Everybody wants that fire IC but nobody wants to GM it.
16
likes
12 mos ago
If you're roleplaying with your only friends, you're roleplaying with your best friends.
7
likes
2 yrs ago
I think to sell someone on an interest check, it's really important to seem enthusiastic about your own idea. That means writing more than a single sentence to attract potential players.
14
likes
3 yrs ago
The virgin "My post was so bad it killed the RP!" VS the chad "My post was so good it concluded the RP."
16
likes
Bio
W I T H R I G H T E O U S H A N D S
Did you know that Dante's inferno is called a divine comedy because things work out for the protagonist? Back in the day, the only two genres were comedy and drama. The only difference was that in a comedy, the protagonist is better off at the end, and a drama is the opposite. So that's why a story about going through hell can still be considered a comedy, even if it's not funny.
Name:
Broken Promise, BP, Boss
Age:
Old enough to know better, too young to care. (that is to say 30's)
Preferred RPs:
I Prefer to make my own, but will occasionally join something if it looks interesting. I'll join just about anything so long as it isn’t overly edgy/sweet, though it's rare for me to do. I don't do 1x1s too often either.
Preferred Roles:
I tend to play adorable characters everyone wants to befriend or proper assholes everyone wants to stay away from. I try not to play moral paragons or prime evils.
RP Conquests:
I've completed quite a few RP's off site, but most of them are on private forums or have simply been lost to the ravages of server crashes. As for stuff here, I'm sure everyone who sees me post in the off topic sections has seen me find an excuse to talk about Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage. It's a project that took over 4 years to complete and I feel pride not only for myself but all the wonderful people who helped make it enjoyable during its run. Re: Zero: The High Council Is technically my first, but it was just something I kind of took over and ended up ending the story after just six months. It finished, but eh...
For some reason I can't seem to stay away from Ari's magical girl RP, even if I'm not sure why I'm still in it.
As for my own projects, I'm doing Symphony on High to continue the gigachad adventures of the espers in Pax Septimus.
RP Graveyard:
I've been pretty fortunate on this forum. I think I joined one when I first came on the site that didn't really do anything, and there are a few 1x1 things that didn't go anywhere. It's disappointing when an RP ends before it can be finished, but I've come to look at them as learning experiences.
And then there's that london magical girl RP, and that dark magical girl RP. I think I'm done joining magical girl RPs for a while.
Other interests:
Videos
I watch a lot of educational videos on youtube. Usually as research for something I’m writing or purely because a topic interests me. I like channels like Tier Zoo and Daryl Talks Games, and I’ll also watch things like Critical Drinker or Literature Devil to deepen my understanding of story telling. Though I also like memes and jokes, to which I’ll find myself watching stuff like Sseth, but usually find myself surfing through meme videos. I gotta work on that.
Games
I have a rather long history of playing virtually every platformer to come into existence during the indie boom, as well as quite a few other indie games. I’ve played Meatboy, Binding of Issac, Gunvolt, Cuphead, Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt, Classic Metroid, Warcraft 3, Final Fantasy 7,8, and 14, Left 4 Dead, Shantae, Celeste, Danganronpa, God Eater, the list goes on. What I’ve played is kind of all over the place. I don’t play many games these days, I tend to pick things that look interesting and go on a decent steam sale.
Painting Minis
I do this in moderation. Otherwise, it's a pretty expensive hobby to start...
Music
I listen to everything, save most country/rap songs. I have too many favorites to name.
Personality:
Not one to take life or the internet too seriously. Is only serious about writing well and having a good time.
I just want specifics on what's been going on and how a solution would be done because other sites have overreacted to issues like these in the past and overcorrected in a way that punishes people who aren't even part of the problem. I'd hate to see that happen on the Guild.
This really isn't being stressed enough in this discussion. I'd like to expand on it.
Like most of the non-discord-going-forum-goers, I don't know what it's like on discord. If bigotry is prevalent on discord, than it should probably be addressed. But make no mistake about it: changing the rules is nothing to be taken lightly. It's not as simple as "don't be a bigot" and then everyone engages in healthy conversation in total comfort. People outside the minority will have extra pressure placed on them to conform to the new rules. For some this won't be a problem. But it's very easy to take things out of context, and you can easily create a situation where people get banned for some perfectly innocent banter.
An example of this is that I have a friend who very casually calls things gay. As in "Sounds gay, I'm in" or sometimes just responds with "gay" to an observation I made. I would think that if these rules were implemented, it would be very easy for someone to call him out on this behavior and get him banned. And for what? A comment that was done purely for amusement? He plays gay characters! The real problem is that once these rules get implemented on discord, it wouldn't be too hard to also have them moved onto the forum as well. I don't know how the guild was before my arrival 4-5 years ago, but things have been pretty tame during my stay. Minus the bot invasion but w/e.
Historically, Mahz made this forum so that people didn't have to roleplay on sites with heavy administration. If there's a problem, the community is expected to report it to a mod, who then has the authority to do something about it. This has created a forum community that knows how to look after itself. People treat each other with respect for the most part, and we can speak without fear of getting hammered by a moderator who's in the mood to use their power. What few times people go to far, mods are called in, and the problem is dealt with. Maybe it doesn't work on discord, I wouldn't know.
I think I speak for everyone when I say we're fine with altering the rules to make people feel safer. What I'm not okay with is altering the rules in such a way that it makes the majority of posters feel less safe to speak, and that's what a rule change will do if not handled with the utmost care.
”...But I'm posting, so I get to write the header quote.”
— Ultra Instinct Lord of Change
As Eliza left the two Ascendancy members, she would, if she hadn't noticed it when dealing with Violette and Rachel, see a shadow trailing her that seemingly 'scurried' towards her. Stopping a couple of feet or so away, it bubbled and a black tar-covered figure emerged from it. The tar dripped away at a rapid pace until all that was left was Samantha.
She struggled to contain a shiver as she was not particularly covered with her outfit. Still, she addressed Eliza in a neutral tone. "Rare is it to have a... civil conversation with one of 'them'," she noted. "How are you feeling?"
"Eh?" Eliza turned to look at Sam. She crossed her arms. "To be fair, the fact that they haven't seen me beforehand contributed to that." She shrugged, and when asked how she was feeling, she rose a brow. "Hah, I should be asking you guys the same question. Weeell, right now I'm waiting on Oros to get back. But other than that I'm...actually not tired. For once." Eliza blinked at the realization.
"I hope you'll understand my frustration. But I don't feel proud of the outburst," Sam rubbed her neck awkwardly. "Anyway, I doubt many of us would feel too comfortable during a meeting like that, so it is good to see that the Ascendancy isn't bothering you too much. Especially given who you saw there," she warned. "Rachel is as zealous and dangerous as you can get from that faction. Thankfully, you don't need to learn that the way I did." Sam's mostly neutral expression wasn't enough to cover the shame she felt as she recalled that memory.
The witch sighed. "It's understandable, Sam. Hell, when Maura told me about you-know-what, my first instinct was to facepalm. But there are more important things to focus on now, and there shouldn't be anyone besides me having outbursts of anger." Eliza patted Sam's back, making a quick jacket out of dark and light magic to cover her up, seeing how uncomfortable she appeared to be.
"Besides, as long as Rachel and her goons don't realize who I work for, I could try and get some info out of them. Anaya can get me out of trouble, if anything happens." Eliza explained through magicoms. She didn't want to risk anyone overhearing.
"I appreciate it." Samantha thanked her for the clothing. It had effect almost immediately and the shivers soon seemed to disappear. Breathing out, Sam didn't quite look like she liked the idea of people getting near Rachel, but she didn't protest. "Just trust your instincts if you believe things are going south. It'll keep you alive." Samantha advised, adjusting the jacket Eliza provided her so that it was more comfortable. Clearing her throat, she opted to change the subject despite bringing it up. "If you don't mind my asking, how are you attached to Oros, exactly?"
"Uh...Oros is my date. Not even I know how that happened."
When the fact that Oros and Eliza were on a date, Sam raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" she looked off to the side for a moment. "Well, considering my relationship with Trixy, I guess it isn't near as surprising. But..." It was faint, but when she was thinking about Trixy, there was almost a smile on her face. "...surprising isn't a bad thing."
Sam looked towards where she last saw Emily, narrowing her eyes. "That said, Oros is in for a surprise if she keeps Emily for too long. I hope you can excuse my rudeness, but I don't believe she's the best influence for Emily."
Eliza chuckled. "Look at you, being the mom friend of the group!" She joked. "I know she's eccentric, but I'm sure she'll be nice to her. I can always scry in if you're concerned." She smiled to Sam. "And understood, on that end."
"M-mom friend?" Sam repeated in surprise, struggling to maintain composure. "I-it's just that since we came together that I should keep an eye out! That's all," she tried to downplay it. She looked away from Eliza for a second, only to spot someone of note. Standing next to the exit of the building (and next to what appeared to be a body?) was Tetrad, but more importantly past that was Emily. It wasn't possible to hear them from this distance.
Samantha turned back to Eliza. "I believe that's Emily over there, so Oros shouldn't be too far away," she mentioned. "That reminds me. Have you met Emily?"
Eliza only shook her head in response.
"She is a pretty cheerful girl for the most part." Samantha informed Eliza, beginning to walk towards Emily and whoever was around her. "It would not surprise me if she went out of her way to track you down later," she joked. "From what I've seen and experienced, she's quite eager to befriend anyone she can. That would normally put me off but... well, she hasn't ever made me doubt those intentions aren't genuine."
Meanwhile...
Emily could be seen leaning over the man on the ground. She seemed beyond worried as she pulled him to his feet and even help pat off anything that might've stuck to him. After asking if he was alright, Emily turned to Tetrad, and surprisingly accepted the drink. "I-I'm old enough!" she proclaimed. Eliza and Samantha wouldn't be able to hear it, but she also muttered, "...the Rave was a one-time thing..." under her breath. The drink she took out of the cup was small enough that 'sip' was a generous term.
Before she could reply to Tetrad what was undoubtedly going to be a 'yes' to playing in the snow, she noticed the pair of Sam and El pulling up approaching. "Sam!" she met with them and, to Sam's dismay, gave her a spontaneous hug, making sure not to spill her drink in the process. "Oros wanted to do something later if you're up for it! Oh, but we'll have to find Betty and... Eliza?"
"Well, do I have news for you," Sam replied in a monotone, but then she realized the drink in Emily's hand. "Hey, what do you have there?" Ignoring the memory of Eliza's earlier comment about her being a mom friend, she still asked this.
In what was perhaps the slyest social maneuver ever seen, Emily skillfully changed the subject. "F-forgitaboutit! A-anyway, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Eliza waved. "Emily, right? I haven't gotten to introduce myself properly. I'm Eliza! And I got a feeling you already know Oros." She held out a hand for Emily to shake.
"Eliza? Oh, isn't that a coincidence! Like I just said, Oros is looking for you!" she swapped her drink over to the other hand so she could shake with her dominant hand. "But yes, I'm Emily! Feel free to call me Em if you want." she looked back towards Tetrad, who was hanging around outside. "Oh, um, were either of you interested in a snowball fight?"
Samantha nodded as if it was already in agreement. "Sure. But you what about Oros? Eliza was looking for her, actually."
"You were?" Emily asked the girl. "Oh, um... well, I didn't see exactly where she went since I was paying more attention to who she bulldozed..."
"Eh, I can wait on her a little longer." Eliza shrugged. "A snowball fight sounds fun though! I may need the practice."
”Hey! Whatchu talkin’ bout Eliza?” Tetrad walked back into the doorway. ”Isn’t your whole deal that you know every- AHHHHH!” She hopped backwards. ”What happened to that strangely beautiful boy-girl!?” Tetrad had almost finished her first drink, and was noticably red in the face.
Eliza shrugged once again, with an eyebrow raised. "She went off to talk to someone too. I'm not gonna intru- Are you already drunk???" She asked back, noticing how red in the face Tetrad was.
”Are you?!?!?!” She pointed at Sakura with both hands. ”How did this happen? Isn't Dan suppose to be protecting us from things like this?”
A snow-covered Oros stepped into the lodge. ”Hey El! Looks like-whomga carrot!” Oros pointed at Sakura. ”What happened to her!?”
Though the others were too distracted to notice it, Oros' question had caused Emily to narrow her eyes for a second.
”I don't knowwwwwww!” Tetrad pouted.
”Well we have to do something! Like, uh, mouth-to-mouth or some shit! That always seems to work.” Oros folded her arms. ”I'd do it, but I'm on a date with El right now. That means my lips can only touch hers for the duration of this date, even if it's an emergency!" She looked to the witch. ”That means you're out too!!
"I don't think mouth-to-mouth is the right treatment for someone who got trampled, looks like." Eliza explained, sitting Sakura down to the nearest seat to check for any wounds. "We should look for stuff like head trauma or broken bones. Hey, how many fingers am I holding up right now?" She asked the feminine fellow, holding up three fingers.
"I also do not see how mouth-to-mouth helps here," Samantha commented.
Emily set her glass down so that she could search Sakura's head for any signs of damage but not before taking a drink. "Oh, I hope you're alright..." she worried.
Despite Eliza voicing her doubts about the idea, Oros didn’t stop pursuing it. ”And Sam is out too, since she’s got a girl friend. Which means if someone’s going to give her mouth to mouth, it’s gotta be Em or Rad.”
Tetrap moved Emily aside. ”Alright, I think I practiced this in swim class. Just, just get me something to drink.”
Oros didn’t question the quad colored card dealer. She promptly grabbed a stein full of ale and handed it to Tetrad. ”Godspeed, lifesaver! Have as much liquid courage as you need.” She saluted.
”Do patronize me!” She knocked back the mug, and her adam’s apple bulged out of her neck with each gulp.
”You can tell she went to collage.” Oros turned to Emily and Sam. ”I know it’s hard, but we’ve gotta keep our spirits up. Dan’s magic is dependant on our good mood, right?” she smiled at her companions. ”Anyone else want something to drink? We could also have a snowball fight.”
Eliza stood comically dumbfounded for a moment. Was the check-up moot? Did she really have to waste her time like this? And on a date too?! "...OKAY! If nothing else is going to interrupt me before I get a spliting headache," She walked back over and pulled Oros into a hug, resting her head against the other's shoulder. "Sorry for taking so long. And we already agreed on the snowball fight, unless you have any other ideas..." She quietly apologized.
Sam pointed to the 'injured' male. "You guys have been wasting so much time that I'm doubtful he'd still be alive if he needed treatment," she pointed out. "Anyway, does anyone know him? Did they come with anyone?" she asked.
"Samantha, are you joking? You know him!..." Emily asked, before it dawned on her. "O-oh, that's right! This is your first time seeing them since... We made a new friend who helped us out a lot! She helped Sakura become like this. So this is Sakura now."
The assassin blinked. "O-oh, well isn't that lucky for them. I bet it was a happy day for you guys. Anyway, it sounds like we are all having a snowball fight?"
Emily nodded, retrieving the drink she had set down. "Yeah, when we're all ready! Um," she glanced at Sakura. "Hopefully no more accidents happen, though." Emily put the glass up to her lips once more, and when she removed it, her cheeks became slightly flushed.
Oros chuckled. ”She’s a guy now, huh? Guess some people are into that, if the survey is anything to go by.”
”I’m gunna make sure he lives!” Tetrad cried into the heavens. Her face was flushed red, and there were some tears running down her cheeks. ”No one can escape me by retreating into the cold embrace of death!” she leaned over and proceeded to fill his lungs with air.
”…ANYWAY! Yea!” Oros Pulled Eliza closer. ”Looks like it’s a slaughter out there. I say we raid the queen’s fort and take it for ourselves. We can even raise a flag, which I prepared specifically for this occasion.” She shrugged. ”Or we could play a game among ourselves if you don’t feel like utterly crushing our rivals.”
The queen? Penny was out there? It kinda felt pointless if she was currently slaughtering the opposition outside. But at the same time...
Eliza herself hadn't had the chance to go up against Penny, has she?
A mischevious grin tugged at her face. "I'm in."
"I'm so happy we can all play together!" Emily cheered, raising an excited fist to the air in celebration and taking a drink with the other. Her face would twist as the taste got to her but she powered on through. "Yay!"
Sam watched Emily with the smallest trace of concern creeping over her features. It was clear she would be watching Emily closely. "Yeah," she agreed with the rest for now. "Let's show them a good time."
”Time to kick some ass!” Oros picked up Sakura and slung him over her shoulder. ”Well I’ll be, he does weigh a bit more! He really did become a man.”
”What?” Tetrad pointed at Oros. ”Where is he going?”
”I’m not going to leave anyone behind!” Oros patted Eliza on the shoulder. ”If we’re going to play in the snow, we’re all doing it together!” She stomped her way out the door. ”If we’re going to play in the snow, we’re all doing it together!” And with that, Oros marched outside with Eliza in one arm, and Sakura hanging off of her shoulder.
Tetrad clenched her fist tight. ”Wherever he goes, I follow!” She said before following after everyone.
When the siege party got to the snowball fight, Oros let go of Eliza and stepped forwards. She surveyed everything that was going on, and nodded.
”I guess we could plan a strategy or something like that.” She grinned. ”But who wants to be that up tight over a little bout in the snow? Let’s take the fort! I’ll hold Aggro!” Oros swung Sakura off of her shoulder and charged towards the “enemy fortification” like a homesick angel. She was using Sakura as a human shield to block any incoming snowballs. ”Let me know when you’re awake, tater tot, this is all for you!” While Oros herself wasn’t throwing any snowballs, Tentacles did surface out of the snow to whip snowballs at the many pennies that were running around.
Tetrad fanned her cards out in front of herself. ”Well, that’s refreshing. Almost as refreshing as a glass of ale!” she turned to Samantha. ”I’ll follow your lead, Samantha. We never went on an operation together, so this is as close as I get.” Tetrad never took her eyes off of Samantha, even as she packed her first snowball.
"I noticed that. A real shame." Samantha nodded, summoning a simple schatten to her side, which would begin making a few snowballs for Sam. "Since they're drawing attention, let's try to flank and see if we can score a few good shots on them." Saying this, Samantha dashed off in a curved path, obviously attempting to strike any Penny clones from the side. Tetrad followed closely behind her.
As they began their assault on the opposing one-man team, Eliza stood back for a moment. She glanced around the battlefield in thought. "Hmmm... Might wanna watch out on using our magic. We could give her the upper hand, and not realize it soon enough." She explained, such was the reason why she didn't use her scrying power. Three pairs of shadowy arms would form as makeshift tentacles, two for making snowballs, and one for juggling them. Eliza would stick with dark magic for now.
She looked to Emily. "Guess you're stuck with me, huh? We can try and take advantage of their intervention to sneak inside the fort, find the real Penny, and take her out. But we'll have to be prepared for anything, got it?"
"Oh, don't say it like that! I'm happy to team up with you!" Emily assured Eliza. She looked a bit conflicted as she made a few snowballs for herself. "I can melt a path through if things get a bit too cramped! Um, but otherwise you'll have to trust my throwing arm." Emily would mention.
Eliza smiled. "You can leave most of the offense to me." With that, she'd use her shadow magic to try and sneak them both inside.
”Quick break before I resume the speedrun. Remember to subscribe to my Onlyfans for bonus content.”
— Oros
The more Nykannis talked, the less happy Oros looked to be listening to her. The scientist droned on with no end to her barrage of questions in sight. Question after question, flipping from fright, confusion, to rage. All in a very short period of time. Until she finally asked the “discount girl from an underground anime” for her name. Oros sighed. Whatever joy she had upon seeing the girl had turned to ash in her mouth.
”Okay so we gotta get something straight.” She raised her finger, making sure to keep her voice low and quiet. ”I understand, we have one weekly Patron Outpost Surveyor Transcript, better known as a POST, where we get to talk. The temptation to say as much as we can in one of these POSTs is tempting, but I advise against it. We both want to get to the interesting part of this conversation, but it’s a very unnatural way of speaking. ” Oros fret her brow, and her lips curled back to reveal a snarl. ”Moreover, have you given a single thought as to how I’m supposed to respond to any of this shit?” She gestured towards the way she came. ”We’ve got a snowball fight, ice sculpting, snowman making, stage performances, harebringers, and Keijo fights going on! You think anyone can keep track of all that shit and remember some minute details about the balcony space? Did anything even come up in the last POST?” Her brow practically dropped between her eyes. ”I don’t know! The door was open when I came here. Maybe ‘Kayli’ forgot to shut it on her way out. All I know is that if I see a tiny girl, you can bet your ass I’m going to do anything in my power to talk to her. You want to try getting a word in? Fuck you! I’m still responding to your endless wall of banter!” Oros rubbed her nose. ”Maho Hiyajo is best girl! She’s an amazing character and the fact that she’s a loli is just a bonus! You could never compare to her cuteness! Why someone would claim to be smarter than a fictional character is beyond me. And yes, everyone, I see the irony in that statement. Bite me!”
Oros exhaled. ”See? And then we would just take turns throwing increasingly convoluted and difficult to keep up with paragraphs at each other.” She placed a gentle hand on Kate and Nykannis. ”I suggest we start over and make the following conversation a COLLAB to avoid this. You know? ‘Couple Of Lovely Ladies Acting Brashly, COLLAB? Point is, we can progress at our own pace.” She took her hand off of Kate’s shoulder and offered it to Nykannis, and did the reverse with her other arm. Her arms were crossed in front of her with a hand pointed at the only 2 other girls present. ”My name is Oros. If you want to tag a pretentious title on there, you could call me ‘The Manager of the Golden Trove’ or ‘Future Mayor of Penrose,’ but it really isn’t necessary.” She looked into the air. ”Haruko Haruhara was an interesting one. I haven’t seen Fooly Cooly so I can’t say how alike we are. I think I look more like Chii Aruel from Soul Worker. ”
Nykannis was left speechless as their uninvited guest rambled, using obscure terminology even the Monarch of Mad Science was baffled by. POSTS? COLLABS? Details about how protected their balcony was? Wait… Did someone hit this girl with a meta weapon? Or was she some form of reality warper? An edgier, even more in-your-face version of MDP? Nykannis suppressed the urge to shudder. THIS was precisely why she hated mingling with Penrose natives… What was particularly annoying though, was how the girl insulted the way Nykannis talked, and insisted that some half-baked fictional character was better than her, the Monarch of Mad Science! And THEN there was her reason for being here in the first place…
“Hi, Oros,” Kate chuckled as she shook the beast girl’s hand. “It’s nice to meet ya. I gotta say, you’re pretty, uh, unique, but anyone who can rile Nykannis up like that is okay in my book!”
“So, let me get this straight,” Nykannis began, closing her eyes in a (probably futile) attempt to calm herself. “You only came in here because you have some kinda perverse fetish for little girls? Bitch, you are SERIOUSLY FUCKED UP. Oh, and you think I talk weird? That’s rich coming from a rambling nutcase like you,” she added with a sneer as she opened her eyes to glare at Oros. “I mean, your little ‘speech’ lasted 83.478 seconds longer than what I just said. And now you wanna have a pleasant conversation? Well, you’d better have something REALLY interesting to discuss, otherwise you can find out why it’s a REALLY BAD IDEA TO PISS ME OFF!!!”
Oros was frozen in place. Her body was pointed in Kate’s direction, but eyes were locked on Nykannis for the entire duration of her rant. ”One moment.” She smiled at Kate before looking back at the mad scientist. ”We’re starting over, Nyan.” Oros made sure to vocalize her nickname for the doctor like an anime cat girl would. ”But just to get this shit outa the way, I’m not an ‘aqualung.’ Well, no more an aqualung than anyone else here. I think visually we’re all somewhere between 7 and 16? Easy to forget with some of our face claims being so mature looking. Anyway, the point is I find your small shape cute! The only thing I have a burning desire to do is place my hand on top of your head. Several times. I’m on a date anyway.” Her hand started to hover over “Nyan’s” head. ”But interesting topics of conversation? I have those in spades. What would you like to talk about? There’s me, the approaching end of the world, my nose, my two co-managers who are also magical scientists, me, my plans for Penrose, we can even talk about you.” She looked back at Kate. ”Or even you! I wouldn’t mind hearing about you. What are you doing with this small sassy scientist?”
“Well, if you’re talking about right now, I was trying to give her a bit of a vacation, although she hasn’t really been enjoying herself all that much,” Kate replied with a chuckle. “Mostly because Dan’s magic is preventing her from running the kinds of tests she likes. But if you mean how I met her, that’s a pretty interesting story! We were both attending a symposium at the Wright Institute on Kalgan, over in universe 11121945IAF. Nykannis was giving a lecture on Clarke’s Third Law, and I was covering the event as a freelance photographer. I remember most of the speakers being kinda boring, but Nykannis’s enthusiasm was really refreshing! She gets so passionate about things that it’s hard not to share her excitement. So, anyways, I decided to chat with her a bit after her lecture, and that’s when…
…
…
…
…and we’ve been friends ever since! In fact, she even made me this camera,” Kate added, holding up the device. “If you couldn’t tell by the name on the strap.”
”You know I normally can’t stand long stories, but that skip made it really amusing.” Oros grinned.
Nykannis, meanwhile, had remained silent during Kate’s retelling of their first meeting, simply glaring daggers at Oros and grinding her teeth together.
“So,” Kate continued with a grin. “What’s all this about you wanting to become mayor of Penrose? I gotta say, that’s a pretty ballsy move, considering that place is a perpetual shit magnet.”
“Screw that,” Nykannis snapped before Oros could respond. “You mentioned the approaching ‘End of the World’,” she added, addressing the pink-haired girl. “Now, assuming that everything that spews out of your mouth isn’t complete fucking bullshit, are you talking just this planet, or do you mean a complete universal collapse?”
The hotel manager pointed between herself and Nykannis. ”Mind if I…?” She looked away from Kate. ”It’s nothing as severe as the collapse of a multiverse. Just a recurring tragedy that seems to engulf worlds where Penrose exists. Nothing a traverser of realities needs to worry about. Though at the same time, I kind of like challenging myself, so why not see if I can stop it this time? Cucking forces on that level is just the right thing to do!” She looked back at Kate. ”Which ties into the whole mayor thing. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m never going to be able to go toe to toe with the big magical organizations in Penrose. Not with their numbers and everything. So I’m going to go for a political victory with the normies. Can’t really say much more than that right now.”
“A multiversal constant, huh?” Nykannis observed with a raised eyebrow. “Well, that’s another item to add to the list of ‘reasons why I hate that place’. Oh, and good luck on changing things,” she added dryly. “If you’re really up against an omni-dimensional force that hates the fact that Penrose exists, you’re gonna need a LOT more power than what being mayor of that dump’ll give ya.”
Oros shrugged. ”Gotta start somewhere, right? Maybe we can get my patron reinstated as a Co-Gm and-”
“A magical girl mayor…” Kate mused. “I’d say that’s gotta be a first, but I’ve seen way stranger stuff than that. Like, did you know that in some universes, magical girls operate openly?”
”Can’t say I’m all that surprised.” Oros grinned. ”Honestly, the worlds without any magical girls probably fascinate me the most. Well, I guess they exist of a fashion. Though people call them ‘superheroes’ or ‘espers’ or something like that. I wouldn’t mind living in a world without all that bullshit going on. At least for a little while.” She tossed her hand into the air. ”But I know I'd have to come back to Penrose. I dunno if it’s because it’s my original home, all the hot ass, or maybe just because it’s a ‘Realm Portion’ that’s been around for a while.” Oros closed her eyes. ”We’re on page 4 of the COLLAB, so I guess we should make something interesting happen.” When her eyes opened, she was looking at the mad scientist. ”It’s clear that you guys aren’t locals. I’m not even sure if you’re from the same world as everyone else.” Oros cracked her knuckles before resting her fist on her hip. ”So what’s it gunna take to get a scientist and a photographer on my payroll?”
Kate Grinned. “I’m a freelancer, so as long as the money’s good, I'll work for just about anyone,” she told Oros. “Even someone from Penrose,” she added with a chuckle. “Although, seeing how much of a disaster area it currently is, my fee’s gonna be a bit higher than usual.”
Oros puffed out her chest. ”Very well, we’ll have to hammer out specifics later.”
For her part, Nykannis gave the beast girl an arrogant sneer. “Sorry, Pinky, but I’ve already got the best setup I could want in a backwater reality plenum like this,” the mad scientist explained, not sounding sorry in the slightest. “Although… You mentioned two employees of yours who fancy themselves scientists. Let me have a little chat with them to see if they’re not complete amateurs, and if they have anything interesting to offer, we can work out a little quid pro quo arrangement. I borrow them to assist me with something I’m working on, and you can borrow my super-scientific genius for ONE project. That sound good?”
”Mmmm, that might be difficult.” Oros rubbed her chin. ”They are my co-managers at the hotel. While they are both accomplished magi researchers, one runs an artificing shop strictly for their own profit while the other does research for a third party. That sort of stuff isn’t part of the contract. So any ‘squid pro quo’ is going to be between you and them. Furthermore, while I can see you’re cute you haven’t given me any reason to believe you have the big galaxy brain you claim to have. I know what those two are capable of, and you think you’re better than both of them without having ever met them?” Oros chuckled. ”Oh I got it now. Yea, you gotta make me something. And then I’ll arrange a meet up for you three. I’ll grease the wheels a bit of course, just to ensure things go smoothly.”
Nykannis ground her teeth as Oros expressed doubt in her abilities. “Okay, Miss Magical Girl Deadpool, you wanna see why I’m the Queen of the Mad Scientists?!! Why I’m the most brilliant mind this reality plenum has ever seen?!! FINE!!! I’ll make whatever crazy reality shattering invention you want! The more challenging the better! Well, within reason, of course,” she added, her voice taking on a regretful tone. “See, the deal I made with the Grand Magistrates stipulates that I can’t make any major changes to the universal status quo, ESPECIALLY where Penrose is concerned, so, yeah…”
”Yea, they can be sort of a bummer to work around. I find it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission with those dudes. But let’s see…” Oros exhaled and thought. This was her one chance to ask for almost anything. ”Alright, this might be a little crazy, but you’re the queen of maid scientists, right Nyan? Should be possible. You ready?” She nodded. ”I want a back scratcher!” After a short pause, she tipped her head. ”Like, a robot maid! Yea! A cute, robot, maid! Maybe a cat maid? A personal assistant, that’s also a back scratcher and shit!”
“A maid?” Nykannis deadpanned. “All my vast, super-scientific knowledge, and you want me to make you a MAID?!!”
”I trust it will be unlike any robot cat maid I have ever seen!”
“ Fine…” she exhaled in weary resignation. “I’ll make you a damn maid. Cat ears, cat tail, cat collar, fetishistic outfit, the works. So, you want this thing to look organic or mechanical?”
The question caused Oros to stop and think, which Nykannis was pretty sure she didn’t do often. ”If it’s indistinguishable from a living person that’s pretty cool. Who doesn’t want a cute maid? Then again, I can just hire a cat maid easily enough. Having clearly metallic features allows me to show off, but it could be a problem if normies come around.” Oros placed her outstretched hand on top of Nykannis head and gently patted it. ”Nyan? Have you ever noticed that when you go to a fancy restaurant the menus are really small, they don’t make special orders, but the food is always really good regardless? You seem like you know what you’re doing. It doesn’t even have to be a cat girl if it’s awesome!” Her smile got wider as she continued to pat the scientist’s head. ”Is that unreasonable? I could go for something easier if you’d prefer.”
“Easier?” Nykannis spat, as if the very concept was deeply repulsive. Or maybe that was just her response to the sensation of Oros’s hand on the top of her head? Probably both. “You’ve already set the bar so low, it’s practically underground! But I get it, you want me to take this mundane, stereotypical concept and do something creative with it. Okay, I think I have an idea on how we might do that,” she added. Activating a small holographic display and producing a circuit-covered stylus, the mad scientist began drawing up plans and scribbling down notes. “Keeping in mind your various fetishes and need for this thing to be able to interact with normies, here’s what I was thinking.” Manipulating the holodisplay, she pulled out a 3D model of her idea for Oros to examine. “First we have the maid portion. Basic moe, cat girl maid. Shy personality, underdeveloped body, and fully organic, although the ears and tail are fully detachable, in case you need to prove she’s ‘really human’ to any over-inquisitive weebs. I will mention that she incorporates some ridiculously advanced nanotech, allowing for a variety of interesting applications. In particular, she has an energy to matter conversion unit, which should allow her to produce whatever food, drink or other mundane item you want, with the item in question materializing in her hands. Naturally it also works in reverse as well. But you wanted something a little more ‘outside the box’ than just that, right?” she added with a smirk. “Well, that’s where the second part comes in!” Snapping her fingers, there was a bright flash, after which, the 3D model’s appearance had changed significantly. “With a simple command phrase of your choosing, your cat girl maid will become a magical girl. She’ll be a disgustingly kawaii genki girl when she’s in this form, with a VERY cheery personality, great for annoying people you don’t like. While I’ve given her a limited amount of Metaphysical Aetheric Numinosphere Accelerator, she’ll still be a joke compared to what a regular magical girl is capable of, so just keep that in mind if you plan to put her in a combat situation. So, whadya think?”
”Yea, that sounds good! The nanomachines should prevent her from getting hacked or frying due to simple static electricity.” After nodding a few times, Oros looked away from the hologram and at the scientist. ”And this will 100% be able to scratch my back, right?”
“You saw the claws, didn’t you?” Nykannis replied with a wry grin. “Well, if everything meets with your approval, there’s just one last thing to take care of.” Spreading her thumb and forefinger, the mad scientist created a rectangular holographic window in front of Oros. “Sign here,” she instructed, handing the beast girl her stylus.
Oros twirled the stylus in her hand before holding it over the pad. After staring at it for a moment, her expression soured. ”Ehh, I dunno.” She pulled her hand away. ”I mean, we have plenty of Non-Patron Champions, or NPC’s if you’d prefer, back in Penrose. I doubt my patron could handle another one.” With a sigh, she handed the stylus back to the doctor. ”Perhaps another time.” She extended her other hand towards Kate, which had a business card in it. ”If you find yourself in the area, I could definitely put you to use. Though it might be a bit before I have anything worthwhile for you to do. While Penrose might be dangerous, I do have a safe place for you to sleep at least. Our breakfasts are nothing to shit on either.”
“What the hell?!” Nykannis snapped. “Ya make me do all that work, and now you don’t want it?! Well guess what?! I went through the trouble of designing it, so you can bet your ass I’m making it and bringing it with me to my chat with your two ‘scientist’ pals!”
”So my patron won’t have to control it?” Oros reached for the stylus.
Meanwhile, Kate was far more receptive of Oros’s offer. “Thanks,” she told the pink-haired girl with a smile as she took the offered business card. “And here’s my contact info,” she added, handing over her own card. “I gotta say, I’ve been kinda curious about the Golden Trove ever since that one girl on Glimmer gave it such a glowing review.”
”You won’t be disappointed!” Oros said with a wink before sucking the card into her hammer space and looking back at the scientist. ”Gib pen!”
“Your patron?” Nykannis asked with a raised eyebrow. “What the hell do they have to do with anything? You’re the one who’s gonna ‘control it’,” she added, returning the stylus to the now quite insistent Oros. “If it helps, think of it as more of a familiar than a full-fledged magical girl.”
”Oh, that does make sense now.” Oros held the pen. She still didn’t look like she was ready to sign. But her expression softened until she looked sullen. ”Nyan, I do have to admit that you are a genius. You really pumped this concept to 250%. I can also see that while this is far below your abilities and probably a simple thing to do, you’ve become attached enough to it that you can’t allow yourself to not complete it. I know why that is, but that’s not really important.” She handed the stylus back to Nykannis a second time. ”You’re tailoring this creation to me like a fine suit, but you don’t have all the measurements. As an example, I have a hammerspace that lets me carry around all the mundane shit I need. A familiar doesn’t have to do that for me. You probably couldn’t tell by our conversation, but I’m also really good at being annoying. I probably don’t need a familiar that can do that. We just need to spend more time together.” She presented Nykannis with a business card. ”I agree with what you said earlier. You can meet the three of us at the Golden Trove with your maido prototype, or however that works. Binky Is the creator of the red coins you see around Penrose and also co-created the white coins with Beacon. Aria is a member of the Gourd. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”
Nykannis’s eye began to twitch when Oros still refused to sign, but the mad scientist’s expression brightened considerably when the beast girl revealed some VERY interesting information about her two friends. Meeting the source of the new COINS was enticing enough, but add to that a member of the Gourd? This was quite the jackpot…
“Those are some impressive resumes,” Nykannis replied with an approving nod as she took Oros’s card. “I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
”Just call ahead, and I’ll set up a nice meeting room for us.” Oros looked off the edge of the balcony. ”Oh, seems I’ve found my mark.” She bowed. ”Maybe we’ll do something fun later, whenever we end up meeting up” After bidding the two farewell, Oros stumbled over the edge of the balcony. had Mia or Connie been there to witness it, they might have realized Oros was just really bad at climbing down from places safely.
Watching people make snowmen was fine. Seeing ice sculptures emerge from ice was amazing. Those were both activities that were more fun to watch than to actively participate in. Probably because it wasn’t a true competition. You were just passively sculpting things out of water, and some dolphin got to decide the winner. On the other hand, a silly downhill race had a quantifiable victor. But that wasn’t going to start for a bit, and her participation would affect who won. That meant that the next best thing would be to join a snowball fight.
What was cool was that Mac pretty much rocked at snow ball fights. There wasn’t even any danger for retaliation because she effectively didn’t exist. If someone got hit in the back of the head by a snowball, who was to say it didn’t come from an unseen enemy? There were no friends in snow fights anyway. The goal was to hit as many people as possible, if you ruined a friendship or two, eh, were they even worth having around? Mac didn’t have any friends to speak of, so that wasn’t an issue.
She had thrown thirty snowballs at thirty different people, and none of them were the wiser. She needed to find more targets though, and had no desire being around MDP or Oros for that little siege.
She wouldn't have to look further. Then again, it was only one ghost watching from the sidelines.
The black-haired spirit had concidered joining the snowball fight, but he saw how chaotic it was escalating and decided to stay out of it. Sure this Oliver was just a clone amongst many who were spread out to tackle multiple activities at once, but even he knew to set limits. So he rested against a nearby tree. Well, one far enough to not get hit by stray snowballs.
AT LEAST THAT WAS WHAT HE THOUGHT!
Mac already had a snowball ready for this guy’s head. She took a moment to examine him It wasn’t someone she was too familiar with. Seemed like there were a lot of new faces at this party. Regardless, she didn’t think there was any reason to be wary of him. She chucked a snowball at his head and watched it tumble through the air. He’d be wearing it any second.
The deadly frosty projectile would hit it's mark, catching Oliver by surprise. He didn't yelp or anything, but he did jolt at the surprise attack. Weird. He was sure he wouldn't get hit from here. With widened eyes, he looked around to see where the snowball would've came from, then dusted the snow on his head off.
Now would probably be a good time to find a new target, but after moving on between thirty of them, Mac was ready for a duel in the snow. If this person was new, they probably didn’t know everyone all that well. Perhaps it was time to create another alternate identity.
The clone would see a teenage girl peak over the top of a snow bank. She was under dressed, but not indecently dressed. Her silver hair wasn’t too long, and curled into itself just above her ears. This gave her an appearance that was reminiscent of a mouse. Her lathe body and short stature further leaned into this idea. The only way she could look more like a mouse was if she had actual mouse features, like whiskers or a tail.
With a deep inhale, she chucked a larger snowball at the clone before ducking for cover.
"Ah crap." The clone turned himself intangible before the next snowball hit. Instead letting it smack against the bark of the tree he sat at. He turned back into a more physical shape and scooped up some snow to retaliate, chucking a couple over the stranger's snowbank before rushing to make more snowballs.
"You thought you could hide out here, huh?” Mac was pretty good at throwing snowballs, but there was no reason to scare him off too soon with her mighty snow ball prowess. For now, she'd just play hard enough to keep their game going. "Well no one escapes the sights of I R O N M O U S E !” His aim wasn't bad. It looked like he had some clones running around though. She probably shoudn't use too much magic either. That was fine, since she was using her mana primarily to keep this illusion going.
Luckily it doesn't seem like the other duplicates are joining them yet. ...Except one or two snuck over to help make snowballs faster. "Hide?? In plain sight?! Now who'd think of a dumb idea like that?!" The main Oliver clone playfully retorted, taking cover behind the tree.
So he was calling for backup? Well, maybe she would have to play a little harder.
Mac hadn’t expected reinforcements to arrive so soon, so Iron mouse had no recourse but to get hit by a few of the snow balls. But if there was something mice could do, it was, uh, burrow! Iron mouse dove into the hill side, deforming the smooth snowbank as she tunneled to the original duplicate’s position and popped out of the ground, scattering snow in all directions.
"Mmmph!!” Some of the snow had stuck together, forming a sort of plate, or “snow pie.” Iron Mouse held this pie in one hand and prepared to slap it right in the clone’s face like it was a coconut custard.
And it was a direct hit!
The ringleader of the trio was unable to react in time, and inevitably got a face full of freezing cold. A yelp was muffled, and he collapsed onto the ground.
"Crap, she got Eight!!"
"Forget 'em, he's fodder!"
The remaining two duplicates took that as their cue to scatter, splitting the remaining ammo between them before booking it to better cover.
Man, these guys were intense. It was just a snow ball fight. But this was fine. Magical girls (and boys) were eccentric types, so it was only natural they would take the event too seriously, especially with”Iron Mouse” Giving into chuuni tendencies of her own.
"You’re just going to keep running? Really?”
It wasn’t like Iron Mouse hadn’t proven she could burrow under any defense, largely thanks to the fact that she was an illusion and her “burrow” was created by moving a gravity well along her intended flight path. And since it worked so well last time, why not try it again? Iron Mouse dove back into the earth and burrowed towards another clone. Would they think of something before she arrived?
They'd have to lure her out of the burrow first.
The clone Iron Mouse chased after turned himself intangible and flew up high into a tree he randomly picked. If she lost sight of him by then, he'd wait till she popped her head out to attack.
Of course, Mac saw this happen, but had Iron Mouse? It wasn’t like she had sat down and dreamed up an entire list of abilities for this character she had just made up on the spot. She could just equip her with any abilities that seemed to fit the situation until she was capped off, but that felt unfair. Mac decided that Iron Mouse probably sensed vibrations in the earth to track her opponents, so she would lose track of someone jumping into a tree.
Iron Mouse launched herself out of the snow, carrying a large snow ball in one hand. She couldn’t faze through tree limbs (aparently) so she had to try and weave through them to catch the fleeing clone.
Once he assumed he manage to lose her, the clone circled around and turned tangible again, throwing a couple of snowballs from behind.
Puff
The snow balls were instantly pulled apart by a gravity well struck true, Causing Iron mouse's eyes to bulge a bit as the clones got the better of her. Not long afterwards, she fell to the earth and face planted the snow. It might have looked like she was making a snow angel, but she wasn't moving. Good thing their christmas outfits kept them perfectly insulated from the cold, regardless of how ill suited their clothes were for the job.
She rolled over onto her back and looked up into the heavens. "Ya got me.” Was all she said, not looking too pleased about the outcome.
"...Wait, really?" The clone Oliver hopped down from his vantage point and walked over to the girl. His brows rose as he looked over at her. "Huh. Guess I got too into it."
"I as in we, Six??" The one that fled before asked as he walked by, dragging "Eight" behind him. The clone near Iron Mouse simply gave him an playfully unamused look, before turning his attention back to her.
"Ignore 'em, they're idiots." He said, extending a hand out if she needed help getting up.
She accepted his hand and let the boy pull her upright. She dusted the snow off of her back and shook off her pants. Iron Mouse was still pouting a bit, but otherwise seemed alright. "I didn't catch your name.” She extended her hand, still looking a bit glum. "So yea, I'm Iron Mouse, you are?”
"Oliver Kyle. Juuust not the genuine article, hahah." The clone shook the girl's hand. "He's back relaxing in the cabin while the rest of us do all the heavy lifting, like a total slacker." He joked with a grin, jabbing a thumb over at the building.
"So you think your original is a slacker too?” Mac knew they were joking, but she decided to play Iron Mouse as a relatively straight forward sort. It was interesting though, as most clones seemed to enjoy disrespecting their original. Alexander, Binky, and now Oliver. Though she supposed that if you had enough magical girls and boys in the same spot, there was bound to be some overlap. It wasn’t like magical girls had wildly different powers. There were a handful of traits that you ended up seeing repeated in various forms. Kind of like people’s personalities. There were only so many different emotions and ways to say things that it was inevitable that there was another “you” somewhere. "I gues that’s alright. If he’s just lazier than you guys I don’t need to meet him. I mean you all had no problem ganging up on a poor little mouse girl! It would be one thing if I had brought my sisters along to tan your butts, but six against one is not fair!” She stomped her foot. "How does all this work? You’re like, a leader clone? So the others take orders from you? Did he like, use more mana to make you or something?”
"H-Hey, I was just kidding there! They're all alright, even him." "Six" quickly explained once he saw her reaction. "And uh...Six is just my nickname to differentiate from the other clones. The other two you saw were Four and Eight. Everyone else is probably busy with the other stuff to even join that fight." He shrugged. Once Iron Mouse suggested he was the defacto leader out of all of them, his brows rose.
"I mean, I guess? We never really need a leader type, besides Classic obviously. We work well together regardless of that." Oliver explained further.
"That's fine, I guess.” Her eyes shifted around. "So do you guys have like, lives and stuff? Interests? Am I wasting my time trying to talk to you?”
Well, he was going to answer that, but her last question made him frown a bit. "Well geez, if you wanna go ahead and go, I'm not gonna stop ya." Six softly told Iron Mouse, a hand on his hip.
"You guys are magical constructs, I have no idea if you have feelings or not!” some smoke shot out of her nose, but it might have just been the cold air. "I mean you seem real, but if you've got a job to do or something, I'm not going to waste your host's time and resources! Don't take it personally!”
And with that, the spirit was officially dumbfounded. "...H-How in Beelzebub's lawncare products am I supposed to answer here? Every one of us, even Classic Oliver are MAGICAL UNDEAD. Does everything about us really need an explanation? We're enough of an oddball as is." Six sighed, crossing his arms. "Nah, for how long we've been here, he and his friend have learn a few tricks. Clones like us need little to do so much."
Steam continued to pour out of every orifice on Iron Mouse's face. Her ears, nostrils, and mouth were all billowing with smoke. All while her eyes grew bigger and bigger. "Fine!” She finally shouted. "Whatever! I don’t even really care!” She said, sounding like she cared. "If there’s nothing to explain, I’ll go have fun somewhere else!” She pulled back her arm. "Thanks for resetting my streak, jackass!” And then Iron Mouse, or at least Mac’s magic, dug a hole in the ground and burrowed under the frozen sand. They would not see her resurface anywhere.
"....What even." In resignation, Six flopped back down onto the snow, watching Iron Mouse leave.
"Real smooth, Sixer." Four popped up again, walking up next to him.
"Shaddup Four."
While Oliver’s clones were feeling rather dower, Mac had to stifle a chuckle at the absurd exchange. She could understand why they felt that way, of course. But she felt like she had made Iron Mouse unpleasant enough that they wouldn’t really mind if she got all perturbed and left. More than anything though, while Mac had impressive illusions, she did have to budget her mana if she wanted them to last the party. Maybe they could reunite again later when the genuine article was here to meet them.
Though, now that she thought about it, technically the real Oliver and her were in the same predicament. It wasn’t like those clones got to talk to Mac, they were just talking to some persona. Mac was reminded of a story about two people born with blue skin, but they always kept themselves hidden so they never met. They lived their entire lives believing that they were the only person in the world with blue skin.
What a lonely existence.
Mac left in earnest, satisfied with their interaction.
"Bah, whatever. We should head back before the others start to wonder." With a shake of his head, Six hopped back up, prepared to walk back to the cabin. Four shrugged in response.
"Eight should be fine by now, helped dragged his butt back inside so he'd warm- Hang on, see that?"
The clones stopped in their tracks to see a trail of one's they didn't notice before. If one's from Six, one's from Iron Mouse, Four's was most recent...
Sure, it would be possible for Oros to finish the harebringer hunt before resuming posting. But the grand magistrate was taking their sweet time responding to that, so it seemed reasonable to assume they could start doing stuff again. The timing for everything was pretty whack anyway.
Nobody saw Oros return to the lodge. That was because she had pulled a sled out of her hammerspace before turning into an Alaskan Malamute. The sled was for taking Emily back with her, as Oros had places to be and didn’t feel like princess carrying her back. That was a lie, of course. We all know she’d have loved to do that. Perhaps it was because she was presently on a date with Elizabeth. Only Oros knew.
Once they had gotten back to the lodge, Oros turned back into a girl and offered Emily her hand. “Ally-oop!” She said before pulling Emily to her feet. “That was, uh, not at all what I was expecting from a bunny hunt.” She chuckled. “Well uh, thanks for listening to me.” An awkward silence fell over the duo as Oros struggled to figure out what to say next. “Guess I’m gunna see if I can find El. If you can get Silly and Betty maybe we can do something together later. Take care.” Oros was already walking into the lodge before Emily responded. Strange, the door was already open, and it felt like she might have run over someone on her way in. Well it probably didn’t matter.
The lower floor of the lodge had cleared out a bit with everyone racing to do activities that Oros had already finished. That meant it would be a bit easier to pick up on Eliza’s scent. Oros’s nose was moving a mile a minute, filtering the air for her date’s smell. She was guided up the staircase to the balcony, where the scent only got stronger as it went down a hall.
But Oros did not go down the hall.
Someone right up here on the balcony had caught her attention. Why was anyone’s guess. Maybe it was the fact that she did not look like a Penrose local. It could also be that she had one of Oros’s favorite body shapes. Perhaps she looked like she could help Oros. Maybe it was all three, if not something else entirely. Regardless, no force in Dan’s dimension was going to stop Oros from approaching the mad scientist.
“Hey I know you! Brain Science Institute at Viktor Chondria University, one of the lead minds behind project Amadeus, right?” Oros stopped just a few steps outside what most would call their personal space. “A Maho Hiyajo cosplayer! God I loved that game!”
Tetrad appeared to be oblivious to the staring. It wasn’t clear if she was simply use to this kind of attention, or the drinks were making her a bit less observant. ”Ah, a gentleman!” She stepped out of the door. ”There aren’t many of those anymore.”
When Tetrad turned around, she noticed Emily. What she didn’t notice was that Oros, in her haste, had run into the guy that was too busy checking out Tetrad's ass as she walked outside.
”Oh, hey Emily.” Tetrad’s cheeks were just a tiny bit red. ”This kind man behind me offered you a drink before that wild-ling ran off with you. Glad nothing happened to you.” She took another sip from her glass. ”But hey, if you don’t wanna drink it, I’m feeling a little thirsty.” She looked past Emily at the snowball fight. ”Wanna play in the snow? The queen of Keijo isn’t quite ready for the pool. ”
Unlike the jubilant woman before Betty, she felt anger building up inside her chest. Her entire reason for coming this way was so that she could make a giant snowball, but it seemed that someone had beaten her to it. She wasn’t even sure how this woman even got here! The hill was in her sights the entire time. Had she borrowed underground to avoid detection, or was she here even before Betty had finished hunting? Regardless, if she had made a huge snow ball, there was that much less snow for herself.
”Xanadu!”
Now how was Betty going to make that huge snowbun? That was when she cast her eyes on Mariette’s creation, and realized that her idea was not only her own, but had already been done by someone else.
”Xanadu times two!!”
Then, Betty saw it. The snowman to end all snowmen. A giant monolith to Justine’s selfish pride: a recreation of her castle. Betty had never seen the real thing, but she could feel the despair seeping directly into her soul just by looking at this one. She fell onto her knees, her expression as blank as the snow that surrounded her.
That was when Dan arrived to comment on her “snow man.”
”Dan.” She looked at the tiny snowball in her hand. The only thing she had managed to make so far. A tiny snowball, against a massive castle. ”That’s not my snowman.” She closed her eyes. ”However, you are correct when you say that a mighty fine snowman will be made.” She stood up and turned to Justine, casting her finger in the woman’s direction. ”Of course!” She finally answered her. ”Emotion, power, courage, and skill, I will put all of it to work. But to win, I will need more than that.” Betty kneeled before the woman. ”I need a partner, and a lot of snow.” Betty didn’t feel bad asking someone to help her take down Justine’s evil monolith, especially knowing that it was built with more hands than she presently possessed. She did feel a little bad that she was bringing someone else into a war they probably didn’t want to participate in. ”If you’re willing to work together, I have no doubt we can rise above our adversaries and achieve victory!”
As a fellow lover of gossip, Aria was happy to be surrounded by so many talking people. The fact that none of them were talking to her was just a bonus! Well, that wasn’t entirely true, she was trying to get Summer to open up to her.
Before she could get an answer on her request for a bunny hunt, most everyone moved outside the lodge to watch Maura dance, and the first few activities were unveiled: Ice carving and snowman making.
”Oh well that’s...” She placed her hands on her hips. ”I mean making snowmen is painfully ordinary, but ice sculpting might be fun! I still find it hard to believe we’re getting paid to participate in all this.”
"I guess. Money's not really that important. It's just used for stat buffs that barely matter in the first place."
Aria blinked. ”Well, they don’t have to be! Money has lots of uses if you don’t want to just spend it all on power ups. I could pay you to do something you normally wouldn’t do. O-or you could donate it to a good cause, like the reopening of my shop!” Aria was getting nowhere with this and knew it. ”But I suppose if you focus too much on monetary rewards, it starts to feel like work.” She pointed at the ice blocks. ”Let’s see what we can do with that ice!”
Aria took Summer by the hand and walked over to an ice block. While some tools had been provided, Aria took her tiny gourd and shook out a few large chisels. ”It’s been a while since I made my last ice sculpture, but I’m curious to see how my next one comes out.” She giggled before picking up one of the chisels. It was large enough to hold with two hands, and was half as tall as Aria was. ”What are you going to make? I want to make a dragon!.”
Summer blinked in response to Aria's blinking. "Yeah I guess that shop idea isn't terrible." She muttered something under her breath and then found herself dragged to an ice block.
"Uh… I guess it depends on if we're doing it the regular way or the magical way." Summer replied, picking up a chisel.
”I suppose it’s whatever your preference is. It’s not a competition, so just do what feels right.” Aria started to shave the ice. She started in the center of one face and carved the edge in several passes. She appeared to be rounding off the block. ”I work with my magic a lot, so I’m going to use nothing but hand tools for this one. It’s more limiting, but that just means you have to stylize to compensate.” She huffed. Her block of ice now had rounded corners and edges. ”Normally I’d start with a large saw, but I plan on making a chubby dragon. So there’s no need to cut away large chunks.” She set down her large chisel and picked up a smaller one. This was what she was going to use to carve out all the faces. ”So I didn’t get an answer before, are you new to Penrose? I haven’t seen you around.”
"That's a… complicated question." Summer said, staring at the chisel in her hand. "I've been around for a while, but I haven't really been around very much. And you're new, aren't you? At least to the city." She changed her gaze towards the ice block.
Aria stopped chiseling, and just stared at her ice block. ”It’s been a while since I’ve been in Penrose.” She resumed hammering out some eye sockets. ”I didn’t plan on coming back for any length of time. I don’t know how old you are but I strongly advise against revisiting places that used to mean a lot to you. You might think you can help and stick around.” She brushed off a face before starting to block in the teeth. ”You didn’t miss much being away. In some ways I wish I had never come back.”
"I guess." Summer looked over at the sculpture Aria was making. "What makes you say you didn't want to come back?"
Aria worked pretty quickly. Once she had her faces(?) roughed in, she moved on to one of her smallest tool: a v chisel. It was actually large in comparison to a wood chisel, but the V shape let her really dig into the ice. She used this to make the canals of the ears, the nostrals, the gaps in the teeth. She was also using a pretty light touch. As the ice was worked into shape, it became thinner and easier to break. Even if she was sculpting on a giant chunk of ice, the features themselves were quite small and wouldn’t be hard to break.
”For some reason, Penrose has always had the ability to get itself into trouble. If a world ending cataclysm is going to happen, it’s going to happen there. I figured over time people would start to leave. What was the population the last time you visited? Half a million? Maybe more?” she sighed. ”I think right now we have more magical girls than normal humans living in Penrose. But it’s not all bad, some big businesses have moved in. Things might be getting better.” She looked at Summer. ”It’s just a little depressing, you know? I can’t go back to my home in the over city with things the way they are.” She chuckled. ”That and I have some good business partners now. One of them is an old apprentice of mine. Perhaps you’ve heard of Binky?”
Summer nodded along as Aria talked, thinking. When she heard the last bit though, she perked up. "I may have a massive crush on her, yes."
Why did I say that? Because you do have a giant crush on her. YOU have a giant crush on her. WE have a giant crush on her. Shut up.
"Anyway." Summer tried to change the subject. "I don't think Penrose is going to get peace from businesses moving in or anything like that. Really, our only hope is…" She paused, considering if it was a good idea to continue. "Well, do you know about inertia? Things can only move when an outside force moves them."
”Penrose will never have peace. But at least with businesses coming in, we know the city isn’t going to turn into a ghost town. Whatever’s causing the ‘inertia’ is not something I want to mess with.”
Aria did a bit more work with her V chisel before pulling out a metal comb for the final touches. Technically she should have used this tool first, as a lot of the tiny ice particles it would create were going to fall inside the groves she had just made. But she continued to shave at her sculpture while dusting away the debris with a brush. She used the brush to create fine lines, and used it to give the totem faces texture and even style in hair. By this point Aria was content with her work and was just going to give it a good brushing to make sure none of the dust stuck to it. And there it was, a totem pole worth three faces. An angry eagle, a surprised bear, and a happy wolf were stacked right on top of each other.
”Mmmm, not bad, considering how long it’s been since I made my last one.” She walked over to Summer to see how she was making out.
"It's more that nothing is acting on it, so it's not moving, but oh well." She watched the finalization of the totem. "... Thought you said you were making a dragon…"
”I say a lot of things!”
Summer turned to her own ice block and held her chisel to it, smacking the end of it with another chisel in place of a hammer. The block of ice instantly fell away to reveal a well-done sculpture of what appeared to be Cirno from Touhou. "This is boring with magic, you're right."
”I know, right? It’s still cute though!” She rubbed her chin. ”Though maybe if it’s mundane enough, something like making a snowman or two could be fun with magic.” Aria walked towards the snow field with Summer. ”As for peace ‘not having any inertia acting on it’, I’m not sure I agree. I feel like most magical girls try to get along, but the ones that don’t are just that good at stirring the pot.” She tapped the side of her head. ”Mmm, to get away from the analogies, it seems like everyone has an ace up their sleeve. Beacon has the Ascendancy, Mint has their unlimited machination works, The monsters have their queen, I think? There’s just no end to it.” She chuckled. ”I really didn’t expect to be talking politics with you. I do actually have optimism for Penrose’s future, but it’s something that needs to be worked towards by than more than just a few people.”
"Making snowmen with magic? I guess." Summer followed to the snow field. "I guess that's how one would view it, yeah. But it's good to be optimistic."
”And speaking of optimism, let’s play with some snow!” A flurry of butterflies raced outward. Most of them were rolling up snow, but a few others had gone on a search for items for their respective snowmen. ”Suppose this time I really will make a dragon.”
"Thinking of an oriental or western one?" Summer asked as she began to roll up a large snowball.
”hmm, didn’t think that far ahead. Maybe an eastern one? Might as well, I already have a western-inspired totem pole ” One could argue that Aria wasn’t even making her “snow man.” She didn’t even seem to be paying attention to her butterflies, who diligently prepared everything before beginning the dragon’s assembly. It was hard to see exactly what was going on with so many butterflies. swarming the construction site. hundreds of fist sized snowballs were being flown in, and another set of butterflies seemed to be taking care of the construction. Rupy was off in the distance, diving into the snow before shooting it as snowballs. They rolled across the snow before being picked up by other butterflies. ”Are you also making a dragon?”
"You could say that." Summer finished with a two foot by two foot snowball, then began on another, and another, until she had seven of them in a small circle. She began drawing little stars on them with her fingers, until each one had a different number of them. She muttered something in an unknown language and a giant western dragon made of snow appeared overtop of the balls, guarding them like a hoard of gold.
"Shit. I messed up somehow."
Aria giggled. ”There’s no need to be so hard on yourself. At least it wasn’t something that was too easy!” The butterflies had finished as well. After the snowballs had been packed, shaved, and supported, what remained was a dragon girl. She was made mostly out of snow, but the butterflies had found colored plants to stick to her to give her some color. Green eyes, yellow scales, andthey even laid a white dress over her. Once she was done, they placed a bouquet of flowers in her hand, which the dragon girl seemed to be sniffing. ”Dragon girls are eastern technically even if they aren’t oriental, right?” she looked at their creations. ”Even if you messed up, I really like yours.”
"Thanks. Yours is good too." There was genuine belief in her compliment, even if it was simple.
Aria giggled with a blush. ”So, any plans to show up around Penrose more often? You seem like a lot of fun, and I could even introduce you to Binky if you'd like.”
"Ah- … Yeah, I plan to stick around. You don't have to go that far though. And thank you."
There was an old saying that one's joy at the first snow is inversely proportionate to their age. This was probably because children do not have to concern themselves with things like shoveling, heating their homes, and driving to work. Moreover, Most adults had made about as many snowmen as they really cared to. It was a pain that Mac understood. Though it had been a decade or so since she had made anything, so she didn't really mind the trip down memory lane.
Her snowman was so unremarkable it would go unnoticed. Three balls of various sizes stacked on top of each other, complete with tree branches for arms, a carrot for a nose, and a twig for a smile. Mac did not have access to pelits of coal, and it was what she had always made the mouth with. Though she did remember using M&Ms one year, but her parents were less impressed with that. The same went for the Reece's cups that she used for eyes. They thought that she only used candy as an excuse to raid the pantry for snacks. While that was totally true, it was a little cruel to accuse a kid of doing that, wasn't it? But it was for the best. She had to grow up to become a diligent cop after all. One that could make sure that kids like Glex never have to suffer again.
Mmm, her mind was wandering. It was time to sculpt some ice.
Unlike making a snowman, this was something that Mac was totally unfamiliar with. She didn't even know where to begin with the tools. After breaking her ice block three different times, she settled for carving a small snow bun out of what was left of the ice block fragment. It was crude, but she thought it was cute. She likely wasn't going to get first place.
She set the snowbun on top of the snow man's head. It was a fun way to kill a few minutes, but it did feel like she had just wasted her time. It wasn't like she needed the money, after all. Maybe once everyone came here, she could watch some people make stuff. That would probably be more interesting than making anything herself.
“Quick! LoC! Use your causality-altering magic!”
— Oros
Before the Oros/Justine collab started, Oros had to finish her interaction with the Q-T Connie.
“Oh! Uh, you, you did get me something.” Oros turned the package over in her hands.
The thunderclap didn’t startle her nearly as much as being surprise hugged. Usually it was Oros who initiated this type of behavior. It was fun to coil her arms around someone and squeeze the bejesus out of them. But while Connie had her arms wrapped around Oros’s torso as tight as she could, that didn’t appear to be the intent. Though Connie’s intent was not on Oros’s mind. She was still trying to process what was happening right up until the girl apologized to her.
“Y-yea, thanks. I-I mean not a problem!” A toaster overn appeared in her hand, and she offered it to Connie. “I had a lot of gifts to give out, and I forgot to wrap them. I can get you something else if you’d like. So uh, yea!” Oros looked side to side. “Oh! I think Lez-bean needs my help! Let’s talk later!”
Oros wasn’t sure what had her so flustered, but she wasn’t going to get punked like that again. She took a deep breath, mustered the smuggest grin she could manage, and collab bombed Alexander.
Tetrad had just gotten back to her feet when the trap arrived with drinks.
”Yea, I’m not really in the mood for- wait is that ale?” She folded her arms and pursed her lips. ”Well it would be a shame to let that go to waste. So I guess I’d better take both of them.” Tetrad lifted Emily’s and her own drink out of Sakura’s hands. ”I also recall Emily telling me that she doesn’t do well with alcohol. Well, I’ll make sure hers isn’t wasted.” Tetrad took a sip before noticing everyone was heading outside. ”Guess we’d better see what’s going on out there. Also, do you have a name?” She decided not to question the individual further about their sex. The answer to those types of questions wouldn’t make her happy, she decided. Wonder if Amaryllis is here somewhere. Been a hot second since we talked.
[@Aribaby]
Oros was still carrying Emily like a briefcase, but set her upright when they got out the door.
“Ice sculpting and snowman making? That’s two silver! We should optimize our time by completing these tasks right now! Hell, I’ll even bunny you into my post so that you don’t have to do anything!” Oros took off towards a giant ice cube and pointed at it. “Alright Em, melt this bad boy! Then you can freeze it on my command.”
Needless to say, melting an ice block was pretty easy for an experienced fire girl to do. The block of ice melted quickly, some of it even turning into steam. But it was at this point that Oros was able to get to work. As the ice cube melted, Oros was able to make the water bend and surge in the air as she desired. “That looks good! You know what to do, Em! Work from the bottom up!” On Oros’s command, she removed the heat from the water and solidified it in place. The finished sculpture seemed to be a girl in beach ware. This was Oros’s first attempt sculpting like this, and finer details like a distinct face were not in her skill set. “Ah! I forgot my ponytail! That’s okay, we’re not being scored. Let’s build a snowman!”
Oros didn’t get nearly as fancy when it came to making the snowman. She and Emily rolled some snow balls into snow boulders. Once they had the body done, they decorated it with whatever they could find. Emily found some stones and twigs for the mouth and arms, while Oros reached into her hammer space to get the maido outfit it would wear. Then they just gave it an icicle mow-hawk because Oros thought those looked cool, and that maids should be allowed to be punk too.
“Excellent!” Oros patted Emily on the shoulder. “Now let’s see if we can find a bunny, no more distractions!” Oros placed Emily on her shoulders and ranran as fast as she could, still trying to push what happened between her and Connie to the furthest depths of her mind.
”You got the joke right? Army? Because my arm… hurts. I’m in pain.”
— Betty “Biohazard” Barton
Betty managed to hunt the hare and follow the direction she thought she booted the soldier in to the opening ceremony. She missed Maura’s shadow show, and if she had it her way, she would have missed everything else too.
She had already decided that she was going to give Maura another chance. She had told her as much last time they spoke. But that didn’t mean Betty wasn’t still hurt over everything that happened. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone, didn’t feel like being cold, and didn’t even feel like being happy. She could hunt snowbuns all day, but there would always be down time where her mind would drift to unpleasant things. Though she did at least feel like she still had a purpose on this team, which wasn’t something she had when she was crying outside the lodge.
She didn’t like feeling this way, but she wasn’t sure how to move past it. Talking to friends didn’t work, talking to her fellow Cradle agents only did so much, and Justine herself was no help at all. Even isolating herself in the endless snowy expanse on a snowbun hunt was only delaying the inevitable.
Tetrad had always talked to her about how fun it was to lose yourself in a party. To shed off your own identity and become one with everyone around you. For someone as silly as Tetrad, she got awfully poetic about parties. Maybe joining the gathering of people would lift her mood.
So Betty did that, just catching the end of the dolphin’s announcement before everyone got to work. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do first, but also didn’t want to ask an individual for help. The magic of parties was that the hive mind was suppose to kick in, right? Betty should be losing herself any moment now. But she was feeling nauseous. Someone with a really annoying voice was speaking. They seemed to have a stutter too.
”A-Alrighty then. Let’s make a snowman to end all snowmen!"
Now Betty was not a girl that liked to swear. In fact she actively avoided it wherever she could. But if she could swear, she probably wouldn’t have hesitated to call Justine a gamer word then and there. It was just very insensitive for someone who tried to cause two different calamities to say something as heartless as that. Like what, destroying love wasn’t enough? You need to destroy all snowmen too?
Betty was just one girl. It would be had to beat Justine and whoever was helping her. Sure, Justine was probably just going to have them build her a snowman and then laugh about how simple it was without even raising a finger, because of course she would. But Betty was not out of ideas. She noticed a hill not too far away, and had already decided what her snowman would look like. If justine was going to make a snowman to end all snowmen, than Betty just had to make a snowman that went beyond the simple confines of a snowman. A snowman that was something more. A snowlord? A snowgod? A snowtitan? She didn’t know what to call it. But it was going to be cool. With just a single snowball in hand, Betty began her trek towards the hill.
Yesterday, on the Magical Girl Discord Server: Broken “Zucc” Promise collects the opinions of Magical girl players…
AND NOW THE RESULTS ARE IN!
I was kind of on the fence about deciding where to post these. Erode posted all of his surveys forum side, so I’ve decided to do just that.
So just to reiterate before I roll out these results, here’s what happened.
I ran a google form survey to collect the tasty data opinions of everyone. We got 9 responses out of 10-11 active roleplayers, so I feel this is an accurate sample size. I also collected e-mail addresses to dissuade people from logging fake surveys. I can show the E-mails, but would rather not do so on a semi-public area like an OOC forum post.
The results are as follows:
There’s a pretty even spread here, with roughly half of the votes landing on one side or the other of 3. But do remember that we had 2 long time members leave the RP this season, and I’m sure their votes would have fallen to the left side of the scale. These aren’t really good numbers to have. We’re almost 4 years in, and by now everyone should have reasonable expectations for the RP.
So why do people have this opinion of Darkest Before the Dawn?
I can’t say these results surprised me. The necromancers were mixed, but each encounter was treated a bit differently. Billy was taken on by a group of Players, Mr Bulk was a weird mix of GMNPCs and PC, and Endsinger was a cut scene with a fight against Lupa going on in the BG. Hard to get much from these results alone. The Beacon trial is a bit more polarizing, and I don’t really have much to say about it. The rave is easily the most hated event in the RP, while the park horror event didn’t score nearly as badly. It is hard to vote the park event because while it did have a cool fight scene, it wasn’t totally divorced from Cindy killing herself. Meanwhile, the Seige on Mariette’s mansion is among the most acclaimed GM events this season, with the sanctuary one being pretty meh/disliked overall. Time skips remain the most enjoyed part of the RP. I’m noticing a trend here, but let’s keep this in mind and continue.
I think the only thing that surprises me here is that more people didn’t hate the Ascendancy. They’re a boring, invincible, almighty army that no one can hope to beat in a fight. Though they are easy enough to avoid by just staying out of their way. They definitely don’t have a favorable score, but it’s still a lot higher than I expected.
Can’t say the same for the rest. Sanctuary is pretty polarizing for reasons I’ve already discussed. Justine was half baked and voted accordingly, and the widespread accessibility of purification potions is polarizing, but leaning towards unfavorable just like Sanctuary.
The new story beats might have been a bust, but at least the homebrew content scored well.
As a joyless internet gremlin, I do get an odd warming sensation in my cold dead heart when I see that both cradle and the red coin are well recieved by the RP as a whole. The white coin isn’t too far behind, and is clearly a better item than the potions. Perhaps the potions give players too much freedom in how they are purified? Suppose you could have a good discord discussion about that.
The modded red coin and Amaryllis’s sword patron I think were mostly unknown. I’m not even sure why I included them. Guess I was just checking awareness.
Now I bring to you my favorite part of the entire survey: where we talk about what we enjoy and don’t.
The data speaks for itself. There’s a clear outcry for more smaller scale fights as well as ones against monsters, and some time for non-magical and slice of life stuff would be cool too. It’s also clear that most players have had enough of the bloated spectacle fights and patron antics.
I also find some of the “other” options interesting. A call for less collabs and loose ends. I do wish I had done a collab check box for that one, as well as a rivalry one. Suppose there’s always next time.
And lastly, let’s see what everyone’s most interested in.
That one about the cradle broke my heart. Me too fam, me too </3
Now if I’m going to make an OOC update this long, why not make it even longer with some stuff that’s coming down the pipe?
TO THE NORTH
Someone who took the survey said that they wanted to see fewer loose ends. Well it’s your lucky day pal, To the north is just for you!
To the north is a bunch of hunts made by yours truly. Unlike normal hunts, these will see you venturing to the north of Penrose where all of my characters like to retreat to. In order to join one, the hunting party will need a specific character to be present to go on the hunt. This is because these hunts are a bit more story driven in nature and require specific characters to work properly. If you want to know what became of Lupa or see how Regina is making out, you’ll need to take on these hunts.
Taking on northern hunts can also unlock special events called “raids,” which is just as gnarly as they sound. Depending on how negotiations go with the GMs, these will either occur during events or will be special multi-party hunts where several hunting parties have to work together, but also split up to bring down a powerful threat. Think about events like the graveyard or the necromancers, only with parties of two.
And we’ve also got something else.
GOLDEN TROVE EXPANSION
Some of you have already seen it, and the GM’s seem to be on board with the idea. I just wanna make things a bit more ready before letting you guys see it again. Someone else might wanna add more stuff to it, so that's cool. Once everyone’s had a second look, I’ll probably pass around another survey like I did for S3 to collect feedback.
Well that was a good use of my weekend. Gunna lay down now.
“Justine and I with our open mouth face claims catching flies together.”
— Oros
Justine didn’t seem surprised by Alex’ revelation of his relationship with Lily, and nodded slowly to his words. ”I see that she hasn’t slowed down one bit," she added, as she glanced at the green-haired girl from one end of the room to the other. She blinked, surprised by the small animals and the familiarity Alex expressed with them, but decided not to inquire upon it. ”Doesn’t seem like it," she answered his question, as Lily was now over at the Christmas tree, hopping up in an attempt to reach a crookedly placed decoration. ”But it is honestly only a matter of time before we cross paths again. She seems to know nearly everyone here. How enviable..."
Justine’s enthralling weekly post conversation with Alex would soon be interrupted by a girl that wanted to collab with her.
“Hey! Lez-bean!” Taking Betty’s seat was some pink haired punk that wasn’t Sakura. She had looked rather pleased for most of the party thus far, if Justine had cared to watch her. Though even a less astute individual would notice her ‘nog-stash on her upper lip. “So you’re supposed to be pure and stuff now, right? No connection to Father, no longer a monster, ready to repent, maybe get a waifu or three?” she lifted her glass to her lips. “That last one’s for a friend of course.”
By this point Justine was no longer startled by the appearance of sudden visitors, and sighed in relief as she also came to peacefully talk instead of berating her. However, she did look a bit befuddled by Oros’ sequence of questions, and she placed her bat plushie on the table to join her hands together on her lap. She hoped Alex didn’t mind the sudden interruption between their conversation.
”Well, uh...I’m definitely not connected to Father anymore, that much I’m sure of. And I...I no longer feel the same drive that pushed me before. That must have been the influence of corruption. Yeah, these wings are not as powerful as before," she said as she gestured to her back, where her white wings could be seen. ”But, umm, did you mean to say wife with that last question?"
The jovial girl’s demeanor changed in an instant when Justine posed her own question. When Oros’s cup lowered to the table, there was a sneer on her face.
“You mean to tell me you’ve been around the block for five-hundred years and haven’t integrated into weeb culture at all? We’re truckin’ called magical girls because of a bunch of Chinese cartoons for crying out loud! Jesus Christ, your old boss was an ass hole!” Justine leaned back, confused and regretting that she brought the semantics up in the first place. Oros shoved her glass off to the side, and it slid aaaaaaaaaall the way down the table before coming to a stop at the other end. Oros wiped off her nog-stash, and her sneer seemed to come off with it as she was smiling again. “But hey! Now you can get on Glimmr and figure out what the hell a waifu is, you old grandma!” She laughed.
”Glimmr, huh..." She mumbled, clearly having lived in a very different world from Oros. ”I’ve heard of that service. I could try making an account there as well."
“Now I was going to ask you something before you committed that heinous sin right before my eyes, just let me regain my train of thought.” She lifted her finger to her lips and did just that. A few seconds later, she spoke. “That’s right!” she folded her hands together under her chin. “Your reception seems a little mixed, huh? Seems like a lot of your old enemies are willing to let sleeping dogs purify, and then you have. mmmm…” She glanced around. “Most everyone in Cradle hates you?”
Justine sighed. ”Something like that," she answered, and took the plushie back from the table. ”I’d need to prove to them that I can be trusted. Do you know of any good methods to do so?" She asked.
“Well, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but as a former monster girl who went from being hated by most everyone to loved by most everyone, and a good friend of the Cradle, I’d say that I’m probably the most qualified to help you. Possibly the only one.” Oros placed her hands together in front of her face, like she was praying. “Trust isn’t what you need. Seems like most of the people at this party don’t really care that you almost doomed love and killed Mariette, or that you are responsible for countless magical girl deaths. Understandable really. I mean, everyone’s going to come back in fifteen or so years, and it’s not like you personally executed their loved ones. Besides, it’s really, really obvious you’ve been purified now. All you have to do is not be an ass hole and the bulk of everyone will keep not giving a shit about lez-bean-von-this-smell. Most view the influence of a horror or monstrous mutation as something that is impossible to resist.” She pointed at Justine. “But you and I know differently. While it’s difficult, it’s not impossible, and those who can resist don’t look favorably on those that don’t. Cradle is made of those that resist their dark urges, and they don’t see that strength in you. It’s also important to remember that most everyone else would care just as little had you been killed. But while the bulk don’t give a hoot, you can bet that there are a few people who are right pissed that you didn’t get the ax. Maura’s choice to spare you gave the Cradle a lot of negative PR. You can imagine how shockedthe Cradle agents are. Veronica always put the good of her agents first, and now Maura’s out here trying to do the pacifist route in Undertale.” Oros rolled her shoulders before lowering her hands onto the table. ”You don’t want trust, you want respect. Stop acting like a sniveling mouse. You can regret what you did, but let’s be honest; even if you’ve been purified, those dark desires were always a part of you.” She swung her arm towards the staircase that Eliza had run up. “I could tell myself that I don’t care about chasing tail anymore. But I’ve decided to embrace that part of myself. I just don’t need nearly as much tail as I thought I did. What did you enjoy most when you were corrupt?”
Justine occasionally nodded as she listened to Oros' advice, and bit her lip. ”What I enjoyed most? Well, it's hard to say exactly, but it was the high tension. When I wove those grand plans or surrounded myself with thralls, I felt like a divine being who had the right to mold the destiny of the world. But more than that, when I faced off against my enemies, it was like a great fire was lit in my soul, a never-ending ride of thrills and excitement. It wasn't just about winning or losing, but living the drama."
“In other words, megalomania: The obsession with your own power or delusions of grandeur.” Oros sighed. “But that was then. You’ve been purified, so those desires can’t be that intense anymore. Do you miss anything, Lez-bean? Your mansion? Your power? Your thralls? Your maid?”
For a moment, Justine was silent. A single tear dropped into her bat plushie.
”My sister, Caroline. She has disappeared for what must have been months now. I dearly wish to find her, so that I could release her from Father's curse as well." She wiped her tears. ”Have you also lost people you'd wish to see again, Miss…?" She looked awkward as she realized she didn't know her name.
“Oros? Manager of the Golden Trove? Newest sensation in Penrose? Guess they let you go sooner rather than earlier.” Oros chuckled. “But no. I didn’t have any siblings and my parents weren’t around much. Outside of them I’ve never had a relationship last longer than a few months, and I probably never will.” After flashing a smile she scratched the side of her head. “But we’re getting off point. What I’m trying to get you to do is address your shadow self. There’s some dark part of yourself that’s intrinsic to your nature, and ignoring it is what’s holding you back." Justine irked at the idea of coming to terms with her 'shadow self', but Oros continued. “Here, let’s take your embarrassing exchange with Betty and use that as an example. Hold on, this will be more fun with props.” Oros scooped Justine’s madcap up and placed it on her head, which caused Justine to gasp.
”Hey-!" She exclaimed. But Oros couldn't be stopped by words. She then slouched, squared her shoulders, and avoided making eye contact with Justine.
“Do I look like a divine being who has the right to mold destiny to my very whims?” She pulled her hat over her eyes and hugged her pig plush. “I’m sorry Betty, the whole mind whammy thing was just done on a whim for the lulz. I-I didn’t really think it through, and I’m really sorry now that I have to face repercussions for m-my actions. You probably think I care more about what people think about me than actually being a good person. A-and-” Oros exploded with confidence. Her hands fell on her hips, her shoulders were rolled back, and her chest was puffed out. She was also bearing the toothiest grin that Justine had ever seen, and Justine was a former vampire. “You bet your sweet ASS I care what people think about me! I’m not proud of what I did in the past, but I’m settling the score right now! And you wanna know why I mind whammied you, Betty? Because ‘Ronica made it super easy! You’re also a dynamite babe, and in the heat of the moment I thought it would be good to have you at my side. But when I got a hold of myself later, I realized I’d need to take care of Cradle first. So I passed you over to the Mint with the idea that I’d reclaim you later. Phu phu phu phu phu!” She plopped Justine’s hat back on her head. “Wasn’t my second impersonation of you strangely more charismatic?”
Justine couldn't believe how abrasive this girl was...But in her own way, she was trying to help her.
”So you're saying I should be more confident about myself? That I...accept my past as a personal strength rather than a burden?"
She looked down at the table.
”That's surprisingly inspiring."
“Well it should hardly be inspiring coming from me. They don’t exactly air just anyone on the radio. My charisma is no joke.” She patted Justine’s funny hat and straightened out the ribbons. “You’re a bad bitch lez-bean, but so was ‘Ronica, and that didn’t stop people from trusting her.” She looked towards Emily and Tetrad. “Oh shit, they’re all going to ditch me if I’m not careful. ” Oros stood up. “I know I said I haven’t had a relationship last more than a few months, but I’m trying to change that. If your relationship with your sister lasted five-hundred years, perhaps you can go at least half as long with Cradle. But it’s not going to happen if you mope around here.”
Justine nodded, looking a bit better than before. ”Yeah...That’s right, I shouldn’t be sitting here. I should be out there, talking to people. Even if some won’t like it, it means I’m making a difference, that I’m moving forward. Oros, thank you so mu-"
But Oros had already left, off to join her friends. But, Justine didn’t feel bad about it. Justine clenched her fist. ”My past...I won’t let it shadow me. My future is mine to make. Do you agree, mister Alexander?"
Oros didn't get far before she was stopped by that nameless girl that participated in the Lord of Change's game. She just looked at Oros with her arms folded.
“What? I can't screw around a little bit?” The girl shook her head dismissively and walked off. Oros just smiled to herself and shrugged. She grabbed Emily by the back and hoisted her up into the air. Oros then shook her just enough to force her to release Tetrad, and carried the girl outside. “See you later tit-rad!”
”That is not my name!”
But Oros was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to care much about what Tetrad was saying. “Oh yea, it's all coming together.”
Betty was on the hunt, ready to pet a Harebringer no matter the cost. Soon enough, she found herself at a small hill ringed by trees, which she found suspicious due to an oddity with the place; it was completely swarming with Snowbuns. There were Snowbuns sliding down the hill, Snowbuns climbing up, Snowbuns shaking tree branches, stacked like totems or even sleeping in little bundles. Some kind of phenomenon was drawing all these Snowbuns here. Then, Betty saw a glimpse of the Harebringer at the top of the hill; it was white like the other Snowbuns, but it wore a bunny-themed army helmet with a playing card sticking out of it. Based on its chittering at a row of three Snowbuns with goofy oversized helmets before it, it seemed to be talking to them, or perhaps even lecturing them.
The Cradle agent’s past woes, from Justine to her breakdown to the Lord of Change’s trick were all out of her mind. right now it was all about her petting one of those harebringers.
She was hiding behind a tree, hoping her pale skin and white hair would help hide her position. Betty had initially planned on a stealthy approach, but the terrain made that hard. It was hard to cover your tracks in snow, which also made a crunching sound when you stepped on it unless you were a snowbun. The trees were a better option, but they were also covered in snow, and so much as a snapping twig could alert everyone to her position. It wouldn’t be as simple as just walking up behind the harebringer and petting them. They were even wearing a helmet, which likely had to be removed before she could brush her fingers across its plush scalp.
But the commando inspired helmet did give Betty an idea. Doing things the stealthy way wasn’t entirely out of the question. Instead of being a ghost, she could use guerrila tactics to get closer to the harebringer that way. All of her bladed weapons had turned into candy canes of varying lengths. They were the perfect tools for pulling critters towards herself. She didn’t have to sneak past an army of snowbuns, she just needed to get close enough to them so that she could take them out, then move on to the commando harebringer before they became too suspicious.
Betty took to the trees. Some snow might fall from the branches, but the trunk of a tree was really the best way to hide her red and black suit. She had rubbed some snow on it, but it wasn’t quite the same as rolling in mud in vietnam. She was ready.
A snowbun had slid down the hill and was getting ready to head back up when a candy cane reached out from the evergreens and yanked it into the branches.
Another one decided to shake a tree for pine cones, only to have a pile of snow fall onto it’s head. Soon it too was scooped up by a candy cane and pulled into the trees.
A pile of sleeping snowbuns was sleeping a bit too close to the treeline. One at a time, they were pulled into the greenery when there were no eyes to watch them.
Not even the totems were safe. The bottom one would get yanked into the trees, and the falling snowbuns would get collected by candy canes held in place by wind magic.
Betty was picking off the snowbuns one at a time. Giving them a pet and returning them to the petting zoo. she planned to do this until she had thinned them out enough to where she could climb the hill without being noticed.
Of course, Betty was being noticed. But that was only because Mac had followed her here. While Betty was being careful, stealth wasn't really her forte. So why not give her a hand with some illusion magic? It was the least she could do for someone as broken as she was right now.
Like a legendary reptilian soldier, Betty solidly snaked her way through Snowbun after Snowbun, the oblivious little creatures having been stealthily taken out by tactical petting action. As Snowbuns came down the hill to investigate the disappearance of their fellow comrades, even more of them were petted, until only the Harebringer and his trusted soldiers remained. Luckily, the general himself was too distracted by his chittering to notice the growing silence on the hill, allowing Betty the chance to climb up the hill. However, Betty happened to accidentally step on a twig hidden underneath the snowy coating of the hill; the Harebringer was prepared for sneaking hunters. He turned to see Betty approach, surprised by the disappearance of his fluffy troops.
Betty froze in place. Her eyes flicked between the harebringer and her foot. It was always a bit disappointing when your 100% stealth run was forfeit by something so small, doubly so when you’re supposed to be a Cradle agent. Today it was just a twig, but what if it had been a pitfall trap? What if it had been a snare that did something humiliating like hang her upside down from a tree? What if the snare also reverted her back to human form, and suppressed all of her magical powers so that she couldn’t escape? What if the harebringers had a recipe for Betty stew, and had a spit set up so that they could grill her? What if they were so barbaric that they’d just eat her alive? What if this was all a clever ruse Justine worked out with Dan to have her removed so that Maura could be taken off the map? Clearly, Betty’s screw up was unforgivable, and she’d reprimand herself for it later. Even if the idea of a bunch of snowbuns nibbling her was kind of cute, it was still bad!
Mac on the other hand knew the twig was an illusion she herself had placed there. She wanted to help Betty as much as the next person, but without a little bit of chase, this hunt would be rather stale.
Betty steeled herself, preparing for a split second change of plans. She held her candy cane over her shoulder like a batter and attempted to teleport right beside the harebringer. With any luck, she’d knock the helmet off of his head.
For the briefest moment, the Harebringer and Betty exchanged looks, the military-themed Snowbun visibly impressed by Betty’s skills. However, he was not going to be petted without a fight. The moment he chittered a command to his soldier buns, Betty made her move; she teleported up to the Harebringer in a motion similar to punting the round creature as if it was an oversized golf ball. To her surprise, that exactly happened, though it wasn’t her goal, as she aimed to knock a helmet off. Instead, a soldier bun leapt in the way, sacrificing themselves with a teary look as it flew far to the distance, blinking like a star in the sky.
Betty’s eyes traced the snowbun through the sky. Her jaw hung lower and lower until the snow bun vanished from sight. The Cradle agent finally looked away, feeling nothing but regret for what had happened. She’d have to see if she could find that snow bun later. But for now she had to avoid thinking about the horrors of war so that she could complete her mission. Her eyes became intense when she refocused them on the harebringer.
Mac knew this would be good, and was glad she kept her distance.
Now left to two soldier buns, the Harebringer’s eyebrows furrowed, and a magic circle formed vertically around him; suddenly, a wave of Snowbuns crashed through the portal, piling up like a stream of Cocoa Puffs in a cereal bowl, overflowing to the rest of the hill and knocking Betty back about one-third down the hill. That was when Betty realized what the lagomorph leader had in mind; the Snowbuns began to stick together in a single shape, forming a giant bipedal humanoid construct made entirely out of the fluffy creatures. The two soldier buns popped out of the shoulders of the mecha-like combination, in control of the arm Snowbuns, while the Harebringer’s face popped out of the center of the chest and was in control of the legs. With a chittering command, the soldier bun on the right prepared to slam a massive fluffy fist down at Betty, while the soldier bun on the left pointed a cannon arm at her, shooting a scattershot of Snowbuns. Mac now wished that she had picked a spot behind the treeline. She laid on her back and allowed the plush bodies of the snowbuns pass over her. Some of their ultra-soft bodies smacked into her, but it wouldn't have any lasting effects on the former police officer.
Betty had just managed to stand up again when the, hmm, she needed a name for it. Snowbun Prime would have been okay, but the way the harebringer and their soldiers were working together, it was more reminiscent of the megazord from the Power Rangers. Yes, this was the Snowbun Megazord! No, that was still too long. It wasn’t entirely correct but maybe she could call it the Snowazord? Yes! Now that was a name that embodied the ferocious cuteness of the adorable monstrosity in front of-
Betty dodged the shot of Snowbuns that bounced on the snow, and managed to side step the snowazord’s fist just moments before it crashed on top of her. The entire arm compressed like jello from the impact, and the impact kicked up snow onto her. Betty ignored the snow for now and used the opportunity to jump onto the arm and scale it up to the shoulder. The arm’s fluffy, gelatin-like nature meant that she had to be on her toes to avoid getting struck by flying snowbuns. With any luck, she’d be able to pet the soldier controlling the arm.
The shoulder Snowbun’s helmet dropped off after the impact of the punch shook the Snowazord, leaving the little lagomorph vulnerable to a sudden petting thanks to Betty running up the arm of the ridiculous mech and plucking the Snowbun out of the white mass. The Harebringer seemed to realize that a giant mecha was unsuited in a fight against one as agile as Betty was, and chittered again; now, the mass of Snowbuns bounced Betty off, and transformed into a sphere of Snowbuns, before it flattened into a pool of the creatures. That was when Betty realized the general’s helmet flew into the snow next to her; it had now blended in with the mass of Snowbuns thanks to its white fur. The mass of fluff now slowly began to hop around in an attempt to overwhelm Betty.
it was fortunate that the snow was so soft, because being thrown repeatedly from any hight was sure to rattle her poor brain at some point. And having a working brain was something she felt like she’d need, especially with the absolutely ludicrous number of snow buns hopping around. Maybe it was too late. She had no idea what she was going to do. Panic started to set in as she was unsure how to deal with the problem. She wasn’t a snowbunologist. Neither was Mac. In fact, mac was at a loss for words as to how to deal with something like this. It wasn't like her third eye could pick a harebringer out of a crowd of snowbuns. But Betty wasn't dettered. She was a Cradle agent, and steeled herself again.
The Cradle agent picked up the helmet and wiped the snow off of it. She then placed it on her head. it was a little big, but she felt like it it was bestowing some of the harebringer’s power on her (it wasn't, actually). She flexed her fingers and prepared to charge into the pile of snowbuns. But then she had a random thought: had the harebringer abandoned his helmet? a pool of snowbuns was intimidating, but couldn’t she just pet them all?
Before she did anything else, Betty stomped, and a gust of wind blew away from her in all directions, scattering the snow in the immediate vicinity. She had come too far to let the harebringer escape now.
The sudden strong breeze caused the tide of Snowbuns to part, like Moses parting the seas. Chittering noises accompanied the spectacle, as surprised Snowbuns reacted to being thrown around. That's when Betty spotted a Waldo in the crowd; one of the Snowbuns did not chitter or even blink as the wind swept them.
The genuine article? A ruse? Betty wasn’t sure. There was still a soldier unaccounted for, but she didn’t have time to second guess herself. She focused her mana, and with a quick hop, teleported to the snowbun’s position to stroke the rascal’s head.
Betty succeeded in running her fingers through the creature’s warm, fluffy fur...That seemed to stick. In fact, she couldn’t remove her hand from the Snowbun, who now blinked, as if confused by what was happening. She realized that it was the last soldier bun, and he was enchanted by the Harebringer to have adhesive fur. That is also when Betty felt something round and fluffy slam into her back, and turned to see the Harebringer; he was visibly furious, with furrowed eyebrows, frowning mouth, and a red aura that glowed around him.
After the first slam, Betty noticed something strange pop up in the upper right corner of her vision: a bar had appeared titled “STAMINA”, which had been depleted one-fifth after the slam. Betty noticed that she was beginning to get a bit hungry. The Harebringer slammed again, and that feeling of hunger grew stronger, weakening her; the Harebringer’s final tactic was to reduce her STAMINA to zero and knock her out.
Mac was powerless to do anything. She could resolve the situation easily, but not without giving away her possition. Betty needed to do something if she wanted any help.
Betty whimpered. It took the harebringer a moment to find a tactic to subdue a slippery opponent like her, but they finally did it. Her impressive agility meant nothing with her hand pinned in place, and she wasn’t going to just blink away after blinking towards the snowbun soldier. Since just her hand was stuck, she could orientate herself differently, but as long as she was stuck to this snowbun, could she expect to pet the harebringer? Her mind immediately flashed to the rave, a moment she could barely remember. She felt just as vulnerable now as she was then. Betty braced herself as the harebringer struck her a third time. This could be the end. Or at least it would be if the harebringer hadn’t underestimated her determination.
Betty’s weapons had all become candy canes, which made cutting through her arm impossible. But she was still able to break her humerus with a single swing. She winced in pain, but had already committed herself to winning at all costs. She gave the harebringer an equally furious glare over her shoulder. Between the last three strikes, Betty had worked out the tempo of the harebringer’s attacks. As the harebringer drew closer, she hopped over the soldier in front of her. She couldn’t go very far, as her hand was still stuck to the head of the soldier bunny, but the sticky snowbun was now between the harebringer and herself. If the soldier didn’t stop the harebringer, what happened next most certainly would.
Betty bit through her bicep while pulling away from her trapped arm. She didn’t have Trixy’s bite, but did have enough strength to tear the rest of her body free. A spray of crimson soaked the harebringer and the soldier. With her determination to win and pain overriding all of her other senses, Betty let out a war cry and Rushed towards the harebringer.
To give it a gentle pet.
The Harebringer expected Betty to jump and avoid its attack, and dodged to the side of the soldier bun, who by now had realized it did not want to be in this precarious position, and began to wiggle in an attempt to break free of Betty’s hand. The Harebringer dashed hopped to the side of the soldier bun, ready to give one last hard slam to end Betty’s hunt, when something happened even the battle-hardened ball of fluff couldn’t have seen coming; blood. The Harebringer turned away to avoid being blinded by the spray, but when he turned it was already too late: Betty’s hand now rested atop him. At that moment, the Harebringer turned docile, and removed the spells he had made on the soldier bun and the other Snowbuns. Then, it slumped down, partially flattening like a pancake as it now closed its eyes, exhausted from the intense battle.
With a sigh, Betty turned around and fell backwards onto the resting harebringer. She didn’t need a stamina gauge to tell her that her body had been pushed to its limits. She reached for her dismembered arm and shoved it onto her stump. Fortunately, Betty always kept her healing artifact on her person. the tiny lantern’s glow went to work mending her arm back together. Even for a cradle artifact, a severed limb was something that would take time to heal. But the pain was starting to subside as bone and flesh knit themselves together again. Her breathing slowed, and the frenzied look in her eyes softened. It was fortunate she had chosen to wear a lot of red, as Betty wasn’t sure if her healing magic would clean her outfit. She doubted it would.
While her arm healed, she removed the army helmet she had borrowed from the harebringer commando and placed it back on his head. It was a difficult chase, and she wasn’t entirely satisfied with how all of her choices played out. But in the end, her willingness to use desperate tactics enabled her to triumph over her opponent. But with the operation completed, her mind drifted to other things. Maura, Justine, the friend raffle. She found her breathing started to accelerate again.
But wait, the opperation wasn’t over.
She had sent all but 1 soldier to the zoo. Even if this was an intense game of tag, surely swatting a snowbun into the stratosphere was overkill. Betty felt a strange kinship with the soldier. She too had been seperated from her group for a time, and the idea that such a noble creature was still out there didn’t sit right with her.
Her arm still ached, but that didn’t stop Betty from pushing herself to her feet. She vaguely remembered which direction she had swatted the soldier in. Perhapse if she kept walking in that direction, she could find and pet it.
...
Mac breathed.
She too petted the rabbit before departing. As stressful as the situation was for Betty, Mac was also concerned for her in that moment. All that blood and work to touch a bunny. Mac could almost drink after watching that spectacle.
Though she also understood Betty's struggle. That desire to be accepted by others.
In a way, Mac had it easy. She didn't need to care what anyone wanted, but that was because her parents showered her with love. It was also somewhat flattering to be chosen by fate to save other worlds. Fate itself felt like she was important enough to carry out its tasks. Though Mac also felt like she could learn something from Betty. Seeing how far she was willing to go for her faction was inspiring. That wasn't something Mac could do, and she knew it. Recently at least, she hadn't been too good at her job. At least as far as making fate happen that was. Even if Betty was a little screwy and vulnerable, her effort was something to learn from.
What a wonderful holiday. How many more interesting characters would she encounter?
In the end, Mac decided to let the opportunity pass her by. Yes, meeting an old friend was something she wanted to do more than anything else in the entire world, but there was too much at stake. Just because she had some of the most impressive illusion magic in Penrose, that didn't mean it was a get out of jail free card if she abused it. Like here, it was very likely that the horror would have called out her name if she had won, regardless of how potent her illusion magic was. Even if that didn't happen, it would be odd if someone was summoned who no one recognized. But perhaps it was best that the dead stay dead. IT turned out to be the right move, as the horror was just fishing for dark emotions. But that didn't make her feel any better about the ordeal.
Maybe she'd go with Betty and see about hunting one of those harebringers.
“Bitch be stealin’ my hoes!”
— Oros
Oros wasn’t at all disappointed that her vote didn’t go through. She had a pretty good idea Eden wouldn’t have shown up anyway. She had just originally been designed with Eden in mind, and it was a little upsetting that they’d never get to meet. Such was the way of play by post roleplays. What did irritate Oros however was that she was in squeezing distance of both Em and El, and Em ran over to some bimbo who wasn’t even a PC anymore. But this irritation was short lived, as Oni came wandering over to her.
“Hey Oni!”
Now Em was sickly sweet, something Oni couldn’t quite live up to. But there was some naivety there, and her shyness made her that much more endearing to the hotel owner. Oros’s heart skipped a beat when she was handed a gift. She examined the careful wrapping job, and was prepared to open it herself when Oni mentioned who it was for.
“…Oh yea, her.” The corners of Oros’s smile twitched. “Yea, bananas. She’d really like something like that. We share a patron, so locating her shouldn’t be too hard.” Her eyes suddenly became very big. “So what did you get me?”
Oros could sense El was uneasy about something. She was aware of the newly arrived guest. Personally, Oros didn’t really care about some secret reveal character during an event. She was already the coolest character at the party, paired with El who had to be the best dressed out of everyone there. But if she had to go… “Guess we’ll meet up later for fun stuff?”
”Hey ah-” Tetrad looked around nervously. ”I mean, yea? I’m pretty sure I am. What’s with the emotional response? It hasn’t even been two weeks since I left!” There was no way Tetrad was going to escape this bear hug. It’s a known fact that the glomp of a cinna-bon is inescapable. ”Guess if I was thinking I’d have invited Trixy. She really wanted to see Betty again, not like they haven’t been texting each other non stop. Speaking of, I should probably Personally thank Oros for-” It was a bit difficult to figure out who was speaking to her, given that their pronouns seemed to switch mid-paragraph. Come to think of it, didn’t some other attractive “woman” come on strong like that? ”Hold on.” She fret her brow, ”are you cross-dressing?”
”My Figma came today. Now I’m the main character!”
— Betty “Biohazard” Barton
It wouldn’t have been so bad if Betty’s vote had just not been picked. But it had been picked, and then she was told that her vote was forefit because apparently some horror with the power to control causality somehow couldn’t bring Kate to the party. Furthermore, she was not allowed to make another vote. Why had the Lord of Change chosen to have her recieve a text from Kate if it wasn’t someone they could bring to the party? Betty was sure her jaws were going to crush her teeth, but she just couldn’t relax. Fortunately, the events from before were so exhausting she didn’t have the strength to get upset about it anymore.
”Maura, I’m going to go see if I can catch a bunny.”
Catching a harebringer was likely more aggravation than it was worth, but Betty needed something to focus on. She always did better when she had a clear objective or goal to accomplish. She didn’t wait for a response before leaving.
[b][color=silver][center]
[img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/9bf0ab63-afe2-4637-aa10-6dc90db5fc8c.png[/img]
[h2]W I T H R I G H T E O U S H A N D S[/h2][/center][/color][/b]
[hr]
[i]Did you know that Dante's inferno is called a divine comedy because things work out for the protagonist? Back in the day, the only two genres were comedy and drama. The only difference was that in a comedy, the protagonist is better off at the end, and a drama is the opposite. So that's why a story about going through hell can still be considered a comedy, even if it's not funny.[/i]
[b][color=Silver]Name:[/color][/b]
[indent]Broken Promise, BP, Boss[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]Age:[/color][/b]
[indent]Old enough to know better, too young to care. (that is to say 30's)[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]Preferred RPs:[/color][/b]
[indent]I Prefer to make my own, but will occasionally join something if it looks interesting. I'll join just about anything so long as it isn’t overly edgy/sweet, though it's rare for me to do. I don't do 1x1s too often either.[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]Preferred Roles:[/color][/b]
[indent]I tend to play adorable characters everyone wants to befriend or proper assholes everyone wants to stay away from. I try not to play moral paragons or prime evils.[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]RP Conquests:[/color][/b]
[indent]I've completed quite a few RP's off site, but most of them are on private forums or have simply been lost to the ravages of server crashes. As for stuff here, I'm sure everyone who sees me post in the off topic sections has seen me find an excuse to talk about [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/157933-danganronpa-tower-of-carnage-finished/ic]Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage[/url]. It's a project that took over 4 years to complete and I feel pride not only for myself but all the wonderful people who helped make it enjoyable during its run. [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/173392-re-zero-the-high-council/ic]Re: Zero: The High Council[/url] Is technically my first, but it was just something I kind of took over and ended up ending the story after just six months. It finished, but eh...
Last RP I finished was [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/186698-symphony-of-espers/ooc]Symphony of Espers[/url] which turned out pretty good.[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]RP's in progress:[/color][/b]
[indent]For some reason I can't seem to stay away from [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/180148-darkest-before-the-dawn-a-cyoa-magical-girl-roleplay/ic]Ari's magical girl RP[/url], even if I'm not sure why I'm still in it.
As for my own projects, I'm doing [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/191774-symphony-on-high/ic]Symphony on High[/url] to continue the gigachad adventures of the espers in Pax Septimus.
[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]RP Graveyard:[/color][/b]
[indent]I've been pretty fortunate on this forum. I think I joined one when I first came on the site that didn't really do anything, and there are a few 1x1 things that didn't go anywhere. It's disappointing when an RP ends before it can be finished, but I've come to look at them as learning experiences.
And then there's that london magical girl RP, and that dark magical girl RP. I think I'm done joining magical girl RPs for a while.[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]Other interests:[/color][/b]
[indent]
[b]Videos[/b]
[indent]I watch a lot of educational videos on youtube. Usually as research for something I’m writing or purely because a topic interests me. I like channels like [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHsRtomD4twRf5WVHHk-cMw]Tier Zoo[/url] and [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfJWct8jN1RpCuVWk3zHTA]Daryl Talks Games[/url], and I’ll also watch things like [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSJPFQdZwrOutnmSFYtbstA]Critical Drinker[/url] or [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz1fTbwui7o5aDZ6W1dOLTQ]Literature Devil[/url] to deepen my understanding of story telling. Though I also like memes and jokes, to which I’ll find myself watching stuff like [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD6VugMZKRhSyzWEWA9W2fg]Sseth[/url], but usually find myself surfing through meme videos. I gotta work on that.
[/indent]
[b]Games[/b]
[indent]I have a rather long history of playing virtually every platformer to come into existence during the indie boom, as well as quite a few other indie games. I’ve played Meatboy, Binding of Issac, Gunvolt, Cuphead, Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt, Classic Metroid, Warcraft 3, Final Fantasy 7,8, and 14, Left 4 Dead, Shantae, Celeste, Danganronpa, God Eater, the list goes on. What I’ve played is kind of all over the place. I don’t play many games these days, I tend to pick things that look interesting and go on a decent steam sale.[/indent]
[b]Painting Minis[/b]
[indent]I do this in moderation. Otherwise, it's a pretty expensive hobby to start...[/indent]
[b]Music[/b]
[indent]I listen to everything, save most country/rap songs. I have too many favorites to name.[/indent]
[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]Personality:[/color][/b]
[indent]Not one to take life or the internet too seriously. Is only serious about writing well and having a good time.[/indent]
[b][color=Silver]People to Insult:[/color][/b]
[indent]Dalton is a Dingus.[/indent]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver"><div class="bb-center"><img src="https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/9bf0ab63-afe2-4637-aa10-6dc90db5fc8c.png" /><br><div class="bb-h2">W I T H R I G H T E O U S H A N D S</div></div></font></span><br><br><hr class="bb-hr"><br><br><span class="bb-i">Did you know that Dante's inferno is called a divine comedy because things work out for the protagonist? Back in the day, the only two genres were comedy and drama. The only difference was that in a comedy, the protagonist is better off at the end, and a drama is the opposite. So that's why a story about going through hell can still be considered a comedy, even if it's not funny.</span><br><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">Name:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">Broken Promise, BP, Boss</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">Age:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">Old enough to know better, too young to care. (that is to say 30's)</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">Preferred RPs:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">I Prefer to make my own, but will occasionally join something if it looks interesting. I'll join just about anything so long as it isn’t overly edgy/sweet, though it's rare for me to do. I don't do 1x1s too often either.</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">Preferred Roles:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">I tend to play adorable characters everyone wants to befriend or proper assholes everyone wants to stay away from. I try not to play moral paragons or prime evils.</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">RP Conquests:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">I've completed quite a few RP's off site, but most of them are on private forums or have simply been lost to the ravages of server crashes. As for stuff here, I'm sure everyone who sees me post in the off topic sections has seen me find an excuse to talk about <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/157933-danganronpa-tower-of-carnage-finished/ic">Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage</a>. It's a project that took over 4 years to complete and I feel pride not only for myself but all the wonderful people who helped make it enjoyable during its run. <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/173392-re-zero-the-high-council/ic">Re: Zero: The High Council</a> Is technically my first, but it was just something I kind of took over and ended up ending the story after just six months. It finished, but eh...<br><br>Last RP I finished was <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/186698-symphony-of-espers/ooc">Symphony of Espers</a> which turned out pretty good.</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">RP's in progress:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">For some reason I can't seem to stay away from <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/180148-darkest-before-the-dawn-a-cyoa-magical-girl-roleplay/ic">Ari's magical girl RP</a>, even if I'm not sure why I'm still in it. <br><br>As for my own projects, I'm doing <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/191774-symphony-on-high/ic">Symphony on High</a> to continue the gigachad adventures of the espers in Pax Septimus.</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">RP Graveyard:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">I've been pretty fortunate on this forum. I think I joined one when I first came on the site that didn't really do anything, and there are a few 1x1 things that didn't go anywhere. It's disappointing when an RP ends before it can be finished, but I've come to look at them as learning experiences.<br><br>And then there's that london magical girl RP, and that dark magical girl RP. I think I'm done joining magical girl RPs for a while.</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">Other interests:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent"><span class="bb-b">Videos</span><br><div class="bb-indent">I watch a lot of educational videos on youtube. Usually as research for something I’m writing or purely because a topic interests me. I like channels like <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHsRtomD4twRf5WVHHk-cMw">Tier Zoo</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfJWct8jN1RpCuVWk3zHTA">Daryl Talks Games</a>, and I’ll also watch things like <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSJPFQdZwrOutnmSFYtbstA">Critical Drinker</a> or <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz1fTbwui7o5aDZ6W1dOLTQ">Literature Devil</a> to deepen my understanding of story telling. Though I also like memes and jokes, to which I’ll find myself watching stuff like <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD6VugMZKRhSyzWEWA9W2fg">Sseth</a>, but usually find myself surfing through meme videos. I gotta work on that.</div> <br><span class="bb-b">Games</span><br><div class="bb-indent">I have a rather long history of playing virtually every platformer to come into existence during the indie boom, as well as quite a few other indie games. I’ve played Meatboy, Binding of Issac, Gunvolt, Cuphead, Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt, Classic Metroid, Warcraft 3, Final Fantasy 7,8, and 14, Left 4 Dead, Shantae, Celeste, Danganronpa, God Eater, the list goes on. What I’ve played is kind of all over the place. I don’t play many games these days, I tend to pick things that look interesting and go on a decent steam sale.</div><br><span class="bb-b">Painting Minis</span><br><div class="bb-indent">I do this in moderation. Otherwise, it's a pretty expensive hobby to start...</div><br><span class="bb-b">Music</span><br><div class="bb-indent">I listen to everything, save most country/rap songs. I have too many favorites to name.</div></div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">Personality:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">Not one to take life or the internet too seriously. Is only serious about writing well and having a good time.</div><br><span class="bb-b"><font color="silver">People to Insult:</font></span><br><div class="bb-indent">Dalton is a Dingus.</div></div>
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WardenCelestine
RPM
Majoraa
The World
IAmTheIsland
Pathei Mathos
Xaltwind
