Final Kingdom MUSH - User contributions [en]

It Isn't Fair

2013-09-07T14:19:05Z

Draco:

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2013/08/28
|Location=Luca - Docks
|Synopsis=After the cooking competition results in a draw, Minette
|Cast of Characters=Minette Odam,
}}
After the conclusion of the cooking contest, with all the hubbub and confusion, Minette just slipped away into the dark night of the port city of Luca, thinking over the events of the Cooking Competition. It didn't make sense. Not to her and it shouldn't to anyone else. She didn't win the contest. It was just her and Kyra Hyral. Her and Kyra. Freaking. Hyral. And she didn't. Win.

It was true, she didn't lose, either. But in this case a draw was just as bad as a loss. Because her opponent had, in the past, literally hospitalized people with her cooking. Minette had never hospitalized another living soul with her cooking. And when she bothered to do it right, people usually told her it was pretty good. So how? How, how, how, how could she have not won? By all rights, she should have stomped Kyra into the ground to grind her beneath a hee--well, a sandal!

Minette lay on her stomach on one of the many piers in the city, her face hanging out over the dark water. Slowly, languidly, she gathered up both of her braids in one hand and pulled them back; she didn't want them to get messy. Her other hand came around and for the third time tonight she shoved a finger down her throat until her body forced her to vomit. What scant little remained of her dinner came up, but for the most part it was a dry heave. One hundred and thirty pounds. The announcer said that she weighed one hundred and thirty pounds. She hadn't given anyone her weight, he must have guessed. And if he guessed one hundred and THIRTY, then she must be looking like a fat pig again. Gods, why did everything bad always happen all at once?

The truly sick thing is that Minette could have sworn, absolutely sworn that she'd heard Kyra complain that 'it wasn't fair' in reference to the competition. What right did Kyra have to complain about her life being unfair? What right did any of the other students from Alexander Academy have to complain about how bad their lives were? Oh, boo hoo, I was born pretty and rich and my parents cared enough about me to send me to the best school on the worlds where I made a ton of friends and got an education that would ensure that I'll be successful in life, everything's just not fair.

"It's just not... fair." Minette whispered, letting her braids fall back down towards the water.

<hr> 

Minette, age ten, stood in the small kitchenette of the Odam family residence. The three room apartment (four, if you included the bathroom) was cut into the very rock of the Thunder Cliffs. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but since the family spent three days out of four on the water, it was sufficient since Minette was still small and an only child. The front door opened onto a rickety wooden catwalk that snaked its way down the cliffs to the harbor below. Everything smelled of sea-salt, though that was considered a plus by those that lived there.

Minette stood on a stool, leaning up to the stone counter-top, a knife in one hand and a dead fish in the other. She did it just like momma showed her, placing one hand flat on top of the mackerel and cutting with her knife along the underbelly, from head to anal fin. She lifted the pectoral fin and slide her knife underneath, starting to cut. She stopped a centimeter in, biting her lip in concentration. No, that wasn't right. She pulled her knife back, angled it properly, then started to cut again. Better. She flipped the fish over and repeated the cut on the other side. A little bit of pressure on top, then Minette gave a sharp tug, pulling the head, backbone, and guts out all in one go. "Yayification!" Minette declared at the slightly mangled fish. But only slightly, she was getting better! Either way, it was another one down. The girl reached for the next fish; she still had a pile to work through. When she was done with that, momma said she would help her practice filleting them. And then cooking! Minette worked, pretending that she couldn't hear what was going on in the bedroom.

"OF COURSE IT ISN'T FAIR, DANNIL!" Minette's mother shouted at Minette's father, then fought to keep her voice down. It was futile, even a normal speaking voice would have been heard across the entire household. "But I'm not concerned with what is or isn't fair, I'm concerned with what simply is."

"Fine. Fine! Let's talk about what is." Minette's father responded, his deep voice strained. "We can't afford to waste those fish you've got her mangling. We need every pound for the market, money is too tight. How do you expect me to provide for her--"

"You can't!" Minette's mother ejaculated, exasperated. "That is what I'm saying. Five pounds of fish isn't going to magically make the difference. Ten pounds of fish won't pay our bills, or put Minette through school. Fifteen wouldn't. Thirty wouldn't!"

"But it would help!"

"Sahaugin droppings!"

"It would! Look, I know that things are hard, now, but it'll improve. We just need to go further out, to deeper waters. Find places where the massive trawlers can't go... it's an ENTIRE OCEAN, Melinde, they can't possibly be taking up all the fish with those giant ships! We just need to hold on until things turn around. They have to."

"They do NOT have to, Dannil. Listen to what you're saying, how foolish it is. You can't be serious. Our boat is small, it can't stay out in the deep waters for as long as those lightning powered abominations can. We're already going out further then we ought to. Remember what happened to old Jak Framell? He went out over the deeps and no one's seen his boat in three months."

"What's so foolish about wanting to provide for my family? I'm only doing what's best and what's best isn't wasting what little we catch teaching Minette how to cook. I'm... trying to look after her as best I can and what you're doing isn't helping!"

"No, IT IS THE ONLY THING HELPING!" Minette's mother shrieked back, losing her temper for the moment. "Why are you so stubborn that you can not see? What do you think she will do when we're old, Dannil? What do you think she'll do to support herself? To support us?"

"She'll inherit our boat when she's old enough. She'll be a skilled sailor when that time comes, like any true Levitani."

"She'll inherit a tiny, worthless boat and an empty ocean, some legacy!"

"She was born on that boat, Melinde!"

"And you'd have her die on it, Dannil!" There was silence from the bedroom, very quiet. Far, far too quiet as both husband and wife stared each other down, as if daring one another to take the first swing. The silence was broken by Minette's mother, speaking softly and harshly. "I'm only trying to approach this practically and rationally. If she doesn't inherit our boa--"

"She will!"

"For Gods sakes, Dannil, can you be reasonable for just five bleeding minutes?! IF she doesn't, then what are her options in life? Hm? Tell me that, Dannil, tell me what her options are?"

The silence from Minette's father was either stubborn, or telling.

"Fine. I'll lay them out. She's not smart enough to get into a colle--"

"She's a bright girl!"

"NO, DANNIL, SHE ISN'T!" Minette's mother shouted back, her patience at being talked over and interrupted growing thin. "She isn't, Dannil." She concluded, the breath taken out of her by the verbal explosion. "She's just... not that smart. You know it, Dannil. You know that it's true."

Stubbornly, her father stuck to his position. "That isn't true, I've never seen anyone better at numbers then her and she's only ten. She'll be the most able navigator in the whole of Leviathan in another ten years!"

"Ah, yes, so she'll be able to count all of the money that she doesn't have! What good will that skill do her if you won't let me apprentice her to one of the zaibatsu ships?"

"NEVER!" Minette's father's bellow reverberated throughout the tiny domicile. He advanced on his wife, angrily, pointing a damning finger at her as if it were a weapon, his voice a harsh whisper. "That Ramuha filth is taking my ocean, they can not have my daughter as well. I'll be dead before I see my daughter as a servant to those wretches, to toil away endlessly at the controls of their abominable machines, slaving away to make some man in a stylish suit on another world even richer then he already is!"

"She isn't pretty enough to marry rich." Minette's mouth continued, slightly shaken. She didn't believe her husband would strike her, not really, but the anger in his eyes... "And unless you expect her to stand on a street corner and spread her legs, then she's going to have to learn how to cook."

"She doesn't--"

"SHE DOES, DANNIL! IT'S THE ONLY THING SHE'S GOOD AT!" Minette's mother exploded with anger at her husband's continued stubbornness. "The only thing not on a boat. She's not strong enough to work on the docks, she's too clumsy to work on the high-rises they're building in the city... if she's going to get a decent job, it'll be in a kitchen. Then maybe she can find someone who won't care about her looks and she'll be able to make things work with him."

"She," Minette's father declared stubbornly, "Is the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Only to our eyes, Dannil. Only to us. The rest of the world isn't as charitable. We have to do what we can for her, because no one is going to just hand her an easy life. We need to teach her how to work for it, how to find her own happiness, the value of hard work. Just waiting, hoping that things will become better... that isn't enough. She will need to learn how to fight for her own success and happiness."

"I still have faith, Melinde. Faith that the Gods will provide for us, that somehow, everything will be fine. Somehow."

Little Minette, aged ten, picked up another fish, holding a trembling knife up to the underside. She slipped the tip up towards the fish's chin, poked it in, then lost it. She tried again, poking a second hole, before dragging the knife along the fish's underbelly. She went slowly to be careful, but try as she might the cut was ragged. She lifted up one of the pectoral fins, and made a cut down towards the fish's head. She flipped the fish over and some of the guts started to slide out onto the cutting table. She started her cut on the other side. Feeling it too shallow, she went a little deeper, over-estimated, and her knife clipped through the spinal bone. With a sigh, Minette removed the head and dropped it into the bucket before scooping the rest of the guts out with her hand. It felt slimy and disgusting, but she kept at it. She blinked a couple of times to clear the wetness from her eyes and reached for the next fish. She picked up her trembling knife, and tried again. She had to. It was the only thing she was good at.

<hr> 

Minette lay on the dock in Luca, staring down at the remains of her lunch being dissipated by the gentle swelling and ebbing of the dark water below. The pendant around her neck slipped as she adjusted to make herself marginally less uncomfortable. The small crystal sliver seemed to refract with its own inner light, as if the water below was calling to it, but Minette barely noticed. She reached down to gently grasp the beautiful thing in her hand, absentmindedly running her thumb across it's irregular surface. It made her think of Souji. Souji had faith in her. He was kind of like papa in that regard. No matter what silly, stupid, or meaningless thing she did, he always had faith that she'd do it to the best of her ability. That she'd overcome the expectations of others. That she'd succeed. She supposed she let him down tonight, somehow.

Minette heaved a sigh and turned the night's events over in her head. It just didn't make any sense to her. How could she have screwed this up so badly? By all rights, she should have absolutely buried Kyra. And, since she was being brutally honest with herself, she'd set the competition up to be lopsided in her favor for that exact reason. In her mind it was wholly justified, though. It was the only chance she stood to get Kamon Lionward to notice her. After all, what other way did she stand a chance against Kyra 'Almost Perfect' Hyral?

It was simple. All she had to do was beat Kyra in a cooking contest, then she'd win one date with Kamon. Only one, but Minette was certain that she'd only need one date. Just one, to show him that even though she was ugly, and fat, and dorky, and clumsy, and kind of dumb, that underneath all that she was a good person inside, because that was the only thing that mattered. Of course it was, everyone always kept saying that all her life. They wrote books about that, made movies about that. Humanity was almost obsessed with the notion that prettiness didn't matter, that what was inside was the only thing that counted! And that was her chance to show Kamon what she looked like on the inside.

And she blew it. Minette supposed that it was probably for the best. She figured that she wasn't all that pretty on the inside, anyway. She was sneaky, after all. And petty. And cruel, if she thought it was justified and if she could get away with it. After all, she went and set up the whole cooking competition because it was unfair! That wasn't something that a nice person did. So maybe Kyra was a better person then her in every way that mattered. Well, whoopie do, then. Maybe the others were right. Maybe she should settle for being a lesbian with Th--no, that was stupid. Thirza deserved better then stupid Minette.

Opening her dangling hand a little, Minette's eyes fell on the pendant again. Souji. He'd given it to her, for a job well done. She hadn't looked into it, but she was pretty sure that the pendant was more expensive then her clothes. All of them, not just the ones she was wearing. Combined. He was always so good to her, had always been supportive. And he didn't have to be, that was the part that always confused Minette. He could have just ignored her back at school, or treated her like any other employee... but he didn't. She was... special to him, somehow, in a way that Helena and the others weren't. She wasn't sure why and she dared not think it was love. For one thing, if she wasn't good enough for she certain wasn't good enough for Souji Murasame. So Minette concluded that it was simple friendship, because surely he wasn't friends with, like, Frank. Frank was an acquisition. Oh, man, what if she was an acqui--no, that couldn't be true. Souji bought her pretty things, he didn't by Frank pretty things. Clearly, she was a friend and not an acquisition; you just didn't buy acquisitions pretty things. Like, unless you wanted to have sex with them. And that clearly wasn't the case because she was like... disgusting. Yeah. Had to be friendship. Souji was a good friend.

But Gods damn it, how did she not win that contest? She did everything short of ch--

"Oh. My. Gods." Minette uttered, down at the dark water below. She gripped the pendant tightly. "But how?" She whispered out loud. Did Alma stop time? No. That would have showed up in the playback. No creative use of Stop was involved. But, wait, that's why they changed the amount of time in the middle of the competition! She'd thought she'd have an hour for each course, so she planned three complicated, difficult dishes that required constant care. She planned on making eclairs, by Leviathan! Eclairs! Those alone would have been difficult in the time allotted. Okay, okay. So they somehow conspired to take away her chief advantage. It was brilliant, really. It wouldn't have affected Kyra one way or another, but Minette's entire strategy was undercut! She could appreciate the deviousness of it all, even if it also infuriated her. And then... and then, there was the foreign judge. Who was that guy? An outsider. And who brought him in? She didn't. Souji wouldn't have. It had to have been Kyra, or someone that wanted her to win! It all made sense now, Kyra fed them a freaking malboro and Soan still voted for her... voting in favor of his friend! It all made sense, now. Under-cut Minette's odds, corrupt two of the judges to clinch things, and suddenly it's almost believable that Kyra could win a cooking contest. Only... only Kyra didn't win. It was a draw. Because Souji voted for her (clearly a man of integrity), and so did...

"Oh. My. Gods." Minette exclaimed, her head jerking up.

Kamon voted her for. He didn't vote for his girlfriend, he voted for her. For Minette. Ohmygoshohmygosh. He WAS a man of integrity and the thought made Minette giddy enough that she rolled back and forth on the boards of the dock, giggling like a schoolgirl. "CHANCE!" She called out to no one. "I STILL HAVE A CHA--"

Minette rolled over, to find herself staring at a beady pair of yellow eyes.

There was a long, quiet pause born of shock. Minette stared at the glowing pricks of light, mute and stupid, as the shadowy little black creature stood there on it's haunches, staring at her. The little thing quorked its head to the side, as if studying her; Minette screamed, the shrill sound echoing over the water. Her arm lashed out by instinct, her yo-yo bouncing downwards, skipping off of the water twice, before hitting the end of the string and rebounding backwards. Charged with arcane fire, the yo-yo smashed into the small Heartless and made it explode into dozens of fading clouds of blackness.

Minette lay there, chest heaving up and down with fright. Oh, Gods, how long was the thing just sitting there? Oh Gods, that was creepy AND terrifying! She was almost, oh, Gods. She didn't want to think about it. Her yo-yo clattered to the dock next to her; she didn't pick it up, instead scanning the area to make sure there weren't any more of the little things around. No? Oh, Gods... that was... Gods! Minette gathered herself up, gathered her yo-yo up, and dispelled her thoughts. She had to get back to the inn. Oh, Gods... that was... close? Gods!

It Isn't Fair

2013-09-07T14:02:21Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Cutscene Header |Date of Scene=2013/08/28 |Location=Luca - Docks |Synopsis=After the cooking competition results in a draw, Minette |Cast of Characters=Minette Odam, }} A..."

Fanservice Shower Time

2013-08-20T23:05:47Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/08/19 |Location=The Ami-no-Torifune |Synopsis=Minette gets wet and naked and Helena provides the fanservice. |Cast of Characters=Helena Celba,..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/08/19
|Location=The Ami-no-Torifune
|Synopsis=Minette gets wet and naked and Helena provides the fanservice.
|Cast of Characters=Helena Celba, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "OH MY GODS, DID SOUJI GIVE YOU KEYS TO ALL THE ROOMS?!" Minette, soaking wet and wearing a towel, is shielding herself from Helena's newest intrusion into the Ame-no-Torifune's communal bathroom. Today was an okay da--no, today kind of sucked in retrospect. She got exploded and then she made a giant ass of herself by singing in the shower while everyone listened and laughed. Ugh. The memory makes Minette's face go beat red again, and the accountant gathers her towel up around herself. Other then that, she's wearing sandals (safety first) and the crystal pendant that Souji gave her. And her glasses, she put those on before toweling off.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena giggles, "A cute butt." She says after a minute, "Small, but not all of us can be a certain thief...or Thira." a nod...Helena's rear was not a thing of legends, she had a chest for that. "Oh don't worry about that, I used my powers for good, in this case stopping that before it went farther.." She says, placing a arm around her shoulders. Come on, get toweled up and drier."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's head falls towards her chin, the bells in her hair jingling. "Ayieeaaaaaah... were... were they all laughing?" There's a flat tone to Minette's voice; she knows the answer. She's a terrible singer. She was laughed out of glee club auditions. The bard students actually took a vote and banned her from singing in the halls. Jerks. Minette sits down, grabs a spare towel, and applies it vigorously to her head. "I can't believe my linkpearl didn't shut off... why didn't anyone /say/ anything?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Master Murasame did...unfortinately the range between you and the pearl was...too great." Helena says, instead of saying 'because your singing was so bad and loud it blocked you from hearing him.. "So I took things into my own hands. Helena sits down too, as she watches Minette. "So I came in to stop it. Hmmm...I suppose I should have just shut the link pearl off and waited...but.." She smiles, "Well, sometimes my nature gets the better of me."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Aww... of course he did." Minette replies, her left hand moving unconciously to touch the pendant hanging around her neck. "Of course he did... Souji always looks out for me." She sniffles a little. "I can't believe the others just... ugh." Minette wiggles a towel-covered finger in her ear. "... thanks, Helly. At least you did something instead of just laughing at me." She frowns, again touching that pendant unconciously. thou shouldst punish them "Huh?" Minette says, looking up and glancing at Helena. "Say whatnow?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena looks a bit confused, "Huh? I didn't say anything?" She says, frowning a bit. "Sounds like you just had a bad day." she says, standing up and moving to give old Minette's shoulders a good rub. Being a monk, knowing where to put pressure helps a lot. "And anytime...we gota look out for each other, after all, nobody else well. Oh and Thirza didn't laugh. Selly thought it was cute." She says, with a musing thought, "Kyra thought it wasn't half bad. I think she wants to remix it." she says, "Everone else? Yeah pretty much. Even your minion." A grave nod. "Also, Master Murasame looks out for us, and we must look out for him. You know that, right?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette rubs a finger in her ear; it makes a squiggly sound. She shrugs. Wouldn't be the first time she's heard things. Minette shrugs her shoulders, trying to shake Helena's grip loose, but she eventually just gives in with a sigh. "Of course Thirza didn't. She's... Thirza." Minette grumps. "Oh, Gods, nooooo, no remixing, goddddddds." Her head slumps. "Hey!" Minette replies, head shooting up. "Of COURSE I know that! How could you think that I don't?! I've always been looking out from him, from the very beginning! Okay, so I'm not that good at it, but it's the thought that counts!"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena continues, but her grip is a mix of soft and reassuring. "You can not stop the remix." She grins, and then speaks. "Of course, of course.." She says soothingly, "He's been through a lot, and has to do a lot more. It is a long trip before we can sleep, so to say. My trip recently have brought some things to the front..a conversation with Master Murasame has also brought other things to my attention..." she says, "Your loyalty is not in question here..." she says, "Your skilled with what you are...to say that you have failings...well would be saying I do not have mine either." she pauses for a moment, "But we can always improve, right?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette mutters and grumbles, then shouts into her link pearl at Alma because man that girl does not shut the hell up and at the worst times. Minette breathes heavily for a few moments, wet hair clinging to the sides of her head. Bells jingle slightly with every heaving breath. "Why... don't people... just leave me... alone?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena continues her expert manipulation of Minette...'s muscles and that's all. "Oh...who is bothering you now? I certainly hope you don't mean me, Minette...I am after all trying to help." She says, the tone isn't dangerous, she is actually trying to help her friend. Granted, her help isn't exactly a good thing...depending on who is asking. "Come on Minette, what's bothering you?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Just... everyone and no one." Minette replies, miserably. "People are just so... so... so insensitive. Why are people so terrible? Would it be a bad thing to, just once, ignore Minette when she's being a spazzoid? But noooooo, we have to record her while she's in the shower and post it all over the internets. Gods..." Minette heaves a sigh. "... thanks, Helly. Sorry I'm being such a pain."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "You were there for me, so why wouldn't I be here for you?" Helena says, it's a thing she picked up, when she's not being a horrible monster...well, Minette shared her pain, and even felt bad for her. Despite what some people say, she does have a soul (and part of another!) "People don't want to do that, people want someone they can laugh at...make fun of, because it makes them feel better. People have made you their jester in their life..." She says, with a small pat on her shoulders. "When I was trying to...Well I guess you took at me trying to force my views on you...and I guess in a way you're right." She says, and moves to sit next to her friend. "You can be better, and still be yourself. You just have to figure out what you want, and then go out there and realize it. You say you're not strong, but...I don't think that. It takes a strong person to feel like you do. And, Master Murasame does not tolerate weak and useless people. He sees your potential, and I do now too." She gives her friend a little hug. "I don't think your a pain, I wana see you prove all these haters wrong," Hel grins at her. "Oh and your glasses...I am still working on this. I decided the spell was a bad idea, without precautions. Invisible glasses does seem like a silly idea in retrospec, but I am working on this, I swear."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah well, people suck." Minette replies, just a hair short of whining. "I think the worst ones though are the one's that patronize me. When they just laugh, I can get that. But someone anonymously sent me a set of golden bells for my hair. 'Oh, Minette, you're just not good enough /but/'. Or when Seloria treats me like I'm some kind of dress-up doll... 'the clothes you like aren't good enough, so I'm going to condescend to make you less ugly'. I... hate her." Minette inhales and exhales slowly as Helena talks. "It's... okay. I've worn glasses all my life, what's a few more months, right?" She manages a brave smile, then leans on Helena, resting her head on the girl's shoulder. "I'm... afraid though. Not... not all of the things that I want..." She trails off, unsure of what to say. It takes a few seconds of thought, before she admits in a small voice, "... they're not always 'good' things."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena gives Minette a bit of comfort... "Oh...Seloria's a bit like that, if you're firm with her, and let her know you're not a doll she'll back off." A bit of a twinkle in her eye. But then the rest of this...oh that is something...something. She listens, and then nods as poor Minette speaks up about the things she wants... "I know." She says, "We all have these feelings, Minette. I know all about them...I act on mine a bit more than others, I think. I enjoy pain, giving it to others...I let very few people close to me..." she says, with a shrug, "We all have ugly sides, but I do not care to hide. I love letting people know what I am about...but I also understand that people like to ware thier masks. That is fine too, the important thing...is to find how you want to live, and embrace it." "Are you ashamed of your bad thoughts? Or do..." she says slowly, leaning over, "Or do you want to let them out a little?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Okay that got uncomfortable quickly. Minette scoots away unconciously, blushing a little. "Well... of course I'm ashamed of bad things. I mean... I don't /want/ want to kill Kyra, but it's like... it's just so frustrating. It's like... it's just... like, even if I were to humiliate her, that'd still just be bad, I mean it's the things that people do to me, and two wrongs don't make a right, y'know? It's just... ugh."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena is sure that Minette even at her best could never kill Kyra... But perhaps... The thought is not a good one, but still... "So?" She says, Helena not afraid of the contact, infact, she is very personal, "So what if it's bad? If it feels good, if it makes you happy...then why is it bad?" She says, with a slow deliberate smile. "It is not enough to simply want...but one must be willing to claim what they want."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Because it would make Kyra feel bad?" Minette replies, with a tone of voice that implies that it should have been obvious. "I mean, not that first one, she'd be too dead to care, but that'd make other people feel terrible." Minette scoots a little further away. "And I don't want to make people unhappy, that'd be just... terrible. And it wouldn't make me happy. Every time I do something bad it, well, I feel terrible. And it always bites me in the butt right away."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Then don't fail." She says, "I don't think you could kill her anyway. You don't have the heart to do that...but you DO want Kamon right?" And she wants Kyra... "You need to be willing to do something that will make HIM yours, right? Ignore her, instead of focusing on her...focus on what you want. And if she is in your way...make her less attractive to Kamon right?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I'm not sure what I can do, though... I mean... she's willing to... to... to..." Minette rubs the backs of her hands togather, if that explained anything. Once, Souji asked of Minette, 'what is that, Odam? Is that... is that sex?' to which Minette replied, 'it is when /I/ do it'. Which was technically a lie, she's never done it. "To /that/ with him, and even if I was, she's... a /lot/ prettier then me. And I don't wanna... hurt... her, even if I don't like her. Shouldn't I just be happy for the two of them if they're happy?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "No." Helena says, "Why should you be happy for their happyness when it makes YOU unhappy. It is not WRONG to feel slighted...it is WRONG, however, to just accept it." she says, "The strong rule over the weak...it is the basic fact of life. Strength just doesn't come from ACTUALLY being stronger...being smarter, crafier..." She says, slowly, "More willing to get what you want.." She murmers... "And if you feel bad after you did it...then find comfort in the big...strong...manly arms of your prize."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "We-well... what am I even supposed to do?" Minette almost wails in despair. "Kyra's prettier then me, she's smarter then me, she's better at most of the things that I do then me, and she's got more..." Still in her towel, Minette's hands come up to her chest. "...more /talent/ then me. I don't have... anything."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Then find out what she's not good at..." She says, "And be better at that." Helena continues. "Kamon isn't just interested in looks.." Though it helps.. "Find out what makes Kyra a bit bitchier...and then magnify that...make her life harder, try and put a wedge between her relationship."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Well, she's... she's bad a cooking!" Minette says, clinging to that the way a man drowning at sea clings to a piece of driftwood. "I've got to be better at cooking then she is, right? I mean... right?" Helena can see the hope light up in Minette's eyes! Or would, if it weren't for, you know, glasses.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Minette totally does the Glasses glint. "Right. Obviously if you are better at cooking than SHE is...then everyone will love you." Helena says, encouraging this... "But you can't just settle for any training...you need to find a MASTER...someone who can teach you the secrets to cooking...the man who trained Alma."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette did no such glint. "I'm pretty sure he wasn't teaching cooking." Minette says, following up with, "And was instead teaching wilderness survival. A-a-anyway, I don't need cooking lessons, I've had lessons from the best cook in all of Leviathan!" Glasses glint. "/Mommy/."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "I dunno. But hey, if you think you can beat Kyra...then do it!" Helena encourages.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yes! I WILL do this!" Minette declares, pumping a fist into the air. It takes a moment to realize that her towel has fallen away; convenient sensoring maintains the rating in the interim. Red-faced, Minette gathers her towel up around herself and shuffles off. "I... I'm going to go put my clothes on now."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena whistles, sitting back with a small grin on her face. "Oh my~!"

Candy Crush Saga

2013-07-23T04:32:38Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/07/22 |Location=Sugar Rush |Synopsis=Various people show up to spectate Sugar Rush's daily 'Selection Cup Rally', but when a little girl attem..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/07/22
|Location=Sugar Rush
|Synopsis=Various people show up to spectate Sugar Rush's daily 'Selection Cup Rally', but when a little girl attempts to buy her way into the race, the entire Game goes all topsy-tuvy in this fun filled, sugar-frosted adventure! Fun for the whole family! Game rated 'E' for Everyone by the ESRB.
|Cast of Characters=Will Sherman, Shiki Misaki, Gilgamesh, Avira, Deelel, Taffyta Muttonfudge, Reno, Blackbird, Tigger, Ariel, Serah Farron, Wreck-It Ralph, King Candy, Vanellope, Paulo Mysidi, Arthur Drover
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' Do you know what time it is? SUGAR RUSH TIME! SUGAR RUSH TIME./~ The arcade is closed for the night, the lights are out, and the door to Flynn's Arcade has been locked. And that means that the arcade cabinets have come to life! In Sugar Rush, a sacred nightly ceremony is gearing up to take place! A new cross-arcade initiative has seen tickets to enjoy the race distributed freely out in the Hub Network. As janitors hastily sweep the racetrack's finish line of confetti from the day's races, the sugar-sweet inhabitants of the game start to gather in stands made out of candy bar wrappers and cartons displaying various types of confections. One particularly conspicuous booth (made out of a tall pop-corn carton) stands conspicuously empty... for the moment. People are still gathering as local police (literally donuts), start to shuffle people into the stands. But there's a few moments to arrive or socialize before the GRAND FESTIVITIES begin!

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' Man, Shiki Misaki loves this world, despite everything. It's been a long week since the problematic incident that shook her faith in this video game world being all smiles and strangeness, and she's managed to bounce back since then quite nicely. Hearing that there was some sort of after-hours event in one of the games she hasn't visited, which should, you know, be safe enough to explore, she's tagging along with Deelel and possibly some of the other initial exploration party to sit in the stands, watch the fun, and eat some overpriced caaaaaa. Sit in the stands and watch the fun! Yes.

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird was trying hard not to stare. Really she was. Given everything she's seen after the world shuffle it shouldn't come as much of a surprise yet here we are. "This," She declared after seeing all manner of food themed Things roaming around, "Is probably the strangest place i've seen.." Nevermind She was still processing the whole 'this is the arcade from the OTHER side of the screen' business. One thing at a time people. No need to break brains yet. Oh hey is that a giant doughnut? CAMERA PHONE! Funny. Anyone that might be sensetive to such things (like the surge protector) might realize Blackbird was able to, if only in small doses, generate her own power. Case in point, her phone hasn't had to be plugged into a wall outlet since she unboxed it.

:'''[[Paulo Mysidi]] has posed:''' There are few things that Paulo Mysidi lives for. Among this (long) list includes the color purple, kittens, and candy. Give him a purple kitten made of candy? Man-- its game over. It is this great love for a future of diabetis that has lead our loud young sage towards a world that revolves around sugary goodness. It helps that he has been spending the past few days in marvel of the arcade-- and wanting to understand the technological worlds better. It also helps that he found Deelel somewhere amongst his wanderings and used her like a beacon of high glucose hope amongst a sea of bright colors. Its difficult for Paulo to remain focused-- already gnawing on a candy cane he found 'laying around'. Gnaw gnaw gnaw for great justice. "This is awesome," he says with a mouthful of sugar shards and eyes big enough to land a moon rover on.

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' Two children drag a harried-looking older man into the stands. They look like they are seriously considering eating a cop and are being held back only by the two bags of candy protruding from Arthur's vest pocket. "Hey, hey, calm down. Calm down." With that eerie sense they have, his sister's kids had dragged the Synthesist here to observe as they become invested in watching a colorful and roaring sight. To the man, this is an opportunity to become desensitized to the extraordinary and enjoy it in his own right. He'd drawn short straw to watch the children while the rest of the family had a peaceful dinner, and his wife couldn't leave the potion lab unattended just now. He's still in his work clothes and has his satchel on his back. Perhaps this is why they take a seat as far back as they can get, over the protests of the 10 and 12 year old children. They are handed enough candy and chocolate to let them roll home, Mr. Drover's munny pouch considerably emptied by the process. For his part, he adopts a look of mild and polite interest to complement (or perhaps mediate) the rapturous bliss-coma gradually overtaking the excitement-watered eyes of the two youngsters.

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel is also in the stands here, blending in with the crowd as much as she can - though she's a bit taller than most of the people here. She does have a dress on that matches the stadium crowd - made of pink cotton candy, and crystal-coated salt water taffy. Somewhere around here there may be a lost crab wearing a gumdrop hat.

:'''[[Serah Farron]] has posed:''' Unlike some of the other worlds, there doesn't seem to be a train that leads to Sugar Rush. But it doesn't mean its any less superb when they cross the gate. The sights are amazing, this is literally candy-land after all. Someplace she fits right in with her candy-colored hair. But that's alright, as long as noone tries to eat her. She smiles as she walks down the rainbow road toward the celebrations. It doesn't seem like this place has a 'clothe change' either at least, so she can just wear her usual shirt and skirt, and looks quite at ease... although she's about 3 times as tall as most of the inhabitants of this world, and she's not that tall either. "What an amazing place." She leans down to look at the cookie boys "So what's the celebration for exactly? And what is this game about?" Its hard to tell, there's so many kinds of games out there after all. Anything with candies... has anything to do with eating maybe?

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' Avira, or rather, the Blue Valkyrie, got a little separated from the group of non-sprites shortly after they entered this game. She's nowhere near the stands. She's roaming the frosting-covered hills and candycane forests. Well, less roaming and more...prancing and engaging in a spectacular montage of happiness. BGM CHANGE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZEURntrQOg Avira skips over a hill of buttercream frosting and green sugar sprinkles, tripping and sliding down on her back. When she comes to a stop, she makes a frosting angel on the ground. A giant candy-striped tree looms before her. Avira lets out a sigh and hugs it. Then licks it. Smash cut to seconds later of Avira trying to fish a giant gumdrop out of a gooey, sugary lake with a broken-off candy branch. Then to Avira leaning up against a jawbreaker 'rock', licking chocolate off her fingers. Some time later, just before the race starts, Avira comes stumbling out of the woods, a sticky mess in the throes of a sugar crash. "...not one of my better ideas..." she groans, slowly looking up at the crowd. Who is candy. A hand quickly covers her mouth.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' HOBO LAD... Is hungry. In a Candy Outfit... which is starting to loose bits of itself as Will 'accidently' keeps eating a piece of it, when he's not shoving Candy bars into his mouth. The only thing that keeps him from eating the people is that they have strings...delicious strings...tantilizing delicious strings... Will is also conviently sitting next to Ariel. His eyes litterally are *_*.

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' Shiki Misaki stares at Avira. "What /happened/ to you? Did- did you get in a fight with an entire candy store?" words words words man the pose tracker should pick up shorter poses.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' As the stands start to fill, blaring and sugary J-PoSHU-GAH RHASS! so that's... that. It's an ear-worm, though. And catchy besides. The locals seem to love it! The various racers down on the tracks are hopping out of their cars and forming up in a crowd as pit-crews go to work. Confetti is being thrown about, the crowds are cheering, and everyone is in high spirits. This is a wonderful place and even the most grumpy of guses can't help but crack a small smile. Except for the little green orb-shaped man that mounts the royal popcorn box. "Citizens. Of Sugar Rush." He states, flatly, boredly. Sourly. "Your fair and just ruler... King Candy." And with this, the crowd cheers louder and a funny little man with a funny little crown leaps out from the back of the booth. He starts working the crowd instantly. "HELLO, EVERYONE!" He throws handfuls of candy to the crowd, favoring the outsiders. "HAVE SOME CANDY! HAVE SOME CA--YES, YOU TOO, HAVE SOME MORE!" He throws a few handfuls in Avira's direction. "YOU TOO, LITTLE GIRL! CANDY FOR EVERYBODY!" He concludes this speech with a two fisted 'eruption' style throw that sends sugary treats flying in all directions.

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel lives in the Arcade amusingly enough but she's now /in the Arcade/ in every sense of the word now she's like other who;'d gained access to this strange digital world via the Wise OS by way of the Shinra's digitizing laser. They'd been given mostly free access given the possible issue of the Shadow Lords. The Shinra had always been concerned and now something could be a bit of a problem for them due to their actions? They were more than happy to let others deal with the problem for them. Deelel is still fairly happy having been in a digital environment more in the last two weeks than she's done so in nearly the last year. As strange as this place was to her she felt a lot more at ease in this environment and it showed. "I'd have half a mind to jump in the race but I don't think they'd take well to a lightcycle here Shiki also what is all this stuff? It almost looks like food?" She really doesn't know what candy is from the sounds of her but she does notice a lot of her friends are having a field day with this particular game. "You think so? I love to race my self but this world is just brighter than one of my concerts back home." She looks at Will for a moment oh dear she also takes note of Ariel is here and enjoying herself too which is good to see. Given some of the things that everyone have had to deal with as of late? A time like this would be a good thing. "It's a racing game Serah!" She's taken also note of Blackbird being here, Deelel is still a bit surprised to have run into her again after so long. She's about to say something as she spots Avira. Wait what what happened to her Deelel just isn?t' going to ask she's really not going to ask about that. Why? Shiki already asked!

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Taffyta Muttonfudge is a TOP RACER--she's not the top candy shell, but she's one of the best in the game. Now King Candy, he's the top candy shell, but that doesn't mean Taffyta Muttonfudge doesn't have a possie of her own, as number twos often do. Candlehead and Rancis Fluggerbutter are her chief companions and comrades. Racers are patiently--or impatiently--awaiting the moment that their number is called for today's race--the terri(bly) delicious trio along with them. No touching, Will. Just another day in Sugar Rush in which nothing bad ever happens ever. "Tonight's the night I take first prize..." Taffyta is telling her cronies. Winning first prize is Taffyta's second priority in life. Her first priority in life...

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird was in the middle of juggling a coke and her phone. Her magic burns lots of calories, which basically makes this entire place look like something from one of her less coherent dreamscapes. "Deelel?" Her voice was slightly unsteady as her brain was trying to process. "This is food. All of it. The landscape, cars, the people. If it wasn't for the fact they're sentient I'd consider this place entirely edible." She finished her coke and pocketed the bottle. "Have to thank you for letting me tag along. I mean sure I don't want to /work/ for Shinra, but consulting... eh consulting's something I shouldn't have problems with." Truth be told she had no idea what she could help with given the laser they used to get here was some nine kinds of what in the <gooshonk> went into building it and she was just a soldering iron girl that dabbled in code now and then. She had a look around waving to this and that and wait was that a crab? Eyebrow quirk but move on. So many interesting things. Her phone kept snapping pictures aaaaaaand. WHACK! Beaned in the head with a stray candybar. "OI! King Shortstuff watchit!"

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' As King Candy hurls candy into the crowd, the children have climbed onto Arthur's shoulders, the better to catch any far flung pieces which might otherwise escape. Those caught are stuffed rapidly into the ever-expanding vortexes which are their mouths. As the music begins, and the pit crews commence their work, the sheer excitement means they are threatening to vibrate into some heretofore unexplored dimension composed solely of their desire to interact with, observe, and ultimately eat all of the things. Their squeals drown in the crowd, but are close enough for the man to hear and be deafened by. Unfortunately, the older girl and younger boy are taking up both his arms by the necessity of looping one hand into the back of each of their shirts and preventing falls. The whole thing is unstable, but given the crowd it is probably the tenth ungainliest thing within a given 200 metre space. Candy falls off of his face, the aforementioned kludged child safety precaution preventing a block. He manages to catch a still-wrapped bar in his mouth and hold it there for later. He will need the sugar.

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' "As interesting as it might be, Dee- and I'm actually thinkin' it'd be pretty interesting- it probably wouldn't be fair on other people. I mean, you could try? But maybe next time, huh?" "Now, come on! We'd better get sat down before this gets interesting!" Also, Shiki's not going to turn down free candy if she can help it! She's gonna have to grab some for both of them. Once she's got at least one, she waves whatever she catches under Deelel's nose. "Edible. In fact I'd guess pretty much everything here is, if what Avira found out's any indication." She's not actually sure who Blackbird is, but waves anyway.

:'''[[Serah Farron]] has posed:''' Serah Farron catches some random piece of candy throw her way. Well, at least THIS candy can be eaten! Most of the inhabitants look like candies and cookies, so she actually peers at the wrapped one in her hands to make sure its not alive first. Better safe than sorry. She nods to Deelel "A race huh? I guess we're not part of it this time around." It seems like its a usual thing that people get caught 'in' the game everytime, so it seems this time she can relax. She moves toward the stands, sitting down, and unknowingly blocking the view to a few jawbreakers behind her. "This should be fun to watch at least. Do you think we can try racing later?"

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' "I got in a fight with my self control and triumphed." Avira says dryly as she braces herself against the giant popcorn box spectator stand. "All the chocolate here tastes like the Hershey's stuff, I'm a little disappoi-" King Candy's greeting to the crowd completely overrides what she was about to say. Blearily, she looks up at the shouty little man just in time to have a few handfuls of even more candy rain down upon her. Avira manages, just barely, to prevent herself from upending her stomach contents. She gathers up the free candy anyway because, hey, free candy. "I'd say pretty much everything is edible here, yes."

:'''[[Paulo Mysidi]] has posed:''' Paulo Mysidi gets a bit lost in the crowd-- literally. He finds himself a nice place to sit in the stands-- gnawing happily on a candy cane the size of his arm. Lots of stuff going on-- he only pays attention ot the King at the moment. Huzzah for more candy. Cheer!

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel frowns at Will gorging himself. She stands up, though that means she's blocking the view of a much shorter person... so she immediately gets embarassed about this and sits down again. She shuffles her legs nervously. It's just so exciting! Candy CARS! They're called cars. She looks at Will. "I bet the prize is great if you get in the race. It looks like so much fun!"

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "Thank you, thank you, one and all!" King Candy proclaims, "And thank you, Sour Bill, for that wonderful introduction!" "Mmmhmm." The little green man replies, boredly throwing up 'the horns' as he climbs down out of the booth. "My loyal subjects... did everyone get enough candy? Is that a thing tha--did we bring enough for the guests, t--okay, okay. Friends, Reeces, Gummibears... lend me your ears for a moment, so that I may exSugar Rush to the wide world, isn't that nice?" The locals start chanting 'race, race, race' in unison. "Hey, hey calm down! This event is pay to play, we all know this. The fee to compete is one gold coin from your previous winnings, assuming you've won, which, huh huh..." King Candy pulls out an enormous, oversized coin from his back pocket; it is as large as his bulbous head. "...I, of course, have. So... let me go first!" The King pulls on a tassle and a catapault drops down from the side of the starting gate. The King throws his coin, the catacpault flips it over to another catapault, and then from there it's launched up into the ostentatious Gold Cup that's presiding over everything for miles around... where it dissolves into data. "KING CANDY!" The announcer exclaims, as the King's name and face appear on the roster board. Other racers start lining up to compete. They all have coins.

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel looks at King Candy he starts to do an announcement she grins and pauses a there's more candy going everywhere? Just what is that? Either way she's in a really good mood about things. "I know how that goes, but what can you do so far they played straight with us on this." May Beck finish up his work on the laser soon. They could really need it. Arthur gets a glance she knows he's not from here from the looks of him and the kids. She wonders who the are however as she has no clue, well yet. "True given how aggressive even non death game lightcycle races can be." She grins widely at her friend, hey she enjoys it she enjoys it a lot even it can be rough. "All right I'll try some." She eats some candy and oh woes this stuff takes good, it tastes really, really good. "Good entrainment yes. Is that so Avira? I never had anything, this is a strange world I have to wonder what inspired this game." Likely some game designers on a mountain of candy in a likelihood or a freaking dare. Who knows there's no real way to know at this point, but Deelel can't help but wonder. It does seem like a really wonderful game world, and most of the people here seem to be pretty happy.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will pauses... CANDY?! A candy race... He rubs his chin... "But I don't have anything to race on...unless you...summon something?" Will looks at Ariel, with a large grin. "YOu can summon things right?"

:'''[[Gilgamesh]] has posed:''' This is a wonderful place. It's made of sugar and dreams and miracles and Japan and all kinds of drugs. Well, not drugs in that sense, there aren't any drugs in Sugar Rush besides the natural high that comes from, well, a sugar rush. At least, there aren't any VISIBLE drugs. We're watching you, /sugar fields/. More importantly, however, there's big things to be won in this place. Big big things. Dreams are made in this place, in no small part because it is made of dreams, and the biggest dream of all is /professional racing/. Who's more respected than professional racers? Nobody. Professional racers get to drive fast cars, make tons of money, and attract all the hot girls. Professional racing is the best sport ever. Naturally that means it's only fair that the best sportsman ever compete in this event. Even if it's BELOW his EXACTING RACING STANDARDS. WHICH ARE EXACTING. The sound of a loud car VROOM VROOOOOOOOOMing from off-screen suddenly fills the screen. In moments, something.../something/...drives up into the lineup, and a big gold coin falls onto the scales. The coin flips in, disintegrates...and a name pops up on the screen. "GILGAMESH & ENKIDU!" The announcer exclaims as the car pulls up. And what a car it is. It's a wide red-and-gold convertible with Gilgamesh's face painted on the hood; long pipes pour out of the engine, ostentatious gold and silver mingling with some gunmetal grey. The car's wheels are a deep grey; the axels are literally swords. Swords are painted along the sides, and the windshield wipers are also swords. Enkidu is in the driver's seat, a pair of sunglasses and a driving scarf wrapped around his neck. Gilgamesh is in the passenger's seat with some old-timey driving gloves.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "Hey, hey, hey!" King Candy replies to Will, leaning so far over the edge of his booth it's a wonder his crown doesn't fall off his head. "None of that 'lead to gold' stuff on /my/ racetrack, young man. You use the real thing or you get VAC-banned, capice?"

:'''[[Serah Farron]] has posed:''' Serah Farron blinks at the one that joins the race. Those don't seem like your standard candy land racer... She sucks on the tootsie she got from the king quietly.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' "I can't turn lead into gold!" Will says crossing his arms! "I mean a thing to DRIVE.' he holds up a gold coin. How did he get that? Somewhere else, Mysterious Race Z is looking through his pockets..

:'''[[Paulo Mysidi]] has posed:''' Paulo Mysidi also blinks-- near in synch with Serah and Shiki there. "Wut?" he says-- just like that. An eyebrow raises for a moment-- then he gnaws on his candy cane. "One of these things is not like the other," he sings in a sing-song voice of singery.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "No. That's not how it works." King Candy replies. "You don't have a car, you don't get to drive. That's just sense, don'tchaknow?"

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' "Uhhh, I don't know," Ariel says. "I... AM a witch," she guesses. Not really. She frowns a little, thinking about it. "I guess I can try." Though she's not sure if she knows how to summon a car. Maybe she can summon a useful riding creature, though. She raises her hands and thinks really hard about doing this. Of course, most of the creatures she knows happen to be things that live under the sea. She's as surprised as Will likely is when a portal opens up. And then a tentacle comes out of it, kind of slimy and wet. She wonders if that is bad, when a very large octopus falls out of the portal and onto the racetrack. "I guess I can do that! ...It doesn't look very fast."

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' "I'm guessing it was Candyland." Avira asides to Deelel, "It's a board game that's been around forever. So if you happen to come across any molasses swamps while out, steer clear, because you ain't never getting out." Frowning, she peers over at Gilgamesh and Enkidu when they're announced. "Wait a second, I thought outsiders couldn't appear in the games like tha-" A certain LARGE OCTOPUS drops out of the sky and onto the racetrack. Avira immediately straightens and points a finger at it. "YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!"

:'''[[Vanellope]] has posed:''' "Excuse me! Pardon me! Coming through! Move your candy coated butts! Ehehe....butts!" a little girl wearing a mint green hoodie, brown skirt, and stripped tights comes barreling through the crowd, her dark haired high ponytail bobbing and bouncing as she zig zags through various people in quite a hurry. Vanellope is trying to make her way over to where the others racers are gathered, but she has to time it just right or King Candy or Taffyta and her cronies will notice before she can carry out the crazy, daring, /outstandingly brilliant!/ plan that would most certainly change her life forever! FOREVERRRRRR!!!! Only problem is the raging, stinking giant that's chasing her with all the power of his hobo fury. She's faster though, and good thing! Those hands are almost as big as her entire body! Only a little further! FLUNK! As she turned to look over her shoulder for a moment, she inevitably crashes into Arthur Drover, rebounding off him and onto her behind. She scrambles to her feet with such speed one would think she was being chased by a rabid honey badger. "Ooph! Gah! Sorry mister! Gotta move gotta move! Watch out for--that!" she says, pointing behind her toward the 9 foot tall Wreck it Ralph, stomping his way toward her. The earthy practically shakes beneath his feet! Vanellope keeps running, pulling the oh-so-shiny gold medal from her hoodie pocket. It is just the right size. Just the right amount of SHINYNESS and it is going to get her into THE RACE. To her DESTINY! King Candy puts his coin in, and before anyone can possibly stop her she breaks through the crowd and tosses the medal upward, whispering; "oh please oh please oh please oh pleeeaaaaase!" DING DING! The announcer shouts her name and it is the most glorious moment of her life. "Venellope von Schweetz!" Sure, the sugar is about to hit the fan, but she is /IN!/ "Yes! Yes yes yes! EHEHEHEHEHEHEH! AHAHAHAHA!" she laughs maniacally, adorably, leaping into the air because gravity has nothing on her happiness. Venellope then turns to Gilgamesh, wide dark eyes blinking. "Who the heck are you?" Oh right. Ralph is still back there. She should probably be running!

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' "I know, that's why my friend is gona make me a car!" Will says, with a frown! Then suddenly... "Hello Boys and girlllllls!" he winks at Ariel. "It's not every day that a nice young pretty girl summmmmons me!" he says, with a <3 over his head. Will, without even thinking twice jumps on Ultros. Tieing a set of wheels to him. "H-hey!" Will stares at Ultros. "Don't you wana impress all the hot Chicks? Don't you want to be the hero of Sugar Rush!? Look at all the ladies in the audiance and at how they LOVE racer guys." Ultros just stares at Will for a moment, and then doesn't say a word when Will lands on his head.

:'''[[Gilgamesh]] has posed:''' Gilgamesh and Enkidu look over at Vanellope. There's a long, slow silence as the dog and his partner look at the little girl. "We're..." Gilgamesh pauses, picking up his sunglasses. Enkidu does the same with his paws. They synchronize. "The Aristocrats."

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' Shiki can, at least, distract herself with watching Deelel's first taste of candy, let's just hope she doesn't try taking bites out of the stand. If she gets a taste for it, who knows what will happen?! Well, we do, we just need to look at Avira really. It helps distract her from... that thing over there. She always knew Gilgamesh was a little strange, but this just defies reason! Then everything gets a little excited. Shiki chokes on her chocolate as a rather large octopus /and/ a rather large guy and a rather small girl show up, and Shiki's just going to sit here /veeeeery/ quietly and grip the armrests of her chair and hope that this doesn't turn into a free-for-all.

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel is then flirted-with by an octopus. That's not as if it hasn't happened before, she guesses. But it's a little... She clears her throat, and waves a taffy wrapper. "Good luck, Will!"

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Rancis has been busy checking his mirror. He reaches into his pocket nad notices a gold coin missing. He reaches into his other pocket, then looks around for several moments before noticing Will holding it up. He can tell its his because it's shined to a polish that you can see your reflection in. "Hey!" He says. "That's my coin!" "Oh Rancis," Taffyta says. "You have to keep a better grip on your coin." How do they even get coins in the first place you may ask? Good question! That will not be answered. Several racers are very perturbed to see a tentacled octopus for some reason and scream. Imported games what can you do? "Better use another coin, Rancis, or get yours back!" Candlehead says as the two line up. At this rate Rancis is going to be, at best, the last one to get a coin in. Fuming, he approaches the hobolad, hesitating only somewhat as he takes note of Ultros. Several racers gasp as VAnellope manages to get a coin inside the cup and her name appears second of all on the list. "How'd the GLITCH get a coin?!" Taffyta is so un-PC.

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger is somehow next to Will as he ties wheels onto Ultros. He is wearing a leather riding helmet and ill-fitting goggles as he scampers up Ultros' back, taking a position right behind Will. "Tiggers are the best at racing, buddy boy! We'll take the checkered flag for sure!!" Tigger adjusts his goggles needlessly. "I just hope that our car's burr-ator can hold together long enough!"

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' The children gaze at the older man with a "pleeease" expression. "We don't have a car, or a coin or - anything. Or know how to drive!" But sense doesn't derail them, and the "pleeease" continues. "Just watch, kids, maybe some other time. I promise if I had something to drive, I'd drive." Dejected, the two climb down and sit in their actual seats for once, though standing up frequently to get better looks. "Besides, it might be dangerous. I think it's probably dangerous." Turning at random to look into the crowd: "Isn't this dangerous?" Then Gilgamesh and Ultros happen and the questions all seem kind of moot.

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird hmms at Vanellope's dilimah. Gears and wheels and loopholes try spinning in her head. "Does it have to be a car? What're the limits between 'this is enterable' and 'this isn't'? Because I've so got a spare dirt bike that looks like it'd be aces for this," She gesturedi narticulately at the course. "Uh... er.... is that fudge?" "No y'goof fudge is all sticky and hard t'get out of that's a course hazard in turn six."

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will stares at Rancis, "No it's my coin. I earned this fair and square." See stealing it. Will adjusts himself on Ultros, "Hey stop moving!" Ultros complains, but looks odd as Tigger bounces onto his back! Will looks back at his new partner, and grins, "Oh man! Tigger! We're gona win for sure..." he says, and pauses, "...Well, I guess we better up the Burr-ator!" he says and looks down at Ultros. "What's a Burr-ator?" Will shrugs at Ultros.

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel could totally race she's got a lightcycle right on her at the moment, she's very much tempted to do so. Then she sees someone who totally should not be here in the race. She stares for moment as Gilgamesh shows up with a car? She kinda stares at Gilgamesh and Enkidu what the heck? Oh by her User this is going to go insane. She's trying to fight the temptation to join the race for prize or no prize. This track looks like it would be a hell of a ride and that's something the basic really wants to try out. This is the most trippy course she's ever seen in her life. It's awesome. "Candyland huh? Board games....damn that is old as all get out." She can get away with this? Her species didn't exist until computers did. She watches as some more strangers show up. This is pretty strange but hey she wants to get in on this. "I think I'm about to lose control and do something rash. Yet fun." She notices Venellope arrive and enter and she wonders who is that wait a second? She stares at what has been summoned what the heck did Ariel bring forth upon this world what has she done. "Things are getting fishy..." She also pauses unaware of how a coin is at her feet, she has no idea Will is somehow at fault for this awesome occurrence. Still the strange arrival had her interest things were getting crazy. She gets up takes the coin in hand and give her friends a wide grin. You know that grin when someone's going to do something crazy, she's totally failed her will check about the race from the looks of it.

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' Shiki Misaki just... gives Deelel one of those really wide, really nervous grins back that show far more teeth than anything else. OK, so much for that hope. "Good... luck?" is all she can really say at this juncture!

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' "It's one of the most important car parts," Tigger says, with absolute confidence. "Why the burr-ator is the part that makes the car's racking piston steering work right. That's almost as important as the fuel objection system! But I'm sure this old gal will hold together for one last race!" Tigger pats Ultros' side. He has no idea this isn't even a car.

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' At this precise moment, perhaps arguably a moment before, the Synthesist is slightly unbalanced, and his satchel gets away from him. Potions ricochet into the crowd, healing, magic-supporting, some slide wildly onto the track. There's an elixir in a gold bottle, there are heating blankets infused with fire down. "Sorry." He apologizes automatically even though the girl hit him in the process, and hurled her coin. No wonder she was in a hurry, this seems quite the coup. He considers for a moment whether to retrieve the things strewn on the tracks - but they were close to expiring anyway, given their natural origins. Maybe someone would make use of them.

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Rancis lashes out to try and get his coin. Will can defeat his attempts by holding the coin above his head. He's still looking at himself in the mirror with his other hand which isn't helping matters. "grrr! Give it back!"

:'''[[Wreck-It Ralph]] has posed:''' THUMP. THUMP! THUMP!! Yeah, that's definitely the earth shaking beneath his feet. The nine-foot-giant that is Wreck-It Ralph rushes towards the race track. He appears to be pursuing a small, adorable (some might even say... sweet) little urchin girl, thus cementing his place on the List of Terrible People and Great Villains list. He looks positively peeved. He's also apparently a giant rampaging monster, at least compared to the tiny denizens of the candy-coated world. He charges between two candy-filled stands, tipping them to either side from the mere presence of his massive bulk. When he thinks he sees Vanellope dive under a candy-box stand, he grabs the bottom with one hand and up-ends it, totally heedless of who or what is sitting inside. "Why you little -- GIVE ME BACK MY MEDAL!" <Vanellope> *toss* <Ralph> D8< He's approaching the cars, now. He might just run down Arthur on the way.

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' "...oh my God." Avira stops pointing an accusing finger at Ultros for a moment to stare at Rancis. "His hat is a peanut butter cup." Her sugar crash is forgotten in an instant. "/Delicious/."

:'''[[Paulo Mysidi]] has posed:''' "So this is what insanity looks like," observes Paulo with a wide grin on his face. It is afixed that way due to the excess sugar. He looks for something to wash it down with-- but ends up with a vanilla milkshake. There is a shrug as he gulps some down-- fixing his broad grin with just a bit of a twitch now. "Colorful. Full of sugar. Its like tasting time," he says to no one in particular-- taking the exciting route of drawing out his book and sketching some of these cars.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' Outsiders start trying to muscle in on King Candy's territory, but he allows it by royal decree because, ha! They're not going to win! And they're certainly not going to beat HIM at any rate. He's busily snapping his racing goggles onto his face when Venelope comes a bursting from the crowd. "Hey... hey Sour Bill, who's that down there?" He pulls his goggles forwards, eyeing them as if they were glasses, and then suddenl #-1 FUNCTION (ANSIHM,VANELLOPE VAN SCHWEETZ!) "WHAT WHAT?!" KING CANDY LEAPS LIKE FIVE FEET INTO THE AIR, HIS CROWN GOES SIX, AND HE HOVERS AT THE APOGEE OF HIS LEAP FOR A FEW MOMENTS IN DEFIANCE OF GRAVITY. HIS CROWN TAKES LONGER TO COME BACK DOWN. "SOUR BILL? SOUR BILL! YOU THROW HER OUT OF THE RACE? HOW? I DON'T KNOW HOW! JUST DO IT! I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE TO DEFENESTRATE HER TO THROW HER OUT!" THE KING PAUSES. "ON SECOND THOUGHT, THIS GAME IS 'E' FOR EVERYBODY, LEAVE HER FENESTRATIONS ALONE, BUT THROW THE REST OF HER OU-WOAOAOAAAAH!" AND THEN RALPH UPSENDS THE ROYAL POPCORN BOX, SENDING THE CONTENTS ) NOT FOUND, flying.

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' He does. The bag doesn't "spill a few things". It explodes. Arrows with detonation cores fly onto the tracks, sitting unattended. A Bomb Core spirals unheeded into some dark corner. Chocobo Feathers, Phoenix Down, in one case what looks like an entire tiny Flan monster, trapped in amber. Softs, Echo Potions, Hi-potions, a scarf glowing with unknowable energies spins into the distance and drapes a racecar. Gasping and spitting, the Synthesist looks after the departing giant, as his niece and nephew yank him upright. Adjusting his dignity, one rib, and taking out his flask, the synthesist takes the tiniest sip and begins marching after the colossal Ralph. "SEE HERE YOUNG MAN."

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird was sorely lamenting the lack of her bike. Sure it'd get eaten alive by a lightcycle i nspeed, but with a course like the map was showing and the terrain she saw around it'd pretty well murder the twisty sections by just cutting straight across.. Wait... Wait what? Thum thump? Blackbird looked around and saw it. Saw the giant wild haired hobo he'd spent hundreds of dollars in quarters trying to mop up after when she was little. "Ralph?" She flat out stared at the giant. "RALPH!" Through crowd over candy and only barely managing muttered appologies she tried closing the gap between her and a childhood icon. "Clear way let a girl through puddin." Cue giant pudding person waddling clear. Then Candy was going ballistic which snapped her out of fangirl mode. "Oi! Shortstack. We get to race why doens't little wrapper girl over there?" Thumb jerking to Vanellope.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will Sherman hears the sudden yelling! "QUICKLY! HE'S DISTRACTED!" Will says, and suddenly Ultros goes forward! ...Yes. Ultros litterally is wheeling himself forward by having the tentacles push him along the ground. Will pauses...looks at Tigger... And makes Race car noises with his mouth.

:'''[[Paulo Mysidi]] has posed:''' Paulo Mysidi looks to Serah-- taking a moment to sketch the expression on her face in his book, "Yeah-- I dont think so either. But people sure seem to be enjoying themselves!"

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel sighs, but since that is definitely the car that was summoned, that's... definitely the, er, 'car,' that has to win. At which point, an irate bonbon yells "DOWN IN FRONT!" at her, and she sits down again.

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' A glowing scarf falls on Tigger. It binds on pickup, resizing to fit around his neck just so. He ties it in a dashing manner, goggles gleaming heroically! TIGGER LEVELS UP! STRENGTH UP! LUCK UP! Tigger is too busy listening to heroic 8-bit music to notice the car-nage happening with Wreck-It Ralph. But then the car takes off! Tigger almost falls off, having to grip onto the side. He dangles absurdly, scarf flapping behind him. "The race is on! Will! Be sure you turn left!!"

:'''[[Serah Farron]] has posed:''' Serah Farron sweatdrops, watching what's going on at the starting line "I'm... lost. I don't think that some of those were in the regularly scheduled race. Not to mention she knows about the big brute near the end of the line right now. She saw him demolishing a building that wasn't his game after all. "Hey that's Ralph." Its the one that ignored her 'mean voice'. She wasn't too pleased by that either, since he wasn't listening. "Is he pushing that car with his arms or something?"

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' "It's OK, Serah, I'm lost too," Shiki says, her expression a mask. Probably one of those ones with blue lines under her eyes and everything. But she does a little bit of a double take when she notices-- "Wait. /That's/ Ralph? He's the one that went missing from Fix-It Felix Jr?" Shiki is torn. She needs to confront that guy! But everything's already so chaotic-- She shakes her head. "Well, what's it gonna hurt?" She puts some bubblegum in her mouth, chews it, and walks away from her chair.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' King Candy comes scandy chaos on the track, and Ultros pulls into an early five foot lead, mostly because no one else is attempting to race as they flee for their sweetsy lives. "Hey, no! Schtop! We have RULES here, young lady!" King Candy pulls himself up as regally as he's able to (which is not very) and taps a hand on the side of his head, shaking the spare cocoa powder out of his ears. There was more in there then you'd think possible. "I don't know how you got a coin, but I know that you don't have a car!"

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' At this point, the wreckage of his torn pack, his bow, his arrows, strewn about, Arthur takes a moment to breathe deeply. The children are hanging off his legs basically like koalas on their favorite branches, except less bitey. "Wait here, okay kids?" He moves them to the very edge of the stands, plainly in sight, and disengages them carefully. With a more measured mind, the craftsman begins sighting around for the giant, noticed in his one moment of wise decisions amid parental neglect. The kids are trying hard not to laugh, caught up in the simple excitement of tiny screaming men and hulking giants. Nothing about this scares or discomfits them. For a moment, just a moment, Arthur considers picking up his merchandise, strewn around. One of the downsides of battle equipment. It would take a few hours of work to replicate the stock. He makes a different, more mercantile decision: "FREE SAMPLES. Come to the sign of the Heart's Desire in Alexandria for more." Okay that's done. That stuff is lost. Put a loss on the ledger later. Tigger gets a sheepish smile when Arthur sees him snatch the scarf. Then the older man picks his way among the cars. Except... He sees Ultros, slowly dragging itself forward. It's almost hypnotic and yet admirable, the determination that little octopus shows. Quietly, the synthesist opens the flask of powdered and reduced Earth energy. Usually it heals the wounded and speeds the muscles. But- He spends a full thirty seconds judiciously pouring the precious contents of that small flask around the octopus-car. It's not moving fast enough to make this especially difficult. A minor earthquake begins to happen. Except it's not happening /to/ the Earth. It's happening under Ultros, the force of the liquid coating the slow-moving octopus creating a cushion of air which repulses the ground, hovering the aquatic creature off the earth and allowing it to simply tilt its body to move. Whether the octopus can establish "gainly" motion in this state is neither here nor there. He saw a problem, and he solved it. Anger at Ralph, or further interfering with the life of King Candy - whose world may in fact be shattering - is forgotten as he seeks to watch the result.

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird glowered down at King Candy. Then to Ralph. Then raised a hand much like a child would in class. It wasn't much in way of magic but making loud noises wasn't hard, especially cmoared to 'hurting people' sort of magic. "Alright candies gentlemen, programs, and... anything else!" She tried raising her voice above the quiet. She'd had enough of this derailment. "I want to know just what is going on here." She had no clue about Ralph going missing from Fix-It. She just assumed he was on a night pass or something. "And I want everyone to shut up and do the explaining ONE AT A <pudding pop> TIME!"

:'''[[Vanellope]] has posed:''' Vanellope looks Gilgamesh and Enkidu over, then crosses her arms. "Well fine! More competition to beat then! I can totally do this!" she says, then looks over as Ralph flips over the royal popcorn pavillion. O.O Great mother of pixie sticks! Vanellope tries to disappear again, moving into the crowd to get away from Ralph. She's short, maybe she'll just disappear! Besides, she needs to get her car! The little urchin dashes past Will Sherman, wrinkling her nose some. "Are you and the giant brothers or something? You smell like you've been rolling in rotten bananas! ....Eee! Excuse me!" she says, only stopping briefly to inform Will he smells. Very important. Vanellope then turns toward King Candy, lifting her chin proudly. "It doesn't matter where I got a coin, I am in the race! And I do too have a car! The best car you've ever seen! The most fantastic piece of machinery with wheels!" she shouts, then ducks under one of the stands to where she has stashed her car. A few moments pass before the vehicle wheels out from the hiding spot. It is, frankly, a sad little go cart that looks like it was put together with things from the trash. It does not even have an engine. Vanellope is peddling it like a bicycle. Despite how...homely...the cart is, it is clear that Vanellope put a lot of work and love into that car. She honks the bicycle horn proudly, her chubby cheeks puffed out in defiance! BEEP BEEP!

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel is moving to launch her coin like a light disc to get it into the race. It flies out of her hand hits the pot and slots in pretty nicely all things considered Her name appears on the list as the announcer calls out her name. "DEELEL!" She's going to have fun with this she vaults out of the stands with her baton in hand, this was going to be fun also wait there's Wrek-it Ralph. "AH HA!" She's spotted Ralph and things are just going to get more insane, she's managed to get into the racers line up at this point she stands there for a moment then pulls her baton and soon she's hunching over as a light cycle forms about her. The odd thing is it's not the one she's known o have this one's sleeker partially opened and Deelel is hugging it like she's almost merged into it from the looks of it. She Guns her engine revved up and she's going to enjoy this. Shiki has things handled right? Or it could end badly for her either way chaos rains. Shiki would find a text from Deelel going. <See what you can do about the big guy I'm going to keep an eye on the race I thing things are getting nuts.> Also how did Deelel fit that much in? She's a program she's clearly cheating somehow.

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Rancis follows after Ultros on foot (Ultros is not very fast on land) lashing out to try and get his coin. "Give it back give it back!!" He says, hopping a few times. Then suddenly--the earth shakes. Then it shakes again. It may be chaotic but ultimately what's happening is pretty simple. A) Rampaging guy chasing after 'glitch' who others don't want to be racing. and B) Ultroscar with Racing Tigger. It's this former problem that draws Rancis's attention. His eyes widen and he says, "OKAY NEVERMIND YOU CAN KEEP IT!" He yells as he runs away as quickly as possible. He's still looking in the mirror every so often though maybe this time it's to make sure he's not being followed. "AHHHH!!!" Taffyta and Candlehead scream and run off as well. Really, most of the racers are running away. It doesn't seem like a race is going to be happening at all at this rate, but Tigger and Will will CERTAINLY win the non-race at this ... rate. Of course the Terriblicious Trio slow down upon spotting Vanellope's car. They look nonplussed. "/That's/ your car?" Taffyta asks. "Did you summon that monster to ruin the race?" "Oh no you di'in't." Candlehead says, snapping her fingers in a z-formation. "My coin..." Rancis sniffles.

:'''[[Paulo Mysidi]] has posed:''' Paulo Mysidi finishes his sketch of Serah's reaction-- being mostly line work. With that done he moves on to looking at the race track-- sketching out the scene quickly. "Why is the old man getting so upset, anyway? Just summon a car and find a magical coin. Go race. Race race race." Then he realizes he wont have anything to sketch after they start moving. "Hmm. Or stay. Stay stay stay."

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' There is an EARTHQUAKE!? Ultros shouts, "POWER! UNLIMITED POWER...I...I think...I THINK I HAVE UNLOCKED MY TRUE PERFECT FORM!?" Will gasps! "Not your true form!?" There is a bright light, a BRILLIANT light of pure energy and then... Ultros is now a Hover Car...with tentacles. It is now going a whole ten miles perhour but... "...Oh my god..." he says, catching Tigger. "I got an idea! USE YOUR TENTACLES TO SPEED US ALONG! LIKE A PROPELLER!" Suddenly Ultros-car is DASHING.

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger helpfully swings his tail around behind Will. It is not very effective.

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' "Oh god what have I done." Arthur experiences a moment of clarity, his dwarf-like strange mood ended. This isn't BETTER, just different.

:'''[[Gilgamesh]] has posed:''' Gilgamesh and Enkdu salute Vanellope as she goes running off. Then, as one, they hold up their hands at Ralph. "Hey, Ralph! How's it goin', buddy? Didn't know you a racer now! You guys branching out?" Gilgamesh was about to say more, but then the race starts, and Enkidu isn't about to be left in the dust. Enkidu is an expert in a lot of things, but one of his favorite things in the world is chasing cars. So Enkidu puts the pedal to the metal, and the Gilgamobile goes screaming after the Ultroscycle, a red-and-gold streak on the racetrack. Gilgamesh fumbles with his racing gear. "WE'LL TALK LATER RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAllllll-"

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "No, this is... this is unacceptable, simply unacceptable." King Candy says, towering over itty bitty Vanellope (by a thin margin), his hands on his hips. "Look, look at what you've done to my racetrack!" He waves a hand, indicating octopi royalty, rampaging villains, general panic, and worst of all, a run on the concession stand. "How? How does this make me want to let you race? I couldn't let you race now even IF I wanted! Look at this mess!" King Candy puts a hand on his forehead and paces back and forth. "We're going to have to delay the WHOLE race until we can get this mess cleaned up! Ohhh, my poor track! And in front of all these honored guests! Vanellope! Why do you do this?" The King starts to stalk off, fluttering his hands about wildly. "OKAY EVERYONE, SHUT IT DOWN! SHUT IT DOWN, PACK IT UP! DELAY OF RACE DUE TO COSMIC OCTOPI!"

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' The race has definitely not started, and if it has, those cars are probably disqualified BUT - Vanellope's car rolls past, and the trio mock it insidiously. The shopkeeper's eye turns to it, he's about to remain silent and butt out, but as one "craftsman" to someone else who built something, feels obligated to confide before running back to the children: "Good work, miss. I know a winner when I see it." The King's rampage is unfortunately stopping the race. The children, never ones to truly stay out of it, are standing behind the King and mocking his every protracted movement and yelling face with an eerie precision and a horrifying mime-like silence.

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird frowns at this delay. "Uh Yea Delayed on account of the stands getting eaten." Her earlier attempt at trying to gain order was given up as she brushed past this and that while trying to get closer to Ralph. What was he doing here? Then she asked, or at least tried to but given the noise she'd probably be dround out, "When's the reschedule? I wanna bring my bike over here."

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' In the confusion, Avira has left her spot by the stands. Most of the people she was talking to at the moment have run off to do other things-like race! "...well that seems almost unfair..." she says as she looks at the lightcycle Deelel packs in comparison to the very edible-looking candy cars of the native Programs. Then the race is called off. Avira starts to sneak off after Rancis, eyes solely pinned on his hat. "Blue Valkyrie needs food badly." she mutters ominously.

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Well, now the octopus can float. That solves one other potential problem.... maybe the Ultrosmobile has a chance now. Ariel claps at this new event. Though she can admit, she's not sure whether he can win, or if that's even in the rules.... Apparently not. Ariel sinks a little in her seat, hoping no one will blame her for the octopus problem. Clearly not her fault! "Aww..."

:'''[[Reno]] has posed:''' Despite the cheerful day and the roaring crowds of diminutive anthropomorphic confections, there was a dark figure approaching. In the chaos of Ralph's entrance, he strode up to the platform for the most part unnoticed. Wearing a dark grey suit completely untucked and without tie, he was nevertheless adorned by a completely ornamental pair of goggles resting upon his forehead, amid the strands of his bright red hair which tapered back into a long tail-like red ponytail behind him. The man seemed to be on a cell phone call? " Yeah, sure thing boss. Almost there. Naw, it's like, starting right NOW, yo.... Just beam it down when I text ya, K? Bye." *flip* Having gained entry to the platform and looked about him. The small man with the crown seemed to be yelling at a small girl with... some kind of dilapidated peddle-car? Also there seemed like there was an octopus on the track crawling in an early but tragically irrelevant lead. Almost all the other vehicles looked edible. Was this really the competition? Hell, he might run over one of these kids and never know it. Regardless, Reno took out a small silver coin with a square hole in the center, and threw his 5 gil piece onto the lever, which promptly flipped it into the cup. "RENO OF THE TURKS!" Called out an announcement on the loudspearker. Reno turned to great the roaring crowds an...wait... where did all the other cars go!? "Sonnova...!?" Reno flipped out his phone and furiously typed something. SEND! Send damn you! He ran towards the starting line and waited impatiently, pacing back and fourth for a few moments. Suddenly, with a brilliant blast of green vector-mapping light, an attack-helicopter materialized and nearly squashed the poor turk flat. Having dove out of the way in a split-second reaction, Reno quickly got to his feet and leapt into the pilot's seat, bypassing a lot of the normal pre-flight checklist and getting that baby airborn. As Reno pulled up into a low hover, he pulled up the mic to the loudspeaker system. "SHINRA REPRESENT, YO!" he yelled as the chopper zipped foreword over the track.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Ultros is going the fastest he's ever gone in his life! "I am so haaaaaaapy! I am a happy octopus! I can finally be the guy!" "YEAH! YOU CAN DO IT ULTROS!" Will thumbs at Tigger as he helps! Then a ramp... "JUMP ULTROS! JUMP FOR EVER LASTING PEACE!" Ultros hits the ramp... Gets half way through the jump...and starts falling too early. "Nooooooo...I was gona score the hooooot stuuuuud!" Will grabs onto the edge of the pit fall, as Ultros falls into everlasting darkness. Also maybe with Tigger on his back/head. "That was close!"

:'''[[Serah Farron]] has posed:''' Serah Farron watches the race avidly. She cheers on the racers, watching it over the large screen. Its pretty exciting "I wonder how it would be to race with them. Although it looks a bit dangerous, since we can't respawn here... Well, its what I suppose anyway."

:'''[[Wreck-It Ralph]] has posed:''' Ralph is pretty sure he hears some lady calling his name, and someone coming at him, and someone /else/ being genuinely outraged. He's not entirely sure what's up with that, so he just waves a hand dismissively at the lot of them. "Not now, I'm busy!" Busy running across the race track, that's what. "C'mere you little rugrat!" Ralph runs forward, arms outstretched. He steps on the hood of one racer's car as they try to drive away, flinging her out of it and towards the horizon not unlike being launched from a catapult. He stops to let the octopus crawl on by, looking around it to try and catch the girl with the /giggling/ and the /sass/. That is to say, Vanellope. Not the, you know, dozen or so other ones who fit the vague description around here. Ralph loses her around Ultros. He stops, hopping to the side and trying to figure out where she went. He turns around, hearing his name again. "I /said/, not n--" He blinks. Gilgamesh and Enkidu. "What're you guys doin' here? Look, I can't talk, I've got a -- thing," he says vaguely, gesturing to the other side of the track. "I'll catch you in a minute!" He starts across the rest of the track. Vanellope emerges with her homemade kart. "THERE you are!" He stalks towards her, the very picture of nine-foot frustration. And also giant monkey hands.

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' Arthur may in fact shed a single tear for that brave doomed hero. The kids are dragged reluctantly backwards in case King Candy does in fact explode. This is a hectic place, and it looks like a lot of people might be in trouble with the "Cops" by the end of the night. Time to meander somewhere less conspicuous. Especially with the kids coming down off their sugar h- "Where did you get that candy?" Pausing, the realization that this is the stupidest question ever asked dawns like a gold brick. "Stop just shy of puking, at least, kids."

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger clings onto Will, frantically wiggling his botton to try to get more speed. The trio Dukes of Hazzard up onto the ramp, flying through the air! And then things just don't work out. Tigger latches onto Will's head, yowling as Will manages to keep from falling into the pit. He scrabbles off of Will to try to help him out of the pit. Somehow Tigger is able to do this despite being a fraction of Will's mass. Don't ask. "Boy, that was an exciting race! I think we threw a spanner though. Ought to get that looked at back at the pits." Tigger looks down the hole. He cups his paws to his mouth to shout. "Hello! Hello down there! Please check our spanner and our fuel objection system! I think we started to pull a little to the right on that last turn!"

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' Shiki Misaki hopes Avira and Serah will forgive her for ditching them, but this is important! She's stringing together a coherent train of thought here, and she's sure that whatever's going on here this guy Ralph is important to it. Least of all, she knows that he's 'gone Turbo', whatever that means, but it's surely not good. "Hey!" She's determined to catch up to that big guy! "Hey! No! This is really important!"

:'''[[Vanellope]] has posed:''' Wherever there is the possibility of happiness, Taffyta Muttonfudge shows up to try to ruin it! Vanellope looks toward her, determined not to let her and her minions get her down. "Yes it is! I know, I'd be intimidated if I were you too Taffyta," she replies before looking over toward Arthur as he compliments her car. She stares blankly for a moment. Scanning for sarcasm. Scanning. Scanning. Scanning.... Then her face lights up with a bright smile even sweeter than the world she lives in. "Thanks mister!" she calls. Judging by the earth shaking, Ralph has found her. Her eyes widen at his approach. "It's already in the game! But I'll get it back for you when I win! I promise! I /needed/ it!" she explains to him, getting ready to peddle away if need be. Doesn't seem like the race is happening now anyway! Vanellope also takes a moment to gawk at the helicopter. "Whhhooooaaaaa.....where can I get one of THOSE!?"

:'''[[Paulo Mysidi]] has posed:''' Paulo Mysidi is completely lost in the chaos. He makes the most of it by sketching things out here and there. Sensory overload. After some fervent sketching he exhales. "Phew. Well I think that's enough for me," he says as he dusts himself off-- having already ended with a sprinkling of powdered sugar on his robes somehow. He closes his book and hops off of the stands that he was watching from.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "No, what, no, not another person ruining my track!" The King exclaims as Reno starts tearing up the road, literally, on his hog. "Why? Why would you do this to me? You're terrible, you're just terrible people!" He gestures expressively; the children ape this well. It's like half a minute before he even notices that they're there. "What? What is thi-- this is... shoo, shoo!" He makes shooing motions at the tikes, trying to get them to go away. "This is just undignified, is what it all is! Un/dig/nified."

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will is, thankfully saved by Tigger, who he gives a hug too! Because wow! Ultros groans from down in the pit. Will looks towards Vanellope! And then Ralph wanting to corner her...and then he frowns. "Girl, I say, Girl...I am." He pauses, "WILL SHERMAN! KING OF THE HOBOS!" He pauses and then laughs at King Candy, "I GET IT!" he shouts. Then back to the matter at hand. "Ralph would totally be a brother to me if I were a Video Game I think." Sage nod. "...So what's wrong Ralph?"

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' "I'm as exasperated as you are," Shiki half-shouts half-mutters... Somehow... Towards King Candy, who is a long-suffering and put-upon ruler, to be sure, and deserving of your pity.

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' The children reluctantly depart. But in their hearts they never stopped. They never will stop. Years from now they will fondly remember making this little man complain about their teasing. And they will hug themselves, and smile. And maybe he will feel it.

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird facepalmed at King Candy's hamtasticness and started to wander along the track. But not before she tossed a spanish dubloon into the pile. It was a clean flip right into the slot. Same as she'd always envisioned doing to a quarter into the arcade slot. BLACKBIRD! She didn't even have a car! How was she supposed to? Wait.. This isn't a foot race lady! Get back here!

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger loves hugs. He must have gotten his STRENGTH UP from that mysterious glowing scarf, though he never turns down a helping hand! Deelel finds that Tigger's awfully strong when he puts his mind to it. Huh. Tigger tosses the scarf over his shoulder while he follows along behind Will. He is only now realizing where he is, looking around and gawping at it all. He may wander off at any moment.

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel was trying to figure out the rules of the race, but she recognizes the giant man from the club the other night. ... Right, his name is Ralph. She starts to walk down over the stands. She almost trips over a gummy bear on the way down. "Your -- majesty, I can apologize for... the unauthorized octopus..."

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel hears the race is on hold, she sighs for a moment banishes her bike and grabs her baton, before it can hit the ground. She then walks off off the race way sighing as she goes. Still she's going to go talk to Ralph, right? Shiki's already ahead of her on that but she does feel she owes ti to Ralph to talk to him and tell him what's been going on back home. So she was going to vault on over to the wrecker of the End of Line. She was almost distracted by what befalls Will and Tigger? But it seems Tiggers' got things in hand so she keeps moving as she tries to catch up with Ralph Man Ralph really seems obsessed with something today. Could it be the medal he was talking about last time? That could very well be it. "I can't argue with that Will. Hey Ralph are you okay big guys?>

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Taffyta isn't going to stop Ralph from nabbing Vanellope or doing much of anything to her. What she does do is check the car out. She reaches forward and gives the horn a few experimental squeezes. "Listen, Vanellope. I'm ... I'm very intimidated." She winks briefly at her comrades in BULLYING. "So very intimidated... but it's not cause of what you think. See, it's for your own good that you don't race. Cause...you know... you're a glitch." She pulls her hand back before she gets accused of touching the merchandise or whatever ridiculous thing she's anticipating from her. "And who knows what might happen when you're on the track? In your car...without a care..." Rancis starts sniggering before an ominous presence approaches from behind. He turns around quickly and backs awaaaaaaaaaay from Avira.

:'''[[Serah Farron]] has posed:''' Serah Farron ooks over to Paulo leaving "Why not just relax and enjoy the race?" She keeps cheering on with the crowd, watching how each racer is doing their best on the candyland race track "I wonder if they stop to eat some of the scenery sometimes. I'd think that only but candy would eventually be sickening.

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' Normally at this point, Avira would be going after Ralph for harassing that little girl. He looked pretty mad! And big and intimidating! And that guy totally made a mess out of the Empire State Building! By all means she should have a bone or two to pick with Ralph. But for now... ...there are more pressing matters to deal with as she looms over Rancis from behind. Any disruption all of this makes to the bullying/intimidation in progress is entirely incidental. "Hey. That's a nice hat you got there." Avira grins, "Can I see it?"

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will suddenly turns towards Taffyta. He puts his hat UP into a RANKOROUS position and walks right towards him. "I am going to give you a wedgie now." Will Sherman is now attempting to give Taffyta a GIANT WEDGIE. "YOU SHOULD LEARN TO TREAT PEOPLE WITH THE RESPECT YOU WANT TO BE TREATED WITH WEDGIE ATTACK!"

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "Oooooh, my poor track." King Candy exclaims, holding his head in his hands. "Why me, Sour Bill? Why me? I'll bet King Bowser never had to put up with this. That Mario, I hear he's really a swell guy, feet on the ground so to speak. Not what you'd expect from a big celeb like taht. Now, /he/ wouldn't go tearing up Bowswer's castle for no reason. But ME?!" "I have WRECK-IT RALPH tearing up my track!" King Candy pauses. "Wait a second, Ralph?" He peers forwards, "Ralphie-boy, what are you doing here, you should be in your own game! Why are you wrecking /mine/?" The diminutive King takes Aerial by the hand in a polite gesture. "Thank you, my dear. That means... so much, after how awful this day has been. When we re-hold the race, you get to be an honored guess in the royal box, that's how much I appreciate that. It's the simple gestures, really."

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel takes the King's hand, and curtsies politely at him. She's glad that all is... apparently forgiven, with the octopus. "...Thank you, your majesty." Come to think of it, though she seems to be just a magic-user there is something of royalty about her sometimes. "I would be... very honored." She walks over then to look at Ultros, and wrinkles her mouth up. She puts hands on her hips and blows a little hair out of her eyes. "Okay. Well, now I guess I can unsummon you. ... Sorry."

:'''[[Blackbird]] has posed:''' Blackbird was busy exploring the track. Then got bored because the track needed a car and even if it was kart distainces it was still too far to jog so she made her way back to where the bullying was and facepalmed. Hard. "Seriously? Are we doing this kind of gradeschool kipple?"

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger scampers after Will. He is scandalized by the wedgie! You can tell because he slaps his paws against the sides of his snout.

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Will Sherman's luck decides that wedgying a little girl would just be too easy. It decides to enhance Will's luck for his attempt to wedgy Taffytana. His attempt to perform a wedgy goes off SO WELL that he ends up actually performing quite a feet--he grabs his OWN underwear and pulls it right over his head. Taffyta blinks a few times and says, "Listen, you're an outsider. You don't know how things work here, okay? Maybe it seems unfair to you, but maybe it's unfair for a /reason/."

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' Arthur Drover stares in mute disbelief at Will Sherman. He will tell the grandkids of this day. The regular kids can see it. They MAY be taking pictures?!?

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger stares in disbelief. How could he get his underwear over his own head?!

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' "He's right!" Shiki says, still doing her best to try and get Ralph's attention. "I went to your game. I think people there are really worried about you! And being outside of it is dangerous, right? There's something... something about this that seems unsafe..." Shiki thinks of the Cybugs and the mysterious circumstances that brought them here...

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' "No." Will says, with a :| face as he has somehow wegied himself. "You will appologize!" he says, somehow wedging himself.

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' "One sec." Avira holds up a finger to Rancis. One hand reaches down into her shirt/breastplate/battle bikini and pulls out her ma belle. She's not nearly busty enough to actually store it between the 'girls.' "Reveeeeenge." she drawls, snapping a picture of wedgied Will.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will looks at Avira. "YOUR PICTURE HAS BEEN LEAKED TO THE INTERNET!" he declares...and adjusts the luck so she accidently transmits the picture instead of taking his!

:'''[[Vanellope]] has posed:''' Vanellope glances back to Taffyta, "HEY! Honk your own horn!" she retorts to Taffyta, jealously guarding her car. She knows these guys, and she knows they are not nice people. Vanellope crosses her arms indignantly. "I am NOT a glitch! I just have pixlexia okay!?" she says. Then, of course, as if brought on my her heightened emotional state, Vanellope's form blurs and shifts, breaking her down briefly into a disorganized colorful pixels that shake then reform into herself. She intends to pretend nothing happened. Especially having been provided with a really nice distraction. Will Sherman tries to be her hero. She appreciates it, really she does. She especially approved of giving Taffyta a wedgie. Brilliant! But Taffyta's bully powers on her home turf are too strong, and Will somehow ends up giving himself a wedgie. Vanellope winces in sympathy. "Leave him alone Vanellope! Why do you have to pick on people? It's okay other Hobo-guy, she's just afraid that I'll win!" she informs. Vanellope blinks toward Avira. "Wow, that's quite an outfit....do you have bon bons stuffed in there or something?" she asks, gesturing toward Avira's bikini top.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "You see?" King Candy exclaims, nodding to the people around him. "This here is a, a delicate flower, that's what you'd call this gal right here. You, madam, are always welcome here. I'll even give you a tour of the castle. We're installing a soden soon. That's a portmaneau of soda, and garden, right? It's got sodas, it's got gardens..." The King waggles his hands, shaking his head back and forth. "The name's a work in progress, they can't all be winners like 'Fungeon' was, right? Excuse me, I have to go and be all kingly now." And by that he means 'yell at people'.

:'''[[Reno]] has posed:''' Renoroared above the cavity-inducing terrain. His ShinRa chopper was built for a good blend of speed, maneuverability, versatility, and armaments-- and that put him well above the competition. Also what put him above the competition? The power of flight. Flying an attack helicopter in a go-cart race was simply in not conceivably in any kind of way 'fair'. But then again the only kind of 'fair' ShinRa was interested in ran off carrying a giant sword and a wounded test subject, so there's that. Reno's purpose in this race was to get awareness for the company. ShinRa could reach here. ShinRa could kick everyone's butt. And ShinRa was available for sales or lease with very affordable rates! Back in the actual "race" Reno easily follows the (tootsie-roll company owned) crow's path cutting across the zig-zagging racecourse between mounds of ice cream. He buzzed above some strange (and strangely familiar) looking weird guy driving a convertable, and then pulled into the lead. "Huh...weren' there more racers than this, yo?" Reno murmered to himself in perplexation.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will looks at Vanellope for a while. And then he just gives her a hug after her freak out happens. Just a hug.

:'''[[Arthur Drover]] has posed:''' The Synthesist packs up the kids, by now half asleep because the candy faucet was carefully stopped, and begins heading out of the area. There is still a fair bit of prep to be done for tomorrow night, and that is sadly dragging him away from what promises to at least be an interesting night. A quiet prayer to the Spirit of Lost Causes and the Gods of Desperate Men on behalf of Vanellope accompanies his departure. Will has the hugging handled, and it would be creepier coming from the older man. There's a somewhat sad wave. But that's enough excitement for one day. He doubts this is the end.

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel thinks the soda garden sounds lovely! (What is a soda?? Oh well, sounds lovely!) She clasps her hands. Then she turns around, and waves them at Ultros a few times, trying to... unconjure him. "Unsummon!"

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger looks on at the situation around Vanellope with some concern. He decides to handle the situation by hopping onto her shoulders, draping around her like a stole. "Is that your car? Does it have fuel objection? It looks like the fuel objected all the way out so you're probably going to need new rotor-cappillaries. Fortunately Tiggers are the best at mechanicalization."

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Taffyta looks towards Will. She would like nothing more than to turn that car inside out. Because ...for some reason! She's a bully. It doesn't always make sense. Maybe back at her gingerbread home, she is taught poor behavior from her parents. Or she is afraid of Vanellope glitching as someone is playing her or glithcing out and destroying the game and killing everybody around her as the game is unplugged. But not here, not now. There's way too many crazy people and giants around. all she knows for sure is that she can't let them race. "Um..." Rancis says, looking at Avira. He steps back towards Taffyta and tugs on her shoulder. "Can we...maybe...you know...get away? I don't like the look she's giving me. And I know all about the looks I get." "There's a tiger there." Candlehead says. "I like him." She spins around and looks towards ARiel. Her eyes widen. "Gosh... she looks like a /princess/." "Don't be stupid, she's not a princess." Taffyta rolls her eyes. "Come on girls! We're outta here!" She (ginger)snaps a few times and starts heading off.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' "More of a princess than YOU will ever be." Will says, towards the retreating Taffyta.

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' "I'm not a princess, I'm a /racer/." Taffyta says. "And there's no princesses here! Never was, never will be!"

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' Avira stares down Rancis. Or rather, Avira stares down Rancis's hat...until... The glitching of Vanellope is enough to remind Avira of the strange rules of this reality. A glitched character? In a full arcade game? She hasn't seen that happen in a very long time. More curious is how it's treated in this system-like some kind of awful disease. A look of sadness falls upon her face at the bullied girl. "Actually I do." Avira answers Vanellope without shame. She pauses, reviewing the last few moments to the part where she scooped up the extra candy that was flung at her. "...I probably should not have stored them there." Avira can't bear to actually look. She doesn't need to look. She can feel the melted chocolate and the sensation brings a wince to her face. Rancis's delicious hat is forgotten. Avira just lost her appetite. "I think I'm going to have to excuse myself." she reaches out and ruffles Vanellope's candy-filled hair. "Good luck with your race when it's rescheduled, kiddo."

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' "WELL MAYBE IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH A BULLY YOU COULD BE A PRINCESS! I AM A KING AFTER ALL!"

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel fortunately doesn't notice this until she manages to create a hole in the ground. Ultros falls through it... there's the sound, somewhere, of a splash. That probably worked! She dusts off her hands, and then puts one hand on her hip. Then she finally overhears the conversation. "Will? Just... it's fine, I'm not, she's not, let's just let them clean up the race?"

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel is getting lot int eh chaos here, there's a heck of a lot of things going on. The Race has been an entire wash out likely their fault being out of game. Taffyta is getting a look from Deelel that is rather unhappy. "So what's this reason then?" She looks back to see Shiki talking to Ralph and well she's delivered the important information, she was honestly trying to forget about the Cybugs also did she see Reno about here? She totally swore she saw the red headed Turk. She shouldn't be to surprised to see someone from the Shinra down here in all honestly it is fair that some of them might poke about the Arcade and see just what's going on here. The thought of the Cybugs is something she's going to have to get some more data on and hand out the information to Valkyri, the Shard Seeks, TDA and even the Shinra. Given those things are viral it could be a nightmare waiting to happen. Vanellope claims she's not a glitch hits a cord with Deelel given the implications on her system of what that meant. yet Vanellope was not insane, was not rampaging so she wasn't dangerous right? She kinda frowns for a moment The poor kids, she's must have had it hard given that state of existence. To be without a function but to be of a race who are born with it? That's a special kinda of hell. Yet there she is still being pretty plucky and making a moment about Avira that gets Deelel snickering. Will does what she had an urge to do but too many cooks and all that for what it's worse? She smiles a little bit at the game native. "Hey don't let get you down." She wonders could TRON, fix this girl's code so she was properly functional this might be something to look into. She doesn't voice this to not wanting to get the girl's hopes up for nothing, right? She does however speak up about something else. "The name is Deelel and it's good to meet you Program." then comes Tigger ace mechanic? Then again the cars here are made out of candy so Tigger may darn well be able to do something with it. She wouldn't be shocked if his world ran on physics like this game somehow.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT just a second everyone." King Candy holds up his hands in both directions, like a crossing guard, calmly waiting for everyone to calm down. There are times when a king must be a man apart... and this is one of those times. "Now, everyone, if you'd all just settle down for a few seconds, I think I can explain everything." "Now. Are we all going to be calm, civilized people whom don't destroy racetracks?" He looks towards Will, towards Taffyta, towards Aviera, each in turn.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will tilts his hat back drown from his RANKOROUS position. "Alright." he says, "Because I am a king, and thus I have to remain Kingly in a KINGS court...which is also a race track."

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "And it's the best court you ever did see." King Candy replies. In the background, a support gives way and another stand collapses in on itself.

:'''[[Avira]] has posed:''' Avira lifts her hands up in a disarming fashion, "Hey hey, I'm not out to wreck anything right now, don't look at me like that." She makes motions with her hands, "In fact I was just about to get leaving, your majesty."

:'''[[Shiki Misaki]] has posed:''' Shiki Misaki is more than a little surprised at Vanellope, but not as surprised by the outpouring of defence she gets. That's just the way some people are. She continues to give Ralph a wary look though, wincing at the sorry state of the racetrack and the general malaise. But she's going to pay attention to the King for now, and try and nudge Ralph carefully back to his game after.

:'''[[Serah Farron]] has posed:''' Serah Farron is already calm! She's waiting to see who's going to win the race! But it looks like there's alot of demolition and weird stuff going on too. She looks toward Avira and Paulo nearby "Do you think this is all part of the normal races too?" A bit clueless there.

:'''[[Vanellope]] has posed:''' Vanellope is being hugged. She looks as though she absolutely does not know what to do about this. It is almost as if no one has every hugged her before. The girl stiffens and looks perplexed. Until she recovers her moxy, obviously her DEFENSE MECHANISM! "H-hey! Th-thanks but what's with the touchy feely!?" she asks before she suddenly has Tigger winding around her and babbling something about cars. "Uh, yes it is. Built it myself! I don't think it has fuel objections, its uh, peddle-powered at the moment so..." Vanellope turns then to give Taffyta the stink eye. So many people are suddenly defending her! She's so confused! She has no idea what to say as Taffyta and cronies slink away, so she settles with a simple but enthusiastic "YEAH!" at them as they go. The candy-haired urchin looks to Deelel then, who is perhaps even weirder looking than Avira! "Program? I'm Vanellope von Schweetz, racer extraordinaire! Nice to meetcha--but how did you all get in here? What games are you from? Did the arcade get a bunch of new games?" Pleasantries interrupted as King Candy steps up. Vanellope stubbornly crosses her arms. "He's just going to tell you I'm a glitch so I can't be allowed to play--but I can totally control it! I can race!"

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' The King speaks and Taffyta obeys. Taffyta doesn't seem to consider Will a king. She may in fact be the worst. "I solemnly swear to not wreck the racetrack. I swear on the Cookie Scout Girl Code." This video game has its priorities straight. She still LOOKS like she wants to lurk off but King Candy has a better TRACK record than she does, so he's the boss. Sometimes she thinks this gamerig's rigged.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "Now then, we have this problem here where little Vanellope, darling angel that she is, is inflicted with a terrible problem... she's glitched. It's very sad state of affairs, is what it is, and there's no two buts about it!" He reaches to place his hands protectively on little Vanellope's shoulders. But she gets all rambunctious and so the King withdraws. "But unfortunately..." He shrugs, stepping away and spreading his hands in a plaintive gesture. "That's she's a slight danger to herself and everyone around her. Think about what would happen if she glitched out in the middle of a race? What would the Players say?" He gestures outwards, spreading his hands plaintively. "They would think that the game is glitched... they'd unplug us! And then all my people would be homeless, trapped in the Hub... did you see space in the Hub for all those cutesy little sweet tarts? I sure didn't." "I feel for the kid." The King says, his voice going quiet. "I really do. But as a King, I have to think about what's best for all of my people, not just the individual." Candy makes a gesture towards Will. "You said that you're a King, right? Then you know about the duties, the responcibilities. How much the little crown really weighs. But the sad truth, at the end of the day, is that Vanellope can't be allowed to race, because she can't control her Glitching, despite what she s--" The King abruptly snaps around at Vanellope, raising his arms above his head and shouting in a loud voice to spook her. Because he knows it will. Because he knows what will happen afterwards.

:'''[[Wreck-It Ralph]] has posed:''' Ralph is beset on all sides by people who want nothing more than to /talk at him/. He doesn't want to listen or do any such thing like it. They all think they know him, and that he's gone Turbo or something, but he hasn't. All he wants is for Vanellope to give him back his medal, so he can go home and be a hero. Except that... she... spent it? He makes a face. It is not a terribly happy one. "So we'll go talk to the guy in charge of the race," Ralph says with infinite patience, and by infinite we mean the exact opposite, which probably means 'very little' in Ralph's mind but actually means 'none,' "and get it back /right/. /Now/." He jabs a huge finger at Vanellope to punctuate those remarks. Then, the donut cops get to him. They start to say something official-sounding, and Ralph raises a hand to silence them. He doesn't even look up from Vanellope, except to turn to King Candy to appeal to him. He seems to be in charge, maybe he can work this out. This turns out to be a bad plan, because suddenly, his hand is poked by something or other. He looks down, and sees two gummy darts with licorice ropes attached poking his palm. He looks confused. Then he looks comically electrified. /Then/ he looks like a jackhammer, bouncing up and down and across the track, adding to the damage until he spins off the side of the thing. He sends another row of stands flying in the process, and promptly falls directly off the beaten path and into a TERRIFYING TAFFY SWAMP. Which we'll revisit next time, because Vanellope is about to eat the entire animation budget for this scene.

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Of course a king has his duty. But, Ariel can't resist seeing a little urchin like Vanellope get picked on, either. She just seems so eager! "I'm - I'm sure she doesn't mean to-" she tries to tell the King, but she's a bit out of her depth, not being sure about all the vocabulary words he's employing.

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' "I guess it's true what they say..." One of the donut cops says. "You can take the Wrecker out of the City..." He slides on some sunglasses, "but you can't take the <untranslated japanese>"

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will frowns... "A King's duty also says that he needs to HELP his subjects...no matter what they have! You may deny this girl the race...but what are you doing to /stop/ or /fix/ the issue besides shunning her and dismissing her!" he says, and winks to her. Then Ralph gets tased and then falls into a taffy swamp. "...Poor guy." he says, with a heartfelt sympathy... "Uh right anyway..." he then pauses, wait what is he doing! He moves to stand infront of her and stare down the King!

:'''[[Vanellope]] has posed:''' Vanellope's expression as King Candy gives his speech quite clearly indicated how full of sugar she thinks he is, though as he gets to the part about the denizens of the game being homeless if they get unplugged, she looks guilty and tragically sad. At least for a moment, as King Candy then scares the skittles out of her. "AH!" she yells, and does indeed, glitch out. Lines blur, pixels run askew, she's in one place then the other, appearing again outside of her car and five feet away from King Candy, looking miffed. "That's not fair! You did that on purpose! You provoked it! If I was racing..." she trails off, squaring her shoulders stubbornly. "I'm made to race! I feel it in my code!" she says, putting a hand to her chest. "If you'd just let me /try/!" she protests, heartfelt. Suddenly, Ralph. Vanellope winces a little. "Sorry stinkbrain, but if you'd just convince them to let me race I could get it back for you!" of course, he's then being hauled off by the police. She facepalms as he hits the taffy swamp. Alright, she actually feels bad for the guy! But what was he going to do with that medal anyway? The man claiming to be the king of hobos steps in front of her and Vanellope looks up at him with those big brown eyes. Really, no one has ever stood up for her before! Suddenly, there were a bunch of people! It's ....weird!

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger falls onto the track when Vanellope glitches out. He looks disoriented, rolling on his back for a few seconds before regaining his feet.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will is startled for a moment...honest to god startled. She glitches when King Candy does his thing... At first it was just annoyance...he's seen this so many times before in his home...years and years of racism against other humans in his world...they were just... And then Loki's memories... Will's eyes sharpen. There is a moment that everything around him can feel his displeasure. He takes a step forward, he's a small guy, probably not as tall as King Candy, but for a moment...his presence fills the room, The red glow from his hands starts to appear, but through pure will he keeps it surpressed...he doesn't want to hurt him, just scare him. "StoSTOP IT!" he booms, staring right into the king's eyes. "I will not tolerate you hurting her like this! You are no king...you are a bully!" he says, and just stares at him with a thousand year stare. He can see it, this boy who claims to be king...is a thing older than he looks. But he turns away, turning to Vanellope. The feeling is gone as he motions for Tigger, "Hey. Why don't we get some ice cream, yeah? My treat.." which means Mercade's treat, "We don't wana race here anyway, we can find a better race...I think I know a place you can race too.."

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' "If you were racing then you'd have minty missiles and jaw-breaking jaw breakers and licorice lassos and I can't even remember what else flying at you. No, seriously, I can't. Do you have any idea how much stray code went into this game? It boggles the mind. Games these days, so complicated. Soon you're going to need a college degree to--" King Candy recoils as he's yelled at, his crown comically flipping end over end in the air before landing, pop, square back on his round noggin'. The tiny man's fists clench in anger. "Who." The King begins, straightening his diminutive back and looking up at the much taller Will proudly. "Who do /you/ think /you/ are, to come into /my/ kingdom, knowing nothing about /my/ people, or /their/ problems, and moralizing at /my/ solutions for them." The little man picks up his little candy cane, shaking the curved end in Will's direction. "How dare you insult me and my people so! How dare you claim that I haven't done all that I can for her! Look at you, you're trying to take her away, and you don't even know that she can't leave the Game itself!" "I, sirrah, am not a bully. I am a man that has been presented with difficult choices and I've made the best decisions that I could for my people." The King turns, "WYNNCHEL! DUNCAN!" The two donut cops, startled, come a'running. King Candy turns his gaze back up at Will, shaking his cane admonishingly. "But you. You come in here, you give me orders about how I should and shouldn't be doing things, and you try to intimidate me with your shouting and staring and whatever that hoodoo was with the other thing. YOU, sir! YOU are the bully! I will thank you to remove yourself from my kingdom, sirrah, for you are not welcome in it." As the two donut cops step up, one on either side of Will (and looking apologetic about the whole thing), King Candy flips the palm of his hand upwards, and exclaims, "GOOD DAY, SIR!" And then he waddles off. There is one more thing that he has to do; King Candy hardens his heart. "Now then, as for this particular matter..." He rounds upon Vanellope's hobbled togather, pedal powered hunk of race 'car'. He points his little candy cane forwards and sugar starts to swirl upwards from the ground. It's a horrible thing, to see in seconds that little car destroyed, reduced to little more then digital data that fluffs away upon the breeze, to swirl among the cotton candy clouds forevermore. And all the while, King Candy, stoney faced, performs this duty because he /must/. The King then announces, gently but sternly to Vanellope, but loud enough for all to hear, "Now then. Let us speak no more of this, child. The matter is concluded."

:'''[[Reno]] has posed:''' moments later, a completely oblivious Reno zips over and past the finish line with the roaring drone of his chopper engine, the rushing whirl of wind, and the blaringly loud voice coming over the aircraft's loudspeakers: "YEAAAAAHHHHH! SHINRA TAKES FIRST PLACE! WHOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo...!" The celebratory cheer fades off as the aircraft sails off into the cotton-candy clouded sunset.

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger covers his head when the shouting starts. He looks pained when Will and King Candy get into an argument. There's enough ego flying around here to bowl a simple Tigger over. It's not in a Tigger's nature to fight in this way. And then the /police/ get called! Tigger is scandalized. He puts his hands to his mouth with concern for Will. Is he going to go to Candy Jail?! And then with terrible finality, the candy car is destroyed. Tigger yowls sadly as it crumbles away into nothing, futilely trying to chase after its little fluffy bits. It is of no use. He slumps afterward, momentarily defeated. The car is destroyed. Will is going to be arrested by donuts. They didn't even win the race! It's terrible. This lasts for a few seconds before Tigger straightens up, tugs on his glowing scarf, and squares his shoulders in renewed determination. He's developing a plan. It is ridiculous and will never work. But it's a plan.

:'''[[Vanellope]] has posed:''' While Vanellope really appreciates Will sticking up for her (and offering ice cream and racing!) she looks down, shaking her head. "Sorry Hobo-guy, but I can't leave the game..." she begins quietly, trailing off as--well, she doesn't even know what happens but Hobo-guy is suddenly pretty scary, which makes King Candy react accordingly by being all...kingly and...well, basically a big butthead. Vanellope is ready to try to sneak away at this point while Will and King Candy are fighting, beginning to /stealthily/ wheel her car away. The stealth is ruined by her squeaky wheels, sadly. As she hears King Candy's voice harden, she turns toward him with wide eyes, realizing what he means to do. "NO! NO, PLEASE!" she yells as King Candy works his magic, reducing her car to nothing but code and unformed sugar. Vanellope cries, with both sadness and anger, all her hard work gone with the flick of King Candy's wrist. And her most vocal supporter is getting dragged off to jail. Vanellope pinches her lips shut as she tries to stop tears from spilling down her cheeks before she glitches out again, turning and running away, unable to face this anymore. But she is NOT giving up!

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel knows about code issues she's had them herself she was dubbed down pretty low for a long time lost most of her memory it was a living nightmare. She knows that code can be fixed and either Vanellope could be fixed or at least transferred somewhere else. There could be something for her beyond the Arcade, where she'd not risk the others who live here, right? If she's as s glitch she'll not be missed. She doesn't know if there's any issues on a glitch issue. She sees what King Candy is about to do and she's not about to say anything else. Vanellope is getting sympathetic look again the glitch is like body horror for her kind after here. She manages to not freak out but she's clearly started by it. She sighs she's going to have to talk to TRON about this, she's almost certain she can help. Then comes the stare down with Will and Candy. Deelel is taken a back and the basic gets quiet, very quiet. This is just something she does not know how what to do with entire situation. She's really uncertain to be honest given this is bit all right King Candy' system. He is basically the Admin program even if it's an bit of a jerk. He's not like dragging the natives into forced death games, right? Then the Cops come in and now Tigger seems to have a plan she's just not sure he's up to however Tigger does seem to do something she remains silent and is getting ready for trouble of her own. She sees the car just wrecked she's horrified but he doesn't move to help Vanellope just yet. Doing so now would cause more problems and get her in jail. She is going to have to come back later, she needs to do something she can't let this stand. This is too cruel and something hits her Vanellope's suffering is because some user screwed up in their programming of this world. It's User Error...

:'''[[Taffyta Muttonfudge]] has posed:''' Taffyta seems shocked by the act of King Candy--but takes it predictably not too poorly. Hey--if there's one big rule about gaming, you don't risk the program. The three bullies head off on their own, quickly turning their attention to other matters.

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Minutes later... Will gets thrown out of Sugar Rush, landing on his head and into a garbage can. "...He wasn't able to help the girl." He looks sad.

:'''[[Tigger]] has posed:''' Tigger walks out of Sugar Rush, trying to fish Will out of the trash can. "Maybe we just need to make her a car out of something more special than sugar."

:'''[[Deelel]] has posed:''' Deelel follows Tigger and Will out of the game and looks to to Tigger a smile forming on her face. "We will find a way to help her. I have plans, I know someone that might be able to fix her. Though I don't know how the king would take to it."

:'''[[Ariel]] has posed:''' Ariel follows behind, too. Though maybe being in King Candy's graces means she can convince him later. Now seems like a bad time, though.

:'''[[King Candy]] has posed:''' King Candy leans on his little bitty candy cane, watching Vanellope run off into the distance. Will Sherman is hauled off, to be thrown out of the Game itself like DJ Jazzy Jeff from the mansion. Even Mister Doubleguher bounces off, and that's a shame, because he seemed like good people and a guy that would appreciate candy. Overall, this has not been a very good day. But it is another day in which Candy is King, and that makes it not so very horrible. "Sour Bill." King Candy speaks to his attendant. "They're gonna plan something. I know sneaky and that was sneaky brewing. You watch them, Sour Bill. You watch them." "The Glitch... must /not/... be allowed to race."

:'''[[Will Sherman]] has posed:''' Will is fished out of the Trashcan. He looks at Tigger... He grins. "I have an idea!" He says... "But we need Ralph."

Catch 22 And A Half

2013-07-21T02:49:10Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/07/20 |Location=The Ame-no-Torifune |Synopsis=Haneisuru is dead and it is a very sad thing. |Cast of Characters=Minette Odam, Haneisuru |pret..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/07/20
|Location=The Ame-no-Torifune
|Synopsis=Haneisuru is dead and it is a very sad thing.
|Cast of Characters=Minette Odam, Haneisuru
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Paperwork inside the Murasame Zaibatsu procedes at the speed in which paperwork normally flows. Not even Ramuha lightning technology has found a way to speed that up. However, with Haneisuru's recent resurfacing, there is a pressing need to change his status from 'dead' to 'alive' within the Zaibatsu's internal network, or else he won't receive his health bennies, and that's just terrible. The Zaibatsu's airship, the Ame-no-Torifune, is a thing of harsh metal and stormy skies... and that last in a most literal way. It is literally followed by a lightning storm created by three Black Mages on duty in the ship's bows to power the vessel. Said ship is currently darkening the skies above the otherwise beautiful port city of Luca. Space is at a premium on the ship, as it's housing the entirety of the Zaibatsu's staff. Most people don't have private rooms, or private offices. But Minette Odam, however, Minette Odam is not most people. She has both a private room /and/ an office, as befitting her station as the VP of Accounting. And temp VP of Sales. And Accounts Payable. And Personel. And HR. And six other departments. The topic of extra compensation for her extreme efforts has not been brought up. It is to this overworked and underpaid employee's office / quarters (they are the same room) that Haneisuru has been directed. People along the way have wished him luck. Her door stands closed, but a little sign advertises 'Open for business <DO> disturb, appointments <NOT> needed'.

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' If /anybody/ on the payroll needs health benefits, it's Kurikaeshi Haneisuru. Let's be honest here. At any rate, he's all cleaned up from the, uh, re-entrance to society, sleeves properly billowing and belt-skirt flapping appropriately as he strides through the halls. "Ah, come on. Come on! Apparently I spent five months inside a Malboro in a void of a shattered world. How bad could Minette possibly be to deal with?" He assuages somebody, before pushing the door open. After smacking into the door briefly, he stops, turns the doorknob, and /then/ pushes the door open.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's room/office is a mess. The first thing that hits Haneisuru is the unpleasant odor of unwashed laundry and food that hasn't been disposed of properly. The center of the room is dominated by a sturdy desk and strung up in a corner is a hammock in lieu of a bed. It bespeaks of Minette's Levitani heritage, she's never really comfortable in a real bed. Scattered about the room are bookshelves, piled thick with thick accounts ledgers, action figures, and half-eaten plates of food that haven't been taken to the commisary for cleaning like they ought to have been. There are one or two science projects about. Minette's desk is covered with a variety of crap. There's a computer sitting on the corner with a fine layer of dust gathering on top; the keyboard isn't gunked up like you'd expect, but it too has a layer of dust so that explains why. Papers, ledgers, and napkins with scribblings all over them cover much of the rest of the free space, held down here and there by a Dragoon Man(tm) action figure or a lone plate of cookies. It's all organised, at least as far as Minette is concerned. And as for Minette herself, she's laying in her hammock, in her chocobo print pajamas, watching a spherecast of the local blitzball game. She's holding a pot of instant macaroni and cheese in one hand and a spoon in the other. Her hair is all askew. She doesn't seem to notice Han's enterance.

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru bops his head to the side. Huh. He kinda expected that the big numbers girl would be all OCD about cleaning or whatever. He's down with this. He quietly looks around, surmising the situation. He brushes the computer with a finger, noting the dust with a slightly quirked brow, before walking over to the hammock. Somehow, he too has a pot of instant macaroni and cheese in one hand and a spoon in the other. "Hey."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I don't get it, why's everything underwateKYAAAAH!" Taken by surprise, Minette recoils away from Haneisuru. The hammock rocks, tips, Minette goes butt over teacups, and the end result is that Minette is on the floor and there's instant mac all over the wall. The horror, the horror. "...owwiee..." Minette exclaims, rubbing at her backside (which she landed on), "Don't you know you're not supposed to sneak up on people, 'specially when they're on their lunchbreak?"

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru watches the hammock one way, then the other, watches the girl launch into the air, and the macaroni fly over into the wall. It's kinda passive. "...That was a pretty cool trick." With that, he lets the pot and spoon poof off into oblivion, waggling one finger as he puts a hand on his hip. "Don't you think it'd be a little bit creepy if I knew when your lunchbreak was?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "That was a /mean/ trick!" Minette whines, her voice high pitched and naisily. She pulls herself off of the floor, because she's come to expect that pretty much no one's going to help her up off of it. "/No/ it wouldn't." A pause. "Okay /yes/ it would." A pause. "But still better then being snuck up on by a ninj'ing ninja!"

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' "Keeps the blood flowing," Haneisuru chides, reaching his hand out to help Minette just a moment too late. Derp or jerk? Good question. "Yeah, you're right. It'd be /awful/ if I was a ninja. No worries, though." He taps his chest a couple times. "I promise you I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a ninja. At least not right now. So! Now that we've woken you up a bit, what say we get down to..uh..." He puts a finger on his chin, thoughtfully looking at the ceiling. "You know? I'm not /entirely/ sure what I'm actually here for, you called me over."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's neck cranes forwards as she eyes Han dangerously; her thick glasses reflecting the light. Damningly, she pronounces, "Just the sort of thing a ninja /would/ say." A bit of macaroni falls out of her hair, as if to punctuate this declarative statement. And then Minette abruptly withdraws. "I did?" Her lips purse down in a frown, one cactaur-slippered foot tapping in thought. "Oh! I did! You're... Haaa...aaaaan." Han something. Something.

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Han cranes his neck back, letting his eyes glint a little. "Just the sorta thing a ninja would say, huh?" He pulls a bit of macaroni out of his hair and chomps on it. "Well. Maybe I /can/ be a ninja. Ha /hah/." He leans back a little, corner of his mouth twitching as Minette forgets his name. He taps his foot thoughtfully. "Haneisuru. No worries, I'm no good at names either."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette blinks several times behind her glasses. OR DOES SHE, it's hard to tell with how thick they are. "Right... so... so you needed to come down here because..." Minette wanders over to her desk and starts going through her files. The fact it takes her less then a minute to find the right one is almost miraculous. "Have a seat." She says, absently, as she flips through a file. The only chair in the room is the one Minette is sitting in. Other options include the desk, and Minette's hammock. And also the floor, of course, but you don't know where that thing's been. "Okay, so... seems here that the first problem is that you're listed as 'desceased'. Do you have any way of proving that you're alive?"

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru listens intently to Minette, giving her a moment to walk over before she makes her proclamation that he needs to prove that he's alive. He offers her a sly wink with both eyes, a few times, before slipping over to the desk. "I'll stand. Sitting's bad for you, don't you know?" He grins, idly flipping through some of Minette's files. "Anyway, prove that I'm alive, huh? Well, obviously, if I was dead, I'd have to have submitted a certificate of death, and I haven't done that, so I have to be alive."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Certificate of death... certificate of dea--ah, here it is!" Minette pulls a piece of paper out of her folder. "Filed by the research department after your untimely demise." The winks go right over Minette's head. A lot of things do. "They made a note here that it was very tradgic."

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru leans over, pulling the piece of paper from Minette. "Huh. Well." He considers that. "Well, that settles it. Guess I'm dead." He rolls the paper up. "So, I guess you'll just have to get my life insurance paid out to my next of kin--now, since I'm the only one in my family remaining, that means you'll just have to pay it to me. Now, that said, I'll need employment, so I'll just apply here--and obviously you guys will just have to account for my prior experience.."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I can't pay out your life insurance to you, you're dead." Minette explains. "Now, if you were alive, that would be a different story, but you're dead, so I can't."

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru waggles a finger. "You can pay it to my /estate/, and I'll just withdraw it from there."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Except there's no one in your estate, in which case it goes into the Zaibatsu widows fund." Minette continues to explain. "Do you have a widow?" A pause, "No, what am I saying, if you did then you'd have a next of kin to pay to."

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru pauses. "But I do have one." He passes back the Certificate of Death, which now includes Not-Haneisuru Not-Kurikaeshi as his listed next of kin. "Says right there on the file, and the file can't be wrong, right?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh my Gods, why am I talking to you on the radio, you're /right there/." Minette announces, abruptly. She picks up the file. "Not-Haneisuru Not-Kurikaeshi'." She pronounces.

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru considers this. "You're talking to me on the radio," He says, "Because we're trying to keep things public and aboveboard, right?" He waves his radio, before putting it back in his pocket. "Absolutely. And obviously, since I'm dead, I can obviously be trusted with the cheque to deliver to the next of kin, because I can't possibly cash it for myself, because I'm dead."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Well, okay, but we have a policy about using undead as couriers. For that you'll need to get our head necromancer, Helena Celba, to sign off on it. And also fill out forms in triplicate that you're an acceptable use corpse... and did you remember to fill out the forms for that before you died?" Minette asks.

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru considers. "Ah, but I'm /dead/, not undead. So that policy doesn't apply to me, right? If I was /undead/, then my status on the form would be 'undead', not 'deceased', and the form is never wrong." He nods.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Look, if you're /just dead/, then we're legally and morally obligated to give you or whatever is left of you a proper burial." Minette explains. "I don't make these rules, I just follow them. It's for the good of everyone. Imagine if we weren't obligated to bury dead people, then where would we be? With corpses just laying all over the place all caddywumpus and, like, stuff. Yeah." She shakes a finger in Han's direction admonishingly. "You should be glad we live in such a civilized society. Now then, what kind of burial would you like? We offer Ramuha modern, Levitani traditional, Ifriti traditional, and for a small surcharge we can upgrade to Titanic classic or Odynar warrior." A pause, then Minette leans forwards to confide, "That much stone gets costly, you see?"

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru considers this. "Huh. So if I'm gonna go for the small surcharge, where does the money come from?" He waggles his finger at Minette knowingly, looking a little smug. "I mean, obviously I can't pay you myself, because you can't take the accounts payable from me." With that, he thinks a moment, before leaning in. "So that means I can order /every single bonus/ to that funeral. Every single perk, and you can't make me pay for it. Unless..."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Well if you can't pay for it, then you can't afford it." Minette explains. "And if you can't afford it, then we can't grant that to you. I'm terribly sorry about that."

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru puts a hand to his chest. "You would deny a dead man his last wish? You are a /monster/."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "No." Minette says, her chest puffing up with pride. "I'm a /beaurocrat/." Awkward silence. "So will you be having the Ramuha, Levitani, or Ifriti ceremony?"

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru taps his head a few times. "Well, funeral planning takes -time-, Minette. You can't expect a guy traumatized by death itself to do this stuff on the fly. Besides, I'll need to take the forms to a notary!"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh come on, stop being a big baby. Look, you only have three options. One of them's boring, one of the other two is awesome, and the third we just set you on fire and scatter the ashes." Minette explains. "This really isn't a hard choice."

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru meanwhile, totally lunges forward and grabs Minette's hand, holding it upwards to demonstrate.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette, staring at the cieling, breathlessly whispers, "...reach for the top, Minette..."

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru nods approvingly. "Yes! You can do this! I have nothing but the utmost faith in you, Minette."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "YOSH!" Minette declares, pulling her arms inwards, fists balled, and with a look of pure determination on her face. "THERE IS NOTHING I CAN NOT ACHIEVE!" And with that, Minette leaps up and dashes out the door in her race to get started. Nevermind that she's still in her pajamas. And that she just left the office from which she'd actually do this thing.

:'''[[Haneisuru]] has posed:''' Haneisuru rolls his shoulders a bit, cracks his neck, and starts going through the files, casually rewriting himself where need be as being 'alive'. Minette's gone, right? What's the harm? And after all. The files are /never wrong/.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette will be searching for the source of the 'disruption' for at least two months. It will be the source of sleepless nights and endless frustration because /now/ things won't balance.

Minette Odam

2013-07-16T03:19:16Z

Draco: /* Minette Odam Says */

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{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Murasame Zaibatsu, Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Performing a hostile takeover!
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

= <Goosehonk> Minette Odam Says =
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Because I was sitting here developing Thirzbianism more, and I've figured out that to be a Thirzbian you have to be a dike." 
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Against the rising waters of oppression, that is." 

<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Man, why does bologna smell so good? Like... if it smelled any better, I'd wear it."

== Relationships ==

===Friends===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is both so she's double great
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Aeschere Childs]]||New intern! I like her, she gets coffee and doesn't cause inter-office drama. We needed more awesome Levitani around here, anyway.
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are impossible!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||MAN-STEALING HO BAG!!! AUGH! But I'll get her. With mail pranks. 8<
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|-
||[[Annia Leradine]]||A nasty <goosehonk> for no good reason, why does anyone put up with her? I feel bad for Jidro.
|-
||[[Akari Seran]]||A stupid bully, devoid of worth, decency, basic hygiene, and common humanity.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Ryusei Isshiki]]||I guess she's okay, even if she's kind of rude to Mr. Murasame. She just doesn't know him like I do... but I can fix that!
|-
||[[Soan Sagittarius]]||He hangs out with Nik and that's a strike against him... but he hangs out with Kamon, too, so I guess that balances out.
|-
||[[Dragoon Man]]||SO! DUCKING! AWESOME!!! I will find out this one's incredible secret! And get him to autograph my action figures.
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Nothing Wrong Here

2013-07-09T11:03:29Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/07/08 |Location=Costa Del Sol |Synopsis=A perfectly ordinary happenstance, nothing at all out of the ordinary here. |Cast of Characters=Selori..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/07/08
|Location=Costa Del Sol
|Synopsis=A perfectly ordinary happenstance, nothing at all out of the ordinary here.
|Cast of Characters=Seloria Delacreaux, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette said she was 'going for a walk'. This is code for 'I'm going to blow off Seloria then claim 'I'm Minette, I'm so wacky' later so I don't have to put up with her'. It is occasionally useful being a ditz, it lets you get away with things that people wouldn't tolerate in others. Or at least people won't look at you as askance afterwords. And so Minette has taken it upon herself to go to Costa Del Sol. It doesn't remind her of home, not /really/, not the parts of Leviathan she frequented anyway, but it does have the ocean and Minette finds this somewhat comforting. Minette is in her bathing suit, walking along the beach at sunset. Her new pendant is hanging from a small silver chain around her neck, and she's staring down at it as she walks along, the waves lapping at her feet. She is, naturally, not looking where she is going but this is Minette and she almost never holds her head high, normally looking at the ground in front of her with slouched shoulders.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' It's hard to blow off Seloria when you're meandering along the beach she calls home in this new, strange world, Minette. Carrying a covered plate - that is cooling off, but still nice and warm, Seloria squints. Is that-- "Minette?" She calls out, scurrying down the pathway. She attempts to stop just short of her, but -- it's Minette and Seloria. "I was about to try to find the ship for your dinner..."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette starts at the sound of her name, head snapping up, foot missing a beat aaaaaaaaaaaand... pfoompf. Minette's arms pinwheel and she looses her balance, falling straight on her butt with a splash. Bells jingle on the way down. "M'oka--ACK! PLHLP! HAUCK!" And then a wave rolls in and /saltwater in her mouth ugh/. Minette sighs, because the world clearly hates her even when she's on a different one, and she picks herself up out of the surf, but not before getting slapped in the face by a second wave. Minette stands there, dripping. She is, at least, already in a bathing suit. "... ... hi." She greets.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "Minette!" "Are you ok--" Minette gets a wave to the face, not once, but twice, and Seloria just... shuts up for about a minute while she avoids laughing - barely. "... hi." She responds back. "Um. Would you like a towel?" Selly finally offers. "And food?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette would like a dignity. But seeing as she isn't about to be handed that on a whim she instead says, flatly, "Go ahead and laugh." Almost unconciously, she reaches up and touches the pendant around her neck; the smooth crystal reminds her of Souji. Souji wouldn't laugh. "I think I'll do the food thing, yeah. Thanks."

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "I don't think I can laugh. I mean, it is, um, you know, funny, but everyone can get tossed around by waves, even if they're the most famous swimmers or most athletic people." Selly offers her opinion, before she offers the covered plate out at Minette. "There's utensils in there, I made two different batches of fish, one with a herb butter and one more traditional since you said you didn't care." Selly is no Alma - perfect cook. Selly is no Kyra - oh god don't eat her cooking. Selly is no Rena - reverse cook - looks bad but is good. She's just a cook. No tropes here.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette accepts the plate and jerks her head with a smooth motion away from the water. Oddly, this motion produces no bell jingles. The accountant leads on. "If you want to laugh, you should laugh. At least it'd be more honest then not laughing. If something's funny, it's funny. Moralizing at it won't change that."

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Seloria shakes her head, before she chuckles. "No bells?" She asks, curiously, noticing the silence. She knows she gave Minette some, so she's actually sort of curious as to far as where they went-- Although they probably rust, so maybe she's just not weraing them so they stay together longer.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Eh?" Minette asks, half turning. "Oh, no. They're there." She reaches up and grabs a braid, giving it a shake to produce jingling. "One of the most important things a sailor can learn is how to move gracefully enough that her bells don't make any noise!" Minette says proudly. "It's tradition." Among those that didn't adopt the Ramuha ways, at least. Those that still lived on the ships and worked the waves instead of laying on a beach next to them. Minette flumps down on a beach blanket. There isn't a second one for Seloria, so Minette scoots over a little, making some room. She lifts the plate's lid and goes to town without much fanfare. She says prayers using her 'inside voice' while she's eating; that's just the way she does things.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Selly, not being wet, is more than willing to sit on sand so that Minette does not get a sandy butt. As such, she just quietly watches the ocean, her head tilted to the side as she listens to Minette eat. "I didn't know you were sailor-trained!" She thinks to note.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Whah Levitanih ihhent?" Minette asks rhetorically, with a mouthful of food. She gulps. "One bell for each season spent on the waves!" Minette shakes her head rapidly, sending well over two dozen bells jingling. It's hard to grab an accurate count, they're tiny bells and they're spred throughout her braids. That's years she's spent on a boat. Years. "Soon I'll start replacing the plain bells for seasons with gold ones for years. And, oh, oh, oh, I'll actually be able to afford real gold ones instead of faux gold ones. Isn't that great?"

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Seloria smiles broadly when she hears the bells ringing. It is a happy sort of smile. "I er.. wasn't quite brought up as traditionally as a lot of us were..." She admits. "I spent a lot of time swimming, but not with sailor training." She then gives the other girl a warmer smile. "That's great!"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' 'No, you were brought up rich and spoiled' Minette thinks but doesn't voice. She smiles awkwardly, shoveling fish into her mouth so she doesn't have to fake it as much. "S'not really... training. It's just... life." Minette offers between bites. "I mean, the other continents make jokes about Levitani being born on boats, but... I really was."

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Not as rich as you might expect, Minette. Seloria looks at Minette for awhile, her eyebrow arching as she comprehends that statement. "That... must have been an interesting birth." She says, finally, completely, utterly honest.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Meh, I don't really remember it, to be honest." Minette replies, with equal sincerity.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "You don't, but everyone on board that night probably does!" Selly replies, shaking her head with a giggle.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette cants her head to the side, amidst a jingling of bells. "I guess." She hadn't thought of it like that. "I'm pretty sure it was just her and dad."

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "Oh.. my, that must have been really interesting, huh." Seloria lays down in the sand, uncaring about it getting EVERYWHERE as sand does. "Well, I'm glad you're here, Minette." She says, softly. "It's nice to have someone else who remembers all of that."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Maybe." Minette shrugs. Sand is as sand does. It's everywhere, you get used to it. "...I wish we had more Levitani around that remember what home was really like." She says this with a mild grump in her tone.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Seloria can't help but flinch slightly at the grump and the phrasing of the sentence. "m'sorry?" She offers up, awkwardly. "That I don't remember how it really was? But what I know of it, I loved it."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "S'just... Aeschere spent most all her life on Chocobo, or so I gather, and Jidro's upbringing wasn't... normal..." Minette shrugs.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "I mean... most of us /weren't/ normal, Minette." Seloria says. "I -- mean, look at Mister Murasame, Nik's training, Helena's life... we all had something crazy."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah, I know." Minette replies. Most of them grew up rich and pretty and popular and as a result they do nothing but complain about how /terrible/ it was and don't appreciate the things that they had. Nik's upbringing made him physically fit, self confident, and one of the most powerful individuals on the planet and it was /so aweful/. Crybaby. It just makes Minette so frustra-- Thou shouldst hold his head under the water until breath escapes him. Minette's head jerks upwards. She blinks twice, then looks around. And then at Seloria. "Did you... say something, just now?"

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Minette grew up to be a mathmatical wizard of sorts with a very pretty frame and a mean head for business. Seloria tilts her head as Minette jerks and then blinks, before she shakes her head. "Um..." "No?" Blink. "Are you okay?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Y-yeah." Minette replies, glancing around. "Yeah, I just... guess I up and ate too fast. Fish headache?" Is that even possible.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Seloria opts not to question it. "Absolutely!" She says, agreeably.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah." Minette replies, inhaling and exhaling deeply. This goes on for a few moments. "I'd... I'd better go. Thanks for the fish, it was good."

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "Okay." Seloria says, agreeably. "Have a good night, Minette." She gives her a smile then rolls to her feet.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette leaves the plate on the blanket. And she leaves the blanket, too, just getting up and muttering out a distracted, "Yeah, you too." Before she ambles off across the beach. That was odd, but then again, Minette is pretty odd.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "... kay." Selly says, gathering the plate and blanket and heading off to her room.

Mixandrette, The Fell And Terrible

2013-07-08T05:10:31Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/07/07 |Location=The Ame-no-Torifune |Synopsis=The brave Sir Thirza goes off to slay a dragon and save distraught damsels... or... not. |Cast o..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/07/07
|Location=The Ame-no-Torifune
|Synopsis=The brave Sir Thirza goes off to slay a dragon and save distraught damsels... or... not.
|Cast of Characters=Minette Odam, Thirza Ingersleben
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's office on-board the Ame-no-Torifune is currently /not/ Minette's office. "For I am the fearsome dragon, Mixandrette, MWA HA HA!" Minette exclaims, sitting on top of her desk instead of at it. There is a small pile of gil on her desk that she was counting, as well as a plate of cookies. Minette currently has one (cookie, that is) in her hand... held like a claw. "My reign is terrible, my rage is unfathomable, and none can slay me for I am armored about with hard scales encrusted with precious jewels!" Mixandrette shakes the ginger-bread cookie around somewhat savagely. "And now you, Princess Kyra, have incurred my wrath and your shall suffer a dire fate, indeed!" Minette's voice goes falsetto in a bad imitation of Kyra Hyral's, "No, you are wrong, I am loved by everyone and surely some brave knight will save me, or even the great and powerful summoner, Lady Seloria!" Mixandrette roars a haughty and dismissively laugh. "Lady Seloria can not save you, for I have already devoured her! AH HA HA HA HA!"

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' Thirza is en route to Minette's office when she hears Minette shouting about something. Since it isn't Minette's typical cry for help or yelp because she's startled, Thirza approaches the office more slowly. She creeps toward the door cautiously and presses her ear against it, as her curiousity gets the better of her. Thirza cautiously balances the fresh plate of gingerbread cookies she was bringing in the hand opposite the door.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "You monster!" Cookie-Kyra squeaks, "I'll defeat you myself by conforming to non-conformist counter-culture because daddy loved Alma more and using the power of Mogstep!" "Non-syncopated beats can never defeat me!" Mixandrette proudly declares, before the sounds of nomming can be heard, loudly, from the other side of the door.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' It is at this point that Thirza puts too much weight against the door, which is not fully secured. It pops open and Thirza stumbles, trying to balance the cookies so she doesn't dump them. She succeeds at that part, but not without cost: Thirza lands soundly on her backside in the middle of the floor in front of "Mixandrette". "Oh, um, hi Minette," Thirza says, looking at her with an awkward smile. "I brought you more cookies." A pause. "...who's Mixandrette?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette looks up from nomming on a gingerbread cookie's head in what would be considered far too aggressive a manner for polite company. Cookie still in mouth, her face goes a bright scarlet. There's a solid minute where no body says anything. Minette swallows, slowly. And then says, quietly, "... ... ...a dragon."

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' Thirza looks at Minettte for a moment as she climbs to her feet. She sets the cookies onto the desk with Minette casually, as though nothing weird was going on. It's after that that she speaks up. "--um. Are you Mixandrette, Minette? Is this some sort of game you're playing while on break?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... yes."

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' Thirza steps over toward the door and pushes it closed, checking to make sure it's properly closed and secured this time. She turns back around, looking at Minette with dreadful seriousness.%r "---that's awesome!! I can't um, join you, can I?" Thirza looks hopeful.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette stares at Thirza for several long moments. She distinctly makes the 8< face at her. Then, with color still in her cheeks, she replies, "Y... you'd need some kind of dragon-name."

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "--well I don't have to if you don't want me to," Thirza says, twiddling her thumbs a little nervously. I just thought it might be fun." She looks away. "Oh, um. A dragon name...hmm. I'd have to think about that one..." "--what's Mixandrette doing, anyway?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Well... dragons have like... Xs in their name, a lot. And tend to replace Is with Ys, so... that's a... thing." Minette fidgets on her desk. "She's... being a terrible dragon, and... doing dragon things like... kidnapping maidens and eat them... and such..." Minette slides down off of her desk and abruptly changes the subject. "SO! How did the spying go?" Minette does not want to know, her world has already been Ruined Forever but at least it can't be any more awkward then pretending to be a dragon.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Oooh, well that makes sense," Thirza says pleasantly, not drawing attention to what she overheard about the dragon conveniently eating Kyra and Seloria. She frowns a little when Minette changes the subject. "Oh, well," Thirza thinks for a moment. "Well, really badly, to be quite honest. I kind of like Alma, which I think is why Mister Murasame wanted me to talk to--you know, because she'd have her guard down." Thirza sighs. "And she said a lot of really serious things that got me thinking a lot, but I'm doing to do some more research before I really buy into them." Thirza droops, then sighs. "It really didn't go well. I don't want to talk a lot about it."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's mouth screws up in a frown. "I don't know... I'm starting to think that there might be something to what Helena says about her. Like yesterday, was sitting there telling us what terrible people we are for wanting to talk to the Empire of Vector about recovering a world shard that fell into their borders, because they're a military-dictatorship police-state that conquers their neighbors... and she lives in and works for /Archades/." Minette slaps both her hands on the sides of her head, then flings them upwards expressively, her expression suggesting a statement of 'guh-doy'.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' hirza frowns a bit. "Yeah...I don't get it," she admits. "...Archades is really scary, by the way, I don't know why anyone needs so many soldiers all over the place. Or what Alma wants to do with them. It's weird." Thirza moves around to sit on Minette's desk, being careful not to sit on the plate of gingerbread cookies.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette picks up a cookie and shoves the better part of it into her mouth, gnawing at it loudly. After taking a swallow, she attempts to shift the conversation around to something mildly less depressing (for Thirza, at least). "So how did you... /other/... spying go." On Kamon.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Oh," Thirza droops. "He's kind of hard to keep up with." She hasn't actually tracked him down yet, in other words. "But I did learn he'd just been patched up when he was staying over there--" A pause. "There wasn't anything funny going on, I mean," Thirza blushes. "You know, they weren't--" "Uhh, anyway. I think maybe there's something going with Kyra and him, but I don't think they're like, super serious? I'm going to look into it more--" Thirza droops. "I hope not though. I really want that to work out for you. You really deserve someone nice and handsome."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "...oh." Minette replies. That was... less soul-crushing then she anticipated. But then, after talking with Helena whom also spied on Kyra for her... frmph. Okay, so that did turn out to be somewhat soul crushing. "I don't... I don't think you need to worry about tracking him down anymore. Prrrrrrrobably for the best, there." She goes around her desk and wraps her noodle-arms around Thirza, giving the taller girl a hug. "Thank you, though. It's very sweet of you to say that." Even if it isn't true.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' Thirza smiles brightly, returning the hug. "Aww. It's okay....sorry I couldn't be more help, Minette." She gives the shorter girl a squeeze. "I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm scouting, huh? Maybe I can find you an even better catch..." Thirza trails off, but she seems determined enough to do it. It will undoubtedly fail miserably.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Maybe..." Minette says glumly, but internally she figures, if I'm not good enough for Kamon Lionward, how could I be good enough for someone better? She doesn't give voice to this particular complaint, though, stating instead, "Maybe people are right. Maybe I should just settle for being a lesbian."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Nothing." Minette replies, pulling away. "It's just a... stupid thing that people say." A pause. "Used to say." Minette collapses into her chair, leaning backwards. She heaves a sigh, reaching for another cookie... need a new topic, need a new topic, need a ne-- "OH!" Minette exclaims, sitting up suddenly. "I didn't get a chance to show it to you, yet!"

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Oh," Thirza says, blinking. "Okay. That's a little weird. Anyway." Thirza doesn't say anything further on the topic. It is mysterious. "Show me what?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette tugs at the silver chain around her neck, pulling up out of her shirt a small pendant made out of blue crystal. As she holds it up to let it dangle, it catches the light dazzlingly, sending blue hues rippling across the walls and other surfaces. There is a sense of depth, looking into that pendant, a feeling of the ocean breeze on one's face, of the smell of salt, and of vastness. There is something of a mystical quality to looking up it, a practice that can only truely be described as 'an experience'. Minette tucks it back into her shirt and the office returns to mundanity. "Isn't it beautiful? Mr. Murasame gave it to me!"

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Ohhhh, that's gorgeous!" Thirza says, staring at it in wonder for several moments. This sort of spectacle isn't something familiar to Thirza, who grew up as poor as Minette did. That makes it even more spectacular. "He must think you're doing a really great job!" Thirza says. "--which is great, because you are!" Thirza converses briefly on the Linkpearl. "Oh...right. I guess I should look into that...and the pizza thing..."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "He DOES!" Minette says, getting up to do a little twirl. It knocks a bunch of papers off of her desk. "...gwah!" She starts picking up papers, placing them back on her desk. She keeps talking. "He even called me into his office and told me himself! In person! He had to take the time to do that, he's so awesome-sauce!"

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "That's so great! ...I guess I should work harder, then," Thirza admits, looking away for a moment. "Um. ...on that note, I should probably get going. I'll be back later, Minette!" And so, Thirza zooms out the door.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "You can do it Thirza! Remember... REACH FOR THE TOP!" Minette punctuates this by thrusting a fist into the air, hitting her hand on the low cieling and scattering papers all over the place again. "...owwie..."

Minette Odam

2013-07-06T20:53:58Z

Draco: /* Relationships */

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{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Murasame Zaibatsu, Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Performing a hostile takeover!
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

= <Goosehonk> Minette Odam Says =
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Because I was sitting here developing Thirzbianism more, and I've figured out that to be a Thirzbian you have to be a dike." 
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Against the rising waters of oppression, that is."

== Relationships ==

===Friends===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is both so she's double great
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Aeschere Childs]]||New intern! I like her, she gets coffee and doesn't cause inter-office drama. We needed more awesome Levitani around here, anyway.
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are impossible!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||MAN-STEALING HO BAG!!! AUGH! But I'll get her. With mail pranks. 8<
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|-
||[[Annia Leradine]]||A nasty <goosehonk> for no good reason, why does anyone put up with her? I feel bad for Jidro.
|-
||[[Akari Seran]]||A stupid bully, devoid of worth, decency, basic hygiene, and common humanity.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Ryusei Isshiki]]||I guess she's okay, even if she's kind of rude to Mr. Murasame. She just doesn't know him like I do... but I can fix that!
|-
||[[Soan Sagittarius]]||He hangs out with Nik and that's a strike against him... but he hangs out with Kamon, too, so I guess that balances out.
|-
||[[Dragoon Man]]||SO! DUCKING! AWESOME!!! I will find out this one's incredible secret! And get him to autograph my action figures.
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Minette Odam

2013-07-06T20:35:36Z

Draco: /* Minette Odam Says */

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{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Murasame Zaibatsu, Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Performing a hostile takeover!
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

= <Goosehonk> Minette Odam Says =
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Because I was sitting here developing Thirzbianism more, and I've figured out that to be a Thirzbian you have to be a dike." 
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Against the rising waters of oppression, that is."

== Relationships ==

===Friends===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is both so she's double great
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are impossible!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||I guess she's okay, even if she kind of reminds me of Tira. And even if she disrespects Mr. Murasame a lot... but he's okay with her, so she can't be that terrible, maybe it's just me
|-
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Minette Odam

2013-07-06T20:35:04Z

Draco:

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{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Murasame Zaibatsu, Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Performing a hostile takeover!
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

= <Goosehonk> Minette Odam Says =
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Because I was sitting here developing Thirzbianism more, and I've figured out that to be a Thirzbian you have to be a dike."
<Comm B: School Daze> Minette Odam says, "Against the rising waters of oppression, that is."

== Relationships ==

===Friends===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is both so she's double great
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are impossible!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||I guess she's okay, even if she kind of reminds me of Tira. And even if she disrespects Mr. Murasame a lot... but he's okay with her, so she can't be that terrible, maybe it's just me
|-
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Other People's Money

2013-07-02T23:56:19Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Cutscene Header |Date of Scene=2013/07/02 |Location=Narshe |Synopsis=The stockholders of Milner Tool Works meet to discuss the fate of their company. Both company manager Be..."

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2013/07/02
|Location=Narshe
|Synopsis=The stockholders of Milner Tool Works meet to discuss the fate of their company. Both company manager Beld Lemellar and Zaibatsu representative Minette Odam give speeches to the assembled, before the vote is cast.
|Cast of Characters=Beld Lemellar, Minette Odam
|Tinyplot=Other People's Money
}}
Beld 'Lem' Lemellar looked out over the main production floor of Milner Tool Works. The lathes were shut off, the fires allowed to die out, and over a hundred folding chairs were arranged in rows to create a temporary auditorium. Those seats were filled with the company's stockholders. Soon, they would take a vote on giving the Murasame Zaibatsu control of the company. The vote itself would determine if the company would live or die.

Lem had joined the company as a young man. He started on the manufacturing floor, became a foreman, and moved up into the board. Frances Milner had never particularly had any interest in his family's company, so Lem had been the one running it. He'd seen it carried through tough times, and had enjoyed the good times. And now this outside... this child whom had the appearance of one that had never truly done a day's work in her life... wanted to kill this company for a quick buck. He could barely look at her without snorting in disgust.

To his right were his loyalists. His aged secretary, Joanna. His daughter-in-law Lindsey, whom had studied law in Jidoor and returned home to help save the company. Others. His friend and company president, Jens Hewell, was up at the microphone, laying out the hard numbers and the company's fiscal plan. It was a good plan, Lem felt, solid and dependable. But it wasn't going to turn any heads. It was his turn to speak next, though he hadn't prepared any notes. He wasn't sure what to say in a situation like this. So he simply planned to speak from the heart. He stood, accepted the microphone from Jens with a polite nod, raised it to his mouth, and spoke.

"It's good to see so many familiar faces. So many old friends. Some of you I haven't seen in years. I thank Mr. Hewell for talking about our business goals and our outline for the coming years, but I'd like to talk to you about something else. I want to share with you some of my thoughts concerning the vote your going to make concerning the company that you own. This proud company, which has survived the death of it's founder, numerous recessions, and a war with Vector, is in imminent danger of self-destructing on this day, in the town of it's birth. And there is the instrument of our destruction." Lem turned, pointing a damning finger at the table containing the Murasame delegation. A half dozen young lawyers in high priced suits led by a girl with bells in her hair.

"I want you to look at her, in all her glory, Minette the Liquidator. An entrepreneur from another land, playing God with other peoples' money. The robber-barons of modern society at least leave something tangible in their wake. A coal mine, perhaps, or a railroad. Banks. But this girl leaves nothing. She creates nothing. She builds nothing. She runs nothing. And in her wake lies nothing but a blizzard of paper to cover the pain." Throughout the diatribe, Minette merely sat there, one leg folded over the other, arm laying askew on the table, and her mouth in a pensive, thoughtful frown. She glanced out over the assembled stockholders.

"If she said, 'I know how to run your business better then you', then that would be something worth talking about. But she's not saying that, she's saying 'I'm going to kill you because you're currently worth more dead then you are alive'. Well, maybe that's true, but it's also true that this industry will turn. When the Munny is weaker, when the Gil is stronger. After the economic boom settles, Narshe's infrastructure will need to be improved, demand will skyrocket, and when that happens we will still be here... stronger because of our ordeal, stronger because we have survived. And the price of our stock will make her offer pale by comparison."

"God save us if we vote to take her paltry few dollars and run. God save this town if this methodology is truly the way of the future. Narshe will become a place where... where we make nothing but fast food, creates nothing but lawyers, and sells nothing but tax shelters. Has Narshe become the sort of town where we kill something because... because at the moment it's worth more dead then alive..." Lem's voice choked a little with the rising emotion and passion.

"Well. Take a look around, look at your neighbor. You wouldn't kill them. It's called 'murder' and it's illegal. Well, this too is murder, on a grand scale, only in the Murasame board room, they call it 'maximizing shareholder value'. They call it right and they substitute gil where a conscience should be. Damnit! A business is worth more then the price of it's stock. It is place where we earn our living, where we meet our friends, dream our dreams. It is in every sense the very fabric that binds our society together. So let's say to Miss Odam... and every Minette in the land, that here! We build things. That we care about more then the price of our stock. Here... we care about people."

The stockholders erupted into applause and the suddenness of their standing was as the sound of thunder. Lem took his seat amidst the sound of their clapping and their cheers. And when Minette rose to take her turn to speak, the cheers became boos. She took the microphone in hand and waited for them to stop, standing there with only a slight frown.

Minette, too, hadn't prepared a speech beforehand. She wasn't good at speeches. Or public speaking. Normally, the PR department didn't let her anywhere near the public because her mouth was an erupting geyser of dumb things. But this was different. She had to do this and there wasn't anyone here to bail her out. In truth, she was nervous as all hell and had choked down a shot of vodka before the meeting started to calm her nerves. It didn't work. But ringing in the back of her mind was Mr. Murasame's advice.

'Illustrate how they will gain by following your advice. People are most swayed by the application of showing how it benefits them. Minimize the illogical, objectionable elements. You are capable of this, Odam.'

Souji believed in her. Out of all the people in the world, he alone supported her unconditionally. He never judged her, never tried to change her. He alone believed in her and she loved him dearly for it. If he said that she can do this, well, then by the Second Gods, she could. She was armed with facts and numbers, with logic and sense. Lem spoke from emotion, she spoke from the reality of the world. They boo'd her now... she'd change that.

"May the waves guide your soul."

Minette began quietly, almost placidly into the microphone. "May the waves guide your soul. And may the waves guide your soul. Please forgive me, I'm not familiar with the local custom. But that's what my people, the Levitani, say after a prayer for the dead. Because that is what you just heard, a prayer for the dead. You just heard a prayer for the dead, my fellow stockholders, and you didn't say a benediction."

"This company is dead."

"I didn't kill it, so like... don't blame me. It was dead when I got here. It's too late for prayers, totally too late. Because even if the prayers were answered, and the munny did this or the gil did that, or the infrastructure did that other thing he said, we would still be dead. You know why? Power tools. New technologies. Obsolescence. This company was being killed when it's only neighbor was Figaro... and now you've got to content with Archades. Vector. Midgar. Manhatten. We're dead alright... just not broke. And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes, slow but sure." Minette's nervous feet started pacing back and forth, but still she kept talking.

"At one time, there must have been dozens of companies making chocobo cart whips. And I'll bet the last one must have made the best darned chocobo cart whip you ever did see. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company after the railroads were laid down?"

"You invested in a business and this business is dead. Let's have the intelligence... let's have the decency, to kill it gracefully, collect our profits, and invest in something that has a future. But, like, we can't, or so says the prayer. Because we have a responsibility. To our employees, to our community. What will happen to them? Well, I have two words for that;

"Who. Cares?"

"Care about them? Why? They didn't care about you. They've been sucking you dry. For almost a decade, this company has been bleeding your money. Has Narshe ever said, 'we know times are tough, we'll lower taxes'? Reduce water and sewer?' Check it out, you're paying like double what you were ten years ago. And our poor, devoted employees which have taken no increases are still making twice what they were ten years ago. And our stock? A sixth of what it was ten years ago. Oh, sure, Lem will gladly tell you that your stock has gone up two points in the past week, but I'm here to tell you that it's 'cuz I'm buying it. Who cares? I'll tell ya."

"Me."

"I'm not your best friend here..." Minette shrugged, gesturing towards the board. "I'm your only friend. I don't make anything? I'm making you money. And lest we forget, that's the only reason any of you became stockholders in the first place... you wanna make money. You don't care if they manufacture hand tools, fried chicken, or grow potatoes. You wanna make money! I'm the only friend you've got... I'm making you money. Take the money. Invest it somewhere else. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll be used productively, in a company that has a future. And if it is, you'll create new jobs and provide a service for the economy. And, Gods forbid, even make a few gil for yourselves." A chuckle ran through the assembled. "And if anybody asks, tell them you gave at the factory." More laughter.

Minette turned toward Lem, walking towards him. She met his eye, stared him down, and dared him to look away. She could see it in their eyes, the uncomfortable acknowledgement of defeat. Jens wouldn't even look at her, his eyes downcast towards the table. Only Lem met her head out, still proud, still defiant. Still unwilling to face reality. "And I think I /like/ the name 'Minette the Liquidator'. That's got a pretty snazzy ring to it." She turned towards the crowd again. "And you know why, fellow stockholders? Because at my funeral, you'll leave with a smile on your face and a few gil in your pocket. Now THAT'S a funeral worth having!"

There was applause. It was not the standing ovation that Lem's impassioned words had received, but there was general applause and no more booing. It was not domination, complete and total, no. But it was acceptance. And in this case, acceptance would be enough. Minette took her seat with a small, smug smile on her face. All there was left to do was to take the vote.

And acceptance meant victory.

Dial 'M' For Minette

2013-06-26T13:20:58Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/06/25 |Location=The Ame-no-Torifune |Synopsis=Minette goes to comfort a friend. Like everything Minette does, it backfires. Bizarrely. |Cast o..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/06/25
|Location=The Ame-no-Torifune
|Synopsis=Minette goes to comfort a friend. Like everything Minette does, it backfires. Bizarrely.
|Cast of Characters=Helena Celba, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' The Ame-no-Torifune has a well stocked, if small, commissary. Do you know what one of the great things about being the VP in charge of accounting is? Being able to boss people around and kick them all out of the commissary at a whim. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha--ah, right. And thus the commissary is empty and the bar is being run on the honor system. Minette has prepared two cups of cocoa, with mini-marshmellows, a sprinkle of hazelnut, and a cinnamon stick to stir with. Mmmmm, tasty. She's waiting for Lady High Grumpypants, aka Helena, to arrive. Better hurry, that cocoa might go cold.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena, comes in after a time. She hasn't gotten a shower or changed, she looks like she had just came back...probably meditated for a while, enough to try and fix her balance...of course, a talk with Kyra happened too, which also helped settle things out with her. She enteres the Commissary with her hands behind her back and sitting down across from Plainpants. "Hey." She says, calmly, taking the coco and drinking a bit. She is quiet, maybe subdued for a bit as she sips at her coco.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette looks like, well. She threw a pom-pom at ghosts, got shot at with petrification arrows, ended up diving into ditches, and 'bravely blazing a trail' through the woods... which means that she's covered in scratches from thorny overgrowth. In fact there's still a few thorn-covered twigs in her hair. "Hey." She greets, sipping her cocoa. Minette is good at making comfort food. She's had a lot of practice. "Want a hug?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena levels a even look at Minette, "No, I'm fine." she says, taking a sip. There was emotion in her voice...she just seemed subdued. "Do you want a reason to hug me? I thought you were afraid to come into arm's length of me?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I'm not afraid of you." Minette says stubbornly. "I just wish you weren't so hostile sometimes. I'm trying to help you, Helly. You're a friend." For a given value of the word, but compared with some, Helena is downright friendly to Minette. "I was worried, is all. Y'know? It isn't like you to flip out violently like that... and it really isn't like you to get all..." Minette waves a hand around, she doesn't know the word. She shoots in the dark, "Sulky?" Submissive would be closer, but Minette doesn't realize this.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "...You do not know my history." She says, calmly. She is subdued, defintely...if you think she is submissive, well... Only if your name is Souji. "Did you ever wonder why I am a ward of the Murasame Family? I was taken from the land of my birth." "You see, my family had been dead for years when the Murasame family found me." She takes a sip, focusing on it for a moment, In the reflection she could see the hellish landscape of Odin. "They were killed by the Nightmare Golems on the way from one city to the next...my dad was a Merchant, I think. Perhaps it was my mother. It has been so long that I do not properly remember. However, they came, I was protected...hidden by them. I survived..." "Only to try and brave the land of Odin alone." Helena remembers it all. The early days were the worst...the days she clung to who she was made things harder. Everyone attacked her, and she did not understand the difference between Nightmare Golems, monsters, and people. She stole food from where she could... Then when it wasn't enough, when she was desperate enough... When hunger and lonliness ate at her, devoured her...she snapped. She turned on the monsters, attacking them with savage resolve, and devouring them. She turned on Caravans, stealing what she could, and killing...and eating...anyone that tried to stop her. There she found power, and this dark power to raise what she didn not eat against those who had what she needed. She stares up from the glass. "I have a great deal of anger. I control myself with various methods of meditation. I build myself a life of friviousness because it keeps people from knowing the truth about what I am." she says, "The truth is something people would not understand, I doubt that you truly understand."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette never wondered that at all, nor did she even know. Thankfully, Helena keeps talking for a while and prevents Minette from shoving her foot into her mouth. You can see the tears welling up in Minette's eyes as the story goes on. Her lip starts to quiver; that is a very sad story. For all her various flaws, Minette does not like to watch pointless human suffering. Unless she's the one causing it to specific individuals and even then she's pretty squeamish. "Oh, Helly!" Minette climbs out of her chair with enough speed that some of her cocoa slops over the side of her cup and she flings herself at Helena to hug her. "That's sooooo sad!" Minette is a dumbass. But she's a caring dumbass, even if she currently smells a little foul.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena is suddenly beseiged by the overly caring and sympathetic Minette. She would typically avoid this...maybe do something mean...but... Right now she just accepts the hug for what it is worth, and wraps a arm around her. A small pat is given. She just seems far away for a moment... The images play in her eyes, years drifted by...she just... She survived, she did everything to survive. She ate the flesh of anything she could kill, she avoided the Golems when she did... She ended her gore filled days in a cave she found, shivering and cold, wrapping herself up in whatever she could find to keep her warm...often times she had to find new shelter when something bigger than her found her. Things became easier when she could bring things back...things stopped taking her stuff...only the Nightmare Golems still gave her problems... "I didn't know you cared.." She manages to get out, trying to be a little sassy...it doesn't quite come out as sassy. "I'm fine."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "How could I hear that and not care?" Minette says, drawing back a little. "Aw... awwwwwwww..." Oh geeze, now Minette's crying. Little crybaby. "That's so sad..." And then she hugs Helena again, ostensibly for Helena's benefit but also for her own because man that was sad!

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena looks towards Minette for a moment...for all of her flaws, this once she is seeing something that isn't poor stupid Minette...but someone who is understanding her, and not juding her based on what she is. She smiles, it is not very pronounced because Helena doesn't often smile genuinely... "There there...it's okay." She says, softly. Geeze...you act like this happened to you, who's supposed to be comforting who?

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette sniffs a few times into Helena's shoulder. "I... I didn't know... a-any of that stuff! You shouldn't hold that in!" A little bit of snot is dripping down her nose. Sniff, sniff. "If you eh-eh-ehver need to ta-alk about it, you come to me, He-He-Helly, bec-cause I'll listen. I'm here to help y-y-y-yoooouuuuu, wuaaaaaaaagh!" And then she buries her face in Helena's shoulder again.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena reaches to grab a na-oh right into her Gi...goddamn it.. She sighs, patting her again, she could get it washed...or burned. "I don't talk about it for a reason. I have learned to control the emotions...my training doesn't always work, I am still training." She sighs...patting her again. Geeze...

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette pulls back, calmed down but still sniffling on occasion. "Ah... ah..." She grabs her cocoa and starts gulping to calm herself, falling back into her chair. "So... so what happened? How did you lose control the other day?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Alma." she says, "She is a little brat that refused to talk reason. She continued to poke at me in things I actually care about. ...My relationship with Kyra, Kamon coming into the picture, and Alma interfearing with it when I specifically told her to /stay the hell out/. Kyra and I have some history...and I was just about to make some progress with her when I found out about Alma interfearing..." She sighs, "Then she went on about it, pretending to be innocent...worse, she then came at the company, claiming we sent something out to kill her, and suggested that we knew everything." "Eventaully, she threatened me in a way that just...hit my armor in the wrong way."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I don't know why she keeps say that... I think... I think maybe she's doing it for the attention? It doesn't make sense, why would we want to kill her?" Minette shrugs, pushing her glasses up her nose. The accountant pulls her legs up onto the chair so she can warp her arms around them. "So... so what's... between you and Kyra? If you... don't mind me asking, that is."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "...She wants to be the victim, and the voice of authority." She says, annoyed. "And..." she smiles, again soft, "We're...you know, more than friends." She says, with a nod, "She even admitted it to me...after the blow up. I was a little surprised." she says, and looks at Minette, "And I don't mind. It's not like I am easily embarrased about these things."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Wait, she /is/?" Minette replies, voice shocked and eyes wide. "But... but she and Kamon are... I /saw/ it with my own eyes!" It instantly dawns on Minette that Kyra Hyral is clearly a woman of loose morals. This is no way influenced by Minette's personal feelings on the matter of Kyral Hyral. "So... so... you're dating Kyra and Alma doesn't like that?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Alma hates that, you know how Cosma Fundlementalist are...even if she claims she's not, she subscribes to that stuff." Helena says, "...And Are you sure you saw what you thought you saw? Maybe it was just a conincidence...or maybe Kyra is doing a little Kamon on the side...maybe she's into Odinirs." She grins a little...she isn't so mindful if Kyra is satisfying her needs on the side.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette states, flatly, "He came out of her bedroom in nothing but his underwear."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Oh my... "Huh." She says, "Well...getting a little Kamon on the side.." She shrugs. "Why...what's wrong with it?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette buries her head in her knees. This tells Helena everything that she needed to know; Minette wanted help to seduce someone, she's upset that Kyra and Kamon are... are... are... ... /doing it/!!! It all adds up. Oh, Gods, and it's even worse because it doesn't even /mean/ anything to Kyra, Godssssssss, is EVERY Hyral a terrible person?!

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' O-oh... It makes sense now... She moves...softly, and moves to pull Minette into a soft hug. Which means right into her chest, "...I didn't realize...maybe...I could talk to her? Maybe it was just a missunderstanding...and if she is serious about me...maybe he is free again.."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Fmumpf. "Mmyuh wuhmh ffnk foh?" Minette pushes Helena back by her shoulders. "Pfah... you really think so?" There's that in, feint wavery tone of hope to her voice.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Well, I don't think Kyra is the one that is very...promicious as you might think." She says, "I'll ask. Alright?" Helena says, with a small smile, "And I am meaning that, not in the mean way either."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yay! You're the best!" And then Minette wraps her arms around Helena, hugging her tightly (which isn't very tight because Minette isn't that physical imposing).

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena chuckles... She gives the small girl a hug. "...You know, I was genuinely thinking about the issue you presented me with your glasses. I was thinking of a solution."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah?" Minette says, sitting back. "Is... is it making a love potion? Because I really don't look good in fancy clothes."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena siiiighs, "I mean about revealing your face more. Your eyes. I might have something, but I need to make a copy of your glasses...sadly I don't have a item duplication spell.."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Eh? Well... I guess that's okay." Minette says. "I mean... no contacts, though. I have this... thing, about things touching my eyes. Really freaks me out. Like totally."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "No no. I think I might have an idea with your glasses that might hide them. " She says, "Something to help you in the short term so I can find a perminate solution." Helena thinks... "Have you consulted a white mage about your eyes?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah, as part of the company health package. They said I have cataracts and glau-something. That prevents contacts because it means that my eyes' surface isn't even. I don't get it, looks round to me, but... anyway, they also said that under the Ramuha legal system I'm 'legally blind', whatever that means."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "...It means your eyes are so bad that you are blind. By legal definition. You technically can't drive." She says, frowning. She ponders just finding someone else's eyes...she hasn't done that before, but with her skill in necromancy...nah. That might squick her out. "I think I might have an idea you'll like. You'll still have them, but I think I can do something to make them invisible."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Invisible, huh?" Minette says, placing a finger on her chin in thought. She doesn't see any downsides to that. "Alright! That sounds great!"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena has ideas...this might be a work in progress though! "Alright! I need a pair of your glasses first. This isn't going to be a small or short process."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "But I... only have the one at the moment." Minette says, tapping the rim of the pair she's wearing. "Thirza... kinda sorta sat on my spares... ... ..."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "...Geeze," Helena says, "...Well, we need to get you another pair first. Maybe...hmm...do we know anyone good with mater recreation?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette stares blankly. "W-well, we could just get the doctor to make a second pair...?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Or that." Helena says, frowning. If you want to be BORING.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette raises up her glass of cocoa for a toast. "To being awesome!"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena laughs, raising the cocoa, and nodding "To Thirabanism." She adds.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "TO THIRZBIANISM!" Minette concurs. Extra words so the Tracker will pick up the pose.

Dark Lord of the Abbacus

2013-06-18T06:01:08Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/06/17 |Location=Narshe - Pub |Synopsis=Minette recruits the latest member of the Murasame Zaibatsu... Aeschere Childs! |Cast of Characters=Min..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/06/17
|Location=Narshe - Pub
|Synopsis=Minette recruits the latest member of the Murasame Zaibatsu... Aeschere Childs!
|Cast of Characters=Minette Odam, Aeschere Childs
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Aeschere Childs recieved a hand-written note, requesting her to come to the town of Narshe and meet with one (1) Minette Odam, VP of Accounting, Murasame Zaibatsu, for the purposes of entertaining a proposal. The note was neatly written, meaning that Minette did not write it herself. The greater meaning of this note is unknown; it certainly does not explain what manner of a proposal is intended (though surely it isn't a marriage proposal) or does it leave any clues as to what it might be. The whole thing has something of an aire of mystery about it. And then there's the reality, that come meeting time, Minette is already in Narshe's pub, having arrived early. She's sitting at a small table in the back, reading a steamy bodice-ripper of a novel and occasionally picking at her nose when she thinks that other people aren't watching. A noire setting this is not.

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' I wouldn't write it off so early, actually; this pub has all the poor lighting, haze, and ill repute that you could wish for in a dime novel prologue; it's everything Aeschere would have expected if she had expected a single thrice-damned thing in the last month. No response was called for, just show up or don't; even if Akari was foaming at the mouth at the very mention of the Murasame Industrial Concern, or maybe because she was, Chera decided to hear them out. She's a tiny girl, but she dresses like she means business, all black satin and blued steel-- she blew something like two weeks' pay on this outfit, can you tell-- and she walks like she's going somewhere. She gets there before anyone manages to comment. "Ms. Odam... you must be?" The VP of Accounting presumably had someone do her research, so Aeschere shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to her. A guest here, she waits politely for her host's acknowledgement.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette looks up from her book as she's addressed; she starts. "Ah! Oh. I mean, aaaah, you must be Aeschere. Hiiiiiiii." She slowly moves her book (entitled 'A Hunger Like No Other' and featuring a picture of a vampire and a young woman in a compromising position on the cover) behind her back, as if the slowness of her motion would render it invisible to prying eyes. Minette herself is dressed no differently from normal; certainly not business casual. "Uh. Hey, please, have a seat. Are you thirsty? This place makes a pretty good rootbeer float." There are two empty glasses of such on the table. Without waiting for Aeschere's reply, Minette waves in the barkeep's direction, then holds up two fingers. "So you're probably wondering why I called you here, right?"

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' Yessssssssss you can't have a clandestine meeting in the corner of a shady pub without that line. "'A proposal' was all there was that I read, yes." Aeschere was in receipt of more than one of those, not even counting the indecent ones. Her deal with the Churchmouse didn't sound like it was meant to be exclusive, though, so here she is. It wouldn't even have occured to her to look for a rootbeer float, so of course she does not protest when one is provided her. So fierce is her lack of protest that it will be some moments before Minette can extract further answer from her, although she makes her interest quite clear.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Okay, so, like... the Murasame Zaibatsu is currently in the process of rebuilding itself into it's former glory and greatness, right? So we're aggressively expanding and hiring new talent all over the place. However," Minette waggles a finger demonstrably in the air. "What we /really/ want to do is to reunite as many people from our world under our banner as we can. Especially the Academy students, because we've been really scattered and we all belong togather. Makes sense, right?"

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' Enough silliness, then, because that was Aeschere's urgent quest until she got run down by the Seran Express. "Absolutely it makes sense. /That/ makes sense," she adds, pointing to 'reunite the Academy Students' like it was sitting on the table between them. "The corporation, wasn't it, I mean," some sort of uninterpretable gesture, "...what do you want from us?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yes, exactly!" Minette recalls. "So we've been trying to help do this by employing as many people from the Academy that we can manage to find. Not everyone wants to work with us, though, and while that's sad, we do understand and respect that decision. So, uh..." There's a few awkward moments there while Minette struggles, internally, with how to phrase this statement. "Want a job?"

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' /Does/ she want a job, even? Vanishing around the first of the month until she's cashed in enough bounties to cover the next hasn't gotten old yet, but... And then, of course, Akari will probably disown her. That's... probably better for her in the long run, though, isn't it? "What are you exactly looking for? I was Golem class, I don't really have experience, not much..." Since Minette knew where to find her, she'll know what sort of experience Aeschere has; bounty hunting and extermination work, just since she's been in the World of Ruin. Not exactly renowned, but probably competent, or she wouldn't be discussing this with her now, would she?

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "We-well, we have a lot of positions open right now." Minette explains. "Like the whole PR department? Gone. It doesn't matter that you were in the Golem class, that's okay. We can work with that. Alma was a golem and we hired her. On the job training, work experience, that sort of thing. It'd be best if you were an intern for a little while, I think. But it'd be a paid internship, and that's always great." Minette pulls out a folder from the bench next to her. She spreads papers out over the table. "So in addition to the paid internship, we would also provide room and board on the Ame-no-Torifune or equivilant syndicate facility. Naturally you would recieve full health and dental as is standard Zaibatsu practice, and additionally your time spent as an intern will transfer over upon hiring to be counted towards the earning of vacation days, pension, and other such benefits."

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' Aeschere's eyes glazeth over as the HR-speak sets in; it's not your fault, Minette, it's congenital. She knows... some of those words, though, anyways. "...Public relations is not... /entirely/ unlike my current job," she allows after a moment. She buys time by studying the informational packet. 'Full medical' has her full attention, and she mines the brochures for any discussion of how 'full' they meant; they'll find out about that soon enough if she hires on. "Is it mandatory, that I live on-site? I suppose it might be..." Okay, enough shuffling. "It'd be, like, it's a rotation, right? See all the departments, pick one?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh, well, normally we'd have you pick a section and you'd be a part of that. I mean, I know that Accounting could really use a second pair of hands... since it's... uh, me. And just me. But we're really short-staffed across the board, so you'd be jumping around from department to department where needed until you find the place that you're best suited for." Minette shrugs. "Oh, no, you don't /have/ to, and we can set up a housing stipend. But it'd be convienent if you did, because the job means a lot of traveling, so living on the Torifune means you'd have an easier time coming and going from various job-sites. Like our temp one, here in Narshe."

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' "Oh, but there's in Bevelle a pretty nice port..." It's a silly idea even as Aeschere voices it. Maybe not so silly, though. An airship'll get you anywhere in a day these days. Really she's just attached to her apartment because she just put several hundred gil towards it, and it contains Akari. "Well, whichever you prefer I'm sure. You don't, surely, mean to hire me on the spot, I don't think." Speculatively, now, Chera inspects the hiring agent. Minette isn't-- well, no, scratch that. Minette has 'VP of Accounting' written all over her, in large enough print that it's hard to see past. "And you've been with the combine for how long, have you?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I surely do!" Minette replies, thrusting a finger demonstratively into the air. She slurps at her rootbeer float. Loudly. Then she continues. "See, you're a part of the Alexander Academy... or... at least, were. That alone is good enough to be considered a candidate for recruitment, but after what happened to our world... well..." Minette shrugs. "We feel it's important to reach out to the survivors. In a lot of ways, we're all that each other has, so it's important to work togather." "Oh, me?" Minette points a finger at herself, blinking several times. "Uh... we-well, I actually got into the Academy on a Zaibatsu scholarship program. So... teeeechnically, about five years now. I was going to be hired right out of graduation, but, uh..." Minette shrugs helplessly. But then her face lights up. "Also, new bonus. Space for rapid promotion! Best time to get in on the ground floor of things!"

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' She /is/ a part of Alexander Academy; rather than a corporate scholarship, Aeschere got in on her father's coattails, and stayed in despite more than one medical disqualification via sheer bloodymindedness, on her own part or her father's. Her school is very important to her; her friends are very important to her. "...that's a fantastic line you've got, at least. I suppose that you about are all that we have, though." Her smile is very vaguely sour; that bit wasn't too hard for her to figure. Just from chatter, she knows how successful Murasame has been at consolidating Galiandans. Well, she probably can't beat him. She should probably join him. And then beat him. Yes. "It wasn't, they weren't employing you while you were in school, they werent? Or, whatever, actually. You can tell me about it later." The small knight extends a small hand to the small accountant. "I think I can work with you. Yes."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Well, it was a scholarship program." Minette explains. "The Zaibatsu paid my tutition in full, in return for maintaining a certain level of grades and being contractually obligated to work for them for a number of years after graduation. It was really lucky, I wouldn't have been able to attend, otherwise. My parents were very p--w-well, anyway..." "You can?" Minette says, sounding disbelieving. "You can!" She replies more strongly, thrusting her hand across the table for an enthusiastic handshake. "That's wonderful. We'll get you set up with everything that you need right away, and we'll even get your linkpearl tuned to the company frequency. Glad to have you on board, I'm sure you'll love it here."

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' Aeschere's smile is real enough because she's smiling at Minette. She might be less than totally certain that she's going to love it here. Everyone she's spoken to from the company has been perfectly nice and polite, though, and the only person she's heard criticize it has been Akari, who she is pretty certain hates everything. So it goes. "If the Torifune is going to be through Bevelle, soon, I, ah, I suppose I can move myself on then. Hopefully Akari doesn't flatten me."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh, well, we can send a couple of guys from the company out to help you carry your things for you." Minette replies, waving a hand dismissively. "No reason not to. We'll... have them swing by when Akari is out." Minette's expression flattens. "Akari is a barbarian."

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' "Accurate~" Somehow Aeschere doesn't seem to find this the scathing dismissal that Minette intends, but if the accountant looks close she might still be able to make out the remnants of a bruise or two. Who knows? "She knows at least how to party, she does." Lest Minette's face stick that way, Chera hastens to clarify, "she isn't going to care if I leave, just she may not let me come back. I'm sure I'll live." Maybe she's sure. She's a little sure.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette mutters and grumbles. Akari Senra is a sensative topic with her, fraught with being stuffed in lockers, mega swirlies, atomic wedgies (that is where the band of your underwear is pulled /over/ your head), and being shoved into increasingly creative places in exciting new locations. Minette brightens. "Well, you don't need to worry about that. We'll take good care of you. Happy and well tended employees are productive employees, after all!"

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' Aeschere avoided most of that during her school career, but her first meeting with Akari /did/ involve getting pounded into a grease spot in the sand outside Rabanastre. She knows at least part of that feel, Minette. Nevertheless, she chews her lip a bit over the general prospect. But whatever, it hasn't even been a month. "I'm sure, I'm sure. If I've got a..." what's the corporate word, "...consulting deal on the side, do you care? If I'm not doing it on company time?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette picks up another packet of papers, dropping it on the table with a soft 'thump'. "That's all covered in the contract here." The contract is roughly as thick as a textbook; it is in legalese. "The short of it is that the Zaibatsu doesn't care what you do with your own time, so long as you don't directly compete with them monitarily. That's under the 'Conflicts of Interest' section, it's all pretty standard stuff." Minette starts flipping through, eventually coming to the end, where there is a dotted line with an 'x' at one end. Minette offers Aeschere a pen with a smile.

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' The kind of thing that she ought to take home and study before starting the pre-test; Aeschere knows the drill with that. But, whatever. There's no real point in reading these contracts, they won't mean what they say, and they'll hold you to whatever they like in any case. The knight's signature is small, with an angular character that suggests she learned it on Odin; 'Aeschere Sellet Childs'. Four digits beside it mark a date that no longer has meaning, affixed anyways, out of long habit. She would be hard pressed to describe the calendar here, let alone state the local date. She'll figure it out when it matters. "There'll be a copy of this that I can use as a doorstop or something, right?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette takes the contract, signs her name below Aeschere's, then peers at the document for a moment. "Oooooh, so that's how you spell that..." She says quietly, before looking up with a smile that quickly turns serious. "Oh, no. I wouldn't recommend that, you'd be better off with an actual doorstop."

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' It sounds like 'Ash', if you were wondering. "It's a very old name I'll have you know," Ash explains with what should be wounded pride but is in fact thoroughly resigned annoyance. She waves it away, and also waves off the deadpan response to her rather limp attempt at humor."I suppose tomorrow I'll see your site here. I'll have to get back and collect my things though at some point." A bald-faced lie, she'll just have to get back and hand the lease over. "...but, do you know, what's the senior of accounting doing running interviews? You're that short?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "We... sort of don't have an HR department right now." Minette admits. "But take your time, you can start in a couple days if you need to get all your fish in a line."

:'''[[Aeschere Childs]] has posed:''' "I... suppose that I'll talk to you then, er, then." Aeschere nods. Don't you fear, her float did not go neglected during this intense negotiation, but its empty glass is still standing vigil over some pile of salary deferment banalities. Chera stacks the brochures neatly, a hand's breadth high in the middle of the table. The contract was already reclaimed, but she doesn't know about these. Well, if she isn't supposed to have them they'll take them back, she guesses. They can help her get to sleep on the airship back. "Thank you for the offer, mm, Minette. This world is big, and I did not much want to vanish into it. You'll hear from me in a few days I think. No longer than that." With that, she extracts herself from the booth, taking the stack of HR documentation, and leaving a handful of gil that ought to at least cover the tip. "See you then."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette gives Aeschere two thumbs up. "Alrighty, see you then! And welcome to the team!"

Kyra Hyral's Volcano Lair

2013-06-12T02:10:05Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/06/11 |Location=Archades - Lower |Synopsis=Minette goes to ask Kyra Hyral for advice. Kamon goes sans pants. Kuwabara, kuwabara. |Cast of Char..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/06/11
|Location=Archades - Lower
|Synopsis=Minette goes to ask Kyra Hyral for advice. Kamon goes sans pants. Kuwabara, kuwabara.
|Cast of Characters=Alma Hyral, Kyra Hyral, Kamon Lionward, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' There is a knock upon the the door to the Hyrals' temp apartment. "He-hello?" Minette's voice can be mutely heard from the other side of the door. A moment later Minette's face fills the view hole as she gets right up into it in a futile attempt to see through it. She has as much success at this as everyone, ever. Which is to say 'none'. "Is... is anyone home? I was in the neighborhood on business... heard you got a new place. So I figured... I should bring a housewarming gift? Kyra? Are you there?"

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' There is a knock at the door. Kyra startles suddenly from the couch she had been laying across. She looks, simply put, like crap in the wake of yesterday's volcano lair infiltration. Kamon may or may not be nearby-such as sleeping on one of the actual beds in the apartment behind a closed door. Shoving off the couch, Kyra heads over to the door and peers through the view hole only to be treated to HUGE MINETTE FACE OH GOD. Nobody should have to see that!!! After a few seconds the door rattles and Kyra pulls it open. "I'm here, I'm here." she says, scratching her head. That red hair of hers is pretty scruffy-looking right now.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Here you go!" Minette cheerfully exclaims as the door opens. Kyra opens the portal to find a half-dead bushy-green plant shoved into her face. It is in desperate need of water and also probably a larger pot. "Ta-da! It was... uhm. The best I could do on short notice. It's all... plant... like. And stuff. Yay?" There is yellow mixed in with the green of the leaves, typically a sign of malnurishment. Minette retracts her arms, pulling the foliage out of Kyra's face, and it is only then that Minette gets a good look at Kyra. "Heeeeeeeeey." Her head cants to the side, sending the bells in her hair a-jingling. "You don't look so good." Her tone carries more amazement then concern; she isn't used to people named 'Hyral' displaying mortal characteristics.

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' After their infiltration of a certain Volcano base occurred that was definitely not the top secret lair of the head scientist of the Murasame Zaibatsu.. All the stimulants from her sister and the anti-fatigue potion that had been given to her by someone that was not DRAGOON MAN, wore off almost simultaneously. The result was likely an almost instant faceplant. So Alma Hyral had no idea how she got back home. All she knew is that she'd slept for far longer than it was probably decent for any human being to do so. She traipses out of one of the smaller bedrooms in a manner that makes her look almost like some undead monstrosity from a zombie horror film. The bun on her hair is almost entirely undone, and most of her hair is wildly unkempt, with no effort having been made to tame the stray locks. She's currently making coffee. Only to realize the judges had only supplied decaf... She squints at the can, as if it were a betrayal. And then she peers over at the door, her vision doubling. /OH SWEET COSMA TWO MINETTES/ But then she comes back into focus and Alma Hyral just, smiles at her, her voice soft, carrying with it still a hint of exhaustion, "Hey Minette. It's good to see you. Can I get you something?" She gives the plant another look which makes her wonder if the thing had been infested by some Chaos beast, "Um, I'll take that. It'll look, lovely, in the kitchen.." As she tried to spare her sister the indignity of having the foliage shoved right in her face.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Kyra stumbles backwards awkwardly as a plant is shoved at her. Instinctively, her hands lift beneath it to catch the potted plant. "Uh. ...thanks?" She peers at the plant in her face, immediately noticing its sickly appearance. Casually, she steps backwards just as Minette yanks it back. She takes another step backwards and awkwardly motions for Minette to step inside. "Had a rough night." Kyra says in a 'yeah I don't want to go into details about this' sort of tone. Thankfully, Alma is here to be far more personable than Kyra.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh, good. I'm glad you like it." Minette replies, handing the poor thirsty plant off to Alma. "I was worried, you know? That it wouldn't look good in the apartment. 'm not really great with... that sort of thing and all. Wanted to get you guys something a little nicer then a plant, but you can't, like... buy anything in this city lately. You'd think that more shops would be open in the middle of the day." Minette stands there, awkwardly, in the doorway. She sniffs once, an idle motion. Then she scratches at the back of her head because she doesn't know what to say and so subtitutes a pointless physical gesture for words. Thankfully Alma asks a question. "Oh, well. I stopped by to talk, actually." A pause. "To Kyra." She clarifies. She's still standing in the doorway.

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' She takes the poor thing over to the kitchen, and immediately fills a cup with water, giving the parched earth within the pot a quick drink. It definitely needed it. "Um, Minette there's.. the city was just attacked by Alexandria, Bahamut, and Odin, there aren't many shops actually.. open." From the kitchen she just looks up from what she's doing over to Minette and Kyra, "Oh, uh.. would the two of you like some privacy?" She enunciates each word in Kyra's direction as she doesn't feel like her sister would want to be left alone with Minette.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' "Uhhhh...this city's kind of recovering from being viciously attacked." Kyra points out quite bluntly. "A good number of business kind of, well, collapsed. And stuff." Lifting a hand, Kyra runs it through her hair, trying to smooth out the random little tufts sticking out here and there. It doesn't work and they spring right back up immediately. Kyra motions for Minette to come in again before caving and saying, "Here, come inside." She glances to Alma and shrugs casually, "I don't care either way." She kind of has a feeling that Alma might wind up eavesdropping.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh." Minette replies to the statements of the obvious in a tone that suggests that it wasn't actually particularly obvious. "Hrm... maybe I should let Mr. Murasame know. Less competition means easier start-ups... a-a-anyway... oh, yayifications! I mean, thank you." She's nervous about something but many are of the opinion that this is Minette's natural state of affairs so it may not raise particular suspicions. Minette comes in with an almost tentative air, looking about at most everything in the room, including up at the cieling and staring at some minutae imperfection that no one would notice unless they were looking for it. "Oh, so, uh... what I really wanted was a request." Minette explains. "Uh... not for you to ma--okay, starting again." Minette plops down on the couch. "I need one filled. That is to say, help. I'm asking for it, rather. Asking you... godddsssssss, this is hard."

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' "I'm sure that Souji is already around, making his business deals." She busies herself at some mundane activity in the kitchen. Not actually fixing anything, but just organizing and rearranging things that had been provided to them by the judges. Then she continues by moving over to the small fridge and doing the same. Actually if Kyra had told her to make herself scarce, she probably would have gone back to sleep but.. since she doesn't care either way. She just nods at her. And then Minette makes her suitably awkward request, and Alma straightens herself, giving Minette a peculiar look, "Do you need her to make you some sort of alchemical potion or something?"

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' With what little she's experienced of Minette, she's struck Kyra as a little weird. Socially awkward even. So her behavior, even here, seems not too out of line. Kyra keeps a straight face too, even when Souji and his company is brought up. Patience of a saint?! The apartment is super sparse and messy. They were just moved in mere days ago so it isn't a home at all. This may make things even more awkward. "So a request." Kyra leans against a small table with a pair of chairs at it. "What do you need help with?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh, totally." minette replies to Alma, craning her head around to look over her shoulder. "That's why I was in the area. See, the Archadians like, /really/ need weapons right now. Like in a bad way. And we have a whole bunch of those to sell. They get weapons, we get money. Win-win." Minette is much more certain of herself when talking about her job. As cold as that often seems to others. Though she hasn't noticed that part. "But if local retail has folded, there's a new market there we could take advantage of..." "Oh! Right." Minette turns around again, frowning a little. Unable to just sit still like a proper adult, she crosses her legs underneath her; she does not take off her shoes first despite sitting on someone else's couch. She is wearing a skirt and her decency is maintained only by being in a room with women and by leaning forwards in a slouch with her arms resting in her lap. "So... so like, you know Kamon pretty well, right?" She asks this of Kyra. Tenatively. Nervously.

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' Alma Hyral would actually close her eyes briefly, she didn't really want to make her real opinion known on the Arcadian Empire buying weapons from the Murasame Zaibatsu, so her smile was only a little phoney, "I'm sure the Empire will be very appreciative of your services.." And then the issue of Kamon comes up, and at first Alma seems oblivious...as she continues to reorganize the fridge, but then she actually drops something awkwardly as comprehension dawns. A small glass container shatters on the floor, splattering some tamato sauce, as she quickly takes a step back, wondering in the back of her mind if it was one of Kyra's failures, but luckily.. it was not, as it didn't appear to be eating a hole through the tiles. "I-I'll.." She looks towards Minette and especially /Kyra/ nervously. She definitely didn't want Kyra to know of her role in... what she asked Kamon to do, and this subject could hit perilously close to that. She swallows audibly, "..I'll get s-something to clean that up..." And then she retreats to a nearby closest of cleaning supplies, retrieving a dustpan and a mop.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' "Oh yeah. Very appreciative. Since they're basically at war with Alexandria now." Kyra seems nonplussed though she isn't entirely excited at the thought of Souji profiteering from an ongoing war. That was business, though. "As for the local businesses, I bet they just need some time to get back up on their feet." She's heard about the stuff going down in Narshe. Yeah. "Do you want anything to drink?" Kyra thinks to ask after Minette has plopped herself down on their couch. She's about to tell Alma to go get something when Minette continues. She needs help. With Kamon. Her eyes narrow just a little. "Oh yeah. I know him pretty well. Why you ask?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette goes, 'KYAH!' and half starts out of her seat as the jar shatters against the floor. Nervous much? "Ayaaaaaah." The calculator lets out a long sigh. "I am so spazzing out it isn't even funny right now. I think maybe water, please." "Hm. Need some time... we'll have to move quickly. If the board would hurry up and vote we'd get the standing capital that we needed t--anyway, that's something else, entirely." "So, so, right. Like... I..." Minette sits there, biting her lower lip in thought. Her fingers drum against her legs rapidly as she attempts to formulate the words in her head; this is clearly hard on her. And then words just burst forth from her suddenly like a waterfall. "Okay, so like I have this huge crush on Kamon and every time I talk to him I don't know what to say so I end up acting like a total dork and I want to get to know him better and I just don't know what to say without looking creepy and I don't wanna look creepy because so many people already think I'm a total spazzoid creeper and that's a really hard thing to live with and I'm just really in need of help here!" One big, torrential, run-on waterfall.

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' Alma abandons thoughts of cleaning up the mess for the moment putting the mop and dustpan down, instead grabbing an empty glass, carefully moving around the splattered pieces of the jar and sauce on the ground, then filling it with ice cubes. She then moves over to the sink and fills it with water, and then hands it over to Minette. And then she just stands there, staring in horror. It was like watching an approaching train, about to crash into another one in slow motion. She'd seen this before.. where Minette was so self-absorbed she literally had no idea how others around her felt at all. It had happened once in a discussion of Souji and Tira.. She had no idea how to answer this question. Thankfully it wasn't directed at her. But, in her mind, she almost wishes it had been. She could then say something suitably trite and supportive.. Kyra on the other hand... Alma stepped away, and waited for her sister to answer the question. She just hoped that she'd think of sparing Minette's feelings..

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' "Right, some water." Kyra pushes away from the table, intent on procuring the water herself since Alma is now quite busy cleaning up a dropped item. Strange how she dropped that item right around when Kamon's name was mentioned. Kyra starts to wonder a little but dismisses the thought. She grabs some simple glasses from the cupboard and goes about filling them just as Minette suddenly blurts out in a horribly awkward diatribe how much she wants to get to know Kamon. Due to a crush. To Kyra's credit, she doesn't drop any glasses. Her hand does tighten signicantly against it. "That /hussy/..." she murmurs under her breath. When she turns back to face Minette, there's a curious look on her face. "Wow, you have a crush on Kamon? How..." pause, "...adorable. Sooo you've come to me to hear about what he likes and stuff. Man, normally I'd just tell you to suck it up and ask him yourself buuuuuut...I know Kamon." She walks over and hands Minette a glass of water. "He's kind of shy. But I'm also not even sure he's really in the market right now, if you know what I mean."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Thank you." Minette, the brazen little hussy, replies as she accepts the glass. She downs it in one go, her throat bobbing up and down rythmically. She exhales contentedly at the end of it all; that was needed and hit the spot. Minette blushes as Kyra describes her crush as 'adorable', accepting the other girl's words at face value. She balls her fists up, rubbing her knuckles back and forth against each other in worry. "I've /tried/ asking him directly, I keep dorking it up. And... yeah, I'm like... really shy, too." She was standing outside the door for like twenty minutes before she screwed up the courage to knock. This stuff is genuinely hard for her. "Eh?" Minette's tone shifts to that of confusion. "I didn't expect he's be on the market. I mean, he doesn't have a house to sell, or any kind of fungible assets for that matter. I'm... not sure what that has to do with anything, though?"

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' She goes back to the kitchen, beginning to clean up the broken shards of glass, and sweeping that and as much sauce as she can in the pan. She doesn't catch what Kyra says /initially/, but she definitely senses the subtle undertones in her words. Something was up and... Wait, off the market? Some part of her exulted as she realized that her sister was likely the one who had taken him off the market. But she tries not to show any indication of that. Above all things Kyra must not know what she'd asked him to do There's just a flicker of emotion in her eyes. And then Minette sounds, so very confused about what that means, and so she states in a soft voice, "Off the market means that he's dating someone.."

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Kyra, for a few moments, almost feels sorry for Minette. Shy and socially awkward-she's the kind of girl the audience would root for in one of those teen movies featuring that awkward shy girl. The kind that usually involve a make-over halfway through the film. She hears the confusion and Kyra palms her face with her free hand. "No, no, not that kind of market. Like. The boyfriend market. It's a metaphor." Alma chimes in to explain further. "Yeah. So I hear. He hasn't told me anything about actual dates yet."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' That sound? That sound that you just heard at the end of your conciousness, like a hammer being thrown through a pane of sheet glass in the distance? That was the sound of Minette's ego shattering. The accountant is silent for long moments, staring up at Kyra through her sheet-like glasses. This is one of those rare times when Minette is glad that her glasses can fry ants; they help hide her face. "Oh." Minette quitely mouths. There is some more silence. Minette doesn't know what to say; she's made a fool of herself again. She tells herself that she ought to be used to it by now; that it's her own fault for getting her hopes up. Why should this have been any different then normal? Minette inhales a slow breath, then exhales a slow breath, and replies, "I didn't know that." In a quiet, too calm voice.

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' The sound of silence and awkward resonates throughout the room, and it gives Alma pause as she ceases cleaning up the mess. She looks up, and her heart just wrenches inside of her. Minette and her were similar in a way. They were both rather hopeless on this subject. Except that Minette had actually worked up the courage to try to talk to someone about the crush she had so she could act upon it. Alma kept.. waiting for it to fall in her lap, just because she was so frightened of what would happen if she did.. just, this. And now Minette had gotten shot down, which was like the representation of her worst fears for herself. And so she can figure out rather easily how Minette feels, as she glances over to Kyra, giving her a look like /Say something, please!/. But then she turns back to Minette.. and just states quietly, "I'm.. sure it's not.. " An awkward pause, "...Minette it's.. there will be.." /OTHERS?/ Even she couldn't think there would be others. Heck, she was having a similar problem with the boy she had a crush on who thought she was weird, awkward, and suspicious. There's no way she thought there would be others for herself. So how could she think there would be for Minette, who was just about as hopeless as her? She just trails off, lapsing into an awkward silence.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Which is precisely when the other bedroom door opens, annnd... there's Kamon. To be more precise, there's Kamon in his underwear. When the huge amount of shrapnel that was Kamon's blood and the pieces of iron affixed to his skeleton came shooting out of his body the other day, Kamon didn't really have much in the way of 'clothing' left intact. He's got a bandage wound around his chest and recently-healed wounds all over his body, his hair is a complete mess, and he's holding onto the doorknob for support. It's as if he's afraid he's going to collapse at any second. He starts to open his mouth, but upon further introspection, decides to close it again. He clearly was not expecting Minette to be here.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Oh /no/. Kyra can practically /see/ Minette's word implode within her. It's not a sensation that she herself has experienced but she can tell from the very long awkward silence that follows. Here she was, gushing to someone she actually didn't know all that well about how she has a HUGE CRUSH on Kamon and Kyra in turn, well... A small part of her does feel satisfied. But the rest of her feels pretty awful. "Yeah." Kyra says quietly. "I mean...well he usually keeps to himself. I'm sorry, Mine-" The bedroom door swings open and Kyra immediately goes rigid. Ever so slowly, with the most spectacular 'oh shit' look on her face, she turns to see Kamon standing there, mostly naked to boot. 'Nice.' part of Kyra thinks. 'I like the messy hair look.' 'Oh, he's looking a bit better.' another part of her thinks. Kyra's mouth snaps shut.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette falls into the traditional refuge of those trying to hold back a sudden upswell of negative emotions; humor and self deprication at that. "Oh, ha ha... did it again! Silly little Minette, going after someone's boyfriend again. Man, you'd think I'd learn or something. Good thing I didn't talk to his girlfriend about it, that would have been really awkward, r-right?" The waver in her voice shows the lie for what it is, though, and she gives an awkward, half-hearted laugh that does nothing to reinforce the falsehood as truth. "I should be going." Minette announces, abruptly rising to her feet. "Yes. Lots of work to do. Numbers don't crunch themselves, Mr. Murasame is relying on me. Needs me, even. Zaibatsu couldn't function without me, after all. So. Got to get going, thank you for the glass of water." And then there's Kamon, practically naked. There is that really long, really awkward moment where a man in his underwear enters a room full of women. The wheels in Minette's head turn a little slowly. Her head turns from Kamon to point at Kyra. And then back to Kamon. Kamon, disheveled, like he just-- Kyra, disheveled, like she just-- Minette's hands raise up and she starts making a series of gestures, talking with her hands in defensive gestures as she stumbles to find some kind of words. They don't come, the best she manages is a few choked mewls that don't get past the word 'I'. There are a few 'ah' and 'oh' and 'ugh' sounds in there, jumbled about like a pair of sneakers tumbling around in the dryer.

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' In response to all that awkward waterfall of words, Alma Hyral just walks after her as she's about to rise, "Minette..wait.." And then Kamon appears. In his underwear. Alma began to suddenly believe that Whyt was standing in the room, invisible, just pointing and laughing silently at the endless tide of terrible. She quickly blurts out to Minette, "It's not what you think! H-He was mortally wounded in a fight. We.. healed him. Brought him back here to recover." There was no way Minette would believe that, even if it was the truth, but she still puts it out there.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon's thought process starts at 'need water badly' and ends at 'why is minette here.' About three seconds later, it jumps to, 'oh god minette /and/ alma /and/ kyra /and/ i have no pants on, what is even happening'. "Uh --" Kamon manages. He works his jaw. Each time he starts to say something, he decides against it. None of these seem like good ideas. Every time he starts to believe one of them is, he instead discards it in favor of a perfect answer to all their awkward problems. This goes on for a while. Eventually, he settles on nodding slightly at Alma. Then, very slowly, he begins to turn around and sliiide back out of the room before he gets Minette Knuckle Instant Hell Murdered.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Kyra starts to grimace. With each self-deprciating remark Minette makes, it gets worse and worse. Heck, Minette even starts to stutter which she's basically never heard before. She feels SO BAD for her. So bad!! But at least she's leaving. Inwardly, Kyra is screaming for this very awkward moment to end. Except this awkward moment has now entered overtime with Kamon around. Kyra starts to flail. With the glass in her hand, that means water is flung everywhere haphazardly. "It's not what it looks like!" she blurts out, "We didn't just...he's just here becase...last night we infiltrated a volcano lair and..!" She looks to Kamon helplessly with a BACK ME UP HERE PLZ look on her face. And he sloooowly edges back into the bedroom.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' infiltrating secret volcano lairs Minette stares at the floor for a while. The floor boards are sensible. Orderly. Neat. They make sense. She can internalize them to herself and, unlike the people in the room, understand them. Volcano lairs. They must be lieing to spare her feelings. That's the only way Minette can process the claim in a way that doesn't make her want to scream, so it's the explaination that she inwardly settles on to herself. She's vaguely appreciative of the attempt, even though it isn't a very good one, in an academic way somewhere in the back of her mind. But there it is, right in front of her. Potential boyfriend lost before he was even found. 'Off the market', right. Dating someone else already. and it is always a Hyral "I..." Minette looks up and forces her voice to come to her throat. "I HOPE YOU BOTH ENJOY THE PLANT VERY MUCH TOGATHER!" Her voice raises in pitch and tamber, growing more wavery with each syllable. When at last the whole statement passes her lips, Minette turns and bolts for the door.

:'''[[Proxy-Alma]] has posed:''' "KYRA!" She states that more sharply than she might have wanted to, yeah she didn't really want the rank and file at Murasame Zaibatsu to start wondering /which/ volcano lair they'd infiltrated. There couldn't be all that many, could there? Suddenly the thought occurs to her that in every single volcano in the World of Ruin there is some evil mad scientist who has a volcano lair. The thought gives her considerable pause. Kamon retreats with only an awkward sound, not even a real word, and Alma suddenly wonders if the invincible Odynar warrior isn't quite as.. invincible as he appears. Then again, that perception was kind of ruined last night anyhow when Legion literally pulled his blood out from him and snapped his bones in twain. Once again states in an almost plaintive timbre, "Minette, wait!" And then she'd follow after her, She'd actually follow her as far as the hallway outside, assuming she kept running.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Feige is probably going to tattle on them later ANYWAY, given what happened! But Alma is in luck. Minette doesn't believe them-well, not precisely. Maybe she believes Kamon infiltrated Kyra's volcano lair last night. Minette screams at them, though honestly, it isn't the worst thing she could have screamed. Or done. In the back of her mind Kyra's a little worried that Minette would REALLY flip out at her and after yesterday, she wasn't prepared for an actual fight. While Alma might run after her, telling her to wait, Kyra does not follow. She palms her face again, setting her now empty glass of water down on the counter.

Minette Odam

2013-06-12T01:23:55Z

Draco:

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{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Performing a hostile takeover!
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

== Relationships ==

===Friends===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is both so she's double great
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are impossible!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||I guess she's okay, even if she kind of reminds me of Tira. And even if she disrespects Mr. Murasame a lot... but he's okay with her, so she can't be that terrible, maybe it's just me
|-
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Minette Odam

2013-06-11T19:56:01Z

Draco:

{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Performing a hostile takeover!
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

== Relationships ==

===Friends===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is [i]both[/i] so she's [i]double great[/i]
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are [i]impossible[/i]!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||I guess she's okay, even if she kind of reminds me of Tira. And even if she disrespects Mr. Murasame a lot... but he's okay with her, so she can't be that terrible, maybe it's just me
|-
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Minette Odam

2013-06-11T19:50:13Z

Draco: /* Friends */

{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Getting untrapped in the broom closet.
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

===Friends===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is [i]both[/i] so she's [i]double great[/i]
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are [i]impossible[/i]!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||I guess she's okay, even if she kind of reminds me of Tira. And even if she disrespects Mr. Murasame a lot... but he's okay with her, so she can't be that terrible, maybe it's just me
|-
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Minette Odam

2013-06-11T19:48:35Z

Draco:

{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Minette
|lastname=Odam
|age=18
|species=Human (Levitani)
|sex=Female
|height=5'6"
|weight=Petite
|series=Final Fantasy Act: Class
|styles=Accountant
|hometown=Leviathan
|alignment=Forces of Ruin
|group=Alexander Academy
|occupation=Accountany Lackey
|quote="NO, MR. MURASAME, YOU DIDN'T CATCH ME PLAYING WITH MY ACTION FIGURES WHILE ON THE CLOCK AGAIN!"
|footer=Getting untrapped in the broom closet.
}}
= Profile =

Minette Odam is the long-suffering chief accountant of the Murasame Zaibatsu. Hailing from Leviathan and extreme poverty, her extreme talent for numbers has allowed her to better her station in life, and she's become a crony of Souji Murasame, viewing the heir as a close friend and confidant. The reality, however, is that she's far more of a minion then an equal and is only really kept around for her ability to balance the syndicate's books no matter what; she is otherwise physically incompetant and socially inept, prone of fits of cowardice and delusions of grandeur.

= Skills =

Overworked, Underpaid, Disrespected, But Still (Somehow) Has Her Pride, The Demon Of Accounting, Queen Of The Spreadsheets, It's Mathemagical, Rags To Slightly Nicer Rags, Yo-Yo Based Combat, Strange Concepts Of Honor, Loyalty, Fashion, and Dietary Habits, Clumsy, Woobie, Blind As A Bat, Honor Graduate of the Gilgamesh Correspondance School of Mid-Bossery

=== Friends ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Souji Murasame]]||I love working for Mr. Murasame! Even in these hard times, he can always rely on me!
|-
||[[Thirza Ingersleben]]||Having a friend is great, and having a minion is great, and Thirza is [i]both[/i] so she's [i]double great[/i]
|-
||[[Kamon Lionward]]||<3 <3 <3 Oh sure he barely knows I exist but I have a chance because he doesn't TOTALLY hate me <3 <3 <3
|}

=== Co-Workers ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Helena Celba]]||She's great at her job and makes mine easier, even if she's kind of a witch. Still, sistahs gotta stick together in the professional world
|-
||[[Artyom W. Valodjn]]||Meanie-faced tea snob! NYEAH!
|-
||[[Jidro Gerrison]]||Jiddy's great! He does his job and doesn't make mine harder, AND his budget always comes in under target. Whatta man!
|-
||[[Feige Abramson]]||Weirdo. But she's an outsider, and they're all pretty weirdo. And her budget requests are [i]impossible[/i]!
|-
||[[Alberic Lux]]||He says some odd things. Except when he doesn't. Maybe. I'm not sure, he's really confusing, but he's pretty polite. I think. Desu.
|}

=== Enemies ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[The WENUS]]||A never-ending battle against an inexorable foe. A worthy adversary that must be overcome every week for fiscal dominance!
|-
||[[Niklas Dragonius]]||STUPID MISOGYNIST JERK-FACE BUTT-HEAD JERKY JERK THAT never flirts with me, is it because I'm not pretty enough? I HATE HIM! HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM! JERK!
|-
||[[Tira Hyral]]||You're dead and so I'm not supposed to hate you but I do anyway and that makes me hate myself
|-
||[[Seloria Delacreaux]]||Man she really gets my goat... well I don't have a goat, but you get what I mean! A-anyway, it's best if I don't let her know because then everyone would get on my case because she's pretty and popular.
|}

=== Unfactored Variables ===
{| class="CTable StatTable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|-
! scope="col" width="120" | Name
! scope="col" | Thoughts
|-
||[[Alma Hyral]]||Frumpy-pants isn't bad. I mean she gives me awesome equations to play with, but she acts really... I don't know how to describe it. I miss the free coffee, though. Nah'well, back to the commissary at 2AM
|-
||[[Kyra Hyral]]||I guess she's okay, even if she kind of reminds me of Tira. And even if she disrespects Mr. Murasame a lot... but he's okay with her, so she can't be that terrible, maybe it's just me
|-
|}

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Minette Talks With A Mormon Child

2013-06-05T03:31:56Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/06/04 |Location=Narshe |Synopsis=Minette and Kamon bump into each other in Narshe. A conversation happens. No one cries this time! |Cast of Ch..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/06/04
|Location=Narshe
|Synopsis=Minette and Kamon bump into each other in Narshe. A conversation happens. No one cries this time!
|Cast of Characters=Kamon Lionward, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Narshe has become something of a minor hotbed of activity lately. The news of the Murasame Zaibatsu's hostile takeover of the Milner Tool Works has created a local (albiet fairly minor) stir. Though there have been some protests, no one's tried to run the Zaibatsu out of town yet, but one employee of Souji Murasame in particular has proven herself unpopular by opening her big mouth and speaking without thinking. This is nothing particularly new to Minette Odam, whom is used to ducking crowds of hostile cheerleaders, mean girls, and jerkfaced boys. To this end, Minette has been avoiding the inn for anything but spending the night. She has acclimated to Narshe poorly, having added nothing to her normal outfit except earmuffs and a scarf. Thanks to the omnipresent steam vents spread throughout the town, she isn't freezing to death, but she's not having an overly wonderful time of it. The past few days have been stressful ones. This has been compounded by the fact that people keep telling her to calm down and relax, a phrase which has never made anyone actually calm down and relax in the history of humanity. So Minette has taken matters into her own hands and has decided to go window shopping like /such/ a girl. She's currently standing in front of a bakery, staring into the window with her nose practically pressed up against the glass.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Narshe. Yes... Narshe. It actually kind of reminds Kamon of a curious mix of Titan and Shiva. He's been in town for a day or two, talking up the locals and looking around for certain supplies. He's been mulling over his talk with Alma again, and of the weird request she made of him, as well as the job offer. Mostly the former, though he'd rather claim it was the latter. He's certainly in Narshe because of a job, not because of... well, of Kyra. It's been a weird kind of week. Perhaps fatefully, Kamon comes out of the same bakery Minette has pressed her nose against the glass of. He's got some kind of frosted bun in his mouth, holding the door with one hand and the strap on his backpack with the other. There's a few ingots of a mix of dark- and light-colored metals sticking slightly out of the top of the pack, and he has a short spear affixed to a side-loop of the same, made of what looks like a mop handle with a very ornate adamantite spearhead attached to one of the scorched ends. Kamon's train of thought -- largely one with passengers of a similar quality to Mr. Yellowbelly and Ms. Worrywart -- is abruptly derailed when he spots Minette. He stares openly. He knew she was here, but he didn't expect to see her... well, /here/.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' A little bit of drool drops down from Minette's mouth. "Mmmmmmmm... cinnamon buns...." You know that feeling you get where the hair on the back of your neck stands up? That tingly feeling you get when someone's watching you? Minette gets that and shudders a little, convulsively. She turns her neck, slowly, her body still hunched over to stare into the window. Her eyes lock with Kamon's. Blink, blink. "Gyah!" Minette declares, as shock sets into her primitive monkey brain. She leans backwards, looses her footing on the icey ground, pinwheels her arms, and falls flat on her butt. She makes a sound like 'frmpf' upon impact.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' That moment when you have a dramatic stare-down that turns into a series of comical pratfalls. Kamon doesn't actually fall down. He does jerk backwards when Minette makes her own shocked declaration, ringing the bell on the door. He becomes cognizant of the fact that he's holding open the door of a warm building and letting the frigid outside air come in. Kamon turns and makes an apologetic noise towards the inside, closing it behind him. *frmpf* Kamon turns back around. Minette is butt-first in the snow. He winces a little, sympathetically. Then, he leans forward, holding out his now-free hand in a clear offer to help her up off the ground. It /is/ kind of his fault she's down there. Much as he'd like to vacate this spot immediately... "Are you okay?" Kamon asks. Or, tries to. He still has a bun in his mouth. It's more like, "Mrr ymm hmmkhm?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette stares up at Kamon's hand as if she does not comprehend the meaning. In truth, she partly doesn't. She understands that it is a gesture of help and aid... but it is being made to /her/. And Kamon isn't laughing OR sighing. This is an unknown variable. Only Souji and Thirza never laugh or sigh when Minette falls down. But this is another person... KAMON, no less, that is doing it. Minette blushes, half looking away as she reaches out to be helped up. Minette brushes her bum off, succeeding mostly in getting her hands wet. And then she folds her hands behind her back, scuffs her toe on the ground, and slightly torso twists back and forth a little. "... ... ...hi." She finally says.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon pulls Minette to her feet. He gets that this is a rarity for her. He also gets that he's probably exacerbating the status effect known as 'Crush' that she's suffering from, one that no Remedy may cure. But, perhaps unfortunately, Kamon is a Good Guy. He wouldn't be much of one if he didn't do something so simple. Minette totally makes this more awkward, though, with her scuffing and twisting and blushing and augh Cosma why. Kamon chows down on the bun, releasing his pack to take the delicious thing. He lets go of Minette once she's safely got her feet under her. "Hi." There's a pause. Kamon mulls it over for a second, 'it' being a completely different thing that's been bothering him. "Sorry if I knocked you over. And, uh... sorry I flipped out, before. Sore subject." Another pause from him. He rubs the back of his neck and looks up the street. "Just... wanted to get that out there." And now that he's got /that/ off his chest, it's high time for him to vamoose before something /else/ happens.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's feet are never, technically speaking, 'safely' underneath her. They could fall out at any moment. Minete bites her lower lip. Looking directly at Kamon is difficult, because she's a spaz. "I'm... sorry that I'm stupid. I mean that I said stupid things. That were... those things, that I said. That were... ... ... yeah." Minette mentally wiffles and waffles back and forth between saying something and not saying something. On one hand, if she says something, then she's risk saying stupid. And by risk we mean 'very likely'. But on the other hand, if she says /nothing/, then she'll look weird. Aw, courelcakes. Okay, gotta think of something. Thinking of something now. Not thinking about thinking about something, but actually thinking about something to thi--COSMA DRAT IT. "So." Minette says, glancing at the street back behind her. "Whatcha... doing here?"

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon gives Minette a moment to say words. Words, as it turns out, are hard. "It's alright. I, uh... yeah, it's fine." It is totally not fine. Kamon was not okay afterwards. It took him most of the night to calm down. However, Kamon's specialty in deception is lying -- but only to himself. "Picking some stuff up," he replies, shrugging a shoulder and giving the pack slung over it a little shake. The metal bars clink a little. "I, uh, do some blacksmithing. And I know someone who's opening a Synthesis Shop. So I figured... maybe I could work on a sword that won't break so easy?" He shrugs again, this time in the normal fashion of uncertainty rather than to show something. Okay, maybe escape isn't so easy. "I heard about Murasame buying up the local guys. That's... why you're here, right?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's specialties include self-delusion, not picking up on context clues, reading too much into innocent statements, and leaving the toilet seat up. That last one is a real accomplishment considering that she's a girl. "Oh, that's good. I was worried that you... like... hated me or something. Yeah." Business, however, is something that Minette can easily run her mouth off about. "Oh, yeah. It's a sweet deal. A totally sweet deal. Right, so, dying business, right? We invest like one million gil into it, liquidate everything, and get a twelve to twenty million gil return on our investment in the span of a month. Twelve /million/, isn't that aweome?!" Minette's eyes light up, pride wells up in her chest and carries into her voice. "I'm handling things on our end. Everything's going smoothly! Mostly smoothly. They tried to hit us with an injunction but it was waaaaay too late because we'd already bought and paid for the majority holding of stock, right? Waste of time."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' "Oh. No. I don't really... /hate/ people. It's..." Kamon just trails off. Too much effort? No. Not worth it in the long run? Maybe. Something too easy to do, too easy to use as a label, and too easy to continually be entrapped by? Definitely. "Uh -- wow. That's a lot of gil." Kamon actually sounds legitimately impressed. He's heard of large sums of money exchange hands, but that amount in a month is kind of a big deal. It's the kind of series of transactions that his family would be overseeing, were the rest of them around here. A sobering thought. He fights to keep a non-depressed expression on his face. "What happens when you liquidate it?" Kamon asks, curiously.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh... that's good. Hating people is... bad." Minette mentally calls herself a dork three times running because man that was a dorky thing to say. She has nothing particularly philosophic to say in reguards to hate and so she clams up on that topic. But Kamon keeps talking about things that Minette understands, things that make sense to her. This is part of why Kamon is a great guy. Minette continues to run her mouth. "Oh, well, 'liquidation' is a technical term that means taking solid assets, like buildings, land, machinery, and the like, and turning it into liquid capital... that is gil. See, the place has been seeing declines in profits for something like the last five years. The grandson of the guy that founded it sold his shares to us for a million gil. We liquidate a dying business, sell it's solid assets, and split the profits with the other shareholders. Then the place doesn't start actively losing money. Win-win situation."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon himself does not really know much about running a business, or even how they operate on a more technical level from a scholarly side of things. He does however know enough about money by way of his father to be able to make a few logical leaps. "Okay, so you spend a million gil buying the business, and then sell everything that makes it up for twelve times that overall. That's... a pretty good way to make money," Kamon agrees, though he sounds a little reluctant to do it. "But... doesn't that mean that there /isn't/ any business to have declining profits? I mean, uh -- if you sell all the stuff that they use to do whatever it is they do, how wil they /do/ that?" At this point, Kamon is actually expecting Minette to have a good answer to this one. She seems to know her stuff.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Well... well they won't. That's like... the point of liquidation. We close the business down and sell all the stuff. And like I said, they're starting to fail, so it's best to step in now before everyone else starts trying to buy out their stock to liquidate first. Leg-up on the competition, that sort of thing. Isn't it neat? With this, the Zaibatsu will /finally/ have the operational capital to start making serious investments in long term projects again. Mr. Murasame is gonna be /so/ happy. So happy."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' "Okay, but -- " At some point, Kamon started walking down the street. Not fast; just kind of moseying on towards his destination. "-- shouldn't you spend some of it on, uh, making new jobs /here/? You're putting a ton of people out of work, and I figured, y'know... it might be better to, uh, to use the skills that the people here have, and change the business model." Kamon clearly has a soft spot for The People. He's not sure he's okay with Minette's willful disregard for people as a whole in this equation.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette starts walking along with Kamon, uninvited. This is because they are talking and she's unwilling to simply let this go yet. He's not even expressing mild disgust at her... it's thrilling! "It's not a ton of people, only like two hundred or thereabouts. That's not that many." Minette insists. "And it isn't that simple. Man, people keeping telling me that we should 'change the model' but I don't think they understand what's really going on here. It's all well and good to say that we should 'change the model', but the model is making pick-axes and shoves for mines in a town that's rapidly converting to use drills, steam engines, and power tools." Minette shrugs. "It would cost millions to modernize the facility with new manufacturing equipment needed to produce competing tools. Competition is already entrenched with contracts... some of them taken from Milner because Milner's still making increasingly obsolete products. And then there's the fact that a modernized assembly line won't need nearly as many workers to run it, so most of the employees would lose their jobs anyway. I just... just..." Minette takes two steps forwards and kicks a rock in frustration. Sadly for Minette, the small rock she kicks is merely the tip of a much bigger rock mostly buried in the snow heaped onto the side of the road. Minette's foot gives, the rock does not. Minette hops on one foot, sputtering and muttering in pain. "I'm sorry... it's just really frustraiting having people look down on me for making the best of a bad situation, is all. It... it isn't the first time someone's told me how I ought to be doing my job."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon's disgust tends to be all or nothing, and he hasn't seen the interior of Minette's room yet. So, Kamon listens. He doesn't actually know much about this, as previously established; he's using buzzwords that he's heard with some context before, and feels are appropriate. Minette disabuses him of that notion. She really /does/ know her stuff, and it sounds like she /does/ care about what happens to the people, at least in the intellectual sense; she knows about how many are going to lose their jobs, and that she can't really do anything about it. Kamon glances back when Minette kicks a rock. He frowns slightly, but doesn't comment on it, but he does hop over another stone of a similar size. "It's alright. I get how that is. My granddad used to tell me about how he worked for a few big business tycoons back in the day," which is how you know it was long ago, "who kept trying to dictate proper security measures to him." He smiles a little at the memory. "He made sure they knew what he thought about it." "But still... is there /anything/ you can do? Two hundred people in a town like Narshe isn't exactly a small portion. You talk to Souji all the time, right? Maybe when you guys start up new projects, you could give priority hiring to the guys who used to work at the tool place. It might make them happier." Kamon shrugs. But what does he know, right?

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette hops along on one foot, trying to keep up. After a few bounces she gets both feet underneath her again, totters a few steps forwards, then falls into step more or less alongside Kamon again. "Well, it's like... there's mines /right there/." Minette waves a hand towards the heights. "Lot of money to be made in mining, takes like a week to learn how. There's jobs around, but they're all just being stubborn. They don't want jobs with the syndicate. They don't want to move to Figaro. They want the jobs they have and only the jobs they have. They just don't want... to let go." Minette's thoughts turn towards home. Of her father and mother, too proud to give up their boat. Too stubborn to not fish the waters that their parents did. Too poor to even give their daughter even odds of doing better then they did. Until the scholarship program. Until something changed. "I understand that they don't want to change... that it's hard for them to. But they have to." Minette says sadly. "It's better this way. That's just how the world works."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon stops, for a second. He stares into the middle distance, slightly downward. 'Don't want to let go,' huh. He frowns a little bit. There's an expression of quiet intensity on his face. He snaps out of it. "Huh," is all he says. He starts walking again, popping the rest of his bun in his mouth and then sticking his hands in his coat pockets without further comment. "I suppose it is," Kamon says sadly. "I guess it's kind of sad. This whole town is so... I dunno. I like it. It's got a kind of small town charm, you know?" Compared to any of the gigantic cities on their world, at least. "It's all going to get replaced with glass and concrete soon." His feet crunch in the snow as he walks. He starts around a bend. "I guess they'll have to get used to corporate values, if Murasame stays in town... but it's sounding like you guys are leaving anyway." Kamon shrugs. He nods towards a lit-up building a short ways down the street. "There's my stop. I'd better get some sleep; I've got a long trip tomorrow. Maybe I should get Emi to show me some of the portals she was talking about," he mutters. Another short shrug, this time to himself. "Anyway. I'll see you later, Minette." He starts off, this time /without/ flipping his shit.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' When Kamon stops moving, Minette's momentum carries her forwards and she starts a slow orbit of the swordsman. She peers up into his face as he spaces out, and it's all like, 'woah, glasses' for a moment there. By the time he gets moving again, she's trailing along his other side. "I'm... not sure I'd call the place charming. It's all cold and steam and brass and dirty snow and bleaugh." A local gives her a dirty look on his way past. Minette doesn't even notice. "But it's like... well, things change. I mean, can't stop them. The Levitani learned that lesson once already when the Ramuha came. If people hold onto the past too tightly, they just hurt themselves and the people around them." Minette shrugs. "But, at least ther--" "Oh. You're going them?" Of course he's leaving, butthead, he just said that. "So I guess, I'll just... go this way then. Okay, bye." And then Minette turns and walks off down a random street to prevent things from getting more awkward. It turns out to be a cul de sac. A few moments later, Minette comes back, walking studiously in the /other/ direction and avoiding eye contact even more studiously.

Tea Time on the Stormship

2013-05-28T11:59:09Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/05/27 |Location=The Ame-no-Torifune |Synopsis=After running two different and difficult missions, Helena Celba and Minette Odam return to the ..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/05/27
|Location=The Ame-no-Torifune
|Synopsis=After running two different and difficult missions, Helena Celba and Minette Odam return to the Zaibatsu's airship, where Artyom has prepared tea for them both. Surely nothing will go horribly wrong.
|Cast of Characters=Artyom W. Valodjn, Helena Celba, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Things have been busy on the Ame-no-Torifune as of late. Old faces have been leaving, new faces have been arriving, and entire sections of the ship have been renovated to accomodate burgeoning new divisions of the Murasame Zaibatsu. But it seems that at least one thing will never truly change: the presence of one Artyom W. Valodjn, stoic and quiet as always. And today, he has done as he has always done after others have gone off on operations: Artyom has prepared evening tea. He rests his massive bulk in a small couch that is, for the Titan, something that is closer to an armchair. He's not wearing any armor today- just a clean, white, linen shirt and a set of black pants. Other furniture wreathes a small coffee table, upon which are a small collection of objects: a porcelain teapot and tea set and a series of small metal dishes containing finely ground fruit, bark, leaf and nut. The teapot rests in a metal dish on a bed of fragrant, glowing coal. It- and the cups- have been emblazoned with three mountains in a neat triangle, inscribed in a tight ring. Now, with tea brewing, Artyom waits for the others to arrive.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena walks into the meeting area of the Ame-no-Torifune. There is something different about her... Her headress is...certainly missing. Her hair is hidden by a towel, apparently she had just come out of a shower and her hair is currently drying. Her body is...also similarly covered by a towel, with a robe wrapped over that...but she keeps the front of it open. She is decent, barely, and she sits down on one of the smaller couches. "Ah...perfect, I can smell it from here Artyom." best minion. "It was at least somewhat fun to get all wet and messy...though I wish I could have gotten the chance to do it when I was off the clock." She pouts.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Another thing that never seems to change is Minette 'Wah-wah' Odam. She pushes the door open and half walks, half stumbles into the room. Minette has been on the recieving end of a 'butt whooping'. She is battered, bruised, and bandaged. Her clothing is rent and torn, though that is no particular loss and her skirt at least is going to see life tomorrow after a somewhat generous application of needle and thread. Her left braid is all frazzled and the right one has come completely undone, the hair on that side of her head hanging loose in a strong fashion 'statement'. The statement is 'I just don't care'. Dragonius was, however, true to his word, and her glasses are completely untouched save for a fine layer of dust that pervades all that is Minette. Nik is a bastard. Minette, bleary-eyed and out of it, stumbles forwards without saying hello and flumps down into an armchair, sinking into it a moment later with a sound that's a mixture of relief at being off her aching feet and soreness at sitting on her aching butt. "...Dragonius is a buttface." She announces, sourly.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' There's something about living in the Ame no Torifune: Helena in provocative clothing gets to be just one of those things that happens every day. While Artyom isn't exactly used to seeing too many women lounging around in basically nothing, having Helba do it is just... Sort of homey, by now. At least, there's a sense that he'd be doing a double take if Helena hadn't mentioned that she'd be in a towel over the radio. "Miss Celba," Artyom inclines his head as she arrives. "I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your expedition. I've prepared some samples from Ivalice tonight- I'm curious as to how you find it--" And then, there's a Minette. Or, what's left of a Minette. Artyom winces when the accountant arrives. "Oh, dear," the Titan frowns, "It seems you've had a rough day, mmn? Have you been able to see a healer yet?" She's certainly not been able to see a shower. Funny. One of them has just got out of a shower, the other looks like she desperately needs one. "Maybe I could do something about that dust, at least?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena looks up at Minette... "Oh you poor thing." She says, which you have to realize that Helena was hogging the hot water, hogging the bathroom, and hogging the towels. "Come over, I'll heal you up..." And now, Helena is probably going to heal Minette. If Minette allows it, the dark energy flows, knitting her body... however, whereever she heals, the flesh becomes...dry, blotted, grey...almost corpse-like. It'll heal back to normal over time...buuuut... "That is delightful to hear Artyom," she says, healing or no, "Any particular samples, or just whatever you could fine?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "M'good." Minette explains to Artyom by way of a reply. She points to the bandage on her cheek as 'proof'. Her head lulls to the side, sending the bells worked into her hair a-jingling. "Just need... a breather." Her head lulls about towards Helena. And Minette, being Minette and possessing a certain lack of cooth, stares openly at the other woman's head. At the towel in particular. Minette has a working theory that Helena is actually a medusa and uses the headdress to hide the snakes. One quick tug would either prove or disprove the hypothosis for all time! No, wait, that's silly. She'd need to follow up the yank with a Dispel to get rid of any illusions as well. Clearly Helena is a wily and clever foe and Minette needs to stop hitting the painkillers so hard.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Most of it has been collected from various marketplaces around Mullonde and Rabanastre, but there are a few samples I've picked up in more esoteric locations." Artyom gestures to a deep, green grind, "This, for example, has been harvested from wild mint I've collected from the Ghost Woods, mixed with green tea." Because haunted tea is the best tea! "Most of the rest has been recommended to me by various members of the church, or by the merchants in Dalmasca. I'm fairly confident in most of it." Most of it, because Artyom hasn't actually sampled half of them. "I've determined a rather nice blend, too. It's currently brewing- should be done in a moment." Artyom casts Minette a worried glance, and then breathes a sigh, "Well, if you are certain. Though perhaps you should get cleaned up once we are done here, mmn?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Interesting...very well, I look forward to this tea." People have said they have seen Helena without the headdress.. However, you are sure you see something moving. She seems to pay it mo mind as she crosses her legs again, and takes out something to read. She looks up towards Minette again, eyeing her for a moment. "Hm...so you say." She says, shaking her head. Well, let Minette be like this. She will return to normalish eventually...or she could just steal her glasses for a few days to cause her some interesting suffering... The thought causes a smile to cross her lips. "Well...at least someone is holding their weight around here besides myself, and Master Murasame, Artyom."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I'll get cleaned up... but after I've handled the WENUS." Minette replies. She reaches forwards towards the decorative bowl and dips her finger in the finely ground fruit, back, leaf, and nut blend. She lifts the finger up to her nose and gives it an experimental sniff. Aw, that's a happy-thought smell. A thought crosses her mind, but she attempts to force it down. "Aw, thank you Helena. That means a lot to me coming from you." Minette replies with a degree of ignorant contentment. Well, that's... that's something. Minette can't force down her curiousity. When she's certain that neither Artyom or Helena are paying attention, she 'subtly' raises her finger to her mouth and tastes the powder. It tastes about as bad as you'd expect it to. Curiousity sated. Blech.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Damnit Minette, you do not eat raw tea. That is just all kinds of bad idea. It will make your mouth taste of bitterness for weeks. "Good," Artyom replies with a reserved nod- without quite looking in her direction to notice that she'd actually ingested raw tea. "You do need to take better care of yourself, Minette." And don't eat tea that might contain Haunted Mint! It's about then that the teapot begins to whine. Artyom gingerly lifts the pot from its coals and pours its contents out into the cups nearby. It smells-- well, it smells very similar to what Minette had sniffed, but with a slightly (ghostlier) mintier aroma. The steam does not swirl into the faces of the spectral dead- that would be silly. "I do my best where I can, Helena. Fortunately, that seems to have been more than sufficient for now."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Wait...did you say Wild mint grown in the ghost woods?" Helena asks... "Interesting...I am sure a little to tea would not create any harmful effects." She says, flipping a page...if she noticed Minette, she didn't say anything. "I hear that eating it raw can, however, bring you closer to the spirit world...as in, might make you temporarily in a state resembling death...and if you are killed in the spirit world..." she trails off. "Must just be stories, these people are so backwards sometimes.." She says, with a slight grin, looking up at Minette, "Huh? Oh yeah, sure, whatever you say Minette." What was she thanking her for again?

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's mouth slllloooowwwwwwwwly curls downwards into a frown. She gulps, a sound like 'ghurk' becuase that stuff was bitter as all get out. She picks up her cup and drinks from it, stoney-faced, appearently ignorant to the fact that it is really, really hot and probably just burned her tongue. "There are a lot of people that believe a lot of strange things." She concludes, agreeing with Helena is a way to serious, straight-faced way.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Somehow, the tea is itself not extravagently bitter- and is actually rather flavorful! This is because consuming brewed tea is not in fact equivalent to sticking pieces of raw brewery right into your mouth. It may also be because Artyom had mixed the tea before brewing it. "Mmn. Wild mint grown in the ghost woods, indeed." Artyom says with a slight chuckle, "I'd heard you were coming to join us for tea, so I decided that tonight was a good time to try brewing it." Because Helena is a necromancer. "I've heard that it can lift a man's spirits, or even imbue the imbiber with memories, dreams and nightmares of the souls that have fed the plants," Artyom rumbles with all the graveness of a man telling a ghost story, "Others have told me that drinking such tea can improve one's spiritual sensitivity, while also exposing them to whispers from beyond as they sleep. Of course, I'm sure that's all just rumor." Certainly.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I-I met a man once that said that ringing bells wards off evil." Minette adds to the conversation. She picks up her free-hanging hair and gives it a few good shakes, setting the bells worked into it a-jingling again. Minette then glances in Helena's direction for several seconds, before looking back to Frank. "But I don't think it works, though. No empirical data so far." Jingle, jingle.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena takes some of the tea and takes a long sip. She thinks about the flavor for a moment, then taking a dabble of honey and placing it into the tea then stirring.. Another sip. Hmm...something is missing, but what? Something could make this perfect...but /what/. Distracted, she ignores Minette's little show, and then looks up at Frank, "It is interesting, the story is too. Though I doubt anything will come of it...probably just old wives tales." She comments. "Also a ward does not necissarily work if the creature in question is stronger than the ward you are trying to use." She says, looking right at Minette. "Hmmm..."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I hope so." Minette replies. "The last thing I need is more bad dreams. I get little enough sleep lately as it is." She sighs. "I can't get used to sleeping on this ship. It's too... too..." She waves a hand about, hunting for the right word.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Artyom takes a moment to add a dash of cinnammon to his own brew. No tea is perfect in absolute terms. Everyone has their own particular preferences, adding more or less cream, sugar, what have you. Artyom likes his tea more or less straight and slightly spiced, with a dash of goat milk. Just like his grandmother* used to make! "Mmn. Wards are by their nature tied to several factors: The material utilized, the personal power of the ones who establishes and maintains them, and the arrangement of similar or complementary wards in a particular cluster." Artyom lightly sips from his tea. Mm- heat. "Bells can drive away certain evil spirits, however. Particularly ones prefer to lurk in silence. Some vile wind-wraiths and killing gales can be driven away by a proper bell-ward, for instance. Or by making noise in general." (*Brunhild Valodjn was renowned for her peculiar taste for tea, her phenomenally cubic dimensions late in her life, and her very distinctive voice, which could, if pressed, shatter glass at twenty meters)

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' MILK! Helena puts in a bit of milk and stirs it up. Sip. Hmm...that is good, but it could be better! A sprinkle of cinnamon... Sip. "Perfect!" she declares, and sits back in her towel and relaxes. Mmm...very relaxing. She could just go to sleep like this. Well, she might be too heavily clothed for bed. The feel of her silk sheets won't carress her skin this way. "Good man." She says to Artyom. "Yes, this is true, but I find that this is less of the power of the items, and more representing the bane of the spirits involved. This is often depending on if they are a natural spirit, or a spirit created by a restless soul..." she says, thinking about this. "Spirit banes are rather interesting, and sometimes not what you'd expect."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette doesn't find the word she's looking for, but she does laugh. It's an ugly snorting sound that implies that she's got a clogged nose even though she doesn't. "Killing gales warded away by bells? On Leviathan, we have a saying. 'The wind and weather is always on the side of the ablest navigators.' Wards for wind... ha ha ha..." Minette refills her cup. She then picks up the spoon, dips it into the sugar caddy, and dumps an overfull helping into her cup. And then a second. And a third. And a fourth. And a fifth. She stirs for a moment, sips, then after a moment's consideration, adds a sixth spoonful. She considers adding another, but doesn't want to appear crass in front of the others.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Mmn. As holy symbols might ward off a demon attuned to their opposite, or how trees wrapped in blessed rope can seal and appease an angry elemental. Or how crystals, lamps and mirrors can contain a shade. Speaking of which, I believe that you were looking for a particular hateful Shadow, Helba--" Artyom rumbles. "I believe that we could probably find one in the same woods as this mint. The last time I had visited, the spirits there had been driven back by the creautre I was pursuing. But it is no longer residing in that forest. I could probably acquire containment wards from my contacts in Mullonde, as well." Artyom shrugs, "Just a thought, but bringing business into pleasure is perhaps a bit improper." And then he turns to look toward Minette. Artyom just sort of... Frowns. And then frowns deeper as she shovels in more and more and more sugar. "Minette..." The Titan sighs, "You do know that water can only suspend so much sugar, yes? Adding that much will just... sludge up."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah, it's great, isn't it?" Minette replies. "Like a milkshake, only hot!"

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Artyom just sets his tea on the table, and then buries his face in his hands, "Minette..."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena nods once... "Then I guess we should start there Artyom," She says, and nods again, "Yes...lets enjoy this and engage in intellectual persuits..." She says, before... Staring right towards Minette. She just stares as she watches this abuse of Tea. She takes a sip, once and... "...You are uncouth.:

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I am /not/ uncouth." Minette declares, as she sits in an upholstered chair, covered in blood and dust, drinking a cup of tea that she's poured what is realistically ten spoonfulls of sugar into. She sips her tea. Loudly.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Mmn, tea is for relaxing and philosophizing," Artyom agrees, "Not for business. Not usually." Unless business involves philosophizing or intellectualizing- or negotiating a contract. But that's mostly Souji's thing- and Minette's, to a lesser degree. 'Lesser' because Minette does not know how to drink tea. "Just a bit of a barbarian," Artyom rumbles. "Just a little bit." He sips, sighs, and reclines into his chair. "You'll die of some kind of kidney disease, or something."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "B-barbarian?!" Minette squeaks. "N-not you too, Artyom!" The calculator makes a plaintive sound not unlike a sheep bleating mournfully. "I thought I could rely on you, Artyom! I was wrong, I was horribly, horribly wrong!" She doesn't mention anything about death by kidney failure; she's 17, clearly that's like forever away off and thus not a relevant life factor.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena shakes her head. "A double barbarian," she says. She takes another sip of her tea, handling it with perfect grace. Finally, she finishes it, and places the cup down. She proceeds to fix another cup. "I agree, Artyom. So what do you think about the Alma situation? While it is dangerously close to buisness, I think that the philisophical complications of her departure are important for future employments." "Do not blame Artyom for your own failings, Minette, you refuse to change them. You. Do not get upset when people call you on them."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Mmn, I cannot defend how you drink your tea, Minette. You overwhelm the flavor of the tincture by shoveling in enough sugar to bake a small cake. It's disrespectful to the brew- additives must complement the flavor, not utterly destroy it." Artyom W. Valodjn: Tea Connoisseur. "Perhaps you aught to learn to appreciate tea for what it is, mmn?" And then the topic turns to Alma. Artyom shrugs. "Hrmn. Hard to say. I do agree that companies- particular those as prestigious as the Zaibatsu- aught to maintain certain dignified standards. Certainly, holding lives hostage for the sake of science is questionable, if there is no direct long-term benefit. Extreme exploitation is out of the question- it is, in the end, damaging to the company name, its reputation, and its potential for future profit. However, the situation with Alma is... murky, and I do not claim to know all the details. She has gone on her way, and Souji has his reasons." "As his retainer," (read: Butler/Bodyguard), "I will stand by his decisions."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "There is not such thing as a double barbarian." Minette insists. "That isn't a thing that happens. You either are a barbarian or you aren't, you can't be a double barbarian." She sticks her tounge out at Helena to prove a point. And then she replies to Frank, somewhat sourly, "Why should I appreciate the tea for what it is when people don't appreciate me for what I am?" Thankfully, the topic turns to Alma. "Eh? That doesn't sound like something we'd do." Minette replies. "I mean, the authorities would fall on us like behemoth tripping down a mountain, we can't afford that kind of political and economic backlash. The legal fees alone, oh! No, Mr. Murasame is smarter then that. I think things have been blown out of proportion here." She sighs. "I mean, I'm kind of sad to see Frumpypants go, but I guess that's how things go. I was really getting used to not having to walk to the commissary in my pajamas in the morning." Other people were, too. "Maybe I could budget for a new intern..."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "You are the first double barbarian.." Helena says, and listens...mmmm... She files that away for later. "I do not think the situation here is as clear and cut. First, I think here that Alma...and her WAYS of her faith probably encroched upon how Dr. Feige handles herself...she pushed with her Cosma spouting lecturing...and she wasn't having ANY of that...and I can not BLAME her. We've all been on that side of Alma...breakfast or not, I am sick of being manipulated for her thrills." She says, frankly. "Besides I doubt Feige actually has the power, probably was a bluff or a idle threat....and even it was not. Plausable deniabilty. We can easily deny deny deny." she says with a nod. "Oooo! That would be a grand idea...we need someone who is a hunk...and of course, someone with great cooking skill...and maybe nice firm hands for massages.."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Artyom does not think about how Helena just described Artyom as an Intern. Because that way lies madness. "Mmn, Souji would not do such a thing, I think. He would go to great extremes for the good of this company, but I believe he would attempt to find alternatives before executing such a plan." the Titan shrugs, "Even if we had anything on hand that could act as a hostage, I doubt he would actually order their death. Would give up an advantage, mmn?" "I do think that Feige is a bit... Mm. Perhaps a bit too gung-ho, yes? Not like that new gentleman. He seems much more reasonable. Or at least, less... Cackly." Artyom has heard Feige cackle. It is not a pleasant sound. "As for Alma's faith," he rumbles, "It's not that bad. Honestly, whatever her beliefs are, they are her own to hold. If she wishes to share them with others, that is also her decision. In my opinion, it is only a problem if it does not interfere with the company's long-term well being. In such cases that reconciling work and faith are impossible, then it is right for her to choose to depart. I hold no grudges- and I believe that she is too... innocent, to manipulate for her own entertainment." He considers his tea, then, "Perhaps I should have baked cookies to go with this."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's face brightens up, that means she's got something that she thinks is /really clever/ to say. She turns towards Helena and says, conspiratorially, "So I guess that leaves out Kyra, right?" She looks around for approval. "Right? Right?" She sits back in her chair, she didn't realize she was leaning forwards. "Feige is an outsider." She declares, as if it were some great secret. "Outsiders are strange. They do strange things." "Aw, what the what? We could have had cookies, too?"

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Mmn," Artyom nods, "I have a recipe for snickerdoodles." Pause. "Incidentally, Minette, I do not mind your hobbies. I just do not share them, so it is difficult for me to... appreciate them, is all." Helba probably just doesn't care. :(

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Perhaps I should make them in the morning," Artyom suggests, helpfully!

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Scones." Helena says, not giving and <GOOSEHONK>s. Especially what Minette wants. "Hey! HEY!" she says, "DO I need to do more SENSITIVITY training?! Do I? I don't like it anymore than you, so this is why we need to be SENSITIVE of other people's cultures! Mad scientist is a PROUD culture that you SHOULD respect.." "You racist."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "That's not a culture." Minette corrects, flatly. "It's a job."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Pretty sure Mad Scientist is a profession- not necessarily a culture," Artyom shrugs, sipping at his tea. "Though there are such things as Professional Cultures and so on, so I apologize if I offend. However, it is my opinion that she is a bit too gung-ho, and can likely afford to tune it down slightly. This is likely because I am a relatively... subdued individual, myself." "Besides, didn't you just say something about the Cosma-worshipping culture?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Cosma is a religion, I do not see anything in the rules about respecting cult-like religions!" Helena says, crossing her arms. "Also, mad science is TOTALLY a culture in this world. Professor Mister Green apparently went to join it."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "I'm not sure he 'joined' anything. I am relatively sure that he is still in an ancient mine shaft, attempting to make a machine work, and wondering where his assignments are." Artyom pauses." I do hope he hasn't misplaced his mailbox. I have been sending in my required workload."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "That isn't a culture. That's a lifestyle choice." Minette counters, though her words sound feeble even to herself. "...a strange one. And anyway, I don't think Cosma worship is like a cult. I mean, cults are like... bad things, and churches are like... good things. Right? That's how it goes, otherwise cults would be churches and churches would be cults. That just makes sense." "Wait, what the what? We're still responcible for schoolwork even after the world's blown up?" This comes as a shock to Minette. Her tone is a mixture of surprise, awe, and base animialistic terror.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "I have been keeping up with curriculum as best as I am able," Artyom replies with a slight- perhaps even defeated- shrug. "We have not heard from the professor in months now, though. So I am unsure." "Also," he notes, "Cosma-worship was not something I regarded as a cult prior to the fall of our world, and I do not believe we should do so now." There's a long pause where Artyom is only staring into his cup. "All the Hyrals are connected to that faith, you know. I do not think Souji believes them to be a cult, at least."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "The difference between a church and a cult is the size." Helena says, with a small nod. "Well, all I have to say is...Kyra is much more independant and self assured. When she FIRST got to the academy...well, she was...timid, shy, afraid.." she says, "Though not as insufferable. The more she realized that the cult doesn't apply to everyday life..." She waves a hand. "When Alma couldn't handle the fact that reality wasn't to her parents designs...she was taken back." "If it warks like a chocobo.." "And yes, we are. I have turned in my last assignment and am about to finish the next.." she pauses, "And you can't copy mine."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Awww, /sharkfarts/." Minette exclaims. "Oh maaaaaaaaan, I have /so/ much catching up to doooooooo. Do you think I can get credits for all the various things I've been doing? Like... helping run a multi-billion dollar cross-dimensional company... that's at least like, a home-ec credit, right?" Minette rubs one foot against the other, betraying her nervousness. "A-anyway... I don't really see them as a cult. I mean, Cosma exsists, so there's something to all of that, right? It just makes sense."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "But Chaos worshipers are cultists." Helena points out, "Why shouldn't Cosma worshipers be called the same...given their..." She waves a hand, "Extremes."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Because... Chaos tried to destroy everything and Cosma created everything?" Minette replies. "I mean, this is all pretty straight forward. Anyone worshipping Chaos prrrrrobably wants to destroy the world and that's, like, bad." A pause. "Destroy it again." Another pause. "Can you destroy something twice?"

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "The only gods I know exist are the ones that Dragonius can summon- and the Originals." Artyom says with a soft grunt. "But if there is a Cosma, she seems very similar to many other monotheistic entities throughout the World of Ruin and these other planes. So perhaps there is a figure that we call 'Cosma?' I would not call it out of the question." "Ultimately, we argue semantics," Artyom rumbles at last. "It has to do with conoitation. The world 'cult' is attached to many negative organizations. The word 'church' is attached to more positive ones, typically. Since Cosma's faith acts in manners that are more benign, I tend to refer to them as 'church' or 'faith' in conversation, though their size technically- currently- makes them a cult. Likewise, I call Chaos Worshippers a 'cult,' because they tend to worship an entity that does awful, awful things." "I believe you can destroy something twice," a slight smirk appears on Artyom's lips, "If you can also be a Double Barbarian."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "So then, 'no'." Minette concludes with a contrite little 'neener-neener-neener' smile on her face.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "You can, and /are/." Helena says, "Also, Chaos and cosma represent two forces in existance...not all Chaos worshipers want to destroy /everything/ nor do all Cosma believe in protecting all life..just what they want for their own motivations." "You say it focuses on good traits...tell me, would you consider Cid a good person? Does he not have many good and positive traits...sure he has his flaws, but he has many traits in common with you Artyom." she says, "To Cosma, he is a abomination...black magic is evil to them. Summoning the second gods too.." She waves a hand. "Power is dangerous to Cosma, even if it is power taken with your own two hands...mastered as such."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I am NOT a barbarian!" Minette insists with such vigor that she shakes her arms and slops a generous amount of her cup's contents into her lap. She goes 'KYAA!' but in surprise, not pain, because her tea's lone since gone 'warm' instead of 'scalding'. "Oooooh, fooey, fooey, fooey..."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Artyom shrugs, "I am not an adherent of Cosma, however I do know that their doctrine is such that power, when collected unnecessarily, can become harmful. This much is undeniable. Collecting power when that power is not strictly needed can lead to accumulating power for power's own sake." He drains the rest of his cup with a rather pleased sigh, before continuing. "That is something I can agree with. Power must come hand in hand with responsibility. It must be treated with gravitas and must always be controlled, lest it control the wielder." And then Minette spills tea on herself. Artyom moves to deal with the burn-- Only to notice that Minette is not, in fact, writhing in pain. He blinks, then settles back down. "Shall I pour you another cup, Minette? This time, with less sugar." "Then you will no longer be a double barbarian." He glances back toward Helba, "Cosma does, however, promote things such as charity and generosity, which are surely positive qualities. Though both can be... dangerous, in business- unless used wisely. That is Business, mmn? It is the art of wielding and accumulating power, being in control of it at all times, no matter how amorphous and immense that power might become. Otherwise, if the business controls the businessman, and he loses sight of the future, that business is sure to fail, and all that power is for naught." "I trust Souji partly because he can control himself- and his business. Nevermind all other reasons."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "My devotion to Master Murasame is unshakable." Helena says, though it is probably questionable to those who do not know her...or her story well. She is a ward of the Murasame family, she has known Souji most of her life, and despite her whimsy, does not actively hurt the company...well, in meaningful ways. "Cosma promotes dependance on others, and weakens independance...they attack power, or collecting it. Those who can not control power, will find themselves destroyed by it. They fear anything they can not control specifically."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette looks down at herself and the spill; now it kind of looks like she wet herself. She inhales and lets out a long siiiiiiiiiigh of resignation. After a moment's consideration, she holds out her cup for a refill. "I'm putting as much sugar as I want in it." She insists, voice stubborn. "And it still doesn't make me a barbarian." Cup filled, Minette reaches for the sugar caddy again. "Business is about making some numbers get large and other numbers get smaller. That's all." She manages a small, contented smile at the least. "I'm good at business."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "I do not question anyone's loyalty," Artyom says with quiet gravity, "I only say what I've experienced and seen. I am not saying that Cosma is the ultimate faith, that we should all become mewling kittens. There are things in the dark that will only flee before a strong arm and a stronger will. But the point remains, mmn? Generosity is not a bad thing, necessarily." Pause. Artyom fills Minette's cup, and then she goes to fill her cup with yet more sugar. Damnit Minette. "Minette. You truly are a barbarian, mmn? Business is also about making connections with others, yes? And improvising in unexpected situations. However, Artyom's sugar caddy is... Small. Enough to accomodate several people, but not enough to supply a sweet tooth's terrible diet. Minette would find that the sugar inside is probably insufficient to sate her need.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Running a buisness is just everybit as running a country or a military. The principles are similar...Diplomacy, shrewdness...not just being good with numbers or a balanced budget. We are all pieces that makes the Murasame organization function...even in this new world." "Take...our double barbarian for example of my point. She has many flaws...underdeveloped, flat chest, no rear...she has a nice face, hidden behind a pair of glasses used for keeping things sealed...and dresses in fassions out of Shiva.." She rolls her eyes. "People tell her it is just fine...that she should be whatever it is she wants to be...they don't challenge her to be better...so poor Minette falls into the pit of thinking this is the best she can do for herself...constantly looked over and unwanted...at best." "Mocked and humiliated at worse. She has a impressive skill with numbers...but who cares about that? Master Murasame, sure..." "This is what Cosma's doctrines leave. A society that tells you it is alright to be you...while isolates you for being different."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Well you're an intolerant jerkyface." Minette replies petulantly. No one likes being called a barbarian. Even if they are. /Especially/ if they are. Minette starts spooning sugar into her cup. And then the spoon starts making scraping noises on the inside of the caddy as she tries to get at the dregs underneath. "I do not dress like a Shivan." Minette replies, continuing her petulance. "Look, no fur anywhere." Hmmmm, fur lining on her collar, though... no, then she'd get laughed at for doing a thing she said she didn't do. Sharkfarts! "A-anyway... that's not even true at all! No one tells me that I'm fine the way I am. It's always, 'augh, you should wear different clothes, Minette' or, 'augh, you shouldn't put so much sugar in your tea, Minette', or 'augh, you shouldn't pick your n--'" Awkward silence. "You get the idea! Everyone's always telling me I'm no good as I am, that I should be something different or better."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Mmn. You seem to have many problems with the Cosma faith," Artyom rumbles meaningully toward his teacup. He refills it after a moment, before seasoning it as per his usual preferences. "Mmn. I sense that this might go beyond simple disagreement with their dogma, and also that it is unlikely this will be resolved any time soon. I do agree that their faith has problems- all faiths do. There is nothing wrong with adhering to it, though, as long as one also has the wisdom to accept other ideas, yes?" Minette. Poor barbaric Minette. "Well," Artyom starts, "Honestly, it's not that you're bad. You are very good at your job. It's just that you are... You lack a good deal of common sense. And quite a few social skills. This is a fault- recognizing it is the first step in improving on it. However, if you do not want to, that is also your perogative. Regardless, so long as you are in this company, you are a comrade, and I will treat you as such." "Even if you are a Double Barbarian," Artyom says, as he sips from his teacup.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Nothing comes without change...you have to be willing to change...to move and flow to get what you want." Helena says, "Love is not a game where you can afford to be static...but alas.." She waves her hand at Minette.. "I fear being such a double barbarian...with fur around the collar.." She says, with a grin. "Will only isolate you more." "I do not mock you because I need to make myself feel better...I already feel plenty great. I got a nice body, large perky breats, and long beautiful hair and smooth skin..." She says, with a grin, "Boys are not difficult.."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Boys are /super/ difficult." Minette insists, dodging the issue at hand. She turns towards Frank, her bespectacled gaze sudden and insistant. "Artyom, confirm. Boys, difficult. Yes/no?!" She leans forwards, expectantly.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "We can be difficult," Artyom says with a shrug. "Depends. Most guys my age can be... Easily distracted by a short skirt, or a hint of lingerie. But I like to think that the ones who are worthwhile are not so easy to fool, mmn?" Pause. "There's nothing wrong with having fur around the collar. I have a jacket with a furred collar. Had. Lost it in the Fall. Used to use it to climb particularly tall and cold peaks." Artyom sighs wistfully after his long lost coat. "Anyway, Helba, what will you do when your beauty starts to falter? I suppose you have magic for that?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Ah, ah, ah!" Minette replies, looking at Helena but pointing at Artyom. "See, see! Difficult! I asked him to help me and he messed it up! Difficult!"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena grins a little at Artyom. "A girl has to keep her secrets.." She says, with a hint of playfulness. "Oh...are you?" She says, in a wondering way, she says, slowly letting her towel crack...just a little, "So you are saying, Mr. Valodjn...if I offered you a night with me, you'd turn me down?" she says, stretching a leg out." "It is not a matter of difficulty...it is all about accepting mutual desires."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Is that a fancy way of saying 'by being easy'?" Minette asks, suspiciously, because she has no tact.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "I accept that I love pleasures of the flesh...but I do not just take ANYONE..." Helena says with a grin, "Because gods above know I could have taken you several hundred times by now."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Artyom frowns, "Please, I'm not exactly your average sort of guy." He glances toward Helba, and then shrugs, "Yes, probably. But not for the reason you might think." Artyom drains a bit of tea from the top of his cup with a long breath. "I try to avoid having any... relations with those within the Zaibatsu. It's nothing personal, just policy."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Oh that's fine...I don't want relations either." Helena says towards Artyom, "Those get in the way of /fun/." She says, with a giggle... "A single night is hardly a relationship...but something we both could use." She still offers...and looks at Minette. "How long has it even been for you, Minette?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "That isn't any of your business." Minette insists. Which is teenager code-speak for 'I've never had sex and I don't want to admit it in front of people that have'. "Godsssssss, besides, Artyom is /right there/." She gestures towards the man-mountain.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "So?" Helena asks, "I mean, maybe I could talk him into a threesome.." She offers, with a wry grin.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "But I don't want to." Minette replies. "Not with him... /or/ with you."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Can you afford to be so...picky?" Helena counters, "I mean...you seem to not know what it is you are missing.." She titters.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "That isn't being picky at all." Minette insists, face reddening a little.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "'Relations' being a word for 'sexual intercourse or romance of any kind.'" Artyom clarifies, quirking a wary eyebrow toward Helena. He frowns incredibly deeply. "Besides, I'm not the kind of guy for a casual fling, you know?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "That is totally being picky.." She says, sliding the robe a bit looser. "You should learn to /relax/ and enjoy life how it comes." She says, "Ms. Plainpants." She says, and looks at Art, "Siiiigh, such a stick in the mud Frank. Come on, it's not like you're dating anyone."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Yet." Artyom gives Helena a Look, before sipping from his teacup. "Incidentally, I am not a stick in the mud." Pause. "Not much of a stick in the mud."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Ms. Plainpants?" Minette asks, folding her arms. "That's the best you can do? That's really the best that you can do with that? Do you know what I've gotten? First I was 'Flatsy Patsy' because I had a flat chest and I hung around with Mr. Murasame a lot. Then it was 'Splatsy Patsy' after I fell on my face in the middle of class. And then people I didn't know well started thinking my name /was/ Patsy, so people were calling me 'Patsy' to be friendly. Dork, dweeb, nerd, loser, brown-noser, hot d--" A pause, Minette's face reddens. "Not repeating that one. Where'd I leave off? Oh, right, 'Poor Girl', Poverty Princess, then they just shortened it to 'Princess', and my personal favorite, 'Noone'. And the best /you/ can do is 'Ms. Plainpants'? Minette declares, in a matter-of-fact tone, "Lacking in creativity."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena sighs, this is going no where...and Minette is getting uppity. She leans over, staring right into the eyes of Minette, the expression is...for a moment completely emotionless. It is like the mask of hedonism is gone, and all you have is a woman without anything. "I do not expect you to be intelligent enough to follow my logic...though I hopped in your small narrow mind that you'd get it...I was asking too much apparently." "I was making fun of your own lack of imagination by using one of your stupid little insults and turning it towards you, it was in an attempt to be playful...but such was the limit of my patience." "But if you insist, I shall call you what you are, a Pirate's dream."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette is the worst kind of Levitani... an /uppity/ Levitani. "I don't call Alma 'Frumpypants' to insult her. It's a cutesy nickname." She meets Helena's gaze head-on and, in a very dignified and mature fashion, sticks her tongue out and blows a raspberry. "Thhhbbbbbbbbbbbt!!!" A little bit of spittle probably gets on Helena's face. And then she folds her arms and turns away, huffily. This may be a good time for Frank to seperate the two.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena swiftly does something unexpected. When Minette rasberries... Helena grabs her tongue sharply. "Be careful that you do not stick that out at me unless you intend to either use it...or lose it. I could always use the tongue of a sassy Pirates's dream..." "Or do yo not get it. I refer to your /sunken chest/." "Now do you intend to use it...or lose it."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' Man, Artyom thinks, this poor girl has sure as hell been through a lot of awful GOOSEHONK, hasn't she? An ember burns in his heart- pity, maybe. A bit more respect than he once had for her. Artyom says nothing as she speaks, and instead turns his attention toward drinking his tea. And then Helena does... Something. Artyom can't tell, really- but things have chilled very, very quickly. It may in fact be going south quickly and-- Yep! Yep, there it is. There's the southward trend that damn near anyone could have seen coming. Kind of. In some form. It's right around when Minette raspberries all over Helba's freshly-washed face. In Artyom's mind's eye, there are two buttons. One could lead to a magnificent catfight in which Helena would probably lose her towel and Minette would end up buried upside down in a trash can. If he records it, he could make so much money. The other option is-- Oh, well. The Mountain Rises. Artyom reaches, and quite gently takes Helena's extended wrist in his frankly tremendous hands. "Helba, you know she is... Excitable. Confrontational. This is the person who thought it was a good idea to challenge Dragonius to personal combat. I am certain that she will retreat to her room and spend the rest of the evening cleaning herself and shamefully burying her face into her pillow for earning your animosity." "Please release her tongue, Helena Celba."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette, caught unexpectedly, pinwheels her arms in the air, says something that's unintelligibly garbled due to the fact that some jerkyface is holding her tongue, and then counter-attacks(?) by grabbing for Helena's hair. Towel be damned! This isn't going to be a fight, it's going to be a petty, childish slapfight. Minette says something long and possibly vitriolic, it's difficult to say because it all comes out in a garbled, unintelligible mess, because some jerkyface is grabbing her tongue. It sounded perfectly hostile. Something about 'pirate's dream' and 'on Leviathan', maybe. The Mountain Rises. Minette stops fighting and talking, staring up at Artyom. This is something of a challenge, considering that some jerkyface is still holding her tongue, but Minette still manages to look sheepish and shamefaced.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena's hair towel is knocked off. Her hair is grabbed...it is not a bunch of snakes, but a fine long strand of white hair. She is... She is an albino. However, she doesn't flinch, instead clamps down on her tongue a bit more... Then the mountain. "Very well, Artyom." She says, and lets go.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Thank you," Artyom rumbles, releasing Helena's hand as gently as he had taken it. And then he shoots Minette a Look. It's a Look that Artyom does not use very often. It's the 'For the Love of All the Gods And Your Own Good, Please Shut Your Mouth' look. "Minette," he says after a moment, "I believe we need to speak privately. Soon." And then, Artyom sinks back into his couch/chair, and refills his drink. "Mmn. But for now, there is tea."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena grabs her missing towel, and starts to comb her hair. She stands, "I will come back for some later.." She says, "I need to dress. Thanks for the tea."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette clams up instantly. Because there's three rules that everyone should live by. 1. You don't tug on Bahamut's tail. 2. You don't piss into the wind. 3. You don't pull the mask off ol' Dragoon Man, and 4. You don't mess around with Frank. "We'll talk tomorrow." Minette replies. "I've gotta go get cleaned up and handle the wenus." And then she stands and leaves. She takes a different door from Helena. That's probably for the best.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "You're quite welcome," Artyom replies. "Thank you for both coming to join me," and- it goes unsaid- for not tearing each other's faces off and leaving poor Frank to explain to Souji why he's down both a secretary and an accountant. Artyom peers curiously at the Ghost Mint, and wonders if those stories of the herb serving to cool the passions are true. Nah, probably just old wives tails and tribal medicine.

Niklas Dragonius Dies In Magma

2013-05-27T02:55:02Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/05/26 |Location=Southern Manhattan |Synopsis=Minette Odam has challenged Niklas Dragonius to a dramatic duel atop the Brooklyn Bridge for reas..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/05/26
|Location=Southern Manhattan
|Synopsis=Minette Odam has challenged Niklas Dragonius to a dramatic duel atop the Brooklyn Bridge for reasons that no one can remember, least of all Minette herself. But this doesn't change the fact that NIKLAS DRAGONIUS DIES IN MAGMA!!!
|Cast of Characters=Emi Dennou, Niklas Dragonius, Seloria Delacreaux, Alma Hyral, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Do you know why Niklas Dragonius needs to catch a buttwhooping? Because Minette Odam sure as hell can't remember but as she stands there on top of one of the Brooklyn Bridge's two support pylons, she really, /really/ wishes that she did. At this height, the wind kicks up and blusters something fierce, forcing her to hold her skirt down to maintain decency. She tip-toes up to the edge and peers over, down the length of 'cable' that connects her pylon to the other one where Dragonius was going to appear. The height dizzies her and she staggers backwards. "Okay... so maaaaaaybe this was a bad idea." She mutters to herself. Minette starts pacing back and forth. But she can't back down now. After all the noise she made about wanting to kick Nik's butt, and all the bluster, she'd look like a total coward to just walk away! Oh, maaaaaaan. But... maybe... Maybe Dragonius won't show up! Maybe instead of showing up, he's chicken o--get lost. Yeah, that's the one, maybe he'll get lost. If she has to wait, what, five minutes, that's acceptable enough to wait before declaring him a no-show. Magnanimous, even! He should be ON TIME for his drubbing! Yeah! Minette glances over towards the opposite supporting pylon.

:'''[[Niklas Dragonius]] has posed:''' Niklas Dragonius sure doesn't know why he needs a whupping. It probably has something to do with Thirza; he's been hitting on Minette's Heterosexual(?) Life Partner quite a bit lately. But if Minette doesn't know, Nik sure isn't going to remind her. It's taken him a few minutes to figure out exactly how to get from where he was (over in the World of Ruin, up on a mountaintop) to here (Southern Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge), but once he figured it out, it didn't take him too long. Now, he's standing at the edge of the wire quietly, considering what to do. Really, what would be easiest? He could just walk away. Minette would take it as a win, it would make her really happy, and he'd never stop hearing about how afraid of her he was. He could fight her all-out, really kick her ass hard enough to dissuade her from saying anything ever again...but if he hurt her, he'd never forgive himself (let alone get anywhere with Thirza). He could hold back and make it look good...but that would probably get him seriously injured, since Minette is...well, she's crazy as hell. Nik runs his fingers over his face and exhales as he starts climbing the pylon. Despite all his disapproval and distaste for things like 'hitting a girl with glasses' and 'potentially injuring Minette', there /will/ be healers on-site. He shouldn't worry about it too much. Nik walks up the pylon, hands in his pockets; he's not really concerned by the heights. It's pretty high, but, well, he's been through worse. When he gets to the top, he puts on a smile and holds up his hand. "Hey."

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' /EARLIER, IN A MANHATTEN DRESSING ROOM/ "SELLY! I'm not going out there! This is too i-immodest!" /THIRTY SECONDS LATER/ "Look I know you t-took my clothes Selly! They did not just v-vanish!" /NOW/ Alma stands on Brooklyn Bridge in a cheerleader outfit, complete with pom-poms and with her hair down. Alma may also be blushing so fiercely at the moment that she's likely to cause herself some sort of mental breakdown. Her self-image seems to be inversely proportionate to the amount of skin she's showing. Yeah, she was the on-site healer, and current wallflower. When Nik appears on his opposing support pylon, she just sort of gives her best /Go Nik!/ which isn't really all that boisterous at all. In fact it may have been mumbled a bit, so it doesn't sound like she's offending Minette either.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette Odam totally does not want to fight here. "Aw, /sharkfarts/." Minette exclaims when Nik makes his appearence. The calculator twiddles her fingers, looking around for a new plan in the vain hopes that a /new/ brilliant plan will materialize out of the aether for her. It doesn't. She gives him one last chance to back down over the linkpearl aaaaaaand he doesn't. Her list of options is starting to run thin. She takes a tentative step out onto the cable, then backs away suddenly. "Ah! T-TIME OUT!" Minette calls across the span, holding up her hands in the universal symbol. Minette backs down onto the pylon, ducks out of prying eyes for a moment, and scruntches down. And then she starts to talk to herself. "Okay... you can do this Minette. You can do this... you /can/ do this. Reach for the top, Minette! Reach for the top, Minette! Reach for the top, Minette. YAT-TA!" She concludes this 'pep talk' by springing up and pumping a fist into the sky. Minette steps up to the edge, sheepishly shrugging and calling, "Time in." She leaps out onto the cable and starts running along it's length, towards her opponent. This is going to get ugly, quickly.

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' Suddenly next to Alma, there is a Dennou. This Dennou is /also/ in a cheerleading outfit, and also her name is Umi. Umi has /absolutely no modesty at all/ and seems to be in a pretty gleeful mood. The wind blows her skirt around. She either doesn't notice, or doesn't care. As evidenced as when she starts performing routines, waving the pompoms above her head, kicking into the air, and shaking that moneymaker. "Rah Rah, you can do it, whomever you are, or should I be cheering for the other one, The Network requests clarification." shakeshakeshake. "Oh!" Umi realizes. "Who are you cheering on, Alma? I will cheer the other one, The Network volunteers turning this into a cheering competiton." She randomly performs the splits.

:'''[[Niklas Dragonius]] has posed:''' Minette calls a time out. Nik doesn't say anything; he just strips his jacket off and tosses it down with a surprising amount of accuracy to Alma. Nik is ripped as hell. He stretches his arms behind his head and yawns, twisting his torso left and right as he stands there calmly on the pylon, waiting for Minette to come in swinging. That was nothing new, though; Nik was the kind of guy who didn't move much unless he had to. It was a thing about being a master - you learned how to make every motion as efficient as possible. Nik exhales, moving his hands off his neck and back into his pockets.

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' Umi gapes at Niklas's chest. "He has all six packs!" She throws up both hands. "Okay I am cheering for him, you get to cheer for the girl, Alma."

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Alma would catch the jacket in midair. She'd fold it up neatly, and put it somewhere safe off to the side. And then, DENNOU. At first Alma would gape at Umi. Somewhere in the back of her mind she imagined Feige watching and deciding to conduct some science experiment on evil Pom Poms that double as weapons, or an aerodynamically evil cheerleading outfit, and perhaps even making up evil cheers for EVIL SCIENCE IS IMMORTAL. After the horror of that faded from her mind, she's swallow, and smile at Umi. "Uh, well I wanted to cheer for Nik, but.. s-sure. I'll cheer for M-Minette." "Go Minette.. uh, Rah.. Rah..!" Worst, Cheerleader, EVER!

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' In practice spars at the Academy, Minette has lost to Niklas two hundred and fourteen times (that one time was a technicality, Minette counts it as a draw despite what the instructor scored it as) and has reduced her battles with Dragonius down to a cold, precise science of who is going to do what move when. She knows how he is going to act and react to her various prodding and stimuli, it's just a matter of finding out the proper mathamatical combination to overcome him and then he will never defeat her again, AH HA HA HA HA! Or so Minette thinks, anyway. Minette comes running in, using the built up momentum to launch herself up the convex of the strung cable and fly up the other side with greater force then she'd be otherwise able to. She Calculates a Slow spell into her Yo-Yo, then sends it launching forwards in several rapid strokes as she comes flying in toward's melee range. This is typical tactics for Minette. And then she follows through the routine with a dive to the side, and the flaw in her plan becomes instantly obvious. There is no lateral space to dodge, only a fatal drop. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Minette declares as she jumps off a bridge for no damn good reason. In a panic, she whips her yo-yo about, wrapping it around the span, and comes swinging like Indian Jones around the underside of the suspension cable. She curves up and comes at Nik bodily from the other side. Totally intentionally, of course. Of course.

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' "Sorry I called it!" Umi nods firmly. "In exchange you get to keep his jacket, The Network is gracious in victory." PomPomBot kept falling in love with all its targets so Feige had to scrap the project. "Hey!" She shouts, throwing a pompom up into the air. "Hey!" She throws the other into the air! "What's his name? No seriously what's his name? Oh right you called him Nik! Okay Nik! You sure uh...quick! Your pecs are slick! So you're sure to kick! That girl's..." What's about to say has been censored by the Disney Corporation so instead she shouts, "PATOOEY!" She jumps up, swinging both pompomed hands into the air and kicking up with both legs.

:'''[[Niklas Dragonius]] has posed:''' Minette is a crazy berserker, but she's a crazy berserker with skill. The yo-yo starts swinging in at Nik; Nik tilts his head slightly to the side, letting the yo-yo fling past him. His body twists with each strike, carefully avoiding actually moving his feet as she comes swinging - he doesn't really have enough room to move his feet anyway. Minette's plan reveals to her its fatal flaw; she leaps, swinging up from the underside of the bridge to smash Niklas Dragonius in the back. She's not met with Niklas Dragonius. She's met with the music of the Siren, as the Queen of the Divines manifests herself around Nik in mid-turn; the beautiful voice fills the air with both lyrical majesty and enough force to prevent Minette from ever reaching Nik in the first place. Siren shatters; Nik's eyes flash as he drops low, his muscles twisting and rippling with each motion, pure instinct and mastery mixing together. He couldn't hold back; holding back would just get him killed. Nik's fists snap outwards; the howl of Fenrir pierces the air, the fangs of the Dog of Hell suddenly breaking through the barriers of reality to lash at Minette's arms and legs. "FENRIR FANG!" Then it vanishes, as Nik leaves the ground; his foot swings around, a blast of water erupting forth as the formless Whyt makes his presence known for the wheeling axe kick. WHYT WHEEEEL!" Nik lands back on the bridge, his fingers sliding back into his pocket. "I figure you deserve my A-Game this time," Nik exhales, "So I'm not gonna hold back." Nik glances down at his erstwhile cheering section briefly and blinks. .../huh/. Censorship is weird.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' /EARLIER, IN A MANHATTEN DRESSING ROOM/ "Look, I really don't know where they went, Alma!" /ABOUT THREE MINUTES LATER/ Seloria quietly tosses a small box outside of a window. /Alma need never know/. /NOW/ Seloria joins her OtherWorld Twin, and grins. "Hi Alma."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette smashes into a wall of sound and she TOTALLY MENT TO DO THAT, NO REALLY. The barrier throws her about and she starts calculating a new spell into her yo-yo in preperation for her next assault. She doesn't get a reprieve as Nik starts coming at her full bore; this is not expected nor is it planned for. "Ah-HA! That's where you don't stand a chance!" Minette counters, even as she's thrown down the span by the impact of Nik's god empowered hands beating the fluff out of her. "Because the only people that PLAY are CHILDREN and I guess that means I'm beating up a chi--I'm not sure where I was going with that but TAKE MY ULTIMATE COMBO! MATH GENESIS!" Minette announces what she does, though her 'ultimate' combo is somewhat lacking in the 'finality' department. She leaps to the attack, this time intentionally jumping off of the bridge and using her yo-yo like a whip to swing about in the air. Yo-yo strikes start to come in rapidly from the front AND the back as Minette's high-flying and oddly daring tactics give her a spatial advantage on what is otherwise a 2D arena!

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Alma would just stare at Emi cheering for a time, then harumph to herself. Alright, time to come up with an amazing cheer for Minette.. something that emphasizes her to a T.. Umi had basically challenged her after all. "Hey! It's Minette! She's no dumb Brunette! 'cause when most accountants just talk the talk, Minette she walks the walk!" A lame waving of both pom poms. "She don't need no fancy widgets she calculates Pi to three hundred digits! Her Yo-Yo? So hot! And Nik's pecs.. So not!" Okay that part was a lie. Total lie. "..Nik, so Zetta slow! She's already gonna blow... through, you, because you're a Yoctogram! All that fancy summoning has got to scram!" And after all of that, her eyes would widen at Seloria's appearance, and her cheer would falter, her voice becoming sort of meek once again, "Uh.. H-Hi Selly..." WORST CHEERLEADER EVER!

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' PREVIOUSLY, DURING THE THREE MINUTES PRIOR SEGMENT Shida spots a box full of clothes. She looks inside and 'ooohs' faintly before heading to a nearby changing room. NOW Another pair of Dennous have appeared in the interim, they are ALSO wearing cheerleading outfits. They are both shaking her pomp poms silently around off to the side, apparently Umi is handling 'cheering'. "Why are you doing math?" Umi pauses as she looks to Alma. "Is ... is this some new strategy..." She frowns. "....Very well," She cricks her shoulders, first the left, then the right. "Seloria..." She says. "I am about to drop some /equations/." "Open parenthesis Imaginary 1 * 5 + 2 - 13 divided by twelve to the third Close Parenthesis Dividied by Open Parenthesis 12 times the square root of 16 minus three Close Parenthesis Equals Nik!" r"yaaaaaaaaaaah! Go Nik!" Umi shakes pom poms some more. Another Dennou takes a moment to lightly poke Seloria's pigtail.

:'''[[Niklas Dragonius]] has posed:''' "I have no idea what you're talking about." That's all Nik says as Minette comes swinging in. When Nik is giving someone his A-Game, he gives them his A-Game - he doesn't hit on girls, he doesn't get distracted by cleavage, he doesn't play around. He gives them his freaking A-Game. To do anything less would be wildly, hilariously disrespectful to them. The Yo-Yo lances outwards; it glances off Nik's cheek, drawing a very little bit of blood as it slices across his face. Just that little glance drew blood...Minette is fierce, no doubt about that. With some more work, she could probably destroy him. That isn't happening today. As Minette flingers her yo-yos outwards, Nik dodges, superficial scrapes lashing across his body as his mind's eye hunts for an opening. He's willing to sacrifice a few hits for the goal. You have to be, in his line of...work. The moment he has the opening, he takes it. His foot suddenly bursts into light, and Nik lashes out for Minette's face as the great whale Bismark suddenly surges forth, merging with Niklas as soft sunlight explodes through the Manhattan evening. "BISMAAAARK BUUUSTERRRRR!" The whale vanishes as Nik side-flips, rolling with the momentum of his kick into another stance fluidly, body twisting around into a grab. He moves to snag Minette in his hands - but they aren't his hands, as the great black wings spread from Manhattan's bridge, as the massive red eyes of Diabolos surge to life, Niklas himself enfolded in the demon-god's body as they rise. Nik moves to hammer Minette into the ground, and Diabolos moves with him - but it's not just physical force anymore. Now, it's the crushing power of gravity; the bridge distorts a bit from the sheer force of the blow. "c+DIABOLOS DRIIIVERRRRR!" Nik lands as Diabolos disperses; his hands swing outwards, massive silver-and-gold blades flashing outwards at Minette with each slice. The blades swing faster and faster, until finally Nik's whole body is nothing but a sword - a great, perfect silver-and-gold sword, dropping like the Sword of Damocles towards her. "RAGNAROK RIPPER!" Nik backsprings; he starts to spin in mid-air, faster and faster, until a torrent of wind and rain roars outwards as the great World Serpent surges forth, pounding downwards into Minette for a final, crushing finisher. "MIDGARDSORMR MAELSTROM!" Nik lands on the other pylon, balancing calmly. *His* finisher...well.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "Nik's pecs are not a lie." Seloria says calmly, pompom-less, but still in the other cheerleader outfit of the day. It is much likes Almas'. The summoner looks out at the battle, almost unhappily, before she finally looks back at the Dennou poking her pigtail. "Hi!"

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' "I'm getting kind of bored of cheering though. Maybe I should fight Alma!" Umi says. "Hello Seloria. Well done." The other Dennou says. About... ??? Pigtails apparently.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Alma gapes at Umi's version of a mathematical cheer. She's about to give her rebuttal when Seloria mentions that Nik's pecs are not a lie. She'd lean in and whisper, "I know that Selly! It's just..." And then she's interrupted by Umi suggesting that she /actually/ fight her. "W-What? N-No! I don't f-fight anyone! I'm a p-pacifist!"

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' "PaciFIST you say? I haven't heard of this style!" Umi prepares a crane kick. "You gotta show it to me!" The other Legions elect to not inform Umi what pacifist means how does she even not know what pacifists are and-- They are otherwise distracted by Niklas's show.

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' "Pacifist means she doesn't fight." Seloria explains, then blinks. PaciFIST would be *awesome*. She looks back at the fight. "I suggest waiting, though, I suspect we may need to bring in the healing spells shortly.'

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette comes swinging upwards from below, twists around, and throws her yo-yo outwards towards the span for another swing. No sooner does the yo-yo wrap itself securely around the cable then does Nik launch his attack. Minette looks up, her eyes wide. Her eyes race about furtively, looking for the math, looking for an escape. She sets gravity as a constant and her downward velocity as an increasing variable. She could shift left, but then she'll take the hit and end up in the river. An air-dodge to the right would result in a carrying of an unfortunate three and send her into, maybe through, the road on the upper bridge. And knowing her quantum variance (what normal people call 'luck') she'll be hit by a car as she does so. If she increases mass downwards she calculates that she'll mostly disintegrate on impact and she sets that asside as the current 'best case' scenario until a better one pops up. She doesn't have the leverage for an upwards dodge, and that's unfortunate because that would land her in the river at a safer angle. A forward shunt would be acceptable if the downward angle her vector would pull her at wasn't involved to, once again, land her in traffic. A backward shunt isn't possible, no leverage. And no time to cast Teleport. And then Minette starts using 0 into her calculations and it appears for a moment, that the heavens open up and a beam of light comes down, as if to tell her, 'this is the way'. All of this goes through Minette's brain in a mere fraction of a second. Minette does nothing but cringe; Nik attacks where she would have been had she done something other then staying in place. It is not a perfect solution, and the equation seeks balance. The force exerts itself on Minette's yo-yo's string and she goes flying downwards like a ballistic missile. The string goes taut and starts wrapping its way around the cable; Minette goes flying past Nik in the same direction several times, finally smashing her down onto her feet a couple of paces away. "Ah-HA!" She exclaims drunkenly, dizzied and dazed. She points a damning finger at Nik that wobbles around. "I /told/ you I was... something." She tugs at her yo-yo; it takes a couple of pulls to get it to disengage from the cable and the effort makes her stagger backwards a step... almost off of the bridge again. And then she Calculates a new spell into her yo-yo... /Drain/. "I hope you're ready for this! BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE IF I AM!" Minette goes into the place past pain; her yo-yo lances out, seeking to wrap around Nik's ankle. And then Minette leaps off of the bridge, combining gravity, leverage, and her own body-weight to throw Nik back and forth between the two support pylons several times in an acrobatic display that makes those watching wonder how it could be that she can do this yet trip over her own two feet all the time.

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' "She doesn't fight..." Umi says. "Because ... she finishes off opponents in one strike??? I gotta know this!" The Network is now otherwise preoccupied by Minette's holyt shit

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Alma gapes as Minette's Yo-Yo literally slams Nik back and forth between the pylons. A radiant yellow aura has begun to lim her body.. and since she is wearing a cheerleading outfit, there may be sparkles involved too. She may need to get up there, /really/ quickly to heal someone. She just never truly expected that it would have been Nik. And then she just clears her throat awkwardly, stating to Umi, "N-No, I just d-don't fight anyone! I r-really really just d-don't f-fight at all! Like... Like Max!" Max's definition of pacifism may in fact be a little more stringent than hers though.

:'''[[Niklas Dragonius]] has posed:''' That was really sort of the problem with Nik's finisher. It left him very, very open, on the off chance somebody actually survived the attack, or he missed the counter. Unfortunately...he did. Unfortunately, that left him stupid open to Minette hammering him with the yo-yo. Minette hammers him *hard*. He's flung between the pillars, smashed back and forth and back and forth; he's undoubtedly bleeding internally from the force of the attack, as the pylons start to break inwards against Nik's body. The problem with the Divine Fist is that it is incredibly, incredibly focused not on making you durable enough to survive the opponent, but on making you magically competent enough to summon the gods and make sure your opponent doesn't survive you. Nik gets all of a split second as he's bashed against the pylon; his hand snaps around, the massive blade of the Ragnarok lashing outwards into Minette's body just to give him a few moments to breathe. Nik drops, snagging his hand around one of the wires; he hangs there for a brief moment as undeniable pain races through him. Then he strikes back. Nik presses his feet against the pylon and fires himself off it; he lands in the center of the bridge, narrowly avoiding one of the cars. His legs coil together like springs; he leaps straight upwards at Minette, and suddenly, the tracks of the Doomtrain lay themselves forward. Around them coils the serpent of Midgard; the train and the serpent are one as Niklas comes roaring upwards, furious and destructive, no longer himself but the Train of Progress and the World Serpent in one.

:'''[[Emi Dennou]] has posed:''' Umi is quiet for a moment and then--she laughs! "Hahahaha! I knew that! Haha! I didn't forget. Haha. Ha." She rubs the back of her neck. "Sorry to worry you. Hahahaha!" She waves a pom pom. "Don't let her finish you off Nik, that would be...anti-climatic!"

:'''[[Seloria Delacreaux]] has posed:''' Seloria is giving the fighters an anxious look, her green eyes dark in her pale face. "Please, please, please." She whispers, mostly to herself.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "AH HA HA HA! I WILL DRINK YOUR TEARS! THEY WILL BE DELICIOUS!" Minette ends up aerial in the middle of the bridge, hovering between the two pylons from the force of her erratic and zealful motions. "No one could have survived that, except maybe Mr. Murasame! VICTORY AT LONG LA--eh?" And then the engine of the Gods comes roaring out of the dust cloud with the world serpent wrapped around it. Minette flails around, trying to coil her yo-yo to find grapple purchace and with it an escape, but there's no safety to be had, no solace. "AAAAAAH!" She considers striking back. The question is raised in her mind, 'how do you stop a train with a yo-yo?'. Answer: You don't. The impact hurls Minette backwards into the opposite pylon, sending sprays of concrete in all directions as her body ricochets off of the century-old structure. Minette starts calculating her trajectory; it is not pleasant math. "NO!" Minette exclaims as she grapples up onto a lighting strut, perching there precariously. "IT ISN'T FAIR, HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING?!" She bemoans her ill quantum probability for a moment more, then exclaims, "I've come this close... I CAN'T LOSE NOW!" Minette leaps skyward and hurls her yo-yo upwards; it starts bouncing off of the support cables, the pylons, the light fixtures, and even a few passing cars below. That ricocheting disc of mithral keeps bouncing around as Minette keeps Calculating spell after spell into it to keep it going, seeking Nik out wherever he goes and giving him no solace. But even this is merely a set-up for one last, desperate attack by Minette.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Alma isn't entirely convinced that Murasame wouldn't have one of his minions murder Nik if he fell... And so she's even more tense than usual. She can be up there before Minette could carry that out...she's just hoping it doesn't come to that, as she stares on, taking ahold of Seloria's hand, entwining her fingers and squeezing them reassuringly.

:'''[[Niklas Dragonius]] has posed:''' Indeed you do not stop a train with a yo-yo. The train plows forward as Minette hammers it with spell after spell; the serpent breaks apart, but the train keeps on rolling. It takes spell after spell, shrugging them off as it slowly breaks apart; the train shatters at its apex, and Minette lands another solid blow on Nik, right in the chest. The spells surge through him in an instant, restricting his movement, restricting his stance, restricting everything about him - Minette is a hell of a calculator. Unfortunately, Nik is a summoner, and no matter how broken Calculators can get with some work, Summoners are broken right from the word go. Nik uses his restrictions - he falls, straight down, and the Train of Mankind's Progress comes roaring out of the shadows again, right for Minette. It plows straight down into the bridge, exploding in a beautiful, shadowy display, covering the bridge in darkness for a brief moment. When it's over, Nik is standing there, but only barely. He wobbles for a moment, but he doesn't fall. He does, however, cough up some blood, because he just got hammered by both pylons, *fiercely*.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' The time that elapses before Alma Hyral is up on that support pylon could be measured in fractions of a second. A literal yellow blur shooting through the sky. Before Minette fully falls, she's practically apparated on top of her and Nik and is pouring all the healing she can muster into them. The light of creation knitting back together any broken bones, torn muscles, rent flesh... replacing lost blood by stimulating erythropoietin receptors, as she just concentrates on putting them both back together.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette pulls her yo-yo backwards, a full-armed gesture that makes it curve out behind her, disappearing somewhere up into the sky. The clouds above Manhatten gather and swirl behind the calculator, as if a great cauldron in the sky where being stired with a mighty stick. Lightning crackles on a what was a cloudless day until a moment ago and the midday sky turns dark. Minette tugs upon her yo-yo's string, and the sky starts to fall downwards in a spiralling cone, as if a portal to another world was being ripped open so that something could fall out. "NEVER HAVE I COME THIS CLOSE! SO, NIKLAS DRAGONIUS! FOR THIS BATTLE, FOR ALL BATTLES! FOR MY PRIDE AND MY HONOR, AND FOR THAT OF MR. MURASAME, I SHALL FINISH YOU WITH THE FORBIDDEN TECHNIQ--" And then a train launches Minette into the air. The sky clears; whatever Minette was going to do does not happen. Somewhere in there, Minette blacks out for a few moments. She does not, at the least, 'ping' off into the distance. When she comes too, she /is/, however, hanging from the support cable upside down; one end of her yo-yo's string wrapped around the cable while the other is entwined around her left leg. "Uggggu... this suuuuuuuuuuuuucks!" She whines, but even as holy light washes over her it's clear that she's going to be just fine. "It isn't fair, I was so close... /so/ close... /sharkfarts/." The bells in her brain tinkle in a gust of wind. And then Minette realizes that she's hanging upside down while wearing a skirt and thrusts her arms upwards, face reddening in embarrisment. (chocobo print)

Bad Idea, Worse Idea

2013-05-20T03:53:27Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/05/19 |Location=Narshe - Inn |Synopsis=Minette asks Helena for advice on how to seduce someone. This goes about as well as one might expect an..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/05/19
|Location=Narshe - Inn
|Synopsis=Minette asks Helena for advice on how to seduce someone. This goes about as well as one might expect and probably a whole lot worse.
|Cast of Characters=Helena Celba, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette was left alone with a briefcase full of money. Then Thirza returned early, there was a really awkward explaination, and finally a decision that 'We'll just tell Souji you dropped the briefcase in a puddle'. And then Thirza departed, leaving a red-faced Minette behind. The briefcase as since not even been so much as glanced at. And so we find Minette in her room at the inn. There are only two other people allowed admittence (other then the 'gentlemen' guarding the door in case of emergency), one of them is Thirza, the other is Helena, whom has also been assigned to help carry out this hostile corporate takeover. Minette is reclining in a chair by the fireplace, having changed into a terrycloth bathrobe and a comfortable pair of slippers shaped like chocobo heads. They're adorable. Well, they're dorky as hell. Minette inhales slowly, then exhales even more slowly; that was embarrissing, but at least Thirza is the only one that saw it.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "So there was something about a puddle?" Helena says, deciding to embarras Odam a bit...mostly for her own kicks, mostly because she was still working out her own TERRIBLE frustraitions. She was sitting in the doorway, looking at Minette for a long moment. She doesn't laugh, but you can tell by her gaze that she was /highly/ amused by what she saw, and walks slowly towards Minette... She makes sure to walk, JUST right, her sway making every part of her bounce. "I got a note...and was wondering WHO could have sent it to me.." She says, dropping the piece of paper on her lap. "Truly, I am...flattered!"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette shrinks further down into her chair, muttering and grumbling unkind things about Odin, the Odynar, and loud-mouthed Shivans. "Yeah, I stepped in one on my way into town!" Minette says, snappish and a little cross. She folds her arms in front of her chest and is all huffy, her face turning a fine shade of beet red. Minette half-stands to pick up the chair under her bum and drop-drag it once, twice, three times so that the back is facing Helena. Hrumpf. But her head peeks out from behind the chair, light from the fireplace reflecting off of her glasses. "Why would you wonder that? I submitted it with my daily paperwork." A frown. "And signed it."

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Geeze, and here I thought I'd get more embarrassment out of you." Helena says, rolling her eyes. "So...WHO is the boy you want to make you a lucky girl?" Helena says, with a giggle as she sits down in her own chair, leaning over to give her a good LONG stare. "Come on, who do you got your sights on?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I'm not Frumpypants." Minette counters, only a little sourly. And she's not. She's better! A little. She can at least hold her own with Helena, which is more then a lot of people can say. For Minette, it is an issue of daily (some would say 'over') exposure. Helena is rarely shocking and Minette finds her ways, in truth, more tiring then anything else anymore. Still, there are moments. Like this one. "Idontwannasay." Minette mumbles with rapidly decreasing volume, turning away from Helena. She's still beet red, but that's nothing new considering what she was just caught doing fifteen minutes ago.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena giggles... "Uh huh.." she says, "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter...perhaps it will be more fun to FIND out...in the end." She says, and leans back. "So...you want to know how to seduce a man..." Hmmm... "Well, first...I suppose we will have to start with the basics." she says, and points at her clothing, "That won't do at all...you need a change of style, my dear Minette. We will have to find you some new...clothes." she pauses... She gives Minette a long stare...what would...should the clothing accentuate...Minette has to have at least /one/ good feature.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's best feature is her... well her arms are... her legs are sort of... her hair's like... it... maybe it's her eyes. Those eyes, hidden behind half a friggin' inch of glass so that they can't be seen. There's a risk there, but it's one that might be worth taking. Because otherwise we're going to have to go with her belly button. And she's an outtie. "I don't... really wanna change my clothes. I /like/ my clothes, that's why I wear them." Minette starts to vouge them, but then realizes 'oh wait, I'm wearing a bathrobe and oh man I forgot to tie it'. Minette hurriedly sweeps the cloth up in both arms and returns herself to decency. Her 'one good feature' wasn't hiding under there, anyway.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Eh. Nothing I haven't seen before." Helena quips, and shrugs her shoulders. Hmmm... Minette is...going to need a lot of work. Helena reaches over, and yanks the glasses off of her face. She also moves her hair, letting it drape down her back. She wants to check something out...maybe... ...EVERYONE has one attractive feature...she might not be busty or buxom...or even...girlish...but there was SOMETHING...

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's frame is best (or at least generously) described as... 'tomboy'. There are people that do like that sort of thing. Most of them are generally creepy. "He-hey! Helena, what are you, WOAH!" The glasses come off, and there is a moment. One, shining moment. After the glasses are pulled away, the twin twist braids are thrown backwards, and after Minette gets over flinching, she opens her eyes. It's like time stands still, for the beat of a heart. Minette has absolutely beautiful violet colored eyes. And then, groping forwards for her glasses, she falls out of the chair and straight onto her face, utterly ruining the moment. "...malboro farts. Owwieee... ... ..." Well, that's... that's something that might be able to be worked with. Somehow.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' "Hmmm.." Helena says, enjoying the fact that someone just hurt themselves, based on her actions in her presence. "Completely blind without these?" she asks, as if she wasn't stating the obvious. However... "I think I found something we can use." She says, "But...we have to find a way to get rid of these glasses...You have such...beautiful eyes."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I have... myopia and cataracts." Minette grumbles, pushing herself up off of the floor. Her head cranes about this way and that way, eyes squinting heavily and ruining the potential effect. "I can't get contact lenses because of that... something about the cataracts." Minette manages to flip her way around to sit on her butt on the floor, indian style. In the robe, it's totally immodest but as Helena pointed out, it's nothing that she hasn't seen before and Minette can't even see well enough now to realize. "I hate my eyes." Minette grumps, holding up her hand at arm's length. She slowly starts to move it inwards, towards her nose. She stops it and announces, "There. That's were it isn't blurry." Her hand is maybe an inch from her face. By the advanced Ramuha medical definition, Minette is legally blind.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena frowns... "Then..." hm... "Maybe...we should try some different glasses. Maybe...something that isn't ABSORBING all of your face." She thinks about this for a long long moment. "We have to do something about these," She considers things. "Until then...maybe a sexy black dress and some heels to try and get you something nice to ware...maybe let your hair down..."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Those are the only glasses that'll correct my vision." Minette says with a sigh, pointing her face at the sound of Helena's voice. She gropes out blindly, hunting for her glasses which she assumes Helena to have. The distance between the two is such that Minette can't reach from where she was sitting and she doesn't realize it. But that one admission is like the crack in the dam; it begins an avalanche. A few moments later and Minette is out-and-out whiney. "I trip when I'm in heels, isn't there something else? And... I like my hair like this, it's traditional. I like traditional." It's frazzled and unkempt is what it is. On second inspection, her hair isn't terrible. Something could be done there; hair is easy to work with. At least compared to the body, anyway. Between hair and eyes something passing fancy might be arranged, but Minette is never going to be a knockout without cosmetic surgury and/or dramatic lifestyle change. Neither of which either girl has the time for right now. "Can't I do this dressed as I am?"

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Helena puts the glases in her hands, and then... Grabs a nearby mirrior, pulling it up, and placing it RIGHT infront of her. "You are unwilling to change. This is what you'll stay like. Without any willingness to change yourself..." she waves a hand. "You'll get nothing. You want to seduce? Be noticed? You have to work at it, you do not WAIT for them to notice you...to see the worth that is on the inside like in stupid fairy tales. Nothing can save you from this, except /action/. So, Minette, are you wasting my time, or..?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette is hauled up to her feet and dragged up to the mirror, tripping and stumbling as she goes. It's not until the pair comes to a stop that Minette gets a chance to put her glasses on. She stares at the mirror for a long moment, both hands still on the thick horn rims. She inhales a little to speak, opens her mouth, and... And what should she say? She wants to be noticed, to be loved for who she is and what she is, not what someone else thinks she should be. The world, all the world, and from what she's seen, all of the /other/ worlds have held this to be high virtue and eminantly esteemed. That it is what is on the inside that makes people beautiful and not this crude, ugly flesh on the outside. It proposes a moral conflict, that anyone that would fall for her because of what she looked like on the outside wouldn't be falling in love with her for the right reasons and therefor wouldn't be worthy of her, but she can't attract his attention without, AUGH! Why is life always unfair? But. But Minette knows that she's not pretty on the inside, either. She knows her own thoughts, those petty thoughts of revenge, that lightning bolts from the skies should strike down those who have wronged her. Her increadibly jealous desire to see something terrible befall people that are too pretty, and nice, and perfect. And then, that one time, something did, and her first thought... her first, terrible, awful, evil thought when Tira Hyral disappeared was... "I think that I am." Minette replies, very, very smally, which is not to say that she replies softly. They are two distinctly different things. Her head droops and her eyes fall on the floor.

:'''[[Helena Celba]] has posed:''' Augh... "Really? That's it?" Helena siiiiighs. She can sense something is on the edge...something unsaid that is...causing this, but...she either knows not how to bring it up, or care. She lays a hand on Minette's shoulder, "Then if you refuse to change...refuse to grow...then you'll always be...plain old Minette. Nobody will look at you, nobody will notice you...you'll be just that girl that is good with numbers forever." She says. And switches sides, "Until, of course, Master Murasame finds someone who is good with numbers, who isn't a complete failure. Who is...sweet, who is nice...who is /pretty/." She switches again. "Someone who isn't glass jawed by Nik in every encounter...who changes when is necissary...who doesn't hide behind their own weakness.." "Who doesn't waste company time." Her hands grip in, "Who doesn't waste /MY/ precious time." She says, with a tone of murderous hostility. "But that is fine...hide here, stare at the girl you are. Let the failure soak in...know this is /all/ you will ever be, because you LIKE your clothes, because you LIKE your hair...and because you LIKE being a failure. It's safe...comfortable. Nobody needs or wants you. Eventually, you might even get to die...alone. Nobody will even remember your name." She says, and lets her go. And turns to walk away.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "It's probably better this way." Minette says, shrugging off Helena's hand so that she can shamble more then walk over to her chair. She flumps down into it heavily. "Everytime someone does notice me it's just to kick me around. She doesn't flinch as Helena starts making her proclimations. They're true; Minette has accepted them as total fact. She has no protest to raise, because there is nothing to protest. With one very signifigant exception; "YOU'RE JUST AS EXPENDABLE AS I AM, YOU STUPID WITCH!" Is want Minette /wants/ to say. But she does not. Later. Tomorrow. Later in the week. Maybe even later in the month, she will play this conversation back in her mind, and she will say that line. Sometimes Helena will be too shocked to reply. Sometimes she'll counter with some evil line and Minette will hold a mental dialoge with herself in which she destroys Helena with a carefully constructed and rehearsed arguement. And sometimes, Helena will break down crying, and Minette will go to her and comfort her and make it all better to show in false humility how much better of a person she is then Helena. But here. Here and now, Minette says not a word. Not a single goddamn word of protest or self defence passes her lips as she sinks back into her chair and lets out a half-formed and half-hearted utterance of 'I'm sorry'. For what, Minette doesn't know. She's not sure she cares.

Coin Tricks

2013-05-20T00:29:34Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Cutscene Header |Date of Scene=2013/05/19 |Location=Narshe |Synopsis=Some fool gives Minette a briefcase of money; she does 'coin tricks' with it. |Cast of Characters=Minett..."

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2013/05/19
|Location=Narshe
|Synopsis=Some fool gives Minette a briefcase of money; she does 'coin tricks' with it.
|Cast of Characters=Minette Odam,
|Tinyplot=Other People's Money
}}
Narshe, Minette decided, was an ugly place. Flipping a gil through her fingers absent-mindedly, she stared out her room's window at the soot-encrusted grey snow, the unfriendly black basalt the town was carved out of, and the profusion of impersonal brass machinery that produced heat, noise, steam, and smoke for reasons that Minette couldn't even begin to guess. And by the Gods, it was cold, to boot. She attempted to palm the coin, but didn't clasp her palm tight in time. The gil slipped downwards, forcing her to catch it with her off-hand, utterly ruining the illusion. Darned thing.

All in all, Narshe reminded her of a bastardized hybrid of Shiva and Titan, at least what she'd seen of them in books and spherecasts. And that made her homesick, so she found herself turning away from the dreary view the window offered to flop back down on the bed of her private room at the inn.

A private room. And at the moment, it truly was private, for her constant companion Thirza was out and about to survey the property that they'd been dispatched to purchase and the four tall gentlemen that look not dissimilar to gorillas stuffed into immaculate business suits that had been sent along as additional security had the good professionalism to stand outside of a lady's room while guarding the door. The thought of them brought a sigh from Minette, though, for she knew that they weren't really here to protect her. They were here to protect the briefcase sitting on the table, with it's current contents of nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine gil. Add to that the gil she was awkwardly twirling about between her fingers and you had a lot of money. Or rather, she did.

It was a staggering thought.

The gil in that briefcase was an alien thing to Minette. Everything about it felt so strange. From the lack of dents, dings, and scratches caused by circulation to the seemingly unnatural polished luster that she didn't know coins could carry. The only coins she'd ever held in her youth were made grubby by passage between human hands. There was so much of it and in one place, and strangest of all, she had actually come to think of it as not being that much! When she'd realized this the first time, about a month after being originally given access to the Murasame Zaibatsu's accounts, she was shocked at herself. It was a rare day growing up on Leviathan when she had two gil to rub together, and now she thought of what was then unimaginable wealth currently as being 'small'. She'd heard a rumor of an eccentric quail millionaire that piled all his wealth into a giant vault and actually swam in it! Of all things, swam in it!

The idea sent a perverse spasm of glee shivering down Minette's spin, causing her to bite her lip in a failed attempt at killing a perverted smile as the thought of stripping down and rolling in a million gil just because she could crossed her mind. And maybe, just maybe, when she got enough money, she could roll in it after stripping down wit--no.

That thought alone killed the fantasy. She would always be Minette, no matter how rich.

Well, the deeps take them all, she'd at least make something of herself. Then the rich kids would have no excuse. If they still found excuse to hate her, then it would just prove how ugly they were on the inside, where it mattered, and if they fawned all over her then it'd just show how shallow. Minette palmed the gil in her hand and tried a false transfer to her other hand, succeeding only in dropping the coin onto the bed. The gil bounced off of the stuffed quilt, hit the floor with a thud, and rolled underneath the bureau. With a sigh, Minette rolled off the bed and went after it. She wasn't too proud to hunt after a single coin, not yet at least. It still had worth to her.

It had value.

Fishing the coin from it's resting place up against the base-board, Minette dutifully, almost reverently, brushed the dust from it's shining surface. She tried another false transfer in front of the mirror, but her eyes caught sight of the glint of metal in the reflective surface. Another flub. "Gods... why is this so haaaaarrrrrrrrrd?" She'd seen children do this trick. Children!

"Meh. Doesn't matter." Minette told her reflection, tossing the coin up, then catching it. "I'm going to take this gil and turn it into twenty four gil. In fact, I'm going to make each of those coins turn into twenty four coins... the whole darned thing! Let's see someone else do THAT! Ha!"

Reaching over to drop the coin back in the sole, empty slot in the briefcase, Minette paused. She glanced from the case of money, over to the bed. She caught her off hand fiddling nervously with her belt buckle. W-well. The guards outside won't come in unless called. And... and Thirza wouldn't be back for at least an hour...

Open Mouth, Insert Both Feet

2013-05-15T02:48:07Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/05/13 |Location=Traverse Town Inn |Synopsis=It's Minette's big chance to leave a positive impression on her schoolyard crush! She doesn't. |Ca..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/05/13
|Location=Traverse Town Inn
|Synopsis=It's Minette's big chance to leave a positive impression on her schoolyard crush! She doesn't.
|Cast of Characters=Kamon Lionward, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Traverse Town isn't such a terrible place once one gets used to it. If one can look past the constant darkness, the hideous neon lights, and the sporadic ambushes by the Heartless, it can be downright pleasant. Moreover, Traverse Town is a nexsus, an interdimensional meeting place where one can find all manner of things from across the worlds. And what a place the market is! Minette Odam, elite accountant and corporate spreadsheet demon, is required to travel for her job. Or at least, she has to nowadays. And to this end, she has ended up staying in the sleepy little inn, tucked away in the corner of District 2 (travel expenses can be written off, after all). She's spent the day shopping (really, just walking around and looking at things without buying much of anything), and has fallen back into the inn's cozy common room to kill the rest of the evening (such as it is) until she gets tired enough to sleep. She's about the only one in there, sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. Naturally, she is passing the time in the most intellectually stimulating way available to her. Her yo-yo goes down, her yo-yo comes up. Repeat ad nauseum.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon has kind of gotten used to Traverse Town, actually. It reminds him a bit of his first home. While some people have been doing interplanetary business and combating the forces of evil, others (read: Kamon) have been doing less-exciting but no less unnecessary duties on the home front (read: he found a job at a deli). Those, uh, duties didn't really pan out, though; after he went to go find out why the owner's husband was kind of crazy due to some portal thing and couldn't fix it despite locating the source, he promptly lost his job. Since then, he's basically been a glorified delivery boy while hunting shards of their home planet. No luck so far, though. Kamon trudges into the inn's common room with his backpack slung over his shoulder and a wooden pole sticking out where his sword usually is. He shuffles over to his favorite spot by the fireplace, depositing his pack and... shovel?... next to an armchair and then dropping into it. He exhales in obvious relief once he's off his feet. /Then/ he notices Minette, and promptly spends a moment staring at her in abject confusion.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Yo-yo goes down. Kamon enters. Yo-yo comes up. Kamon plops down. Yo-yo goes down. Minette glances over and spots Kamon. Yo-yo comes up and knocks Minette on the chin as she stares at Kamon in abject confusion. "Owwie, owwie, owwie..." Two seconds in and she already looks like a doofus; as she rubs her chin to ease the pain she wonders if this is some kind of new record. Minette looks over. Then glances around, taking note that there isn't anyone else here. She looks back towards Kamon. "Uh." She stammers out. "H-hi." She concludes, shyly and awkwardly. This would be the first time they've seen each other since school and the world disappeared into darkness. Though in Minette's mind this is probably the first time that Kamon's ever looked at her. Following in Souji's wake it's easy to not be seen.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon blinks upon yo-yo impact, ceasing his confused look. He winces a little bit, and is immediately stricken with indecision. He's not sure if he should ask if she's okay, or if asking will make this perhaps worse, or if /not/ asking makes him a jerk. There's another moment of hesitant staring, and he finally settles on an empathetic, "Ouch." Though, the worst part is the /complete lack of recognition/. He knows he's seen her before, and knows its from school, but cannot for the life of him remember her name. "Uh -- hi," he replies, lifting a hand slightly to give the slightest two-fingered wave. He furrows his brow in thought, lapsing back into silence. Then, something clicks in his head. He snaps his fingers. "Minette!!" Kamon exclaims suddenly, pointing directly at her. It does not occur to him that this could be the worst of the several decisions he could have made.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette starts as her name is declared, half flinched back from the suddeness of it. But then her heart almost skips a beat. 'He knows my name. He KNOWS my name! He DOES know I exsist, ahahaha!' Minette's face brightens up perceptibly (which is an achievement given how much of it is hidden behind her glasses), and then she up and /smiles/, an open mouthed thing that makes her look less intellegent. "Y-yes! That is me." She accents this by pointing her thumb at her chest, as if to say 'yep, you got me'. "Yes. Minette. Uh. Hiiiiiii."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' As soon as Minette's expression turns to 8D, Kamon feels twenty percent more awkward about this whole encounter. "Yes! I, uh -- sorry, I --" He cuts himself off to organize thoughts into words. Then, he continues. "I've seen you with Souji. Before, uh, before everything... happened." Kamon doesn't really want to get any more specific than that. That wound is still fresh, for him. "So... uh..." He trails off, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing at the fireplace. "...good to, uh, see you, out here," he finishes, lamely.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah." It's good to see me! It's GOOD to see ME. Minette is confused by this; no one ever says that it's good to see her. It's never good to see Minette. Except Thirza, but Thirza doesn't count because, well, it's Thirza. It's good to see her and now she'll what comes next Minette does not know what comes next. Someone ought to say something. Something /should/ be said, that's how conversations go, right? Right. So since Kamon just said something the onus is on her to say something. And she doesn't know what to "So how are... you?"

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Minette's thought process is long and involved. That is to say, it's long and involved in such a way that necessitates letting her mouth run in a manner that her brain has absolutely no control over. Given that she's the Murasame accountant, she /does/ have a brain behind the gigantic coke-bottle lenses; the fact that it can't reign in her mouth is just a thing that occasionally happens to people their age. Some people would call it hormones. Kamon doesn't call it anything at all. "Wiped," Kamon replies with a small sigh. "I've been trying to raise some money, and running packages works, but..." He shakes his head. "Some people just -- they, uh, have some weird things that they want me to take places. Like sinks, and rare plants, and empty jars." Kamon is basically the middle-man in a fetch quest chain. He's pretty sure he's facilitating six seperate transaction chains all at once. It is uniquely exhausting. However, this means he doesn't want to fight someone, not that he can't have a conversation. He's far less awkward when he's not being asked important questions or made to make terrible decisions. (That last part is Nik's job.) "But it's... coming along. And I guess I can look for pieces, too -- oh, do you, uh, know about the... shard... thing?" Kamon inquires vaguely. He doesn't seem to be catching that Minette's happiness at being named is abnormal.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette being happy is abnormal. "Oh that's... that's good." She replies. She doesn't know anything about sinks, or rare plants, or empty jars unless they have the scant remains of the peanut butter she just ate in them. "The shards? Uh, Alma said a... thing about them. Something." Minette squints, shoving a finger in her ear and wiggling it about for a moment. "Something about the stars and math involved. Haven't had time to work out the numbers yet, might not pan out." "You should... you should work for Souji?" Minette volunteers. "He could give you a job. Searching for the shards, that is. He'd pay well."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' To be fair, Kamon doesn't know her well enough to know that. He also doesn't know anything about these things he's delivering either, just that people seem to want them passed around, and that they don't appear to be terribly evil. Soan would've told him once he spotted him with one of those, and he's basically everywhere. "Yeah. I, uh, I think if we got them, we could put the world back together. Or part of it. Soan said something about it." Minette proposes something. Kamon shrugs, and slouches into his armchair with a frown. "Iiii... dunno." He looks back to the fireplace, lapsing into silence for a few moments. How do you tell someone that you're pretty sure their boss is a shady motherfucker without offending them? "My dad used to say," Kamon says slowly and deliberately, "that you shouldn't take a job to take a bullet for someone who wasn't prepared to do the same for you. I think that he was paraphrasing my great-granddad, and mostly meant that if they won't go out on a limb for you, you shouldn't do it for them. Defending the weak is one thing, but defending the powerful when they won't expend some of their own power to help you in return is another." Kamon shifts in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable. He goes back to an almost-mutter. "Um -- what I mean is, I don't really... want to get paid for something like that. I think he wants shards for his own uses, not to just... help set things right."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Eh?" Minette replies, tilting her head to the side. Her twist-braids hang limply down at an awkward angle. "I'm not... really sure that I follow what you mean. If Souji finds the shards... well, then everything would be good again, right? Does it really matter who puts our world back togather again, so long as it's back?" Minette pulls her legs up onto the couch and wraps her arms around them. "I miss... home. The seas around here don't smell right. I don't think it's really in Souji's best interests to find all the shards, anyway. If they all get put back togather, then he wouldn't be in charge of the zaibatsu anymore, right? A-anyway... he's a really nice person, underneath it all."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' "I... dunno. It just doesn't sit right with me." He shrugs helplessly, and slouches a little more into the deep chair. "Maybe I'm just old-fashioned," he mutters. "Probably get /that/ from my dad, too." Kamon nods a little. "I lived on Leviathan for a little while," he remarks. "Dad and me, we... moved around a lot. I didn't really, um, do any swimming, but we were there for a little while. It was a beautiful place -- um, when I was there, I mean," he hastily adds. He doesn't like to sound fatalist about the fate of their world, not after the stink he raised last time someone did that. Kamon is still again. Then, he nods a bit more slowly. "...yeah, he wouldn't. Sorry, I don't -- I don't really know him like you do." He'll take Minette's word for it. He just won't act on that tidbit, either. "I just want things to go back to the way they were. It's gonna take some work, but, well... it's possible."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette rests her chin on her knees and lets out a long, drawn out sigh. Home. The smell of the salt sea, the feel of spray on her face, the rise and swell of the waves. The houses carved into the very rock of the spits of land that dared to rise out of the depths below. Minette had only ever seen Leviathan. Well, she saw the Academy, of course. At a little bit of Ramuh. Ramuh was... well, ugly. She can't understand how people could live like that. She lets the comments on Souji's benevolence or malevolence slide past, electing instead to just sort of frown a little. After a few quiet moments, she asks instead, "What was Odin like? I've read about it, but..."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon stayed on the land, but even he couldn't deny the beauty inherent in a place like that. That kind of expanse of water was mind-boggling to behold; Odin didn't really /have/ anything like that, barring some shallow pools and wells drawn up from beneath the surface. Even that wasn't exactly the most sanitary-looking fluid, but it kept you sustained. "Odin?" Kamon doesn't seem to be anticipating the question. He looks up with a start. "Well..." He trails off for a second, thinking. Odin. He hadn't been there in years, but he can remember it just as clearly as if it were yesterday. Maybe it's something to do with being one of its children: you just... /know/. "It's... cold, sometimes," he begins slowly, "and hot, other times. There's not much vegetation, but there are these..." He trails off again, trying to put it into words. "These... spires. Like rock formations, but made of metal. They stick up all over the place, out of the dirt and the sand, and sometimes they sort of... twist together. Fiends live under them most of the times, and it's really dangerous to travel. Everywhere but the city, you'd get attacked all the time, so everyone has to fight. But there's these spots --" Kamon smiles, remembering fondly. He lifts a hand, gesturing as if painting a picture. "-- places where you could sit, and see the sun come up. And it'd cross these stone shelves sort of slanting out of the ground, and catch the veins of different metal in them, and make the whole thing light up in the morning. You could see all these patterns, and even the fiends stopped and watched sometimes." "It... didn't really matter that it wasn't green, or blue, or anything, when you saw things like that. It made it worth it."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Woah." is Minette's well thought-out, intellectual reply. "One Leviathan, it's like..." Minette thinks to her childhood, growing up on the waves. Often times literally, for both of her parents were needed to work the fishing boat and they couldn't very well leave her at home alone. The whirl-pools in the middle of the ocean. The sight of the gulls flying around the cliffs. The rays of the sun coming through the morning mists. She thinks of all these wonders and more, and she says, "We have fish. Like... a lot of fish." Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon has a poet's soul. It is what lets him do things like cut his initials into peoples' shirts. "I don't think I've ever seen a fish that wasn't on a plate or in one of those... really... round... bowls," Kamon says, getting progressively lamer as he goes. He does not think Minette is stupid; after all, he is pretty sure that he shouldn't be casting /that/ stone. He's not really a genius himself (though few would call him a dolt except disparagingly). "We didn't really have any fish," Kamon says. "Mostly, uh... land animals. I think I prefer the cafeterias at the Academy, though."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "There's a lot you can do with fish." Minette replies. She has been accused of stupidity. Among other things. "You can fry them, you can stew them. They can be baked. Or broiled. Or grilled. Or cooked over an open flame. You can salt them, of course, or you can" stop talking about fish, stupid "use lemon or tartar sauce. And there's some places that prepare them raw." that isn't stopping, moron "You can cook them in a stew..." you said that already "...did I say that already?" yes you did, stupid, get off fish, get off fish!!! "Oh, those are nice." Minette turns away, looking towards the fireplace. "It's... nice, having someone cook for you, I guess."

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon has learned more about fish than he ever desired to know. At least, about the proper preparation of fish, or the delicious methods behind it. Truthfully, cooking is not... his... thing. "Uhh..." Kamon thinks for a second. "I... think you did." He's actually pretty positive that she did. He also is pretty positive he's never had fish in a stew. Weird. "Well, when you can afford it," he adds. He stretches his legs out in front of him. "I mostly lived on, uh, pasta and canned fruit. Or in the halls that took meal chits." Kamon: not one of the rich kids at the Academy. He apparently has /some/ connections there, though. And has the feeling they should stop talking about food. He's getting hungry just thinking about it.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh, yeah. I usually had to make my own lunches, and bring them in a little bag. That was, uhm. Yeah." Something that teenagers get made fun of, for. After all, who can't afford the food at the cafeteria? 'Poverty Princess', that's who couldn't. One of Minette's many unwanted nicknames. Things get quiet again. Minette is left wondering what to say. She reaches. "So what's... new?" And doesn't quite grasp. D'oh.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon doesn't say anything about his knowledge or ignorance of the 'Poverty Princess' title. The only reason he didn't get more disparaging nicknames was because he's kind of imposing, because his scholarship to the school included cafeteria food during certain times of the day, and because rumor had it that he could and would kill you with your own plastic spork for interrupting him during meal times. Half of that rumor was true, even. "Uh..." He hesitates. Is anything new and worth remarking on? He thinks he's already done that. "I dunno." Kamon shrugs. "What, uh, what about with you?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I'unno." Minette replies. And then there was silence. Awkward and uncomfortable, as if someone had just said something uncharitable about someone recently deceased. It's very unpleasant. Minette's mind attempts to piece togather a string of thread to keep the conversation going and prevent Kamon from leaving, bu her mind keeps alternating between 'I've got to think of something' and 'I can't think of anything'. "You you want to... sit over here?" Minette asks. There's a ton of room on the couch with her curled up in a fetal ball like that. Though why Kamon would want to abandon his chair to come over to the couch not even Minette can answer.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' The silence doesn't press down on Kamon nearly as badly as it does Minette. He's just glad to get off his feet after effectively running a marathon while carrying boxes of varying sizes. He wonders if he should invest in a vehicle, or a chocobo, and make things easier. He wonders further if it would just cost him more, and drive him into a crazy cycle of maintenance spending and work to pay for the maintenance to work and-- "Huh?" Kamon looks up like he hadn't heard her. "Oh." He looks down at his feet. "I'm, uh, pretty comfortable. I think my legs might fall off if I tried to get up. Um, thanks, though." Okay, /now/ he's starting to for reals notice the awkward.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oooooh, okay." Minette says, a little crestfallen that her offer was rebuffed. Though that isn't going to be how things happened when she gossips with Thirza later. "You should, get a chocobo or something. I have a chocobo plushie named Boco." OH MY GODS WHY DID I TELL HIM THAT now he thinks I'm a dork.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' Kamon feels a little bad now. Only a little. "Yeah?" 'DORK DORK DORK SHE'S A DORK,' Minette's brain surely supplies. Fortunately, Kamon isn't that kind of guy. He's genuinely trying to be nice, here. "I've got a cousin who collects those," he comments with a small smile, reminiscing. "Her favorite was this old red one that was missing a wing. I think she chewed it off when she was little."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' oh god now he's talking about dork things i am such a dork to make him to that "That's neat. I haven't had Boco very long, only since we came... well, here. I couldn't really afford those sorts of things before I started working for Mr. Murasame. I didn't have those sorts of things growing up." At a loss for something to say, Minette decides to swallow her own foot. "So how's your cousin doing now?" She regrets it the /instant/ the words pass her lips and she cringes at her own foolishness before Kamon even replies.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' There are only so many times you can put your foot in your mouth before someone breaks down and points out what you stepped in. "..." Kamon turns away from Minette, his amicable demeanor melting away like an early morning's frost coming into direct contact with the surface of the sun. His jaw tenses, and his eyes narrow very slightly. One hand wipes across his mouth; the other tightens on the arm of the chair with the creaking of strained fabric, something normally quiet that suddenly seems far too loud. "She's probably dead, or worse," Kamon says. His voice is somewhere between an angry whisper and a distraught rasp. You done goofed, Minette.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette buries her face in her knees. She dun goofed and she knows it. Is it right to apologise in this situation? Would that be appropriate, or would throwing herself off a cliff be more socially acceptable? Don't knock it, for the Levitani throwing oneself off a cliff is an acceptable solution to numerous social gaffs. They're a little 'old fashioned' at times. Minette mumbles out a single word that's hard to hear through speaking softly and speaking into her knees. It begins with an 's' and ends with a 'y', though. Her face, what little can be seen of it, is flushed a bright crimson.

:'''[[Kamon Lionward]] has posed:''' The cliff thing. Definitely the cliff thing. Kamon puts both hands on the arms of his chair and pushes himself to his feet. He scoops up his pack and shovel as he rounds the chair. He stops for just a second, one hand holding the strap of the backpack and the other on the back of the seat. "Sorry," he echoes, speaking in a mumble. He roughly shoves the chair away from him, sliding it a few inches across the floor but, perhaps fortunately (from the perspective of the innkeeper), not knocking the heavy thing over or into the fire. "Yeah. I hear that a lot. Saying it again won't bring any of them back." Which, while true, isn't entirely sensical in context. There's definitely something else going on there, though good luck getting him to sit back down and talk about it. Kamon stalks towards the door out of the inn. He suddenly needs some air.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' There are times in life when we are presented with two options. Minette could A) Go after Kamon, apologise for being insensitive and explain that it was because she was nervous, then explain why, exposing her true feelings in hopes of coming to a mutual understanding and deeper relationship OR B) Sit there, swallow sadness, and cry after Kamon is out of earshot. Tomorrow, Minette is really going to wish she picked 'A'.

Meet The Deep Fryer

2013-05-12T03:45:18Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/05/06 |Location=The Ame-no-Torifune |Synopsis=Minette aquires a deep fryer. Science quickly follows. |Cast of Characters=Kyra Hyral, Souji Mur..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/05/06
|Location=The Ame-no-Torifune
|Synopsis=Minette aquires a deep fryer. Science quickly follows.
|Cast of Characters=Kyra Hyral, Souji Murasame, Artyom W Valodjn, Minette Odam, Thirza Ingersleben
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' The common area of the Ame-no-Torifune is small and cramped; but that's life on an airship for you. There are only a small handful of rooms on the entire boat that are of any particular comfort, most of them used by one Souji Murasame. Minette, being one of the most important people in the syndicate, not only has her own office but her own quarters, as well! They just happen to be located in the same room. Space is at a premium. The first thing that Minette did when she discovered the wonders of 'deep frying' was give herself a stomach ache and the runs. THEN she set it up in the airship's commons and started cajoling people into bringing things to experiment with. Thus far, no one has but this is normal for Minette's life. And Thirza has promised to bring 'things', she may be out in the wilds hunting random creatures for ingredients. Minette is currently attempting to shove a 'block' of cheese into the deep frier. It does not fit; she's attempting to force it with little success.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Minette, EASILY THE MOST IMPORTANT! Kyra is just a visitor. She had arrived last night with the intention of studying the electricity-devouring monster that Helena had captured on one of her expeditions. Excited by the prospect of studying such a fascinating creature, Kyra easily spent the entire night wound up in her research. It was during the early hours of the morning when she finally passed out on the little bed that Helba kept in her 'spartan' lab. Kyra woke up about an hour ago, dehydrated and grouchy. Her thoughts had immediately turned to departing from the airship as soon as possible-until she heard Minette utter the words 'Deep Fryer' over their little network. After, thankfully, getting cleaned up, the white mage finally makes her way into the common room. Her hoodie is slung over one shoulder and her bandoliers have been looped over her chest once more, sporting reams of little test tubes. She's also brought a styrofoam cooler with her, not unlike the kind found transporting spare organs. "Oooh. Don't put the whole thing in like that...we should slice it up into sticks. Then we'll have deep-fried cheese sticks."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette is just as pretty and special and important as everyone else and one day everyone else in the world will realize it. "In... /sticks/?" Minette asks, pausing from her attempt to put her full weight on the cheese so that she can look up. Her voice contains no small amount of awe, as if the very concept of slicing cheese into sticks is a grand revelation for her. Then again, this is Minette, it very well might be. Minette hops down off of the table and pushes her glasses back up her nose. She has somehow managed to get grease on them. Who knows how. There are a number of things laid out on the table, many and varigated. There are a few cuts of meat, of course... but there are also several candy bars, a bag of marshmellows, some mushrooms, fish, an apple, and not a single vegitable to be seen.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' "Yes! In sticks-" Kyra starts gesturing with her fingers, "If you cut them into smaller sticks, you get more surface area, which means MORE deep-fried goodness. Which is the point of deep frying." Appraisingly, Kyra looks over the food that Minette has arrayed on the table, no doubt destined for the deep fryer at one point tonight. Her eyes linger on the candy bars. "...huh. I never would have considered deep frying those. I've got some stuff too..." She plops down the cooler on the table and pushes the top off. Within, there is ice and...several small test tubes? There isn't anything remotely food-like inside. A pair of tongs Kyra had wedged into one of the loops of her bandoliers is pulled out. "This is liquid nitrogen. I don't think Helena will miss it." Carefully, she pulls out one of the test tubes, which contains a clear liquid. The tube is stoppered, fortunately. She shows it off to Minette before putting it back into the cooler. "Do you have a knife? If not, I can run off and grab a scapel from the lab."

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' "You could also just get one from the ship's kitchen." Souji replies. "Use the proper tool for the job." OH SHI WHERE DID HE COME FROM The Murasame heir walks in, looking over the antics of those present with only a light expression of disbelief. He has a folded paper under one arm and a leather-bound folder in his opposite hand. He moves over to one corner of the room and sits down in a chair, looking like he's planning to have nothing to do with these antics. He will, however, watch while he reads over said papers. Don't mind him, he's only judging you from over here.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah, I just grabbed a bunch of stuff that was just laying about." Minette admits. "Thirza said she'd bring things by... didn't say what, though." And when the cooler is opened, Minette leans over and all but puts her face in it, trying to see what's inside. She plucks up an ice cube. "What's that?" She asks of the test tube. And then she conducts science! Can an ice cube be deep fried? Minette plunks the cube into the frier; grease splatters a little. And then bubbles and boils as the frozen water is added to the oil. Hot oil gets bloody well /everywhere/ as the oil and water have a violent disagreement before the water flash-boils away. Minette adjusts her glasses and snorts out a laugh. "...cool." "Ha!" Minette reaches into her coat and produces a sturdy, if well used, knife. "A levitani always carries a knife with them. Wouldn't be caught without one. Oh hi, boss, how's it gowiddjawhatja..." Minette starts, flinching away from Souji's sudden appearence because /godsdamn/.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Kyra nearly jumps a foot into the air when Souji speaks up. "Gah!" Whirling, she turns to glare at her classmate as he strolls in with coious amounts of reading material. The urge to tell him to buzz off elsewhere was strong...but ultimately quelled since this was his ship. "Yes, well, /I/ don't know where the ship's kitchen is." she pulls up a pair of plastic lab goggles because clearly she will need the splatter protection. "Liquid nitrogen. It's a cryogenic fluid that can cause rapid freezing on contact. This includes freezing of stuff like skin and flesh so do NOT get any on you. I just want to use it to flash-freeze some non-water liquids." Minette whips out a REAL KNIFE. Kyra's oddly relieved. "Oh yeaaaah I'm pretty sure Myla said that once. Commence the cutting!" For funsies, Kyra tosses another ice cube into the deep fryer just to watch it splatter away.

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' Souji simply shrugs, keeping himself out of the doom radius. He hasn't put up protective fields. Yet. "Hello, Kyra Hyral. You appear to be well for the moment." He smiles faintly. "Thankfully, it appears Odam has the issue covered." He looks down at his papers, and then back over to the deep fryer as they toss ice into it. He pushes the chair back a few inches.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Oh." Minette replies to Kyra. It does not occur to her that 'Helena won't miss it' may actually be code for 'I'm stealing it'. But then again, Minette knows how to deal with such things; loss-prevention write-off. It's insured. Or... should be, by now, anyway. Minette starts cutting into the cheese. She starts making irregularly shaped cuts into the block. Some of them are stick shaped. Others are not. She gives a glance over towards Souji, then back towards Kyra. It reminds her of highschool; a Hyral steps into the room and Souji's attention is instantly on it instead of her. So unfair. "How many do you want, Mr. Murasame?"

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Thankfully for all involved, Kyra did not take ALL the liquid nitrogen from the lab she had been sleeping in. Just a lot of it. There is no course correction provided for Minette's cutting. Kyra's knife skills are actually pretty terrible, which contrasts strangely with her precision with a scalpel. It's probably best that she doesn't wield a knife while around food. "Hello Murasame." Kyra says dryly, flicking extra bits of water off her fingers from the ice she had been handling. "Yes, well, I am feeling a lot better than an hour ago." She can't even manage a faint smile with Souji around. In fact, she seems slightly more guarded with him around. "...hm, I need some warm water. I'll be right back." She leaves the room to make a quick visit to the lab she previously vacated (after fliching some materials).

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' Souji doesn't seem to mind that she stole the hell out of the liquid nitrogen. Celba can go get more. He always seems oddly lenient with the Hyrals, and Kyra in particular. "Right." He says when she leaves, looking back down to his papers. After a minute, the blinks, remembering that Odam asked him something. Speaking of unfair... "Ah, yes." He looks over to her. "I'll have one." Just one.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' It takes all of five seconds after Kyra leaves the room for Minette to get catty. There are no other girls about so she doesn't say anything truely nasty, but she does say, "She shouldn't be rude like that to you. It's disrespectful, especially considering..." She doesn't continue, though, as Souji places his order. "One fried cheese stick, coming right up!" Minette scans her butchered handiwork, selecting the /best/ stick and dropping it into the deep frier. She then, after a moment's thought, picks up a candy bar and plunks it in.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Mineeeeette!" someone calls out from down the hall. "Sorry it took a while, I got lost on the way back. A green haired girl stumbles into the room in a dirty, cut up outfit that looks vaguely like something someone might wear on a safari mixed with an antiquated military uniform. Her glasses are slightly eschew. She has flan. Flan, in this case, being the remains of one of the family of gelatinous monsters instead of the popular custard in several Spanish speaking countries. It has left a trail of goo in her wake which probably allowed Thirza to haul it up here. She looks hopeful. "Do you think we can fry this?" Thirza takes a moment to get her bearings, adjusting her glasses as she does. "Oh! Mister Murasame, sir! I'm sorry about the mess, Minette sent me to find something to cook and well--I didn't know it'd be so gooey. I promise I'll clean it up right away!"

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' This liquid nitrogen is being sacrificed for the best of causes. SCIENCE! Completely missing Minette's midly catty remarks behind her back (wow, it IS just like high school!), Kyra strolls back in holding a basin of hot water. She's not far behind Thirza and seems to be looking on her with confusion. "Whoah, what happened to your outfit?" Before she gets much farther, Kyra's right foot suddenly slides down along the slime trail left behind by the hauled flan. The white mage shrieks in alarm as she loses her balance, slips, and spills all the water in the basin. On the bright side, water all over the floor is one step closer to cleaning up slime. On the not-so-bright side, the water got all over Kyra too. Looking like a drowned moogle for a moment, she forlornly picks up the basin. Luckily her hoodie was spared! It was left on the table next to the styrofoam cooler. "...I'll be right back. Again."

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' If Souji wasn't a high-powered business magnate he'd be looking at that deep fryer with some trepidation. As it is, he frowns... And then there's suddenly some Thirza Intervention. The blobby flan trail causes him to frown more. He leans forward slightly, adjusting his glasses. "You're going to deep fry.... a Flan." He says, neutrally. He leans back, and looks back down at the paper, opening it back up. "See that you do, Ingersleben." The shriek of Kyra causes Souji to actually look up in mild alarm. He does, however, see that she survived. "My apoligies, Kyra Hyral." He looks over at Thirza with a squinting expression. That better get cleaned up sooner rather than later.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' You can take hormonal teenagers out of high school, but you can't take the hormones out of the teenagers. She forces herself to fight down a smile at Kyra's fall; it's wrong of her to feel joy at the pain of others and she knows it, but damnit it's a Hyral and she can't help herself. "That was... lucky." She says after it's found that Kyra has come to no true harm. And then Minette notices that Souji actually cared; some small part of her brain tells her that he wouldn't have gotten up if she'd been the one that fell, but she forces this down and crushes the thought because it's unpleasant. "...could have been a lawsuit." She adds, somewhat lamely. But Thirza! Suddenly all is more right with the world. "You brought a... flan?" Minette asks, inspecting the kill with no small amount of trepedation. "Well, why not?" Minette's knife comes out and she carves out a blob of redish-orange flesh which she unceremoniously dumps into the fry oil. Her candy bar has already disintegrated (they don't last long in friers) but that's okay because she's already forgotten it.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' Thirza makes a concerned noise vaguely like a squeak when Kyra slips in the hallway. She hops back out into the hallway to help her up, but finds she's already disappeared to clean herself up and get more water. Thirza, as such, moves to go find a mop. As an afterthought, she calls down the hallway. "Yes, sir, Mr. Murasame! I'll clean it up right away!" A pause. "I'll be back soon, Minette! Save me some flan!" A pause. "If it's worth eating," she adds, more quietly.

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Hearing Souji's voice actually surprises Kyra a little. Slowly, she looks over at him, staring for a long moment before picking herself back up on her feet. No lawyer in their right mind would challenge the might of the Murasame. This goes unsaid by Kyra as she walks back out with the basin. Minutes pass. Kyra returns. There's a towel slung across her shoulders now and a new, fresh basin of water in her hands. Ever so carefully, she tiptoes around the slime trail and successfully makes it back to the table with her water in tact. "I wish there were more monsters we could fry." Kyra remarks, "Some might even be edible that way." She seems terribly curious about the flan. Was THAT edible? Removing one of the vials strapped to her, which contains a green liquid that glows just slightly, she carefully procures one of the liquid nitrogen tubes. The liquid nitrogen is poured into the green-liquid-vial, immediately freezing it. The warm water is used to cool it just a little until the green liquid, now frozen, can be slid out of the tube. "Alright." she holds onto the green ice cube with her tongs. "Deep-fried potion is /go/." She drops it into the deep fryer alongside the flan chunk and steps back.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' The inside of this deep frier hasn't been cleaning in three days, all manner of things have been thrown in, and Minette hasn't had the sense to change the oil... only add to it when it gets low. The flan, lacking any true consistancy, disolves in short order, adding it's 'unique flavor' to the oil, along side a melted chocolate bar and Souji's singular cheese stick. And then... Kyra adds a frozen potion. Ice + oil = violent fire risk The hot oil goes crazy because the frozen potion melts, mixing the water-base potion with the hot oil. Oil bubbles upwards, a spray hits the cieling, hits those nearby, washes over the edges of the small fryer to splatter across the table in what's going to be a total bitch to clean up later. Minette shrieks and hits the deck, crying out, "I'M HIT!" like a soldier in a B-list war movie.

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' By the time Kyra returns with the potion, Thirza is hard work with a towel (and a mop and bucket, but not at the same time) at cleaning up the slime trail. It is quite a long trail, so it may take some time to competely wipe up. Unfortunately, around the time she gets well into working on the mess, there's a shriek from Minette as the fryer bubbles and pops. "Minette!" Thirza calls out. It is swiftly followed by a sequence of sounds: a splash (as though someone stepped in a bucket), wheels rolling (as though the bucket were rolling down the hall), and then another crash (as though bucket and occupant collided with a wall or another object. Finally, there's a low groan. A few moments later, Thirza reappears with the bucket still on her foot and part of the map draped over her head. "Is everyone okay? What happened?"

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' On the way back, Kyra takes special care to avoid the remains of the slime trail. This mission? A smashing succss. Kyra starts to consider this special 'emenent.' "Whoaaah." Kyra is watching a bit closer than is probably safe because she has eye protection. Surely no harm will come to her if she has eye protection! Incidentally, she survives well enough safe for a few oil splatters on her here and there. "Haha, that was awesome-Minette? Are you hurt?" Kyra is already grabbing a fresh, non-frozen potion. "I can fix it!" Thirza promptly has an off-screen mishap. "Oh no." she gasps at Thirza. "Are YOU okay? That sounded catastrophic."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "M'good." comes Minette's plaintive groan from somewhere beneath the table. She starts to push herself up off of the floor, plants her hand squarely upon a patch of slime, and ends up falling to the floor again. She hoists herself to her feet by grabbing onto the table and pulling up. She was sloppy before, she is a mess now, with oil dripping from one twist brain, flan soaking the other, and water most everywhere else. She removes her glasses and rubs them against the corner of her shirt. This succeeds only in spreading the oil droplets around and making a bigger mess of the lens then when she started. It's days like these that Minette is convinced that everyone in the Hyral family has it in for her. Surely Alma will try to kill her in her sleep. Surely.

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' Souji takes this opportunity to facepalm, sighing. He's sitting far enough back that the violent splatters and oily death fail to strike him by about a foot. The back of the paper takes a few drops for the team as well, almost like Souji was expecting this to happen. He considers the confluence of SCIENCE and his less... gifted... employees and wonders if he's going to need to call in the mages to repair structural damage at this rate. "Have you learned anything from putting frozen liquids into hot oil?" He asks no one in particular, turning to the next page of his paper. When Thirza reappears, Souji says simply, "Ingersleben." And then promptly flings the leatherbound folder at Thirza across the room with precision accuracy, expecting her to catch it. "I'm going to need you to look over these sites later when you're done... experimenting."

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Oh, I'll be fine. I think I'm going to have to replace the mop though. I think that was the only thing damaged, at least. You should tend to Minette first, please, miss...um. I don't think we've met." Thirza extends her hand hopefully. "I'm Thirza. Thirza Ingersleben. I'm a surveyor. I scout out locations and--" "Yes s--" Thirza turns as the folder comes flying at her. It clocks her right in the forehead, knocking her glasses aschew and liberating the mop from her hair. Somehow, she catches it as though she were expecting that to happen, or at least can react to that better. It falls perfectly into her hand, after which she adjusts her glasses. "Um, yes sir. I can start now, I'll start as soon as I've helped clean up. If that's okay, sir."

:'''[[Kyra Hyral]] has posed:''' Before rushing off to Minette's not-aid, Kyra shares a handshake with Thirza, "Kyra Hyral, nice to meet you." Kyra peeks around the table just to confirm that Minette is okay. Just then, she sees her slip and fall again on more of the slime. Kyra gasps and steps forward to help her stand, but Minette has already stood on her own power by then. "Clearly we need something with less water in it to use." Kyra says cheerfully. She turns to look at the cooler, still filled with test tubes of unused liquid nitrogen. "...I should probably put the rest of those back. Be right back." she says, almost sheepishly. Carefully the cooler is taken and she walks the chemicals on out.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Is she gone?" Minette asks of Kyra, in the same tone that people in horror movies ask 'is it safe?' She looks around blindly, unable to see through her muddied superglasses.

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' Page page page. "For now." Souji replies. "How are your culinary experments progressing?" He nods to Thirza as well. "That'll be fine, Ingersleben."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' There is a sound. It is the sound of footsteps reverberating through the floor. It's as if there was something very large and very heavy moving through the Ame no Torifune, making its way toward the common room. Only one man on this ship can make such a sound. It is one Artyom W. Valodjn. As he enters the room, it is clear that- yes, that is /indeed/ an Artyom. But it is not just an Artyom. It is an Artyom with what appears to be a fishnetted sack filled to the brim with various savory meats. Artyom peers at the... Disaster of the common room. The experimental residue, the Minette who'd just crawled her way out from beneath a table, the Souji sitting, immacculately, in his chair, with his papers. Artyom takes all this in, and then makes his way to the deep fryer and sets his meat-sack aside. "So," Artyom rumbles, peering down at the mess, "...Is it still safe to cook in?"

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' Thirza treats the folder as though it were a sacrament, being careful not to dirty it with mop-water or grease. Unfortunately, right after she gets her instructions from The Boss, she finds herself shaken up a bit by the thumping. She almost (almost) falls over when her bucket covered foot starts to roll out from under her, but then she has the sense to lift her foot out of the bucket. She looks up at Artyom. "Um, hello. I'm Thirza Ingersleben. I don't think we've met." She looks at the sack of meat. "--is that meat? What kind is it?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' The oil inside of the fryer is a reddish-black sludge with little bits of... gods know what floating in it. As if in responce to Artyom's question, the poor, tortured device actually catches on fire. Minette lets out a sympathetic whimper; the fryer is now in a place beyond pain and yet she will have to face tomorrow. Life is decidedly unfair. "Hi, Artyom." She said, depressively.

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' The fryer catches fire, in what is probably the most pitiful exhibitions of Stuff-Catching-On-Fire that Artyom has seen in a long while. It's enough to make him want to put the poor little machine out of its misery. Instead, Artyom sighs. He reaches into his pocket and flips a small quartz crystal into the oil. Like a seed taking root, the gem begins to sprout into a tangle of crystalline layers, covering the unfortunate pot in a thin layer of suffocating silicon tetroxide. You can almost hear the machine-spirit squeak one last, painful gasp of thanks before moving on to the great appliance store in the sky. "That's too bad," Artyom rumbles, "I was looking forward to frying some of this meat. Perhaps you will need to take better care of your next fryer, Minette." He turns, then, toward Thirza, offering a warm smile. "Hello. I am Artyom W. Valodjn, retainer to the Murasame family. It is a pleasure," Artyom gently hefts the bag against his shoulder, adjusting his arms to better support its weight. "I brought all this to fry- it's mostly sausage, belly-bacon, ham. Nothing too extravagant or special."

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' Souji just gives Artyom a look. Artyom knows this look. It's the 'Whatever Odam Says Is Totally Wrong' look. "That depends on if Odam's changed the oil and cleaned the fryer yet." The fryer catches on fire. Souji doesn't look up. "Too late." He says. Frank will deal with the fire, he's the earth specialist. "Ingersleben is the other member of our survey team, Valodjn." Souji comments. "I've kept you both deployed in different locations. We didn't need two geomancers in one place until now."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette abruptly changes emotional tracks, slamming a fist into an open palm. "Well, we'll just have to get a new fryer. A /better/ fryer. A fryer to make all the others envious!" She throws back her head and laughs, not unlike a supervillain. And then; "Oh, that reminds me, boss! I'm still running the numbers, but I think there's a tool manufacture in some place called Narshe that I think we should buy to shut down."

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Nice to meet you Artyom!" Thirza says cheerily. She seems like a friendly lady. "The pleasure's mine." Her eyes widen when Artyom explains what's in the bag, as though he'd just told her it was full of gold. "R-really? You brought that much meat?" Thirza adds more quietly, "I don't think I've ever seen that much meat in one place." Sometimes things are hard in Shiva. She suddenly turns around to look at Murasame. "Oh, really? I didn't know we had other geomancers. I look forward to working with you."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Perhaps," Artyom suggests good-naturedly in Minette's general direction, "We should just get another small fryer and avoid putting things in it that would end with spontaneous electrical-oil fires? I believe we'd all be... safer." Because even if the Torifune rides on stormclouds and is maintained by non-stop mage-chanting, it is still at least partly flammable. He huffs, setting the Sack-O'-Meat down. Its base seems to be covered internally in a sheath of wax paper, to protect its delicious contents. "Well, perhaps I will have to find some other way of cooking- or storing- all this meat. You're welcome to some of it, of course." The massive Titan casts a curious look at his employer, before giving an acknowledging nod. "Understood, sir." Because Frank understands that Souji likes keeping his full list of employees a secret and/or we have no idea who else will end up apping into the faction and so it's best to just go with it. "Indeed, Miss Ingersleben," Artyom says without missing a beat- because you can do that when your name is about as impronounceable, "I hope we will accomplish great things together."

:'''[[Souji Murasame]] has posed:''' So there it is. Odam has gained a new goal: To acquire the ultimate deep fryer. Souji mentally marks an incremental improvement in Odam's progress. At least she's showing /some/ kind of ambition. "Sounds like a plan, Odam. We need a place to begin manufacturing as it is, and Narshe is a good target market for our initial offerings. It's out in the wilds and they have a constant need for heavy industry and defense. Make it happen." Souji turns to Thirza and Artyom. "I need the both of you to head to our locations in the Mythril Mines near Junon, and the mountain range in Palamecia. I want you to check for anything rare. Adamant, ruins, Magicite, whatever. I am expecting the Emperor to backstab us when it's convenient for him and I want to make sure I have the important stuff before he does so. That way, he can gloat over his iron and pretend he's accomplishing something." He pauses. "Before I inform him of how bad an idea it is to backstab me instead of simply requesting a renegotiation of our arrangement, of course."

:'''[[Thirza Ingersleben]] has posed:''' "Um, Minette might be better at finding that than I am. I'm not very good directions on the ship. I think it um...messes with my signals, or something." Thirza turns slightly red. When Artyom mentions that she can have some of the meat her eyes widen. "Like...just have it? Really? Um, I don't really know what to say..." Thriza turns to give Souji a salute because it seems appropriate. "Yes sir, I'll be glad to head there right away."

:'''[[Artyom W. Valodjn]] has posed:''' "Understood, sir," Artyom offers a quick salute, "I will be on my way once I've gathered my surveying equipment. If there are dense, arcane metals buried there, I believe that we will be able to find them. I assume that I should also bring arms and armor, in case the Emperor decides to step up his agenda." Artyom lets his arm fall as he regards Thirza once more, "Of course. Otherwise, it will just go to waste, after all. Though I assume that most of the salted meats will keep for quite a while. I will keep the more travel-worthy provisions with us as we move."

Awkwardness Squared

2013-05-12T03:44:41Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2013/05/11 |Location=Ami-no-Torifune |Synopsis=Alma thought she was the most awkward person working for Souji. Then she saw Minette's room. |Cast o..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/05/11
|Location=Ami-no-Torifune
|Synopsis=Alma thought she was the most awkward person working for Souji. Then she saw Minette's room.
|Cast of Characters=Alma Hyral, Minette Odam
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' There is not much space on the Ame-no-Torifune. Space on airships is always at a premium because of the very delicate weight ratios that must be balanced to maintain flight. And as the airship is serving as the Murasame Zaibatsu (or at least what is left of it)'s corporate office, it is often crowded. But against all odds and expections, Minette Odam has become one of the most powerful people in the syndicate as it's chief accountant. The financial success or failure of the company literally rests upon her shoulders. Thus, in an overcrowded airship, she has her own office AND her own quarters. They also 'happen' to occupy the exact same cubic feet. Minette was told this was for 'convience'. It was a lie. Minette's cabin is, as far as cabins go, small and cramped because it must pull double-duty as a living space and working space. The room is dominated by her desk, a sturdy wooden thing covered with a cluttered mish-mash of papers, unintelligibly scrawled notes, and spreadsheets of numbers. It is all arcane to the uninitiatied, but Minette swears she has 'a system'. Her computer is pushed off to one corner; it looks seldom used as the keys on the keyboard are still pleasantly laminated. There is an abacus on the desk as well; it looks heavily used as the beads are worn down. It is worth noting that the chair sits with it's back towards the door. Shelves, drawers, and boxes line the walls, stuffed with official documents and Minette's personal effects. No action figures are to be seen; Minette still insists that she has no action figures nor would she play with such even if she had them, which she doesn't. There are dirty plates and bowls with half-eaten meals from several days past strewn about and a pile of plastic bottles from various kinds of sodas accumulating in the corner. The place hasn't been cleaned in at least a week and kind of smells a little. There is no bed as Minette is a very traditional Levitani and sleeps in a hammock strung from the cieling. She is, in fact, sleeping in it right now. It's 9am. Minette is still curled up in her hammock, wearing her cotton cactaur-print pagamas, one arm wrapped around her plush chocobo toy/pillow, and a little bit of drool hanging down off of her lips. The door is unlocked.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Her trip to Narshe had almost been disastrous, but she was pleased with the results. However, she suddenly had an odd feeling of foreboding that she couldn't shake.. As if some angry deity were about to smite her with their disapproval. She'd returned to the Ame-No-Torifune without incident, and actually was well rested after her little sojourn away. Her own quarters was simply a bunk in the section of the ship that was cordoned off for the female employees' living space. She needed no office, given that her office was outside, under the stars. That is where she did all of her research, through a telescope, and upon a laptop. Despite the rumors going around the office that she was simply an unpaid intern who got the job purely because of her last name.. she was actually well-paid. She just served as /cook nun/ as some had dubbed her, and /intern/ as others had done so because she was a complete doormat. All of this gave the younger girl a distinct impression.. that Minette, despite being a longsuffering and most mistreated employee of the the Murasame Zaibatsu was far more important than the treatment let on. She had her own office, she had her own living space. Some measure of privacy. The company's financial success rested on her. She also felt a sort of kinship for her as it felt like Minette was bullied just as much as she was, albeit for different reasons. And so, while she didn't know Minette all that well except for a few chance encounters, and radio conversations, she allowed her to take advantage of her services on a constant basis, without complaint. She always delivered Minette coffee, which was actually always fresh and today kept in a Thermos. She made her lunch every day that she was on the Ame-No-Torifune. Sometimes she even made her breakfast. Today was one of those days, as she had cooked bacon, eggs, and cheese on a Ramuha style muffin. It was covered over by foil on a small plate. Alma herself wasn't wearing her usual dowdy white mage robes. Instead she was wearing the dress Seloria made for her, with a tasteful light wrap over the shoulders. Her hair wasn't in a bun, but actually allowed to hang freely. She barely looked like herself. She'd never worn anything but the robes, or her Alexander Academy uniform before during her adolescence. Never thought of herself as anything but ugly.. And so she was incredibly self-conscious about the new /look/ but she thought to give it a try. She just had to be more careful on her feet.. she wasn't just not graceful on her feet, but she was an absolute klutz. She didn't want to ruin the dress on her first day wearing it. And so she'd walk with measured steps up to Minette's office, knock lightly on the door, and open it. If Minette remained asleep, she'd then creep up to her desk, and set the plate and the thermos down. And if Minette was /still/ asleep by this point, then she'd actually start trying to tidy up.. not the documents, or papers, or notes mind you. Just the plates with crusty half-eaten food, stacking them to take them away.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette does not wake upon the knocking at the door. When Alma pokes her head in the door, Minette snorts a few uneven snores and rolls over in her hammock. Her left leg falls over the side and hangs limply; it's a wonder the rest of her doesn't follow to the deck. Alma starts cleaning up a little, going above and beyond the call of duty. Minette's meals come in two varieties, 'fast food' and 'scrapped togather'. She rarely finishes everything she puts on her plate and a the oldest of those present are actually starting to develop black growths on week-old fried eggs. It makes one wonder, 'how can she live like this'? And if the room is any reflection on Minette herself... "No, Souji..." Minette announces suddenly, talking in her sleep, "I don't wanna meet Tira, don't make me..."

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' The girl makes faces at some of the plates, but doesn't stop cleaning up. She doesn't even stop to wonder why Minette lives like this. She presumes its some symptom of the mistreatment of her. She made a mental note to offer to clean up her office to on occasion. And then Minette says... that name. The girl is startled, nearly dropping all the plates outright, which shift in her arms with a clatter of ceramic on ceramic. She stares at Minette, wide-eyed. It didn't suprise her that she /knew/ her sister, they were in the same class after all.. but the fact that she was /dreaming/ about not wanting to meet her sister truly did suprise her. Not only was it just a matter of.. well, why were her dream's focusing on Tira? But.. also, why did Minette not have any desire to /meet/ her in her dreams? The girl took a few measured steps closer to the bunk, trying to listen in.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Dreams are funny things; little understood and mysterious. Though they can contain memories a person has forgetten, the dream itself is rarely remembered long after the sleeper wakes. Minette tosses and turns a bit without saying anything more; whatever's going on in her brain isn't a very pleasant dream, or maybe she's just a restless sleeper. Most people can't understand how sleeping in a hammock can be comfortable, though the truth is that it isn't, it's merely something one gets used to. The next time Minette speaks, it's to announce, "Don't know how... the sahaguin got in... closet." So that's not helpful.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' The girl really wouldn't understand anything about dreams. Her own dreams were fleeting shadows in her mind, that she couldn't even grasp ahold of the fragments. She didn't talk in her sleep that she was aware of, and tended to sleep during the day, when noone was around to inform her of that. She only remembered anything of one dream.. and it always made her awaken in a cold sweat, terrified. As Minette moves on to another subject, the girl would just sigh to herself, feeling like she missed.. something important. Even so, she felt for the older girl and the problems she always seemed to have with closets It didn't seem strange at all that Minette was still asleep at nine in the morning, so she tried to tip toe away, continuing to clean up her desk.. until she overbalances herself with the plates, nearly stumbling over Minette's chair outright, the plates shifting /loudly/, the chair legs screeching against the floor. She'd grimace, just glad that she managed to preserve her dress, and not break anything.. She would however take a quick look towards Minette, to make sure she didn't wake her up...

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' And that is, naturally, when Minette wakes up, pushing up on her hammock with her hands to sit up. This works about as well as you'd expect it to. Minette's nearly blind eyes scan around the room, fixate blurrily on the red-white blob a foot and a half away. The suddeness of this makes Minette start, upsetting the delicate balance of her hammock. Minette pitches as the hammock yaws, and with a yelp ends up clattering to the floor. That looked... at least mildly unpleasant.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' The sight of Minette falling off her hammock was like a trainwreck. You saw it coming, but you could do nothing to stop it. The girl just stared wide-eyed for a moment, putting down the plates quickly on the chair. Mostly because the chair was one of the few places where she wouldn't disturb anything, then hurried over to Minette, kneeling down beside her. Her voice was steeped with concern as she leaned over and offered one hand to help her up, the other she'd press against Minette's shoulder lightly. "Sweet C-Cosma! A-Are you alright M-Minette?" The hand touching her would cause Minette to be covered with a soothing, yellow glow. Which would immediately take care of some of the pain, and work at some of the minor contusions and abrasions she was like to have from a spill like that.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's initial reply is something along the lines of 'ugghu', but then she pulls her face off of the floor so she can roll over onto her back and deply, 'M'good." It has something of a weary sound to it, or maybe it's the torpor of the freshly woken. Minette's violet eyes narrow as she squints upwards at Alma. "Kyra?" She asks groggily, looking up at Alma and not comprehending what she sees; only that white magic is being applied. There is confusion in her voice; Kyra being in the room is not a self-balancing equation.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Kyra using white magic as her initial approach to tackling a problem of healing would be rather suprising! Kyra would probably be jabbing needles into Minette instead. The other thing about Kyra.. is that whether it is white magic, or SCIENCE, her healing hurts. A lot. In fact, a world of pain and agony would be an apt descriptor for what usually occurs. Alma would actually just sort of smile whimsically, actually kind of pleased and amused at the same time to be mistaken for her older sister. Maybe it meant that Minette didn't see her as her usual self, given how she was dressed. "N-No, It's A-Alma. I b-brought you b-breakfast, and c-coffee. S-Sorry that I w-woke you up. I d-didn't mean to." She'd continue to offer her a hand.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette wouldn't recongise Cosma herself if she walked through that door without her glasses on. Minette hauls herself up to her knees, leans on the edge of her desk, and gropes around half-blindly for her glasses. "Thanks for breakfast." Her voice still has that unmistakable tone of 'but I'd rather be sleeping' to it. Coffee will fix that. Minette's arm comes dangerously close to the coffee cup, but disaster is averted by perhaps half an inch when her other hand closes on her glasses. As Minette retracts her arms, she pulls the plate with the sandwhich on it right off the desk. It clatters to the floor, sammich down. "Awwwww, nerts." Minette declares, now with her glasses on. She picks up the plate and puts the sandwhich back on it. She looks at the fallen sandwhich inquiringly, brushes it off with her hand, then picks it up, mouth open. And then she locks eyes with Alma; there is an awkward moment. "...five second rule." Minette proclaims.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' "Y-You're welcome. A-Anytime." Alma would just watch her for a moment, before she would try to help her by locating Minette's glasses and picking them up. She could really feel for her, as she had no idea what it was like for her vision to be that bad. Alma usually just needed her glasses to read, even though she wore them all the time. She was just about to reach for the glasses, when Minette locates them herself, and knocks the plate with the sandwich on it down. Alma would just smile patiently when it landed on the floor, her voice meek. "I-I can always m-make you another.." And then Minette picks it up, dusts it off, holds it up to her mouth.. Alma doesn't move, seemingly doesn't breath. Minette proclaims /five second rule/. ...Alma had no idea what that is. Did she really intend to eat it? She didn't know what to say, speechless, so trying not to look like she was judging, she'd just nod, and pick up the stack of plates from Minette's chair before Minette sat down on them and caused another accident. "S-So.. I n-noticed your o-office.. well, y-you're always so b-busy. Do you n-need help cleaning it?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette bites into the sandwhich, which does little to explain the five second rule but gives a solid hint towards its ultimate goal. She just kind of sits there on the floor, leaning up against her desk for the moment. And then she talks with her mouth full. "Mhph? Oh, noah, thah's okay, you can" gulp "Just leave those over there, I'll get them in a little bit." And that explains a few things more.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' The girl would wordlessly put the plates down over on the side. This was such an unfamiliar situation to her. Most people at the academy hadn't acted like this, even if they were cruel to her. Had the mistreatment broken Minette down until she was an uncivilized wreck? Or was she like this before? She didn't see how anyone could live this way.. And then after she'd set the plates down, the question just..slipped out, her voice suprisingly calm, "Minette, you knew Tira, didn't you? What did you think of her?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette is a mystery as deep as Leviathan's ocean. Or perhaps as shallow as a kiddy pool on Ramuh. Which is the true mystery. Minette stops abruptly, looking up at Alma with what looks like half of that sandwhich shoved into her mouth. She pulls it away slowly, trying to buy herself a few extra seconds to think. This feels like a loaded question. Or at least a dangerous one. Minette attempts to formulate a safe answer but her brain mostly runs the phrase 'don't say something stupid' on loop so other thoughts fail to find purchace in that infertile ground. "She was pretty and popular and talented and everyone loved her." There. That's... safe. Totally and obviously insincere, but diplomatically safe.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Alma could be wiser than she looked.. on occasion. Most of the time she was naive, sheltered, gullible.. even a little bratty, if she meant well most of the time. At her core, she was a truly nice person, but she was so socially awkward that she just couldn't make that work in her favor. After a moment of rearranging the plates in the stack, she looked over towards Minette, offering a small smile, her voice still calm. "She was everything I'm not. I loved her, but I was.. jealous of her too. Like I am of Kyra." Maybe it wasn't such a loaded question after all.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah, I can understand that." Minette blurts out without thinking or realizing what it is that she's saying.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' She doesn't flinch. In fact her expression doesn't change at all even with Minette's outburst. Alma was.. very self-aware, of what she was like. Talking about Tira like this made her seem, a little irreverent. Dirty. You don't say these sort of things about your murdered sister, so she decided to change gears, confiding something in her. "You know, I've never had a boyfriend. Never been on a real date.. except one Helena tricked me on just to mess with me. Noone is ever really interested in me, or my doings. People just like to tease me relentlessly for my choices.." She'd go back to just tidying up the office idly. And then after a moment, "Do you ever feel like the world is just against you?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Yeah, well, Helena is kindasorta a slut so I wouldn't take it too personally." Minette admits with some degree of discomfort; this conversation is going into places she feels are strange, but she doesn't know why and that's unsettling. "Oh, sometimes." Minette replies to the direct question. "I think most people are like that though." Minette digs her pinky in her ear, pulling it out to inspect the digit with a close eye. Her mouth puckers downwards at the results, and she wipes her hand off on her skirt. "But I just remember that no matter what happens, Mr. Murasame is my friend and that he looks out for me."

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' "It's more than that I think. She doesn't like how I.. /feel/. Like something about me sets her on edge. I can't say that it's not the same way for me.. but she just kind of responds by wanting to break me down. I feel sorry for her though. I really don't want it to be this way between us, I just..Oh nevermind." The girl just kind of continues to busy herself around the room, tidying up what she can without trying to mess with the /system/ that Minette claims she has. Luckily she's not looking at Minette right now, instead she appears to be in the corner of the room cleaning up fast food boxes, and gathering up the garbage in a plastic trash bag. "Souji.. I'm glad you're so loyal to him. He needs people like you, friends that can.. well remind him that life isn't so terrible. Show him that he can move on.." Awkward.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette does not respond to Alma's first statements. She feels that she should have something to say to all of that, but she doesn't. The sun rises and sets, the tides ebb and flow, and Helena Celba makes grabbyhands at people. It's just... how things are. The nevermind is allowed to slide and Minette returns to eating. Pulling herself up into her chair, Minette starts to shuffle the papers on her desk around and her attention starts to zone out. There isn't malice in it, just a lack of understanding. "Oh, yeah. He's doing great. I'm really happy for him." Minette glances up, then stares at the trashbag. She's not sure where that came from. She questions her memory; did she bring one in here to tidy up then forget to? That... sounds... like something she'd do, but did she? Ehhhhhhh, no point in worrying, Alma has it in hand.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Actually it was buried in a forgotten corner of her office so dark and deep that Alma might not have been suprised if some eldritch horror from the beyond had popped out of it, wielding imaginary numbers and Chaos theory. It was probably there from before Minette took up residence, and had since lived a lonely existence, waiting.. watching, knowing that one day it would find use in cleaning up this mess. She /would/ flinch as Minette says that Souji is doing great, "His.. business is doing great. But haven't you noticed how differently he treats you, as compared to before? He's.. changed."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Ah, so it was in Minette's 'clean clothes pile', then. "Uh... not really." Minette replies. "I mean, he's in charge of the Zaibatsu now, so he's the boss, so that's different, but bosses and employees aren't like... y'know what I'm saying?"

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Imaginary numbers and Chaos theory doesn't even begin to describe the non-existance of a clean clothes pile for Minette. The girl would look up at Minette, her expression unwaivering, "You knew Souji from.. before. You and I both know what he acted like.. until.." She'd close her eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath, "...and then afterwards. I don't feel like his distance is a result of being suddenly thrust into the leadership role."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "I'm not sure what you're talking about." Minette replies, confusion evident in her voice.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Alma would give her an incredulous look. She.. noone could possibly be this self-absorbed. It had to be something else. "You were his friend.. didn't you notice him acting.. different, before Tira passed?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette's mouth purses downwards in a long, thin frown. It's an unattractive look for the calculator. Her brows narrow a bit, as if in thought before, at length, she shakes her head in the negative, sending her particularly unruly bed-head braids swishing from side to side. "No?" She says, drawing out the word and raising it in pitch towards the end as if she weren't sure.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' The girl would actually gape. She had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. She had no idea if she should feel angry, sad... or just.. nothing. After a while she just goes back to tidying up the room, unsure where to go from there. She just felt... embarassed, like she poured out her soul for nothing.

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' Minette understands that something should be done here. Something... decisive. And so she turns to her desk and starts doing her job, arranging the papers around. Due next week, due in three days, ready for filing now, ready this tomorrow. Piles. The piles make sense, the piles are understandible. Minette knows how to comprehend the piles and it is wonderful. The piles do not ask her uncomfortable questions, they only ask of her to make them balance, which is is not only capable of, but competant in. The piles are orderly. Neat. Wonderous. Alma is frumpy and confusing. Like the new dress. What's up with that? It doesn't dawn upon Minette to ask about it. So she doesn't. The silence just. Keeps. Going.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' She'd take a deep breath, feeling that she'd made some grave error in who she spoke of this too, she'd eventually try to break the silence once more. Her voice however had lost all of its calm confidence, taking on its typically meek tone, "S-So I have t-this research p-project. I'll n-need someone to c-check my math.. and m-maybe even c-create a few f-formulas for calculating the r-rotation of our new w-world and it's position w-when our world f-fell. T-Trajectories t-through space mostly. W-Would you b-be at all i-interested?"

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "Hm? Okay." Minette says. It's as simple as that, with her. No muss, no fuss, the awkwardness of the previous five minutes appearently washed away. "Just slip 'em under my door and I'll crunch 'em when I've got spare time. There's usually more of that then I let on to Mr. Murasame. She turns around to toss a crumpled paper into her wastebasket (she misses), when she notices her chocobo plush/pillow laying forlornly on it's side, on the floor. "Aw, Boco, no. The floor's dirty." She scoops the oversized plush up lovingly and deposits it back on the 'bed'. "There, that's better."

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' The younger girl sighs, it seemed too much to ask of her to actually show some interest. Minette.. just seemed to live in her own world. She didn't know how to reach her, other than to relate everything to numbers or her collector's items.. She..actually could do that, but she didn't want to show anyone /that/. Not yet. "I'll l-let you k-know when I h-have something c-concrete." And then she watches Minette gather up the pillow.. Watches her do that, even managing a small smile. She actually had had a full collection of moogle plushies back at home. They were mythological creatures in their world.. BUT TOTALLY REAL HERE SQUEEEEE! /Ahem/. Anyhow, she'd just offer.. "I-If you w-want I can b-bring in a mop... w-when I bring you your l-lunch. C-Clean up the f-floor.."

:'''[[Minette Odam]] has posed:''' "M'alright." Minette replies to the first statement. She turns back to her work, not bothering to change out of her pajamas. In fact, some days, she just doesn't change at all. It's a 'sight' to see her raid the commissary in her fuzzy moogle slippers. "Oh, don't worry about the mop. I'll get it later." Like the dishes. The ones she hasn't so much as glanced at since she said she'd get them 'later'.

:'''[[Alma Hyral]] has posed:''' Right.. awkward, wouldn't stop her from trying to reach her though. The girl had a feeling that Minette was more a mystery as vast as the Levitani ocean rather than one just as deep as a Ramuha kiddy pool. She's likely wrong, but this is Alma, and she's kind of a naive idiot sometimes. "A-Alright, if y-you're sure..." And then she'd depart from the office, feeling more confused than she'd been in some time.

Annalee

2013-04-27T14:20:30Z

Draco:

{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Annalee
|age=20
|image=Annalee.jpg
|caption=Not Stolen Art, No Sirrie
|species=Human
|sex=Female
|height=5'4"
|weight=Slender
|series=Final Kingdom
|styles=The BGM
|hometown=A small, unimportant village
|alignment=Wandering Force
|group=Madam Rosemarie's Magical Assistance
|occupation=Indentured Bard
|themesong=Canon in D
|quote='... ... ...tch.'
|footer=Getting hung over and not remember the previous night's incident(s), but she assumes she must have had fun.
}}
= Profile =
A musician of some considerable talent, Annalee is a regrettably mute bard in the employ of the witch, Rosemarie. Except that she seems to dislike the terms of her employment greatly, and the witch herself even moreso. Despite this she suffers in silence. Her lot in life seems to be relegated to following Rosemarie around and providing the background music for whatever it is that the witch does. Lacking a voice, Annalee is forced to express herself with her double zither, expressive gestures, and occasionally throwing things. Some suspect that there is something off here, but those that tend to pry deeper have an odd habit of disappearing.

= Skills =
Music - Annalee is a gifted virtuoso... in fact, some whisper that she is supernaturally gifted or that her talent is not otherwise natural. Whichever the case, Annalee's music is capable of affecting the world around her in a fashion similar to geomancers, laying down field effects and calling up primordial forces with nothing more then sounds from her double zither.

Strudel - Annalee bakes a fine strudel. A damn fine strudel.

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

File:Annalee.jpg

2013-04-27T14:19:45Z

Draco: Totally Not Stolen Art, No Really

Totally Not Stolen Art, No Really

Minette Odam

2013-04-23T07:02:43Z

Draco:

Minette Odam

2013-04-23T06:53:20Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Character Infobox |firstname=Minette |lastname=Odam |age=18 |species=Human (Levitani) |sex=Female |height=5'6" |weight=Petite |series=Final Fantasy Act: Class |styles=Accoun..."

Annalee

2013-03-11T22:17:00Z

Draco:

{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Annalee
|age=20
|species=Human
|sex=Female
|height=5'4"
|weight=Slender
|series=Final Kingdom
|styles=The BGM
|hometown=A small, unimportant village
|alignment=Wandering Force
|group=Madam Rosemarie's Magical Assistance
|occupation=Indentured Bard
|themesong=Canon in D
|quote='... ... ...tch.'
|footer=Getting hung over and not remember the previous night's incident(s), but she assumes she must have had fun.
}}
= Profile =
A musician of some considerable talent, Annalee is a regrettably mute bard in the employ of the witch, Rosemarie. Except that she seems to dislike the terms of her employment greatly, and the witch herself even moreso. Despite this she suffers in silence. Her lot in life seems to be relegated to following Rosemarie around and providing the background music for whatever it is that the witch does. Lacking a voice, Annalee is forced to express herself with her double zither, expressive gestures, and occasionally throwing things. Some suspect that there is something off here, but those that tend to pry deeper have an odd habit of disappearing.

= Skills =
Music - Annalee is a gifted virtuoso... in fact, some whisper that she is supernaturally gifted or that her talent is not otherwise natural. Whichever the case, Annalee's music is capable of affecting the world around her in a fashion similar to geomancers, laying down field effects and calling up primordial forces with nothing more then sounds from her double zither.

Strudel - Annalee bakes a fine strudel. A damn fine strudel.

= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Annalee

2013-03-11T05:12:47Z

Draco:

Annalee

2013-03-11T05:11:49Z

Draco:

{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Annalee
|age=20
|species=Human
|sex=Female
|height=5'4"
|weight=Slender
|series=Original Character
|styles=The BGM
|hometown=A small, unimportant village
|alignment=Wandering Force
|group=Madam Rosemarie's Magical Assistance
|occupation=Indentured Bard
|themesong=Canon in D
|quote='... ... ...tch.'
|footer=Getting hung over and not remember the previous night's incident(s), but she assumes she must have had fun.
}}
= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}

Annalee

2013-03-11T04:52:21Z

Draco: Created page with "{{Character Infobox |firstname=Annalee |age=20 |species=Human |sex=Female |height=5'4" |weight=Slender |series=Original Character - DO NOT STEAL |styles=The BGM |hometown=A sm..."

{{Character Infobox
|firstname=Annalee
|age=20
|species=Human
|sex=Female
|height=5'4"
|weight=Slender
|series=Original Character - DO NOT STEAL
|styles=The BGM
|hometown=A small, unimportant village
|alignment=Wandering Force
|group=Madam Rosemarie's Magical Assistance
|occupation=Indentured Bard
|themesong=Canon in D
|quote='... ... ...tch.'
|footer=Getting hung over and not remember the previous night's incident(s), but she assumes she must have had fun.
}}
= Logs =
{{Character Logs}}
= Cutscenes =
{{Character Logs|Cutscenes}}