Letter Bee

Royal Rumble!

Ascot, through Michael, is gathering volunteers for a discreet side mission that has potentially greater returns than the one in the Apartment. Said mission is today.

Kingdom Hearts: Lights of the Multiverse (KH and Alternate History)

@Rai, @WXer, your turns.

Royal Rumble!

@CavnderOHeart, see the post above.

Royal Rumble!

[@CandverOHeart] , Michael has left, although he might come back with some new recruits. Also, Ascot's not infiltrating Mephistos' yet; he's going after the City Wall of Rhea so that he can use Interrogate Area on it.

He might need Vernon's Mafia connections to help with that.

Royal Rumble!

((Collab Post between Letter Bee, Scarifar, CavnderOHeart, and DisturbedBartimaeus))

Ascot sighed, still naked, and said, "That last part is not important. What is important is that there is a remote possibility that Mephisto, your headmaster, might - might be an enemy of Humanity as a whole, not just a small section of it. Note that this is not a St. Laurel's plan to undermine the competition; Alto's doing something else right now - one of my fellow students just informed me that he's sent several of the school's best and brightest to an old apartment to investigate some missing students. In fact, this is sensitive information on St. Laurel's itself that I offer as proof that I can be trusted: There are missing students, it is likely to prove a blow to the school's reputation if it is ever publicly revealed, and I just revealed major movements of the best fighters there. Use this information as you will; the fact is that the world is larger than the three-way between different factions of superpowered students."

"Hmm..." Michael finally flipped all the way to the end of the journal, seeing the name 'Mephisto' on the last page. Michael then took out his phone and turned on the camera feature, taking a shot of that last page. Looking back up at Ascot, he said, "Well, everything you've given me seems to check out so far." Closing the journal and putting it down, Michael continued, "I have no loyalty to Mephisto, or even St. Lucifer's. I suspect you already know this, which is probably at least one reason why you decided to share this info with me."

"I certainly don't like St. Laurel's either, especially with the way they do things regarding information about them. Ugh," Michael said. "Anyway, you've provided me with valuable info, so I suppose I should be grateful. You're not bad for a St. Laurel student, I'll give you that, so I'll help you out however I can."

"Now about that painting... hmm...." Michael said as he looked towards Vernon, who seems to have already fallen asleep. "Should we wake him?"

Ascot shook his head. "Nah, let him sleep the alcohol off. Besides," he said as he straigthened Vernon's sleeping form. "He looks adorable in this position."

A pause as he pursed his lips and asked, "Michael, I will need two things, then. One is the backstories and powers of the students of note in Mephistos', especially anyone who might - might - be immune to mental and memory alteration effects. Second is your opinion on a plan."

Another pause. "Said plan is to infilitrate the city wall of Rhea, which would allow me to call forth the spirit of the entire city to answer my questions about events that happen within it. This will need both planning and additional personnel from either Mephistos' or the Vigilantes - St. Laurel's cannot know except for my main ally there, who will keep their attention on the apartment building they are supposed to investigate right now. The incentive for Mephistos' people is for information; I am willing to share what I find if it does not lead to the death of anyone - we can afford to lose one tournament. Same for the Vigilantes; I am willing to share other findings. Can you get me said personnel?"

"The info I have on the St. Lucifer students is yours," Michael agreed. "As for your plan, I'm not sure how many people I can convince. I'm not the most social person out there, so my contacts are pretty limited. Still, I imagine some people in both the Vigilantes and St. Lucifer's would be pretty interested in some of that info. I'll ask around. Of course, I'll try to be discreet about it. I figure I should ask though, how many people should you expect to need and what exactly do you plan to use them for?"

Ascot mused, closing his eyes for a second. "I need three besides me, people who can keep themselves quiet and stealthy, but have powers that are distracting but not usually fatal. Basically, my plan is simple: Use one of my powers to get security clearance as far as I am able to, then when someone appears who is immune to my powers, two of the three members of the party would jump him - non-fatally - while the third goes out as a distraction for the guards. We then move on to the top of the city wall."

He then fishes for his phone on the heap of his clothes. Getting it out, he calls Samoth Moskono.

Ascot's Call: "Operator, this is Eastern Cottage, Over. I would like you to keep your team as far away from Home Base as long as possible. Prolong the investigation as much as possible once targets are rescued and given safety. Hold back the full use of powers and training if needed. Invite people to a post-battle dinner outside Home Base if needed, too; I will pay for half the costs from private savings. Operation: Panopticon is on schedule. Repeat: Operation Panopticon is on schedule. We will have the required data for the next stage soon."

Samoth's Call: "Roger that. Orders received. I will inform you immediately if things aren't following the plan."

"Right then, seems like business is done," Michael said, packing up the painting equipment he had brought with him. Tucking everything under one arm, Michael added, "I'll notify you when I find people willing to aid you." On that note, he walked out the room and out of the restaurant.

Ascot puts on his lower clothing for modesty's sake, then goes to a chair to wait for news...

Royal Rumble!

((Collab Post between Letter Bee, Scarifar, and CavnderOHeart.))

The first thing Ascot would do first was to save as many digital copies of the diary as possible and 'stash' them on several sites and accounts with the help of his family. This is so that the investigation can be restarted by anyone who finds them should Ascot vanish or be put out of commission otherwise. The second thing he would do was to open his Eris Instant Messaging account and send a private instant messaging chat to Vernon, his boyfriend and Mephisto's student, asking for a private date:

Eastern Cottage: Hey, why don't we go to dinner at Paese Delle Fate? I want to try their 'maximum spice platter'. Also, want to invite that painter from your school to do a painting of us on the date? I'll use my savings to cover half the costs. Just be the one to contact him.

Painting can be nude if you want. :p

There was a hidden code to this; Vernon, in the long months of their relationship, had learned that Ascot did not like spicy foods, while Ascot himself had learned that the Paese Delle Fate he was referring to was a front for Vernon's Mafia family. Said Italian Restaurant did not have a 'maximum spice platter', either; that was code for 'maximum security'. Basically, Ascot wanted the meeting to be as private as possible. The 'nude painting' part was meant to further erase suspicions by drawing attention to how 'perverted' Ascot was. Not that Ascot wasn't genuinely interested in...look, point was, there were plenty of hints towards the higher importance of the message, okay!

Thoughts were circulating inside of Vernon's head; thoughts that were once amass of plots, and decieve cunning methords of backstabbing, getting his way, and backing his father and mother in whatever ways he could. Thoughts of vile exposures and of venomous charm, with little care as to how he affected others. Now as if this change was new to time he had a partner both in life, and his line of...Inheritence! Vernons thoughts had begun to extended, to add Willaim Ascot into them and began to assert his presence as a) important and b) worth brining into the family. Vernon was about to finish open his eyes, just then he had completed thinking.

A smile hand slinked across Vernon's face he exhaled, feeling his own breath leaving his lungs, it was cold. He took out his phone and paused the subliminal, meditation music and opened Eris Instant Messenger and has smiled abeit wider at the text message Willy had sent.

"At Paese Delle Fate? Sure thing honey, your nudity has always been a thing on my mind. Lol." He resposnded.

It was a part of Vernon's mentality that had caused him to only answer to what had intrged him the most when another person talked before him, in other schools this had been a problem with teachers, yet at Mephisto's they had either understood or allowed him to do so. This was Vernon's way of communicating that he understood everything, and had only needed to leave his own trail of what seemed to be him; flirting, complimenting, insulting. Emotions of that nature.

He understood every code and at this point in their relationship, allowed Ascot to understand him. One last thing, Vernon was with a school friend who also understood his ways, and mannerisms. He had chosen to read his message to Willaim aloud, so Michael would also understand why he would need to be there, he also asked, loudly. "How much painting do you want? Should I be kneeling before you, or crouching?" Then he sent the second message.

Michael put down his pencil, done writing down the notes of information he had amassed for today. Not much to learn today, really. Mephisto's news of his arrest was nothing too exciting, and as usual there was hardly anything to follow regarding evidence. The first years at Mephisto's School had some interesting info to learn, but it wasn't much. All in all, not much productivity today. He sighed as he leaned back against his chair. He looked over at a wall, covered in various Trap Art experiments, wondering what else to do.

Then a message sounded on his cell phone. Picking it up, Michael saw that he was being invited to do some painting. Well, it wasn't the strangest job he found in his career, and having nothing better to do, he decided to take it. He began typing in his response, "Sure, tell me where to meet and I'll be there. Price is negotiable." Looking back at his Trap Arts, Michael waved a dismissive hand, dispelling the ink from the wall. Now, it was time to make himself look presentable...

Paese Delle Fate

As the others arrived, Ascot would sit on his chair at a 'Reserved' table in the Italian Restaurant, in a small private chamber reserved for 'special guests'. Once Vernon and Michael arrived, Ascot would look around, eat a few bites of food, and say to Vernon, "We should strip for our painter; after all, we hired him to capture the 'spirit' of our date in one of his paintings."

A faint smile, though there was discomfort mixed in it. Once Ascot had shed his clothes, blushing madly, he would then face Michael, then Vernon, and finally say: "Onto business. And by business, I mean business between St. Laurel's, Mephistos', and the Vigilantes."

He would then draw the old diary found in the mass grave from the heap of his discarded clothing, and say: "My family, the Ascots, are blessed by the God of Stories and tasked with the job of recording the narratives of the world. Because of this expertise, we're regularly consulted with mysteries and clues to mysteries that people randomly find. This diary is one; it was found in a mass grave and given to my family for investigation. I would like the both of you to read it; Vernon, then Michael."

The boy, losing shame as he was focused on exposition, would then hand the book over to Vernon.

A smirk had entered Vernon's expression, one of perversion and one of decency. An odd mixture for an odd young man, he had flashed Michael The Horns and then walked out to the streets, of course he would be the second to arrive at Paere Delle Fate as Vernon was meeting Willaim; his boyfriend and a Ascot. As he did not take status into accord, he only saw 'Willy' as another guy, with charm-the only difference between how Vernon saw others was what they had. And if they had nothing, he would only give them words, cold. Hurtful. Devieve words. He had continued to walk, silently singing to himself in another language one made up by him to improve his power Scream For MY and he carefully choose not to have any target.

At some spike in time Vernon was inside and had eaten half of his food, he then chatted with his comrades and asked about his parents; but not to much. They were good, semi-busy and still together in these times. Mentally Vernon thanked the God of Dark Romance and the Goddess of Sexual Relationships and lastly the Goddess of Emotions, while giving the God of Apathy two special finger gestures. Vernon had stripped his clothing and walked over to "Willy", he had taken a pose like that of a horse rider. and perfectly imperfectly said.
"I can feel my biblophila bubbling up like chewing up in a vat." He pecked Ascot on the cheek and lifted his eyelids . Sometimes when they were narrowed for to long they gave off a strong evil energy.

And Vernon and the Entire Magic Mafia were no Servants of Acient Evil although they do have proof of God and Goddesses of Evil and the other moralities. The Family just, went about their busniesses as the God and Goddess of Crime had graced them along with Mephisto. Vernon let out a laugh. "A diary, don't you know these things are private." Vernon didn't pose a question because there was no need to. What he stated was a commonplace fact and he only skimmed the first two pages and skipped to the seventeenth to force himself to have no sense of the words. He merely respected privacy and wanted Willaim to do the same, even Michaal. Which is why he said it out loud and not whispered it to Willaim like he usually does.

++++++

A long time ago Michael would have looked away, embarrased by the spectacles that Mephisto students were prone to do, but he had had time to get used to it and simply smiled before rolling his eyes once Vernon looked away. The food was remarkably tasty, and used this opportunity to eat everything on his plate as fast as he could. Within a couple minutes, the food was gone and the glasses were emptied. He sighed in content as he leaned back against the chair for a second.

After wiping his mouth and getting the easel and palette ready, Ascot was already getting down to business. The diary was what caught Michael's main focus, and he raised an eyebrow as he saw it. Vernon may not have been interested in it, but Michael thought differently. "Privacy's one thing, but an old diary like this is meant to be read, like any other book," Michael said to Vernon. Once Michael got his hands on it, he began skimming through the pages, looking for anything that proved to be interesting. Fortunately, that didn't prove to be too hard, the book was filled with interesting information. "Found this in a mass grave, huh?" Michael asked. "I wonder whose."

Ascot sighed, still naked, and said, "That last part is not important. What is important is that there is a remote possibility that Mephisto, your headmaster, might - might be an enemy of Humanity as a whole, not just a small section of it. Note that this is not a St. Laurel's plan to undermine the competition; Alto's doing something else right now - one of my fellow students just informed me that he's sent several of the school's best and brightest to an old apartment to investigate some missing students. In fact, this is sensitive information on St. Laurel's itself that I offer as proof that I can be trusted: There are missing students, it is likely to prove a blow to the school's reputation if it is ever publicly revealed, and I just revealed major movements of the best fighters there. Use this information as you will; the fact is that the world is larger than the three-way between different factions of superpowered students."

Kingdom Hearts: Lights of the Multiverse (KH and Alternate History)

I might be unavailable tomorrow and certainly later today.

Persona in Wonderland: A Persona RP.

The lingering belief that this might have been a dream after all faded with the sound and sight and force of the explosion. Katsuguchi and Ragnarok, Snow Cecil thought, storing the words in his head. I was right. There was no victory in the thought. Did someone just die? If so,why am I still running? For what reason is this happening?

He looked at Alice, whose wrist he still held. For a moment, the boy was tempted to latch onto the thought that his warning had saved her, had saved the others' lives, that his group was far-better prepared for the quest they needed to undertake. Quest? Need? This is ridiculous! You've always lived in the past, Snow; in the world of fairy stories!

Snow stilled the turmoil of his thoughts, even as the Mad Hatter stepped forward, giving them a respite. Dormouse, Baldersnatch, I remember the former from a reading of Alice in Wonderland long ago. He followed the pretty girl who may have been around his age as she wove through the tall grasses, all the while making an assessment. We are in a quest now, a quest where death is a real possibility. But for what and why us?! He looked at Hector, whose face was clearly livid, and knew that a deep seed of mistrust and even hatred had been planted by the death of the tall Chinese teenager. Quests that begin this way usually end in tragedy.

He let go of Alice's hand, and ran to where Hector and the Dormouse were, he also glanced at the rest of the group; how many of them hated the 'Wonderlanders' already? Snow knew he had to nip this in the bud, but also did not want to utter foolish words. Exhausted, his leg muscles burning with pain, he would finally bark out at Hector: "Does it - Does it matter right now?! We've been thrown together! We're all one group now!"

Snow Cecil, for the first time in his life, had to be strong, truly strong. He had a group that he had to stay with in order to survive. No, there was more than that. This was one of those stories where nothing was guaranteed. Not survival, not success...

And not defeat. Snow pursed his lips at that. He explained further. "I am young enough to believe in magic, smart enough to...exploit it, and what we saw is Magic. One of us is already dead, but although it's easy to hate each other for it, we need to -" his breaths were huffing and puffing now, "- We need to work with each other!"

Spots were dancing in front of his eyes now; he wasn't used to running like this, and talking at the same time.

@CriticalHit@Windstormugly@Suku@Avant@Etranger@Duoya@Petulant@EchoicChamber@CronicCrystalis@The Jest

Kingdom Hearts: Lights of the Multiverse (KH and Alternate History)

Did I just see a gurren Laggan reference ?

@Rai

Yep.

Kingdom Hearts: Lights of the Multiverse (KH and Alternate History)

Tocsax would say to Seth, "The Heartless are the Phantoms in your world; Phantoms are your name for the Heartless infestation. As for the Keyblade..." He held up his purple-and-black weapon, "This is an example of one; let's just say that the laws of reality have to be twisted in order to make it a viable weapon. But don't worry; those with strong hearts eventually get these weapons; it is only a matter of time."

Damianos then looked at Ziton and Baqar and continued, "The enemy who has unleashed the Heartless, Leo the Second Mathematician and his Seekers of Darkness, has plenty of human minions as well, which is why warriors of all kinds will be needed."

The Emperor would then smile at Lukas, and say, "Finally, someone asks the relevant question. First up, the goal is not to reunify the Multiverse; too many lives will be at risk if we do that. No, the goal is to prevent our enemy, the one named Leo the Second Mathematician, from dissolving, then reshaping the Multiverse. This is to be done by denying him the weapon used to split apart the Multiverse in the first place. Damianos, end the riddles and begin the true exposition."

"Aye," was the Wizard's reply as his wand glowed once more, and the hologram of the Multiverse shifted into a single Earth, a blue-green globe spinning silently in the cosmos.

Damianos' voice acquired an unusual solemness as he continued speaking, "Once, there was One Earth, One Timeline, and One Humanity. In that world, in the years 2017 to 2019 in the Western Calendar, there was a boy, Ascot. Ascot was a genius, smart and inquisitive beyond his years. But he felt as though he lived in a world in decline, one that was sliding head-long into nuclear warfare. And so, he searched and searched for a way to prevent such a calamity. And he found it in old texts and new physics, ones that spoke of a mysterious force that we know today as The Light, or Lux. All Light flowed from a mysterious place called Kingdom Hearts, the Heart of existence."

The hologram shifted to a giant 'heart', one that looked like a sterotypical Valentines' Day Heart, only it glowed blue-and-white, while its left side was marked with darker spots that made it look like the Moon's surface. Damianos continued, "Kingdom Hearts was protected by its counterpart, the X-blade; pronounced 'Key-blade'. And Ascot managed to summon said X-blade to himself, becoming its legitimate owner and giving him the power to save his world...just as the bombs were being launched. Powerful weapons of mass destruction were those bombs, containing uranium and plutonium, mundane counterparts of the Ghost Rock from Lucas' world."

An image then showed of Ascot raising his X-blade at a wave of large rockets/missiles flying towards the city where he lived, and all of those vanishing. Another wave of his X-Blade, and another spell was cast, making it physically impossible to use nuclear material for anything but power generation; people can still use nuclear energy to make electricity, but any attempt to use uranium, plutonium, or any similar material to make weapons atuomatically caused those materials to turn to lead. The group can see Ascot smiling in mingled happiness and exhaustion...before his X-blade glowed brightly, releasing an uncontrolled blast of light.

~~~~~

((Take a moment to pause and rest to that you guys don't lose track of the details.))

"Ascot lost control of his powers in saving his world, causing the Multiverse to split into its component parts. What was one, became more, what was absurd, became possible. The X-blade broke apart into several shards, because its legitimate owner had tried too much without training or experience. And Ascot, weary beyond all reason, vanished into a Tomb, even though he was still alive." A white-and-gold masoleum appeared then, flying above some skyscrapers. "But that did not mean the end of all conflict."

Scenes were then shown of people wielding lesser Keyblades that resembled the X-blade, and making war with each other. "The people of the worlds fashioned weapons of their own, Keyblades that manifested from their own Hearts, and warred with each other to dominate Kingdom Hearts. They mostly killed each other, but a few repentant survivors foreswore any attempt to conquer the Multiverse, forming the Old Keyblade Order."

"The Old Keyblade Order prospered, taking new recruits from people with strong hearts. One of those recruits was someone from this world, Leo the Second Mathemathician. Leo was a bright soul, but one who chafed under the strict restrictions of the Old Keyblade Order, as well as doubted their beliefs in cosmology; that Light was always good. To him, Light and Darkness were merely two sides of the same coin; neither can exist without the other."

"In fact, in his view, Light was tyrannizing over Darkness, and so the worlds had to be remade, so that Light and Darkness had to be in equal balance. So, he moved to do just that, summoning a giant robot known as the Gurren Lagann, a weapon that was only slightly weaker than the X-blade in power, but had the weakness of depending on hot-bloodedness instead of the cold hard logic that Leo preferred."

"And he largely succeeded in destroying the Old Keyblade Order. There were survivors and retired members, but there was no more structure, no more organization. Leo was now free to accomplish the next set of his agenda."

"Under the guise of a student, Leo went to the world of Shining Field, a world where Genghis Khan was never born, and his son Hulegu never destroyed Baghdad, allowing the latter to remain a centre of knowledge and wisdom. There, he convinced Hakim the Wise, the Grand Vizier, to conduct experiments on Light and Darkness, experiments that caused the world to be consumed in the latter, and the Heartless to spread and become organized."

"And that is when worlds began falling and falling in quick succession." He then paused for breath.

"Michael, let me continue," said Tocsax, his face turning towards the group.

~~~~~

((Take another moment to pause and rest to that you guys don't lose track of the details.))

"I used to be a part of a group created by Leo, the Circle, which in turn was the precursor to the Thirteen - actually Twelve - Seekers of Darkness. From there, I discovered many of his secrets before defecting to Emperor Michael. The tales of my exploits would keep you standing for far longer than comfortable, so I'll make this brief."

"As certain peope here can see, I am a Nobody, and my name denotes that I am the Nobody of Ascot, the maker of the Multiverse for good or for ill." He then looked at the aforementioned Seth and Lukas, before saying:

"And...as anyone who knows how Nobodies are born, that means that Ascot has a Heartless as well." Tocsax would pause, then continue:

"First up, the Heartless, despite their name, are actually disembodied Hearts, consumed by Darkness and transformed into the terror we know today. Nobodies are the remnants of the original person or people whose heart was consumed, the mind, body, and soul. Basically, the leavings of the Heartless, which then come to life. Some of them are feral, unintelligent creatures no better than the Heartless. Others, made from strong-willed people, are indistinguishable from humans, except that they start out as lacking Hearts. They are born emotionless, but can, in time, regrow a replacement Heart as they grow older."

"That's what eventually happened with me," spoke Tocsax. "Either way, what I'm getting at...is that there is a way to restore Ascot. Two ways, in fact. One is to kill his Heartless, then me, restoring the Original Person. The other is to use a sufficiently strong source of Light to restore Ascot's Heartless back into a human. We are to either look for those sources of light, or kill me, then Ascot's Heartless when he is found. This will deny Leo the ability to make his own X-blade, by restoring the legitimate holder of the weapon..."

@Rai@The 42nd Gecko@Rex@WXer@Double@Gentlemanvaultboy