2025-10-14: Entry of the Gladiators
- Log: 2025-10-14 - Entry of the Gladiators
- Cast: Roger, Minato Arisato, Suzume Fukura, Hitomi Mandai, Ririka Kawase
- Where: Taro Nakata's Atelier
- OOC Date: October 15, 2025
- IC Date: July 26, 2012
- Summary: One of the two SEES teams investigating the Atelier... well, investigates. There are a surprising number of carnival games.
(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 1: Don't Get Lost - Challenge Level 1 =============================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Proficiency |
| Conditions: Skillful - Proficiency Up L1 and Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
As you enter the Atelier, fading into the carnival with a red sky and a pale
white concrete footing, you'll see many dilapidated tents, attractions, midways,
and more in your line of sight. But with your goal of getting to the Homunculus,
you'll likely beeline straight to the massive tent in the distance, towering
menacingly over all.
When you get there, however, you'll find the tent barred by a big door. A sign
says 'FIVE TICKETS NEEDED'. You're not getting in without those tickets, but
they seem to be given out by the attractions and employees at the carnival.
First, however, you'll have to find a way to navigate the carnival! A handy map
dispenser sits nearby... if you can get it to work, as it's paid. It's unclear
what currency it takes, though, so you might have to try some things... maybe
you could find a way to unlock it instead?
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: A party led by Minato Arisato has begun the event Taro Nakata's Atelier.
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
One by one, word goes out about a novel sort of supernatural space and a terrible threat to humanity called the Homonculus, some manner of thing that seems to try to overtake living people to replace them - and a bid to try and save a young man in the process of being overtaken by one. It is an act of immense trust to hand a treasured item of the person in question - a 'Thread' in the vernacular - and then a need to come to a place where people can be 'alone together.' Handily, a net cafe is just the trick. They all have to rent their own booths and pass the Thread between one another as they all log on to a strange place called 'AtelierNetwork.jp'
It's probably up there for being some of the most esoteric stuff the dedicated warriors against the horrors of the Dark Hour, SEES (and other associates present), has involved themselves with. Luckily, Hazuki had already paved much of the way with useful information. The matter of visiting the 'Eye,' an important place to the Atelier's owner, enabled this. Nonetheless...
One by one, the party appears in a strange supernatural space by the feel in the air. Some manner of carnival, with a red sky and pale white concrete footing. The whole of it feels rickety, neglected, unsafe... and twisted into a surreal, monstrous scene. There's a massive tent in the distance that is the goal, but once approached... looks like one needs 'FIVE TICKETS,' and there's the occasional clash with some dangerous Shadows in the shape of carnival stereotypes and figures.
A strange Shadow - or something Shadow-analogous, this entity is kind of a novel experience - in the shape of a crimson-hued pig-like mascot hops in front of them with gleeful abandon and tears in their eyes.
"More of Hazuki-chan's friends...!" The odd upright mascot-like pig squeals. This is a Shadow. This is a Shadow that's talking, and groveling. This is definitely not the Dark Hour's variety, but no one would be blamed for being on guard. "Um... you all look really serious, too." He taps his fingers together. "...I hope we can have fun playing together anyway, even though what's going on here is not fun at all..."
"This is Nakata's Atelier. I'm sure you've sniffed out that particular truffle with Hazuki-chan's help, but it's really bad here!" He leans forward, insistent, snorting. "So I need your help reaching the Melanc Humors and bringing them into balance so we can get rid of the cause of all this - the Homonculus!"
"Oh!" He relaxes. "I'm Roger! I'm a Sanguin Humor! There's a number of kinds of them, but Sanguin Humors like me are the movers and shakers about the Ateliers... usually." And then, back to kicking his stilt like legs as he looks down with droopy ears. "They're not listening to me... no one is! I'm even being attacked by the Coleric Humors, which only go after anyone and anything not of this Atelier... um, that'd include you. Usually any Sanguin Humor could pull some back, but..." But obviously, not now. "I blame the Homonculus for everything! And also that!!"
"So I'll talk about the others as they show up, okay?" Roger perks up. "Let's go play~"
But first, they have to go get their hands on some maps.
"Um," Roger looks sheepish, which is off-brand for being a funny pig mascot, "every time I turn around it feels like it's all being rearranged... otherwise I'd take you to all the games with the tickets you need. Sorry..."
There's a map dispenser right there, which is asking for a vague price that even Roger does not seem to be able to elaborate upon in the moment. It at least has the courtesy to resemble the ubiquitous vending machine, even if it's somewhat odd and angular like it were a stylized cartoon.
"We'll go play once we get a new map! Those always seem to be right when you all have them..."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Minato deputised Reiya to lead one arm of their investigation into the Atelier -- and he's here with the other. Coordinating the passing of the Thread, he intones, at the correct hour: "Logging on."
Which is just a more serious version of something he always does. Not to this network, though...
To a carnival.
Minato looks to the rotund pig, with a mild yet still quite serious expression. The pig is talking... being prepared for it doesn't really prepare him for it.
"The Melanc Humours," he repeats, firmly. Unlike Roger, who's Sanguin. "How are they balanced?"
He frowns. "So the Coleric Humours are dangerous," he notes. "Let's remember that." And... going to 'play'. "... sure."
Minato steps out to the map dispenser. "Our first mission is to acquire a map," he says. "Kawase-san will be able to use it to augment her capacities here." And so, he pulls out some yen...
... and the machine spits it right back out.
"It won't take yen," he elaborates, helpfully.
Then he pulls out a strange blue glowing shard from his pocket, and tries jamming that in... only for it to fall right back out.
"It won't take Twilight Shards, either," Minato elaborates, even more helpfully.
MONAD: Minato Arisato has acted with Academics toward Don't Get Lost! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume, of course, volunteered to help, even when she didn't quite know what she was getting into, and that is why she is now in supernatural space that resembles a carnival. Or, to her eyes, a circus.
She is not sure she doesn't regret volunteering, for a moment.
But she's not going to turn back, or turn away. so she's prepared; no backpack today, but she's got her tonfa, and she's got her new combat uniform, provided by SEES, rather than doing what she has previously done (show up in her gym clothes).
Suzume's outfit consists of a jacket with big pockets that comes down past her hips to midthigh, swallowtail-cut for maximum leg mobility. The jacket is short-sleeved so that her tonfa don't tangle in her lower sleeves - it simply doesn't have them, cuffed just above the elbow. Underneath it she has pants rather than the skirt all her other uniforms have, black and neat but with that bit of stretch to it that gym clothes have. The top is a short-sleeved shirt with polo-style buttons. It's loose-fit, but in a way that looks deliberate rather than Suzume's usual approach to baggy clothes, and seems vaguely sporty even though it is still clearly a uniform.
It suits her in a way that Suzume is not often suited by clothes. Though she is *less* suited by, well...
Look. Suzume *also* has a headband half-buried in her somewhat voluminous hair. Poking up from it, and out of her hair, are a pair of black cat-ears. It came from Tartarus and it's useful, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel a little silly putting it on to fight.
Suzume isn't expecting a talking pig at all. She has her tonfa raised - silvery ones with a vein-ish pattern slightly reminiscent of insect wings - before she realizes she is *not* going to be attacked and that Minato is going to run with it and forces herself to lower them with a breath out.
"Humours?" she says, before racking her brain. Nothing immediately comes to mind at first, until she manages, "Didn't Edogawa-san say something about those once...?" She doesn't remember any details. It wasn't on the test and, frankly, exam time has forced everything that isn't out of her brain for the moment.
So instead she looks at the map dispenser. Minato tries yen (no go) and Twilight Shards (also a no-go). She considers it for a moment.
Spinning her tonfa so that it's held extended, increasing her reach, Suzume gives it a very solid rap. "Sometimes these just pop open if you hit them just right," she explains, repeating it a second time. "They're like the cheap newspaper ones, right? You just - gotta - jostle it the right way - "
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Proficiency toward Don't Get Lost! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"... a net cafe? Seriously?" says Hitomi, squeamishly, during the briefing.
And yet she came along.
SOON ENOUGH, THOUGH
They're in, and out, and through, and they are faced... with a pig.
Hitomi's eyes widen behind her glasses. "Holy crap," she says, quietly, "a talking pig!"
She doesn't shout it, but the astonishment... the astoundedness... those are real. You can't fake that. She glances at the others as if to confirm, and then... pays some attention. Shoving her glasses up her nose in an extremely stylish (to Hitomi) way, she answers, "Pleased to meet you, Roger... I'm Hitomi."
Minato, though, is all business.
After the try, Hitomi cups her chin with one hand. "Okay... so I think I understand what this is trying to do... though I have no idea WHY it's doing it, this is the kind of thing where you have to find those tickets somehow, right? Or earn them?"
Hitomi looks towards Roger for confirmation. "It's a way to preserve a flow without removing the feeling of-- anyway, that's sort of, what did they call it, lateral thinking? But if this is the map thing... either we're not supposed to get it until the end to show us what we missed, or..."
Hitomi is quiet for several seconds. During this time, Suzume gives the thing a good whack.
Then she fishes into the pouch - not pocket, though her SEES action skirt *does* have pockets - to bring out a pair of red sharp-edged dice. She click-clacks them in her fingers for a moment before WHIPPING them right down, where they hit the ground and bounce up (2, 3) before colliding with the dispenser!
There is a small, measured explosion on that secondary impact. Sort of like a firecracker but with more light. Hitomi then scrambles over to collect them because they didn't just bounce back to her hand, whoops
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with It's Time For Some Game Theory toward Don't Get Lost! Smarts and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Logging into AtelierNetwork had certainly been a novel experience, and Ririka drew in a sharp breath as she took in the surroundings. "Well this is new," she mutters to herself as she closes her eyes for a moment to focus her senses on the surroundings. "I hear... a lot of creaking wood, malfunctioning mechanics, tattered cloth flapping around... and it just feels wrong, too. Neglected."
And then she hears-- 'More of Hazuki-chan's friends!' Ririka blinks as she opens her eyes. That wasn't any of the group. She looks to see Roger there, hopping up and down. "Oh, uh... hello." She looks at Roger curiously, tilting her head a little. "You don't sound like a Mementos Shadow... or a Dark Hour one..."
Explanations are given, and she listens, intently, to what he has to say. "Melanc, Sanguin, Choleric... alright. I'll have to figure out what those all sound like. But it's nice to meet you, Roger-san. I'm Ririka Kawase." She doesn't seem to flinch at Roger wanting to go 'play'. But she seemed accepting of Jose drinking flowr bubbles, too. "Uh, sure. If that'll help us get to the Homunculus."
She nods to Minato. "Right, Arisato-san. I'm trying, but... I still need to get used to this new type of space. Everything still sounds a little bit off..." She looks to Suzume. "Yeah, I think... there were four of them, they thought they were fluids in the body, or something...? I wonder if the different types mean anything..."
She blinks as Hitomi's dice explode at the vending machine. "Mandai-san, what are those dice made of?" She sounds... mildly alarmed.
Her own outfit is a heavy uniform jacket, with the armband and shoulder plate on her left arm and shoulder, and on her right a gunmetal gray armor plate ojn the upper arm, and a purple ribbon instead of the SEES standard red. Two pairs of gloves iwth metal bands, a belt with a holster and katana sheath, skirt, and boots with matching metal bands complete the look.
She pulls out the most lively carnival item of all--a gun. And the does the very jovial thing of putting it to her head and firing it, summoning Amphion in a rush of broken glass and blue flame.
"I'll start on trying to get a feel for things," she declares, as Amphion puts a pair of headphones on her head. She reaches forward, and at her tough pinao keys made of light spring into existence as she starts to play, listening to how her music interacts with the world around her to start mapping...
... and if it should also happen as a form of impromptu busking to earn them some money for the machine, that's also a handy outcome.
MONAD: Ririka Kawase has acted with Impromptu Performance toward Don't Get Lost! Diligence and Efficient!
(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Don't Get Lost - Round 1 ================================================- Minato Arisato Academics Failure Academics Base Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hitomi Mandai Academics Success It's Time For Some G Smarts and Patra Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suzume Fukura Proficiency Success Proficiency Base Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ririka Kawase Proficiency Success Impromptu Performanc Diligence and Efficient Fatigue: 0 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Skillful-2 and Stupor-2 Final Conditions: Stupor-1 -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 1/6 |= | =====================================================- (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Minato Arisato has drawn a new Challenge!
(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 2: A Simple Ring Toss - Challenge Level 1 =========================-
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Academics |
| Conditions: Box - Add 1 Item/Money/Gear., Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, and |
| Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
Along the midway, there is a booth with various pins and rings, a classical ring
toss. A Sanguin Humor is trying to get you to come play, offering you to win a
wonderful prize... a very cheap stuffed animal of one of the Coleric Humors, a
slinky-liked jester holding a mask. You'll also get a ticket, but it's clearly
gimmicked...
Can you win it with raw skill and talent? Or do you figure out the gimmick,
allowing you to sail easily through the challenge?
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
'How are they balanced?' Minato asks firmly, which commands immediate attention from Roger. "Oh, glad you asked... you see, the problem is, when a Homonculus emerges... the first thing they do is take over the Melanc Humors. They use those to protect themselves."
"Since Melanc Humors are part of the Atelier, that's why Coleric Humors don't go after them... and Melanc Humors balance us Sanguin Humors. If you beat a Melanc Humor, the Flegmat Humors around us - they're the quieter ones you might see - can help stop the Homonculus from taking them back over."
Roger tilts his head as he watches Minato fail to apply some currencies to the map dispenser. "Why doesn't it want you to come play...? I don't get it."
"Is this Edogawa-san a friend of yours too?" Roger looks up and tilts to the side as Suzume brings them up. "I wouldn't mind meeting him! He sounds like he'd be really fun to play with here if he already knows all about us Atelier Humors!" He does not come from a space with 'teachers' or 'exams.' This may sound like a utopia to those of single digit ages, but seeing the 'reality' here, well. Do we really need a society of talking pig mascots only interested in play, unable to deal with a vending machine with maps? Probably not.
"Um, of course I talk...?" Roger manifests funny sweatdrop prop over his head, cartoonishly, as Hitomi's astonishment briefly overtakes her. "It's good to meet you too, Hitomi-chan! Let's play together! Once we get a map!"
"It's nice to meet you, Ririka-chan! It sounds like both of you are already familiar with us! That's good! There are four kinds of Humors in an Atelier!" Whatever they learned of that ancient discredited theory did not involve talking pig shadows who want to play, and huge scary red sky carnivals.
Nonetheless - they're not accepting currency they have on hand, for whatever reason, so some manner of blunt force trauma (by tonfa and/or exploding dice, the latter of which has Roger going O_O) is enough to dislodge the dispenser open with a few maps spilling out on the ground along with some currency-esque objects of questionable worth as tender. Ririka, most importantly, is getting a feel for 'things' and figuring out that strange, hostile entities might be - no, are! - about to converge upon them if they don't get a move on. (These are the Coleric Humors that Roger's warned about! And thanks to Ririka's Navigating, that's a fight avoided!)
They have a map (or two, or three, maybe four, they're all the same - right now), and they can get on with it. Roger peeks at one, and lights up. "The ring toss! That's a fun one! Let's go there!" He squeals with all the enthusiasm of an excited youngster even in the midst of all that's going on. They find that booth in short order, that ring toss game. A Sanguin Humor - who is speaking legibly and understandably, albeit with less seeming collective awareness of his greater surroundings compared to Roger - challenging all of them to come play the ring toss for a wonderful prize. Like a low-quality cheap effigy of the bizarre entity that Ririka detected was headed their way some time ago.
"Oh, that toy resembles one of the Coleric Humors here. There's other kinds, but they're all going to try and hurt you, even though you're here to help." Roger's ears droop. "Usually us Sanguin Humors can keep them at bay if we want to, but they don't listen to me..."
He looks up. "But they should listen to that one! Even if that one hadn't listened to me either!" Why wouldn't any Humors here listen to one of their own in Roger? "So if we play, we'll be okay! And we'll get a ticket we need!"
Roger proceeds to have himself some fun with it. A careful eye will realize there's some gimmick at play that makes tossing rings alone not enough to win, but the pig-like Shadow friend(?) does not seem to care too much beyond getting to play, in the moment. (Shadows aren't really that complex, are they.)
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"So the Melanc Humors are our target... to bring them back into balance. Right, as Edogawa-sensei said... the four Humors." Minato nods, firmly. "Edogawa-sensei is one of the teachers at our school," he goes on to explain. "He's really into occultism."
Minato scoops up the 'currency'(?), and a map. "Playing along should get us to our goal," he assures his team. "Let's proceed forward with Roger-san."
A light pause, and he remembers to add: "I'm Minato Arisato." Beat, "I don't usually introduce myself to creatures like you, so I'm still getting used to this. We all are."
Up to the ring toss, and -- "We should keep moving," Minato advises, given Ririka's advice (you'll see), "so let's win this game quickly."
He takes up a ring, knowing that if he fails here, the terror in the background shall surely consume them all...
... and all of this strange reality melds to a single point in front of him.
His goal: the peg yearning for a ring, declaring itself to be worth a hundred points.
Focus... focus, and...
God willing, no one needs him in the next ten seconds, as the only thing he cares about is landing this ring on the peg.
MONAD: Minato Arisato has acted with Singular Focus toward A Simple Ring Toss! Diligence and Focus! <Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Nah, he's a..." Suzume pauses, realizes she is explaining school life - which she doesn't always like anyway, especially right now, around exam time - to a Shadow pig. "...adult. Not really a friend. Just someone I gotta listen to sometimes." Ririka apparently listened better, though. "Yeah? What kind of fluid's a pig - I mean, I know he said Sanguin, but which one is that?"
Suzume has actually used an Internet cafe before, so that wasn't the weird part to her. (The weird part, as far as she was concerned, was going into a carnival from there.)
If she'd known she was the only person who had, she would have given some good advice before they went... But too late now!
Suzume picks up one of the maps. She also picks up some of the not-coins, squinting at them. "I'm gonna hold onto these," she says, because they could come in handy if there's another vending machine in here. Or, for that matter... Roger said it was different every time, so perhaps they'll need a different map if and when they return. Now they have a cheat for that! Minato has the same idea, but she pockets one anyway, just in case. It's luck.
"You'd think dice would work better here. It's all games," Suzume says to Hitomi as they walk. "Though you're gonna have to teach me how to throw things so they explode. That'd give me a killer fastball, heh." She's actually more at ease in here than she has been in the SEES dorm recently...
But eventually they move further in. Toward a ring toss. They have to win fast, they need to get a ticket, and Suzume immediately steps forward, cracking her knuckles. "Bet I can get more than you," she says to Minato - to everyone really, but she thinks Minato might be the stiffest competition. Or Hitomi, if throwing everything carries over...
But she's really, really into it. Suzume can't help but get competitive, and she does it here. Her first tosses are testing, experimental, but then she really zeroes in. Minato has monofocus. She merely has the desire to beat him.
It's fine! It's just a game! ...right?
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Sports Talk toward A Simple Ring Toss! Diligence and Focus! <Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"I think sang means blood in English, or Latin or something," Hitomi comments to Suzume as they walk. "I dunno about the other ones... he doesn't seem that bloody, though?"
(The reason why Hitomi was grossed out may arise later.) But there is a question. Hitomi turns her head to look at Ririka.
"Plastic," she tells her.
There's an enigmatic smile... which lasts for about a second before she says, self-consciously, "They just do that for me in these spaces or in the Dark Hour, but I have to bounce them. I dunno, it's just a weird thing. I think I just don't have as much 'fighting spirit' as a lot of people, haha..."
to wit, Ririka is shooting herself in the head!
or not: PERSONA.
"I got casino dice because the little game dice that are fine for like, stuff on the table, they're really easy to lose... It's actually been fun to practice, even if I guess it means I shouldn't play games during the Dark Hour, haha," Hitomi gabbles on.
During the trip over, Hitomi talks to the pig, who, she presumes, will not judge her. "Oh, absolutely," she tells him. "What do you guys play here? I mean I don't know if I can stay that long, or anything, but..." She keeps on moving, briskly. (She secured her own map.)
"Oh," Hitomi says.
"Ring toss, huh." She folds her arms loosely even as the playing starts. Her lips purse.
"Someone go," she says, head tilting forwards slightly. She takes an extremely strategic step... to the right. But it's the Ring Toss frame that's really driving her insane. Hitomi is staring right at it. Indeed, SQUINTING. Her lips are pursing into a scholarly frown.
She doesn't look away before murmuring to herself, "Clowns...?"
She does add, "It's tilted. Not much. Can you see how much, Kawase...? Looks like, I don't know, four degrees to me."
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with It's Time For Some Game Theory toward A Simple Ring Toss! Smarts and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka's listening to Roger's explanation of how to balance the humors--and catches that fourth name. "Flegmat Humors, and they're quieter... okay." She files that away as she tries to make sense of the Atelier's landscape.
She pauses as Roger addresses her yobisute, but... he's a pig mascot in a supernatural space. She's inclined to let that slide for the moment. "Well, we heard about something similar, but... I'm not sure how much they got right. So I'll be interested in hearing it in your own words." She looks to Suzume. "Uh... I'm... not sure? It might be... more metaphorical, or... I dunno. Maybe we can look it up when we get back to the dorm?" But there's a nod to Hitomi. "That sounds vaguely familiar, I think... but we'll probably be fine as long as we don't have to fight any giant leeches."
She blinks at Hitomi's answer. "Plastic? Does plastic usually explode...?" But they just do that. And not as much fighting spirit. "Oh, yeah... I think I get that. Most of Amphion's abilities don't really revolve around attacking, so..." But she looks interested in the gabbling. "What's the difference between casino dice and game dice?"
But she is working on Navigating, and she frowns as she hears... something starting to congregate around them. "Arisato-san," she says, with some urgency. "I hear a lot of... angry clowns? Monster clowns? Starting to converge. We should probably move now that we have the maps." But she will grab a map for herself to cross-reference, and somee of that strange currency.
"Right, you said they attack anything that doesn't belong... so they're kind of like white blood cells?" Ririka is angling for a metaphor that Roger probably will not understand, but oh well.
But they're at a ring toss, and Ririka looks at it consideringly. She nods to Hitomi. "Yeah... I was reading up on circus music a while ago--it actually can be difficult to perform, since they often have it at 200 beats per minute but include a lot of difficult phrases--and I did read about how some of the games could be rrigged, too... so I think you're right." She goes to toss a ring, trying to line it up with the bottles.
MONAD: Ririka Kawase has acted with Music Talk toward A Simple Ring Toss! Focus and Patra! (|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|) -==== A Simple Ring Toss - Round 2 ============================================- Minato Arisato Proficiency Success Singular Focus Diligence and Focus Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hitomi Mandai Academics Success It's Time For Some G Smarts and Patra Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suzume Fukura Proficiency Success Sports Talk Diligence and Focus Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ririka Kawase Academics Success Music Talk Focus and Patra Fatigue: 0 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Box-0, Clumsy-2, and Stupor-1 Final Conditions: -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | =====================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ============================================================- Items: 1, Money: 0, Gear: 1 (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Minato Arisato has drawn a new Challenge!
(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 3: Shootin Gallery - Challenge Level 2 ============================-
| Approach Options: Academics or Charm |
| Conditions: Annoying - Charm Down L2 and Enlightening - Academics Up L2 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
On the midway, there is a wide shooting gallery with cute little cork guns to
shoot at cut-out targets. The operator offers a ticket for anyone who can beat
him in a shootout, but there's a problem.
The guns have a poor balance and weighting to them, making it hard to gauge
accurately how to shoot them under the time pressure even if you're trained with
firearms. You can use math and angles to try and figure out the best way to
shoot the target without missing, whether via trick shot or sharpshooting, or
you can try and figure out a way to convince the operator to swap guns with one
of you, whether via charm or goading, as their gun works without issues.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
"Oh! I was about to ask," Roger tilts his head. "It's okay... you're new to me too, Arisato-san!" Roger cannot be aware of the severity of the Dark Hour and SEES' mission, and seems almost entirely guileless in the face of the implication of the word 'creatures like you.' "Even if you're not Humors... I like to play! When we're all playing together, are we any different?"
The world of humans has more to deal with than the fulfillment of the desire to play, but in a space like this... maybe Roger and his kind never had to worry about anything else until the Homonculus showed up.
"...Adult? Is that bad?" Roger asks of Suzume. "If he knows about us Humors, then it's good to listen to him! No wonder all of you looked like you came in ready to play..." He gets that this bunch of friends - of SEES - are definitely playing for keeps against the supernatural threats facing them and the world at large, on some level.
Roger, indeed, doesn't seem that bloody, although he is of a crimson hue in so far as his 'skin' color goes. Is the whole of his mascot body a skin? Shadow anatomy is mysterious but usually best described as 'only good when it is dispersing back into the aether.'
"Games!" Roger answers earnestly to Hitomi's inquiry. His ears start to droop. "Um... if I had to be honest... I didn't really think too hard about it until the Homonculus showed up, and when they did, I knew everything was all wrong, like a nice pile of mud were suddenly just... sand? But you find the sand still fun but it's not the kind of fun you're used to..." Roger trails off, dejected. "But I know once the Homonculus is gone everything'll be as it was!"
"And that's right! I'll point them out along the way," he says to Ririka. As the Evoker use does come into play, he looks askance at the intensity of it but doesn't yet comment. "Um, if that's what white blood cells do, then... yes! Whatever that is! Coleric Humors don't play nice with anyone from outside..."
Anyway, yes. Ring toss!
Roger stops mid-fling to watch Minato's singular focus with awe as he absolutely nails the ring toss in the most dramatic way possible as it loops, flies off the peg he aims it for, and has it pop into place cleanly in another, higher-scoring one beyond a hundred points. The pop-off actually ends up disrupting one of Suzume's ring toss throws so that hers ends up similarly scoring, in one of those one-in-a-million things that'd make for an awesome shortform video (and intensify competition). It takes a while for Hitomi to make peace with the tilt of the Ring Toss set-up and how that'd affect scoring, but eventually, four degrees (or so) will not stop her from scoring an impressive toss or two. Or four.
As Ririka mentions the games being rigged, Roger's clean toss doesn't manage to land. He cheers anyway, because he's having fun with it, even though he doesn't win - and soon enough, Ririka is offered the prize of the Coleric Humor plush (why do the Navigators keep having that handed to them? it is a mystery) and there's a proper ticket prize dispensed.
Some Coleric Humors can be seen in the periphery, circling the group momentarily, but the Sanguin Humor manning the booth gestures to shoo them off, and they stay their monstrous clown-like, slinky-like selves from pouncing the group.
"...They've really gathered here," Roger says, "but... as long as we keep playing these games, we'll be okay! I'm sure of it," even if he'd wish they'd all listen to him, and sure enough, there's a Shootin Gallery (the missing 'g' is stylistic) a few booths over.
This Sanguin Humor is offering a ticket prize, of course, for adorable cork guns intended for equally cute cut-out targets. All they have to do is beat him, but the issue is the guns they're being handed... suck. (If Hitomi were observant about the slightest slant on the Ring Toss game, she's in the place to point out so many places of odds-stacking.)
Roger doesn't think twice even though he's run into this issue with this booth before. He picks up his shoddy cork gun and... well, he's not bad at it but it's not going to match or beat the other Sanguin Humor's score. To have such a slanted game in the operator's favor in such a visible fashion... how does this reflect Nakata as he is?
Maybe they can work out a way to swap guns with them to make it more fair.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume responds to Hitomi, "It's not English," because she knows (some) (okay, a little) English. "Maybe it's Latin? But nobody speaks Latin nowadays, right? Except..." Her brow furrows. "The Catholic Church?" she ventures. They sound like they'd speak Latin. "If you tell me these are religious Shadows I won't believe you."
"And anyway," she adds, "the dice stuff is cool. I know you said you don't really know how to explain it, but I wanna see if I can figure out your trick. Next time you practice in the Dark Hour, kick my door or something to see if I'm awake, I'll come watch."
She tries not to laugh at Ririka. "Everything's music to you, huh? I guess it's kind of your thing. But really, clown music? Like that doot doot dootle-ootle doot doot *doot* doot..." A beat. "You know that was supposed to be, like, a military march? Can you imagine a bunch of defense force guys coming in to that theme?" She's grinning.
How does Suzume know that? The world may never know.
She also has Roger to answer. "He's, uh..." How can Suzume explain this? She's not well-suited for it. "He teaches a lot of stuff. A lot of it's useless," she says, less accurately than you might expect given his usual topics. "Every once in a while, though..." She's going to have to dig out any information she can get on humours later if Ririka doesn't beat her to it.
Suzume hears Hitomi talk about the angle, but she isn't sure how to use it to adapt her shots. She does it the way she's always done - by feel. The competition helps, honestly - she always does better when she has something to compare herself to, and a target to push herself against.
So she is somewhat disappointed that the only reason she scored as well as she does is because of Minato's focus *but also* immensely gratified that it happened at all. If they were trying to work together they couldn't do better!
Which is why she offers him a (tonfa-less) fistbump as the group moves on. "Nice," is her more laconic than usual response. Because it was, indeed... nice.
"So, what," is her response to Roger, "they want us to play the games? Because I don't mind that, but it's kind of weird, isn't it?" Suzume likes the challenge aspect, but - well, given the thing she's comparing it to is *Tartarus*, it doesn't feel at all the same.
Suzume picks up one of the guns.
Suzume scowls and puts down the gun, trying a different one. Which is no better. It's not Suzume's *best* game, and they don't shoot anything physical anyway, but she has played enough Gun About to recognize the feel of one that's wrong in her hands! These are off-balance!
"Hey," Suzume says to the Humour. "Let's make it a REAL competition. Me against you, with no difference in equipment - we'll use the same gun," she says, pointing at the Humour's significantly more accurate gun. "That's what junior shooters in the Olympics do, and you don't want to be some sort of shitty discount shooting gallery, right? You want it to be a *good game*," emphasizing the last couple words.
She's figured out what she wants to lean on, in here. It's a line that works with the way Roger is talking - does it work on other Humours?
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Random Knowledge toward Shootin Gallery! Patra and Smarts!
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Guess not," Minato says, of the differences between him and Roger, though he's still a little surprised.
Like, the pig is talking.
"Adults are like... bigger versions of us," Minato takes a stab at explaining it, as he wonders, privately, how old Roger is. "With more responsibilities, and jobs, and families of their own. They take care of things in life... but we have a power most of them don't, so we're the ones who can make things right in places like this. That doesn't mean the adults don't help prepare us, though." Officer Kurosawa is very helpful in making sure they're armed for outings like this, for instance.
"Good thinking," he adds, to Suzume, as she too grabs the Mysterious Currency.
"Well," Minato supposes, to Hitomi's knowledge check, "it wouldn't be the first time blood's appeared in places like this." And if Roger is blood red, Minato's trying not to think about that too hard.
And as Hitomi describes how to bounce her dice, Minato listens carefully. "I understand," he nods, thoughtfully, as he absorbs the knowledge... of how to wield dice. "Bouncing is critical to the process."
But Roger expresses his hopes for a return to the status quo, and Minato has to wonder: "Will it really go back to the way it was?"
But the ring flies, and -- because some part of him was absorbing the advice about the tilted playing field -- connects in the most unlikely way! "... looks like we tied," Minato comes back to existence, to look back to Suzume, nodding firmly to her and returning her fist bump. "Good work. I'll get you next time." Because of course there's a reason Mamoru will be drawn to him... once that sport meet happens, anyway.
"Angry clowns..." Minato reflects, looking behind them, at Ririka's advice. "There's merit to running forward. But the 'logic' of this place seems to demand these tickets, so we might find ourselves unable to proceed and trapped by those Coleric Humors." For instance: the way they try to creep in, only to be shooed off by the sideshow operator. "... I think our best course is to continue engaging in the side-show for now," he decides. "We're evidently enjoying protections by engaging as expected."
And so: guns.
Minato approaches the Sanguin Humor, pulling out his Evoker and holding it, there, beside the crappy cork gun he's been given. "I understand," he says, meeting the Humor's gaze with those impossibly deep blue eyes of his. "You're teaching us a lesson on oblivion. The inevitable end of our journey... whether through the loss of our tickets, or the loss of our lives. But you see, we're SEES... and together, we confront the fleeting nature of our existences every time we embark on a mission."
He holds the cork gun back out to the vendor, grip-first. (The Humor could shoot him, if he wished; Minato stands without fear.) "Our journey does not end here. Don't hasten us on. When the end comes... it won't come at the cost of a rigged game."
It's... it's just a cork gun game, Minato...
MONAD: Minato Arisato has acted with Doom Talk toward Shootin Gallery! Friendliness and Efficient!
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"I mean, it could be, right? Aren't there like demons and angels? But I don't think those are clowns or anything... and this doesn't seem like heaven to me," Hitomi says, though from her tone, she might possibly maybe COULD see how it could be.
Hitomi answers Roger, sourly, "Yeah. You don't know when you have a good thing going until it's gone." As she says this, she kicks a little at a pebble, disconsolately. "Don't get the wrong idea," she grumbles at Minato as they walk. "It's some kind of... brain quirk. I grew up in a really non-violent household! We barely even had meat!"
Ririka's question is more cheerful, and gets a more pleasant tone from Hitomi! "Casino dice have these sharp edges, see," Hitomi says, holding one up. "They cut them from acrylic with lasers... you see how the pips are paint? These are technically ones you could roll in Macau or Las Vegas, no problem; the ones they sell in the gift shops have holes in them. The paint is actually tricky, but the idea is to make it super impossible to do weighted dice."
She twirls one around, holding it up like a very coarsely cut gem. The plastic is *translucent*. "And they're pretty! I do want to get more colors, though."
"Don't worry about us too much," Hitomi tells Roger, casting a wary eye towards some of the other Humors around her.
After this, though, it's cork guns! That's always good clean fun, except that the pop and its relative quality seems to make Hitomi frown. She frowns a lot! What a sullen girl! She glances down at her popgun, then over towards the Humor, then back again. She seems to be weighing something. Her jaw tenses. She takes a deep brea--
Ah! Suzume's already doing it! Hitomi says, "Yeah! Is he scared you're gonna beat him?!" she adds by way of crony encouragement, even as she brings up her weapon to fire with a disappointing phoot.
Her score's going to suck monkey butts, btw. She was not kidding about lacking martial spirit.
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with Charm toward Shootin Gallery! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Well, white blood cells are things in our bodies that are part of our immune system," Ririka tries to explain to Roger. "So maybe the Choleric Humors are... part of the immune system of the... soul? Mind?" Ririka looks around. "Uh... whatever this is supposed to represent."
She pauses. "... Okay trying to think about it in those terms makes this feel a lot weirder.
Thankfully she doesn't have to keep going back to the Evoker since Amphion can just stay out (as long as he keeps up with them, so hopefully they don't have to move too fast.)
Ririka accepts the prize with a blink, looking the plushie over. "Oh! Um." She offers a short bow. "Thank you very much!" She looks at it again. "This looks way cuter than what I heard earlier." Into the backpack it goes. She'll have to see what happens to it when they leave later.
She casts a worried glance to the Coleric Humors circling them, noting how the game operator can shoo them off. "Those things roaming around are giving me the creeps... and I know there's more out there." She nods at Minato's assessment. "Right... if this place didn't want us to proceed at all, it wouldn't even give us the chance to win ticket,s right? Though... the games are rigged... I wonder if that's the Homunculus' doing?"
Ririka laughs a little at Suzume's statement, looking at least a little bashful. "Welll, I mean, I have been studying music since second grade, so..." And she happens to be pretty good at it, if she says so herself, which she wouldn't because she doesn't like to brag. "Oh yeah! They probably modified it from the original version. They've taken dances like foxtrots and waltzes, too."
She looks at Hitomi's dice as she explains. "Oh, I see!" She says of the sharp corners. "I wonder if they roll differently with the sharper corners, and that's why they use them... still, anything you make with lasers is kind of instantly cool, isn't it?"
But Ririka is frowning as she tries out the cork gun. Shje doesn't have a lot of experience with these--it's not like they use their Evokers to actually shoot anything, of course, but the way it handles is pretty clear after a few shots. "I wonder if this is always like this, or this is the Homunculus..."
She looks to the operator and their gun, which seems to be working just fine. Her gaze drops down to the Evoker on her belt and she takes a deep breath. She listens as Suzume issues a challenge, too, considering.
Minato talks about oblivion, and Ririka blanches a bit. She does agree that they shouldn't be stopped here, at least... Suzume is trying to goad, but Ririka's got a different tactic. She takes a deep breath, approaches the operator, and lets loose an easy grin, leaning in and letting her voice get chummy. "Hey, your gun looks really well-taken care of. And honestly? I get it--I'm a musician, I do everything I can to take care of my instrument, so it'll take care of me. Right? It'd be really cool if we could try your gun out for a bit... and I'll even sweeten the deal."
She puts her Evoker on the counter. "I'll let you hold my Evoker. Whaddya say?"
MONAD: Ririka Kawase has acted with Band Leader toward Shootin Gallery! Friendliness and Escape! (|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|) -==== Shootin Gallery - Round 3 ===============================================- Minato Arisato Charm Success Doom Talk Friendliness and Efficient Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hitomi Mandai Charm Failure Charm Base Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suzume Fukura Academics Success Random Knowledge Patra and Smarts Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ririka Kawase Charm Success Band Leader Friendliness and Escape Fatigue: 0 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Annoying-2 and Enlightening-2 Final Conditions: Annoying-1 -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 3/6 |=== | =====================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ============================================================- Items: 1, Money: 0, Gear: 1 (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Minato Arisato has drawn a new Challenge!
(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 4: Tower of Terror - Challenge Level 3 ============================-
| Approach Options: Guts or Academics |
| Conditions: Annoying - Charm Down L2, Checkpoint - Cleanse all negative |
| conditions., Curse - -1 to Group Roll (Per Character), and Terrifying - Guts |
| Down L2 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
Towards the back of the carnival is a massive drop ride, terrifying in both its
descent and its safety standards. As a group, you'll need to climb in, strap in
(as much as you can, at least) and rise to the top. As usual, there's an issue.
You get stuck. You either need to brave the ride until the attendants can climb
to the top like spiders and fix it, or find a way to fix it yourself and
experience the sudden drop. Hope you're not afraid of heights.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
Roger takes in the mention about adults. It's not entirely certain how much of it he absorbs - or can absorb - this is a Shadow, after all. It's already miraculous (and extremely weird) he's been able to converse, retain ideas, recognize humans, and stick with a shared cooperative goal with people ruthlessly dedicated to the eradication of the Dark Hour and its Shadow threat.
The shallowness of his desires reflects a certain childish innocence that should put him squarely in the realm of relative childhood, psychologically. Was he 'born' in Taro Nakata's younger years? It's a mystery.
"That sounds hard. I hope adults get to play too, sometimes," is all Roger can muster when parsing all of that level of thinking.
"But that's right!" He says to Suzume. "If a Sanguin Humor wants to play - and I know I do! - then play!" Roger lightens up as he proceeds to continue to miss with the flimsy, poorly-weighted cork gun. As long as it's not something mortally dangerous, but this much is (presently) benign.
Suzume directly challenges the sportsmanship of the Sanguin Humor, which earns a glare... into the seriousness of Minato's observation of this cork gun game, which seems to cool the rising aggression towards intimidation (and just in time, one of the Coleric Humors seemed ready to pounce - they always are). Hitomi cheerleads Suzume's challenging of the unfairness of the situation, and the Sanguin Humor seems to take Ririka's Evoker in hand with curiosity.
"Those really look dangerous," Roger murmurs with some surprise, as the Sanguin Humor allows competition to happen with the better-quality cork gun. The only one who doesn't score that well is Hitomi in a moment of self-reflection, but Roger looks impressed enough with how she did considering he didn't swap out his gun at all. (Ririka can take the Evoker back, it 'doesn't work.' Joke's on them...)
"It'll all go back to normal, I know it!" Roger says, insistently, but also with childish optimism to Minato's musing as they all walk off with a new set of tickets among them. The Coleric Humors are kept at bay, still, with the Sanguin Humors running booths not wanting their games to be disrupted by them.
"Um... I know it's not 'normal' for anyone else to be here, too," Roger says as he pokes his fingers together, "but I've really enjoyed playing with you all so far... and hopefully when the Homonculus goes away everyone here will listen to me again."
Why just him, though?
Soon enough, they happen upon a DEATH-DEFYING DROP RIDE. Capital letters are important. DEATH-DEFYING DROP RIDE.
Roger is peeking at a map and quirking an eyebrow as he snorts. "Oh, this one looks like the Homonculus touched it... but it's got tickets. I hate having to play their games!" Roger stamps a stilt leg. "But not for much longer!! We're chasin' you out, Homonculus!"
"But first, this ride!"
Well, however one's convinced to do it, it does involve them all strapping in. It feels unsafe, but the tickets are necessary. It rides up slowly, unevenly, creaky... and then, it stops, trapping everyone there.
...There are Coleric Humors approaching, and from a very bad place to be stuck. Coil-like jesters, cupids with sniper rifles, other strange carnival-like creatures coalescing as they look ready to climb up after them.
"Coleric Humors approaching...!" Roger calls, eyes wide, but... "Oh! So are two Sanguin Humors! I'm sure they'll fix this in time!"
Strange multi-armed attendants look extremely irritated with what they're seeing, and at least one climbs towards where the others are, while another seems to be striking at things from below like they detest the entire structure. (Roger did say it looked like a Homonculus touched it, and he didn't like it - so neither would any other Sanguin Humor.)
One can try to tough it out, or try to help with the repairs - but Roger seems relatively confident that the Sanguin Humors present will be able to handle this before the Coleric Humors force an extremely awkward random encounter in a virtually unworkable combat position (being strapped into a drop ride and all).
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"They do," Minato assures Roger. "I'm pretty sure someone else in my Innocent Sin Online party is an adult. She talks about her life sometimes." He pauses, for a moment, and explains: "That's a video game."
Which is presumably something you play! It's called a game, after all!!
"Would loaded dice deal more damage?" He wonders, to Hitomi.
SEES are dangerous! Is Minato dangerous? Probably not. He is a pretty good shot now he has a better cork gun, though. "Giving a pacifist a gun wouldn't work well," he assures Hitomi, on her defeat. "This game was rigged against you in a different way." There's no helping that kind, though.
"Change is inevitable," he warns Roger, with that characteristic cool mysteriousness of his.
Still... everyone listens to Roger, huh.
"A Homonculus sabotaged this ride," Minato concludes. "So there's certainly Homonculus involvement here." Just as Ririka was wondering! "That means we might be able to pick up some information about it if we play... Kawase-san, I'll escort you up. Fukura-san, Mandai-san, I understand this is a dangerous assignment, but I think we should stick together."
Stick together at the death machine. Minato, please!! The inevitable happens, and the ride grinds to a halt, as Minato looks up at Coleric Humors trying to climb up.
He looks up, then, to the chains guiding the ride up. "I see it," he says. "There's a spanner in the works."
There is, in fact, literally a spanner in the works. Is that the power of the Atelier?
"I'll go." He unbuckles his seatbelts, the ride creaking back and forth with a horrible lurch as he shifts his weight. A foot up on the back of the seatrest, he pulls himself up onto the roof of the cabin, and steadies himself with a hand on the chains as he reaches up to grasp that spanner and yank. Notably, he does not dare Suzume to best him this time.
But is that the only fault of this ride--?!
MONAD: Minato Arisato has acted with Determined Destiny toward Tower of Terror! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume leans over to speak to Ririka, rising up on tiptoe and murmuring, "You know Kirijo-senpai is going to kill you if you let a Shadow - a Humour - run off with your Evoker." The word she is looking for is 'execute', but as Suzume has not yet been threatened with it, Suzume does not pick the right word.
Dropping back down flat, Suzume asks the world at large, "How come I'm never the one that wins a prize?" Pause. "Not that I actually want a plush, but, you know."
"I watched a movie about demon clowns not long ago," Suzume replies to Hitomi. "Want to watch it when we get back to the dorm?" She grins, slightly crooked, before glancing over to Ririka and Minato. "Open offer. I think I've still got the disc from Yamamoto, and HE borrowed it from his brother."
(This is dangerous. It's a horror movie. At least, with Suzume being sixteen, it probably isn't spectacularly gory... But it probably hits different after this exploration into the unknown.)
When Minato says 'bouncing is critical to the process', Suzume muffles a sound that might be a snicker in favour of focusing on actually shooting when it's her turn with the functional gun. "Yeah," she says, "Hitomi's pretty good at keeping that under control." ... "The ricochets," she says, innocently. "And don't try to tell me you don't eat meat, I've SEEN you. We got the burgers at Wilduck."
She isn't going to comment on the whole 'lesson on oblivion' thing. That's philosophy, and it's weird, and surely Minato's only saying it to get past the Humours. Right? ...right?
But, there's the DEATH-DEFYING DROP RIDE.
Suzume actually straps herself in with surprising attention given her frequently fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants attitude. Because... she does not actually like drop rides but is gritting her teeth to avoid putting on an expression that might give away she's scared, which only gives it away in a different way.
She actually lets out a yell despite herself as they drop - and then stop, leaving her yelling into silence instead of the clatter and creak. Suzume cuts herself off out of sheer embarrassment, feeling her cheeks redden.
Flustered afterwards, Suzume averts her gaze for a few moments to collect herself. "Are we stuck up here?" she asks a moment later as she stops squeezing her eyes shut and looks around again. "Are - crap, are they coming up afterwards?"
Suzume's fear of heights - well, her fear of falling uncontrolled; actual 'up' and just being high doesn't bother her as much - wars with her desire to get out of here as soon as possible. She forces herself, a moment later, to unbuckle one of the straps so she can lift herself higher, still half-connected so she won't (can't) fall (she hopes).
But if Minato's doing it, she can't not... she feels clammy as sweat beads on her brow. "I'll give you a hand," she says, unbuckling another strap to get a little higher, so she can support Minato on his way up. Minato may not challenge her, but seeing him doing makes her challenge herself.
+act Dare
MONAD: Suzume Fukura has acted with Dare toward Tower of Terror! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"Yeah, actually," Hitomi says to Suzume. "Is it American? Sometimes those just land weird, you know? I guess clowns are kind of creepy but there must be clowns all over the place there. Carnivals like this are sorta like festivals, right?" (Suzume has discovered a secret about Hitomi, though not really a big one.)
Were they quasi-vegetarians? "Some of it was also that we were kind of broke a lot of the time," Hitomi admits, before there's another question--
"I don't know," Hitomi answers Minato, blinking several times. The idea seems to surprise her. She reflects on it throughout what's left of their time with the guns.
Roger speaks to them at some length. Hitomi scratches her cheek idly. "It sounds like it was something like heaven, to you," she tells Roger. "Was it just the other, uh, humors and you? And, yeah, I hope so too."
And soon they are confronted with the DEATH DEFYING DROP RIDE, and behind them, a gathering crowd of approaching Colerics. Spring-clowns. SniCupids. Some kind of double clown organism Hitomi doesn't want to look at that much.
Time to get on.
And then -- They don't get the whole way through.
Hitomi HAS to look at the double clown organism again, to her great displeasure.
Then --
"What? Wait! Arisato, you're -- Are you sure you can get it?!" Hitomi, still safely snug in her seat, cries out, looking upwards. "If you trip...!!!" Just how high up are they? Hitomi glances over, and not only does she see the double clown organism again, she also sees just how high up they are. The good news, she supposes, would be that you wouldn't have long to think about what you're going to do in the next life.
"Fukura oh my god," Hitomi continues when Suzume starts to get out of her seat, too!! She looks momentarily flabbergasted, mouth opening and closing like a landed fish, before her jaw tenses again. "... LOOK," she shouts out, "just be careful, and..."
"... Ririka," Hitomi says without looking. She brings up one hand... and her fingers uncurl partway; *she's still holding onto the dice*. "You're going to do better at this than me... can you see a place I could bounce the dice off of?" Her head turns to look, partway-upside down, at Ririka, smiling in that watery way as she does.
"I'd rather lose these than either of them, you know? But... we don't have a lot of time."
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with Raise -- All In toward Tower of Terror! Bravery and Focus!
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka looks to Suzume and lowers her voice. "I won't let him get away with it," she reasures her fellow SEES member quietly. "Amphion's out and if he tries to run I'll just track him. I think I'm getting a better feel for the palce."
Do Adults get to play? "Well... my parents go on date nights sometimes. I think that's probably the adult version of playing..." She looks to Minato with interest, though. "So adults play MMOs too, huh...?" She'd never considered that before.
Ririka was always going to take her Evoker back. "Yeah, it's a little touchy, but that's why I only promised you could hold it." But she smiles, once the game is done. "Thank you very much for the game!" Evoker goes back in her holster. "See, Fukura-san? Safe and sound."
"It's... safe enough, Ririka assures Roger." It's not, but there's too much about how it works she simply doesn't know, and she won't get into how it summons a Persona (even though hers is, of course, summoned.)
She considers Suzume's movie offer. "Well, maybe. What's the plot about?"
Roger is hoping for things to go back, and to be listened to. "I hope they start listening to you, too," she says, encouragingly. "I'm glad we had you here to help show us around."
But there' Homunculus involvement in the ride. And Minato, naturally, is going to escort her up. Wait what? "Uh... hai, Arisato-san. I'll try to analyze what's going on to see if we can get a better idea of the threat."
"Arisato-san! Please be careful!" She is alarmed, both at the situation and Minako' solution to the problem. "Fukura-san, you, too!" Can she heal them with Amphion from... way down there, while she's up here? She really doesn't want to test it.
But then the ride grinds to a halt. That's... distressing. "Um..." Ririka makes the mistake of looking down and immediately yanks herself back. "Okay, okay. Um..." She closes her eyes for a moment. "We're really high up, and... mountains! Mountains can be pilgrimmage sites, lots of mountain-dwelling communities make flute instrumnets to repicate the sound of the wind, there are lots of natural acoustics and reverberation..."
She snaps her fingers. "Frequencies! Right!" She looks to Hitomi, who makes a request of her. "Uh, I can try... Let's see if this works." Deep breath. "Amphion! Analysis!" From way down there Amphion strums his lyre, bouncing sound waves off of the ride and towards Ririka, who quickly pulls her headset on to listen... and then she points out a spot for Hitomi. "There!"
MONAD: Ririka Kawase has acted with Music Talk toward Tower of Terror! Focus and Patra! (|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|) -==== Tower of Terror - Round 4 ===============================================- Minato Arisato Guts Success Determined Destiny Specialty Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hitomi Mandai Guts Success Raise -- All In Bravery and Focus Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suzume Fukura Guts Success Dare Specialty Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ririka Kawase Academics Success Music Talk Focus and Patra Fatigue: 0 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Annoying-1, Checkpoint-0, Curse-0, and Terrifying-2 Final Conditions: -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 4/6 |==== | =====================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ============================================================- Items: 1, Money: 0, Gear: 1 (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Ririka Kawase has drawn a new Challenge!
(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 5: Big Top Showdown - Challenge Level 2 ===========================-
| Approach Options: Guts or Understanding |
| Conditions: Boss - Add 1 Fatigue on failure. and Shuffle - Draw 1 Minor |
| Arcana. |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
As you return to the big top with your tickets, you find a huge problem,
especially if you have Navigator senses and can detect it early. One of the
Melanc Humors in the form of a barker, corrupted guardians of the Nakata
Carnival, has taken position outside the tent, unwilling to let you through.
While he won't take your tickets, he will give you a thrashing with big claws!
You need to either brave his powerful blows and show fierce determination to
take him down, or show compassion in your defenses and battle, and allow him
mercy before freeing him from his misery.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
"Video game?" Roger asks, as he tilts his head. His ears perk. "That sounds really fun! ...Or did I already know they're really fun?"
It gets scary and desperate, a race against time as Minato goes to fix the problem, with Suzume following. Hitomi has a careful toss to make, and Ririka reasons out her plan through murmuring about musical theory as she calls upon her Persona to help navigate a spot to throw, and from there...
The ricochet hits, and there's an explosion as a Coleric Humor loses their grip and falls. Roger, however, is sitting tight where he is with only mild concern about where his teammates are going.
Up above, Minato and Suzume are met by... a blood-reddish hand! And another! A third, a fourth, a fifth gripping, as some eyes look up.
"Riding?" They ask. "Ride. Go ride." Yet another hand comes out to help with the spanner. This is another Sanguin Humor, and this one... wants to operate the ride, presumably correctly and safely. They are insistent if batted at but do not become aggressive, as they help Suzume and Minato fix the problem.
There is a descent later - but it's slow, steady, careful, as another Sanguin Humor below is making 'shoo' motions to the remaining Coleric Humors that are trying to crawl up to deal with intruders. Hitomi's awesome toss (with Ririka's guidance) indisputably stopped Minato and Suzume from having to fight them, and from there, they can safely descend.
With a caveat.
"Ride." That first Sanguin Humor says, trying to usher htem back in. (They have the tickets. but this ride, if taken, will operate correctly this time. It's thrilling! ...But definitely leaning towards the upper limit of 'safe.')
"I'm glad that turned out okay," Roger says, who was kind of stunned and catatonic through all of that. They all have tickets, and so... "We've got enough! Let's head back and--"
Ririka may detect this moments before Roger, but as a part of the Atelier ecosystem, Roger's no less aware in comparison. "It's a Melanc Humor ahead!! Watch out... they're the kind that puts us into balance!" The pig-like creature flails as they come across a particularly menacing carnival barker who is shouting all sorts of awful things about Taro Nakata.
"Melanc Humors carry the feelings and parts of who should be in charge of the Atelier! That's why the Homonculus turns them into their minions!" Roger snorts, looking like he's ready to try to ineffectually gore them. "...and I can't beat them!"
The barker doesn't take their tickets. Instead, he produces enormous claws and gets to slashin'.
"...Melanc Humors aren't bad to have," Roger says in a moment of calm and downcast navel-gazing, "but that's why I need your help. As long as the Homonculus has control of them, we can't beat them... but don't worry!"
Roger perks up. "I'll help call out the fight, and... once you can subdue them, the Flegmat Humors will take care of the rest!"
It's going to be a tough fight, as that barker continues shouting such self-loathing things like it exists to convince the real Taro Nakata to just give up and let themselves be overtaken by the Homonculus in full.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Alarm doesn't enter Minato's eyes until Suzume joins him, on the roof of the ride. "It's dangerous!" He insists, a touch sharply. "Just -- hold onto me." Which is one way to keep him steady. How is he so much more worried about her than himself, though?
Luckily, Hitomi's got some lucky dice, and Ririka divines what she can, and... the Humor helps fix everything.
And insists they ride again. "I'll pay our penance," Minato assures them. He might not be alone getting back in that ride, though --
-- which at least works properly, this time.
Minato, strangely, does not scream.
Ririka and Roger detect the Melanc Humor, though, once that's all settled. Those rumours of inferiority about Taro surely aren't good. And so --
"Subdue the Humors," Minato nods, sharply. "All right. We'll engage in combat."
He takes his Evoker, fires --
"Orpheus!"
-- and supports his team.
MONAD: Minato Arisato has acted with Determined Destiny toward Big Top Showdown! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Yeah, all sorts of people play MMOs, though if they're adults who are on a LOT they're possibly NEETs. Or college students," Suzume corrects herself.
Are college students 'adult'? They are when you're in your teens.
But why does Suzume know this kind of thing? Maybe don't ask what kind of game she occasionally plays, when she has the money for a subscription or decides to drop into a private (pirate) server. She reads English well enough to get into the American ones, too...
But that was then, and now Suzume is up.
"Yeah? It's dangerous for you too!" Suzume covers up her nervousness with bravado, though it shows more than she thinks it does. "So I'll just come along and make sure nothing happens - "
Suzume almost freaks out and attacks the hands straight away - letting out an undignified "GAH!" that is, in a vacuum, kind of funny; she gets squeaky when she gets surprised even though that's not her usual vocal tone at all. But up here it's a lot less funny (and, honestly, Suzume never thinks it's particularly funny).
Fortunately, the fact that she is steadying Minato means she can't actually get a good swing or punch and by the time she's able to if she wants to, she realizes it wants to help. She lets out a slightly unsteady breath, then: "Okay. Cool. Fine."
...
"Let's actually skip the movie tonight," Suzume decides, even though Ririka and Hitomi asked about it. "Ask me later."
On the ground, her bravado returns, as if she was embarrassed to act the way she had before. So she's sounding confident again when she speaks: "So Melanc beats Sanguin, and Sanguin beats Coleric..." Hopefully she got that right. It's not a chain, it's a *cycle*, which means... "Does the last one - " Has she heard the word Flegmat? " - beat Melanc...?"
Well, one might say they're about to find out, except there's not a lot of those around here, and there are four members of SEES. "I'm in front," she says, as not-Taro speaks about Taro -
Some of those hit home on her, too. Always being compared to her sister - but it doesn't make her likely to pull back. Instead, it makes her mad, and so... "ATALANTA!"
Minato might support his team. Suzume goes forward - first in, first targetted. But she's tough and fast (the cat-ear headband that she is glad nobody has commented on helps) and now she's pushing herself, blocking blows with her tonfa held up in a guard position and blitzing a strike or three (or a summon of Atalanta) when she can!
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"Haha," Hitomi answers Roger once they're on the 'ground' again. "Yeah." She takes a deep breath through her nose, exhales through her mouth, before their attention turns towards...
THE HUMORS
They've got them on both sides, don't they? The shivering horde and this new horrid revelation. Claws... but the less horrid part is the 'melanc humors' being brought up. It reminds her of melatonin, even as Roger makes his offer. "Hm," she says.
Looking up, she answers Suzume while... starting to tap her foot? Not very fast, but it's something like that. Nervous habit. "Yeah," she says. "Better to do that on an inside day, anyway." She turns her head to look forwards and after Suzume. Who is rushing in. Hitomi bobs her head back and forth for a moment, or two.
THEN: she throws one hand forwards theatrically. "Tyche!" she cries, and a greek-statue vision appears over her, leaning forwards, stone eyes plaintive. The statue seems to twinkle...
... because that's what it looks like when she does the explosion chain technique. "Haah!" she cries out, snapping that hand up in the air. (There is a momentary and subtle awkward pause when her eyes flick towards first Ririka, then, slightly longer, towards Minato, BUT THEN: BACK FORWARDS).
MONAD: Hitomi Mandai has acted with Raise -- All In toward Big Top Showdown! Bravery and Focus!
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka is beyond relieved that they got the ride working again. "That's one of the Sanguin, I think," she says of the multi-handed attendant trying to fix the ride alongside Minato and Suzume. "He should be safe."
"I'm glad it turned out okay, too," Ririka says to Roger. "I was kind of worried, there..." But she pauses, hand to her headphones as she listens. "There's something nasty up ahead--" Roger confirms it, and Ririka looks to the pig. "So that is a Melanc. Got it. It's right in front of the big tent, where we need to take the tickets."
Ririka nods to Suzume. "Yeah, we've probably had enough clowns for one night... but let's watch it later, for sure."
<<<
But soon enough, they're facing a Melanc, and Ririka draws her katana to hold it out in a defensive posture. She nods to Minato as the orders are issued. "Right, Arisato-san!" Roger offers to call the fight. "Roger-san, you know this Atelier really well, so I'll be relying on your help." She will still, of course, have Amphion do Analysis and Marakukaja for the group. But then...
She considers everything she's heard in the supernatural way inside this Atelier, but also how Roger seems to act, and what she heard the regular way from Hazuki. And she puts her katana away and flexes her fingers for a moment before she begins to play. "Nakata-san is really good at fighting games--I watched his match with Nakao-chan. And I also think... this carnival used to be a lot more fun."
What's she playing? Why, it's a slow, somber piano rendition of Kappa's stage theme, the fighter Taro used in the tournament. Ririka is hoping that it's both his best fighter and his favorite character. She's trying to put heart and emotion into it, her expression somber.
"... I don't know how much of Taro is reflected in you, but... maybe you need to remember how to have fun again." She kicks the music up into a proper tempo, turning the tune lively and bright.
Ririka only has a grin for Hitomi as she strikes her pose. as if to say 'hey, keep rocking it!'
MONAD: Ririka Kawase has acted with Understanding toward Big Top Showdown! Base!
(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Big Top Showdown - Round 5 ==============================================-
Minato Arisato Guts Success
Determined Destiny Specialty Fatigue: 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hitomi Mandai Guts Success
Raise -- All In Bravery and Focus Fatigue: 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suzume Fukura Guts Success
Guts Base Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ririka Kawase Understanding Success
Understanding Base Fatigue: 0
-============================= Party Conditions: ==============================-
Starting Conditions: Boss-0 and Shuffle: Sword-0
Final Conditions:
-======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====-
-==== Reach: 6/6 |=====| =====================================================-
-==== Loot So Far: ============================================================-
Items: 1, Money: 0, Gear: 1
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
(|====================== Monad - Taro Nakata's Atelier =======================|)
-==== Round 6: Treasure Trove - Challenge Level 1 =============================-
| Approach Options: None |
| Conditions: Revelation - The best result. |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
Once inside the big top waiting area after your success at the carnival,, a
Sanguin Humor employee shows up with a cache of treasures, having decided you're
a lucky winner. Containing supernatural pyrite, carnival glass, bismuth
crystals, and clownskin hides, you can likely make this into something very
special with the right craftsman... perhaps Peacock Silk can do something for
you?
Either way, you're ready to face the Homunculus... once the show starts. If it
hasn't, you might be able to save your tickets for later, though if you plan on
coming back for a full expedition, you'll need to replace them then.
Final Loot: 1 Item and 1 Pieces of Gear!
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
Suzume cogitates something of a rock-paper-scissors like understanding of things, and Roger nods vigorously to the extent his range of head movement allows. "Something like that...! You'll see!" He has full confidence they'll be able to beat this one!
(In the interest of time: yes, they do.)
The self-loathing about finding themselves so terrible, awful, and weak in the one thing they found joy and pride in is zeroed in upon as they're overpowered, sent sprawling, and becomes the latest conquest of a successful SEES operation.
...Only, for strange entities to surround them. Roger's not disturbed at all. They look like 'typical' canrivalgoers and workers, but they're doing some disturbing quiet murmurs as they start to surround the fallen Melanc Humor. Slowly, but surely, the more monstrous and exaggerated aspects of that Melanc Humor subside to something... more normal-ish. How can entities that seem so passive, heck, even weak, hold so much power over something that the video game world would refer to as a 'mid-boss'?
"It's okay! The Flegmat Humors are making sure the Homonculus doesn't take back control," Roger says as he looks to them. Prominently, he has a metal coin slot in his back - arcade game-like styling. This detail is completely absent from every other Humor seen, which... interesting?
"They're the reason a Homonculus usually doesn't happen," Roger says, "it's... when they do, um," he presses his fingers together, "it's a real mess... it's not fun!"
Still, another Sanguin Humor offers prizes. Most of the materials are lovely and could may be used in cognitive equipment of good make, though... that clownskin hide... let's just hide that under something else...
before someone makes a harness of it, eugh
"Thanks for coming out to play with me," Roger bows with happy tears streaming down his silly mascot pig self, "please come back soon! I don't know how much more time this Atelier has... but you bought some more time yet! Thank you so much...!"
...All that's left to do is to coordinate that final assault on the Homonculus, and save Taro Nakata from a grisly fate.