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>>1874191

Interlude: Decisive Action

He sits in his office, the picture of relaxed posture in the high backed chair and crystal tumbler in his hand. Amber liquor swirls in that cup, he moves to drink it, but pauses. Setting it down on a thin paper coaster on his desk, he spins in his chair to observe the sprawling city before him. It twinkles in the night.

At this late hour, there isn’t another soul in the building. Sometimes, he suspects this is true during business hours ever since…

With certainty, he regrets what he found. He regrets the adventure he pursued in the leisure his success and wealth wrought. It itches beneath the skin on his arm, faded scars that still remind him of where he finds himself today.

Doctor Johnathan Ward Chau stands to watch the city, and notices that one of the titling windows has been opened. There is no urgent worry at the realization he isn’t alone, before he actually notices the presence of whomever has come calling for him anyway, he accepts that this has come. When he notices the man in the caped dining jacket, his heart does skip a beat.

“Of course...Hiddenite always just appears,” he says in a tired voice, though not because of the late hour, “I don’t think he’s ever used the window,”

The face of the intruder is tight, Doctor Chau can tell that even despite the reflective lensed mask over his eyes. He had expected this figure or his supposed beloved for years now, more so in the past few weeks since coming to Japan directly. Since things spiralled from his grasp.

His arm darts toward the desk, perhaps to some contents in the drawer or a hidden signal for security. He never reaches it as a rose pierces the cuff of his sleeve and pulls him down, pinning itself into the lacquered wood. With a grunt, the wealthy philanthropist goes slack, admitting defeat.

“There are things I want to know,” growls the known thief and vigilante figure rarely seen but known far and wide as Tuxedo Mask, “That you know, that you’re a part of...starting with Hiddenite,”

Crossing his arm with his free hand, the defeated man picks up the crystal tumblr and drains it sharply. Savoring, briefly, the smooth flavor. Thinking about how this is how it comes to a head. This is how it ends.

He knew he wouldn’t be so lucky…

There was a flash of steel, he watched as the cane barely interrupted the blade. Tuxedo Mask looked to the side along the line of the sword, into the eyes of one of those who had been clashing with his daughters. The man he had asked about.

Hiddenite.

Wrenching the rose from his wrist, Chau managed to flee the room amid the flurry that followed. Whatever happened next, he would live to see it through.

Interlude End

>>1874192

Quest Start

It’s still dark when you come to.

You lay on top of your bed, still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Sheets and blankets twisted beneath your fetal curled pose and at points beneath your grip. Uncurling, you roll and sit up.

4:59 in red numerals glowing in the dark from your bedside clock. No alarm beaten today, you hadn’t had the time to set it last night. Through it all you feel both rested, but lethargic. More than that your throat is dry and your lips feel cracked.

She took this from you, you sister’s attempt to heal you stole your burdens and most debilitating experience of trauma, and now you have it back. Without the context of your experiences, your doubt and fear seemed to have actually been a stabilizing force to her...aside from the connection it garnered her to the enemy. To the source of Chaos.

Are you again beset by the chaos taint now that your guilt so suffused with it returns? That is the kind of question you are nowhere near ready to answer yet this morning as you stumble up and to the bathroom.

The hall is quiet. The house is quiet. You are quiet despite your uncertain and bleary stumbling.

When you finally grasp the counter and flinch at the light, you stare at yourself in the mirror. It isn’t unfamiliar, maybe it’s the most familiar you’ve looked in days. The face looking back is your own, more so than the time you looked into the mirror and saw fangs after a rather involved nightmare.

After a quick test, you definitely still see the phantasmal fangs.

Running the water, you splash your face, taking care to also slake your mundane thirst and tend to the cracking and choking dryness of your morning. Though you still feel off.

>Go check on Koyomi
>Morning workout should set you right if you’re still feeling a bit under
>Breakfast calls to you
>Its early, but you need to call someone, who?
>It may be early for him, but wake dad and complain about the return of your panic attacks
>Locate Luna, inform about the return of your panic attacks
>Write in

>>1874196
>>Go check on Koyomi

>>1874205
Seconded.

Writing

If this is how you feel, you worry as you grope for your toothbrush, what about your little sister? After cleaning yourself up a bit, you walk with more certainty away from the mirror and across the hallway to your sister’s room. Opening into the darkness you first hear her, though you can see quite clearly without hitting the light, as she snores into the oblivion of this time on the cusp of dawn.

She had been waking early, as you tend to do. Though here she is in one of her sets of bunny themed pajamas, asleep and twisted beneath and above her covers with arms spread wide and legs bowed taking up the maximum amount of space on her bed.

Oblivious and innocent in sleep.

That’s a good thing, you suppose. Though all told you would rather know how she’s doing, or how she feels.

Should you take this moment at face value and allow her to continue to, knowing full well that she may return to her habits of just staying that way, sleep? Should you wake her to gauge how she is doing that you can better understand your own state by comparison to what has again changed in her? Or should you wake her to continue toward working to break her of bad habits and make her join you in a morning run before breakfast?

Decisions decisions decisions.

Your scrutiny of your little sister is total as you crouch alongside her bed and even with her and glare at her a moment; through eyes unsure if they should trust what she displays now on the surface. Surely things run deeper with her like they always do!?

Or...is this not about her? Do you want to tell her what you took back from her and what it's already doing to you. Are you trying to seek comfort and absolution, then let her know that you’re jealous of how well she handled the impulses that in part drove you to your worst self…

>Wake the imouto gently
>Wake the imouto, loudly
>Leave the imouto to her dreams
>write in

&

If waking
>She’s joining you for a morning run, no choice
>You just want to talk to her to see how she’s doing
>You want to talk to her to figure out how you’re doing…
>You’re giving her a choice about the morning run
>You declare its breakfast time

If not waking
>Search her desk, her drawings may hold a clue
>Might as well try for a morning run and seeing if that clears your head
>You want breakfast, it’s early for it but you want it now
>Write in

>>1874244
>>Wake the imouto, loudly
>You just want to talk to her to see how she’s doing

>>1874244
>Leave the imouto to her dreams
>Try to nap more
We shall study her ways.
Talk when she wakes.

Came back to see this interesting deadlock.

I'll leave voting open a bit longer then come back.

>>1874244
>wake imouto loudly

Writing

>>1874191
New thread finally! Woot! Not sure how much I'll be able to participate though, unfortunately.

Well, whatever you do, you shouldn’t do it halfway. In the past Koyomi has proven rather resistant to more gently arranged attempts to rouse her from her sleep. That means you’ll have to do it big.

And loud.

Standing up, you lean across her bed and wrench the curtains of her window wide. There isn’t enough light yet to matter in that way, but it is part of the tableau you are trying to set. Grabbing for the blankets that lace around, beneath, and above parts of her prone form, you pull and offer a not so gentle shout as she is spun amid surprising tumble.

“GOOD MORNING!” you declare as the double swirl of tie bound pigtails settles in the space before you, and dizzy eyes become visible astride her surprised yelp.

“What?” she finally gurgles worried surprise as her eyes adjust to the dim room and search it for answers before they settle on you.

Just as you drop yourself to sit on the bed besides the untangled mass of your sister.

“Mikage-nee?” she questions in the confusion of waking before pouting and looking upset, “Mikage-nee! What’s the big idea, I was sleeping!”

“I know, I was just being impatient,” you brush off her complaint about your interruption, “I wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing after yesterday. No weird dreams or anything?”

She pauses in whatever complaint she was about to unleash, looking thoughtful as she slowly extricates herself and sits next to you on her own bed.

“No, I don’t remember any dreams,” she concludes softly, “Things are like before I settled your panic in the nurse’s office again,”

That both relieves you and worries you. Relief that your sister is back to herself more fully. Worry that so are you. Well, nothing to it now.

Reaching over and hugging the smaller girl, and ruffling her still morning bound hair, you smile.

“Good,” you affirm and just hold your sister for a bit, “That’s good,”

She seems surprised by your hug, though accepting of it, before noticing your clothes in the glinting dawn peaking through the window.

“Mikage-nee, did you sleep in your clothes last night?” she observes through the waning dark.

“Yeah,” you note without an outright lie, “I went right to sleep, everything that happened was a bit exhausting,”

“Well, alright,” she nods before shielding her eyes from the rising sun and looking at her alarm clock, “Hmm, I think I still have time,”

“Time for what?”

She glares at you, at the incredulity of your query.

“To get some more sleep!” she declares and wrenches her blankets from her lap as she becomes a tightly curled steam bun of person and cotton.

Lifting the edge of the blanket, you look her square in the face.

“You’re already up, you might as well-”

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>>1874340

Her cheeks are puffed up and her eyes are pleading. With a sigh you lower the lifted edge of blanket and return her to being a covered mound on the bed, standing and at least getting yourself going for the day. That she’s behaving like this puts you at ease. It’s normal, for her anyway, and that grants you certain and near absolute peace of mind.

Certain and absolute; no lingering worries about yourself what so ever.

As you are in mid change for your intended run, you pause. Your little sister is onto something perhaps? Just this once, after setting an alarm, what harm could it do.

Pulling the twisted covers of your bed back, you sink down into the bed whose total use you eschewed last night in a sports bra and running shorts. Not as comfortable as pajamas but it should do for a short nap.

Just once, pampering yourself couldn’t hurt.

Just another twenty or thirty minutes of rest before you start the day already begun.

An hour, tops.

-

Later, as it had turned out, you still got a run in this morning before school. And Koyomi joined you.

It helped that your destinations for school this mid week day were adjacent to one another.

Some time after returning to bed, you rose with a sharp worry and stared at your clock. In stereo, as Koyomi shouted similar from her nearby room, it was declared that the two of you were individually late.

After a brief conflict over who got to use the restroom first, and a brief cooperation to assemble lunch to take with the two of you and breakfast to munch on the way, the two of you were off like a shot. Stumbling in the foyer as you slipped on your shoes and ran off into the morning on long strides and long arching swings of your school bags.

As the two schools came into view, you had to think fast as you could hear the decisive bell. When the school gates would be closed but not the last bell before class began. Koyomi had fallen a bit away from you but then veered back toward you in a crouching jump.

“Mikage-nee, boost!” she declared in request and you found yourself running on automatic as you cupped your hands at a sudden halting of your run whilst your suddenly airborne sister sprang off of that provided platform and over the junior high school wall.

Did she just?! What!

She didn’t land comfortably, from the sound of things, but now it was your time to act!

>Make a last second sprint and dash for the closing gate of the high school
>Duck away somewhere out of sight and abuse your magical inclination to shadow slide through the wall
>Leap the wall with no assist, show Koyomi how it’s done even if she can’t see you
>Wait, slow down and calm down, you’ve been caught up in the moment. Why not just go play hooky today?
>If it looks like you won’t make it, make a show of trying to make it and then plead whatever teacher is on gate duty today to just let you in.
>Write in

>>1874344
>Make a last second sprint and dash for the closing gate of the high school
>If it fails, then plead whatever teacher is on gate duty today to just let you in.

>>1874344
>>Leap the wall with no assist, show Koyomi how it’s done even if she can’t see you

>>1874344
>Make a last second sprint and dash for the closing gate of the high school
>If it fails, then duck away somewhere out of sight and abuse your magical inclination to shadow slide through the wall

>>1874344
>Make a last second sprint and dash for the closing gate of the high school
I wonder when Mikage will get that haircut

>>1874344
>Wait, slow down and calm down, you’ve been caught up in the moment. Why not just go play hooky today?
Started the game that way, good way to resume.

Writing.

Rolled 11, 20, 15 = 46 (3d20)

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The gate ahead is closing, and as you regain your composure and balance from rocketing your sister over the wall of her junior high school, you explode toward your own. While you are a wonderful acrobat, you poor form for a runner, but this isn’t about training or form.

It’s about pure adrenaline and speed. With the thunderous impact and push off of each leaping step other options of what could have been flash before your vision. Leaping over the wall with ease on your own. Abusing your magic to find a quiet spot and slip through between the shadows. Simply turning away and with speed heading to any arcade of choice to play hooky.

No.

You are committed to this now and you’ll see it through. Any of those are sound options if you fail, but you know that you won’t. You know that you will make it through, that’s the trick to success; believing without thought.

The teacher sees you coming, you believe he’s the theater teacher and advisor for the drama club. An older stoic man, a master of deadpan features but perfect memorization who demands of his students more expression in the delivery of one liners that he is rumored to have given himself in more than a decade of being an educator. He must have seen your sister sail over the opposite wall as you yourself now gain on his position where he steps across the threshold himself. That motorized gate already at the halfway point across it’s path to closure.

As you hit the back end of the gate, you can gauge you are moving far quicker than the slow moving bars of metal, gaining as it only has a quarter of the way left to cross. Landing on your heel, you pivot and slide through, your trailing twintails slipping past before the loud clunk of closure finishes behind you.

Though you’ve no time to gloat or any respite. Through to the first floor bay of shoe lockers, you are a blur as you trade off for your slippers and dash through the mostly empty halls to the surprise of stragglers. This exhilaration. This rush. Is this how your baby sister lives every day of her life?

>>1874648

There is something exquisite here, maybe not something you would do everyday, but it is still triumphant. Up the stairs, around two corners, into the classroom and to your desk.

You are sitting there, your breathing calm and steady from the moment you sit down, a good fifteen seconds before the final bell tolls and you are free from the laser focus of the moment. A few of your classmates, you friends, look at you with confusion and concern before going back to setting up their desks for the day as you homeroom teacher enters the room. Taking stock you see it's a full room today. Everyone is back to classes, even Ginja-san is back and offers you a nod when he catches you taking notice.

Class goes by quickly. With no pressing business business, as there have been no changes to the current situation to your knowledge since last night, there is no pending war council at lunch. Though your knights, spymaster, and the Sailor soldier of the Sun do glance over to you as they gather their things together.

>Well, your war council group has become routine, why change
>See if Yoshi is free for lunch
>You feel like eating alone somewhere, excuse yourself
>Follow Ginja-san as he leave the room, you had been meaning to talk to him while he was absent
>Write in

>>1874655
>>Well, your war council group has become routine, why change

>>1874655
>Follow Ginja-san as he leave the room, you had been meaning to talk to him while he was absent

Haha time for my favorite Gai

>>1874655
>See if Yoshi is free for lunch
>Follow Ginja-san as he leave the room, you had been meaning to talk to him while he was absent
Make it a lunch with the guys, catch up with Gai and catch Yoshi up on him, if Estra is willing to share that.

>>1874655
>Well, your war council group has become routine, why change

Writing

As desks come together, you make no move to stop them from doing so and guide yourself and your chair into a comfortable spot as Midori Mori, Kairi Osaka, Keiko Sugimoto, and Saori Umeki coalesce into what those used to the former status quo of the past couple of years must see as completely weird.

No matter, this gathering has become habit forming. And it isn’t like there’s any new business to speak of, so today it’s just friends being friends.

You are chided by Kairi-chan on your earlier entry, given that being late is a bit unlike you. Making no apologies for it, why would you, you note that today you tried things Koyomi’s way and went back to sleep a bit longer rather than starting your early run.

“I won’t be making a habit of it,” you promise, “Believe me,”

This in mind you make no mention of the return of your panic attacks. Not that you went into great detail about why they ended anyhow, so it shouldn’t be surprising if you have one again, right? Your poker face on that subject holds.

Saori notes, speaking in a heavy handed bit of code, that she’s going to be checking out a cafe this afternoon over by the Big Egg complex. She finishes the statement with a wink.

Midori opts to go with her, if only so she isn’t caught up in things completely alone. Her mother hen tendencies shining through as she decides she’ll tag along with your most vulnerable teammate.

Kairi has no plans per se, as the lot of you are in a bit of a holding pattern until you have a clear beat on the enemy’s next move. Keiko seems devoid of anything specific in mind either. Just as well, it’s nice to spend time with your friends as just that. Your friends.

There is a peace to it. Something worth holding onto. Something worth cherishing…

“Although,” Keiko muses as she leans back to look down behind your seat and sending a sudden and menacing shiver down your spine, “There is something I’ve been meaning to suggest,”

It has nothing to do with her intonation or expression, just a lingering worry tripped by where it could lead on the edge of your limited psychometric awareness.

What is she looking at, quick as a whip you turn and lean as well and follow where she had locked her eyes only to catch the trailing of your perhaps too long twintails drag themselves from your new field of vision. Drag themselves on the floor where they pooled and coiled as you sat.

Oh.

>>1875061

“Chiba-san,” she questions, “I have some salon coupons if you’d like to try and tame things,”

Kairi-chan leans over and hums thoughtfully at the handful of glossy paper slips. No one just happens to have those on them, as you catch a conspiratorial nod between the sometimes shining sun and your Knight.

“I really wish I could go to something like that,” announces Kairi rather obviously, “but I’m running the support group after classes break,”

You aren’t sure if this is a betrayal or a well executed assist toward your sometimes supernaturally mounting problems with your super naturally abundant pink tresses.

>A salon visit sounds like i would be nice
>No, I had other plans after school
>Write in

The lot of your split as lunch comes to a close and classes progress normally until free period looms. Today you think you’ll.

>Talk to one of your close friends/teammates. Who?
>Head over to the Junior High and check in on how your sister’s morning went
>Hang out on the roof by yourself
>See if you can find Teal and talk with her
>See if Yoshi is free
>See if Ginja-san is free
>You declared yourself friends with Mio Nomura yesterday, go see if you can find her
>Write in

>>1875070
>No, I had other plans after school
>See if Yoshi is free

Midori, did you not tell Keiko what we once talked about?
>If you have a problem, just tell me

>>1875070
>>A salon visit sounds like i would be nice
>You declared yourself friends with Mio Nomura yesterday, go see if you can find her

>>1875070
Salon sounds nice, but did we have other plans? I remember having a lot on our table, so I feel like I'm forgetting something.

>You declared yourself friends with Mio Nomura yesterday, go see if you can find her
Follow through sounds good.

Writing

“A salon visit does sound like it would be nice,” you concede and look down at the coupons, ignoring any embarrassment you may have felt not noticing that in your rush this morning you hadn't over bound your tails as you had been doing.

“I’m due and I thought you wouldn’t mind taking care of your own hair issues with company,” she explains.

The lot of you split as lunch comes to a close and classes progress normally until free period looms. And since you did have a moment you did something to rebound your buns to take up some of the slack your twintails had. Today you think you’ll seek out Mio Nomura. As the bell rings you slip off and search for the girl. Yesterday you did declare yourself friends with the girl and it’s only right you follow through and see how she’s doing.

Perhaps even remind her not to forget Kairi-chan’s support group for people recovering from supernatural forces turning them into monsters.

Well, not in such direct words.

Still her homeroom is on this floor, being that you’re in the same year, and since you got the jump on free period you find her readily in the hall exiting the classroom with some notebooks and thing held close to her chest.

To her credit she is talking to people. You may have lucked out and scared the girl away from doing anything too self destructive with herself after you interrupted her quiet and lonely self pity party.

Either way…

“Good afternoon, Omura-san,” you walk straight up to the other girl with your hands behind your back and a smile on your face, though belying an underlying nervousness you feel when a few of her classmates, loose students in the hall, and she herself stiffen at your unexpected approach.

Internally you both grouse and feel a bit apprehensive about the scene you made of things yesterday.

Mio Nomura still looks shocked after she relaxes a bit at your approach.

“Oh, Chiba-san, good afternoon,” she offers nervously, “What can I do for you today?”

“Oh, I just wanted to check up on you after everything the other-” she cuts you off by walking past you and grabbing her shoulder.

“Sure, let’s talk over here,” she, in a half panic, all but drags you away from the chokepoint at the entrance to her homeroom, toward an unoccupied stairwell.

“What do you want,” she asks in a frightened but eager tone, “Chiba-san?”

>>1875474

You pause and look her up and down, you take in her nervousness and guarded body language.

“To see how you’re holding up and how things went for you yesterday after-” she again cuts you off.

“After you dragged me through the school for everyone to see and dropped me off in front of one of the people I wanted to see even less than you after everything I did? Everything I became?” she whisper shouts between flights.

“Yes,” you nod.

She fumes silently, skin flushing in embarrassment, before she slumps where she stands.

“We talked,” she looks away and partially regains her composure, “We talked and she doesn’t hate me but didn’t know how to approach me at all,”

Ahah! You feel a swell of victory at that.

“Great!” you offer as you enjoy a prideful moment for the powers of love and friendship, “I’m genuinely happy you’re bouncing back from all of this, Nomura-san!”

“Bouncing back!?” she looks at you incredulous with energy and steam restored, “I wanted to fade into the back so people would forget about what I did, you wouldn’t even let me have that!”

The girl with the black bob cut looks halfway between screaming at you and breaking down into tears.

>You are not sorry. It needed to be done and you wish someone had done that to you or Kairi back after junior high
>Yeah, you may have gone a little overboard. Since we’re friends now, how can I make it up to you?
>Stand silently, let her get this out of her system. That is the foundation of a good friendship
>Okay, if that’s the way this is going to be you can just leave. Say that and see how she takes it
>Use a hug, you are good at them and maybe some emotionally resonant and comforting contact will help counter twisting her ear
>Write in

>>1875479
>Use a hug, you are good at them and maybe some emotionally resonant and comforting contact will help counter twisting her ear
And then:
>Yeah, you may have gone overboard but you do wish someone had done that to you or Kairi back after junior high

>>1875479
>It needed to be done and you wish someone had done that to you or Kairi back after junior high
>>Yeah, you may have gone a little overboard. Since we’re friends now, how can I make it up to you?
Something needed to be done, but we took a harsh move against it.

>>1875479
>Stand silently, let her get this out of her system. That is the foundation of a good friendship
yeah we were a little harsh, but for good reasons

>>1875534
I could combo up with the hug >>1875529 if that makes the vote easier.

>>1875591
The vote folding is appreciated and will be counted as such when we hit the thirty minutes since first vote cast mark.

Writing.

Your expression softens, but you keep your resolve firm.

“Yeah, I may have gone overboard with you,” you say with certainty and then slip into regret, “but I wish someone had done that for me or Kairi back when…”

She glares at you, in frustration and perhaps ready to break. Whether or not it is to cry or scream at you doesn’t matter, as you close the distance between you and snatch the girl up in a hug. It’s meant as a positive contact, meant to be reassuring as you offer her purchase against the all too familiar cliff you’ve faced before.

And she does cry. The ugly kind of crying that you know you’ve done a few times before recently. Her feelings, this close, are tumultuous and wrought in the peril of the past few weeks.

Guiding her down, the two of you sit at the top of the flight of stairs. She cries for a while into your shoulder as you offer words you think should be comforting.

Her sobs slow as she sniffles and takes out a few tissues from her skirt pocket.

“I really kind of hate you right now,” she says evenly through puffy eyes and stained cheeks, “I didn’t even really know you before that thing I turned into hated you, and I still don’t but right now I just, ugh!”

Her frustrated grunt hangs in the empty space above and below. You think a few people may have come in and out on other floors in the middle of all that, but no one passed you or came in on this floor. Someone, you think, is definitely smoking.

“Enough to want me dead?” you question.

“No,” she coughs, “and I don’t hate you...but I’m just fed up that you wouldn’t let me hate myself. You wouldn’t leave it alone,”

“Well, not sorry about that,” you offer quietly “is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

“You were really serious about that?” she stares at you incredulously and sort of cries and laughs at the same time.

She’s clearly not been dealing with stress well. Kairi-chan’s support group should be really good for her all things considered.

“When it comes to friendship, I’m deadly serious,” wrap an arm around her shoulder and steady her again as you nod solemnly before your eyes drift away with your own thoughts, “For the longest time I forgot how important love and friendship were. That they are the most powerful things in the world,”

>>1875921

You sit there with her a bit longer.

“I took them for granted, I forgot them,” you admit with a bit of guilt, “I treated them like something superficial and didn’t let anyone get close to me for a long time, so yeah. I’m serious about it. You get to be stuck with me caring about your wellbeing,”

She takes that in and settles into a pained dry laugh that trails off.

“Alright, I’ll accept that,” she muses to herself, “I’ll be friends with you, Mikage Chiba,”

Seeing her back to class, after she’s had the chance to clean herself up a bit in the restroom, you return to your own to finish the last period of the day. As everyone begins splitting up for their own after school plans, you catch up briefly with Kairi-chan as she has her assembly in one of the library meeting rooms; apparently Saoir is sitting in on the meeting during club time before she and Midori head over toward the complex. As a few students you recognize from the spider incident join up, you do see Mio Nomura among them. She doesn’t thank or acknowledge you with more than a look, somewhere between exasperation and appreciation.

Somehow, you feel like that’s enough for the moment. And with that you make ready to leave campus for the agreed upon work on your hair.

“Alright, let’s go take care of business,” Keiko steps up behind you after you’ve made your way down to the shoe lockers to return your slippers and hands you one of the earlier offered coupons, “I don’t just give these out, you know, and neither do they. These are reserved for repeat customers, and I only have them because our drama club makes them pretty busy around show time,”

“So, what’s the occasion for today then?” you question, briefly thinking back to a moment where you kind of wanted to bite her and Kairi’s heads off about your hair.

“Kairi and Midori both mentioned you complained about having too much hair amid your growth spurts,” she explains as you rather specifically remember a time recently when Midori did help you brush the whole of it out, “And you know, there was that whole thing about you bringing me back from the dead?”

She stares at you, a hand on her hip, with an expectant aura of certainty in her reasoning. Not that you can blame her, this must actually be something she treasures and she wants to share it with you.

“Alright then,” you nod to her as you follow her off of campus.

>What do you want to talk to Keiko Sugimoto about on your way to and during this Salon visit?

&

>Hair, what do?

>>1875924
Tell her that if she’s got a concern (even as minor as our hair), she doesn’t need to set things up, just tell us.

Just shorten things up.

>>1875986
This.

>>1875986
Admittedly, sneakily setting up a salon visit is really just a matter of poor communication.
However, poor communication is one of those things that can make a lot of trouble if not dealt with, so it’s best to nip such things in the bud before they can become a problem.

Writing.

Also, check this cool relevant shit out.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUojIz3Vq1U

>>1876070
Cool

“You know,” you offer deciding to go back to your earlier thought process, “You can just tell me if you have a concern about something, even if it’s something as minor as hair. You really didn’t need to go behind my back to set up a salon appointment to spring on me,”

She pauses and turns to look at you, a bit of surprise on her face before a certain recognition strikes her and she pushes as stray bit of her bangs out of her eyes and laughs.

“One, you complained about it,” she composes herself and ticks off on her fingers, “Two, this is a very short notice thank you for raising me from the dead. Three, where we’re going appointments don’t matter to me or anyone beside me,”

“Kairi-chan was clearly in on it,” you counter, a creeping paranoia on the edge of your person.

“Yes, I asked her what might be a nice thing to get or do for you,” she sighs, “After school seemed convenient because nothing has happened yet. If you want to do it some other time that’s fine too,”

“No, we’re already going and I have been…” you let it die in your throat, are you being paranoid?

“It’s a gift, it’s a thank you,” she says again with concern in her voice, “It’s not some...Mikage what’s wrong,”

“You guys need to tell me,” you murmur, “Please you just need to tell me when…”

“When what, when we’re doing anything? I thought this up last night,” she says, but she seems far away.

Her voice is far away. Why does everything feel like it’s about to fall away?

>You may have misinterpreted things, this isn’t some conspiracy against you...for you? What is even with you right now? [Try to Calm down]
>No, there is definitely something wrong about this! You should be aware, you should know. What don’t you know? [Panic attack]
>Write in

>>1876220
>You may have misinterpreted things, this isn’t some conspiracy against you...for you? What is even with you right now? [Try to Calm down]
Uh, I think Mikage is taking this more seriously then was intended.

>>1876220
>You may have misinterpreted things, this isn’t some conspiracy against you...for you? What is even with you right now? [Try to Calm down]
Keep it together Mikage, and explain what is happening to her.

>>1876220
>You may have misinterpreted things, this isn’t some conspiracy against you...for you? What is even with you right now? [Try to Calm down]
>I think I might be about to have a panic attack

Writing

You may have misinterpreted things, this wasn’t some conspiracy against you...for you? What is even with your right now? This strange niggling paranoia and growing urging to panic amid tunneling vision. It’s something familiar, and you need to steady yourself.

You are about to have a panic attack.

“Keiko,” you manage to get out through a steadying breath.

She pauses in her own explanations as she notices you aren’t paying attention to her. That you aren’t on balance.

“I think I’m about to have a panic attack,” you explain while slowly reaching through your bag for...something.

Did you remember to start keeping your pills there again. Stay calm. Breath.

“I’m guiding you to a bench,” you absently hear your friend’s voice, and manage not to recoil when you feel the tug on your hand.

Sitting down it’s easier to try and comport yourself calmly. Try and keep the world from falling away. Try to roll through the things that have drawn on you amid distrust and worry.

You take a few more calming breaths, but you still feel it. If you stand up the rush to your head might...the world’s too big and too close. The afternoon of Juuban is loud enough to be an issue as you strain against it but remain aware of your surroundings.

“Mikage?” Keiko asks softly, and very far away, after a few moments of this.

Likely trying to gauge where you are, or if you’ve come out of it.

“I’m on the edge, I’m not falling in but I’m not coming up yet,” you direct your still slightly tunneling vision toward her, even at this artificial distance you perceive there is a thoughtful look on her face.

She resolves something, and far away she poses another question softly.

“Do you have your pills?” she questions carefully.

“Maybe,” you fumble against the latch of your school bag, “I might not need them though,”

She nods.

“Would it be alright to try something?” she hesitates and then asks again, “Just something I can do which I think can help,”

>I want to pull through this on my own
>If you could just help me retrieve my pills
>Try to retrieve your pills on your own
>What do you mean that you can do?
>Go right ahead
>Write in

>>1876515
>Go right ahead
Believe in your friends.

>>1876515
>Go right ahead

Depending on how much of our attention Keiko's plan requires, maybe try, at the same time, to
>Try to retrieve your pills on your own
but giving her a chance takes priority.

>>1876515
>What do you mean that you can do?

>>1876515
What >>1876553 said

Writing

“Alright, go ahead,” you realize that she’s one of the people you’ve let in, one of your friends, you need to trust her.

You need to trust your friends..

“Just, don’t be offended if I’m still fishing around for my pills for whatever you’re doing,” you finish slowly over a measured series of breaths.

“I’m not offended, just look at me,” she says softly as you turn your tunneling and tunneling vision up from your bag to her, “Just, relax and don’t resist anything you might feel,”

You’ll choose to believe in your friends. Nodding at her request as you grasp the pill bottle in one of your bag’s side pockets, you loosen your emotional grip. Things become louder and more distant as things start to fall away.

“Don’t worry,” she says as she slowly raises a hand as her voice takes on a strange resonance, “Just, breath,”

The resounding snap of her fingers echoes into the infinity. The instruction to breath stretches out across that distance and wraps around you like a soft balm.

>Hypnotism has been cast

You’re sitting there, pill bottle still in hand when you notice that is what you’re doing. You feel stable, the world isn’t falling away, and everything is normal. No sudden snap back, no shattering of the oppressive silence. It’s just over, and the world is back and everything is the same.

“What?” you question, uncertain but stable.

“Hmm...that took a little over a minute,” observes Keiko as she pauses the stopwatch app on her phone, when did she take that out?

“How are you feeling?” she asks softly.

“I feel fine,” you say a bit bewildered, “How do I feel fine,”

“I hypnotized you,” she says succinctly, “You just rode the trance and came out the other end”

Keiko asks a few questions about how you’re feeling and how long it felt like. You press if she left any kind of suggestion in you, which she denies. You are inclined to believe her after a scrutinizing stare.

“Alright, let’s get to that salon,” you stand up, steadier on your feet than you thought you would be.

Eclipsed Moon Quest
Episode 149
End

Alright folks, that was our return trip after 5 month unintended hiatus.

How were we today and how are all of you?

>>1876801
I'm alright. School's crazy this week though. So much reading.

>>1876801
Seemed good to me.

I'm trying to fake it until I make it, which seems to be working except for my health and sanity trying fall apart around me while I pretend that I can work the hours that I do now.

>>1876801
Doing all right, thanks for the thread!
Now I need to go back over the last few threads and refresh my memory.

>>1876858
Good luck with reading and school.

>>1876861
I'm sorry to hear about your current work stress situation and hope things get better soon.

>>1876900
Happy thread reviewing.

I want to thank all of you for coming on back and continuing to participate in this madness.

Pending earlier choices, today's thread could have gone a lot differently; and for that the outcome of the provided interlude will have to remain a mystery until maybe next time?

I'm a little surprised Keiko didn't simply record video of the hypnotism. Not only would it have simultaneously timed the process and provided evidence she hadn't done anything untoward, it would also have given her some notes to review later for practice and improvement.

But I'm only a little surprised. This caught her by surprise as much as it caught Mikage by surprise. Neither one had a chance to plan or prepare. We'll need to pay extra attention to the placement of our pills for a while.

>>1877913
That, yeah that would have been a better idea.

>>1877895
I have to ask, what was it you thought I was going for with >>1875986?
There’s a concerning possibility occurring to me.

>>1878649
I was reminded of previous times the sentiment was expressed when someone, Midori, did do something behind Mikage's back; and the subsequent reaction. I got a vibe of distrust, and I think this time was my turn to over react to something. Sorry anon.

Though I must ask, what's the concerning possibility?

>>1879705
No distrust was meant, just a combination of wondering what Mikage was picking up on during lunch and not being able to think of anything else to talk about. Had I thought of it, I would have suggested Mikage recall a story or two from her mother about the troubles of supernaturally fast growing hair.
>I think this time was my turn to over react to something
Let me suggest that both Keiko and Mikage both promptly forget this happened, and it never comes up again.

>Though I must ask, what's the concerning possibility?
It’s not like Mikage to go into a paranoid tailspin.
It’s also not like Mikage to sleep in.
It left me wondering if reacquiring the chaos that Koyomi drained had some side effect.

>>1879819
Why do I keep getting new id’s?

>>1879823
Rotating IP adress from mobile?

>>1880139
I’ve been using the same computer this whole thread. Maybe something changed elsewhere.
Kind of defeats the purpose of post id when it can be fooled without even meaning to.

>>1880145
Well.

>>1880145
College computer lab or college wide T line connection?

>>1880162
Nope.

>>1880168
Then I got nothing.

>>1880194
Probably something is being worked on somewhere.
Also, thoughts on >>1879819?

>>1879819
>>1879705
>>1878649
I was cool with it. I mean, Mikage just got her panic attacks back, and it was not unusual for them to take her further than some realized when voting. Is cool.

>>1881420
Well, yeah. I freely admit part of the reason I was hoping for this to be forgotten is me not wanting to be left feeling like I just screwed things up in one of my favorite quests.

>>1881537
Seemed like a good moment to me.
Mikage overreacts and then overreacts to her own misstep. Trust me, that is classic panic anxiety fuel.
Much rather we have a little issue while in a friendly situation with a friend so we get it out in the open and have more options for recovery, than at a worse moment.

>>1881572
Nothing to fret about, if some of the horrible horrible 1s I have rolled haven't screwed things up, a panic attack while with allies is not going to do it.

>>1881572
You screwed nothing up. This is a shared storytelling game and these things and miscommunications can happen.

>>1881581
Wait. What's the now missing referenced message?

>>1881581
>some of the horrible horrible 1s I have rolled
Ah, then you understand.
>>1881609
>Wait. What's the now missing referenced message?
I changed the wording.
Not conveying what I mean is a thing that happens with me.

>>1881609
On a different subject, I saw you mention on twitter that we were headed for the endgame, but I thought I remembered you saying other foes would arise.
What happens after this batch of villains is vanquished. Season 2 Episode 1?

>>1881996
I take a break before revising rules, letting some in universe time pass, and then starting Eclipsed Moon Quest R.

>>1882020
Which will not adhere so strictly to my previous d20 kitbash

>>1882022
Also a more complete introduction to Setsuna's daughter.

Side note, I did not see many strong reactions to the opening interlude this thread? Especially considering it's context.

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>>1882020
Excellent.
Eclipsed Moon cannot be permitted to end until we have windsurfed into a situation to save the day at least once.

>>1882041
I will keep that in mind, and present such as an option somewhere down the line.

>>1883434
Come to think of it, Koito and Hisako are both fairly new to the team.
We should rope Tuxedo Dad into giving a class on proper dramatic entrances.

>>1883724
Yeah, I wonder where he is..

>>1884548
This thread could have gone SOOOO differently!

>>1884733
Would that have been “It may be early for him, but wake dad and complain about the return of your panic attacks” at the start?

>>1884768
Yes. That could have started the fall of dominoes in another direction

>>1884780
On the optimistic side, it could be seeing him nursing some injuries and having a story to tell.
..but I suspect he is MIA.

>>1885055
Well. My four day long LARP plans were dashed by getting rear ended on the way home from work so maybe another interlude would be good...because I’m saying this right now. Mamoru Chiba is having a long day since last night.

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Ya know, being on the crafting route and all, this could be possible..

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>>1894189
I think something more classical would be better.

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>>1895440

>>1895440
Not saying we should, just came across the image and thought "hey, that could happen".
That image is more like what we could try getting the Scouts set with.

Though I wouldn't mind getting more magic tattoos and runic marks in for our knights and the Scouts.

I think one of the ideas that pushed that way was the idea of giving Venus a (discrete) mark that would provide her with heal effects, so she wouldn't need to rely on us like in the bad-end future vision.

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>>1897776
Forgot my image.

>>1897776
I’ve got a better idea.
Let’s get to tier 6, pick up Star Walker, and make a trip to the moon.

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>>1898133
Who needs Star Walker when you could have ancient spaceairships?

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>>1898394

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>>1898414

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>>1897698

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>>1899500

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>>1899505

>>1898394
Building a spaceship does sound like a project we should start on.

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>>1899962
I was going to comment about probably being able to find and refurbish one, and then my mind jumped to the attack on Pluto.
Likely the most mystically defended point in the system, but being remote it likely needed less physical defenses.
The enemy has access to a wealth of old Earth Kingdom knowledge and likely artifacts.
We already saw them tooling around in a odd craft on the trip to Paris.

Conclusion: The Neo-Shitennou may already have craft.

>>1900204

DING!

>>1900204
They also have people on the moon, thanks to Ellis Unlimited.

>>1900204
So what you're saying is, if we get the chance, we should steal it? :D

>>1900420
The Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. They got a lift to all the inner Senchi palaces. Though we've only had interludes from the Moon. Curious how the Jupiter one is going, already set enough for our Salior Jupiter to receive a power boost (also I'm curious about which the layout and if they have floating aerosat cities hiding in the clouds, oh maybe it came online first because they mainly have to restore shielding and stabilize. Rough way to go, but at least it would have been quick if some one futz the controls/protection on something like that.)
>>1900931
Yessssss.

>>1900931
>>1901687
I’m never going to be against stealing from the enemy, but I’d rather keep the Neo-Shitennou from finding out about it too soon.
I guess the first question is how long it would take to build one. If it would only take about a week, then it’s time for us to get our Eclipse-mobile. If it’s months, we’ll need to swipe one.

>>1901833
This bears discussion with the moon-cats.
Only piece we're missing in-character would be that they were present in ancient times, but we've completely forgotten to look into learning more about the craft we have seen.
Admittedly, a lot happened in Paris to distract us.
Artemis seems to be the best source to start at for old tech info, and once he mentions that they used to be a thing, we would then try to talk to dad about it, which will bring other issues to our attention.

>>1901949
Come to think of it, wasn’t Queen Beryl supposed to have been a very knowledgeable sage before she became evil?

>>1902021
That's a good point, she also has memories of the old kingdom, and her's probably feel fresher than parents. And the Shitennou would too.
Ok, we have a lot of old world memories to help with these old world folk made modern threats.

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Holy crap is this good. I think Kanari secretly made it, because it is repairing my emotional wall.

Moonshine Peaches & Cream is a win.

>>1905973
Ok, a more accurate description would be candied Moonshine Peach buttermilk biscuit cobbler with cream. But that doesn't roll off the tongue.
I shall call this creation: Moon Peaches.