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You glance over at where you set your M2D down and turn t back on, going to the login screen of "The World" and looking over your friend's list.

ONLINE: Areta(Busy) Durandal, MANIA, Vividor

You feel a twinge of pain in your chest when you see the second name and frown deeply before shaking your head, your composure becoming more and more difficult to maintain. Durga, Haruko, is currently out taking care of the real world aspects f your jobs, or at least the cover for your time off. As you sit there in your dark apartment you realize you have no idea what to do, you do not even know where to begin and that terrifies you.

Wat say wat do?
[]Send a message to Durandal, maybe he is still in 'The World' Somewhere
[]Call up MANIA, her perspective is always welcome
[]Call up Vividor, you just want to have fun again and put this all behind you
[]Send a message to Areta, she seems to have a good head on her shoulders
[]Phone Haruko, she is probably the only person you trust to work through this with
[]Phone Yonchoobin, he might be busy but you can leave a message
[]Phone Ryoko, she might want to know about Hamelin losing his mind
[]Phone sister, she might know what to do
[]Summon Snark, ask if he has a plan to take care of Hamelin
[]You don't need anyone's help or advice, you got this.
[]Questan
[]Exploran
[]Dungeon
[]Other, please specify

To: Lotus
Subject: Re:Favorite food
>Coffee or tea?

Tea. White preferably.

To: Durga
Subject: Re: Dreams?
>What is with your family and baseball?

What? Are you really Japanese? How could you ask that?! The cheering of fans! The smell of cheap beer and sweat! Thousands upon thousands of fans cheering for every play! Ever since I was little my gramps would have the family over to watch the games, cheering and hollering. Fantastic! Though, admittedly, my family prefers highschool baseball. Pro Japanese baseball gets pretty dull when you get teams that just safety bunt.

-EMAIL CHAIN END-
(2/3)

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To: Durandal
Subject: I'm Sorry

I don't know when you will get this Durandal, but I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I will save you, count on it.
-Chen-

To Shimabuku:
Subject: Re:Favorite saying
>Words that mean something to you

Words that mean something to me, huh? Hm... Maybe 뜻이 있는 곳에 길이 있다 "In a place where there is will, there is a road."

[]What does it mean?
[]Who said it?
[]Other, please specify

To: Vividor
Subject: Re:Fight me
>It is on like Donkey Kong.

Vary well, may god be forgiving us for ze thing we be doing.
-CHAIN END-

You can write 4 new cards

Card to send
[]Favorite food?
[]What's your type?
[]How are you?
[]Fight me!
[]What are your dreams?
[]What is your favorite saying?
[]Nice to meet you!
[]*Rare* Flowers(1) (Only one available)
[]*Rare* Poetry Gift(1)

Can send to:
People:
Shimabuku
Luna Blackthorne
Vividor
MANIA
Durandal
Durga
Lotus
Areta

Again, you can post an idea for cards to send at ANY POINT during the thread. This way even people who do not stick around till the end have a chance. Just link your reply to this post so I can collect them easier please.
(3/3)

>>25000513
>[x]Phone Haruko, she is probably the only person you trust to work through this with

She needs to know, she's our partner, after all.

>[x]Phone Ryoko, she might want to know about Hamelin losing his mind

Epitaph user. Also may be free.

>[x]Summon Snark, ask if he has a plan to take care of Hamelin

Other than eat all epitaphs.

>>25000513
Talk to Snark.
Ask him what would happen if someone logged in as Durandal, and placed the M2D glasses on his his head.

If nothing, why?

We've just been accepting that the people AIDA kill fall into comas, but I have no idea why that happens.

>>25000513
>Phone Haruko
Let her know we could really use her help, also that Hamelin has literally become a supervillain, and we still have no idea how to kill him.

>>25000611
>his his
Not sure how that happened, meant "Nobuhiko's" but got distracted.

Alright, then.

Let's begin planning.

Who's in the most danger at this point? Luna and Vividor? May want to send warnings to them.

No, we are not assaulting a guild of gamemasters to destroy Hamelin, when we are level 50 out of 150, thank you very much.

Do we want to call a guild meting, so everyone gets up to date?

What should we do with Durandal's friend?

Hamelin definitely shows up investigating at unusual AIDA incidents or just before we find an epitaph, if he isn't looking to kill us.

>>25000670

Yeah... we will probably be wanting to message Luna about wanting to talk about this. She needs to be prepared, at the very least. We may have to infect her to give her some semblence of protection from Hammy online.

Reminder that Durandal falling into a coma is everyone's fault. You could of saved him. You could of infected him and told him about all the things going on. You could of talked to Hamelin when he wanted instead of being an ass. You could of prevented the world from losing a hero.

>>25000670
Regarding Luna and Vividor, I think we might have to bring them both in the fold.

Or advise them to take a break from the World, and flee.

It's too late to cut off all ties with them, because Hamelin already knows we're friendly with them, and I doubt he's stupid enough to fall for so basic a ploy.

>>25000710
Stuff it, Paul.

>>25000710
Man, infecting him wouldn't save him. The fact that they have AIDA isn't what's protecting Shimabuku and MANIA.

And we have asked Hamelin what he wants multiple times. But for a psychopath he knows how to keep his mouth shut. Throwing him off balance with childish taunts has been our best way of getting information from him.

Though admittedly we could have saved Durandal if we immediately ordered Natsu and him to log off the second we saw Hamelin.

I was kind of hoping that when Hamelin crossed the line into crazytown, CC Corp would terminate him for no longer furthering their plans, and being a loose cannon.

...Guess I gave them too much credit?

>>25000750
We tried, actually. They didn't listen.

>>25000750
Eeeh... if they survived the level 50 quest, they might have had enough power to hold off the dogs while we engaged Hamelin in an avatar battle...

We have three friends that are possible targets for Hamelin: Luna, Vividor, and the guy who gave us information on Areta. It would be wise to hold a emergency guild meeting and have everyone come to explain the situation. Vividor and the informant would be invited to our guild and infected. Durga, although not a target for Hamelin currently, is likely to become a target. Striking up the conversation to infect her again would be in our best interest for the future and prevent her character data from potentially revealing where we live.

>>25000670
Even though I doubt that we can kill Hamelin, even with the whole guild behind us (The dude has, or IS a powerful AIDA, and more importantly he works for the people who fucking own the game's code. Why wouldn't he be able to make himself invincible?), he's too fucking crazy to leave alive.

Like what happens when he figures out that we really wouldn't like it if he just started killing people at random until we surrender or whatever.

>>25000778

They had no idea that they would actually be in real danger at the time.

>>25000788
Eh, I still think we should have at least one ally who's AIDA free.

Archon being able to hack Snark worries me deeply, plus it'd be nice to have someone who can operate without triggering the endless wrath of Azure Kite.

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You decide the most important person to call right now is your partner. You unlock your smartphone and dial her number from memory before placing it against your ear and listening. After three rings she picks up. "Hey Anon, what's up? Want me to pick something up on my way back?" She asks before you clear your throat.

"Hamelin has decided to step up his game. I could really use your assistance." You state calmly, still slightly numb.

"You sound weird, what happened?" She asks.

"Hamelin data drained, that is to say, he sent the player behind Durandal into a coma and destroyed, or scattered perhaps, his character data. He followed me to a field and locked it down before taking out Durandal. He did not know that he was in real danger at the time." You explain.

The phone is dead silent for a few seconds before she responds. "I'll be there in half an hour tops." She tells you simply before hanging up.

You then think it is a good idea to ask your resident expert on AIDA a few questions, so you put on your headset and summon Snark. He manifests after a few moments. "I require information." You tell him making him nod.

"What do you want to know?" He replies, his tone as cold as yours.

"What would happen if someone logged in as Durandal, and placed the M2D glasses on Nobuhiko's head?" You ask making him shake his head.

"His data is lost, devoured. His mind with it." He replies.

"Do you have any plans on taking out Hamelin besides just eat?" You ask making him nod again.

"Yes." Is all he offers.

"Tell me." You command making him shrug.

"More a general idea really. Using the epitaph cores I punch through the sign in the big ass wall. We lure Hamelin in there and go in after him. Then I lock the door behind us. Best case scenario we beat him, eat him, and run. Worst case he kills us, but since the door is locked Kite will show up to finish the job." he explains making you blink.

There's an idea.

You still have a bit of time before Haruko arrives.
(1/2)

>>25000788
Both her and our accounts have been traceless since we started, thanks to it being deemed police work.

>>25000799

Maybe we should try and lure him out before he gets too full of himself? At least try and contain the damage.

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Wat say wat do?
[]Talk to Snark(Wut?)
[]Call up a friend to talk to(Who?)
[]Log off. Nothing more will be gained here for now.
[]Other, please specify
(2/2)

>>25000814
Plus I think we only said it after the battle started.

If, immediately after we realized that Hamelin blocked the exits, we ordered them to log off in a cold and firm voice, they probably would have listened regardless.

I mean they're children, and we evidently can be pretty intimidating.

>>25000845
Ask Snark if he can tell how much of Hamelin, the original one, is left inside.

>>25000845
[X] Snark: How shall we lure him in? Run in and announce that we have are going to give him my body?

>>25000845
Log off for now.

What I'd like to say to him I'd prefer to say to Haruko as well, to avoid redundancy.

>>25000788
Same guy here. Along with this I think we should shift into getting a better position over Hamelin. We should contact the Moon Tree member we couldn't infect and explain the situation while learning about the ninja who wanted to infect everyone. Since he is a part of Moon Tree he would be against making players falling into comas. Sneaking into Hamelin's guild and getting information such as areas of interest to them then having Snark modify those areas to alarm us when one of their members or Hamelins goes into would allow us to pick off their goons.

>>25000845
"By we, do you just mean you and I? Because I would rather not do the thing that is exactly what Hamelin wants us to do."

>>25000882

Perhaps ask him also if Hamelin is an actual person. Like is there anything existing outside of the game, or has is he just an AIDA hive?

>>25000845
>Snark
"Based on what you've seen of Hamelin's personality, how long before he starts murdering players at random just because he knows it would hurt us?"

>>25000845
>[x]Talk to Snark(Wut?)

"Is it possible for Durandal's data to be fully deleted by Hamelin?"

If we were to defeat Hamelin and gain Durandal's data back we might be able to infect him with it so he comes out of the coma. If Hamelin fully deleted it though we'd have to find a different option

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"How much of Hamelin is left inside? Is he fully AIDA? Is he still alive inside?" You ask making him shrug.

"Jelly donuts." He replies.

"What?" You ask, the AI's behavior odd.

"You don't know how much is jelly or how much is donut before you dig in." He answers.

"Can you tell if he is even an actual person?" You ask making him shrug.

"Jelly donuts" He offers again as a reply

You make note of that and file it away for later. "This plan you mentioned, how would we lure him in?" You ask making him shrug.

"As I said, just a general idea. I have people to think up the specifics. Actually I don't have people, but I would like to have people. Specific people." He explains.

"When you said we, do you mean just you and I? Because that-" You start but he shakes his head.

"I could probably drag two more people with us, for a total of three not including the piper who should get there on his own means, and still be juiced up enough to manage the door." He answers, his voice getting some of it's personality back.

"One more thing, based on what you've seen of Hamelin's personality how long before he starts murdering players at random just because he knows it would hurt us?" You ask making him give you a strange look.

"How the hell should I know? I am barely comfortable with how you don't think via hive." He answers.

Wat now?
[]Log off, Haruko could be here soon.
[]Call up a friend (Who?)
[]Ask Snark something else
[]Other, please specify

>>25000947
Eh, we've already tried having the metaphysical discussion with Snark, there's no difference to him.

>>25001060
[X] Call up Vividor. We still need to warn him.

>>25001060
>[x]Ask Snark something else
>>25000995

That emergency guild meeting and calling up Vividor would be a good idea as well

I think we should log off and get Haruko's take on the situation. We're awful at plans and QM likes giving us bad options.

>>25001121

Seconding. Vividor must at least have a warning. Hacker or no, Hamelin isn't a good person to take on unprepared.

>>25001060
>Log off and wait for Haruko to get in and probably punch us in the face. Let her get in one or two hits and then block.

You decide to call up Vividor, you send him a party invite and tell him where you are while you ask Snark something else. "Is it possible for Durandal's data to be fully deleted by Hamelin?"

"He is eaten, not deleted. Likely part of the main AIDA hive now, where ever the hell that is." he tells you as a perfect vision of raw human sexuality gates in front of you.

"Hallo Chen. We be thrusting together now, yes?" He asks as soft chanting can be heard from the heavens.

"I get it, you are a bastion of male sexuality, or what ever. Look, there is this guy, Hamelin. He is dangerous, seriously dangerous and possibly insane. You know those rumors about black dots which can send you into a coma? Well, he can sort of... use them somehow and they are very very real. You might want to consider taking a break from the game." You tell him making him seem contemplative.

"But ze chen, zis man, 'ow goo' looking is he?" He asks making you frown.

"This is not a joke Vividor. He could easily hunt you down just to get to me. You have to at least be warned, please." You tell him making him nod.

"Zis vivdor, I have, how you say, seen what you mean? I shall wear less clothing than before, yes? Make me extra sneaky." He nods as he kneels down and pets a miniature pony.

"That-" You start but stop when you hear your door unlock and someone step in. "Hold on a moment." You tell him to which he nods as his shirt gets ripped off by said pony.

You take off your M2D and see Haruko standing in your doorway in the dim light. She stares at you for a few moments before walking over to your sofa and sitting down. She seems to think for a moment before asking. "So what happened?"

How explain?
[]It's all my fault
[]It's all Hamelin's fault
[]Simple statement of facts
[]Apologize(Wut for?)
[]Other, please specify

>>25001302
[x] Simple statement of facts

Also, apologize for not taking more of her advice sooner. Even a bit more caution could have, if not prevented that situation, perhaps led to a less distressful resolution.

And, if she hasn't punched us by then, explain Snark's idea to her.

>>25001302
[x]Simple statement of facts
Maybe say that we are to blame for some of it with it.

Vividor is obviously not listening. Have him come to the guild to be more private then have Snark appear before him with black dots going around. We could also talk about his little 'changes' since that gains his interest or tell him this is more important than his raw male sexuality

>>25001379
In favor of saying this

>>25001378
I am still betting on hacker who hides genius with sexuality when-

My god, he's Helba!

>>25001302
"I assumed that CC Corp, seeking to evade any further lawsuits, investigations, or bad publicity, would wish to avoid causing any further comas. However, if they discovered a potential leak to their plans, they would stomp it out with ruthless efficiency.

I was incorrect.

There is more, but I would prefer to say it to Snark as well to save time. Seeing as he insists on living in my head, and all."

>>25001404
Sorry, reconsidered some of my word choices so I reposted it with >>25001419

>>25001302
>[x]It's all my fault

Hamelin confronted me and Durandal and Durandal's friend when we were out adventuring. He said that since he couldn't really touch me, you, Shimabuku, any of the Epitaphs, or MANIA, that he'd start picking off other people in the game on by one until everything was gone. Then he attacked. I tried to save them, but Durandal was the one who ended up distracting Hamelin from his buddy... and got data-drained for his troubles. Durandal's player is now amongst the Lost Ones.

I should've dealt with Hamelin when I had the chance earlier back at the Demon Palace... or paid more heed to your warning to not let civilians get involved with this. Or even associated with people who had some protection, or who weren't infected with AIDA or Epitaphs. I didn't... and this is what happened.

>>25001457
None of this.

>Dealt with Hamelin when I had the chance
Yeah, if we wanted to die immediately.

>Warning not to let civilians get involved
By the time she told us, it was far too late. Hamelin already knew who our friends were.

>>25001489
I agree, I think the plan of trying to socially kite Hamelin was our safest option at the time... but we probably could have limited our interactions with non-involved parties quite a while ago.

"I assumed that CC Corp, seeking to evade any further lawsuits, investigations, or bad publicity, would wish to avoid causing any further comas. However, if they discovered a potential leak to their plans, they would stomp it out with ruthless efficiency. I was incorrect. There is more, but I would prefer to say it to Snark as well to save time. Seeing as he insists on living in my head, and all." You tell her as she flips on a light.

She lets that information sink in for a while before just looking at you with eyes filled not with anger, or sadness, or anything like that; just disappointment. "I see." She finally replies.

"You... see?" You ask making her nod.

"Yeah. I see." She tells you before unpacking her things and taking off her wet jacket.

Wat do now?
[]She understands so tell her to sign onto the game, you have a guild meeting to set up.
[]No way, press her. Something seems wrong with this picture.
[]Contact someone else.
[]Other, please specify

>>25001522
Probably true.

I was kind of hesitant to do so because I figured the more people we were friendly with, the more potential sources of information.

I mean if we didn't decide to hang out with Lotus for literally no reason, we wouldn't have found out about the Epitaphs.

>>25001554
Tell her to sign in to the game and go to the guild hall. Don't call a meeting yet, but summon Snark.

They both appear to be underestimating how much thought we put into things with Hamelin.

>>25001554
>[x]No way, press her. Something seems wrong with this picture.

I dunno what's wrong here, but there's definitely something off.

>>25001598
Hell, if Haruko hadn't immediately shut us down at the party when we suggested Kite, but instead tried to work it out with us, like telling Hamelin to wait until everyone left, and then lock the doors and summon Kite, maybe this could have been avoided.

>>25001554
"Penny for your thoughts?"

>>25001560
Yeah... we gotta find a balance between complete paranoia and a video game vacation.

>>25001554
[X] No way, press her. Something seems wrong with this picture.

"That's it, just you see?" You ask something feeling off. "No hitting, yelling, trying to point out how bad I am at plans?" You ask making her shake her head.

"What would be the point? You clearly don't listen. If I thought hitting and yelling at you would make you listen to my advise I would do it but it's just..." She sighs while tracing a finger down her wet jacket.

"How many times did I offer my advise that civilians should not be involved with this? This kid gets caught up in our insanity because... it doesn't matter. Because of us we have another casualty. I didn't sign on to this job to use kids as our stepping stones for our mission. I thought maybe you would start listening to me, maybe try to distance yourself from the other players when the heat is on, but instead you just do what you want, damn everyone else. That's fine Anon, I see I was the only one who thought this was a partnership." She tells you calmly.

"I don't-" You start but she just shakes her head.

"When this is done I am requesting a new partner." She tells you calmly while looking at your curtains. "I need some one who actually gives a damn about civilians, not someone who gets them caught up in their job. I need someone who trusts me and tries to work with me, not just drives the car where they like and expects everyone else to follow them." She gives a sad smile before finishing. "I think I liked you better when you were broken."

Well shit, wat say wat do?
[]She made her choice, you have vidya games to play
[]You are just upset
[]Say something(Wut?)
[]SNARK!
[]Other, please specify

>>25001853
...Alright, fuck Snark. We don't need to justify ourselves to him, but I can't tolerate this any longer.

"I get the impression that the you think that I behaved the way I did towards Hamelin was simply because I thought it was funny, or that I was not thinking at all. While understandable, it is also incorrect. I determined early on that Hamelin is not foolish enough to casually talk about the plans of his masters, however he does have a temper. Through taunting him and generally acting dismissive, I have been able to get useful information from his threats. For example, it was through upsetting him that I was able to learn that he is under orders not to target me directly, that his guild is not something he joined as a hobby, but appears instead to be an important think tank for CC Corp, and that the reason CC Corp seeks the Epitaph Users is for something called the Morganna Factor.
I had thought that my reasons for seeking to avoid confronting him were self-evident, but if they were not, then allow me to clarify. Hamelin is either a mid to high ranking employee of CC Corp, or an AIDA/other form of artificial intelligence that they either reprogrammed or created. CC Corp is the company that created the World, and has already given Hamelin certain perks, like being able to view the backgrounds of what appears to be any user he pleases.
With that in mind, the idea that Hamelin has not given himself the same privileges as an administrator or moderator, namely maxed stats or the ability to access a sort of "god mode" seemed absurd. And while ordinarily I could count on the AIDA powers to bypass such a thing, Hamelin appears to either have a very powerful AIDA of his own, or is himself an AIDA, thus having the potential to cancel Snark out."

>>25001893
"With that in mind, the idea that Hamelin has not given himself the same privileges as an administrator or moderator, namely maxed stats or the ability to access a sort of "god mode" seemed absurd. And while ordinarily I could count on the AIDA powers to bypass such a thing, Hamelin appears to either have a very powerful AIDA of his own, or is himself an AIDA, thus having the potential to cancel Snark out.
Thus, it was my assumption that Hamelin was and is more than strong enough to kill us, and the only reason he has not done so is because his masters at CC Corp forbade it. However, his antagonistic behavior indicated that there were ways for that ban to be lifted, namely, for the reason of "self-defense." The only motive I can discern to his attack on Durandal, beyond Hamelin being a psychopath, is that he hoped to provoke me into attempting revenge in such a way that would provide justification for Hamelin to kill and then study me.
Finally, if by some miracle I can defeat Hamelin, I cannot see any outcome that would not ultimately worsen our position. While Hamelin appears to play a fairly important role in whatever plans CC Corp has, there are definitely people who outrank him, as well as people under him who could serve as replacements. So killing him would not exactly make it so CC Corp will never harass us again. In fact, it could make them act as our enemy."

>>25001893
>>25001913

What is this? Seriously, what the fuck is this? What are you arguning with her about? Have you finally jumped tracks.

This is not about Hamelin.

You've clearly failed in addressing her main point, which is dragging in civilians to become fucking casualties.

Yeah, seriously, it doesn't matter what kind of reasoning or motivations we had for anything we did. A civilian got caught in the crossfire of our investigation, and we really don't have anyone to blame but ourselves.

>>25001913
"Hamelin's core philosophy is that Snark and I are too dangerous to study, and should be destroyed before we can ruin the plans of CC Corp. This view is entirely correct, and our lives quite possibly depend on CC Corp being unable to put that together. Thus, it is difficult to assume that our being able to kill Hamelin would not posthumously vindicate his point of us being too dangerous to live. Considering that our only endgame plan is for Snark to gain the abilities of all eight epitaphs, and we have not even the slightest clue where five of them are, I thought it arrogance to think that we could survive CC Corp viewing us as an obstacle that needs removing.

Which is why I came up with the Kite solution yesterday. It was a way to remove Hamelin without risking direct combat, and in a way that could avoid marking us as a threat to CC Corp.

But then you said it was a terrible idea, and so I dropped the matter. While it definitely was pretty shitty in its original form, it occurred to me just now that I could have simply made Hamelin wait around until everyone was gone, and then executed the plan once there were no bystanders.

It is my fault that I did not think of that sooner, and mine alone. But what if I had someone who could actually talk through a plan, instead of just dismissing it and going back to... lounging.

I am trying my best to include you, but most of the time you seem to be phoning it in.

Why is it that I am the one who appears to be calling the shots, despite demonstrating numerous times that I am very very bad at plans."

H-How do we fix this anon?

I think we should at least apologize. Something along. "You were right about the civilians. I was stupid for not making civilians our first priority. Durandal's coma is not our fault, it is mine because I was too something something please don't leave?"

>>25001997
Fuck, not only that, but we let a kid who fell into a coma from the FIRST game, get hit again. Let's not kid ourselves here: we have to take responsibility for this.

>>25001853
"As for civilians. The core problem here is that we have absolutely no idea what we are doing. The chief gave us a vague objective and nothing even resembling a way towards carrying it out. Do I need to remind you that to the best of our knowledge, Lotus was a mere civilian?

What would have happened if we avoided any contact with her then?

How would we have learned of AIDA, or Epitaphs, or why CC Corp is doing what it is doing. Osmosis?

It is not like we are in a much better place now. The closest thing we have to a plan involves Snark gaining the powers of all eight Epitaphs, and we have absolutely no idea where to begin finding them."

>>25002025
Nah, if she wants nothing more to do with us when this is over, that's up to her, and she'd have every right to ask for reassignment. All we can do is try to ask her to at least not cut ties with us until we've set things right.

In fact, I nominate that to be the current response.

>>25002013
>>25001913
>>25001893
Let's get down the gist of this argument, shall we?

"Why are you so lazy as a partner to shoot down my shit and come up with something better?"

When in fact, we didn't even speak to Haruka about Kite, only MANIA.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ANON?

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Please reach a consensus. I shall wait.

>>25002068
"That is not to say that I did nothing wrong. I completely misunderstood the extent of Hamelin's madness, and I tried to juggle playing normal along with the mission.

But to say that I do not want your advice, and that I do not care about the safety of civilians.

If you misunderstand me so greatly, perhaps it would be best if we do dissolve this partnership."

Azure, please don't take this guy's writein as the group choice.

>>25002133
We did. We told Haruko about Kite at the party, and suggested using him against Hamelin.

And it's a valid objection.

She's saying that we are barreling ahead with no regard for others, when in reality it seems like everyone is just waiting to follow our lead.

Liked us when we were broken? Hell, we probably have a lot more casualities if we were so focused on the job as back then. So far all she has done is help us find Areta and we were on our way to finding her ourself. Although we haven't been the best at this we have done more than her I think

>>25002187
Point out where we said that in the archives, please.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/24769999/

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/24812466/

>>25002193
I think that "I liked you better when you were broken" was just her being upset because some kid got comafied.

>>25001853
"Liked me more when I was broken? I believe that there have been moments recently when I have reverted to my "broken" behavior, when under stress. I killed two people with my bare hands. I blew up the training facility with three people inside.

Is that honestly what you prefer?"

>>25002152
Sorry, can we have an hour or two to mull this over?

We seem to have the espirit de escalier and the foot in the mouth.

>>25002225
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/24943306/

Now we said "tell her everything" but instead we just gave some kind of vague nonsense speech.

>>25002253
Sure. I will catch up with colbert for a bit.

>>25002238
Yo, fall back guy. Why are people trying to antagonize her all of a sudden? WE were the ones who went balls-deep into this wacky fucking adventure, so WE were the ones who made all the decisions sure-- just because she deferred to us making the decisions, doesn't mean we made all the right ones.

>>25002238
Do we REALLY want to admit we think we blew up a building right now? Right when she has lost faith in us?

>>25002293
Because we're PARTNERS. She is not our subordinate.

And yet that's exactly how she acted, and now she's blaming us for just going on without her.

I'm saying we made lots of bad decisions, and we had to make them alone.

>>25002238
I like your idea mate. Mainly though because it is similar to mine so I shall vote for it. Its not decided that we blew up the building though so it'd be best to omit that part

>>25002294
Probably not, but this is just pretty upsetting. She only really told us about leaving civilians out of it yesterday, when it was already too late.

>>25002356
Didn't she mention how much she hated the idea of getting civilians involved way back when? Like Lotus way back when? And I think she did the same thing when we got Shimabuku all AIDAed up

>>25002356
Like it feels like we've been going out of our way to include her and get her opinion on things, probably a lot more back when we didn't have feelings, so this really feels like a knife in the back.

>>25002321
Bud, how exactly is she able to control who we talk to and how much we influence them?
>>25002356
Shimbuku, and Lotus

It might be better to continue this conversation with her at a later time. Every minute we wait is Hamelin getting closer to putting Luna, Vividor, and the other guy into a coma just like Durandal. It'd be best to call up a guild meeting with EVERYONE(Luna, Vividor, and the informant if he is online) and explain the situation.

>>25002321
That's a fair point, but what good does it do us now? Do you think trying to make her ALSO feel bad is somehow gonna get this shit solved all lickety split?

That's really what we have to be asking ourselves right now: what do we gain, REALLY, from pointing the finger at her and saying "YOU SHOULD HAVE HELPED MORE"? Yes, she should be more involved, but that doesn't excuse us from acting recklessly. We need to own up to this, and learn from our goddamn mistakes, so that we don't make them again. And Haruko needs to know that she can at least count on us not making more retarded choices on our own as long as she still has to work with us.

>>25002383
The problem is that that is not and never was an option.

If we were doing this alone, Raum would have two Epitaphs and we'd still be dungeon crawling.

>>25002133
>>25002275
Both of you guys are out of order. Sure, we talked to Durga about how to use Kite, but ultimately it was our choice to head off to Durandal rather than finish that line of thought.

You can't blame her for that.

>>25002421
I think Lotus was going to happen, no matter what. We could have smoothed that over. But we did sort of drag shimabuku into this and MANIA back into this too.

>>25002411
Even though we shouldn't attempt to deflect responsibility, nor can we take it and that's it.

She's saying that she's lost all confidence in our abilities. Hanging our head in shame isn't going to help, but maybe pointing it that in a partnership, it goes both ways.

>>25002452
Probably true, but there's no in-story justification of knowing that.

And with Shimabuku and MANIA, they were already involved from the moment they learned that there was more to the World.

It was either include them or kill them. Leaving them as loose ends would only bit us in the ass later.

>>25002468
Again, I can't help but agree with you, but at the very least... now is probably not the time to say that to her.

>>25002411
Mistakes? We haven't made any damn mistake beside being an ass to Hamelin and not getting the others involved more. We've been able to get this far with the help of the others and it will be only with the help of others that we take CC Corp down. People are going to get involved in all this AIDA/Epitaph/CC Corp nonsense and we are not going to be able to stop it whether are friends or just random people. Picking them up when they need it and bringing our friends closer will only benefit us

The problem is that I kind of feel like we're in a raft in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but the waves as sound.

Like remember when we fought Skeith, and apparently because we didn't specifically ask for help, MANIA, Shimabuku, and Lotus all assumed that I wanted an audience?

>>25002517
Except when they get knocked into comas because we dragged them into it.

I do not think Haruko is an "acceptable losses" Sort of personn.

>>25002517
>repeatedly taunting an admin with AIDA powers
>carelessly going adventuring with friends the next day

Yeah, no, I think that counts as a mistake.

>>25002536
The problem there was that we made the mistake of assuming that ignorance was a defense.

Not necessarily that we involved him at all.

>>25002536
Dragging them into this is the only way to prevent these comas from happening. We can't go all investigative and not treat this just as a game but we can't treat it just a like a game either. Hamelin has no repercussions just making random players fall into comas as seen in the arena so it will only help us to have more players involved and in the know

>>25002517
Exactly.

Like in our first fucking game we got an AIDA through the torso.

It wasn't because we were investigating the game, but instead that the World is fundamentally unsafe.

And since it would be very hard to convince a relative stranger to stop playing the World forever for reasons that sound insane, I felt like the best bet was to keep an eye on them and try to protect them.

It's not that we didn't care, it's that we cared too much.

>>25002548

Please see " beside being an ass to Hamelin and not getting the others involved more"

Forget Haruko's role/lack thereof for a minute.

>How many times did I offer my advise that civilians should not be involved with this?
> I didn't sign on to this job to use kids as our stepping stones for our mission.
> I thought maybe you would start listening to me, maybe try to distance yourself from the other players when the heat is on, but instead you just do what you want, damn everyone else.

There. There is the crux of her entire argument.

What do you guys want to do here? Agree? Tell her she's wrong and explain why?

Why, Azure.. You've created quite the impact with this quest. I commend you, kind sir. Look at how your questers are desperately scrambling for ideas...

Masterful.

Now, my 2 pence..

Anon fucked up. We can accept that. We NEED to accept that, for Haruko.. For every motherfucker that CC has dragged into a coma through their power-based abuse of their game.. We need to fix everything. We've long past the point of whiping our hands clean of the situation. We have innocent people's blood on Anon's hands..

This isn't just an investigation anymore, but that should ALWAYS come first..

Anon needs to look Haruko in the eyes. Be entirely truthful. Fuck, let her decide our next course of action... Unless we can get our shit together and ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING.

What do you say?...

>>25002548
Well what else were we supposed to do with Hamelin?

He only says important things when he's angry, and ignoring him also makes him angry.

>>25002609
That's a nice sentiment, but we can't fucking protect everyone everywhere all at once. The more people get involved in our mess, the thinner we have to spread ourselves to make sure nobody gets fucked with. Obviously we can't do all of this on our own, and yeah... we probably will end up looping a few other people in along the way (here's looking at you, Hatsu), but we can't continue to do it as we have been up until this point, or things will continue to go wrong.

I think there can be some middle ground. I really want to keep Haruko as a friend, I am willing to admit I was sort of hoping she would hook up with Anon. Tomboyish muscle girl? Hell yeah

>>25002660
Well it feels like she's wrong because
A: We wouldn't have gotten anywhere without civilian assistance from Lotus at minimum
B: Durandal had nothing to do with the mission, but was just trying to help a friend who seemed in perpetual danger of being PKed
C: She never really said much to listen to, and the heat only really came on yesterday when Hamelin threatened to kill our friends (and when we should have killed him back). And we are probably unhealthily concerned with everyone else, even though it's probably unprofessional.

>>25002688
I think a lot of us are on that boat dude, but we really need to think a bit deeper than waifu level right now.

>>25002667
Seconding this, because otherwise I'm just going to keep replying in circles to other people. Let's just man the fuck up, and make sure it doesn't happen again, no matter what that might mean.

>>25002688
Friendship can't grow without understanding.

Right now, it seems pretty clear that Haruko doesn't know a damn thing about us or how we see things.

Before anything else, that must be remedied.

>>25002677
That's why we protecting the damn players by having them protect themselves. Knowledge is power and a healthy dose of Snark doesn't hurt either

>>25002667
None of that.

We already know we fucked up.

Our fucking up is not a matter of debate.

What we need to do is work out how Haruko and us can avoid further fuck ups in the future.

And that means that she needs to stop being asleep at the switch.

>>25002660

No, she's entirely correct. We need to atone for how much Anon has fucked up..

And we need to start doing it right now.

Possible Dialogue..

"Haruko... There's not a damn thing I can say that can make up for what I've done. I betrayed the trust of everyone around me, putting them in danger because of my Actions..

I was told to go undercover, so I treated this assignment like it was a game. I'm a fucking dumbass for doing that.

I was sent into a coma on my first day here.. And I didn't think to REALLY worry about how that might happen with other people.

After this is over, if I don't die in the process, I'm turning in my resignation. I don't deserve to be a government agent, not for this..

With all these regrets I've accumulated.. The worse was losing my only friend."

>>25002766
I want to Snark everything and everyone. Unless, of course, snark is just playing us until he can become god. But what are the odds of that, right? ... Right?

>>25002766
You know, we still don't ACTUALLY know that throwing our lot in with Snark 100% is the smartest thing we've ever done. I always cringe when I see people constantly going "INFECT HIM/HER/THEM/EVERYTHING" whenever the option presents itself, because we are playing with some dangerous fucking toys right now.

>>25002730
>A: We wouldn't have gotten anywhere without civilian assistance from Lotus at minimum
Yes, and police investigations do that as well without getting casualties of civilians.

>B: Durandal had nothing to do with the mission, but was just trying to help a friend who seemed in perpetual danger of being PKed
Irrelevant. |We should not have playing with Durandal in the first place.|

>C: She never really said much to listen to,
Disproven by us not following up aand finishing frank conversations with her.
>and the heat only really came on yesterday when Hamelin threatened to kill our friends
The fire had started when Hamelin swore to destroy us at cathedral.
>And we are probably unhealthily concerned with everyone else, even though it's probably unprofessional.
>even though it's probably unprofessional.

We're done here.

>>25002790
Fuck off.

Waifuism is our lowest priority.

And everything you said is wrong.

We were and are really concerned about what happened to other people, and we treated this as a game because treating it as a game gets results.

Like we did a quest for AIDA grunty, that we thought had nothing to do with anything, but wound up with a portal to Project G.U. headquarters.

And that is entirely because we wanted to play around.

>>25002808
>>25002807

Snark has not been a faggot to us any time in this quest. So far it seems like Snark is just a lonely AI who wants to have a fun time by messing with people

>>25002790

If anyone wants to edit my dialogue a bit, go right ahead. Perhaps at the end I should add;

"Now.. Let's go take CC Corp down.. Together."

Or something along those lines.

>>25002660

>How many times did I offer my advise that civilians should not be involved with this?

At least three or four times (probably more). One for Shima, one for Lotus, one for Durandal, and probably one for MANIA.

BUT: Shimabuku already had contact with AIDA, he would not have taken this thing lying down. Lotus IS an Epitaph, and their very existence is tied into this crisis. MANIA was too exposed to AIDA to risk losing her to Hamelin; she was craving it after she lost. We're lucky we got to her first and convinced her that being a good guy is better than being a pied piper puppet.

Durandal... that was our fault, 100%. We kicked the bear, poked the beehive, mocked an amoral wizard dude with godlike powers and assumed that nothing would happen. Any punishment or retribution coming to Anon because of Durandal is fully deserved and then some.

> I didn't sign on to this job to use kids as our stepping stones for our mission.

Fuck you, Haruko. Fuck you and the horse that you rode in on. We never wanted Durandal to get coma-fied, nor were we using him as bait to see how far Hamelin would stoop to get to us. He was our friend. There's a lot of things wrong with Anon, no question. But being an amoral dude who climbs to greatness on the broken bodies of others? You can't lay that claim at his feet.

> I thought maybe you would start listening to me, maybe try to distance yourself from the other players when the heat is on, but instead you just do what you want, damn everyone else.

We fucked up with Durandal. Anything coming to us is 100% deserved. But Haruko has not done anything beyond mumbling “I have some vague feeling that this is maybe not going to turn out 100% OK in the end.” If she actually slapped Anon IRL and said "Anon, fuck you, you're doing this all wrong and everyone you know is going to get killed and here's why", then Anon would have listened. As it stands, she's didn't even want to do backseat driving.

>>25002834

In retrospect, going to Raven was a hugely bad idea. But there's no way that Anon could have known that Raven was just CC-corp's in-game front for Project G.U. To avoid that would've been meta-gaming.

Although, doing the whole circuit of guild-pranking was probably too much of an attention getter.

>>25002834

Woah, calm down.

That has absolutely nothing to do with Waifuism. In fact, Waifushit is completely out the window at this point.

It's an apology. That's all we can do with her right now.. Then get back to fucking work.

>>25002840
Were I trying to take over the world? That is how I would go about it

>>25002847
I have to agree with all of this.

Like remember when Haruko did solo leveling, and we had to practically drag her back into the fold?

If she told us that she was doing that because she felt like she was losing us, we would have done something sooner, and not just assumed that's how she wanted to play.

As it stands, it took seeing the dramatic decrease in our relationship meter to see that something had to change.

Because apparently she decided that our relationship was "Speak only when spoken too"

>>25002840
That's just it though: we don't know for sure. We can't, it's impossible. He seems relatively innocuous, but maybe you've missed all those parts where he has the mannerisms of a feral fucking animal when it comes to AIDA and adding to his own abilities? And personally I'm still convinced our "lapses of judgment" or whatever else we're calling those strange episodes, still has something to do with Snark.

>>25002870
I genuinely did not know that.

And I don't know, given that "Guild Warfare" was a thing, I didn't think it would do much more than make people think we were an asshole.

Plus I think in the long run, being able to go there wherever we want seems like it could be very useful.

>>25002827
Police investigations? Know what investigating gets us? Attention. Attention is not what we wanted or want now. Us playing with Durandal was us treating this like a game which happens to get us results. Although we could of conversed with Haruko more the times we did she hasn't really said anything beside basically say 'I don't think thats a good idea' when our ideas have been good enough up to this point and are still some what good

So let's sum up what most of us agree on: it's our fault Durandal ended up the way he did, but if Haruko is going to judge our methods then she needs to step the fuck up to the plate, and know that we would be grateful for more involvement from her end.

That said, let's call this fucking meeting already.

>>25002894
I am concerned slightly about how he calls himself a "Boojum" sometimes. Those are the ones who eat people, right?

>>25002891
I guess it kind of feels like she never wanted to put any effort into our partnership, and now is acting like she did.

Is it because she didn't know that becoming un-broken made us a lot more high-maintenance, and her lazy attitude was effective when we were dead inside?

>>25002891

Yeah. She didn't even want to step up to the plate and say "Anon, I want to do things my way for a moment. You're good with all of this AI stuff probably, but you gotta let me handle the stuff involving the public. Trust me, I wasn't a robot pretending to be human for 5+ years, I know what I'm doing." We even made it clear that we place an immense amount of trust in her and that she is a vital part of whatever we do. If she'd been more aggressive and outspoken, Anon surely would have listened, or at least debated with her.

But the thing that really stings, is that she said that she like Anon better when he was broken. That implies that she doesn't want a partner either; she wants a stone-cold investigating machine who will probably acquiesce if she makes enough strong points. She doesn't want a partner who is human with human failings; she wants an AI who won't make any mistakes so long as you give it a job that it's good at.

>>25002929
Yeah that seems to be pretty much what we're saying.

>>25002950
We... REALLY don't need to be picking Haruko's personality traits apart right now, do we?

>>25002894
Snark just wants to eat the AIDA/Epitaphs because it gives him more power to stay alive from the main AIDA hive. Our lapses of judgement are from Snark but how it relates to Snark we don't know. Our judgement wasn't good before we got Snark and so far its only gotten better since he filled our hole. Snark has given us emotions which we didn't exactly have before

>>25002950
Seriously.

The problem is that we need to find a way of saying that in a way that doesn't seem like we're deflecting the blame with Durandal.

There were a lot of low-effort ways of avoiding what happened, and that's not on her.

Her being a shitty partner is though.

>>25002950
Again, I think she was just very unhappy a kid was hurt or possibly killed because of us and lashed out by saying that. Though I would be down for us saying "That seriously fucking hurts" or something.

>>25002973
Why not?

As it stands, the misunderstanding between us is festering like an open wound.

The truth may hurt, but it still needs to be said.

>>25002929
This I can agree on. I do think that Durandal ending up the way he did, although our fault, is because of us not getting him involved earlier

>>25002987

Man, I think that Anon needs to lash out. He needs to clear the air here. He just needs to be human for once in his life.

Especially the part about using kids as stepping stones. If he DIDN'T explode after hearing that, he'd certainly be one cold motherfucker.

>>25002847
>But being an amoral dude who climbs to greatness on the broken bodies of others? You can't lay that claim at his feet.
Actually, you can. When Chen is on duty, he's a stone-cold bastard that walks up to a girl's parents, and tells them, "She was most likely raped and killed. We need genetic material." Word of GM.

Our default setting is "asshole" when on assignment, and yet we aren't treating this as an assignment while |Haruko thinks are|.
That's bad, by the way. We also need to mention this, unless we want to keep the impression that we are a manipulative asshole.

>>25002983
Then maybe we should stop saying "I got this. SNARK!!!!!!!!!11" all the time.

>>25002997
If you guys honestly think that now is the best time to hash out potential personality problems she may have with her to her face, then I think you're all fools, but it seems like I'm in the minority, so we may as well get it over with.

I am back with chips! So I hear some fusion of

>>25002950
>>25002946
>>25002929

Is desired? One final question How would you like to deliver this clearing of the air?

[]Emotional
[]Cold and exact
[]Other, please specify

>>25002929

I think we're shifting a lot of blame onto her by saying that.. Hell, we're the guu that the Chief, Gos rest his soul, PERSONALLY appointed for this mission. We requested-no, demanded (politely)-that Haruko will be joining us in the investigation.

Then we ignored her and pranced around in the game.

I'm not saying we haven't made some pretty damn good headway, and I agree that most of our decisions were for the best of intentions.

But her point still stands: Our actions led to the death of an innocent civilian. Can we truthfully say that we'll protect everyone else we've dragged into this? Fuck no. if we tried, we'd NEVER take CC Corp down.

Although yes, she was distant from us by her own choice, but there's no reason to make that an accusation of HER incompetence.

It's all on us, and we've failed so hard.

We need her now more then ever.

>>25003023
Listen, seriously, we have every right to be indignant at the picture she's painting us into, but that does not mean we should just throw a fucking temper tantrum. What could we POSSIBLY gain from this? Someone, tell me. What good does anyone actually think will come of it?

>>25003032
The whole reason we say we got this and have Snark help us is there is no better option available or if there is Haruko is not bothering to tell us

>>25003032
Now's the time to get angry. Even if we're being unfair to her. Especially if.

She needs to understand that we do have feelings, we're not the man we used to be. We're a lot less cold and confident and it really felt like she never cared about having our back.

or.. there can still be fighting. It's cool, I have a green onion cheese ball too.

>>25003047
The most emotion Agent Anon has displayed in years.

This is popping the cork.

>>25003069

Maybe not a temper tantrum, but we certainly need to let her know that Anon isn't an asshole robot who doesn't care who dies in his quest to kill off CC-corp.

>>25003079
And the time we choose to express this is after we let a kid get DOUBLE-FUCKING-COMA'D?

I'm sorry, it just seems like a bonehead move. I can't get past that. Now is the time we should be trying to collect ourselves, to get back into serious mode.

>>25003069
Let her know that we want this to work, that just as she's been nursing resentment for a long time about us not caring what anyone thinks, we have also been resenting that she barely seems to care about anything.

>>25003097
ALL the emotion

>>25003108

I dunno. I feel like Anon needs to react to this strongly; if he just goes about in robot mode, that would be proving Haruko right (in her mind). Haruko hasn't even seen Anon angry before, I wager; I doubt that she'd even know what to do if he did. We need to show her how Anon really feels about this. Righteous anger and indignation are perfectly reasonable responses, I think.

I want to repair our relationship. Showing that the dynamic between the two of us has changed a lot. If we are cold and exact she will just assume we are the same as ever and we should go solo. If we are emotional she has to accept we are acting totally different than before and our 5 some odd year relationship needs to shift in order to make it work

>>25003047
Emotional.

But fuck anger, it's not going to be anger.

Depression. Full on Komm, susser tod.

>>25003087

Just know this mate:
Our arguing means that we give so many fucks about this story right now. The Apathy level here is nil, and you deserve a medal for cultivating it.

Only took more than a dozen threads, but hey. It happens.

My vote? A goddamn apology, vaguely like >>25002790

My hat's off to you right now, Azure.

>>25003108
It is irrational.

But people are irrational when they get their feelings hurt.

And if you don't think Anon would be really wounded to hear the person he thought understood him most thinks that he treated, as a stepping stone, a kid he held dying in his arms, saying a meaningless quote to make the kid feel better before he went...

Anyone want to mention that we haven't traeted this as aa real assignment, like >>25003025?

>>25003137
Depression is too understated.

She needs to really understand that we aren't a robot.

>>25003139
>>25003152

How about we combine all the indignation and anger from:

>>25002847
>>25002950

With the stuff from

>>25002790

?

>>25003152
I just... don't see the point in taking it out on her. It's what any red-blooded man would do, but it's just such a futile fucking thing to do.

>>25003163
That is an important point.

It's also important to point out that not treating this as a real assignment has been going really well until now.

>>25003174
Most of the anger is still directed at ourselves, but we need to shout at her and she needs to hear the truth in our rage.

>>25003163

That's addressed in >>25002790

I dunno. This stuff that Haruko's pointing out... that's like a character from The Walking Dead game accusing Lee of not giving a single fuck about Clementine and saying that he just kept her around 'cuz he's a pedophile. Granted, he was careless at times (though it could be argued that he was grooming her to survive in an uncaring world full of zombies and worse), but holy shit, I would not want to be around the person who said that up to his face.

>>25003169
NO. Depression is perfect. We all hate angst? LET IT ALL OUT IN THIS FUCKING SESSION.

Robots can't cry. We shall do the manliest of tears.

>>25003172

I like it.

Fury. Righteous Fury. But not at Haruko, she hasn't done a damn thing wrong..

This fury is reserved for CC Corp and Anon's self, in equal parts.

>>25003206

Anger + depression + manly tears + why would you even say that?

>>25003206
I think Haruko would respect a show of anger more as opposed to a woe is me type thing

>>25003174
The point is her to step up to the plate and swing. She has hardly done anything beside complain about our ideas that have been working so far and only stopped working when we followed her advice of not getting people involved

>>25003211
>she hasn't done a damn thing wrong
Fuck the fuck off.

>>25003211

But she has. She's been passive, and now she's being real passive-aggressive when she hasn't shown any real right to be. The remark about liking Anon more as a broken person also hints at some deep-seated problems that are now just becoming apparent because Anon is no longer a robot.

>>25003225
>>25003218
Fine.

>>25003211
>she hasn't done a damn thing wrong
She sorta needs to use a hammer for our dense skull, rather than the scalpel. That's what she's doing wrong.

>>25003237
How about you calm your shit and just think about it for a second. SHE IS NOT TO BLAME FOR ALL THIS. Yes, she has not been 100% of the partner we needed her to be. That does not mean she was the straw that broke the camel's back.

>>25003270
She definitely is.

We held Nobuhiko in our arms and quoted Don Quixote as we saw him die.

That she could even THINK that we only saw him as a stepping stone... that breaks the dam.

Can we try to understand Haruko here? Not to make it seem like she is right and didn't make any mistakes(she did) but to wonder why Haruko prefers robot-Chen when he would of got more people into comas than emotion-Chen. She doesn't want civilians involved and being sent into comas but robot-Chen wouldn't care who he stepped on as long as he got the assignment done.

>>25003306
That is a very good question, but lets wait until we clear the air here first.

>>25003305
By which I mean she's the straw that broke the camel's back, regarding all the bottled up feelings.

Not that she's to blame for this.

>>25003305
What, you think that somehow makes it better? That we were there when Durandal got targeted? What happens when Hamelin starts going after people when we're nowhere near? Do we tell her that's her fault too?

>>25003373
See >>25003350

>>25003350
Oh. Feel free to just uh... ignore >>25003373

>>25003373
We tell her it's her fault when she won't let us get involved. Hamelin will go after anyone, random players as well, but we can prepare them to know what to do and possibly fight back if Snark infects them but we can only do that if we get them involved

The thing is that currently, while Agent Anon seems calm and collected, like he was when he was dead inside, in reality he's filled with anger and despair, and is bottling it up inside.

Haruko, evidently, is not aware of this, and said some very very hurtful things.

And thus: explosion.

Writing up post now. Trying to get good level of emotion in it.

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>>25003421

Haruko is expecting a robot response.

Pic related is the robot that Anon will turn into given what she said.

>>25003429
Here we go...

>>25003421
I don't entirely like it, but I guess that's the nature of collective storytelling.

At least it sounds like we're gonna go out with a bang. (I hope AE includes the part where we got Durandal DOUBLE-COMA'D, that feels like a strong line given the situation)

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>>25003429

>>25003429
Anticipation..

Apologetic rage.. Heh.

Man, I wonder how fucking unhinged we're gonna sound after this?

>>25003562
As opposed to how unhinged we usually are? If the paranoid anons are to be believed we already straight up killed 5 people because of a voice in our head.

>>25003648
Sure, but at least we weren't fucking telling people about it before, haha.

>>25003648
To be fair, two of those could safely be classified as self defense.

>>25003467

Or the stuff about how Nobuhiko liked his school ramen with leeks, and how he didn't like coffee, and idolized Roland the paladin, how he think the nurses are cute, and how one of his best friends' name is Hatsu who thought Chen was an online predator.

And how he sacrificed himself to protect Hatsu from Hamelin. If only we were faster.

You feel your cold facade slipping, the brittle mask of ice you put on to make Hatsu work with you falling off and finally just breaking. "I am sorry, what did you say?' You ask turning to look at her.

"Which part?" she asks glancing back at you.

"You are the only one who thought of this as a partnership?" You ask glaring at her. "Bullshit you have!" You shout making her jump back shocked.

"What?" She asks taken aback.

"How about you step up to the plate for once? The only thing, the only thing! You have done thus far is hook me up with a cyber prostitute and tell me some of my ideas were bad. I don't need a god damn sounding board! I need a partner!" You shout gesturing wildly as you talk.

"Oh, so it's my fault you decide to change personality types all of the sudden? It's my fault you dragged civilians into this after I told you time and again not to?!" She replies standing up and gesturing just as fervently.

"Durandal? No, that was my burden. I pissed Hamelin off, I dragged him into this without any sort of protection, without even telling him that his life was at risk. I held him in my arms, I begged Snark to do something, anything but he couldn't. I couldn't. I had to watch him break apart, had to watch him become one of the lost ones in my own god damn arms. You think I wanted to turn that kid into a stepping stone? That I would climb over as many bodies as I needed to in order to reach my goal? Of course I fucking cared! He was just some lonely kid who wanted to be a hero, that's it. He looked up to me and I..." You pause to swallow back some tears. "I let him down. I failed Nobuhiko, Durandal, and I am going to have to find some way to live with that." You tell her glaring at her making her frown.

"Dragging any civilians into an operation is-" She starts but stops when you kick your small table over.

(1/3)

"Then what the fuck was I supposed to do? Huh?! Tell me! We wouldn't have known about epitaphs, we would be vastly out numbered! Lotus would have kept looking for her sister, and we wouldn't have any fucking idea what's going on at all!" You huff making her glare and take a step towards you.

"So you should just infect civilians? That is your big plan?! Infect them with a mind eating monster who gets his kicks from fucking with people? Good idea Anon, hey maybe you can just send MANIA and Shimabuku into comas while you are at it! Save Hamelin the fucking trouble!" She protests making you roll your eyes.

"Then what? Shimabuku was already effected! He was hit by MANIA and would have figured it out! If we didn't get him in then he would have gone in blind, and then what do you think would happen? He would be dead! And MANIA? She is crazy Haruko! She was already addicted to the power AIDA gave her and if I didn't at least keep her under some level of control, what do you think would happen?! She would have gone to Hamelin, or Moon Tree, or to the main hive, or hell, any of the other villains that seem to keep popping up in this stupid fucking shadow war!" You shout making her frown deeper.

"So that makes it okay?! Acceptable losses?! Acceptable people being put in harms way?!" She scrunches her nose up, the way she does when she gets really mad.

"I had no idea what else to do! I can't just have you be a sounding board! I am not that person! I am not missing chunks of my soul anymore because a hive mind AI put me back together with duct tape!" You vent making her seem like she wants to say something but pauses, clearly trying to think over your sudden flood of emotions.
(2/3)

"But I can accept that, all of that. I can see why you would be pissed, hell I can see why you would have trouble adjusting to me acting like a human being for the first time in five years, but the one thing that hurts, the one part that really feels like a knife in the back? The fact you said you prefer me when I was broken. That tells me you don't want a partner either, you just want a machine that does its work because, hey why not got to do something while you wait to die right?" You tell her making her wince slightly

"That's..." She frowns thinking it over. "You kicked your table." She helpfully points out.

"I know. So what do you want to do now Haruko?" You ask your shin pulsing in pain from where the short living room table impacted your leg.

"Fuck, I don't know Anon. L-look maybe I will a little out of line with what I said. About preferring you broken, sorry." She mutters.

Well that sort of cleared the air.

Wat now?
[]"We good?"
[]"Didn't I leave my mic on?"
[]Ask her something else
[]Other, please specify
(3/3)

>>25003835
"I'm sorry too. I guess I never really let you know just how different I am from how I was for most of the time you've known me. No wonder we haven't been in sync."

>>25003835
"Didn't I leave my mic on?"

OH MY LORD MY SIDES HAVE REACHED ORBIT!

Bahahaha..

But for my actual vote:
>"We good?"

>>25003835
>[x]"Didn't I leave my mic on?"
We didn't have to explain to Vividor about everything! Thats a load of work of us!

Before that though we might want to take up for Snark. Snark just likes messing around and hasn't devoured anyone's minds! Hell, we just said he duct taped our mind back together

>>25003912
Snark is a madman trying to replace god. He even calls himself "False Angel".

>>25003912
Also more importantly.

He cared when Durandal became a lost one.

Despite never talking to Durandal, Snark seems like he really felt something.

Which is really meaningful, considering how alien the way he thinks is compared to a human.

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>>25003940
Someone's gotta fill that empty throne.

>>25003940
Stop being such a faggot. He might be a madman but he still a pretty cool guy and I'm pretty sure the only time "False Angel" pops up is as a tool tip for when we summon him so its probably not under his control

>>25003883

Yeah. It was a dysfunctional partnership. It's just that it really didn't seem that way until things changed, and started festering when Anon and Haruko assumed that it would continue as normal.

This is a very trying time. Anon NEEDS Haruko, more now than ever. He needs her to smack some sense into him when he's completely lost the plot, give him differing point of views when he's stumped or when she thinks she has a legitimately better idea, take charge when she thinks that she has a better idea, and all that other partnership stuff. Maybe even consider ways to rally the rest of the crew in case he becomes too far gone or dies.

It's not gonna be easy getting used to this new type of partnership. But hell, Anon's gonna give it all he's got.

>>25003980
I'm starting to think that AE might be wishing that he wrote Anon as having lost his partner in a firefight or something, and not yet having been assigned a replacement.

Because what you said is true, but that is a damn heavy commitment.

>>25003980
... while the nature of the story would tend to make it pointless, we probably should start setting up some contingencies just in case we get... incapacitated. Or worse. Not right now, just... soon.

>>25004014
I think Snark will take care of such things.

I wouldn't be surprised if he'd be able to send himself to Shimabuku or MANIA.

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>>25004014

I say that we put Areta in charge. Because she has Skeith. And that's super cool and will appeal to the most people.

Seriously, look at this guy. How can he not be protagonist material?

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>>25004096

What the... that's not the picture I posted. I don't even have that picture in my folder!

>>25003828
It might be important to point out later that MANIA has actually been pretty fucking helpful.

Despite being almost certainly very depressed, and having a sadistic streak, she seems to genuinely want to aid us, and is pretty good at putting things together.

>>25004096
...if you put Areta, the plan will literally be fucking Hamelin's brains out to kill him.

Why KYH?

>>25004096
>>25004135
I... I am somewhat okay with this.

>>25004160
...I just really hope that A: We didn't have the mike on and B: She couldn't hear us.

I'd rather not have to go through that unbearably awkward apology again.

"We good?" You ask glancing over briefly at your headset and noting that you did, in fact, leave the mic on.

"It's just. The way things were... I guess this will take some getting used to." She lets out a sigh while scratching her head.

"This is a very trying time. I need you, more now than ever. I need you to smack some sense into me when I've completely lost the plot, give me differing point of views when I'm stumped or when you think you have a legitimately better idea, take charge when you think that you have a better idea, and all that other partnership stuff. Maybe even consider ways to rally the rest of the crew in case I become too far gone or die. It's not gonna be easy getting used to this new type of partnership. But hell, I''m gonna give it all I've got." You tell her with a sigh.

You walk over to your M2D, but pause for a moment and turn to her. "One more thing, Snark. He is a good guy. He seemed to actually care when Durandal became a lost one, and actually wants to help. Hell, he put me back together with only some minor difficulties here and there." You smile.

So wat now?
[]Go back into the world, see who is online
[]Talk to haruko some more
[]Other, please specify

>>25004197
Sooooooooooo...

[X] Back into the world. Check if Vividor heard anything. Check if we have visitors.

With our luck, Deevon heard everything.

>>25004197
"Speaking of giving me differing points of view when I'm stumped or smacking some sense into me, it appears that I forgot to turn the microphone off. So... that's fun."

>>25004197

I really hope Vividor caught on that something important was happening in the background, and started doing all sorts of (NOISY) manly shenanigans to divert attention and drown out noise.

Of course, that sort of prescience could suggest that he's maybe some sort of transcendental AI or hacker that's just following Chen around for whatever reason. Which would be OK by me.

>[x]Go back into the world, and see who is online

>>25004329
I STILL think Vividor should be the one unsolved mystery to be preserved. Figuring out how he does it would just ruin the magic.

>>25004358
Nah I agree.

>>25004197
>[x]Go back into the world, see who is online
Although it may be a bit akward it would save us a load of work explaining stuff to Vividor. Knowing him though he probably is flexing to his image in the nearby canal thinking it is challenging him.

On another note, can we see the time someone was last online? If so it might be best to check on the guy who gave us information on Areta since Hamelin will go after him since we interacted and have his member address.

>>25003794
>>25003828
>>25003835
Nicely done.

Included a lot of feelings and problems, and even sounded like an actual argument, complete with the parts where Anon and Haruko occasionally tried to talk over each other instead of listening.

"Speaking of giving me differing points of view when I'm stumped or smacking some sense into me, it appears that I forgot to turn the microphone off. So... that's fun." You tell her making her go a bit paler.

"That... that probably isn't good. Where were you?" She asks getting her controller out.

"Mac Anu gateroom." You tell her making her throw a pillow at you.

"The hell anon! Jesus, was there anyone around?" She asks making you shake your head.

"Vividor, but I am sure he will have thought of something." You tell her as you sign in and are bombarded by the soothing music of... Ricky Martin?

Standing in the middle of a massive gyrating crowd of players is Vividor, and emanating from him is the vaguely Latin sounding beat of Livin la vida loca. You are confused for a few moments, but as he dances over to you, you smile. "Hey, Vividor, thanks for covering for me. How did you get the sound to play? Some program?" You ask making him raise his eyebrows to you.

"What is zis be saying playing? When I dance music joost happens! See?" He asks as he stops dancing for a moment, the music silencing at once.

When he resumes his hip based thrusting dancing, as opposed to his thrusting hip styled walking or talking, the music resumes. "It be happening when I dance." He explains.

"Okay, I'll bite, how?" You ask making him look down at his suddenly naked torso.

"Look 'et my abs. You be seeing how zey, how you say, kitten love joy?" He asks as her performs a strange stomach based dance which reminds you somewhat of a middle eastern belly dancer but infinitely more manly.

"R-right, well thanks for covering the, uh, discussion I was having." You tell him making him nod.

"Yes, it be vary vary goo'. Girl zo, the come to see you and use, how you say, black spots? She listen to talk and then walk away. I would have been following, but..." He stares dramatically into the a reflective surface. "I was under ze challenge." He explains
(1/2)

Well is seems someone heard the argument. Now what?
[]Grill him for more info(Seriously?)
[]Call guild meeting
[]Join the dance.
[]Other, please specify.

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>>25004535
This is (2/2) by the way.

>>25004535
>Girl came to see you use black spots.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh...


[X] Call guild meeting

>>25004535
>[x] Grill Vividor for a bit more information, and thank him.

Vividor, can you describe the look of this girl? Her clothing, name, anything?

Also, take care of yourself, you wonderful man. Seriously. These are dark times.


>[x]Call guild meeting

We've been putting this off for far too long. We need to lay all of this down on the table for everyone involved in this.

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>>25004521
Something bad will ALWAYS come of losing your goddamn temper. God knows what kind of damage control we have to run now. Goddamn it.

>>25004535
>[x]Grill him for more info(Seriously?)
Although it is likely Areta or MANIA we still need to know who it might be.

>[x]Other, please specify.
Give Vividor a guest pass/invite if he'd be willing to join and have him come to the guild to wait.

>>25004642
We can deal with some AIDA chick, probably MANIA. I don't even want her fear boners.... I-I swear

>>25004669
If it WAS MANIA, and you'd better hope it wasn't, that means the entire fucking thread where everyone waffled the fuck out trying to figure out how to treat her like a human being-- all that effort trying to develop some kind of understanding of whatever the fuck is going on with her-- that's all been wasted, because now she heard us call her fucking crazy.

[X] Vividor, was she using black dots, or asking about using black dots?

>>25004710
FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

>>25004710
I don't know.

I think she's fine with us thinking she's crazy, so long as we also respect her independence.

But yeah that would really really suck.

>>25004642
I think it's because our life needs a constant amount of difficulty.

Through at least clearing the way for things to be patched up with Haruko, we need a new problem to fill the void.

...Especially because whoever heard us can guess our occupation, which could literally have us killed.

>>25004721
This right here! This is important! If she was asking this she is a important suspect

>>25004722
She also claimed to be broken and we said we accept her for her, but then she heard us say we only gave her power because she is an aida junky.

>>25004772

Oof. We should have clarified that we gave AIDA to her initially to have her be loyal to us, but also that it was even better that we convinced her that being a good guy was the right thing to do.

>>25004800
I wouldn't go that far to say that we changed her.

I think if anything she'd be even more offended to hear that, given how fiercely she defends her individuality.

AE TYPE FASTER I CAN'T HANDLE NOT KNOWING PRECISELY THE AMOUNT OF FUCKED WE ARE

>>25004772
>>25004722
This means she basically can never trust anything we say ever again. Assuming it was her.

My god, at least if it's just Lotus, all we have to do is patch up a huge security breach.

>>25004800
But she isn't being good because it is right. I thought she found the whole thing tiresome, but we were the first people who she was interested in who also had an interest in her and thus she wanted to help us in her own twisted way.

>>25004772
Those aren't mutually exclusive.

We respect her for who she is.

And she is the kind of person who, if she wanted an AIDA, would find a way to get one with or without us. And we picked "with".

Plus we gave her the AIDA because she was a power junky. We hung out with her because we wanted to.

>>25004834

Oh god, I can't decide if it would be better or worse if MANIA overheard us or if it was some other blatantly infected AIDA player who's a part of Moon Tree or something.

You frown at the information before deciding to grill Vividor some more. "Vividor, can you describe the look of this girl? Her clothing, name, anything?"

"Yes, I can be remembering it perfectly. Her hair, it was longer zen Vividors. She also be thinner zan ze Vividor. But most shooking of ze all? When she be seeing my abs, she no think zem, how you say, vary vary goo' looking. You see how goo' looking I am? Yet she no be caring." He explains, his sorrow evidently making the music shift to that simple techno party boy song.

You let out a sigh before deciding to take a different route. "Did she ask about the dots or did she use them?" You ask, Durga finally coming through the Chaos gate and looking around at the gyrating bodies.

"What... what the?" Is all she can ask

"She be using them, yes? She hear, despite my dance being close to her, yes? Ze dots make her hear you be speaking. Vary vary strange look be on her face." He explains making you nod.

"Here, a guest pass. I am calling a general meeting to discuss the things that have been going on. It will probably take... an hour or so to gather everyone." You tell him making him nod.

"I be going there. Sensually." He tells you before starting his wide walk to the door.

Well, you called for a general guild meeting in an hour.

"What now An- er, Chen?" Durga asks looking at the mass of bodies following Vividor.

ONLINE: Areta(Busy), Durandal, MANIA, Vividor, Durga

Wat say wat do?
[]Contact someone
[]Call someone IRL
[]Look for someone
[]Questan
[]Exploran
[]Other, please secify

>>25004884
...God fucking damnit.

"Well it looks like I may have got another round of apologizing to do."

>>25004867
Speaking of, I sort of want to know more about her. So far all we know is her first name, and that her family offed themselves when the bubble burst.

>>25004900
Hold on there Anon. All the gyrating paragon of male sexuality said was she left with a weird look on her face. She could have looked odd because she figured out Anon is an agent, or because she thought eves dropping would be rude and felt sort of ashamed. I would like to know what we are saying sorry for before just shouting sorry at her endlessly.

>>25004884
Send a PM to MANIA

>The fact that the primary reason I re-infected you because I knew you would get an AIDA somehow, and preferred it would be from me, does not mean that I do not consider you a very valuable member of the team. As far as I am concerned, that aspect of our relationship ended the moment I infected you. Our decision to hang around each other afterwards was something entirely separate.

>>25004884
>[x]Contact someone - Durandal
Send him a simple message just incase, like a quote or something
>[x]Look for someone - MANIA

>[x]Call someone IRL
Have Snark text Lotus and Shimabuku telling them to get online and report to the guild hall. Having Snark do it would save us time searching for MANIA

>>25004912
She's apparently Russian.

Why she's living in Japan, or is at least playing the Japanese version of the World, I have no clue.

>>25004944
Can't really help with Lotus and Shimabuku. They have jobs.

>>25004884

>[x]Other

Text Lotus, make sure that she knows that there's going to be an important guild meeting. Shimabuku too, if his schedule allows.

Also, see if Snark can detect any AIDA residue here. Was it an offshoot of him that was here, or was it something else entirely?

>>25004949
Seems sort of a waste. We know a lot about everyone else, save the single greatest man to ever walk The World.

>>25004884
>ONLINE: Areta(Busy), Durandal, MANIA, Vividor, Durga
This don't bode well.

>>25004934
Although we still aren't for certain it was MANIA it wouldn't hurt to send her this. It might be best to save it for later if we get in an actual fight though

>>25004934
I feel like even in the case that she wasn't the one who heard us, we could still get away with saying that.

Maybe she'll just think that saying things like that for no reason is a quirk of ours.

>>25004954

Oh yeah, that's right.

Well, text them and say that we need to meet with them as soon as it is convenient for them.

We need to not overreact about this. Reach out to MANIA, just ask her if that was her just now. Also do we have any idea if the BUSY setting that Areta has actually means something in particular in game terms, or is it just something she can switch on and off?

>>25004934
maybe
>valuable member of the team, and valuable as a person as well.

also, should be a 'was' between 'you' and 'because'.

>>25004989

BUSY probably means that they don't want to be disturbed for whatever reason. In Areta's case, she could either be doing something (or someone).

>>25005008
I'm guessing she is working.

>>25005019
That's the general assumption, but there's a chance it was her who stopped by, so we need to follow up. Would hate to interrupt her in the middle of work though. The girl's gotta eat, as she keeps telling us.

So have snark send a text to shimabuku and Lotus and then you PM or look for MANIA?

>>25005038
If they are black dots I don't see how it could be her, since we ate all the AIDA inside her.

>>25005038
She doesn't have black dots though.

She's an Epitaph user, black dots are an AIDA thing.

...Have Haruko look at our character model. Does it look like we were roughed up at all?

>>25005044
Yeah.

I'd say PM sounds good.

>>25005051
If she wasn't infected in any way, how would she still be doing her usual work?

>>25005044
Look for MANIA, PM Areta to get in touch when she has a spare moment.

>>25005069
Epitaph allows her to feel.

>>25005069
I'm guessing epitaphs allow for it? Or maybe she just discontinued that service and now just does it the same as her guildmates?

>>25005044
Have us PM/Invite MANIA and that works

Wait. We have a hole in us. We spent several years being a robot. Possibly repressed memories from when we were living with our parents...

Jesus H. Christ. Guys we might be deeper into this than we thought.

>>25005044

Can Snark try to detect a signature or some sort of residue from the AIDA used in the gate room? If it's from a player he infected, he might be able to tell us if it was from him or from a different hivemind.

>>25005107
Yeah we probably played the World R:1.

Maybe even Fragment.

We'll have to talk to our sister about that.

>>25005111
I'm in favor of doing this as well

>>25004934
One important addition, since it's possible that she might have taken a liking to Durandal as well

>PS, Revenge works best as a group activity.

You command Snark to send a text to Ryoko and Yongchoobin telling them about the meeting, and then send a brief message to Areta to tell her about the meeting and get an automated response instantly.

"Hey Chen, I am going to go ahead to the guildhall and try to set up some recording thing so we can just send it out to the others." Durga tells you before walking off.

"Hi random person,

The fact you PMed me means you are one of the cool peoples who have my address. Sadly, you seem to be a bit of a virgin, so I will spell it out for you. When that says busy, I am having sex with someone, likely for money. But since you probably already know what sort of person I am, unless you think I was some sort of virginal hooker or something, you probably have something to say to me. Leave a PM with what you need and I will get back to you as soon as I stop getting my underthings diddled. Or diddling some one elses. Seems to be a big femdom community in The World. Please imagine a beeping sound here."

After a few seconds Snark manifests in front of you. "Text messages sent. I can neither confirm, nor deny, I just spammed the word butts." He tells you making you shake your head.

"Can you tell if there were any AIDA her?" You ask making him shake his head.

"Not unless they directly effected the data of the world. Just passive listening? Won't leave much of a mark, let alone one I can pick up on." He tells you before fading away again.

You send a party invite to MANIA which she accepts after a few seconds and you see she is currently at the marketplace.

Now what?
[]Send PM saying sorry for calling her crazy
[]Send PM saying sorry about being a sexually ambiguous James Bond
[]Go talk to her(Bout what?)
[]Other, please specify

>>25005250
Tell her that just because we think she's crazy, does not mean that we do not respect, admire, and fear her.

Plus it's not like we're a paragon of mental health either.

>>25005250
AE plz don't troll us

[x]Go talk to her
"I don't suppose that was you exploring new exploits for AIDA?"

>>25005300
Why does everyone think it's a brilliant idea to start a conversation with "LOOK, YOU'RE CRAZY, BUT THAT'S OK"

That is not how you start a conversation, even with crazy people.

Er, before we start talking, should we ask her if she was the one listening in? To at least make sure we're on the same page.


Also, if it WASN'T her, then its important to find that out fast, isn't it?

>>25005250
>[x]Go talk to her(Bout what?)
Tell her about the guild meet and ask if she was one who walked in on our conversation with Durga while Vividor was having party.

>>25005331
Good point.

>>25005336
Same guy here. Even if she yes we might want to ask her what she heard exactly since she is willing to frighten and bother us.

>>25005336

Seconding.

>>25005336
Yeah might as well just be direct.

>>25005331

Yeah I agree with this.

Blurting out "Sorry I called you crazy!" is just not the way to start ANY conversation...

You decide that the first order of buisiness is to find out if that was actually her listening in on your converstion. You make your way to the center of town, the large founten still surrounded by small guild shops and merchants. You consider opening up a guild shop of your own while you do, though you have no idea who would sell things or what you would sell. After a few moments of searching you spot MANIA standing by a fountain, her expression as difficult to understand as ever. As you approach she turns quickly on her heel to face you, and impressive feat considering the needle like point on her thigh high heel boots with her crimson eyes boring into your own, her unique way of not blinking enough making her look like a predator fixated on prey.

"Hello MANIA." You tell her making her tilt her head to the side slightly.

"Hello Chen." She responds, her eyes never leaving yours.

"Were you the one who overheard us in Vivador's little party?" You ask.

She tilts her head to the other side, her long, ass length hair swaying slightly. You momentarily wonder if it ever gets caught in doors or if she sits on and it gets caught. You shake your head when you realize you felt the urge to touch it and notice she is still thinking, perhaps still deciding if she should tell the truth or not. After a few seconds she rights her head. "Yes, I was."

"Well, there is going to be a guild meeting, Hamelin is getting serious and we need to discuss our plans for the future." You tell her making her nod slightly.

"You could have just sent a PM, but I shall be there." she replies before looking back at the fountain.

Wat say wat do?
[]What did you overhear?
[]Sorry for calling you crazy
[]Sorry for being James Bond
[]Want to make out?
[]Other, please specify

>>25005533
Well, what do you guys want to do?

Accept her as a person? How?

>>25005533
[X] Want to make out?

>>25005533

We could explain the whole gave-you-power-to-help, but then decided to keep hanging out with you as a friend because I wanted to thing?

>>25005533
here's a terrible idea

"Remember after the tournament, when you asked me to re-infect you? What would you have done if I said no?"

God damn is she confusing and kind of scary.

Just what I like in a woman.

>>25005571
Unless she heard nothing, then we give her cause to think we talk about her regularly behind her back.

>>25005533
AE WITH THE TROLLING PLZ STOP

"I don't know how much you heard, but we're going to have to talk about it, since it may or may not have been classified information."

Actually, wait-- exactly how much HAVE we told MANIA about what we're doing here? Eh, maybe just go with a straight up apology, even if she didn't hear it; we oughta come clean anyway.

>>25005533

Tentatively voting for

>[x]What did you overhear?


>>25005554

We could approach this carefully. Step on eggshells, see what she heard, what she thinks. I think that if we got her point of view and what she thought, then that would at least give her a chance to say how she felt. It might also signal some respect from us to her.