>>277195

You have embraced the love and kinship offered by your family and friends, and found it again within yourself to return that light as you grew more confident in yourself. You’ve even been making amazing headway in unraveling the conspiracy of the enemy that presently threatens the earth and your loved ones...though at the moment that seems far away.

“What about you?” echo the words in your head from the perfectly miniature woman beside you who you sometimes just want to pick up and set on a high display shelf.

Previously she had been complaining about and outlining her plans regarding a relationship she had recently begun with a long time friend of hers whom you are passingly acquainted with. One of the reasons she keeps her ganguro fashion interests secret is because her family is fiercely traditional; and they would probably not approve of the more risque behavior she participates in under the name of Teal. Ironically you imagine her parents would be more accepting of her being in a relationship than her previous though hushed tendencies toward brief and indulgent congress; however that isn’t exactly important to the question that grips you.

After finishing her explanation of circumstances, she asked after your own relationship status. A complicated matter to be sure. To sum, you have recently reconnected with someone you had a crush on in middle school who in turn had a crush on you and you shut yourself off before either of you could really express that to one another and any attempt he made to reach out to you asking after your well being afterwards was met with increasingly and probably undeserved coldness.

However, both of your feelings from back then have been laid plainly. How you both dealt with things was eerily similar. And, as you closed the story of your most impulsive fragment of yourself you and he may have shared a private and decidedly not chaste kiss which you initiated. His name is Yoshi Sakurada, and when not being the prim and proper class representative of your class and son of your school’s Principal he is in secret the songwriter and lead singer of an up and coming metal band.

He is the reason you're at this venue tonight, to see the second performance of of his show. The boy whom Nui Takeda has decided she is going to date is also in Yoshi’s band; Daigo Endo.

The reasons you are having difficulty with Nui’s question are the complications surrounding you and romance at the moment. As you’ve made efforts to again live your life, your heart may have been open to other potential points of interest. Firstly is your admitted attraction to your best friend, followed by her rather eloquent self actualized resolution to reciprocate after thought and introspection on the matter if you chose to pursue her, Kairi Osaka. Secondly a foreign boy who recently came to the area from abroad with whom you share a number of hobbies and an admitted mutual attracted to and have a deep love of teasing, Sasha.

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>>277202

Both of them know a certain depth of the maddened and magically impossible rabbit hole that is you and your life and accept you, though Kairi has admitted previously an interest in someone else and Sasha has someone he is near oblivious to as to their interest in him. Yoshi has only stared down from the edge, accepting your vague explanations until you are ready to divulge whatever truths you were previously not quite ready to share and explain of your situation; even after witnessing certain magical actions of your’s in a guise known to him. You still don’t know what deeper truths you’ll tell him.

Complicated.

>Tell Nui it’s complicated right now and try to leave it at that (Persuasion)
>Teasingly tell her that you don’t kiss and tell
>Bark at her to back off (Intimidate)
>Change the subject (Deception) to what?
>Admit some of your worry, what?
>Admit to Yoshi having competition, who?
>Write in

Welcome to or back to Eclipsed Moon Quest. Opening vote will be called thirty minutes after the first vote is cast. Subsequent votes will have a 15 minute window.

In the case of deadlock I will either extend the vote, call a final destination vote, or flip a 1d# of issues in contention depending on the circumstances.

>>277206
>Tell Nui it’s complicated right now and try to leave it at that (Persuasion)

Alright, give me a dice+1d20+10 best of 3

Then writing

Rolled 8 + 10 (1d20 + 10)

>>277304

“Let’s just say things are complicated right now,” you groan as you play with your bottle on the bar before you shoot the smaller woman an upset and perhaps slightly pleading.

Nui nods with some degree of understanding, your unspoken request not to pursue this matter understood and accepted.

The two of you sit quietly for a moment, you manage to get further into your drink while Nui Takeda seems contemplative. Searching for something else to talk about for the moment to replace relationship issues and woes. After a moment, she finally latches onto something and broaches a new subject.

“So...ready for school to open backup?” she ventures with a frustrated sigh of her own.

It catches your ear, strangely.

“Is anyone ever ready to go back after something like that?” you offer as your mind drifts back to the school being overrun with possessed students and the appearance of a giant spider monster.

“I’m not, that’s for damn sure,” she huffs, “I missed everything across the street at the middle school by a solid year, how did you deal?”

At that, you can’t help but offer a nervous laugh.

“Teal, you are asking the wrong girl,” she rolls her eyes as she finds herself reminded of your formerly well known shut down.

“Fine, fine,” she sighs, “I’ll ask Jade,”

Over the course of your conversation, the front of house finally opens. The crowd, the majority of whom are strangers to you but a few souls in the crowd that you do know.

>Keep talking to Nui, about what?
>Go search for other friends who might be in the crowd?
>Head backstage, you do have that VIP pass
>Suggest to Nui that the two of you head backstage
>Write in

Good morning. Catching up now..

>>277532
Did 130 not archive?
Trying to recall if we talked to Flowers and Repost already.

>>277542
>Head backstage, you do have that VIP pass
130 is in the archive. Just head to the /qst/ part of suptg and click on the Eclipse Moon tag.

>>277542
If we did not talk to them already, I vote chat at them. Though I think we did. Coffee soon.
If we did I'd say grab Teal and touch base backstage.
>>277558
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Eclipsed+moon
There we go. Opening post had me concerned it hadnt.
>>277520
>Suggest to Nui that the two of you head backstage

Extending vote a touch.

>>277618
I'll switch my vote to
>Suggest to Nui that the two of you head backstage

Writing

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>>277577
>>277622
Thirded.

>>277206
>>Tell Nui it’s complicated right now and try to leave it at that (Persuasion)
>>Teasingly tell her that you don’t kiss and tell

Woo! Took me like a week to archive binge the whole thing and I'm ready for a live thread!

>>277665
Welcome, little late for that vote, but welcome all the same. Thoughts on the quest having done an archive binge?

>>277681
It's an awesome and criminally underrated quest. I'm hoping we manage to do more Eclipse stuff soon.

Okay, I'm back from lunch. Glad I have not missed much.

>>277959
My speed continues to suffer.

Finishing your drink, you turn to Nui with a particular intent..

“Hey, it's gonna start getting crowded up here,” you smile with a sinister yet playful intent, “Want to head backstage now?”

“Arrive at the same time?” she questions, coyly, “if I didn’t know any better I would say you were trying to throw those boys off their game, Miki,”

“Nothing of the sort,” you scoff as you skip up off a few steps from the bar, edging toward the stairs, “I just think the green room will be less crowded is all,”

Nui shakes her head, still smiling, as she steps out and follows you down the stairs and around to the back of the filling hall. The two of you are certainly out of place among the mostly darkly dressed or tshirt clad clientele and fandom of this imminent metal show.

Moving to guarded door off to the side of the stage, you catch a glimpse of your friend Hanako Minami and her roommate heading up the stairs to the balcony bar the two of you left behind. Ducking through the door, the two of you allowed through by virtue of your displayed passes.

Going wide through the backstage, the two of you take the stairs down into the hallway full of dressing and green rooms. Pausing in the well lit hallway before the room so labeled for the band you seek. The Unrepentant Damned.

Opening the door, Nui excitedly surges forward.

“Endo-kun,” her voice takes a song like quality as the stocked greenroom enters your vision though absent the two that you seek.

“Oh, Teal, right?” says the Witch of the band, whose real name yet escapes you, from the couch.

The only two in the room appear to be the band’s Black Witch and Red Devil. The witch in question sits primly on the couch with an open book, and given the last time you walked in on them it is an unexpectedly demure position for them to be in. The Devil looms over a small craft services table, their eager sifting through arrayed packaged good and treats interrupted by your arrival.

“And Miki, I think?” continues Red Devil as they lean back up from their perusal.

“Oh, hey...where’s Daigo?” the smaller girl ventures from the mouth of the door.

“Ah, Ogre, he and the Damned are still over in dressing room 2,” the witch shrugs and returns to their book, “Welcome to wait here for them,”

>Wait with the two for Yoshi and Daigo
>Wait with the two and engage in small talk, about what?
>Go check out dressing room 2
>Go check out one of the other green rooms
>Write in

>>278042
>Wait with the two for Yoshi and Daigo

>>278042
>>Wait with the two and engage in small talk, about what?
Hm, don't know much about them, need an ice breaker.
Fashion & makeup? (They do disguise well after all)

>>278042
I'll back this >>278099

>>278042
>>Wait with the two and engage in small talk, about what?
Just get to know them I guess.

Counting and writing

>>278042
>>278116
>>278099
Sounds good.

“Thanks,” you push past Nui to the smaller girl’s squeaking surprise.

For as busy as you’ve been in the past several days, it would be good to sit down for a bit away from everything that’s happening. Hell, there are some curiosities about these two you would like answered. Taking a seat on the couch alongside the Witch, you lean back and try to relax. The two of them are quite good at makeup and costuming; so much so that you didn’t immediately recognize the truth of the couple.

The Black Witch and the Red Devil are both skilled crossdressers, and you know that the two of them are a couple. Or, something. When you first met them in the guise of your street delinquent persona of the Red Eyed Beast they did both proposition you.

First one alone, then together. More to the point, you probably aren’t supposed to let on that you know about that though. Such is the game of double identities.

“So, how did the two of your meet Yoshi and Endo-kun?” you question as Nui closes the door behind you and joins you on the couch, slightly leery of the charge you seem to be taking.

There share a glance among themselves at your casual usage of Yoshi Sakurada’s first name.

“Well, I knew Endo-kun back in Junior High,” the witch brings a finger to their chin and deliberately parts and then crosses their legs.

...seriously how is this witch actually a guy.

Nui Takeda’s leery eyes shift over to the Black Witch, perhaps concerned to learn that Diago has history of some sort with another woman who conducts herself in a lascivious fashion. This probably implies that she has no idea that beneath the leather choker that the Black Witch has an adam’s apple.

“In Junior high you say?” the tiny woman questions in reply; though the witch shows no sign of picking up on any catty or defensive tone.

“Yes, but a few months into highschool,” the Red Devil saunters over to the couch, fingers smoothing out their fake pencil mustache over evenly red painted face, “He came to Witch looking for pianist among other things saying his friend was putting together a band,”

“Naturally my curiosity was piqued, and Red and I were already seeing one another and was also an accomplished musician,” the Witch closes their book, “After the four of us met up, Sakurada liked how we sounded together and we got to work in our free time,”

“Where do you guys go, anyhow?” Nui presses a bit further.

“We both go to Mugen Gakusei,” the devil crows in decided pride, “actually,”

This gives you and Nui momentary pause.

“So, I like your costume makeup,” you tell the both of them before focusing on the Devil, “How do you manage not let it run under those stage lights?”

“Alcohol activated,” the suited one shrugs, “Same as what our Ogre uses. Won’t wipe or run to water alone,”

This causes Nui to turn an uncharacteristic shade of red herself beneath her own tanned foundation. Perhaps you’ll ask after that later.

>>278678

Conversation continues pleasantly, the two noticeably avoiding hitting on the two of you while here. There are a few obvious theories or lead ins to that, but you let those thoughts to rest. You manage to learn a bit more of their makeup techniques and about them.

The door eventually opens to the sight of Diago Endo, in full paint and regalia as the Ogre. He seems perhaps a touch embarrassed when Nui kips up from the couch to greet him, but as he passes into the room someone else falls into view.

Yoshi Sakurada stands in both guise and character as his stage persona of The Damned. Skull painted face, white wig, black straight jacket with hanging straps, and dark bondage pants with criss crossed chains and straps hanging loosely between the legs. He cuts an imposing figure, save for how well you like to think you know the person beneath.

>Passively greet Yoshi, don’t make a big deal of being here, he has a show to do
>You want to talk to Yoshi privately, before the show...though about why and about what?
>Mirror Nui’s familiar and enthusiastic greeting of Daigo with Yoshi, because you’re a tease.
>Write in

>>278684
>Passively great Yoshi

>>278684
>>Passively greet Yoshi, don’t make a big deal of being here, he has a show to do
Well, I guess this is what I get for being gone all morning. Missed a bunch of Artemis.

>>278684
>Passively greet Yoshi, don’t make a big deal of being here, he has a show to do

>>278684
Passive is good, don't want to harsh is grim vibe before the show. Maybe a wink the others don't see.

Counting and writing

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Conscripted to retrieve ice cream from elsewhere for reasons of father's day.

Delay on next update. Please feel free to chat among yourselves.

>>278822
...that wasn't the parfait image I was looking for...oh well it serves a good purpose all the same.

Ice Cream chicanery canceled. Writing

You don’t jump up to greet Yoshi like Nui is still greeting Daigo. Not just because it isn’t your style, even wrapped in the guise of Miki, but because Teal has given into a perhaps possessive and overly sugary display of her long pent up and diverted affection and feelings for the larger boy and it borders on sickening.

No, you offer a calm and wordless nod to Yoshi as he enters the room. Beneath his makeup, his eyes widen briefly in surprise that you’re here. Offering a nod in return, he moves past you to grab a bottle of water off the crafts table.

“Thank you for coming, again,” he says and the room settles into a routine of conversation and preparation as the muffled and distant house music makes its way through the walls.

To your surprise the Witch and Devil head to the door.

“Where are you guys off to?” questions Ogre.

“Just wishing luck to a friend before they go on for their set,” Devil grins and Witch snickers.

You’d rather not think of what the two of them are up to right now as you get off the couch to make room for Teal and Ogre together.

Yoshi is where you saw him in this room yesterday, leaning against the back wall. There is a certain amount of tension evident to you in him…

>Talk to him briefly, and go catch the start of the show
>Talk to him for a while, miss the start of the show
>Sit here quietly until the show starts
>Sit here quietly until their set starts
>Write in

& if talking to him

>What do you want to Talk to Yoshi about?

>>279153
>>Talk to him briefly, and go catch the start of the show
Wish him a good show, and to enjoy dragging things to hell.

>>Write in
Maybe glance to see where his manager is,

>>What do you want to Talk to Yoshi about?
Excited to catch the show, apologize if we are messing with his vibe as he's in character.

>>278846
But is there still icecream of some sort?
>>279153
>Talk to him briefly, and go catch the start of the show
Good luck, have fun!

writing shortly. dinner.

no icecream

Well, you don’t want to rattle him...walking across the room, you lean against the wall next to him. Offering a brief smile, you straighten your face as you’re met with the indifferent mask of his hellish and socially unnerving persona.

It’s a stark contrast to the more open exchange happening a few feet away on the green room’s couch.

“I’m really excited to catch your show tonight,” you begin and wonder about all his still unanswered questions and how undecided you are on whether or not you’ll answer them, “I didn’t want to shake you up while you’re trying to be in character,”

“Thanks,” he nods and takes a drink of water, perhaps unsure of what else to say himself.


There is a quiet between the two of you. And you again feel anxious, but now is not the time for any of the topics that bring you anxiety. Not the nature of what you are and have become. Not the matter of your feelings for him and his for you. Not that he isn’t the only person to put a weight on your heart. Now isn’t the time for any of that.

“So, I’m gonna go catch the start of the show,” you smile again, “When you’re up, have fun dragging people down to hell,”

“It’s not about fun,” his voice turns to the characteristic harshness of his appearance, though marred by a contradictory smirk.

Your eyes scold him for so briefly breaking character as you bid good luck to Daigo as well and a a wave to Nui, explaining that you’re going to catch the start of things. She is reticent to head back out there so soon, but says she’ll catch you later as she continues her own conversation with the large boy in blue. Apparently upset with him regarding something having to do with his body paint? Not something you were paying too much attention too.

Up the stairs and around the prepared instruments now being handled by the stage crew one last time, you return to the front of house and find it busy and on the edge of excitement. Casting a glance about the room you take it in.

You catch a sight of the two girls from Zodiac, nicknamed Ringo and Niji, and breath a sigh of relief that you aren’t wearing a face they would recognize tonight. Additionally you see the familiar groupies that trail Malefic Black cluttered on the edge of the balcony bar upstairs.

As the lights darken and the MC takes the stage to announce the evenings bands, you spy Hanako in the VIP section of the balcony, practically jittering in excitement. With another sweep you spy her roommate, Hisako Ito, in her own place of excitement down on the main floor. Stalking the edge of what will no doubt be the mosh pit. Not that you’re dressed for the mosh pit right now.

>Find a quiet place to sit and enjoy the show and watch the room
>Find a place to dance, far back from the pit
>Go up and talk to Hanako before the first band plays
>see if you can talk to Hisako before the pit starts
>...go change
>Write in

>>279701
>>Go up and talk to Hanako before the first band plays
Someone we know that knows the face we're where, might as well be social.

>>277769
Most excellent. May I ask your favorite moment and character from the quest?

Hell, lets ask that of everyone so far.

>>279701
>Go up and talk to Hanako before the first band plays

>>279701
>Go up and talk to Hanako before the first band plays
Ditch the mosh for now, we've had our Ito bonding.

>>279734
I'm a crazy person, so I like GENTLEMAN BEAR, the BEAR that was a GENTLEMAN. Along with us beating the crap out of a bear.
On a more serious note, I know it's recent, but the Catacombs scene was really good.

>>279734
Kitten's Day Out has always been a favorite, but the almost going Ghost Rider as the Beast during the Tokyo Tower Crisis was also fun (really wished we had a bike chain during that sequence).

>>279701
>>279722
>>279745
I can back the Hanako vote.
>>279755
Was some good fun there.
>>279734
Enjoy the rescue moments. Overt, like spooking Jewel Thief off of Keiko, and covert, like taking out the tank of shadow at Venus' concert and purifying the system at the Damned's concert.

>>279701
>>Go up and talk to Hanako before the first band plays
We've got a lot of ooc info on her that we need to find out ic

>Favorite moment
Probably either us initially embracing our dark side and past self, or the vision where our Id remerged with us

Writing momentarily

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20 KB GIF

>>279734
The first time out as Eclipse will always have a special place for me. Everyone was fully aboard the Princess No train, skipping school and snubbing stones and mooncats alike, but then we pulled into Aiha in Trouble Station and piled right out.

The coming update will be the last one of the night, I might continue tomorrow. Thrones time is upon me, and then Penny Dreadful.

>>279970
So I should save the peach halves and peach liqueur for another time?

>>280066
decidedly so.

You’re still a touch surprised by how Hanako chose to dress tonight. Normally she never goes near outfits the faintest bit tight. To say nothing of ever going out with intentionally runny makeup. Struggling through the crowd and up the stairs to the balcony bar, you duck into the sectioned off VIP area thanks to your pass...actually.

That may be what struck you as odd from down there, what is she doing in here?

Approaching your friend from behind you grant a brief shout to the right before pitching back and coming up on Hanako’s left to your amusement and her quickly amused surprise.

Actually, it lingers in your thoughts at how playful you’re being.

“Flowers! Hey,” you chime in good cheer.

“Miki!” she responds again, “I didn’t see you when we got inside,”

“Yeah, well I was seeing a friend downstairs,” you shrug, “Are you excited for the show tonight?”

“Entirely,” she says with a certain giddy energy, “So, who were you seeing?”

“Well, I was seeing a friend from school,” you snicker, “but Teal was seeing the guy I was talking about earlier,”

“Oh? Will I see the fallout of this at the afterparty?”

“Totally,” you smile, “Say, how’d you get into the VIP area?”

She turns and flashes a pass similar to your own but with different color. The house lights darken fully as the spots and the trio of Malefic Black take the stage.

“I met someone last night who said I was an undiscovered talent,” she beams and turns to face the stage, “They got me a pass!”

You watch where her eyes fall on the stage, front and right toward the white clad form of Malefic Black’s frontman. Her eyes shine with a decided adoration, whilst your own can only muster a sudden concern.

Eclipsed Moon Quest Episode 131
Pause or End?
I’ll know in the morning.

>>280189
Have a good night!

>>280189
>only muster a sudden concern.
Cue dramatic key. Thanks!

So we know to at least be worried about someone around here tagging her as talent, wonder if her interest in Malefic Black's frontman will jog some thoughts with us to make the connection between Flowers and Black Moon.

Eclipsed Moon Quest Episode 131 Resume

Music explodes from the stage as the trio known as Malefic Black begins their near to operatic story in song of distant worlds, crystal monoliths, dragons, betrayal, death, and hope. To you, who know the truth of these dreams filtered into songs, they are a saga of both your family’s past and a future that now will never be.

That future averted, those who in another age lived as the Clan of the Black Moon are innocents here, both those on the stage and the four girls on the other side of the balcony. Echoes of a future deterred instead fuel their music and creative passion…

Though perhaps that is not all that has been inspired.

You stand beside your friend, Hanako Minami, as her face and seemingly her heart melt before the riff in chord and song. Beneath the balcony bar you wait in the crowd below writhes in dance a bit back from the stage and in full on violent mosh pit at the foot of the stage. In the dark touched by spotlight and black light you can see amid that violence a mane of glowing white.

You are Mikage Chiba. And tonight you came out to see a show.

>Quietly enjoy this set alongside her
>Ask her if she likes Malefic Black’s music
>Undiscovered talent?
>Leave her to the balcony
>Write in

(half hour voting window from first vote as I step out to grab some lunch)

>>281964
>Undiscovered talent?
>Ask her if she likes Malefic Black’s music
Also take a couple pictures, and get a shot of Flowers too. Occurs to me we can verify Malefic Black and what we are likely to start to suspect about Hanako with Dad.

>>281988
>>Undiscovered talent?
we could make a fair bet what that means, but I am curious as to what she was told.

>>281964
>Ask her if she likes Malefic Black’s music
>Undiscovered talent?

Alright. Writing

“Undiscovered talent?” you ask through the din of the room while leaning against the railing.

She shifts back, landing one hand on her hips as the other falls to her lips in a feigned gesture of demureness. Rather, she pops her not insignificant hip to the side as if to strike a more provocative pose.

“A talent agent said I cut the figure of a traditional western diva and invited me to come in for a studio audition,” she says with no doubt in pride, “And apparently I nailed it,”

“What? Congratulations!” you offer but then feel a niggling worry of doubt, “So, what agency?”

“Ellis Media,” she explains proudly before being suddenly distracted by the riff turn in song for Green Dragon.

Turning back toward the stage, and sounding off with an excited squeal.

Ellis Media, part of Ellis Unlimited...a front of the enemy. You’ll need to keep an eye on Hanako after this for certain.

“Say, you’re really into Malefic Black,” you ask after her outburst.

“Yeah,” she calls from over her shoulder, transfixed upon the stage below through the set as her voice takes a wistful tone, “I heard them yesterday and...and they just spoke to me,”

“Oh?” also concerning.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she sighs and relaxes against the railing.

You need answers, but you’re going to pursue this subtlely.

“Well, let’s get a selfie with the band in the background!” you cheer out to her and sidle up alongside her.

She ascents, giddily, as she turns away from the stage and the two of you raise your phones and snatch a few pictures. There is a suspicion you have, and maybe dad can help you put it to rest later.

>Press on the matter of Ellis Media (persuasion)
>Enjoy the show with Hanako, she seems happy
>What about those four…
>Head down and dance!
>Talk about something else with Hanako, what?
>Write in

>>282326
>>Press on the matter of Ellis Media (persuasion)

>>282326
>Press on the matter of Ellis Media (persuasion)
>Enjoy the show with Hanako, she seems happy

Rolled 7 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

Writing, after you give me dice+1d20+10 vs the above roll. Best of 3, 1s and 20s wild

Rolled 15 + 10 (1d20 + 10)

>>282450

Writing because I gotta write.

“So, Ellis Media, they represent the headliners to tonight’s show?” you question, already knowing the truth.

“Mhmm, actually it was The Unrepentant Damned’s manager who spoke to me,” she says giddily.

Kalunite. One of the enemy’s New Shintennou. Mockeries of life, resurrected constructs of negative energy from among the ancient dead among the royal guard of a forgotten kingdom of Earth’s distant past. He had been using Yoshi’s band to collect negative emotions and anger. What could his ends be with Hanako?

She seems...confident now. Is that his game, to build her and then break her.

“Well, I hope things go well,” you nod, “Just remember how fast the turnaround can be in entertainment,”

“I’m not some little teeny bopper,” she scoffs and laughs, “Besides, my big goal here isn’t to be a star,”

She drapes her arm across your shoulder. Even in the fashion circle the two of you usually find yourself bickering, but there is something about her mood that you recognize all too well. Something that breaks down anyone’s negativity for a time but can lead to an even greater fall.

“I want to meet him,” she points down to the stage.

To the boy with white hair, white stage armor, and a guitar in his hands. Singing as though he were being chased by death itself as the song races through the betrayals of a phantom.

Byakuya Hoseki, who in an averted timeline would have grown up Prince Demande of the Black Moon Clan exiled to planet Nemesis.

She isn’t concerned with success or failure in the realm of music. She isn’t after fame and fortune. Something that breaks down anyone’s negativity for a time but can lead to an even greater fall.

It can be beautiful. It can be horrible. It can be one sided. It can be mutual. It can be apocalyptic.

You know it. You grapple with it. You thought for the longest time that you didn’t deserve it.

It’s love.

Though, she is happy. And you won’t undercut that tonight. So you enjoy the rest of this set alongside Flowers. She is so into it, already singing along with the song and chorus as she presses and leans against the balcony railing. In this she isn’t alone, as the other girls you noticed earlier also cry out in joy to the music.

As Malefic Black closes their set, the MC again takes the stage. The three of the four assembled women on the balcony hurry to the stairs while one follows at a far more sedate pace.

“Say, Miki,” she questions beside you as the stage crew switches equipment behind the speaking master of ceremonies, “Think I should try to introduce myself now or wait for the after party?”

Right, she said she was going to the after party…

>Yeah, you should head to their greenroom
>Naw, patience girlfriend

&

>Stay on the balcony for Yoshi’s set
>(if telling her to go to the greenroom) go with Flowers
>Head down to the main floor to dance
>Try watching from the backstage
>Write in

>>282659
Forgot my trip, but hey the in thread IP ID is super convenient, isn't it.

>>282659
>Naw, patience girlfriend
>Head down to the main floor to dance

>>282659
>Naw, patience girlfriend

Writing

>>282659
>Naw, patience girlfriend
>Stay on the balcony for Yoshi’s set
How well do we know the Black Moon story? Enough to figure why he keeps honing in on us and know of Esmeralda's unrequited interests?

>>282738
If so, we should plan on being out of his sight more aggressively than we already would have given his advances.

>>282744
No anon, not Esmeralda. It's Hanako/Flowers, a totally different person.

“Naw,” you draw out your initial response, “Patience, girlfriend. The afterparty will run late,”

She considers. After a moment of internal tension she relaxes with a long exhale as she watches the other four girls below push their way through the crowd to the backstage door.

“Yeah, I don’t want to seem too eager,” she concedes as she sits down in the VIP section, “Want to get a drink?”

“No, I’m gonna go dance a bit for the next band,” you smile a bit, perhaps coyly, perhaps relaxed yourself that she took your advice, “See you after the show,”

Skipping downstairs, and into the crowd, you find somewhere far enough back from the organically forming and breaking mosh pit area before the stage. The house music dies after a moment, and one by one in certainly the Unrepentant Damned make their arrival onstage.

Lacking a need to vent, you dance among the less violent. Still, even if not fighting you are surrounded by people dancing with certain aggression and studs and spikes where necessary or comfortable to place. The room is hot as you cast your eyes and ears to the stage and watch the white skull furrowed in concentration.

The graveled voice. The story of escape from damnation. Tuning mortal pop through the fires of hell into something new. They do not disappoint in that. There is an ebb and flow of energy in the room, nothing supernatural but entirely human to bask in.

Casting your eyes a bit wider as you move, as you dance among the crowd and exult in certain catharsis, you glimpse at Teal watching from within the backstage wings.

While a repeat of last night’s set, when they reach Grey Hair you pause again. Hearing it again, even amidst a different crowd and with a different energy behind it stills you. Stirs you.

The set comes to an end, the crowd cheers for an encore, for more. As ever you find yourself uncertain of what you want next. Pushing through the crowd and out of the former moshpit is Hisako Ito, Flower’s roommate. Last night you fought her at this show wearing a different face. As she passes you, she seems at a certain peace while pulling her wild mane of white back and up despite being heavily drenched from her time in the pit.

The show is over, but as you look back to the stage as sound and chord break anew over the call for more, you realize perhaps that your uncertain night has only just begun.

Eclipsed Moon Quest Episode 131
End

Thanks for the thread, QST, sorry we didn't get quite so far.

>>282900
It was fine.

>>282900
Thanks art!

>>282900
Is good stuff, glad to have caught it!

Holy shit I return. I'll need to archive binge to remember where we are, but I return!

>>284275
Welcome back!

>>284275
So, what do you think we should work toward creating first? Naru gun charm, Knight buffs, Venus healing, something to talk Sasha into wearing, or some other fun?

>>286017
Hmmmm. Well Venus healing is Wish tier magic which is like 10 levels away. And I'm a bit behind so I'm not sure what you mean by Naru Gun Charm, so barring that being something like a Outlaw Star caster-type weapon for Naru, I'd say Sasha magic items>Knight Buffs>Gun Charm>Venus Healing in that order.

>>286427
I think the Venus item idea was something with Heal tuned to her for treatment, or a specialized item to target her issue since items can have different effects than spells. The Naru suggestion I believe was based on the Daybreak Arrows spell we picked up at Tier up. Option to give her some effectiveness, was thought of larger offering but we don't know who to trust at PIT beyond her at this point.

>>286502
So far as crafting in general, I think rings and amulets would be a good idea; no one would give them a second glance, and stealths important for anyone who doesn't have identity obscuring magic.

Besides crafting, what are our plans? I think we should get Koitos answer about our offer, and reveal the truth to Saori, in that order. We should probably explain stuff to Yoshi too, and make him an offer to become one of our Knights.

Then we've got the shadow doppelgängers running around, and we should find out IC about Flowers and the mess she's getting into. More generally, we should try and find out if there's some reason so many counterparts of the Black Moon Clan, us included, being drawn to each other now.

>>286427
If Sasha is set on doing things his way, we should at least see if we can set him up with a disguise, and hopefully some AC.

I'd like to bump Naru up the list though, we don't know how deep Ellis' fingers are getting into PIT with their direct access now and shadow capabilities. Giving her an ace to keep up her sleeve seems like a real smart move. As an item we should be able to setup a enchants X amount per day, rather than a single casting of X, so she can spread it out or apply it to others' ammo.

>>286502
Sounds right.

>>286686
Agreed. Part of me still wishes for a Saori Knight, but I guess she'll need to take the long way around through training now. Mikage might take some convincing on Yoshi, she's on the "shielding him from things" side of it right now, though the only hesitation I have is that we've learned that knowing who we are quickly unravels the secrets of other too. But he's not going to let things drop, we keep holding back and I'll wager he'll look for other outlets get to the bottom of things eventually.

>>288374

Imagine, if you will, a moment in time in which Yoshi seeks the consult of the extra suspiciously acting Saori Umeki on what's going on with Mikage.

That said if you don't want to pursue Yoshi as a Knight, I planned on making sure there would always be two willing options in quest as long as a Knighthood had yet been handed out.

>>288848
If that's the case with Yoshi then I'm not sure what to do with him yet, but we should definitely give him some sort of explanation relatively soon.

Also Saori is absolutely hilarious.

>>288848
>Imagine, if you will, a moment in time in which Yoshi seeks the consult of the extra suspiciously acting Saori Umeki on what's going on with Mikage.
This idea amuses me.

>That said if you don't want to pursue Yoshi as a Knight, I planned on making sure there would always be two willing options in quest as long as a Knighthood had yet been handed out.
Yoshi is still in the running for me. I respect Sasha's stance, and when it comes to training up more Royal Guard, having someone that dedicated to training would be a boon both in helping train others and hopeful inspiring others to work as hard.

Still kinda hope that the Shitennou can help train Sasha's sister. If their spirits can help empower soul melds, maybe she can help him the same way.
Or Boris.
Bear with soulmelds, muahaha.

>>292208
Technically she is a Ghostwalk Ghost which is an Outsider which opens the door to Eberron Object possession or channeling rules

>>292535
Everyone always forgets about Magic of Incarnum and Ghostwalk. It's nice to see someone doing something with them.

>>292565
On Eberron why would you summon your Celestial Mount as a mount instead of using it to temporarily make a kick ass sword? Actually I think I need to double check those rules

File: ghost punch.jpg (20 KB, 236x334)

20 KB JPG

>>292535
This feels appropriate.

>>294467
>>292709
So he could be punching with his sister or his sister will be punching through him?

>>298911
Yes.

Unrelated thought; does anyone else think this quest should have a Tropes page?

>>298979
Most quests over 100 should. Can you imagine one for PGQ?

>>298979
I'm not sure anything should have Tropes page. If you were to attenpt it, I'd suggest after the current arc. Too much in the air.

>>298979
No, if someone wants to get the gist of the quest and what has happened they should just archive binge to see what's going on and lurk their first thread.

>>300315
Not sure a full binge is needed, certainly helps, but I think we are more than happy to answer questions about what is going on too. Or at least I am.
Probably the most important thing to learn from lurking or a binge, is the general flow of things.

>>288848
Is no one going to ask or spitball who could be the other willing option for Kunzite.

>>304105
Current-day Prince Diamande