try this if you want," she then suggested in a mildly joking tone, offering Cheetor the freshly made jar of raw honey.
Then Brigitte glanced over at Tron. "As for something else to do, does anyone else want to find out what that bell does?" Brigitte half asked, half suggested, referring to the bell she saw down in the 'garage'.
You are reading this.
Fool From The Depths
Galo and Lio, Narancia's Room
"On my head? You mean these...weird plastic things?" Galo responded. "Yeah, I got no clue why they're on my noggin. They really don't fit my style at all. Looks like there's one on your head too. It's really weird. Almost like someone came in the middle of the night and decided to dress us up in shitty Halloween costumes..." He reached up and tossed the antennae off of his head. "Ha! There! Much better. Take that, you stupid mysterious force with no fashion sense!" He shook his fist at thin air."If that twisted Developer is behind this, I'm gonna wring his neck." Lio growled as he took off his own antennae as well. "He's done nothing but act like we're toys in a dollhouse for his amusement, and if he thinks giving the dollhouse a new coat of paint is supposed to make us happier, he's dead wrong."
"Yeah, this definitely isn't making me feel any better." Galo agreed. "I never liked bugs. They always make me feel squeamish..." He shuddered.
Lio let out a noise between a sigh and a groan as he put a hand to his forehead. "This is gonna be a long day..."
Something's Fishy Here...
Innawoods
Upon hearing that a pair of plastic antennae adorned his head too, Narancia's hands shot to his head, he ripped off the tacky accessory, and tossed it on the floor.
"Ugh, fuck! That damn asshole, Developer... he's just messing with us!," he groaned. With a sigh, he looked back at Aerosmith, clearly not being a fan of his Stand's new look. Aerosmith, for its part, seemed content to hover in place, its dragonfly wings a blurry streak.
"...Anyway... did you notice anything else change, guys?," Narancia asked as he looked around the room once more. "The atmosphere's... different..." He trailed off, fixed his eyes on the window and stepped closer towards it. "...Wait, this tavern wasn't in a forest yesterday, was it?," he asked.
Hesitantly, he opened the window, letting in the sounds of woods teeming with life... mostly, as far as he could hear, the buzzing, chirping and droning sort of life. Narancia couldn't see anything moving outside yet, but he wasn't liking what he was hearing—given how suspiciously loud these sounds were.
He leaned forward through the window and examined the outside. "W-What the hell?!," he exclaimed. "Why are we in a... a goddamn treehouse?! There's other treehouses too! What the fuck is going ooooon?!"
For the Horde!
Shantae glanced over at her friends, who all immediately came to her defense. She got into a fighting stance, but it seemed like the gathered group had intimidated the bee, who seemed to be only looking for flowers. With a loud buzz, the bee flew off from the window.
Shantae let out a deep sigh and glanced over at the others, smiling at Buzz and then the gathered girls.
"Thanks, all," she told them. "Now, what in the world is going on here? Why is everything made of wood and why are the bugs here so gigantic??" she asked. Stepping out into the lobby of the cantina, the half-genie girl crossed her arms and tilted her head. "We should get to the Arcade. Maybe that TESTER guy knows what's going on," said Shantae firmly. "I have the perfect transformation to keep us safe from any giant bugs that could get their icky legs and pinchers and whatever on us today."
Edited by AllHailThrall on Feb 1st 2023 at 8:27:15 AM
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
"Woah, woah, I didn't mean anything by it! I'm just...trying to put some dots together!" Lachesis's hands remained in front of her. "Sheesh, maybe Clo's right about my delivery. Umm...so...what does bring you here?" she asked, apparently thinking it was best to just change the subject rather than risk digging herself deeper. "I saw an anthill from the air and got curious, plus I thought I'd practice some homework."
At that, the witch girl drew a circle with her finger, pointed toward the ground. As she did so, a glowing circle appeared, and a small, crude sculpture of some four-armed humanoid rose out of the ground underneath. She made a pair of jazz hands, not glowing, as if letting out a silent 'ta-da.'
A pause.
"...Wait, you live in the human realm!?" Lachesis abruptly realized. "Or...some version of it? Still trying to figure out how this multiverse thing works..."
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Garage
Cheetor eyed the jar of honey doubtfully. "They... they eat this gunk?" The Maximal pulled a face at the concept; fortunately for him, Brigitte suggested investigating the bell, and Cheetor saw the opportunity for an escape.
"Hm. I mean, I'm not really a mechanic or anything; that kinda junk was always more Rhinox's department. Sorry-that's our chief engineer." Cheetor poked his head outside; the weak autumn sunlight filtering down through red and gold trees cast cast an orange tint on the Maximal's newly-fuzzy body. "I mean-the whole city's gone fragged-maybe someone should try and scout out a perimeter or something. Slag," he continued, remembering their captor's words from the previous day, "there could be some giga-huge bugs on the loose out there!"
Edited by Locoman on Feb 1st 2023 at 9:22:00 AM
The Light That Blinds
Donnie, Watching the Laws of Reality Break As He Speaks
"Same as everyone else. Got abducted, went down to the sewers for some familiarity, fell asleep there, woke up here." Donnie paused. "Not exactly the same, but it's the principle of the...thing..."
His voice died out and his eyes widened as Lachesis drew a circle in the air, and some weird four-armed thing crawled out— "WHAT IS THAT?!" Donnie yelled, pointing at it while backing up very quickly.
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Bitch pills
In The Sewer Tunnel Ant Hill Place
Bucky still didn't seem particularly interested in the newcomer, once she explained she didn't intend to seem hostile. He mostly just stared her down as she and Donnie conversed.
Until she summoned some thing, out of the ground, and Donnie showed clear distress. He knew how to handle that.
Hopefully, Lachesis was prepared for the speed at which the supersoldier was lunging forward, swinging the metal fist down at full power towards the strange sculpture, with every intent to destroy it where it stood.
Easing back into life one step at a time
Tron Bonne - Garage
"Hm, your energon sounds a little like our quantum refractor crystals... But nobody in my world has been able to figure out how those were made" Tron mused, taking the Shopping List notebook after Brigitte was done offering Cheetor some honey and summoning some bagels and cream cheese to eat and take her mind off her desire to inflict some property damage on the Developer's experiment.
It wasn't a nice rolled omelet or anything, but that required cooking and convenience won out this morning.
After that she wandered over to investigate the bell Brigitte mentioned. She tried not to look too closely at the fact the nearby lamp had a large glowbug instead of a light bulb in it, today was going to be a weird day. "It's just a bell, Nothing special about that" Tron said, casually giving it a ring.
The Crying Children
The Long Sleep at The Wrong Tavern 
Robo-Ky watched as the two of them walked away from him, and once more his mouth fell to the ground; he quickly put it back up, seeing that he was getting little luck from this; maybe he’ll have better luck: the next day, Ky then walks away, looking around the streets; hopefully, that kid would be alright, Ky then stops at what Ky believes is the grody tavern which was wrong as the tavern Robo-Ky was staying in was the Ass Tavern, Ky walks in not batting an eye to anyone as he lays on the floor of the tavern coving his face with his cape before turning to sleep mode to save his power for the next day.
Day Two - Robo-Ky the Not Wasp/Bee
When day two came in, Robo-Ky’s appearance changed to the colors of a hoverfly; his clothes had their blue and white colored to black and yellow stripes, and his yellow eyes were now red, with his much brighter yellow hair covering his small black antennae: and the color of his body a darkish yellow, Robo-Ky is woken as his sleep mode is turned off, he stands up, putting his cape back as he looks around to the new faces, all of them in weird looking colors, “What did someone paint on you?” He spoke, taking a seat next to Stocking, “Why, hello there,” Ky said trying to do his act again before noticing something wrong with the tavern, “Did the tavern always look this flammable before?”
I don’t want to hear anything. I don’t want to see anything, or speak anything…
Stop Killing My Titles
Trevor Belmont - The One Person With A Name; Ass Tavern
"Better safe than sorry." He had no idea what "plastic" was, and he wasn't sure what Hallows' Day had to do with it, but he could tell Goro "Crow" Akechi thought little of the antennae. Hey, if by some machination of the Developer the bugs start getting aggressive and the antennae will be their only way of dissuading them without a fight, he will have a last laugh. Well, no, not a last laugh, but one of the many last laughs-nevermind. "Trevor Belmont. I don't crow at clocks, but duly noted."
Chim's comment had him think, even as he brought forth the drink of gods in a nice oaken mug. "Come to daddy..." He muttered at the drink of gods, having a slow, content sip. Mulling it over briefly on his tongue, he reclined against the bar. "We do have a lot of people with descriptor names, don't we? Stocking, Chimneyfoot, even HUNK is just an abbreviation." He mused. "And now we have a crow on the clock, whatever that means."
Of course, the group here just so happened to fit the criteria. There were others who definitely did not, even discounting himself. Speaking of... "Any of you have any idea what Kobeni or Saria are up to?"
grah
Fool From The Depths
Galo and Lio, Treehouse Tavern Room
"Like you said, it looks like Developer's decided to change things up to see how we react." Lio responded, his tone angry. "He's poking and prodding at us to see what we do, and I don't like it. That omnipotent bastard thinks he can toy with us like we're plastic dolls or something. Just toys for his amusement...If I ever manage to get my hands on him, he's finally gonna know what if feels like to be burned..." His hands curled into fists that began to smoke, pink fire billowing from them a few seconds later."Whoa! Hey! Calm down!" Galo yelped, running in front of his partner and holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Cool it! Look, I hate this bastard as much as you do, and the same goes for everyone else trapped here. We're gonna do everything in our power to break out of here, and bring justice for everyone that's been taken from their homes, and when we finally succeed and make it out of this place, the power of my burning soul is gonna make him see stars! But you have to stay calm! Look at your mitts! Look at what you're doing!"
Lio looked down at his hands, and saw the flames emanating from them, which he quickly extinguished.
"Look, I can handle heat like a champ, but even I know it's a bad idea to be summoning flames when we're living in tree town! Try and be a bit more careful, got it?" Galo advised. "Maybe tone down the flames a bit? Not everyone in this place is a firefighter, and I doubt folks would be prepared to wake up to their new houses being grilled medium rare."
Lio responded with a nod. "Alright."
"Sweet!" Galo said, his face turning back to its usual goofy grin. "So...with that out of the way...whaddya say about heading out? I'm already getting bored being cooped up in this weird wooden treehouse of a tavern."
Something's Fishy Here...
It seemed the bee was not a threat because the combined efforts of the group had imitidated it, it flew away in a hurry. Not needing to attack just yet, Buzz put down his arm down and got out of his defensive stance. “That’s just exactly what I want to know. Buzz replied answering Shantae’s question of what was going on. “And looks like I’m not the only one who had changes happen over night. It’s everyone in the room.” He then added gesturing towards Nia, Sayaka and Mai.
“I reckon there’s got to be more of those giant bugs. And I agree we need to head for the arcade. I didn’t think I’d hear myself say that but there it is.”
Nia, Quasar Cantina and Inn: Moth Music
Nia loosened up when the bee left them alone, her eyes checking to see that they also changed in looks. Annoyed with the plastic feelers, she took them off and heard Shantae's suggestion to head to the Arcade. She looked at the group, "Read my mind. That's the first place in mind anyways. Problem is, with the whole bloody place shifting around, it could be right next door or titanpeds away."
Not willing to waste any more time, Nia speaks to them, "Let's get a move on before we get more of those ugly things on us."
She went downstairs and much like the bedrooms, the interior's made of all kinds of plants but still kept the same futuristic look. The armored man's outfit changed from white to a brownish black with a chitinous material as he looked at the catgirl (and her party should they follow her), "Morning. Guess whoever brought us here found us fit to play a game of theirs."
Nia looked out the window and saw that in place of buildings, there are trees with entrances to them. Her heart started to race a bit when she realizes that they're so far off the ground with the exit outside having a branch jutting out with a few rope bridges. Nia's ears perked up at the sound of something from outside. Taking a few tentative steps, she looked around and saw that near a tree, she spotted a person-sized cream colored moth
◊ making a song, as if to practice her voice. Admittedly, the moth-lady didn't sound too bad, but she wasn't paying attention as she's more looking for the Arcade, wherever it was.
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
With a loud EEK!, the blue witch threw herself away from Bucky's smashing fist, staff thrust out in front of her as if pulling her forward. A small chunk of what used to be an arm bonked harmlessly off her head as she got to her feet, staff pulled close to her body.
"Woah, what the hell!? I know it was a crap sculpture, but geez..." Lachesis said, backing away slowly. "I was just showing off some construction homework. Humans are intense..."
"Let me clarify; Crow is a codename I use when working in a group setting. Supposedly, it's to prevent unconscious associations that could result from yelling our real names in a mental world. Crows are quite intelligent, unwelcome as they are, and I always felt my masks had a beaklike quality to them, so I suggested Karasu; it became Crow since apparently the Phantom Thieves are partial to English terms—ah, they're vigilantes with powers like mine. We're...on uncertain terms."
Akechi glanced at the ceiling as if thinking about something. "Actually, I was in the middle of something with one of them before being rudely interrupted. If that damn machine is to be believed, he can do it on his own, but...it's not as if I can confirm that for myself."
"Based on the look in your eyes, I'm guessing your friends aren't going to be of use to us."
A certain boy in glasses checked behind him, as if wanting something to jump out and prove his rival wrong. "Th-they'll come around, they just...need some time. Trust me, by the end of the day..."
There wasn't really a kind way to tell Ren he was fooling himself, and anyway, Akechi had had a lifetime to grow sick of sugarcoating his thoughts, so better to rip the band-aid off before they hurt themselves betting on a miracle. "Oh yes, because I'm sure you're all just as close as you were before reality was changed."
"Look, I could see it in their eyes! The memories are there! It's just...having all that loss whisked away is an inherently hard thing to say no to, even if you know you have to. Even I—"
Ren turned away and shook his head, as if restraining himself from saying something difficult. He crossed his arms. "Sorry, that totally sounded like I was taking the bait, didn't it? Let's stop wasting time and start the mission. Alright, Crow? ...Crow?"
He only had a short glimpse of...was that a real life pixelation effect?...before seeing that there was no Crow at all. There was no one here but him...
"What...?"
...and only one possible cause he could think of.
"Where is he!?" he yelled an hour later, moderately winded from slashing his way through a palace singlehandedly.
A blinding light filled the large room in which he'd stepped. "Amamiya-kun?" answered a soft-voiced man who might have been in his 30s. "Where's—?"
"Don't give me that, Doc! I saw him vanish in front of me with that...pixely effect! That's not something that just anyone could do! What's the deal? Isn't this a little not-magnanimous for you?"
"Huh?" The man called 'Doc' blinked. "That can't be right; no one should be just disappearing like that. Unless..."
He stood there for several moments, looking deep in thought. Ren Amamiya, codename Joker, watched with intense scrutiny, only occasionally diverting his attention to check on the one other presence in that room.
"...By any chance, Amamiya-kun," the doctor eventually piped up, "have you...found yourself thinking anything strange? Particularly with regard to Akechi-kun..."
Ren's eyes widened for the most fleeting of moments, but as quick as it appeared, it was replaced with the same steely expression he'd had up to this point. He stood up straight, and turned away. "...I don't know what you're talking about."
"Although, I suppose there's no point brooding on it..." Akechi stared into his coffee again, taking a long, slow sip from it as though it were Trevor's alcohol. "Who are those again? The blubbering girl with the knife and the woman who can create enamel?" Apart from repeatedly taking his time with that coffee, he seemed to be making his way through his breakfast fast.
Edited by Oceanstuck on Feb 4th 2023 at 2:08:40 AM
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Breath of the Sun
Stocking, Ass Tavern
Akechi's violent action was met by Stocking's deadpan stare. She clearly wasn't intimidated by him. Though she was slightly confused by his reaction. Did Akechi have something against pancakes?
Before she could ponder that, Chimneyfoot pointed out the strangeness of her own name.
"See, the difference is that wearing stockings isn't a deformity." Stocking replied, taking another bite. "Your name is like if Crow Boy's parents here named him Resting Bitch Face."
She toyed with one of her own antenna while the boys talked shop. The mention of codenames amused her. "What, so you're like superheroes? Crow Boy and the, what did you say, Phantom Thieves? Sounds like a lame cartoon show. Lemme guess, your arch-nemesis is Pancake Man."
Grinning, she stuck a piece of pancake and waggled it in Akechi's direction, tauntingly.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
A Self-inflicted Disaster
Sayaka
Quasar Cantina and Inn
Upon seeing the bee retreat, she sheathed her sword. Sayaka agreed with the others and said
"Yeah, we might be able to get more info at the arcade."
THE SLORG!
Brigitte Lindholm - Grön armor - Auto... Beetle garage? - Yes, beetle garage.
Brigitte snickered at Cheetor's initial response. "They sure do!" she said, popping open the jar and pouring out a little bit straight into her open mouth. She then closed her mouth and let out a pleased, "mmm..." Then she let out a laugh. "Seriously, it's not bad. It's mostly sugar," Brigitte explained, and followed back downstairs to look at the bell again.
After Tron rang it, Brigitte glanced around, quiet for a moment. "... Huh, I thought it might activate something or- wait, you hear that?" she commented, starting to pick out an approaching thumping sound, almost like a galloping horse but... With more legs. Out of caution, Brigitte grabbed her mace and shield, deploying the transparent blue hard-light in front of herself and stating, "get behind me!"
The sound got closer and closer, until a stag beetle roughly the size of a sedan came running in one of the openings, its long legs skidding to a stop in the middle of the room. Brigitte took a slight step back, but the beetle didn't really do anything aggressive yet, just curiously waving its antennae about. So after a moment she lowered her shield, letting the hard-light retract back into it. "Okay, wasn't expecting that," she admitted, then noticing that the beetle had a pair of seats on its back. "I think, maybe we can ride it?" Brigitte muttered, but wasn't sure if it could fit all of them; certainly not Tron's mech, at the very least.
You are reading this.
The Light That Blinds
Donnie, Trying Not to Freak Out
"Construction homew—?!" Donnie forced himself to stop and inhale sharply. "Construction homework generally involves translating anatomy, or drawing blueprints. It does not involve violating reality and the laws of matter to create some kind of..." He gestured vaguely at where the thing had been. "That!"
He then sighed. "Well, I guess we'll have to worry about it when we know more about what's going on. Speaking of, are we still in the city? Or did we get transported to another another world?"
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Hunk finished his breakfast and downed the last of his coffee, he opted to let Stocking and Akechi argue. He was no stranger to Codenames himself, including ones he didn't desire. He turned his attention to Trevor.
"I've been considering what you said last night, we do need a sense of operation but I am clearly not a good choice for turning people to our side. We may need a "face" of sorts to get people to understand our intentions, I will gladly step aside and let someone else act as that face. Tactical operations is more my specialty."
He fiddled with his helmet a bit, pondering. "Whatever the plan, I would advise further exploration into the city. Chimnyfoot's map algorithm should prove helpful in more careful navigation."
Teemo, near the hole
Upon witnessing the creation of the sculpture Teemo was interested on what kind of magic did the witch use to make it, before being promptly smashed into pieces by bucky, a bit of an over reaction.
"My apologies miss we have different ways of homework and we dint expect the use of magic in it, my friends here got caught up in the surprise, thats all."
Teemo attempted to play damage control, he wasnt much of a diplomat but you start somewhere not to mention the witch dint seemed to be threatening for now.
"Uhm Donnie, maybe this is just the way they build stuff?"
Donatello has already offended a magic user before, gaining more the vitriol of people is not a good idea.
Chimneyfoot, Running Out of New Things to Call the Tavern (2023 Just Provided Credentials and Honestly They Look Pretty Legit)
Chim made several flippant yet confusing comments in a row.
"It makes sense that the people who speak English would like names in English." (This was in response to Akechi.)
"Hey, there are some weird deformities out there." (This was to Stocking; Chim was apparently implying that wearing stockings could be considered a deformity?)
"I'm pretty sure I've seen Crow Boy vs. Pancake Man." (Also Stocking.)
His face then lit up when Hunk mentioned his map. "Someone did listen to me! I should be able to navigate around here...I need to do a few calculations first. Does anyone have paper?"
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
Garage
Cheetor tensed as the huge insect barelled into the open space, but relaxed when it seemed harmless. "You guys can ride it," he said, eyeing the creature all over, "but I wanna give this new bod a test drive. Six legs or four, there's a reason they used to call me the golden rocket-beast mode!"
Cheetor's body quickly contorted into his new form, and he scuttled alongside the much larger beetle. "Anyone wanna lift?"
Donnie, Frustration Building
Witch...ling...
Donnie felt his eye twitch. "For your information, I live in the sewers," he said, voice more strained than he intended, "because most humans do not take kindly to teenage mutant turtles walking around the streets of New York. And again—I am not a demon."
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."