Yukimatsuri (Yuuyake Koyake)

[Kuma Da]

Kuma Da productions, in partnership with an all-star cast of GitP forum-ites, presents...


Yukimatsuri, Act 1 Scene 1

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/img8066otaruminatomachi-harborcity.jpg

Dusk falls soft as a blanket at exactly five PM. It settles over the mountains first, wrapping their peaks in the last of the sunlight. Then it sweeps down across the rest of the countryside, taking a charcoal pencil to every shadow in every pine forest. Dusk reaches the human settlements last, perhaps to give them time to wrap up their daily affairs. She means well, but they've always been the most rebellious of her children. No sooner has she covered them over in blueish dark then, one by one, little lights begin to wink on. Dusk doesn't think this is particularly fair--keeping pet stars anchored to the ground--but she has a job to do, and so she sweeps on.

On this night, the fifth of February, the lights of one town are brighter than most. Samuyama, in northern Hokkaido, is celebrating its annual yukimatsuri, or snow festival. The cold is almost a palpable force outside--fierce enough to rip puffs of steam from every exhaled breath--but that hasn't stopped a dogged handful of tourists from trudging through the mostly-plowed streets and blinking frosty eyelashes at the sights. Some of them clutch steaming cups of amazake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazake) bought from a street vendor. Others simply shuffle their feet and breathe into their hands and stick as close to their friends as their coats will allow.

Into this scene slips a pack of local hengeyokai, disguised to the best of their ability and determined to see what all the fuss is about this year.

The Cast:
Yuki Akuma as Kawa Hikari, ubiquitous white rabbit with a schoolgirl crush on the world.

Mistformsquirrl as Yumii Agoshi, eying Ryuuta with interest.

UglyPanda as Ryuuta, currently keeping a safe distance between himself and Yumii.

Dorizzit as Zounan Zaraki, cultured kistune martial artist and patron spirit of Samuyama.

Tichrondrius as Shuichi Yagami, red-headed avatar of well-meaning chaos.

Sicarius as Mizuki Tendo, who has cautionary stories written about her. She also might be on the verge of inventing DnD.


To do list for the players: Make sure you mention which form you're starting in (animal, human, or mixed,) and where you are at the snow festival. Feel free to create any props you think would be lying around (discarded paper cups, snowballs, etc.)

Most of the town's shops are open, since this is prime tourist season. The restaurants are open as well, plus there's a handful of little outdoor stalls braving the bone-searingly chilly Hokkaidan winter. The main event, in the center of town, is a local snow-sculpting contest. It's in an area ringed with rows of warm white rope-lights and thronging with tourists.

A little music to set the tone: http://www.last.fm/music/Vienna+Teng/_/Feather+Moon

Some background information about Samuyama:

-It’s pretty isolated, with a handful of vending machines, one combini, and a bunch of gift shops and restaurants that are only open during tourist season.

-It does have an onsen, and it's pretty popular with tourists during either the local yukimatsuri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki_matsuri) or Obon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obon_Festival). During the rest of the year it’s empty save for the villagers. There are a handful of local children, although most families are composed of old couples and sometimes their middle-aged sons. Most of the infrastructure is pretty run-down, and there’s a poorly maintained tomb on one of the nearby peaks.

-There is a well-maintained shrine on the mountainside called Zaraki Jinjya. It’s dedicated to a kitsune and it tends to get a lot more attention than the tomb, which is in an out-of-the-way grove.

-Roasted sweet potatoes and zaraki-don (made with fried vegetables and tofu over rice,) are local specialties.

-There are a number of local legends and cautionary stories about a tanuki that haunts the area, and Samuyama holds a festival in the late summer where all the young village men (i.e. not many. It’s been bolstered by tourists lately,) play on the drums and gamble in the village while the women bring in the first crop of potatoes. This is meant as a diversionary tactic, to draw off the tanuki and keep it from sneaking away with part of the harvest. It is called, somewhat unoriginally, tanuki no hi.

[Yuki Akuma]

(OOC: Hengeyokai, surely?)

This human mask is not fit for cold! In her proper body, Kawa Hikari has nice, lush fur around this time of year, but humans don't get winter fur... The poor girl is huddled up in a rather overlarge coat - around two sizes too big for her and overstuffed with whatever insulating material it uses, it makes her look somewhat like a marshmallow. Especially considering the coat is pure white.

A pair of pinkish-red eyes peer out from under the hood as she looks around in curiosity, quiet munching sounds coming from somewhere inside... possibly where her mouth is, but it's impossible to tell! Slung over her back is a sack made by tying a large cloth into a sort of parachute shape, which is currently filled with daifuku she made especially for the festival... one of which she's currently munching on.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Ryuta is a dark-haired teenage boy in a thick blue komodo, thick black hakama, and a twist headband. Currently he is very, very cold. "Cold, cold cold, cold, cold, cold, Achoo! Why did I even - Achoo! - that's two sneezes so far. One is someone likes me, two is someone hates me, - Achoo! - three is a cold. THREE IS A COLD! I need to get warm." The little crow-man is running around the festival, looking for a ramen shop.

[Dorizzit]

Zounan strides through the snow, moving with almost supernatural grace despite the unpleasant and averse conditions. Even with the biting cold, he appears to the rest of the small group unperturbed, and he has not deviated from his normal outfit at all. He glances quickly at his wristwatch. One of these days, he'd have to figure out what the numbers meant. Zounan gazes at the city, drawing in the unfamiliar sights and sounds. He sees a small statuette of himself in a local gift shop, and smirks. Zounan glances around at the group.

"Well, this should be entertaining, at least. A few ground rules: don't tell them what you are, don't buy more than you can afford, and let's avoid pranking anyone just yet. And Kawa-chan? I'd rather avoid a repeat of the Urashima incident. Alright, everyone have fun!"

The last is said with a superior smirk, and Zounan quickly legs through the crowd for a heated building. The illusion of immunity to the elements is entertaining, but COLD.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki Tendo

Drinking sake in this weather was dangerous, so Mizuki had settled for a cup of amazaki and was enjoying herself as best she could. Decked out in a winter coat, white scarf, warm hat, and leather gloves that she had likely paid for illicitly, Mizuki was wondering whether she should be a yuki-onna this year and lure some cute tourist to fall flat on his face in a snowbank.

That sounded like fun.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi Yagami

A fairly large reddish and dark dog runs around with this group. He barked loudly and nuzzled against everyones leg at least once before running around the group again, obviously an unspoiled well of energy. He shook his coat hard and settled into a slow pace beside Kawa Hikari and looks up at the daifuku she munching on and whines a little, his tongue lolling out.

[Kuma Da]

Hikari and Shuichi

Two pairs of legs stop in front of you. One of them is clad in dark jeans, the other in thick black boots, knee-length stockings, and against all reason a mid-length skirt. Knees bend and a girl crouches down into view. She looks to be about seventeen, with short black hair and a warm expression.

"Hiya." She points to Yuichi and asks "is he yours? He's really cute."

The owner of the dark jeans lets off a slightly put-upon sigh. If you crane your neck up to look, you can see that they belong to a boy of about the same age as the girl. He's wrapped up in a puffy, black jacket, but he's obviously still cold. His ears have turned bright pink.

Hikari, he's kinda cute. In a serious, diligent sort of way. He's probably not aware of it.


Ryuuta

There it is. Like a lighthouse beacon on the storm-tossed seas. Like an oasis of warmth in this freezing sahara. A ramen-ya.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/ramenya.jpg

Heat issues out of the front door invitingly.

Of course, you don't actually have any money on you. That might be a problem.


Zounan

As you dash with dignity through the wintry streets, you hear the insistent cry of one of the street vendors.

"Irashaimaseeeeee!"

You turn your head for a half second and notice that the voice belongs to a rather pretty young woman behind a covered stand. Steam is rising off of its glass panels and from it you catch a whiff of...

No. Couldn't be...

Fried tofu?


Mizuki

There's actually a handful of local stories about yuki-onna. They're not something the gift shops capitalize on, but then they don't exactly sell Tendo-the-tanuki keitai straps, either (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_strap).

Hmmmm.

You could probably rekindle some of those stories with a sufficiently elaborate prank. It'd be good for merchandising. Really.

OOC: Oh god. Total slysdexic moment with the hengeyokai thing in the first post. I'd figured something like that might happen. Thanks for helping me correct it, though.

Also, I'm not really going to spoilerize everyone's individual sections, since I kinda want everyone to read everything. Let me know if this bothers anyone.

:smallcool:

2nd OOC: Man, you guys are awesome. I am ridiculously glad that I decided to run this as my first game. Major props to you all.

Also, don't be shy about giving dream points to other players.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari pouts a bit at Zounan. "Zounan-samaaaaa! You said you forgot about the Urashima thing!" The poor girl pouts, unconsciously reaching into her pack to offer Shuichi an ichigo daifuku - more-or-less a whole strawberry wrapped in mochi. The two pairs of legs give her pause for a moment.

The question makes her giggle and pat Shuichi on the head! "Shuichan isn't mine! Shuichan belongs to the village." She nods her head firmly, looking up at the girl and boy with a happy smile - and a blush, although as it's so cold she might just be flushed from the temperature.

"...Aren't you cold? Shouldn't we go inside?"

[Dorizzit]

Oh no.

Zounan twitches, trying to maintain human form for as long as possible. Dodging through the thick crowd, he slams against a wall and allows the transformation to occur. He shivers as the six tails emerges up, giving a contented sigh when the transformation is complete. He realizes a fair number of people are staring at him in curiosity about his strange behavior. Pressing his tails tightly against the wall, he flashes a faintly sheepish smile at them.

"Gas attack. Sorry. Nothing to see, here."

The attention off him for the moment, Zounan quickly snakes the tails under his clothes, tucking his shirt back in over them. Shaking his head in concern, he gets as far away from the fried tofu vendor. This might be more difficult than anticipated.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi Yagami

Shuichi rubs his head against Hikari's hand and nuzzles it. Then he tries to focus on eating his ichigo daifuku, and then runs around the group happily.

"Hikari-chaan, lets go to the middle. I wanna watch the contest!" He said cheerfully, his tongue lolling out as he takes a moment to roll around in the snow. Realizing something, he looks down at his paws and seems to whine a little. "Awe, but humans are so cold in cold..." Shuichi mumbles, looking around and considering the potentional fun of the snow sculpting contest versus being warm.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The bird man walks into the ramen shop, and with a few short hops, is crouching on top of a stool by the service bar. He looks in his pockets, and sees that he has no money in them. "Ramenmaker-sama, I'm very cold and I have no money. Could I have a bowl of broth or cup of tea? I'm scared of being sick, I haven't been sick before. Please, pretty pretty please?"

[Kuma Da]

Hikari and Shuichi

The girl giggles as Shuichi scarfs the ichigo daifuku. She half-reaches out to pet him, but startles a little when he starts running around in circles. Recovering her composure, she focuses her attention on Hikari.

"You said he belongs to the village. Then you live around here, right? He's waaay too cute to be a stray." She giggles again as Shuichi plunges into the side of a snowbank and starts to roll around in the powder. "I'm Watanabe Yukiko," she stands back up and bows before quickly crouching back down to your level "I go to school with Kei-chan here." She waves at the boy in the puffy jacket. He exhales steam and shuffles his feet. It looks like he would much rather be somewhere else. Preferably somewhere tropical. Or volcanic. "We're both doing the snow-sculpting contest this year. You should come watch. If your parents don't mind, of course."


Zounan Zaraki

You find yourself standing outside a little souvenir shop, just a short distance from the local train station. It's not like the Sapporo eki, which comes with its very own sprawling under-mall. The Samuyama railway stop is just a platform and a schedule, but it has a number of little touristy stores nearby, capitalizing on the yearly trickle of travelers passing through.

In the window of the shop, you can see a neat display of carved wooden kitsune. There's also kitsune lighters, kitsune postcards, kitsune stationary, kitsune soda, and a lonely looking tanuki dice cup sitting behind the glass.

Sapporo eki: http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/img7516sapporoekimae-sapporostation.jpg


Ryuuta

The man behind the counter looks you over critically, then sighs. "Yeah. Alright. I'll fix up something for you, on the house. You're just lucky I have kids. Can't stand the thought of one of them in your situation."

He looks like he's somewhere in his forties, and he's wearing a black apron with the ramen-ya's name on it. His face is a map of wrinkles, with wide smile-lines at the corners of his eyes. You notice that there aren't a lot of other customers in the shop. Just a couple of old men sitting at the other end of the counter. They look like they're local.

"Here's some tea to start off with." He places a cup and a warm towel in front of you. Steam rises invitingly off of the both of them. "Now," he folds his arms, "would you care to tell me what you're doing out here dressed like that? If you're looking for Akihabara, you're on the wrong island."

Akihabara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara


Everyone:

You can shift between forms at any time you'd like. To do so, all you have to do is spend Thought or Mystery points equal to the difficulty of the shifting minus your Shifter ability score.

Things that effect the difficulty of shape-shifting: +4 difficulty if it's morning or noon, +2 if it's night, +0 if it's evening (which it is), +4 if you're shifting to fully human, +2 if you're shifting to human plus ears or tail or small wings, and +0 for human plus ears and tail or large wings.

So, suppose Zounan wanted to shift his tails back into his body. He'd be facing a difficulty of 4 (+4 for fully human and +0 since it's evening.) If his shifter score is 4 or over, then he passes automatically. If not, then he can spend mystery or thought points equal to the difference between it and the difficulty of the shift.

Shifting back towards animal form costs nothing.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari hmmmms, putting one finger to her chin as she thinks! "....Okay!" She nods her head. "Shuichan wants to see the contest anyway." She nods her head, then giggles, bowing towards the girl. "Pleased to meet you, Yukiko-san! My name's Kawa Hikari."

Hikari pauses for a few moments, then giggles. "Hikari isn't a stray. He's wild... strays are escaped pets, and Shuichan isn't a pet!" She kneels down, and cuddles Shuichi around the head/neck area. "Right Shuichan?"

[Dorizzit]

Zounan, attracted by his likeness, enters the shop quickly. He rubs his arms to warm up, then takes a look around at the various merchandise. He picks up a lighter, rolling it around in his hands. I wonder what this does... setting it down, before examining some of the other fox-based merchandise. He picks up a dice cup, and chuckles before setting it down. Finally, he selects a carved fox statuette. He takes it up to the counter. "Hello. How much is this, please?"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Yay, thank you Ramenmaker-dono!" Ryuta picks up the tea in both hands, hunches over, and takes a few sips. He sets down the tea and scratches his forearm with his nose. "I haven't been to Akihibara since they stopped printing Fist of the North Star 'You are already dead' 'ATATATATATATATATATATA"" While he is saying this, Ryuta is staring at the stool next to him and performing the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken on a nonexistent patron. "And before that I only really went there for volumes of Black Jack." He pauses for a good minute before saying "I can't think of any quotes. It was too long ago."

OOC: My character is dressed for cold weather, it's just that migratory birds aren't used to cold weather and my character isn't a local.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki Tendo

Yuki-onna would be fun, but right now, she wanted to see something else. Mizuki wanted to throw some dice, but right now, she had a better idea. Snickering to herself, she watched for a boy who was particularly cute and about her age. Once she did, she made up a little snowball, evil smirk on her red, red cheeks, and tossed it at the back of his head.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi Yagami

"Wild!" Shuichi agrees, enjoying the petting and nuzzling up against Hikari, then walks over to Yukiko and Kei to allow them to pet him too. "Wild, but oh so domestic..." He sighs contentedly.

[Kuma Da]

Hikari, Shuichi, and Mizuki

Yukiko's friend looks a little worried when Hikari mentions that they're all in the company of a wild dog. "He's a stray? Isn't that a little dange--"

There's a muffled thump as a snowball hurtles out of the evening dark and collides with the back of Kei-chan's head. He's leaning forward at the time of impact, sticking his hands under his armpits in the hope that maybe they'll get warm, and his balance isn't quite what it should be. Arms pinwheeling and cheeks blazing with embarrassment, he topples forward into the snow.


Zounan

The old woman running the shop gingerly takes the kitsune statuette from your hands and flips it over, examining the price tag on the base. "2,000 yen, please. They're all hand carved. There's a local girl who does them." As she talks she punches the price into the register and pulls a little paper bag out from underneath the counter. "Thank you for your business. Most people take them over to Zaraki Jinjya to leave for the kitsune. It's supposed to bring good luck. They also make nice gifts for friends and family."

She prattles on about the weather, local affairs, and the snow festival as she waits for you to buy the statuette.

Since your money comes entirely from donations to your shrine, it's almost entirely in coins. Most of the coins are goen dama. Five yen coins.


Ryuuta

The man behind the counter gives you a weathered grin. "Black Jack, eh? I used to read that...back when I was your age, I think. I wanted to be a doctor. These days I suppose everyone wants to grow up and be a pirate or a ninja." Snagging a bowl off a nearby shelf, he dumps some ramen base into it. "How'd you get interested in Black Jack, anyways?"

OOC: The man behind the counter wasn't implying that a kimono+hakama+hachimaki wasn't warm. He was implying that it's a pretty bizarre thing to see a kid wearing out in the countryside on a day that isn't a holiday. Kimono are expensive. They tend to be formal wear, or part of cosplay, or sometimes an expensive fashion statement.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"A friend of mine gave me the first volume because he was too freaked out. He really likes Tezuka-dono, but he couldn't stand the blood." Ryuta tilts his head at a strange angle while looking at the ramen shop owner. "How come you didn't become a doctor, Ramenmaker-dono?"

OOC:
Let's break the ice, shall we. I award three XP to both Hikari and Shuichi for huggling.

I award Zounan three XP for being vain enough to buy an inaccurate statue of himself.

I award Mizuki three XP for starting a snowball fight.

[Dorizzit]

Zounan focuses for a second, drawing upon his connection to his shrine. He quickly searches the offerings left to him there, trying to find enough to pay the cashier in as little time as possible. He finds three 100 yen pieces and a 500 yen piece. Producing those, he then conjures 2400 five yen pieces, pulling a small sack of them from behind him.

"I'm sorry, I don't get much in large denominations. This should cover it. If I got it wrong, just visit the shrine. I live...near there and visit it frequently. Ciao!"

Zounan takes the statuette and exits the store, quickly withdrawing one of his tails as it slips from his shirt as he opens the door to leave. Hoping no one noticed, he quickly walks away, heading for the middle of town. The ice sculpting competition would probably be interesting. He tosses the statuette up in the air for a second. Hand carved, eh? Interesting... Zounan thinks for a second, and then ducks into a dark alley, and, making sure no one is watching, he transforms back into his full fox form, complete with all his tails. He slinks back to the main street, keeping to the shadows and moving quickly but otherwise taking no pains to remain unnoticed, heading for the city center.


Question: Does Zaraki need to spend any points for getting the money?

Also, I guess I'll hand out some dream points, too. Hikari and Shuichi get two points each for being adorable, Ryuta gets two for interesting characterization and amusing interactions with the ramen maker, and Mizuki get two for chucking snowballs without provocation.

[Kuma Da]

Ryuta

The man behind the counter quirks an eyebrow at you. "Exams and money. They're what separate the chefs from the doctors. I think Tezuka might've left that part out." He ladles broth into the ramen bowl and stirs it vigorously. "I'm afraid I haven't read much manga since Black Jack. Who're you dressed as?"


Zounan Zaraki

The large sack of five yen pieces lands on the counter with a mighty clank, but you don't stick around long enough to see the saleslady's expression.

Outside the store, in a little alleyway, you toss the statuette up in the air and shift back into your fox form. It drops to the snow beside you with a soft whumph.

You don't need to spend points to get money from your shrine. I was kinda going to assume you had it on you, but I suppose that would've been silly with five yen coins. :smallbiggrin:

Any money you spend does count against the 10,000 yen limit mentioned in the shrine ability. Right now you're down to 8,000 yen in funds.

Also, getting to the center of town without being seen in fox form is going to be a little difficult on account of the tourists. It's a skill difficulty 5, against your Beast score and however many Thought Points you want to spend.


Everyone

Okay. You've got the right idea with handing out Dream Points a little more freely. Try not to award them in bunches of two or three except for stuff that's super-super cute, but it's totally okay to give everyone one Dream Point at once.

As the Teller, I also get to hand out Dream Points.

1 DP to Ryuta for the whole scratching-his-forearm-with-his-nose thing, which made me laugh out loud. Also for his sneezing intro, which produced the same effect.

1 DP to Shuichi Yagami for the "Wild but oh so domestic..." line.

I realize that I shouldn't have waited this long to award Dream Points, but I kinda figured you guys would be slinging them around like snowballs by now. :smallbiggrin:

[Yuki Akuma]

"Eek!" The young girl dodges to the side as Kei-chan falls flat on his face! "Kei-chan! Are you okay?" She bends down to look at him... but doesn't actually try to help him up. "...Snowball? Who would..."

She then looks up sharply, spotting a familiar face. She grins a little bit under her coat, and then points dramatically. "Mizuki-neechan! I challenge you!!" You can almost imagine a little fiery aura around the girl, melting the snow...

And then she quickly ducks down and begins packing a snowball!

"Wild! But oh so domestic..." definitely deserves at least one DP to Shuichi.

And Mizuki requires 1 DP for the unprovoked snowball to the back of Kei-chan's head!

Poor Kei-chan.

[Dorizzit]

((Well, what Zounan is trying to do is remain elusive, but still get seen occasionally. I'll pay three dream points to pass the check, but Zounan is still going to let people get glimpses of him.))

Zounan picks up the statuette in his teeth, careful that he doesn't make bite marks in the wood. Racing out of the alleyway, he dodges from shadow to shadow, careful to remain unseen...for the most part. Occasionally, he deliberately reveals himself, enough that people might convince themselves that they had only imagined a six tailed fox moving through the streets. When he gets nearer to the city center, he finds another dark alley and darts into it, reverting to human form. Picking up the statuette, he chuckles and drops it in his pocket.


And Kawa gets another dream point from me.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii, having been napping in an alley until this point, finally wakes up. The tiny white cat slips down the streets of Samuyama, seeking firstly, some food!

Coming upon the ramen stand where Ryuuta stands waiting for his bowl, Yumii slinks up to him and begins rubbing against his leg, purring softly.

Prrrrr~

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi Yagami

"Kei-Chan!" Shuichi says dramaticly, racing forward to lick at his face a little and make sure hes okay, nearly making the exchange between Hikari and Mizuki. With a quick glance between them, Shuichi makes a snap decision, and runs away to the nearest bank concealment.

A second later, a snowball comes sailing out from the cover towards Mizuki. "Free for all, nee-chan!" A tuft of red says, poking slightly over the encampment, followed by several more snow balls aimed at Yukiko and Hikari, followed by a torrent of laughter.

Hey, I was going to call Mizuki nee-chan. :P Anyway, I spend two Thought Points to turn into my cute little human self and show people how snowball is done. ^^

And I guess i'll break the ice a different way, by spending six thought points to use "Its Okay" on Kei-Chan and get him back in the fight. XD

Awe, thanks guys. I'm going to end up with the most points ever. o-o I'm only giving out one a piece, though, so, lets see.

Zounan gets a point for buying a statue of himself. Awesome.
Ryuta gets a point for bumming food and being a strange little character.
Mizuki gets a point for starting the snowball fight of the century.
Hikari gets a point for being in general amazingly cute, but mostly for the 'I challenge you' line.

So, can I spend Dream Points to increase relationship whenever I want?

[Sicarius]

Mizuki!

Mizuki silently giggled, putting her snowy gloved hand over her mouth in a perfectly cute fashion. It was perfect, almost. It only would've been more perfect if he was moving at speed, so that when he fell, a big cloud of white would puff up.

When the little Hikari said that it was a challenge, Mizuki was there to use her greater size to pull the hood down on Hikari's face while grabbing her in a big bear hug.

"Hee...I thought you said you were going to tell me when you knew somebody cute."

Anyone who believes that snowball was unprovoked clearly has not flirted in winter.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"I'm dressed as myself. Who else would I be?" Noticing the kitten at the foot of the stool he is crouched on top of, Ryuta panics. "CAT!" Ryuta jumps several feet into the air, and with a poof, reverts to his crow form. Flying, he heads to the ramen-maker's shoulder and perches there.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari lets out a shriek as she's bearhugged, kicking and struggling as she's easily lifted up off the floor! "B-but I didn't know where you were, neechan! Not fair!" She kicks and struggles, still clutching that snowball. She sniffles and whimpers, looking up into the tanuki's eyes. "Please forgive me...?"

So, is this the sort of situation where I make a skill check? >.>

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

*slinks off around the corner, giggling to herself* <-_->

Once out of sight of others, reverting to her human form <. .>

Gotta give Ryuta a 1 up for that >.>b Err, 1 dream point I mean, if thats ok <.< I'm doing it right, right?

[Kuma Da]

Hikari, Shuichi, and Mizuki

"Are you okay?" Yukiko leans in over her fallen friend.

"Yeah. I'm good. I landed on my dignity, and that was pretty sof--AUGH! Dog slobber! Dog slobber!" Kei-chan brings his hands up protectively, but by that time Shuichi's already bounded off behind the snowbank. He scowls and clambers back to his feet. Meanwhile Yukiko has very nearly eaten one of her mittens trying to force a fit of giggles back into her mouth.

Shuichi's snowballs hurtle over the side of the snowbank, impacting on both Mizuki and the side of Yukiko's jacket. "Hey! He's on my left!" She points emphatically at Kei-chan, who ducks down, scoops up a handful of powder, and overhands it at her. His aim's a little shaky and he misses, catching a hapless pedestrian in the back.

The man turns around slowly. Both Kei-chan and Yukiko blanch. "Naka...mura...sensei?"

He wipes a streak of snow off of his glasses. "And you would be...?"

"Ohmigodrun!"

Tichondrius, spending only two points on the shapeshift means that you still have your tail. Also, thanks for being the first to spend MP on an ability.

Yuki Akuma, you don't really have to make skill checks against other players. Since there's a fairly limited amount of Thought points per scene, they're mostly used on checks to further the plot. I haven't really thrown a lot of skill-check-worthy situations at you guys, so don't worry about still having a lot of Thought points. You'll probably want them later.

Hikari, Shuichi, and Mizuki, it's a difficulty 4 skill check using your Beast stat to outrun Nakamura-sensei. He's not in incredibly good shape.

Also, feel free to intentionally fail this check. You'll be conserving those Thought points for later, and it might produce some interesting results.


Zounan Zaraki

You make it to the center of town largely unnoticed, save for a handful of elementary school kids who stared wide-eyed at you as you passed. As you return to human form in the safe shadows of yet another alleyway, you notice that there are kanji carved in the side of the statuette.

There are two sets. The first seems to be the title of the piece: Zaraki Sama. The second is much smaller and hidden in a corner. It simply reads Watanabe.

"I'll pay three dream points to pass the check, but Zounan is still going to let people get glimpses of him."

That works for me. However, you don't spend Dream points to pass skill checks. Those are Thought points. Also, it costs 4 Thought or Mystery points to shift to human again. :smallcool:


Ryuta and Yumii

The ramen chef goes very, very still. He looks straight ahead, like a man frantically trying to pretend that there is not a bird perched on his shoulder. And that that bird did not walk into his shop a few minutes ago and order a bowl of ramen. Because that would be silly. And impossible.

He looks over to the local customers, hoping to see calm, reassuring faces. Proof that a kid did not just transform into a bird. Proof that the world is still working the way that it's supposed to.

One of the customers is frozen mid-noodle-slurp. Broth is dripping back into the bowl with an even plink plink plink. Another man is holding his chopsticks out like a spear, or maybe a talisman. The third man was in the middle of sipping from a glass of water. The glass is currently empty and his shirt is a good deal damper than usual.

The ramen chef sucks in a deep breath and starts to turn his head. Then he remembers that if there is for some reason a bird sitting on your shoulder and you turn to look at it, it might go for the eyes.

Very, very carefully, he sends his right hand to go see if there's anything currently using him as a perch. It moves tremblingly at sub-glacial speeds.

Mistformsquirrl, you've got the Dream point thing right. However, it costs either Thought or Mystery points (your choice) to shapeshift into human. You can shift for free in the evening if you keep your ears and tail in human form, or you can shift with just the tail for 2 points, or you can shift into full human for 4.


Everyone

Go ahead and spend your Dream points to increase relationships whenever you want.

Speaking of which...

1 point to Ryuuta for freaking the everloving crap out of the man running the ramen shop.

1 point to Yumii for innocently breeding chaos wherever she goes.

2 points to Hikari for consistent, fantastic RP and for the massive list of honorifics in the OOC thread. That was a blessing unto the Teller. i.e. me.

1 point to Mizuki for this line, even if her character didn't actually say it: "Anyone who believes that snowball was unprovoked clearly has not flirted in winter." Very true. By being cute, Kei-chan was simply asking to be pelted with freezing wintry death. :smallbiggrin:

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Grinning evilly, Mizuki just started to laugh, not even bothering to run. After all, it wasn't like she was guilty of anything at all. She let go of Hikari to see if she'd run, and just smiled and smiled.

[Yuki Akuma]

The young girl's eyes become as wide as dinner plates as the teacher(!!) begins running towards them! She squirms in Mizuki's grasp... so much so that, when the tanuki lets go of her, she slips and falls, landing on her face in the hard-packed snow. The girl lays where she is for a while... and then there's something that sounds like a hicchup.

And then the girl gets up and starts bawling her eyes out!

[Dorizzit]

Zounan grins to himself as he morphs back to human form, remembering the school kids. It was a shame no one would believe them; it might be nice to have the community treat him as actually existing rather than merely being an ironic curiosity. He examines the statuette. Watanabe, eh? Hm...perhaps the name of the carver. I'll seek out this..."Watanabe" later. I wonder why they carve these. Pocketing the statuette, Zounan wanders out, looking at the venue for the ice sculpting competition. Suddenly struck with an idea, he looks around, seeing if there is some kind of place he can sign up to participate.


"I'll pay three dream points to pass the check, but Zounan is still going to let people get glimpses of him."

That works for me. However, you don't spend Dream points to pass skill checks. Those are Thought points. Also, it costs 4 Thought or Mystery points to shift to human again. :smallcool:

I meant thought points, I deducted thought points from my total, I just...said the wrong thing. Man, I need to stop spending so many points...

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi bursts out laughing from behind the hill as hes rolling another one before hearing the exchange, and peeking back over the hill. "Oh man!" He mutters, and started to take off running at nigh-full speed. He pauses only to grab onto Yukkio's coat, "Ah, come on, teacher!" Shuichi nearly hisses, not even knowing where this supposed dislike of teachers comes from, and not even noticing Hikari and Mizuki's exchange.

2 DP to Hikari for being awesome, and hurting herself.
1 DP each to Ryuta and Yumii for causing Kuma Da's post, which made me laugh out loud.

[mistformsquirrl]

I'll spend 2 thought points and keep the tail >.> I'll just hide it in my kimono.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The little bird moves from his perch on the ramen-maker's shoulder and back to his seat at the counter. With a poof, Ryuta returns to human form in his crouching-hunched position, but he looks a bit different. He looks quite scared, having the same expression as when he thought he was getting sick. His outer layer of clothing was being held in his right hand, revealing a white undershirt with two holes in the back. And then there were the giant black wings poking out of his back in said holes, communicating the fact that Ryuta clearly wasn't human. "Fear really warms you up, doesn't it ramenmaker-dono? I'm terribly sorry I used you as a perch. I forget that you humans don't like that unless we're close. I just wanted to get away from the cat. THE CAT IS GONE, RIGHT? Please let it be gone."

OOC:
So how many points did I have to spend to change back? My character's main animal features are his wings.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii returns to the ramen stall in human form, and upon spying Ryuta seated again, walks up to the stall.

Ryuta-chan! <^,^> Konbanwa~ Ooh, dinner, I'll join you!

Yumii plops down on the stool next to Ryuta and orders a bowl of chicken ramen.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Yumi, it was you!" Ryuta hops a stool over, away from Yumi. Then he remembers why he was sitting there, hops back, moves his tea and other things two feet over, and then hops again so there is a stool of space between himself and Yumi. "Why did you try to frighten me? Did you already know that fear makes you warm, Yumi-san? Or should it be Yumi-hikoku, you bird eater, you."

OOC:
Hiroku is the honorific for a criminal, I think. Who knows if it's correct?

1 point for Yumi for giving my character an excuse to transform.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii grins wickedly at Ryuta.

Me? What did I ever do? <^_^>; All I did was see you at this nice little resturant and decided it was time for a little food for me too!

[mistformsquirrl]

Why? <;_;> What's wrong with them? Usually people like them <_ _>

[Yuki Akuma]

On further research, I can't read. "Hikoku" is the defendant at a trial, so it is a word, but. It makes no sense in this context. Like, at all.

Also, out of order "Please for the love of God stop the smilies!" post.

Reasons?

It's really, really annoying and makes you look like the annoying brand of Japanese fangirl. Please, stop.

While we're on the subject of annoying Japanese fangirl habits, please don't use totally superfluous Japanese like konbanwa. We have a perfectly useful English phrase for that, "Good evening". >.>

[UglyPanda]

Wrong with what? My character thinks you're going to eat him, he's in paranoia mode.

Edit, On Hikoku:
Even if it doesn't make sense, my character has a fickle grasp on language, so it's still in-character, even if it doesn't sound right.

[Kuma Da]

Hikari, Shuichi, and Mizuki

The instant Hikari starts crying, Kei-chan skids to a stop in a powdery spray. Oblivious to the advancing teacher, he dashes over to her and kneels down in the snow, getting powder all over his jeans in the process. "Are you okay? What happened?!"

"Excuse me?" booms a voice two or three shades deeper than Kei-chan's.

-

Yukiko is too caught up in the moment to notice any of this drama unfolding and, with Shuichi in tow, she sprints half-way to the center of town before she realizes that neither her friend nor Nakamura-sensei is still following her. She turns to look at Shuichi, who's still holding onto her coat. "Um...have we met before?"


Zounan Zaraki

In a big city like Sapporo or Otaru, there would probably be some sort of formalized sign-up process for the snow sculpting contest. Samuyama's, however, works on a first-come first-served basis. There are still a couple of spots open when you arrive, and after a quick chat with the woman supervising the event you're given one.

Now, what do you make?

I have no idea how to properly set up a snow-sculpting skill check, so I'm going to just wing it and homebrew some rules here. Anyone who works on the sculpture can invest as many Thought points as they'd like into building it. The total number of Thought points in the statue determines how good it is.

There you go. Try not to go too crazy with it.


Ryuta and Yumii

The ramen chef holds up the palm of one hand in a "wait a minute. I can't deal with this right now," gesture. He disappears into the back of the shop, then comes back a moment later with a large brown bottle of shouchuu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shochu) and a couple of glasses. He waves them towards his other customers, but the three local men are already getting to their feet and heading towards the door. The youngest of the three fumbles with his wallet before eventually extracting a 5,000 yen bill and dropping it by the register. The man behind the counter makes no move to pick it up. He pours himself a stiff drink instead.

Once the other customers are gone, he walks to the front of the shop and flips a little hanging sign from 'open' to 'doing maintenance'. Then he downs the glass of shouchuu.

"Now, odds are pretty strong that right now I'm dreaming. Or maybe I have a fever. I've never hallucinated before. Maybe this is what it feels like. However, on the off chance that some sort of...of...god really did just walk into my shop and order a bowl of ramen...well, what would you like?" His manner suddenly becomes professional again. Even when the rest of the world has just been heaved end-over-end, ramen still makes sense. He might be clinging to that. "Our miso-ramen is pretty famous. It's topped with corn that grows right around here. I don't know how it measures up with, uh, whatever gods usually eat, but a lot of the regulars like it. Um." He switches focuses, turning to Yumii. "Chicken, right? That'll take a few minutes to fry up. You're not a god as well, are you?"

He thrusts a warm towel and a glass of water in front of her, then quickly sets to work making the ramen. It seems like he might be afraid of the answer.

Mistformsquirrl, remember that your shifter ability score deducts from the cost of any shape-shifting you do. You have a shifter score of 1, so you only have to spend one point to shift into human form+tail. Sorry if I didn't make that as clear as it could have been.

Ryuta can shift to human with wings for free. He's got a shifter score of 3, and shifter counts towards shapeshifting checks just like other stats do towards skill checks.


Everyone

I'm not sure if I ought to award Dream points for characters being extremely creepifying, but Ryuta's "Fear really warms you up, doesn't it ramenmaker-dono?" struck me as the kind of thing you'd hear at the start of a trailer for a Japanese horror movie. So, uh, 1 DP for that.

Now, on the subject of smilies, superfluous Japanese, and incorrect honorifics...

Well, actually, I don't mind them at all. Yuuyake is not a serious game. You do not have to get Japanese right to play it. I'm rather impressed by the amount of effort everyone has been putting into this so far.

Yuki Akuma, I can sorta understand being irritated by some of that. Your level of comprehension is waay ahead of mine (I only spent two years as a Japanese major.) And, yeah, I know it's a Japanese-major-y thing to do, critiquing people who have enthusiasm but not practice with the language/culture. But does this really bother you that much?

If so, then we'll all try to scale back on it. If not, please chillax. No one's going to think any less of you for not pouncing on potential fanboyishness/girlishness.

Jeeze. This game is supposed to make people feel all warm and fuzzy.

FEEL ALL WARM AND FUZZY, PEOPLE!

:smalltongue:

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi scratches the back of his head, and sticks out his tongue in a slightly embarrassed pose. "Yeah, I'm Shuichi! Looked like you could use some help back there. Looks like we all got free from the dreaded..." He shuddered involuntarily, still not really knowing why, "...sensei."

As he says this, he takes a peek around and notices no one else is with him. "Hm, guys, guys? Sometimes I forget I run so fast." The dogboy said forlornly, and blushed before releasing Yukiko's coat. "Gomen nasai!"

I'm going to give Ryuta a point for an entertaining conversation, for for the bird eater line, no matter what false honorifics he used.

One to Yumii for being his partner.

And, yes, that line was exceedingly creepy. I want to hang out with Ryuta. lol

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari cries and sniffles, and then clings to Kei-chan as he kneels down next to her! "M-Mizuki... neechan dropped me, and I fell over and..." She begins bawling again, holding tightly to him! "Kei-chamaa..." She looks over her shoulder towards the approaching teacher, then promptly buries her face in 'Kei-chama's' shirt.

(Note: -chama is the diminutive form of sama. It's a bit of a weird thing to call someone so much older than you, but she doens't know his actual name...)

Spendin' 10 DP to make a new connection: Kei-chan++ (Hero Crush)

Edit: Waaait a second, my Cute ability makes that only cost 8 DP. Awesome.

It does, in fact, bother me a whole lot when people use superfluous Japanese. Words that don't have any elegant translation (such as most food items and clothing) don't bother me, but saying konbanwa instead of "good evening" is just...

We're assuming everyone is speaking Japanese already, right? So we're just using the Translation Convention (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranslationConvention)? So why would you randomly leave words untranslated when they have a perfectly elegant translation?

[Dorizzit]

Zounan walks over to a woman apparently supervising the event. At his most charming, he quickly worms his way into one of the last spots. Thanking her, he trots off to the carving spot. Checking over the provided tools, he then looks over the block of ice, tracing his scar with his hands, something that he does when he thinks. What to carve, what to carve...hm...Ah, that should work. Zounan, inspired, grabs a carving tool and gets to work. Moving carefully and meticulously, he takes his time in the crafting. He has only ice sculpted a few times before in his life, and not in a loooong time. Drawing on his mystical nature to supplement his little skill, he pours himself into his work, ignoring everything around him. Some time later, Zounan finishes and steps back a pace, admiring his work. The sculpture is a wonderfully carved rendition of a Fox in a dynamic pose, six tails fanning wildly from its back. Sighing contentedly, he glances around at some of his competition.

Right then, I'm going to spend five thought points on this. Zounan will accept nothing less than the best for himself.

On another note, Ryuta gets a dream point for being hilarious, and Kawa gets one for being consistently adorable.

[Yuki Akuma]

Zounan receieves a dream point for being so damn vain. My various gods.

[Dorizzit]

Is Zounan's vanity getting on people's nerves? I can cut back, if so.

[Yuki Akuma]

Would you be getting DP for it if it did?

Hint: No, you wouldn't.

[mistformsquirrl]

Situation resolved, commense happy fun times! This is archival! ((I'm trying to find a way to say this to avoid causing drama or flames - I really do not want to wreck the atmosphere of a very cool game; nevertheless, I can't simply leave this issue unaddressed.

First - No, I'm not going to stop using my smilies. I've used them for nearly a decade with little problem, and more compliments than trouble. Quite frankly they've become something of my online persona - look at my posts completely unrelated to this game and you'll see the same thing.

If its going to cause huge problems, I'll go ahead and go. I don't want to bother people, but likewise, I want to enjoy myself, and if of all places I cannot use my smilies in a game like this, there's no sense in me sticking around as I'm obviously a poor fit.

Second - Not all of us have years of Japanese study under our belts. I had one single year of it, and that's been three and a half years ago without regular use. In other words: Most of the Japanese words thrown around in this thread I don't understand. That's perfectly OK with me - its not an issue at all. But it is rather irritating to be chastised for using a tiny piece of the little I know. I was intending it simply to lend atmosphere.

At any rate, I don't mean for that to be hostile or rude, but being blindsided about stuff like this in a game that I very well thought would embrace them is... disheartening to say the least.

Anyway, like I said, I don't want to cause trouble; but nor will I change who I am to suit someone else.

Please understand I'm very willing to just let this drop and move on; I don't want to cause any trouble and I'm pretty good at just letting things go if I feel I've gotten a resolution. Just understand, what you see is what you get; you can either accept me as I am, or not - either way I am who I am.))

[Yuki Akuma]

I'm sorry for snapping. It's just one of my pet peeves, is all. Don't worry about it, I'll try to get past it.

Why does everyone seem to think I've studied this language a lot? I took a year of Japanese four years ago. That's it. I barely passed, too...

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"I'm sorry for scaring you Ramenmaker-dono, but Yumi over there attacked me! And I'm not a god, I'm just a bird-spirit-thingie with weak magic. Yumi is a cat-spirit-thingie, by the way."

OOC:
I did not realize that what my character said was creepy. Now that I think about it, it's too creepy. How many points does it take to use wing pillow? If it's twelve, then it's not very useful in this situation. And letting him borrow my wings would cause him to really hit the bottle.

I'm not going to use it but I'm curious, since we're using convention translation, what would be a good way to signify gratuitous English? Times New Roman and italics?

Yuki, I'm guessing the name and honorific chart is the reason why people think you're good at Japanese. I took no years of it and all I know I know from anime.

[Yuki Akuma]

I learned honourifics usage entirely from Negima!. Okay, and a few anime and other manga that kept the honourifics... I am okay at Japanese, but not because I took that one-year course (although it certainly helped!).

If we go by "reverse translation" - that is, English is Japanese and Japanese is English - Yumii becomes about ten times cooler for using gratuitous English.

[mistformsquirrl]

Its ok, I appreciate your willingness to try to get past it. I'll try to tone it down a bit, but it really is one of my 'things' - I'm instantly recognizable online because of it >.> kinda funny honestly, getting a "hi" in an MMO from someone on a forum because of my smilies <,<

Yumii

Yumii grins widely to the shopkeeper.

Well I've been told I'm a goddess... but I never thought they were being serious! A cat, really Ryuta-chan? What an imagination.

Yumii gives the shopkeep a wink. <^.~>

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"You're lying, you evil-cat-person-lying-spirit-thing." Realizing his wings are still extended, he shrinks them down to a more manageable size and puts his outer layer of clothing back on to conceal them.

[Tichrondrius]

Ah, try to keep these discussions to the OOC thread, or at least in spoilers, okay guys? >>

Zounan gets a point for being amazingly vain. I love it! Just so i'm on topic.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki!

Mizuki looked rather sheepish. She didn't mean to drop Hikari on her face, but she was just so squirmy. Pranks were all well and good, but making Hikari cry just made her feel bad. But the cute couple looked like sympathetic people, so Mizuki had to look sympathetic too. "Hikari-chan, you know I didn't mean to drop you. It was just an accident and I'm sorry." Of course, those who knew Mizuki had good reason to suggest it was nothing but a croc smile.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

I'm shocked Ryuta-chan! I thought you knew I would never lie to you <;_;> *pout pout*

Yumii hugs Ryuta.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Ryuta rejects the hug and moves to the opposite end of the counter. "But you're not lying to me, you're lying to ramenmaker-dono. And you lie to me all the time, what are you talking about?"

OOC:
1 point to Zounan for pouring all of his effort towards carving a statue of himself.

1 point to Hikari for losing a snowball fight.

Which mod do I have to message to get the OOC thread moved to the OOC sub-board?

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii sighs heavily and sits back in her chair to wait for the ramen.

Ahh well.

After a moment's contemplation, she thinks of something else to ask Ryuta.

Ryuta-chan~ where'd Zaraki and Hikari go? And where's that dog, err... I mean Shuichi? After we eat we should probably try to catch up to them, eh?

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Shuichi-sama and Hikari-chin are probably together making snowmen or something. Zounan is probably staring at some pictures of himself. And Mizuki is probably throwing snowballs at all of them."

OOC:
I spend five points to upgrade Ryuta's relationship with the Ramen-maker to "Nightmare fuel recipient".

[Kuma Da]

Shuichi

"Oh, of course. Hi, Shuichi." She looks a little flustered. Odds are that she's still trying to remember where she knows you from, but doesn't want to admit that she's forgotten completely. "Do you think we should go back? I mean, Keiichi's pretty good at taking care of himself, but Nakamura-sensei is a scary man even when people haven't thrown snow down his shirt. Maybe we could just meet up later? We were on our way to the center of town..."

She looks indecisive.


Hikari and Mizuki

"There, there." Keiichi pats the back of Hikari's coat awkwardly. "It'll be okay."

"Excuse me?!" Close up, Nakamura-sensei looks like an indignant dragon. Steam rolls out of his nostrils in a furious cloud.

"Right now, though," Hefting Hikari onto his shoulders, Keiichi stands up, "we'd better run." He takes off down the street, leaving Mizuki to face the wrath of the sensei.


Zounan Zaraki

For the most part, the other sculptures are better than what you'd expect out of a small-town festival. There are a few decent attempts at capturing the likeness of celebrities, a snow-dog and a snow-horse, two men sitting opposite a tanuki at a table with a handful of dice scattered between them, etc. There are no other sculptures of you. However, there is a work in particular that catches your eye...

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/inuyama_castle_snow_sculpture_in_ho.jpg

Something about it tugs at your memory. Coming closer, you notice the title of the piece has been carved into its side, just above the names of its sculptors. Nagoya Castle by Watanabe and Minoru.

It's a surprisingly good likeness. In fact, it looks almost exactly like the original, before World War II came along and it burnt to the ground...

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/768px-Nagoya_Castle_1979148P01B.jpg


Ryuta and Yumii

Two steaming bowls of ramen plop onto the counter in front of you, momentarily interrupting your conversation. They smell savory and inviting. The ramen chef stands behind them. "Please enjoy your meal, honored customers."

Without anything left to do, he begins to look uncomfortable again.


Everyone


Firstly, Dream point awards.

2 DP Zaraki for carving a splendid sculpture of himself.

Secondly, my two cents on the whole 'using bits of Japanese' issue.

"Words that don't have any elegant translation (such as most food items and clothing) don't bother me, but saying konbanwa instead of "good evening" is just..."

I realize this is kinda already solved and everything, so I'm hesitant to go about poking it with sticks, but here's my take on it. Basically, if we were playing this in Japanese, we'd still be dropping in the occasional English word. Either for cuteness' sake or just because a pretty good chunk of English has been absorbed by the Japanese. I feel like the best way to translate that is by throwing in the occasional well-known Japanese word into our English version of the game.

It doesn't really matter to me either way, though. :smallbiggrin:

Finally, I'm not really sure how to signify when one of the characters is speaking in English. Maybe throw a lot of hyphens between the words to indicate that it's being spoken carefully? Or, alternately, supi-ku iin he-bi chapanesu akusento. Times New Roman font could work as well. Anyone got other suggestions?

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari clings to Keiichi as he runs off, waving to Mizuki. "Bye bye Mizuki-nee!" She's really clinging to Keiichi. A little tighter than one would expect her to be clinging... She seems to have gotten voer her fall pretty quickly.

I still suggest we just reverse Japanese and English so that when characters drop random Japanese words it means they're actually dropping random English words. :P

It helps me ignore it at least. >.>

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Thank you very much, ramenmaker-dono!" Ryuta starts rapidly slurping up his noodles, filling his cheeks and barely chewing before swallowing. If Ryuta didn't have practice doing this, he would have choked several times over. The steam fills his nostrils, clearing them out and causing him to have to blow his nose several times with a tissue from his pocket.

Five minutes later, Ryuta finishes his meal and gets off his stool. "Thank you again, *urp* ramenmaker-dono!" He gives the ramen-maker a bow and walks outside. No longer cold, he goes to find the others.

[Dorizzit]

Watanabe...there's that name again. How ironic. Zounan admires the sculpture for a few more minutes, taking in the marvelously wrought details. Whoever carved this had great skill. It's almost a perfect replica, and they can't have seen the original. It's quite impressive that they were able to get this level of detail, even if they had never seen the building and carved nothing like it. Zounan looks around, sees no one attending the sculpture, and shrugs, walking amongst the statues once again. After a while, he gets bored and returns to his own once again, leaning against a pole next to it to ensure it doesn't get damaged before the end of the competition. He had a shot at winning, although he had to admit there was some stiff competition in that rendition of Nagoya Castle.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"I don't know, Hikari can take care of herself too. And she probably already has a crush on Kei-chan. Probably be mad at me for interrupting." Shuichi said, nodding at her wisely. "If we're all going to the center, they'll probably be there. Don't worry, and I don't want to risk running in Nakamura-sensei. You'll be okay with just me, right? I don't bite..." He looked down a little forlornly and muttered, "..anymore."

[mistformsquirrl]

Hikari clings to Keiichi as he runs off, waving to Mizuki. "Bye bye Mizuki-nee!" She's really clinging to Keiichi. A little tighter than one would expect her to be clinging... She seems to have gotten voer her fall pretty quickly.

I still suggest we just reverse Japanese and English so that when characters drop random Japanese words it means they're actually dropping random English words. :P

It helps me ignore it at least. >.>

This is reasonable to me as well <. .> Yumii is an insatiably curious individual, so more than likely she's picked up a smattering of all kinds of things over the years. It fits well I think! Don't have time for a full IC post yet, will be up ASAP though.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Danke! Yumii gladly accepts the bowl of chicken ramen, and gives it a quick sniff.

Mm... smells good! Itadakimasu!

Yumii eats quickly, having worked up a hefty appetite napping all day. Once finished she gives the shop owner a quick bow (really a nod more than anything), and hurries to follow Ryuta.


So who should we find first? Zaraki-san? Or I guess we could go find the dog.

Yumii follows Ryuta wherever he decides to go.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Ignoring Yumi, Ryuta is wandering around in the snow, looking for the group. "Hikari-chin, where are you? Hikari ends with 'Ri'! Ri-something ends with something! I'm bad at shiritori! Where are you hiding?"

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Mizuki bit her lip, angry that Hikari could get away with anything by crying and now she had Kei-chan. Of course, even girls her age could get away with some crocodile tears, but only in certain circumstances.

Instead, Mizuki simply shrugged. After all, what could a teacher do to her that was so terrible?

[Kuma Da]

Hikari (and Zaraki)

The world bobs up and down around you, moving with the rhythm of Keiichi's stride. It's a little strange, seeing the town from so high up. You find yourself looking down at shocked tourists as Keiichi bolts past and wondering if this is what it feels like to be a grown up. It's exciting. Of course, there probably aren't many grown ups who have cute boys carry them around town, but that's their loss.

When your breathless chariot eventually comes to a stop in the center of town and kneels down in the snow, you feel a little reluctant to dismount.

"I think...I'm going to...fall over," mumbles Keiichi. He lifts you off of his shoulders and deposits you on the ground. Then he topples over backward, hitting the packed street-snow with a whumph. "It was a good life...that I lived. I have...no regrets."

Looking around, you notice Zaraki nearby. He's standing beside an almost perfect snow-likeness of himself.


Ryuta and Yumii (and Shuichi)

You leave the ramen-ya. Its owner casts one final shell-shocked glance at the two of you as you walk out the door, then he pours himself another glass of shouchuu. The last you see of him, he's shaking his head in disbelief.

Together, the two of you retrace your steps in search of the rest of the group. Turning a corner, you stumble upon Shuichi chatting with a high school girl.

[Tichrondrius]

Sicarius, you must have missed Yukiko coming with me.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari giggles merrily, holding her arms out to her sides as Keiichi runs along with her. "Weee! I'm flying! Heheh, I bet this is how Ryuta-kun feels!"

When she's let down, she giggles, wobbling giddily... and then Keiichi is falling over! She pouts a bit, and crawls on top of him. "Kei-chama?" She pokes him gently. "Are you okay?" After a moment's thought, she retrieves a slightly-squashed ichigo daifuku - leaking cream somewhat - and offers it to the boy. "Daifuku?"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Hey, Shuichi-dono! Over here!" Ryuta is waving towards Shuicihi, trying to get his attention. While walking towards him, he checks out the girl he is with. "Hello, cute girl-san. My name is Ryuta. Nice ta meet ya." He gives a slight bow, then looks up. "Where is everyone else? I thought Hikari-chin was with you."

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii


Hi Shuichi-kun~~ Who's your friend here?

Yumii's voice makes it clear she is only barely paying attention at the moment.

[Dorizzit]

Zaraki continues to look around the area, searching for anyone he recognizes or anything of interest. Seeing Hikari, he wanders over to see what's going on.

"Hello, Kawa-chan. How has your evening been?"

Zaraki notices Keiichi, collapsed in the snow. He ***** his head, briefly pondering the collapsed human.

"Does he need any help?"

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Her name isn't cute girl-san, her name is Yukiko-kun!" Shuichi says, taking a step in front of Yukiko almost on instinct. Sure, he trusted Ryuta, and they were, like, best friends, but still.... He suddenly smiles and shakes his hand though, "Ryuta-aniki, where have you been? Don't tell me you've been hanging out in some ramen shop this whole time!" The dogboy says, knocking himself in the head lightly.

"Oh, Hikari-chan is off with Kei-chan. You know how Hikari-chan is." He said knowingly, then waved at Yumi. "Yumi-sama is with you? Yumi-sama, hi!" He waved dramatically. "Guys, this is Yukiko-kun, Yukiko-kun these are some friends of mine and Hikari-chan."

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari crosses her arms and pouts. "Zounana-samaaa! Call me Hikari!" She hmmphs, then looks down at Keiichi. "...Kei-chama is just resting. Kei-chama is tough." She nods! She doesn't even know him...

[Dorizzit]

Zounan raises his arms briefly in a sign of surrender, smiling faintly at Hikari's antics.

"Sorry, Hikari-Chan. I won't do it again."

Zounan squats next to the boy, raising his head slightly so that he can look at his face.

"What's his name?"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Of course I was spending the time in a ramen shop. I like ramen. Soup is the one delicious food that you can't eat if it falls on the sidewalk." Ryuta closes his eyes and rubs the back of his head.

"Of course, maybe I shouldn't have said that in front of Yukiko-tan. I wouldn't want her to think your friends are disgusting humans. Or that we aren't humans. Or that we're only part-human. Or that the bird-boy doesn't know when to shut up." Ryuta tilts his head back and lets loose a cackling laugh before saying "So when is the wedding?"

1 point to Hikari for "flying".

1 point to Shuichi for protecting his crush from a weirdo.

1 point to Zaraki because I want to know what he wrote that triggered the curse filter.

[Dorizzit]

The word was
C
o
c
k
s.
The filter apparently catches it since it's also a slang word for...naughty bits.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii giggles a bit as Ryuta spits out the mess of words, carefully inserting his foot into his mouth.

Hi Shuichi-kun~ And don't mind Ryuta-chan, Yukiko-san, he just gets nervous around girls~ Yumii grabs Ryuta from behind in a big hug, hoping to make him blush.

1 DP for Ryuta, for making me laugh in RL by spitting all that out <,<

Also 1 DP for Shuichi because he's so damned *earnest*. <. .> Its like, awesome.

>.> I appologize for not being so good at this dream point thing <>.<> I keep forgetting its part of the player's job; I will try to do better!

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Ryuta ducks and slips under Yumi's arms as she tries to grab him. "Why must you continue to try to hurt me? I refuse to be eaten by you!" He makes a defiant pose, pointing angrily at Yumi. At least, he thinks it's angrily. To everyone else, it looks like a combination of confusion and rudeness.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii tosses Ryuta a sly grin.

Because you're adorable~ especially when you're like this; I just want to eat you all up! Yumii's grin grows wider.

So, Shuichi-kun~~ What were you and Yukiko-san up to, hmm? Should we maybe leave you two alone~? Yumii bats her eyelashes and feigns a lovestruck look whilst teasing Shuichi.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Then I know what I must do." Ryuta moves into a fighting pose and starts staring down the cat-lady. His eyes are filled with a quiet intensity which - "RUN AWAY!" He grabs the two lovebirds by the hand and does exactly that.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi just stares at Ryuta as he just continues to ramble on. "Wow, aniki. Shut uppp!" Shuichi yells, giggling quietly and blushing, while looking over at Yukiko a little.

He then proceeds to watch these two interact. "Nuuu! Should I leave you two alone?" The dogboy says in response to the cat, and blushes ever more furiously before his sudden scream being dragged behind a retreating birdboy.

One to Yumi and Ryuta and their innuendo.

[Kuma Da]

Hikari and Zounan Zaraki

Keiichi's eyes flick open. "Daifuku, you say?" Reaching out, he plucks it from Hikari's hands, pops it into his mouth, and chews contentedly. "Mmf. That ish delishious. Taank oou." He gulps down the rest of the rice sweet, then shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts. "I'm sorry. I'm totally forgetting my manners." Rolling slightly, he turns his head towards Zaraki. "The name's Keiichi Minoru. It's nice to meet you. I'd, uh, bow, but that's a little difficult right now." He gestures helplessly at the girl sitting on his chest.


Ryuuta, Yumii, and Shuichi

"Hello, cute girl-san. My name is Ryuta. Nice ta meet ya."

"Um, hi...ah, I'm Yukiko Watanabe. It's nice to meet you." She bows quickly, hiding the beginnings of a blush. "Are you a friend of Shuich--"

"So when is the wedding?"

"Uh...what? Whose wedding? I mean, I think there was one last week but that was between Mrs. Nakano's daughter and a man from Kobe and he was a Christian so they ended up going to a church in Otaru for--"

"So, Shuichi-kun~~ What were you and Yukiko-san up to, hmm? Should we maybe leave you two alone~?"

"Ehhh?! That's not it at all! We just met, I think! Unless of course we actually know each other from before and I've somehow forgotten and that would be really embarrassing, uh...I mean, uh..."

"RUN AWAY!"

"Eeek!" Yukiko stumbles into a sprint after Ryuta, desperately trying not to overbalance as he tugs on her coat-sleeve.


Everyone

Dream point awards:

1 to Yumii and Ryuta each for having fantastic potential for ill-fated romance. I would love to see that character dynamic get developed.

[Dorizzit]

Zounan shakes his head and smiles sardonically.

"I understand. Hikari-chan tends to have that effect on people. Come on, Hikari, let him up." (I'll assume compliance, but if Hikari is obstinate that's fine too.)

Shooing Hikari off of Keiichi, Zounan crouches down next to the young boy and extends a hand out. Helping Keiichi up, he stands back.

"So what brings you to the festival?"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

♪Running away from an evil girl, dragging you along is tiring as hell. I can't think of a rhyme to sing, so I'm going to stop now.♪ Ryuta releases the hands of the two, hunches over, and takes a few deep breaths. "Shuichi, when I make jokes about your love life, it's just jokes. You're not supposed to be embarrassed. And when I say 'Run away', you're supposed to be dragging me. You're faster on foot."

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii draws her shinai and gives chase, waving the bamboo practice sword wildly.

Get back here Ryuta! >.>

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari pouts a little bit, but climbs off of Keiichi's chest like she's told. She then promptly attempts to climb up onto the kitsune's shoulders!

I'mma spend 4 DP (yay for Cute) to upgrade my connection with Zounan to 2.

[Dorizzit]

Zounan is caught by surprise by Hikari's sudden assault.

"Ah...hey...watch it! That tickles! Hold on for a second!"

Zounan shoots Keiichi a tortured look before bending down and helping Hikari up onto his shoulders.

"There. Better?"


Actually, I think it was already at 2. Little Demon, remember? Unless I'm reading the ability wrong...

Also, I'll spend 5 points to increase Zounan's connection with Hikari to 2.

[Yuki Akuma]

...Hm. That ability is worded confusingly, so I have no idea.

[Dorizzit]

Yeah, it is a bit wierd. Kuma Da will probably know what it means.

[Kuma Da]

Just a quick* fix for the Little Demon dispute. Actual post will come up late today.

The way I understand it, Little Demon adds one point to the other person's connection with Zaraki. Zaraki can also change the contents of the other person's relationship (in sorta the same way as I can do with Hikari's relationship contents.)

Now, the players are supposed to have met before the story started, and strictly speaking connections don't carry over between stories. However, they do transform into Threads. Threads are basically inert relationships. If a player has a thread with another player/NPC in one story and they both show up together in another, then the player can turn that Thread into a Connection again, with the same contents and ranks that it had originally.

So, basically, sometime before Yukimatsuri started Zounan Zaraki met all of the female PCs. Little Demon gave them all a connection strength of one and relationship contents of his choosing. Then Yukimatsuri started and those relationships became Threads. Any player can choose to bring back one of those Threads, but it'll only be at a strength of one and Zaraki can change its contents to whatever he decided it was when they first met.

So, if Hikari, Yumii, or Mizuki is feeling particularly brave and they haven't spent any DP in improving their Connection with Zaraki, they can activate that old Thread and Zaraki can change the contents of their relationship.

Yeah. Needlessly confusing. Zaraki does still benefit from Little Demon, though. Yukiko gets a free point of Connection with him, thereby increasing his MP next scene, and he gets to determine the contents of that Connection. He also has a pretty strong incentive to chat up random female NPCs, since each one of them will also get a point of Connection with him. :smallbiggrin:

In unrelated news, you guys are all doing excellent RP. Because of it, I don't have to prompt the story nearly as much as I'd thought I'd have to. 1 DP to everyone. :smallcool:




*for a given value of "quick"

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Oh, sorry aniki!" Shuichi says, knocking himself in the head again. "I forget how fast I can run. Couldn't you just fly away?" The dogboy continues, watching him.

"Shes coming still, oh no." Shuichi giggles, and takes both Ryuta and Yukikos hands firmly, blushing as he takes Yukikos. "Alright, lets run some more! ....and then try and hide." He smiles and takes off from the evil evil cat person towards the center of town.

I give one DP to Kuma Da for a great game. :smallwink:
Yes, I know Kuma Da doesn't get any.

And i'll spend 5 points to increase Yukiko's relationship to 2. I'll work on the PCs in a second.

[Kuma Da]

In the very first game of Yuuyake that I ever played, we ended up giving the Teller Dream Points too. :smallbiggrin:

Actually, I think I'll keep track of the DP you guys give me. Not sure what I'll do with them, but I'll try to figure something out.

[Yuki Akuma]

Well in that case... 1 DP for Yukiko's mounting confusion and panic. :D

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"I could fly away, but then I couldn't help you two out. And why didn't you turn into a dog and scare her off? Now let's go, Shuichi-dono!" Ryuta takes Yukiko by the other hand so that being dragged would be less painful for her. He runs along with Shuichi, trying to keep pace with him. "Do you want to ambush her with snowballs when she catches up?"

Kuma: Two dp for the ramen shop guy, he was awesome. I wanted to give you dream points or something all along, but I didn't think there was a reason for it.

Squirrel: Where is your character keeping that thing? And why is she carrying one?

One point to Shuichi for playing along with Ryuta's level of crazy.

Shuichi's connection becomes level 2! Shuichi's connection is evolving! Shuichi's connection from Ryuta is now (Brother in arms).

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

You can't get away from me Ryuta!! >.< I'll use my special move to catch you!

Yumii folds and unfolds her fingers rapidly as she runs, either she's working some variety of magic, or taking her anime watching too seriously again.

Kaze no nekkakami!

She shouts, then begins to sprint harder - although any magic used is questionable at best, there is no doubt she's moving more quickly now (and breathing harder too)


Yumii wears her shinai on her back in a simple sheathe >.>

As for why she has it <@,@> There are three reasons:

1) Convenience. Having something long to scratch your own back with, or reach something out of the way is perfect for a lazy feline >.>

2) Irritation - As you've probably noticed, she likes to bother people <,< poking or thwacking someone at random is good at this!

3) Yumii is a character I've played/written about many times; usually she's a bit more serious and a fair warrior; and thus tends to carry a weapon most of the time. The wooden sword is essentially a less-serious take on that aspect of her personality >.> I suspect she's also a fair hand at kendo; albeit its unlikely to be remotely important <@,@>

4) The final, and most important reason: Silliness! Carrying a bamboo sword all the time is both odd, and contains substantial potential for comedy - there's few more assured ways to cause hilarious property damage than by swinging a stick around >.>

... Ok that's four... our FOUR reasons are... Oh never mind I'll just come in again <.<

[Kuma Da]

Hikari and Zounan Zaraki

"Thanks." Keiichi stands up and does his best to dust himself off. It's too late, for the most part. Around the ankles of his jeans, snow has clumped like wintry manacles. In other places, his body heat has melted it part way into freezing dampness. He frowns, shrugs, then looks up to answer your question.

"So what brings you to the festival?"

"I'm here with," he hesitates for a second, "with my friend. We were going to put finishing touches on one of the snow sculptures in the center of town, but we kinda got split up. Hopefully, she's gonna meet me here sometime soon." Keiichi shivers dramatically, but tries to take your attention off of it by redirecting the conversation. "That's a nice watch you've got. I didn't think they sold any that stylish in town."


Ryuta, Shuichi, and Yumii in pursuit

Yukiko takes one long look at the charging girl with the shinai and bolts. She's surprisingly fast for a skinny-legged girl, but she's had a fair amount of practice with running today. Slipping out of Ryuta's grasp (and nearly out of her coat,) she makes a break towards...well, not really towards anything. She's mostly running away from the crazed martial artist. And her grabby-handed friend. And Shuichi, although that last one is mostly because of the company he keeps.


Everyone

Hikari, 1 DP for scaling Zaraki.

Ryuta, sorry I keep misspelling your name. It feels like it should have a long U sound in it, so it's gotten written up as "Ryuuta" in like three posts so far. :smallamused:

Everyone, wanna give me an update on how many MP/TP you've got left? Just include it in spoilers with your post. I just wanna make sure I don't start dropping crazy-hard checks on everyone when they're running out. At least, not during this scene. :smallbiggrin:

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Yukiko, Ryuta, duck and cover! Snow-ball fighting machine, form up!" Shuichi shouts, turning his cap to the side and dropping into a roll as he runs, collecting a ball of snow in his hand. "This hand of mine burns with cold snow!" He shouts again, still in mid-slide coming to rest against a snow bank in a crouch. "Ultimate snow-ball fighting technique! Take this- my confidence, chaos, and boundless energy!" He rears back and throws his snowball as hard as he can at Yumii.

"Shining Snow-baaaaalllllll!"

I feel the need to spend a point on that. XD

I'll give one to Hikari and Zaraki, her for climbing him and him for taking it.

I'll give one to Ryuta and Yumii for being awesome.

And I currently have 2 Dream Points, 5 Mystery Points, and, due to the Shinning Snow-ball, 1 Thought Point.

[Yuki Akuma]

One DP to Shuichi for... referencing some mecha anime or other.

Hikari clings to Zounan as she perches on his shoulders, grinning a little bit at Keiichi. "He's here with his girlfriend, Zounan-sama! She's called Yukiko and she's really pretty and she seems nice, and..." She siighs. "I hope she'll be my friend..."

Hikari currently has 5 MP and 7 TP. She hasn't done anything yet. Unless you're going to tell me that the "bawling her eyes out" thing was more than Child 4. :P

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Awww... I wanted to be the one to use a super move. Too bad I can't think of any." Ryuta switches his pose and says "The world! Time has stopped." He looks around and concludes "I don't have that kind of magic." He then makes some normal snowballs and assaults Yumi with them.

He's referencing G Gundam and the protagonist's Shining Finger finisher. I give him 1 dp for doing so.

5 TP/ 7 DP here.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii attempts to parry the Shining Snowball, but her guard is off and instead it pelts her in the face, causing her to trip and do a head over heels roll in the snow, landing at the feet of Shuichi.

>.< I'll get you for that! 1000 snowballs of pain!

Yumii rolls backward into a crouch and begins hurling snowballs wildly, not really aiming at anyone in particular.

I know you've already gotten +2 for this <,< but you need another 1DP for using Doumoun Kashu's special move from G-Gundam <,< too funny! Yay Shuichi!

Also - 6 Thought, 5 Mystery, 3 Dream is where I be at at the moment! >.> Rawr!

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The bird-boy takes cover behind a nearby stand and begins to accumulate ammunition. He then realizes that making snowballs is a very cold activity and puts on a pair of mittens. He puts together what he considers to be a masterpiece of a snowball, quite dense, but only as wide as a regulation baseball. He moves from his cover and throws a fastball at Yumi! "Look at me, I'm Kyuji Fujikawa!"

[Dorizzit]

Zounan Zaraki

Zounan listens politely as Kei explains his participation in the festival, and then chuckles as Hikari babbles briefly.

"You're in the ice sculpting contest, huh? So am I. Which one is yours?"

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi's eyes bug out anime style and he half back flips, half rolls behind the bank he was resting against. He rolls up another snowball, peaks over and tosses it at Yumii. "Ahh, shes too much for us aniki, her snowballs are too fast, cover me!"

I'll give Ryuta a DP for trying to stop time.

I'll spend 5 DP to improve my relationship with Ryuta to 2 (Bros Forever).

0 DP/5 MP/1 TP

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The bird-boy lets fly snowball after snowball after snowball. "We are hot-blooded gods of war! We cannot lose! RAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii is promptly burried in snow between Shuihi and Ryuta <x,x> A tiny white flag is raised above the mound of white fluff.

"You win you win! <T_T> I give!"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Calmed down considerably, he crouches over his defeated opponent and stares her down. He then flatly states "That was too easy. One on one next time, Yumi." He pats her on the head and walks over to give Shuichi a fist-bump. "You did a great job, Shuichi-dono! So what do we do now?"

1 dp to Yumi.

Upgrading relationship to Yumi. Yumi goes from (Justified fear) to (Annoying opponent).

[Kuma Da]

Ryuuta, Shuichi, and Yumii

All in all, you do a pretty good job of clearing the street of pedestrians. There's nothing quite like flying lumps of winter's fluffy fury to send tourists scattering for cover. In your peripheral vision, you can see people picking their ways out of snow banks and legging it away down the street.

Now that your snowball fight is finished, Ryuta's question hangs in the air.

Where to next?


Hikari and Zaraki

"He's here with his girlfriend, Zounan-sama! She's called Yukiko and she's really pretty and she seems nice, and..."

And Keiichi turns a rather festive shade of crimson. "Um, ah, sort of. I mean, no. That is, yes. But no. Definitely also no. Um...perhaps I'd better start again." He looks about for a lifeline and latches onto Zaraki's comment. "Yukiko's just a classmate. Not my girlfriend. I mean, it's not like I dislike her or anything or think she's not pretty because she is pretty and I do like her just not like like her and uh where was I going with this....right! We're actually working together on a snow sculpture. It's the big ol' model of Nagoya castle over there." He manages to finish all of that in one breath, ending with an expansive gesture towards the snow castle which does its best to oblige the drama of the moment and sparkle prettily. "How about you? Which one did you do?"


Everyone

1 DP to Hikari for asking awkward questions. :smallbiggrin:

1 DP to Ryuuta and Shuichi for being hot-blooded Gods of war.

1 DP to Yumii for the surrender flag.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi fist bumps back, and extends his hand to Yumii. "Come on, Yumii! That was fun." He says, smiling and waking for her to take his extended hand.

"Hey, where Yukiko? Yukiko-kun!" Shuichi yells.

1 to Ryuta for being a hot-blooded god of war.

1 to Yumii for the flag.

1 to Kei-Chan for his half defense.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari giggles, eyes sparkling mischievously. "Oh, it's okay. I know all about this sorta stuff. She likes you, too!" She nods her head firmly, giggling happily. She's not the jealous type.

"...If I had to hazard a guess, Kei-chama, I'd say he did the sculpture of the fox."

[Dorizzit]

Zounan Zaraki

Hm...that's interesting... Zaraki allows no outward signs of his surprise, finally having a solid link to "Watanabe".

"You did the Nagoya castle rendition? That's pretty impressive. It's almost identical. I should know, I've been there."

"How about you? Which one did you do?"

"...If I had to hazard a guess, Kei-chama, I'd say he did the sculpture of the fox."

Zounan shrugs and smiles wistfully.

"It's true, its true. There weren't any other renditions of Zaraki, so I figured there had to be at least one. Were the six tails a bit much?"

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii takes Shuichi's offered hand and stands up. She brushes herself off, especially making sure to get the snow out of her hair >.< its cold, and wet hair on a cold day is bad!

Hehe, that was fun... So where are we headed now?

I can't seem to find the rules for upgrading relationships >.<; I is a dummy. Could someone point me to where they are? <T_T>

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Let's just walk around, looking at the tourist stuff. I mean, that's why we're here, right? Or are we here because you wanted to make me become an ice cube? "

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi smiles back. "Guys, I'll be right back, I'm going to look for Yukiko-kun. You two gonna be okay?" He says, nudging Ryuta and smiling like a cheeky kid. "Don't worry, I'll be right back." He continues, backing off, then running in the direction she went.

"Yukiko-kun!"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"I'll go with you, you're more fun than Yumi." Ryuta follows Shuichi and keeps a lookout for the schoolgirl whose appearance he can barely remember.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Who got turned into an icecube again Ryuta? >.< Oh right, me! Two on one is one too many I says!

Yumii continues to walk with Ryuta and Shuichi until Ryuta makes this comment:

"I'll go with you, you're more fun than Yumi." - Ryuta

And what's that supposed to mean? I was considering taking you off the menu ya know... <-.-> Now I'm not so sure! *hmph*

Yumii continues along with them, feigning chagrin for a bit before simply dropping the act and returning to her normal self, and helping look for Yukiko.

[Kuma Da]

Hikari and Zaraki

"Nah, I think they add a bit more body to the sculpture. It's a really good take on Zaraki. More apt than the one at the shrine. I feel like that's how he'd look, if he existed.

As for the castle, I doubt you've ever seen it like this before. It's the pre-war castle, not the reconstructed tourist attraction. Yukiko and I modeled it off of a picture from a textbook."

Keiichi looks like he has more to add, but before another set of words can tumble out of his mouth Hikari seizes hold of the conversation again. "I know all about this sorta stuff. She likes you, too!"

"There's no way she could..." Keiichi flushes again. "Really? I mean, I'm not saying I'm interested in her. We're just friends. But...how can you tell?"

"How can you tell what?" Yukiko jogs over to the three of you. She looks a little out of breath. "Also, if any of you see a red-haired kid headed this way, please tell me so I can hide in a snowbank."

Sorry about messing a little with the continuity of your dialog. The timing felt like it would be all off if Keiichi reacted to Hikari's comment, then segued back into talking about the castle again, and then Yukiko showed up.


Ryuta, Yumii, and Shuichi

Yukiko's tracks seem to lead to the center of town. It's a little hard to tell with so many other sets of footprints meandering across the trail, but eventually your hard work pays off and you see her over by the snow sculptures. She's chatting with Hikari, Zaraki, and the boy from before.


Everyone

A quick refresher on the rules for upgrading relationships: 5 DP for strength 1, 5 DP for strength 2, 5 DP for strength 3, 8 DP for strength 4, 12 DP for strength 5. Also, any time you increase a relationship, you can feel free to change its contents.

[mistformsquirrl]

I'm spending my 5 DP to increase my relationship with Ryuta to 2 (Fond Target*)

(*Essentially, someone I like, but I also tease and annoy constantly >.>)

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Cool guys." Shuichi says, then follows the tracks for a while, "Looks like we got to the center anyway... hey, there she is!" The dogboy says, then starts to run over.

"Yukiko-kun, Kei-chan, Hikari-chan, Zounan-sensei!" Shuichi shouts as he jogs over, smiling widely.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari's eyes light up. "Yukiko-chan!" She waves to her from her seat on Zounan's shoulders. "Hi! We were looking after your boyfriend for you!" She hums happily a bit, then promptly pounces at her in an attempt to sit on her shoulders! "Yukiko-chan! Will you be my friend?"

[Dorizzit]

Zounan stifles a chuckle at Hikari's...exuberance. He puts her down quickly, anticipating her attempt to change riders.

"So...you are Watanabe Yukiko?"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Ryuta taps Shuichi in the ribs and says "I guess everyone's hitting on that girl of yours. No biggie, plenty of food on the sidewalk." He walks over to the rest of the group and announces himself. "Hey! How is everyone doing? And why did you have to pick a spot surrounded by these nice sculptures? Now I can't ambush Zounan-san with snowballs."

[Dorizzit]

Zounan turns his head to Ryuta.

"Oh, you're here too, Ryuta-kohai?"

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi sighs and looks cutely dejected at Ryuta's words. "I was here too first." He whines, in reference to Zounan.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii pats Shuichi on the head.

Silly Shuichi-kun.

[Dorizzit]

Zounan shrugs at Shuichi's whine.

"Sorry, Shuichi. I guess I just didn't hear you."

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Ryuta looks around a bit and notices Zounan's piece of artwork. "Hey, this sculpture looks like you, Zounan-san. Except, you know, skinnier and with a bigger nose."

[Dorizzit]

Zounan's eye twitches a bit.

"Har. Har. Such a kidder."

[Kuma Da]

Mizuki

Nakamura-sensei blinks first. He looks a little rattled by this. Perhaps he's not used to being out-stared.

"Who were those kids you were talking to? The ones who just ran off?


Hikari, Zaraki, Ryuta, Shuichi, Yumii

"Yukiko-chan! Hi! We were looking after your boyfriend for you!"

Keiichi's blush is pandemic. Yukiko catches it within seconds. "Eeeh?! Keiichi's not my...uh, I mean, I'm not sure who you mean but I don't have a boyfriend."

"We're just friends! Really!"

"Yeah! I mean he's cute and all but..."

"Wait, really?"

"You're not bad. Much too serious, though."

"I was cute just a second ago. How did I slip to being 'not bad'?"

"By asking too many questions."

"Oh, well, I suppose I'll have to work on that, then."

"If you want to be cute."

"Anyways, we're agreed that we're definitely not boyfriend and girlfriend, right?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

Yukiko stays fairly still during this exchange, allowing Hikari to clamber aboard. As soon as she does so...

"Hey, there she is!"

Yukiko catches one glimpse of the tuft of red hair and bolts for cover behind Keiichi, nearly unseating Hikari in the process. She points wildly away from the center of town. "Tell them I went that way!"


Everyone

If you want more information from me about something before you post, feel free to shoot me a PM or spoilerize something or whatever. I'm doing my best to give you all stuff to react to, but if I slip up don't hesitate to let me know.

[Dorizzit]

Zounan, surprised at the level of Yukiko's reaction, folds his arms and musters up a look somewhere between a glare and an imperious stare.

"Shuichi! What did you do?"

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari waves towards her doggy friend. "Hi Shuichi-kun! Did you forget you were a human and try to sniff someone's butt again?"

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"What, no, I..." Shuichi looks around and whines a bit, then drops his head in shame, "I did the shining snowball on Yumii."

1 DP to Hikari. XD

[Kuma Da]

1 DP to Hikari. Actual post much later today.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Laughs so hard she snorts after hearing Hikari's comment about Shuichi.

That's gross, haha! <T_T> How're you Hikari-chan~?

Yumii is compelled to pinch Hikari's cheek!

>_< Kawaii~~ You are too adorable Hikari-chan!~

Upon noticing Zounan, Yumii flushes briefly before regaining her composure.

Konbanwa Zounan-sama! How are you this evening?

1DP for Hikari, that made me crack up <,< Nicely done!

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"I was kidding? Anyway, now that we're all here, what are we all here doing? What are all we doing here? What are here we doing all? I mean, what are we all doing here?"

1 point to Zounan, just cause.

[Kuma Da]

Mizuki

After a while of you not saying anything, the teacher eventually harumphs loudly, arches his owly eyebrows, and marches away through the snow. He has places to go. Things to do. People to be gruff at. He'll get to the bottom of the anonymous snowball affair some other time.

You're alone in the street again, without a clue where everyone else has run off to. This might be a good opportunity for some high-spirited mischief. Zaraki certainly isn't around to disapprove.

Of course, you could also dutifully start looking for your friends. Before you all arrived in town, some of you had mentioned wanting to go see the snow sculpting contest. That might be a good place to check.

Thought I'd get you out of that situation since it wasn't doing anything productive for the plot, character development, or general hilarity. Sorry for putting you into it.

Also, feel free to 'stumble upon' the rest of the group as they head out of town.


Everyone Else

Yukiko glances out from around Keiichi's side. She looks a little like a rabbit peering over the lip of a snowdrift, half-expecting to come face to face with a hunter's rifle. When no one tries to abduct her, pelt her with snow, or brain her with a shinai, she appears relieved.

Keiichi doesn't share the slightest bit of her worry. "Heya. Zounan and I were just talking about snow sculptures. It's a little unusual for a tourist to do such an impressive piece, especially one based on local myth. I think he's got a pretty good shot at winning the contest." Before Zaraki can preen, a jaunty little tune begins playing from the depths of Keiichi's pants. "Whoops. That's my cellphone." He digs it out and presses a couple of buttons, causing the tinny pop-song to fall silent. "There's supposed to be a fireworks display tonight, and I set my alarm fifteen minutes ahead of it so Yukiko and I could get somewhere good to watch it from. You're all welcome to come along if you'd like, but we should hurry."

Those of you that choose to follow Keiichi will find that he leads you at a brisk pace out of Samuyama and part-way up a little mountain trail into an empty clearing. The air there is extraordinarily clear and, although it's not very high up, the place still manages to majestically overlook the town.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/2253083833_3dc2e518aa.jpg

In the center of the clearing is a large snowy lump. It looks like it would be pretty nice to sit on if some of the powder was cleared off of it.

Those of you who decline Keiichi's offer, feel free to clamber up onto a rooftop somewhere and watch the fireworks. Or do whatever, really.

I have no intention of railroading anybody even though I've finally got a coherent plot together. Always feel free to do whatever you think would be adorable/hilarious/in character. I'll do my best to roll with it.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Sure, i'll come with you and Yukiko-kun, Kei-Chan!" Shuichi says, clapping his rival in love on the shoulder and smiling. Shuichi follows the duo and whoever else comes with along the path and smiles up at the sky.

"Wow..." He mutters, "The sky is wonderful..." The dogboy says, staring up at it and walking, going as far as he can before he stumbles and giggles to himself, running back up to the rest of the group and diving into the undisturbed snow here in the clearing, rolling around much as he did earlier in the day as a dog.

After a bit he hops back up and runs over to the lump and looks at it. "Ooh, whats this?" He asks to no one really and dusts it off, "Yukiko-kun, I got you a place to sit!" He continues, gallantly, while blushing.

[Kuma Da]

Shuichi (et. all)

Flurries of snow fly off of the object as a result of your enthusiastic dusting. Within a few moments you have uncovered most of its bulk. It seems to be a large rectangular slab of stone, cut and shaped by human hands then worn to smoothness by the weather. There are kanji on the front of it. They could probably be read as 'Minokichi'.

This is what you have discovered:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/SnowattheCemetery1.jpg

Yukiko starts towards it, then comes to an abrupt stop as soon as she gets a good look at it. "Um...that's a grave. I've heard that ghosts don't like it when you sit on them."

"Nonsense." Keiichi hops up onto the top of the stone, brushing off the last vestiges of snow from the spot next to him. "This stone is ancient. If there ever was a ghost here, then he's probably died of old age by now."

"Still, I think I'll stand."

Keiichi shrugs. "Suit yourself. It's the best seat in the house."

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

"Hmm...that was boring." Mizuki goes over and gets a fresh cup of warm amazaki, wanting to keep the warm feeling in her cheeks. "La la la..." She begins singing a popular shoujo anime while looking for someone else who might possibly be cute.

Once she finds her target, she makes it so that he runs into her, causing her to tumble in the snow and spilling her drink all over her face. She summons up her best fake tears and looks at her new target, eyes glistening with her pity tears.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari follows the group along up to the mountain path. She watches Shuichi dust off the grave stone in curiosity, tilting her head to one side. "Huh? What's th-" Then Yukiko is answering her question without her really having to ask it.

"...Don't be silly. Most people don't even become ghosts when they die."

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The birdboy follows the others to the graveyard and starts looking around for people he might have known. Seeing Keiichi sitting on a gravestone, he tells him "You know, ghosts live a pretty long time. There might be some sort of angry samurai spirit within, you know."

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Ooo, I wouldn't sit on it, Kei-chan. Ghosts will pop out and say..." He moved a little closer to Kei-chan and stared at him, "Boo!" Shuichi said, and then busted out laughing. "Besides, its better to lay on the ground!" The dogboy said and just let himself drop over in the clearing before beginning to make a snow angel.

[Kuma Da]

Mizuki

He's texting on his cell phone when you spring into action, darting around a corner into his path. He manages to get out half of a startled "huh?" before mowing you over. You tumble into the side of a snowbank just as his legs remember that they should have stumbled over something. With a spasm, they dump him neatly onto the packed snow of the street and his phone goes skidding out of his hand.

"Ow." The boy picks himself back up unsteadily. "Did I just...oh no! Are you alright?" He dashes over to you, notices the spilled amazke, and pulls something from one of his pockets. "I'm so sorry. Here, use these." He passes you a packet of tissues stamped with an advertisement for an electronics store. It's of the sort that most chain stores hire people to give out. "I didn't see you at all. Please be okay."

This close up, you get a good look at him. He has wide, dark eyes and styled black hair. Although he's dressed in a thick winter coat, he doesn't seem to be used to the cold at all. Probably a tourist.


Everyone Else

"Sheesh. All this advice about ghosts. You guys watch too much TV." Keiichi grins good naturedly and leans back a little to watch the sky. "I come up here all the time and I've never been haunted by anything. The fireworks should be starting pretty soon, so unless the spirit world really feels like interrupting..."

You all hear the sound of snow crunching underfoot. At the edge of the clearing, standing just beyond the treeline, is a young woman. Her skin is an eerie, lustrous white in the moonlight. At least, in the places where it's not dappled with shadows from the nearby pines. Down her back falls a torrent of glossy black hair, reaching all the way to the surface of the snow. By all rights, she should be unsettlingly beautiful. Unfortunately, she seems to have been dressed by a whirlwind.

The woman is wearing a shirt and pants. She's got that much right. The pants are sequin-studded jeans and are worn where pants should be worn, although for some inexplicable reason a short skirt has been sewn onto the right knee. It hangs over her calf like a lampshade. Meanwhile, her shirt is tied like a bandanna around the left arm of her jacket, which has a fur-rimmed hood and sleeves. They both look authentic and expensive. Possibly polar bear.

It's the little touches that complete any ensemble, and for the stranger in the clearing these are a single hoop earring, glinting silver in the half-light, a pair of purple knit mittens with little stylized eggplants sewn onto them, and a poofy white hat that looks like someone hollowed out a sheep in the name of fashion.

"G-g-ghost!" exclaims Keiichi, toppling over backwards and out of sight.

Ryuta, the clearing doesn't actually look like a graveyard. After all, there was only one grave-shaped lump in the snow.

Mizuki, 1 DP to you for continuing to ambush people :smallbiggrin:

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Hello person! Are you a ghost or spirit of some kind?" Ryuta happily waves at the pale individual.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii's voice is a low whisper, obviously meant only for the group.

Don't be silly Ryuta-chan... ghosts have better fashion sense than that. She's one of three things I think: Crazy, on something illegal, or an artist. Given that costume? I'm voting artist.

I am so sorry I've been away for a bit all >.< I have bipolar in the real world, and though I do my best to manage it, sometimes the depressive cycles get the better of me and I just can't talk for a bit; I should have given some warning though. I'm still here! Though I might be a bit subdued for awhile. I shall try to be more active/lively as things go forward!

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"G-g-ghost!" Shuichi says in a similar manner to Kei-Chan, then runs over to strike a defensive pose in front of Kei-Chan and Yukiko-kun. "Kei-Chan, you-you.... if we die, I'll be so mad!" The dogboy sputters out and stares at the pale figure. "Stay back you.... ghost-artist-crazy girl person you with an illegal fashion sense! Grrr!" He growls, then looks at Yumii for confirmation that he strung together that insult in the correct way.

Don't worry, my moods range from excited posting to apathetic avoidance so... :P

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari eeps at the 'ghost', and quickly jumps into Keiichi's lap, and... poof! Is now a rabbit. ... Oh dear.

One has to wonder what happened to her clothes.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Reel him in... "Ow...I think I got it in my eye... She rubs her eyes for a bit, wanting the tourist boy to stare at her face.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Don't make fun of the possible ghost girl! She's cute! Or scary. I don't know, if she's a girl then it's all up to her what emotions we're supposed to be feeling."

[Tichrondrius]

1 DP to Ryuta. :smallamused:

[Kuma Da]

Mizuki

"I'm so sorry. Does it sting?" He leans in a little bit, his face a mask of concern. You make eye contact. Whatever you’re planning, now is the ideal time to strike.

Just realized that, in my last post, I awarded you a DP in the spoiler for the 'everyone else' section. I think I kinda assumed that everyone reads everything, but that’s probably incorrect. Anyways, if you didn't see it there, then 1 DP for being a menace to my NPCs.


Everyone Else

The young woman on the edge of the clearing startles, backpedals away from Shuichi, and bounces off the trunk of a pine. She doesn't quite overbalance into the snow, but she does stand there windmilling her arms for a few seconds.

Ghosts are probably not this clumsy. That leaves artist and 'on something illegal'.

At about the same time as the "ghost"'s doing her try-not-to-faceplant dance, you see Hikari bound over the side of the tombstone in a blur of white. There's also the soft thud of a furry body impacting on a student. You hear a girlish shriek from Keiichi.

"I'm not some sort of spectre, I promise," says the 'ghost', as soon as she recovers her balance. I just wanted to watch the fireworks with," her mouth starts to shape the sound of a 'ke', then quickly shifts into "everyone."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tombstone, Keiichi is staring wide-eyed at the girl-turned-cruise-missile-turned-rabbit that just landed on his chest.

Ryuta, I can't not give you a DP for the "if she's a girl then it's all up to what emotions we're supposed to be feeling" line. So, 1 DP awarded to you.

Mistformsquirrl, don't worry about absences. There is absolutely no pressure to post for this game. If it ever starts to be work instead of fun, then I am obviously doing something wrong. Heck, the whole point of running this is for people to feel good.



Everyone

Sorry about the posting delay. I ended up going back to my home town with a friend so he could get his post-wisdom-teeth-stitches out, and by the time I got internet again the site was freaking out. Anyways, that's over with. I can continue updates at their usual pace now.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Oh... are you okay?" Shuichi asks, taking a step forward now that hes sure this person isn't a ghost. "Of course you can watch with us!" The dogboy continues impulsively and smiles his trademark goofy grin. Then he notices Hikari.

"Hikari-chan! You can't turn into rabbits in front of people you silly- uh- rabbit, you! Kei-Chan will probably try to eat you instead of date you now." He says, shaking his head at her and clucking his tongue.

We missed you in all my games, Kama Da. You never notice how regularly someone posts till their gone. :smalltongue:

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"That was a slip, I meant if she's a girl then we should do what she wants. I mean, if she's a girl, then our best option is to hide. No, I meant if she's a ghost then we should try to be nice and courteous. Yeah, that's right."

Ryuta gingerly walks over to the girl and outstretches his hand.

"Let me introduce myself, I'm Ryuta and I'd be happy to help you not fall over. What's your name? And are you some sort of beast-person like Hikari?"

OOC:
1 to Shuichi and 1 to Hikari.

[Kuma Da]

Everyone at the clearing

"My name's Amaya, and I am perfectly okay." The new girl stares at Ryuta's outstretched hand for a few puzzled seconds, then exclaims "oh! You must be cold! That is something that happens to people sometimes!" and pulls off her mittens. She sticks them on his hands and walks on past before he can object.

Picking her steps through the snow with care, Amaya crosses the clearing to the tombstone and Keiichi. She peers over the side of the stone slab at the boy. "You have a rabbit on you."

"Yes. I know."

"And that rabbit was formerly a girl."

"I was kinda hoping I'd imagined that. Maybe Yukiko just heaved a bunny at me."

"I most certainly did not!" Yukiko's voice has an edge of uncertainty to it. She's pretty clearly out of her depth with all this talk of ghosts and people changing into things.

"But...people don't just..."

"Change into rabbits?" asks Amaya. "I didn't think they did but I wanted to make sure."

"Um, wha--"

"Hey, so...if the bunny sitting on you is actually a girl and I'm a girl too then can I sit on you?"

Keiichi splutters.

Zounan Zaraki: There's something vaguely off about Amaya's accent, even though the words she's using are modern. You haven't heard one like it in a long time.

Everyone else: There's something vaguely off about Amaya.


Everyone

1 DP to everyone for fantastic RP and for leaving a wake trail of traumatized NPCs behind you. I realize I've been kinda stingy with DP, so I'll try to hand out more in the future.

And, yes. I know Amaya comes off as completely, ridiculously crazy. There's a method to her madness.

Finally, I'm having a little trouble with the NPCs wanting to yell "OMG shapeshifter!" and run off terrified into the night. If anyone wants to step in and prevent another Urashima incident, now is the time to do it.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Mizuki moves in closely, pressing her lips firmly to the lips of the concerned tourist, taking him completely by surprise and pressing into him hard enough to make him stand back a step.

"It does, but I feel a lot better now."

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Don't worry, Kei-Chan! Its not as odd as you think- we're all shape shifters. Don't be scared though, you've probably been around shape shifters before and don't even know it. Anyone you know could have been one, even people you've known for years." Shuichi said cheerfully, leaning closer to Kei-Chan. "We are all around you!"

I'm helping. ^^

1 DP to Sicarius for raping hapless NPC number 27s face.
1 to Kuma Da for craaazy girl.

[Dorizzit]

Zounan, who had remained silent for quite some time, shoots a suspicious glance at Amaya before going to stand in front of the confused Keiichi. Sighs, understanding that it would be a long time for the human to grasp and accept what was going on. Humans these days.

"Alright, let me explain more...thoroughly. All of us and...Mizuki...are Hengeyokai, as the myth. Hikari-chan is a Hare...Shuichi-kun a dog...Agoshi-san a cat...Ryuta-kohai a crow...Mizuki-kohai a Tanuki."

Zounan places a hand against his chest.

"My full name is Zounan Zaraki. The Zaraki. That's why I know what Nagoya castle looks like. I've been there. On multiple occasions."

He pauses for a second.

"And I do actually have six tails."


Sorry about not posting, finals week and work on a competition play did'nt give me much time to look at the forums. I should be back after today.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari nuzzles up against Keiichi and whimeprs in a surprisingly childlike way for a bunny. She tries to hide in his shirt, but then Zounan is introducing her...

There's a 'poof!' - even a small cloud of smoke - and she's suddenly human again. "I am not a hare! I'm a rab-" She's also not wearing that incredibly thick winter coat, being dressed in a cute little summer dress. At least Keiichi can see her hair now...

"COLD!" He eeps and clings to Keiichi!

1 DP to Mizuki for obvious reasons, 1 DP to Ryuta for the tongue-tied-ness, and 1 DP to Shuichan for helping!

So, uh, how much TP is it to transform to human form again?

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Well... I suppose there's no use trying to hide it now hehehe...

Yumii lets her ears appear, and pulls her tail out of the back of her winter kimono.

Zounan-sama... I'm not sure it was the best of ideas to tell them that though... oh well. Yumii gives a shrug and a smile.

Don't worry DM of coolness hehe <@_@> believe me, its not you; its my brain chemicals - they make me feel like crap with absolutely no reasoning behind it sometimes; so then I just kinda pull back for a bit <>.<> Such is life! <@.@> I have fun with this game though!

[mistformsquirrl]

So, uh, how much TP is it to transform to human form again?

I *think* its 4 - Shifter; but it depends on if you want to go full Human, or keep your bunny ears and tail; if the latter, I believe its 2 - Shifter.

- Shifter meaning subtract your Shifter score from the amount you need to pay >.> ... I thinkt hats right.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Ummm...kay." Ryuta is confused as to why the girl placed her mittens on him and tries to give them back. "I was giving you my hand so I could carefully lead you over to your obvious crush, not steal your woolly things. I don't know why everyone likes him though."

"Hikari, you have to think about what clothes you want to wear when you change back. Otherwise you just go to your favorite outfit. I'd show off by transforming, but people keep thinking I'm a shinigami or something. Us crows get no respect."

OOC:
Can I call for a shifter knowledge check to see what sort of mystical creature Amaya is? Or a beast check to smell what kind of animal she really is? And how does Zaraki have a child score of 0?

2 to Kuma for Keiichi and Amaya. Is this the canon couple we didn't know about yet?

[Kuma Da]

Clearing Group

"Don't worry, Kei-Chan! Its not as odd as you think- we're all shape shifters."

Keiichi looks at Shuichi as if he had just announced that everyone was a Martian.

"Don't be scared though, you've probably been around shape shifters before and don't even know it. Anyone you know could have been one, even people you've known for years."

Yukiko's brow wrinkles with skepticism. "You're all shape-shifters. Uh-huh. Does this have anything to do with the zodiac? Or fruit?"

"We're all around you!"

With a poof, the little white rabbit that had just burrowed underneath Keiichi's coat suddenly snaps back into the shape of a girl. This has the same general effect as sneaking up behind someone who's watching horror movies in their living room late at night and flipping the couch over on them. Kawa Hikari's 'eep' at the cold is drowned out by a much louder eep from Keiichi.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" It resounds off of the snow and the pines and the crystal clear night sky. "EEEEEEEEEEP!" It rebounds off of the tombstone, the hengeyokai, and one very startled Amaya. Her expression seems to say "why is this bothering him? should I be bothered too? Is that the appropriate response to this sort of situation." She joins in with a much milder eep of her own, but it's quickly drowned out by "EEEEEEEEE-!"

Yukiko walks over to the panicking boy, taking care to sidestep around Shuichi and Ryuta. She kicks him in the side and the breath puffs out of his lungs in a cloud of steam. "-P." Finishes Keiichi, lamely.

"Are you quite done?"

"Yeah. Maybe. I think so. There's a girl inside my shirt."

"Happens to the best of us. Now, will you please listen to what the, um, shape-shifters have to say? Once they've finished, then you can start freaking out again. I will probably join you." Yukiko's face is extremely pale, but she seems to be holding together pretty well.

"Okay." Mumbles Keiichi.

As the two of them subside into silence, Zaraki begins his explanation.

All of us and...Mizuki...are Hengeyokai, as the myth. Hikari-chan is a Hare...Shuichi-kun a dog...Agoshi-san a cat...Ryuta-kohai a crow...Mizuki-kohai a Tanuki.

"I am not a hare! I'm a rabbit!" Protests a little voice from within the poofiness of Keiichi's coat.

Zaraki continues, taking little note of the interruption. "My full name is Zounan Zaraki. The Zaraki. That's why I know what Nagoya castle looks like. I've been there. On multiple occasions. And I do actually have six tails."

Yukiko and Keiichi look suitably impressed. Amaya hesitates for a second, then decides to look impressed as well. Overhead, fireworks begin to go off, outlining Zaraki against a background of brightness.

Keiichi and Amaya are not actually the canon couple. Although, by this point, I think the whole OTP thing has gone completely out the window. I have no idea whether this story will unfold the way I had initially predicted or not.

As for trying to figure out what Amaya is, she smells human. A shifter check of 6 will tell you whether she's human or not as well as maybe giving you a hint about what she might be instead.


Team Mizuki

Confusion flashes across his features and the boy's whole body stiffens for a second. Then some much neglected part of his hindbrain kicks into gear and notifies the rest of him that dude, a girl is kissing you right now. Go with it. He does.

When the two of you eventually break contact, he takes a hesitant step backwards. A blush sweeps across his cheeks and he blinks frosty lashes. "I...I'm not really sure what to say after that. I mean 'thank you'. Obviously. But, um, maybe I should introduce myself." He dips into a quick bow. "I'm Hisoka Yoshida. Pleased to meet you. Um, would you like to go somewhere warm? Like a restaurant or something?" He looks like he's on the verge of saying something else, but then the both of you hear a loud crack and the sky lights up with a shower of color. It seems that a fireworks display has started.

DM's Note: I figured you were going to pick his pocket or something when I was writing that last post. I was not prepared for attack-snogging. :smallamused:


Everyone

First things first. As the Teller, I am spending five of my eight accumulated Dream Points to create a strength 1 relationship with the players. Its contents are "you guys are effing awesome". Feel free to add it onto your character sheets.

Now, since there were some questions about what determines shifting difficulty, I'm just going to post the list of random modifiers. Keep in mind that you do add your Shifter ability score to any Thought or Mystery points that you spend on the check.

Time of day: Morning or noon (+4), Evening (+0), Night (+2)
Thoroughness of shapeshift: Full human (+4), Small wings or tail (+2), Ears/tail or wings big enough to fly with (+0)

So, with a Shifter of 2, Hikari could shift to human form plus a puffy white bobtail for free. Although, I'm going to rule that after this transformation night has officially fallen.

Finally, DP awards.

1 to Shuichi for "Don't worry, Kei-Chan! Its not as odd as you think- we're all shape shifters." You guys just have a knack for saying creepy stuff to the NPCs.

1 to Hikari, for turning back to human form inside Keiichi's shirt. :smalleek:

1 to Mizuki, for attack-snogging.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The bird-boy looks up at the fireworks and speaks without moving his head. "Yay, it's time to say 'Ooh' and 'Ahh'! Ooh. Ahh. Pretty."

OOC:
I'll spend 3 thought points figuring out what she really is. With my shifter score of 3, that makes 6, right?

[Kuma Da]

Yup. That math works. Unfortunately, the check is just to determine whether Amaya is human or not with the added bonus of maybe a hint about what she is. I thought I should probably mention that again. Let me know if you still want to spend the points.

[UglyPanda]

OOC:
Spending it anyway. And how do you get more thought points? Do you just get them after each scene?

[Kuma Da]

TP and MP carry over between scenes and everyone also gets TP/MP equal to their connections at the start of every new scene.

As for the results of your skill check, Amaya is human. She's not wearing an illusion, and she is made of solid matter. However, she seems to be completely unaccustomed to having a physical body and some of the nuances of human interaction have thrown her for a loop. This means one of a few things.

She might be a ghost possessing a human body. If that's the case, she undoubtedly has some sort of history with Keiichi. Religious talismans and prayers should drive her out of her body, returning it to whomever it originally belonged to.

Alternately, she might be a god in mortal form. That would account for her odd accent and mannerisms. It also might explain some of her craziness.

The last possibility to occur to you is that some supernatural creatures can temporarily give up their other-worldly abilities and become mortal for a short while. This is usually in conjunction with some sort of event: either the anniversary of an date that was important to them or a local holiday.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Awe, don't freak out Yukiko. I can turn back into a dog again if you'd like." Shuichi says to her, smiling, and then notices the fireworks, so he allows himself to just fall back on the snow to cushion his fall. "Oooo, fireworks."

Also, what do Mystery Points do?

I spend five points to upgrade my relationship with Keichii to + (Friendly)

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari carefully extracts herself from Keiichi's shirt, cute bobtail twitching a little as she does so. She then promptly snuggles against him in the proper way for a human, glancing at Amaya and giving her a cheery smile. "Hi!"

I shall also be spending 4 TP on that Shifter 6 skill check to figure Amaya out.

Hikari hmmms, looking Amaya up and down for a few moments... she then promptly produces an o-fuda from... seemingly nowhere. She then yells something or other and throws it at Amaya in an attempt to stick it to her forehead!

[Kuma Da]

Clearing Group

Fireworks continue to go off overhead and Amaya quickly loses interest in looking impressed by Zaraki's explanation. She turns her attention to the fireworks instead. "Pretty," she murmurs, "but why?"

Yukiko, meanwhile, is staring at Shuichi. "You're the stray dog from before, aren't you? I petted you. I'm not really sure I'm comfortable with that." She frowns.

Keiichi coughs discreetly. "Yuki, I have a girl who is also a rabbit sitting on me. Let's not talk about comfortable."

"That's comfortable? Yay!" Amaya sits down on his legs, pinning them to the snow. "I am glad this is fun for both of u--ow." She rubs her forehead and her hand comes away with an o-fuda stuck to it. "I am not a message board! What's all this funny writing about, anyways?"

Mystery points are used to activate your abilities as a shape-shifter. They can also be spent on shape-shifting checks. Shuichi, for example, can spend them on stuff like Pat the Puppy and Bark.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi rolls over and props himself up on one arm. "Your not comfortable around me?" The dogboy whines, looking at her with literal puppy dog eyes.

So, if I'm doing this right, I can spend four Mystery Points to use Attached, and make Yukkio feel comfortable. And get two Thought Points. If that's right, then I do it.

[Kuma Da]

"When the dog playfully gets attached to someone, they give that person comfort." Basically, this ability has the same sort of effect as, say, a stray dog taking an instant liking to you. It does not magically make anyone feel at ease, although Yukiko will probably feel a little safer around Shuichi because of it. The main point of the ability is to generate though points.

Do you still want to use it?

[Tichrondrius]

Sure, I'll use it still. :smallbiggrin:

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari hmmphs a little bit as the o-fuda fails to work. "Well, either you're not a ghost, or Zounan-sama's sanctified talismans don't work." She makes them herself, sure, but they are sanctified by Zounan!

"...Oh well. Hi! My name's Hikari. Will you be my friend?" She promptly attempts to crawl into her lap instead.

[Dorizzit]

"Well, I didn't specifically ward them for any purpose. More like general good luck. Not very powerful."

Zounan snaps his fingers.

"Oh, I almost forgot..."

A loud boom sounds behind him.

"Never mind. After the fireworks."

He drops to the ground and gazes into the sky.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Mizuki yelps and puts her arms around his waist. "Sorry, that was surprising." She tries to look as sheepish as possible.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The bird-boy is too busy staring at the sky to be aware of what's happening at ground level. "Hey look, those fireworks look like smiley faces! It's all so pretty. And loud."

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

As the fireworks begin, Yumii sits down near Ryuta and looks at the sky. Her face is unusually solemn as she watches the colorful bursts exploding overhead. For a brief instant one might even think she shed a few tears.

For a time she scans the group as they stare at the fireworks... Zaraki, Hikari, Shuichi, Ryuta... somehow their presence reassures the catgirl, and after a deep breath she returns to silently watching the bursting incandescence of the show's end.

Yumii speaks, her voice fairly low, not really wanting to break the mood;

"This is so nice..."



>.> I'm essentially giving everyone 1DP, because you're all doing a great job; honestly, the roleplaying here has been superb and well... thank you all for having me along hehe <@-@>b this is good stuff!

1 DP for Mizuki >.< The whole interaction with this guy is adorable <,<m

1 DP for Zounan, not for any one thing particularly - but kind of the whole package. Its one of those "I don't find myself laughing out loud or going "awwww" a lot... but I consistently find myself loving this character, and that deserves something!

1 DP for Hikari, because the shirt thing made me nearly fall out of my chair giggling >_< and anything that does that is worth something!

1 DP for Shuichi, because the way you're talking to Yukiko is awesome <,< Shuichi seems so naive and nice... but at the same point there's something about it that's creepy in an unintentional sort of way <'x'>b

1 DP for Ryuta, like Zounan, its not any one particular thing this character has done that's earned this; its just the whole package deal. Ryuta's got this bizarre combination of creepy, cute and funny that go together really well. He's like that kid in class who's kinda weird; but you can tell he's actually a pretty neat person underneath the eccentricity. At least that's how I see him so far <,<

1 DP for the DM <. .> because honestly, I don't know a better way to say "This is frikkin' sweet" without sounding like a sycophant <,<m

I'll shaddup for now hehe >.>;;

[Kuma Da]

Clearing

"You're not comfortable around me?"

"Well, you don't seem like a bad person. Spirit. Dog. Dog-spirit-person-thingy." Yukiko looks hesitant. "I guess I'm okay with you. Just don't try to abduct me again."

Amaya, meanwhile, is lost in thought. Hikari clambers into her lap while she's distracted. After a few moments she blinks sharply and says "I dunno. Is it hard to be friends?"

Yumii, you notice the talisman that Amaya had just dropped fluttering in a slight breeze. It's fascinating. Your tail twitches.

Ryuta, one of the fireworks overhead detonates into the shape of what looks like a face sticking its tongue out at you.

Now I'm really curious to hear what Zounan's big post-fireworks revelation is.


Mizuki

Hisoka grins a little. "Yeah, fireworks are pretty scary." He seems surprised to have your arms around his waist, but he doesn't pull away. The two of you start getting glances from passers by. "I didn't catch your name, by the way."

1 Dream Point for the firework ploy. That was adorable.


Everyone

If you look up, this is what you see:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/shoreline-fireworks.jpg

[Yuki Akuma]

This question seems to have caught Hikari off-guard! "...Um. Well, uh... is... is it hard to like someone?" Her head tilts! She doesn't think it's hard to like someone...

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Lets go with person." Shuichi says with a rare intelligent smile, then puts on a goofy grin. He sits up in the snow, and watches everyone around and how they interact... it was great to have good friends. The fireworks burn in the night sky as Shuichi experiences the beauty of nature, the spectacle of fireworks, and the presence of his friends. The emotion is nearly too much for him.

"Everythings just so wonderful..." He mumbles to himself, wishing days like this would never end.

1 DP to everyone, including the DM! Amazing characters, amazing game, amazing players. This is probably my favorite game right now, bar none.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

As the fireworks die down, Yumii zeroes in on the dropped talisman <o.o> At first she merely eyes it from a distance, feigning disinterest. Then her right ear ***** back, and after a moment more of trying to restrain herself, Yumii, still in catgirl form, pounces the talisman \\\<O_O>/// shredding the paper to teensy tiny itsy-bitsy miniscule bits.

I have you now, nemesis mine! >_< Mwahahahahaa!!

After a moment of giddy paper ripping craziness, Yumii composes herself, pretending nothing at all out of the ordinary has occured. Nothing at all to see here folks, nope! >.>

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

The bird-boy, seeing the bizarre firework, decides to stick out his tongue and start taunting the night sky. "Laaliilooluu!"

"...Um. Well, uh... is... is it hard to like someone?" "I don't think it's hard to like someone. I like Amaya-hime and I just met her." The birdboy walks over to the dogpile over Keiichi and decides to sit down next to the object of his affections. He wasn't too keen about showing physical affection, so he just leans on her slightly for support as he continues to watch the night sky.

OOC:
I can't figure out the onomatopoeia for sticking out your tongue and taunting.

Upgrading relationship with Amaya-hime to (Playful crush).

1 DP to everyone, including Kuma. You guys are all awesome. This is the most fun I've had in PbP in a while. And I just noticed the Fruits Basket reference, that made me chuckle.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

"Call me Zuki." She relaxes her grip a little bit. "I'm not scared, I was just a little startled." She looks at a shop hungrily. "Ooh, that looks tasty." She points indistinctly at the food, although all she wanted was a free meal.

[Kuma Da]

Clearing

Amaya studies Keiichi for a second. Keiichi does his best to breathe around the weight of two girls sitting on him. "It's not hard at all to start liking someone. It's the stopping that's the problem." She lets out a breathy sigh, misting the air around her face. "We can be friends," she says regally to Hikari.

When Ryuta comes over and leans against her shoulder, she frowns in confusion...which quickly gives way to revelation. "Oh! I can make room." She scootches over onto Keiichi's belly, leaving his legs free. Smiling expectantly, she pats his knees.

"I...am not...a cafeteria table," wheezes Keiichi. "Everybody off!" He manages to lever Amaya and Hikari off into the snow, sits up, and starts sucking in lungfuls of air. "Sweet, sweet oxygen. I'd forgotten how wonderful you were."

Amaya pouts. "I'm wonderful too..."

"Okay. You're wonderful. But you can't compete with breathing."

A funny little expression meanders across Amaya's face. It seems to say well, I'll just have to try harder, then.

In the snow next to Shuichi, Yukiko tentatively lowers herself into a crouch. She seems to be making a display of trusting him. At least, at first she does. Within minutes she gets lost in watching the fireworks paint the night in neon.


Mizuki

The place you pointed at is a little cafe. It caters mainly to tourists, opening only during peak seasons. The food there consists of little cakes, scones, muffins, and varied pastries with coffee, hot chocolate, and a selection of herbal teas to wash them down. The prices are a little on the expensive side and the decorations are lacy and cute.

This doesn't seem to bother Hisoka, though. He waves towards the door. "Shall we go in? The least I can do to make up for running you over like that is to buy you dinner."


Everyone

I'm glad someone caught Yukiko making a Fruits Basket reference. I've never actually read the series myself, but it seemed like the sort of thing she might know. :smallbiggrin:

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari eeps as she's levered onto the floor... and promptly begins bawling. "Kei-chama hates meeee..!" She clings to Amaya instead and apparently tries to press herself into her, if the tight clutching hug is any indication...

1 DP to everyone, as everyone else is doing it. :D

8 DP to give myself a connection of 2 with Amaya with the contents of (Evolutionarily Non-viable Crush). Also spending 4 to upgrade my relationship with Ryuta. 'Cause.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi smiles at Yukiko. "Yukiko, I.." But then he notices the commotion over with Kei-Chan and the rest. "Hey, whats going on? Are you guys trying to smother Kei-Chan?"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

Still sitting down, Ryuta tries to give some obvious advice. "Amaya-hime, you have to learn that humans need to breathe to stay alive. And if they die then they're no longer any fun to be around unless they become ghosts."

"Hikari-chin, nobody hates you but you shouldn't crush the rib cages of the boys you like. It's just not nice."

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

"Ooh, I wonder what the most is." She giggled, letting him lead her. It was important after all, for the rube to feel like he was in control. Mizuki wondered if that's how all relationships were.

[Kuma Da]

Clearing

"I don't think the two of us can occupy the same space. That's not how people work." Amaya says brightly. She gives the burrowing Hikari a gentle push back. "People are weird, though. The air and the snow don't have any trouble being in the same place at the same time."

"Actually, according to physics..."

"Are you guys trying to smother Kei-Chan?"

"Not at the moment."

"Is this smothering a bad thing?"

"Yes! I mean, uh, I'm sure you meant well..."

Amaya sniffs. It could just be the cold getting to her nose.

"Hikari-chin, nobody hates you but you shouldn't crush the rib cages of the boys you like. It's just not nice."

"Yeah. Keiichi's got nice ribs. Try not to break them," Yukiko pipes up with a bit of a grin.

"That's...uh...thanks, Yuki. That is the single least normal compliment I've ever been given."

"No problem." She sketches a little bow from kneeling position.

In the sky above you, the fireworks blaze together in their triumphant finale.


Mizuki

"So do I," Hisoka says, sounding a bit out of his depth. He sets off towards the cafe at a pace about a quarter-step faster than you can move in your kimono. He isn't trying to get away from you. He's just a little tall and has a long stride.

Of course, when he suddenly turns on a dime, the two of you nearly collide for the second time this evening.

"Sorry," he blushes, helping to steady you. "I think my cell phone got free when I ran into you. I just wanted to go grab it before we go in."

He doubles back, picking his way across the gritty packed-snow that covers the street, scanning the ground. At last he finds a little blocky lump of black and picks it up. "Oh." His expression slips for a second. He looks dismayed. "Well, nothing I can do about that." He shoves the two pieces of the phone into the left pocket of his jeans.

"Let's go in."

-

The two of you find a table in a corner. The cafe doesn't really have booths, but it does have little screens in between the tables to provide the illusion of privacy. In any case, the place is not exactly crowded at the moment.

Shortly after you arrive, the only waiter on duty whisks himself over to your table and asks if either of you would like something to drink.

Adult check of 5 to figure out what a cell phone does and that Hisoka's is completely broken.


Everyone

Not sure if putting up a post while crazy-fatigued was a good idea, but I guess time will tell. If I somehow managed to irreparably break the English language, I do apologize for that.

Now, DP awards:

1 to Hikari for "evolutionarily non-viable crush." That's just all kinds of fantastic.

2 DP to Mizuki for "It was important after all, for the rube to feel like he was in control. Mizuki wondered if that's how all relationships were," which was both adorable and casually heartbreaking. Major props to you, Sicarus, for developing your character like that.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari keeps clinging to Amaya, giving a few sniffles as she seems to calm down. Her emotions seem to be all over the place... but, then, she is only a little girl.

Possibly.

She looks up at Amaya, her eyes still a little teary. "You.. *hic* you really like Kei-chama, don't you?" She frowns a little bit. "I do, too, but he already has Yukiko-chan, so..." She nuzzles in against her. "You're weird. I like you. I'll be your girlfriend instead, 'kay?"

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"If Hikari wants you to be her girlfriend, I'll just be your normal friend, Amaya-hime. Still plenty of food on the sidewalk. Though I'm starting to have a bit of indigestion from all that running and fighting after filling myself up with - ohh, pretty!" Ryuta continues to stare at the fireworks, forgetting about his metaphor in two different ways.

OOC:
Is my character not having any internal monologue make him cuter or stranger? I can't tell.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

"Ooh, yes, I want something nice and warm to drink." Mizuki smiles at the waiter. "And as strong as you can make it."

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Well... you better not!" Shuichi yells back, when Keichii answers negatively to being smothered to death. Then he leans back to enjoy the rest of the fireworks display. "Ohh, ahhh, did you see that Yukiko? Awe, cool!" He remarks at the marvels.

1 to Hikari and Mizuki. lol

[Kuma Da]

Clearing

After one more minute of deafening noise and dazzling aerial commotion, the fireworks subside. Into the silence they leave behind slips conversation.

"You.. *hic* you really like Kei-chama, don't you? I do, too, but he already has Yukiko-chan, so... You're weird. I like you. I'll be your girlfriend instead, 'kay?"

Amaya tilts her head to the side, puzzled. "Does that mean Keiichi will have three girlfriends? I didn't think people did that."

Keiichi has a sudden coughing attack, which prompts another grin and a "you really oughtta get that checked out," from Yukiko. "I don't see why everyone keeps assuming," she continues "that just because we're friends and Kei-chan's kinda cute that we're together, unless..." She fixes Keiichi with a piercing glance, "Are we together?"

"I don't know anything about anything any more." He shakes his head in mock-confusion. "Wouldn't I have to ask you out first?"

"Or I could ask you. So, w--"

"LET'S GO ON A DATE TOGETHER!" Yukiko and Keiichi turn to goggle at Amaya. She quickly puts a hand over her mouth. "Um...please?" she mumbles around the side of her palm. The two humans exchange a helpless look.

"Uh, okay. Sure. There's not much to do around Samuyama, though."

"That's okay I like the snow."

"Uh, great. Good island for it."

"Yeah."

Uglypanda, it's not so much that Ryuta has no internal monologue and more that he has an external monologue that never stops running. :smallbiggrin: It's a great blend of creepy and adorable, as is Ryuta himself.


Mizuki

"Black coffee, then." The waiter turns to Hisoka. "And for you?"

"Hot chocolate, please."

"Right away." The waiter bows slightly, then whisks himself away from the table at the speed of courtesy, leaving the two of you alone.

Hisoka seems to be frowning to himself about something and doesn't immediately pick the conversation between you back up.


Everyone

I feel like I've been keeping the narrative spotlight on the NPCs a bit too much. Gonna try and change that. This game is about you guys. Not a bunch of characters that I created. :smalleek:

Also, I wanna wrap up this scene so everyone can get new TP/MP and I can stop talking about fireworks. :smallbiggrin: In true me fashion, though, I don't really have a definite sort of ending to it. So, if in the next couple of days you guys can bring things to a point where your characters and the NPCs part ways for a bit (or not, depending on how Mizuki's date goes,) that would be a great help.

The next scene will be set at an onsen, unless that makes people uncomfortable/anyone's got another idea. I'm not really sure where the players live when they're not causing mischief (if you've got suggestions for a home base, shout 'em out,) but I figure it can't possibly be as warm as a hot springs resort.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari breaks into a fit of giggles! "No, no! It means I'm your girlfriend, and you're my girlfriend. And Yukiko is Kei-chama's girlfriend and Kei-chama is Yukiko's girl- uh, boyfriend." Too many 'girlfriends' made her confused for a moment. "'Kay?"

Then Amaya is screaming about going on a date! "Eek!" She leaps abck, startled! "U-um... okay! But, uh..." She promptly flops back onto Amaya, and yawwwwns. "I'm tiiired... Can I go home with you tonight? My warren is cold."

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Whose whose girlfriend?" Shuichi asked confused. "Then whose my girlfriend?" He continued, rubbing himself behind his ear now that the fireworks were dying down.

"Are Kei-chan and Yukiko-kun going out? Do they make the smoochy faces often? IS YUKIKO-KUN PREGNANT WITH KEI-CHAN'S CHILD?!" Shucihi yelled, putting his head up to Yukiko's stomach.

I figure Shuichi just turns back into a dog and sleeps in the street like a stray. :P

[Dorizzit]

Zounan massages his temples in annoyance but remains silent.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Calm down, Shuichi-dono. And get your head off Yu-chan, she's not pregnant. She's not even getting fat or whatever it is that humans do." Ryuta removes Shuichi's head from Yukiko's stomach and sheepishly says "Could whoever who is taking in Hikari-chin please also let me sleep over there for the night? It's much too cold to nest here."

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

"Hisoka, you're so quiet." She grabs his leg friskily under the table, trying to get a reaction out of him. "Do you like our little village?"

[Kuma Da]

The Clearing

"Are Kei-chan and Yukiko-kun going out? Do they make the smoochy faces often? IS YUKIKO-KUN PREGNANT WITH KEI-CHAN'S CHILD?!"

"Eeeeek!" Yukiko flings herself backwards, nearly upending into a snowdrift. She recovers with a scowl. "Watch it! You don't go casually calling girls pregnant."

"She's not even getting fat or whatever it is that humans do."

"Or talking about their weight! What is with you two?" Yukiko pulls a face. Then she ducks down, bunches up a handful of snow...and gets interrupted by Hikari.

"I'm tiiired... Can I go home with you tonight? My warren is cold."

"You guys sleep out here?" Keiichi looks puzzled. "I thought maybe you had a magical land you could retreat to, like in Sen to Chihiro? With an inn and servants and...no? Well, I can't leave you all out in the cold. My family's got a guest room that we never use. I guess you all could sneak into my house and spend the night there."

"What about me?"

"Your family wouldn't miss you if you spent the night away from home, Amaya?"

"I don't have a home," she answers brightly. "Do I need one?"



Mizuki

Hisoka grins a little at the unexpected contact. "It certainly has a lot going for it right now. The...festival or whatever it is that's out there is lovely. But I'm glad I met you." He reaches across the table and, assuming you let him, covers your free hand with his. "Honestly? I'm not supposed to even be here. I was going to visit my family in Wakkanai and I must've gotten on the wrong train. I was just texting my folks to tell them that when I, uh, ran you over..." He colors again, but it's not the full-face flush that it was before.

That's progress, right?


Everyone

I felt like this was in keeping with the general mood of Yuuyake. :smallbiggrin:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=GTxW3GWZ5hI

Sen to Chihiro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_away

If you haven't seen it, do. Even if you can't stand anime. Hayao Miyazaki transcends the genre.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari still clings to Amaya, then blinks at her once. "You don't have a home?" He head tilts to one side... but she's too tired to really think too hard about that. She doesn't even react to Shuichi, although Amaya might notice one of her eyes twitching slightly. "Does anyone own a dog muzzle?"

...Jesus Christ, use its English name. The dub is wonderful, there's no need to pretend it doesn't exist. This isn't, say, Cardcaptors. *shudder*

[Dorizzit]

Zounan snorts at the mention of some sort of magical land that the Hengeyokai lived in. Shaking his head slightly, he leans against a nearby tree and gives a brief explanation.

"We aren't that kind of spirit. We're basically animals that can transform into human or semihuman forms. With a few other powers, of course. We have ways of dealing with the cold, just like regular animals of our kind."

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Yumii, who'd been lost in thought, finally snaps out of it upon hearing Shuichi's shout.

Shuichi! That's... Gah! Bad dog! And Ryuta, really... I expect better of both of you. <-.->; Sheesh - this is why we can't meet nice people!

Yumii turns to Keichi and Yukiko.

Sorry about that heh <T_T> They're just not stupid or anything; just a bit socially clumsy around humans. They're both good henge though, I hope you can forgive them.

As for sleeping? I'm not particular, though its much more comfy in town; alleyways keep the wind off me whilst I snooze ya know?

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Sweet! Slumber party at Yukkio-kuns house!" Shuichi yells, throwing his fist into the air with a big smile and posing, before looking at her very seriously. "...or is it, a baby shower?" He asks, c ocking his head to the side.

"Hey... thats not very nice.... anyone have... a... uh... bunny muzzle?" He says at Hikari and sticks his tongue out.

I love Spirited Away. :P

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"I don't like being the straight-man for your comedy act, Shuichi-dono. Apologize."

The bird-boy takes out a black feather fan from his pocket. He holds the fan over Shuichi's head, ready to strike. Realizing his mistake, he reexamines the fan and concludes "This is a the wrong type of fan for slapstick. Sigh." He then lightly strikes Shichi with the back of his hand. "Bad dog."

[Kuma Da]

The Clearing

"You don't have a home?"

"Is that strange?" Amaya responds innocently. "I could try to get one..."

Keiichi sighs. "You can stay with me, too. For as long as you're in town, I guess. I'll probably have to make up some sort of story about you to my uncle, but that shouldn't be too hard. He's a pretty nice guy. Runs a little ramen shop in town...

As for the rest of you, you don't have to come along. Sleep wherever it's comfortable for you to."

"Sweet! Slumber party at Yukkio-kuns house!"

"Uh...except for at Yukiko's house. Her parents are a little stricter than mine."

Yukiko folds her arms and nods agreement.

"It's getting kinda cold out here. Shall we be on our way?"

Assuming everyone consents, Keiichi leads the group down the mountain trail again and back towards the houses on the outskirts of town. He says a quick goodbye to Yukiko as they pass her house--a slightly run-down building encircled by a row of snow-shrouded shrubs--before proceeding home.

Keiichi's house is much better maintained than Yukiko's. Its lights are also on, meaning that his uncle is home.

"Amaya and I had better go in first. When the coast is clear, I'll open that window over there," he points towards a dark first floor window at the far side of the house, "and you can all climb in."

Keiichi and Amaya disappear through the front door. Several minutes later, the window opens.

Yuki_Akuma, sheesh. I didn't mean any offense. I call it Sen to Chihiro out of habit. Heck, I call The Tale of Genji Genji Monogatari. Moreover, I thought a number of people in this thread didn't like anime, and as such wouldn't have got the reference even if I named it in English. Still, since this seriously bothered you, I'll do my best to write titles in English from here on out.

Everyone, you don't have to follow Keiichi. Just lemme know where your characters will be sleeping.


Mizuki

The two of you chat for a few minutes before the waiter comes back with your drinks. He sets a pair of china cups down on the table, asks whether you have anything else to order, and then hastens away again.

Your cup of coffee is so dark that it seems to be drinking in the light from around your table.


Everyone

1 DP to Shuichi and Hikari for the dog muzzle/rabbit muzzle thing.

1 DP to Yumii for "this is why we can't meet nice people!" :smallbiggrin:

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Mizuki grins and tries her best to give him hints that he should flirt with her more. It seems like she has to lead him too much, and that is very boring. He was definitely not getting lucky tonight. After all, she was doing all the work.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Oh... sorry, aniki." Shuichi said, bowing his head, not really knowing what Ryuta was talking about. Shuichi stared up at the house for a little bit, but shook his head. "Nah, I think I'll sleep... somewhere else." He said, a little scared of the big confining looking house.

Shuichi ran off by himself into the night, turning back into a dog a little bit later. Shuichi will be sleeping by himself, somewhere alone in dog form.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"The window is open, right? Not just very clean? If it is, then out of my way!" The birdboy walks up to the window and jumps through.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

Hmm... comfortable house... comfortable house is good...

Nobody is allergic to cats, right Keichi-kun? >.> I'd rather not cause any trouble; but I certainly won't say no to a generous offer!

Also... ah... nevermind heh, not important. Thank you Keichi-kun, we all appreciate it.

Been dealing with RL blaaaah again <x.x> I'm in slow motion; hopefully I'll be posting more regularly again soon

[Kuma Da]

Keiichi's Home

"Nobody is allergic to cats, right Keichi-kun?"

Keiichi's head pops up in the window. "No, I don't think so. And my uncle doesn't seem like he's in much of a state to care--oomph."

Ryuuta, already airborne, is unable to stop his daring vault through the window, colliding with the other boy and sending him stumbling backwards. There's a crash of furniture followed by a second sympathetic crash as Amaya, caught up in the spirit of the moment, knocks something else over.

You all hear footsteps, presumably belonging to Keiichi's uncle, coming from the corridor beyond.


Shuichi

You find a little alley between two houses that's just a short trot away from Yukiko's home. The wind has a hard time getting in there, and there's enough snow to burrow into that you probably won't get too cold during the night.

You've just settled down and closed your eyes when you hear the patter-crunch of feet moving through the snow. Something extremely large stops directly in front of you, and a waft of warm air rolls across your face.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x56/kyoro2/SaintBernard_01-Dog-OnSnow.jpg


Mizuki

As the two of you chat Hisoka seems to lose some of his shyness. He asks you what it's like living in Samuyama, and seems genuinely interested--if not in the answer than in talking with you. Every so often he takes a tentative poke at the minaret of whipped cream that's hiding his hot chocolate from view.


Everyone

It's nice to be getting back in the swing of things. Sorry about that hiatus. I do understand if some of you don't come back, since the game was kinda dragging a little before I disappeared, but I intend to try and make it fun again.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari peers in through the window with a slight wince. "Amaya-chan! Don't knock things over!" But then she hears footsteps. She panics, and... poof! Now there's a bunny scrabbling desperately at the windowsill so as not to fall!

She didn't think this one through...

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Sorry for crashing into you, person whose name I forgot." The birdboy gets up, rubs the back of his head, then looks at the window. Seeing Hikari, he grabs her from the windowsill. Gently cradling her in his arms, he tries to find a spot in the shadows to hide.

[Kuma Da]

I totally forgot. 1 DP to Ryuta for making especially sure he wasn't about to leap into a clean window. Also 1 DP to Hikari for the scrabbling-window-bunny thing. :smallsmile:

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

Shuichi stared at the creature before him, circling around it to get a better look and watching it. "Hey there!" He called out in a friendly manner.

1 DP to crow-boy for asking if the window was clean.

Whoohoo Yukimatsuri!

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Mizuki is genuinely pleasant and answers all of his questions, a surprise to anyone who knew her. Wishing to prod Hisoka more, Mizuki sips some of his hot chocolate, purposely getting cream on her nose. If he doesn't get it this time...ooh...

[Kuma Da]

Keiichi's place

The door creaks open in agonizing slow-motion. While Ryuta and Hikari press against the far wall. Keiichi's mouth is wide in dread and Amaya looks pleasantly perplexed.

"Were we not all--" she begins, only to be cut off by Keiichi's uncle as he lumbers into the room.

"What's all this commotion about?" His face is slightly slack and his eyes are unfocused. The acrid bite of shouchu hangs in his breath. "Are either of you hurt? I could..." suddenly, he catches sight of Ryuta. "Oh. Oh no. You're real."


Shuichi

Tilting its bear-like features, the creature whuffs softly at the air.

"Hey yourself. What're you doing in my alleyway?"

Its hackles don't go up and its lips don't draw back, so it's probably asking instead of demanding. Still, the animal is huge. Big enough that it could bowl over a toddler with one careless swipe of its tail.

"Have I seen you before?"


Mizuki

Hisoka fishes for a napkin and quickly passes it across the table to you. He looks like he's trying not to grin.

"Do you like it?"


Everyone

This site seems to go down every time I want to post. Hopefully that was just a phase it's going through.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"Sorry, I don't think so. I didn't know it was yours, there isn't any sign." Shuichi said, tilting his doggy head to the side. "Can we share?" He asks, smiling as best he can in dog form and wagging his tail.

[Sicarius]

Mizuki

Arg! He is just impossible! Mizuki takes the napkin and wipes her nose cutely. "Yes, that's much better."

[Yuki Akuma]

Hikari nestles in Ryuta's arms. Warm~ But then the uncle comes in. She stares up at him blankly, then looks up at Ryuta just as blankly. "...?" She can't really speak in this form, after all...

[Kuma Da]

Yumii and Ryuta:You both recognize Keiichi's uncle as the ramen-maker. This was supposed to be included in the post, but, uh, whoops. :smallamused:

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Hello ramenmaker-dono! I'm sorry to intrude on your kindness once again, but Hi-chin, Amaya-hime, and This One need somewhere to sleep for the night because of the weather. Please forgive us." Ryuta stands up and makes a slight bow while moving Hikari in a way that allows her to bow as well.

OOC:
I realized it already. Hikari wasn't with Ryuta when he was eating, so her character doesn't understand what is going on.

[Kuma Da]

Ryuta: ...er, I meant Yumii and Ryuta. Holy crap. Lemme just go quietly fix that. :smalleek:

[Kuma Da]

Keiichi's House

Keiichi's uncle points straight at Ryuuta. "B-bird man!"

"You've met?"

"You know what he is?"

"Well, yeah. I just spent the last hour or so hanging out with him. And he's being awfully polite."

"But he's some sort of-"

"Tengu? I guess. But you're a ramen chef, not a politician. You shouldn't have anything to worry about."

Keiichi's uncle seems to be thinking this over. Then he turns and addresses Ryuuta. "This is for one night only, understand?"


Shuichi

"I don't think I can fill up the whole alleyway on my own," the Saint Bernard settles down onto the snow. Now her head's about level with yours. "Sure. We can share. My name's Baron. You are?"


Mizuki

Hisoka continues to chat with you, and while he certainly seems to get that you like him, he seems completely blind to your more obvious signals. After a while the two of you finish your drinks and he handles the bill.

He gets a bit quiet then, probably re-realizing that he's stuck in an unfamiliar town for the evening.

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Yay! Thank you very much, ramenmaker-dono. Say thank you Hi-chin." He bows again.

[Tichrondrius]

Shuichi

"I'm Shuichi." The dogboy responded happily, and paced around before laying down. "My pals are all staying inside this house... I hate being trapped in a house." He snorted.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yumii

When Keiichi's uncle appears, Yumii shuts up suddenly; not entirely sure what to do in such an utterly awkward situation. After he gives permission for the group to say however, Yumii manages a formal response.

Thank you, sir.

Very quietly she leans over and whisper's in Ryuta's ear..

This is why we need to be careful Ryuta >.<; Just act natural. ... Ok wait, don't act natural - act human. That could work >.<

Sorry I've been gone so long <o.o> I thought this was dead <~.~>; but I checked back "just in case" tonight and uhm... I've apparently missed some things >.<; Very very sorry! <T.T>

[UglyPanda]

Ryuta

"Oh, we're fine. He already knows what I am, it's not like I have anything to hide."

[Kuma Da]

this game's gonna have to go on official temporary hiatus unti my hands recover enough to type with. sorry. i'll be happy to send anyone the yuuyake booklet if they want to take over here or start one of their own.

[mistformsquirrl]

Ack <;_;> Get better soon Kuma! I dunno what happened to your hands (I may have missed something); but seriously, take care of yourself first! It's been a ton of fun, and I'll be here if you want to start back up later; just PM me!

Take care!