"I'm so sorry, Cecile..." Charlotte says as she helps me to my feet. "If I'd gotten here sooner then maybe I could've caught him before he could get away."
"It's not your fault." I shake my head. "This is all on HIM."

A guy who's infamous in rich people circles for being an art thief or whatever went out of his way just to mess with me. And worst of all, I don't even know WHY.

"I wish I would've just run him through," I mumble. "Stupid asshole..."
"Don't worry," Charlotte says, patting me on the back. "I have Rhaccy out there right now, and so are Irene and your father."

Somehow that doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence.


>we should probably call the cops
>there's no point in calling the cops

>>44437229
I haven't read 138 yet so I can't participate, but I have a question.

Turtle, what did we sequence break that caused Lorelei to fug Joshua? Where did we go out of bounds, off the rails, trip event flags in the wrong order?

>>44437246
>>there's no point in calling the cops
1. Branch powers
2. Its a cactus
3. 5 a.m.

and also Nepu-Nepu-desu!

>>44437246
>there's no point in calling the cops

>>44437278
When we decided Lorelei was Joshua's waifu? When we decided we'd get that book for her as a sign of love? When she came into town and we told her "I love you"?

>>44437246
>>there's no point in calling the cops

>>44437246
> And worst of all, I don't even know WHY.

The bigger question to me is HOW he knew that cactus was valuable to us in the first place.

>>44437246
>>there's no point in calling the cops

>>44437389
He probably didn't know. Just wanted to take something cause he's a dick.

>>44437485
Of all the things to steal 'cactus' is not the first, safest, or easiest thing one would think to steal if you just want to be a dick to somebody. Money, the gameboy, her glasses, etc. are things one would steal to piss somebody off.

He knew it was valuable.

>>44437657
>paranoiaintensifies.gif

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>>44437278
>Turtle, what did we sequence break that caused Lorelei to fug Joshua? Where did we go out of bounds, off the rails, trip event flags in the wrong order?
Some stuff was out of the order that I'd planned on it going and then a few of the choices you made just kind of moved things in that direction.
joshua was supposed to remain pure throughout the sidestory


>writing

>>44438103
Well congratulations, we got ourselves fucked.
What's the next step of our master plan?

>>44438103
Never underestimate the libido of a frustrated anon, Arch.

>>44438140
There was a next step?

>>44438184
uhh....justice? wasn't there something about his mom or something?

Reading through an old thread I missed, and I have to say:

>>44088785
Fuck you, faggot.

That is all. Continue dendriting.

"Dammit..." I hold my hand to my forehead.
"Cecile?" Charlotte leans in closer.
"I don't even know what to do right now," I groan. "There's no point in calling the cops, it's not like they could do anything."

And even if they could, why would anyone who isn't me even care that a tiny cactus was stolen? And -I'm- the one responsible for the hole in the window so it's not even like that would be a clue towards catching him.


>I want some alone time
>I don't want to be by myself right now

>>44438809
>I don't want to be by myself right now

>>44438809
>>I don't want to be by myself right now

>>44438809
>I don't want to be by myself right now

I feel like the last few votes have been super passive. Like, why didn't Char try to catch his scent when he's the closest he has been since the afternoon (at the very least, find his hideout).

>>44438809
>I don't want to be by myself right now

>>44438809
>>I want some alone time

>>44438809
>I want some alone time

>>44438809
>>I don't want to be by myself right now

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>writing

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"Er..." Charlotte frowns, "...did you want some time to yourself? I don't want to think that I'm smothering you-"
"No," I shake my head. "I really don't want to be by myself right now."

For all I know, he'll float through the wall the second that she leaves just to taunt me some more about what he stole.

"Then how about we go downstairs for a little while?" Charlotte says as she takes my hand. "Staying up here'll only make you dwell on what happened even more."
"Yeah..."

Charlotte leads me down to the first floor of the house and then to the couch that she'd been sleeping on in the living room. Once we're both sitting down, Charlotte drapes her arm around my shoulders and lets me rest my head against her.

And then I notice that all of her muscles are tense.

"I have no idea how he got away," Charlotte says in a half-whisper. "Your room is the only place in the entire house where his scent even exists, and Rhaccy didn't see anyone outside when you screamed..."

So that's why she didn't go running after him?


>try and stay awake until the others come back
>I'm sleepy

>>44439661
>I'm sleepy

>>44439661
>>I'm sleepy
Bet he moved through the ground like a filthy French mole.

>>44439661
>>I'm sleepy
feckin' ghosts

>>44439661
>>try and stay awake until the others come back

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>writing

I dunno if it's because of the animals that she's copied, but Charlotte's body is always so warm. And with this blanket that she's wrapped around the two of us, I'm feeling especially toasty right now. So warm and toasty that I can almost forget how mad I am about that Faceless guy breaking into my room.

"Cecile?" a hand brushes against my hair.
"Mmm?" I mumble.
"You don't have to force yourself to stay awake if you don't want to," Charlotte says. "I don't mind."
"Mmmm."

She's right. I'm so sleepy, and the adrenaline from before is finally starting to wear off...


>[1/?]

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>>44440270
>[2/2]

RINGRINGRINGRING

"Bwah!?"

My eyes snap open and I nearly fall over, but then I find that I'm being held in place by Charlotte's arms. I can hear her chest rising and falling with every breath she takes, causing her soft breasts to press up behind my neck like one of those fancy pillows...

...but just as I really start to think about Charlotte's "pillows," my mind is pulled back to the thing that woke me up- our stupid loud doorbell. It's usually not bad enough to wake me up, but I guess that's not quite the case this time around since I'm actually in the same general area as the actual bell unit itself.


>peel the charlotte off of me and answer the door
>I don't feel like moving

>>44440532
>I don't feel like moving

>>44440532
>>peel the charlotte off of me and answer the door

>>44440532
>peel the charlotte off of me and answer the door
Otherwise, someone else is going to open the door, and we'll still be here when whoever it is comes in.

>>44440532
>peel the charlotte off of me and answer the door

>>44440532
>>peel the charlotte off of me and answer the door
Ready a blade. keep it hidden from the door.

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>>44440532
>peel the charlotte off of me and answer the door

Also I am having fun playing Huniepop while waiting for Arch to post.

I wonder which hunie is Turtle's favourite. I like the catgirl and the ayylmao.

>>44440532
CC NO. FIX YOUR PILLOW HAIR BEFORE IT IS TOO LAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa......

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>>44440532
>peel the charlotte off of me and answer the door

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>writing

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"Charlotte," I call out. "C'mon, let me go."

And of course her grip on me only tightens.

"Ehehehe..." Charlotte mumbles. "...mine."
"Seriously," I groan.

Unfortunately for me, Charlotte's really strong even when she's sleeping and I'm forced to go limp and slide down, submerging under the blanket and through her arms in order to get out. After fixing my glasses and making sure my nightshirt-pajamas aren't showing my underwear, I hurry to the door.

Peeking through the window, I find that this morning's mysterious visitor is none other than Theresa. And of course she's wearing her jogger getup.

"Yo," she says, waving at me from outside.


>hit the theresa with all kinds of bad news right at the door
>it can wait until she's inside

>>44440882
>it can wait until she's inside

>>44440882
>it can wait until she's inside

>>44440882
>it can wait until she's inside

>>44440882
>>it can wait until she's inside

> inside
But she's a girl!

>>44440882
>>hit the theresa with all kinds of bad news right at the door
you somehow manage to make me paranoid with the most mundane of choices turtle.

>>44440882
>it can wait until she's inside

>>44440954
Probably because that choice has some obvious warning flags.

Although, in fairness, archelon has given some pretty pointless options in the past.

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>writing

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>>44440946

>>44440946
>But she's a girl!
I don't see the problem

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I open the door and am met with Theresa's smiling face.

"Ready to feel the burn today?" Theresa says, as cheery as ever.

But then she gets a good look at me.

"Uh..." she points at my hair. And then at the rest of me. "You don't look like you're ready to do much of anything."
"Not really, no," I reply.

Yawning, I move away from the door so that Theresa can come into the house. And as she steps inside, Theresa suddenly seems kind of uneasy.

"Uh, did something happen?" she asks. "Not that I'm complaining, but I don't think I've ever seen you answer the door in -that-," she says, pointing at my shirt.
"A lot of somethings happened," I mumble while wiping the sleep from my eyes.


>we can talk about it in my room, nobody would bother us there
>we can talk about it in the living room, I just need to wake charlotte up first
>we can talk about it in the kitchen, charlotte seems tired and I don't want to wake her up

>>44441202
>we can talk about it in my room, nobody would bother us there
And she might notice something we didn't, I suppose.

>>44441202
>we can talk about it in my room, nobody would bother us there

>>44441202
>we can talk about it in the kitchen, charlotte seems tired and I don't want to wake her up

>>44441202
>we can talk about it in my room, nobody would bother us there

Hoo boy.

So.
Charlotte picks up the trail of some arsonist
We get over there, R.O.B.U.S.T. the guy Space Station 13 shitcurity style,
Turns out we got the wrong guy, but Faceless shows up to taunt us.
Irene's body is controlled by her branch personality, not her original human personality
This makes Charlotte super angry because of MAX BAGGAGE, and she takes it out on Irene
Irene is now sad.
Mina is still upset about possession, and she apparently hears the nagging branch voices too.
Faceless appeared in my room at night
He stole my fucking cactus
Why would he steal my fucking cactus
How did he know that my cactus was the most valuable item to me.
God fucking damn it shitsux.

>>44441202
>>we can talk about it in the kitchen, charlotte seems tired and I don't want to wake her up

>>44441202
>>we can talk about it in my room, nobody would bother us there

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>writing

I think about taking her back to the living room, but Charlotte's still asleep and I'm not all that sure how she'll react if Theresa's the first thing she sees when she regains consciousness. And the kitchen's probably not the best place either since Allison and Mom are bound to go in there any minute now.

"We can talk about it in my room," I say, pointing up the stairs. "Nobody'll bother us up there."
"Umm, okay..." Theresa replies with an uneasy look in her eyes.

After we reach my room, I close the door behind us and try to force back the feeling of disgust that's rising up my esophagus. It looks like Daddy put up some plastic to cover the hole in my window while I was asleep, and somehow seeing that makes it even worse.

A goddamned STRANGER was in my room.


>[1/?]

>>44441494
>[2/2]

While rooting through my dresser for a change of clothes (fortunately my underwear drawer seems to have been untouched), I tell Theresa all about the stuff that happened yesterday after we parted ways. Charlotte picking up the arsonist's trail, the revelation that said arsonist was in fact NOT Faceless, the subsequent appearance of Faceless...


>tell her about irene
>that's something to go over when irene's actually around

>>44441521
>that's something to go over when irene's actually around

>>44441521
>>that's something to go over when irene's actually around
Do mention that Irene has something to tell her at some point.

>>44441521
>that's something to go over when irene's actually around
Not our secret to tell.

>>44441521
>that's something to go over when irene's actually around
That's Irene's choice to talk about.

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>writing

Though I leave out the part about Irene's apparently being a "vine," I do tell Theresa about how Faceless taunted us and then disappeared, only to show up in my room last night, taunt me some more, and steal my cactus. And by the time I'm done, Theresa looks every bit as pissed off as I am about this whole thing.

"He..." she takes a couple of calming breaths. "...he didn't -do- anything to you, did he?"
"No," I shake my head. "I'd have shot a hole through him if he came anywhere near me."
"Thank God," she sighs. "I can't believe the same guy I saw robbing that house actually came over here and-"

With her face as pale as snow, Theresa slaps her hand over her mouth.

"This is -my- fault," she mumbles.
"What?" I stare at her. "No it wasn't, you weren't even around when we ran into him the first time."
"Maybe not, but if I hadn't dragged you into this whole thing then he'd never have even run into you in the first place and you'd never have had to go through this," she says, shaking her head. "I never should've gotten you involved..."


>how do I respond?

>>44441787
>It was my choice to help you, just like you chose to help me when I got into trouble. That's why we're friends. I'm never going to let you face things like this alone, so don't blame yourself over it.
>Wow, now I feel like a massive hypocrite.

>>44441787
>>how do I respond?
>Don’t be stupid, she isn’t responsible for us *or* for what some stalking thief is doing. We decided to involve ourselves, she didn’t pressure us into it or anything like that.
>Actually, that guy is already a pretty high priority for Irene’s organization and a general nuisance for everyone. Even if Theresa didn’t have mentioned it we would probably have gone after him at some point.

>>44441787
>Yeah it is your fault, but friends are there to help friends.
>And set them up on dates with other friends.

>>44441787
that which is unknown to boundaries

it causes stress to that which does not exist

the vine has become a thorn

it will be removed

>>44441787
>>how do I respond?
It was our choice to get involved.

But if Theresa feels guilty she can make amends by showing her abs.

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>writing

>>44441880
Arch, forgive me if this is rude, but what is YOUR branch?

Is it something turtle-related, "That which trades speed for resilience", or somesuch?

>>44441880
>and arch was writing forever more, frozen in time with the boards

>>44442410
I'm sure the turtle will return to finish it soon.

Bumping with his tweet in case you don't follow him.

>archelon @QM_Archelon
>Calling it a night here since 4chan's gone retarded.
>There's only one or two posts left to the thread so I'll resume it in the morning.

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>>44441843
>But if Theresa feels guilty she can make amends by showing her abs.

You know, the more we learn about Branch stuff, the more I'm convinced they all need to be preemptively exterminated from the planet.

Vine Hunter Quest when?

>>44443827
Why?

Joshuas vine seems pretty chill, Irene is a decent person and went out of her way to avoid killing off her double, Otheresa also seems fairly nice if lewd.

Other than Charlottes, they don't seem like that big of a problem, and most people off them fast if they become an issue. They're not like Fetches or something.

>>44444849
Well, overchan is a bitch who would solve every problem with brute force, but at least CC doesn't need to worry about it trying to take over at Full Bloom, since Overshine is a progressive elemental branch. She just has to be ready for it to try to make a move and be strong.

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>>44445651
Actually, holders of Elemental Branches are just as vulnerable as any other. It's just that they don't have an explicit point where it's necessary to worry about getting their souls devoured and their bodies stolen.


>back to writing

>>44445919
Morning arch!

"Don't be stupid," I say. "I'm the one who decided to help you, just like you've helped me a bunch of times. We're friends, remember?"
"Yeah," Theresa mumbles, "but I still feel shitty about this whole thing."
"I do too," I say, scowling, "but neither one of us is responsible for that asshole's kleptomania."

Just thinking about it makes me wish I could make what happened to those Nazis at the end of that one Indiana Jones movie happen to him.

"Still," Theresa shakes her head, "for him to steal that cactus that you've been fawning over..." she says as she makes her way towards my windowsill. "...How the hell did he even know to steal -that- instead of something else like your phone? Or that 3DS that Charlotte's sister gave you?"
"I have no idea."
"It's like he just -had- to make it personal," she says, tracing her finger along the edges of the hole I melted in my window through the plastic. "Like that card he left in that burnt-out mansion."
"Well if he was trying to piss me off, he definitely succeeded," I reply.
"I'm surprised he didn't le-"

For a splitsecond, Theresa blinks out of existence. As a result, I'm met with another headache when she reappears.


>[1/2]

>>44446152
Cue Charlotte crashing through the door?

>>44446152
>[2/2]

"Wh- why'd you do that?" I ask, my voice wavering. "You didn't SEE him, did you?"
"No..." Theresa slowly shakes her head. "But I just noticed -this- just lying here."

I walk up to the windowsill that she's pointing at and that same sick feeling from before cuts through me like a knife.

"A card."


>read it now
>get someone else first

>>44446365
>read it now

>>44446365
>read it now

>>44446365
>>get someone else first
Our bloodhound perhaps?

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>writing

>>44446365
>read it now
>get someone else first

I can't decide if these seemingly meaninless decisions are a genius-level way to maintain suspense or just an obnoxious side effect of arch's decompressed writing.

>>44446631
Look at this VN blog sometime.

>>44446631
>This card will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

>>44446737
>I prepared explosive runes today.

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Deep breaths. Deep breaths, Cecile. There's no sense in working myself up to the point of puking or flipping out and breaking something.

"This wasn't here last night," I say, pointing at it. "If it was, my father would've seen it when he put that plastic up on the window."
"Shit..." Theresa grits her teeth. "So he came back here later just to make sure he left it?"

I resist the urge to laser it to ash and instead snatch it from the windowsill.

"Are you gonna get-" Theresa reaches out to it, but recoils when she sees my expression. "...I guess not."


>[1/?]

>>44447195
If only Cecile's tantrums were that cute.

>>44447353
Let Over-Chan take over and she'll become a cute tantrum-throwing grump.

>>44447392
Bit too lethal for my tastes.

>>44447195


I stare at the calling card's fancy printed lettering. On one side is the same "You have been visited by the mysterious thief Faceless" bit as the one we found in that mansion, but the other side has stuff written on it in tiny text I actually have to magnify it in order to read it.

"Pardonnez-moi for rousing you from your slumber, oh lovely maiden. It was not my intent to ruin your night," it reads. "Though I had originally meant to simply leave a word of thanks for your assistance in clearing my name, the revelation of your identity caused me some concern."


>[2/?]

>>44447412
Yeah, it's not like Cecile kill people too.

>>44447434
But I never advocated Cecile either anon.

>>44447429
"Quel genre de sombre connard introduit du français sans raison dans ses phrases ?"

>>44447488
Because Faceless thinks he's the new Arsene Lupin or something.

>>44447429
>[3/3]

"But as I am not a man of violence, I have opted to instead take my vengeance in a manner befitting of one such as myself," it reads. "And as I have succeeded in this, I shan't be bothering you again."

Vengeance!? For what!? What did I -ever- do to him!?

"After my business with my other targets in this city has been finished, ma revanche will be met upon Mlle Gauthier as well. You may consider this warning as a professional courtesy."


>how do I react?

>>44447632
Incinerate the card with lasers. Then wake up Charlotte. Promptly lament burning the card, and tell her what it said.

>>44447632
Go wake the Charlotte.

>>44447632
What a jerk.
Guess we gotta warn char-char

>>44447632
Maybe Charlotte can smell the card, see if he left any scent?

>>44447632
Swear undying vengeance upon your nemesis. You shall have back the silmarils from the dark lord!

Or at least, your cactus.

>>44447742
I always say the punishment for thieves should be to be forever pursued by the angry ghost of Fëanor.

That's it for this thread, folks. More plot things aer always fun to do.

The next thread might be on Thursday night. If not, it'll be on Sunday night.


and now questions.

>>44447921
Thanks for running!

>>44447921
See you next time turtle

How is Cecile gonna be able to sleep after this? How is Charlotte handling all these people threatening/lusting after her girl all the time without going crazy?

>>44447921
Cheers.

What you got planned for 2016?

When did "Irene"'s "I'm an abomination that need to repent" sentiment start kicking in? And does Katrine wish for her death or is it more complicated?

>>44448022
That's her secret anon, she's always been crazy.

>>44447488
>"Quel genre de sombre connard introduit du français sans raison dans ses phrases ?"
Because he's a jackass who thinks it makes him cool.

>>44448022
>How is Cecile gonna be able to sleep after this?
Who knows!

>How is Charlotte handling all these people threatening/lusting after her girl all the time without going crazy?
She takes the threats as they come. Everything else is tolerable.

>>44448073
>What you got planned for 2016?
Same old, same old.

>When did "Irene"'s "I'm an abomination that need to repent" sentiment start kicking in?
You'd have to ask her that.

>And does Katrine wish for her death or is it more complicated?
It's complicated.


Thanks for playing!

For further questioning:
http://maouzenigame.tumblr.com/

Game production blog:
https://studioarchelon.wordpress.com/

>>44448436
Thanks for the thread.

>>44445651
>Well, overchan is a bitch who would solve every problem with brute force,
So a /tg/ paladin.