August Catch All

[insinning]

Who • Vogel (Emil Sinclair) and YOU
What • Catch all for August - any dungeon runs, misc. stuff happens here. I'll toss up open TL from now and then that don't fit with event posts.
When •All Throughout August
Where • Mac Anu and Lumina Cloth.
Content Warnings • none, will add if any pop up later

Comments

Chilling in Mac Anu (OTA) or Lumina Cloth (OTA)

[insinning]

[If you just want to chat with Sinclair, he can be found around either root towns.

Mostly he's buying things or idling near the chaos gates, looking things up. Or maybe he's watching the grunties along the street (they're so cute??).

Or just studiously avoiding PVP situations, he's level 25, he can handle it when everyone else is about the same level but. you know. violence is bad something something]

[ooc: the catch all for any random meet ups that may be organised over comm plotting]

POST GAY BABY JAILING??

[insinning]

[Welp, Sinclair can be found again in Mac Anu, now 10 cm shorter...so back to his real height even if everything else about his avatar has stayed the same.

After watching the sun set over Mac Anu from the point Hien dropped him off, he climbs back down to rejoin the main city, sending out a few messages and puzzling over the strange glitchy message he received.

He can be found sitting on the edge of a fountain as he tries to work it out, if anyone wants to come by and check on him after gay baby jail. He's in his crafted with love armor.

Also he's back to level 25, no more level cap breaking for him. Normalcy has been returned?]

[userunfriendly]

[ Winter is a man of sense*. When he'd loaded into Mac Anu and seen, in the distance, a writhing mass of player katamari... he'd simply turned around and ported to Lumina Cloth. Being a beta tester doesn't mean he's obligated to inspect and report every single bug especially when so many others were — ha — inextricably tied up in it already.

He ports back later to take a skeptical glance around. No hell katamari. Only Vogel, but... smaller? He's approaching with some trepidation. ]

[insinning]

[Thankfully Sinclair is all on his own but not so out of it that he doesn't notice someone approaching. Glancing up]

Ah. Winter?

//Akatsuki

[insinning]

[After being called over by Akatsuki to meet up, Emil does so at the requested time, flower crown shining on his head as he shoulders his new lance. His boots squeak as he walks over and he thinks he should have looked for better boots instead.

No matter.

He'll wait patiently at the meetup point, pulling out his phone to scroll mindlessly like a good millenial gen x representative.

[horologia]

[ can't believe we're playing in the timeline where gen x gets vr in 2000.

in any case, not too long after he gets there, she'll show up, in all her default glamour glory! the terrible cuirass that dropped in the run may have been better statwise than what she started with but it sure isn't any better fashion wise. ]

I hope you weren't waiting too long. I had to see what my cat wanted first.

[ ahem. ]

But ... Anyway. This is what I found atop the clock tower.

[ she'll show the thing she's carrying to him and ... they sure are some torn pages, written in german! as she can't read them i have not asked the mods what it actually says other than 'it's a poem'. ]

[insinning]

That's okay. My dog used to be like that too.

[Sinclair smiles at her. He's a mess of fashion sense himself at the moment, despite the nicer skin Oria had found for him. He just hasn't had time to equip it just yet, perhaps reliving the horrors of the headchicken. Or headhen, as it had been named in his inventory. Bizarre.]

Let me have a look...

[Reading through it, frowning thoughtfully]

It looks familiar. I feel like I've heard these phrases before. Gimme a sec-

[And as soon as we get info on the poem...! But also, translating is hard work]

[horologia]

Referencing something from outside the game, then?

[ hm... why don't they go find somewhere nicer to sit down and let him translate, rather than just milling around the Chaos Gate. surely there's a shop or cafe with an open seating area or something. ]

... I did note that, surprisingly enough, it does not take up an inventory slot.

Yaoi Questing Time (Leo, Hector and Michel

[insinning]

[ Assume this is after the 10 person katamari disaster that was Lumina Cloth and Sinclair has suffered the consequences...and is now 10 cm shorter. Characters like Faunus and Winter might pick up on that depending on how much they paid attention to Sinclair's height.

He's still squinting at the chaos gate. He seems more settled than before? It might have something to do with the Crafted With Love Armor he's wearing.]

Oh, so the keywords do work...

[bleatingedge]

[Strolling over to the chaos gate is one lethargic goat-man! Noticing Sinclair, he approaches.]

Ah, there you are. [He squints. Is there something different about this guy? Eh, he isn't sure, so he doesn't bring it up.] Two down, two to go!

[secondthoughts]

[ After getting the message and the details, Hector eventually rolls up to the chaos gate. He's in his boyscout getup, fine oak and emerald wand at his hip. He looks more like he's ready for camping than a dungeon run.

He doesn't recognize Sinclair, but he does recognize Leo. He offers a nod in greeting. ]

Hey. This us?

[userunfriendly]

[ Somehow, people keep dragging Winter back into the yaoi dungeon. But here he is promptly to keep an eye on Sinclair and make certain he hasn't fallen in with shady PKing types.

At least everyone is leveled. And wearing equipment rather than cosmetic items... Winter gives a nod to Vogel, and a glance to the other two. ]

So it seems.

Lumina Cloth PVP Arena

[dissimulative]

[ Oria looks at home when he's in the arena despite having never been in here before for the sake of actually partaking in PvP. But Oria's just the kind of person who thrives with PvP in any game regardless. It's so much more fun to fight off against people.

On the outside, Oria has his default clothes on over his level cap armor even if it still makes him feel mentally tired from the mere thought of it. What's supposed to be a red flintlock pistol is replaced with a silver CZ75 model that seems to fit Oria a little better.

He can still feel the discomfort, but he has learned to live with it. ]

I'm ready to go whenever you are!

[insinning]

[ Sinclair hasn't tried PVP in the World yet. He's not sure why. It's all part of the gaming experience and he does like games. But there's something nerve wracking about it too.

But once he gets his level cap armor on, he immediately feels comfortable and at ease. Like he can just relax into the game, win or lose. He's got the skin Oria picked out for him at the beginning of the game equipped over it, even though it doesn't actually change his speed. It seems right to put this back on somehow. He checks his level cap-spear, something that towered over him, with wings wrapping around the handle and nods at Oria.

Who is now taller than him again. :T]

Ready. What were the rules for this round?

[...and it's probably his imagination, but Oria doesn't look particularly comfortable. Was it the armor? But Oria was still smiling so easily...]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria doesn't want Sinclair to relive PK trauma again, so. ]

The battle will end when one of us reaches 15% HP or lower. Sounds good to you?

[ It probably won't take too many hits from Sinclair for Oria to get to that point... Oria takes care to actually disable pain sensors for this though. Despite everything, he seems pretty excited. ]

[insinning]

[ A good friend, Oria.]

Sounds good to me--

[Just double checking his pain sensors are turned off. What signal should they use to start? Sinclair has a good one, waving his spear with a brandish and marching in. Gotta close the distance]

CLOSED TO MITHRUN1 (reckless detectiving intensifies)

[insinning]

[Standing at the Chaos gate. This seems like a really, really bad idea. But he puts in the keywords: ΔHidden Forbidden Holy Ground

Will they work this time?]

[tablescraps]

( It's just as Sinclair inputs those keywords that Mithrun warps back in from his own Area adventure. He pauses, seeing Sinclair at the keyword terminal, and seeing him alone.

He doesn't have an issue with people going solo (obviously), but Sinclair is baby. Not that he wouldn't let a baby run with scissors. )

... Are you running an Area alone?

[insinning]

[Sinclair is not baby. Maybe a little because he jumps up a little guiltily. He's sure Winter didn't tell him all those things to encourage him to go in but]

...I was thinking of it. I haven't actually tried these key words yet though.

[Guilt is going to eat him alive]

Overflow - Memshare (Mithrun) CW: Blood, gore, death

[insinning]

[That name catches Sinclair's attention and he freezes for a moment]

Aitla? What are you saying?

[But you aren't there anymore. You're holding your dog close, too frozen to even make a noise. Then a piercing scream cuts through the air, the distant carols so far away now.

Beatrice. You pick yourself up, and run inside.

It's not the sanctuary you remember. There's no warmth, laughter or singing.

Blood stains practically everything. It's all over the walls, splattered over the marble floors. You go slipping in a pool, as you frantically shove the living room door open and there are your parents, tied to chairs.

You make a strangled noise, gasping as you stumble towards your mother first. That's your mother, but not her. You dont remember her face being like that, and her beautiful hair, always artfully wound up--it's gone.

There's a sound at the stairs, a broken sob.

"Emil...you need to...run. Run--" There's an anguished scream and the distinct sound of something crunching.

Then there's a whistle as your sister's body comes tumbling down the stairs and a grating familiar laugh.

It chills you.

"Ah, my Sinclair. You've finally come home. I was waiting for you."

A tall girl comes down the stairs, swinging a hammer around. She steps on your sister's body. She's smiling, her skin stained with blood and something.

And she's not alone]

[tablescraps]

( Sinclair's paralysis is his own, his hand on the glass, chill in his bones. In that moment there is fear, uncomprehending, and then, eclipsing it, is a feeling of his own: familiarity.

He knows her.

His gaze snaps to Sinclair with suddenness. )

What was your family involved with?

( Kromer would not have been there if they hadn't caught the wrong gaze. Anyone else, and he would have believed the family was innocent collateral damage. But not if she was there. Not with all of that unpleasant crew. )

[insinning]

[ Sinclair is still shaken by hearing that name again after so long, that, and what must have been Mithrun's memories and emotions, bleeding over into his]

My...family?

[It's a sudden question, one Sinclair knows the answer to instinctively]

Prosthesis development. My father's company has a breakthrough that could make prosthetics function like real limbs...why do you ask?

[tablescraps]

( We're here to cope normally.

Mithrun gates into △Warm Eternity's Night Moon with Sinclair, stepping into the rolling plains, in the distance the figure of a windmill or abandoned home overrun by nature, the world of the area abandoned by all humans that might live in it, but at peace with the earth. In the distance, a deep forest crawling with monsters lays patient for them.

Everything here seems super flammable, too. Great for aligned with fire, probably, even if Sinclair isn't really a DPS class. )

[insinning]

[ Sinclair glances around, letting the atmosphere settle over him like a cloak. It's odd how peaceful it is here, even if the forest is crawling with monsters]

...have you been to this area before?

[tablescraps]

Not this combination specifically. But I know how each keyword generally works, so I put these together.

"Warm" in the first position produces a grassy locale. "Eternity" in the second position produces a forest dungeon. And, ( as they both know, ) "Night Moon" in the third position produces a flight effect at the end of the run.

( So he very intentionally landscaped this Area for Sinclair. A nice gesture, or...? )