Maid the RPG II (IC)

[Ezeze]

The Maid II IC Thread
OOC Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15966384#post15966384)

The Hayashi Mansion... Well, there is really no other way to say it... It's alive. Not sentient - at least, not sentient in the way you or I might be - but gifted instead with a low, animal intelligence.

More than that, it can move. Its rooms shift about when no one is looking, though it never appears any different from the outside. It knows it belongs to Hayashi Ayaka - the small seven year old girl who is your Master - and it protects her to the best of its abilities. It also keeps her. Her mother has tried to take her from the house on several occasions, but she can never make it as far as the front entrance as the rooms move around her and make her lost, until she eventually is forced to give up and leave without Ayaka.

Ayaka doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she resents her mother for trying to take her from this place that has always been her home, and loves The Mansion. Often she won't even agree to see her, on those rare occasions when The Mansion lets her through the front door.

But Ayaka can't take care of herself, and The Mansion seems to understand that he can't provide for all of Ayaka's needs. That is where you come in.

[GrayGriffin]

This whole thing is just business for Maria. She's got a bad debt she needs to pay off, and this job seems like the right way to do it. Still, it wouldn't hurt to get into good graces with the people here. Already, she's managed to charm the little girl with some of her stories-she meets all kinds of people on the gambling circuit.

The mansion, however, is not as pleasant. Several times she has had supply rooms be moved away from her, or tripped over an uneven tile she knew wasn't there before. Still, as long as it doesn't cause her to lose any of her pay, she'll grit her teeth and keep working.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

One of the mansion's more recent additions stares back at visitors with irisless eyes that just seem a hair too big for a human being. After a second of uncomfortable silence, the androgenous creature bows so deeply and swiftly as to suddenly vanish behind the hedge.

Good morning, Miss.

The tallish alto with the vaguely unnatural cadence bolts back upward, reappearing as quickly as she left, and proceeds to come around and check the mailbox. Aside from her headdress and not counting the pleats in her skirt, her maid uniform is devoid of frills. It amounts to a sleeveless number with indigo bars vaguely tracing the outline of an apron down the side and across her chest, forming an H shape.

Eta turns back around to bring in the mail, revealing the sword magnetized to her back. It's lost much of its original sheen, having mostly been used for yard work. She was so excited when she first arrived, she couldn't even wait to knock on the door before starting her new life as a capital-M Maid.

[Moonbeam Funk]

Seri was "saved" by the mansion through this employment, as she is an outdated piece of hardware. For that reason she is very grateful to the master and mansion for giving her a continued existence. Her life, or what constitutes one for a robot, would have ended a while ago. She may be old, but Seri is still capable as a maid, even if her personality is what her manufacturers would refer to as being bugged. Sometimes she enjoyed messing around with the master a little, but it's all in good fun and nothing meant to be taken seriously. A "teasing" service robot should have been shut down for good a while ago though, so she tries not to go too far... Well, usually, I guess. If she had total self-control it wouldn't be much of a glitch.

[Hemnon]

Heh, funny story... or not. well here it is: Yuki's spacecraft crash landed next to the mansion some time ago, back when the mansion was NORMAL. Her craft had been carrying a newly discovered life form, however, a solar flare and earth electromagnetic pull had caused her saucer to go out of control and crash land into the ground. this was more than 50 years ago with Yuki being in stasis for well around 48 years.

Then something happened and the life form escaped and bonded itself to the mansion, making it truly alive, like a symbiotic life form does. And without knowing why or how, Yuki just kinda joined the Maid personnel in the living mansion. She enjoys working there and finds the whole ordeal with the life form mixing with the mansion like that, extremely interesting and she just adore the young Mistress, Ayaka, which she tends to show very physically.

anyways, right now 50 years after the crash landing, Yuki is dusting off the different Paintings in the main hall, having the windows open to let the room breathe.

[Ezeze]

It doesn't much help the inherit creepiness of The Mansion that daily life seems so normal. Every day a little girl has to be woken up, fed, played with, taught and bathed. The only odd days are those when he mother tries to visit, and she hardly does that anymore - you can't really blame her, it must break her heart to be so despised by her own daughter.

It's early on one such day and you're all gathered outside on the patio, enjoying the warm summer sun and eating your breakfast when Ayaka turns to Maria.

Maria? She asks, innocently. Do you have friends?

[GrayGriffin]

Maria stares at her bowl of cereal. Does she have friends? Gamblers learn quickly not to trust anyone too quickly. You form acquaintances on the gambling circuit, allies, but no friends.

"Well..." she says, pretending to think. "Not really. At least..." Here she adds a bright smile. "Not before I came here!" It's not really true, of course, but it's the kind of bright, positive stuff that charms people so easily.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Eta flips through the mail as she returns to the group on the patio, making sure to sort it by intended recipient.

...bills?

She silently sets the letters out on the table with a small smile and a bow to the young mistress. If she was busy with a personal conversation, Eta would likely start her groundskeeping rounds as long as we're out here.

[Hemnon]

Yuki was in the middle of gently brushing Ayaka's hair, happy that this is an activity that's identical to her own planet's people, though for some reason, Ayaka's hair felt much more soft and fluffy, kinda like a caeltieth (an alien creature), she thought to herself.

Yuki remained silent and just went on and on with the brushing, taking of course great care in NOT hurting the young mistress, in case of knots or stuff like that.

[Ezeze]

Oh. Ayaka looks pensive for a moment.

It's just that The Mansion seems to think I need friends, but I don't know how to get any... If you had some, I was wondering where you got yours.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Eta pauses for a moment to process the soft-spoken girl's request.

Miss Hayashi. Unless the mansion has also seen fit to release you from the premises, the question of where one would go to find new friends is largely academic.

Another pause. Maybe that wasn't exactly the right thing to say.

Do you agree with its assessment? Do you believe that you... need friends?

[Hat-Trick]

Hana walked slowly through the Mansion, carrying a fresh pitcher of iced tea from the kitchen. She didn't usually have trouble with the Mansion hindering her efforts, but all the same, it was best not to blunder through the halls, especially while carrying anything that could make a mess. As she neared the patio, her eyes passed over one of the pictures hanging in the halls, a portrait of Ayaka's absent father.

She wasn't for certain why, but seeing and depiction of the regal gentleman made her head spin. Shaking off the small bout of nausea, she continued on her journey, arriving in time to hear the small master and the other maids speak of friends. Hana carefully poured a glass for all present (save the gynoids) as blurry images dance at the edge of her mind. She never had friends before... Had she?

[Ezeze]

The Mansion has never spoken to any of you before. It's not the first time Ayaka has mentioned "talking" to it, but it is the first time what she claims it was saying didn't sound like what a little girl would say...

I... I think the Mansion has been right before. I should listen to it. But I don't want to leave.

She ponders the conundrum for a moment.

I know! You guys can go and get some friends for me! Then you can bring them back and I can play with them!

Yes. I like that idea.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Another pause.

The master's word is basically law, but leaving the premises interferes with a Maid's ability to interact with her environment effectively. It is an immutable fact of existence; the task would be nearly as inconvenient for them as it would be for her.

Also, kidnapping is probably against the however-many laws of robotics somehow, so there's that.

Having spent some time arranging for her share of Miss Ayaka's lesson's to line up with local curricula, Eta soon has a solution. She offers another small smile.

Beginning tomorrow, the local schools have a week-long break. We could invite a number of neighborhood children to come and visit as a social event.

Luck roll regarding spring break (applicable if someone would rather introduce a different schedule): [roll0]x2
Cleverness-based attack roll to convince Miss Ayaka (applicable in the event that she wants to press for instant gratification like the spoiled kid she is): [roll1]x3

[GrayGriffin]

"Surely not all of them, though," says Maria. "If you want to make friends with them, it's better to invite just a few." Ugh, more children around? NOT my idea of a good time!

[Ezeze]

That would be good. You guys figure it out, okay?

And that seems to satisfy Ayaka for the moment.

(ooc: Eta, gain [roll0] favor for suggesting something that does what Ayaka wants without requiring to leave her Mansion!)

[Hemnon]

''Ayaka-sama... what are We to you? I was already considering everyone here to be friends.'' Yuki asked the Young Mistress, having finished brushing her hair. Yuki's question had heart to it. Her feelings where there, plain as day and she seemed to truly think that way.

''Am I the only one thinking so?'' she asked out to the others with a curious expression.

OOC Roll

Let's get some affection in that conversation!:smallbiggrin:
[roll0]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Another pause.

Yuki-san, Miss Hayashi is allowed to meet friends her own age.

She bows deeply towards Miss Ayaka. We will see to the proper arrangements. In the meantime, we should proceed with lessons as usual, following breakfast.

"As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them. The input is eventually anticipated, and even missed when absent." - Aristotle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcqIYccgUdM)

You're pretty sure that Aristotle probably said that at some point.

[Hat-Trick]

Hana busies herself with collecting dishes as she listens to the others brainstorm and talk, another flash of vague imagery swimming at the edge of her mind. "A Spring Festival... Perhaps?" The words leave her lips before she can stop them and quickly shifts them into a suggestion of her own to keep the sudden slip casual.

Yuki's earnest question earns a smile from the quiet maid, making Hana pause before leaving the patio to do the dishes and gives another small, heartfelt comment, "I'm honored to call you all friends, especially our little mistress," before bowing in departure.

[roll0] times three for a 12 affection

[Ezeze]

Oh, I know you are my friends, Yuki-chan Ayaka's smile goes all the way up to her eyes. The Mansion just thinks I need more. It won't tell me why.

I like the idea of a Spring Festival! Can you do that?

[GrayGriffin]

"Of course. That'll certainly be no problem at all."

Cunning: [roll0] times 2 to see if she can think of what a spring festival has

[Ezeze]

Of course, any gathering of people is made more pleasant by copious amounts of food. In this case, you might want to stick to food that is easy to serve and eat - sandwiches, hot dogs, vegetable platters and the like.

If you have lots of kids running around, entertainment is probably a good idea too. Maybe a clown, or a magician, or a performer of that nature? Then again, Ayaka is distressingly mature for a child of her age - maybe something more typically aimed at preteens, like a singer, would amuse her more.

It'd make your day easier of the children's parents came as well, although if The Mansion acts up that could ruin any chance of the parents letting their children come over again, which would be bad.

Things typically associated with Spring are things like kissing booths (which probably isn't appropriate for young children), dancing, egg-hunts, arts and crafts and other things of that nature. A Maypole might go over well.

Having the party primarily outdoors might give The Mansion less opportunity to act up, but then you put yourselves at the mercy of the weather.

There is a lot to think about, and a lot to do

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Eta retrieves the day's newspaper and dutifully hands Miss Ayaka the comics before opening it up to the weather forecast.

The day after tomorrow is at least 90% likely to be sunny and clear in its entirety.

This should be plenty of time for a group of awesome maids like these to prepare for any kind of all-day event... but step one is to decide what kind of event they're preparing for. She turns to the Head Maid - her mentor - for guidance.

Maria? I can begin writing invitations to announce our plans, but we need a list of attractions for it to be meaningful.

[Hemnon]

''We're gonna hold a party!? oh splendid! what are we gonna do for it? who's gonna make food? I can sing pretty well if we need something like karaoke singing. Oh I've heard about something called dance dance trivolution, maybe some kind of tournament or something with it could be fun as well.'' Yuki mused out loudly and enthusiasticly.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Karaoke. Arcade Dancing Game. Eta lists the specific ideas as she records them mentally. Those two attractions seem ideal for their broad age group.

Thinking about providing the food, Eta calls her own stats to mind. Her recipe set is fairly rote and limited. Cooking is likely best handled by someone of great passion or practice, though nobody's good-will participation could possibly hurt the results - one of the many advantages of being a Maid rather than, say, a chef.

We should all participate in food preparation to some degree.

[GrayGriffin]

Maria nods. "Maypoles are common symbols for spring festivals. We would need a tall pole of some sort, and at least one ribbon for each child. It would also probably be more suited for the outside. I've never seen an indoors maypole before."

[Hat-Trick]

Hana quickly finished up the dishes before returning to the patio to hear the other maids brainstorming attractions and entertainment. She smiled to herself as it seemed everyone enjoyed her idea of a spring festival, even if they're ideas seemed different from her own hazy imagination. Or were they? The more she listened, the more the two seemed to overlap.

A couple things came to mind, too vivid to be muddled by the current conversation, but the context of the memories escaped her. "Fireworks... and goldfish scooping..." She giggled to herself, feeling a bit foolish as she muttered to herself again. "Those are summer, silly me..."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Maypole. Fireworks. Goldfish. Petting zoo.

Another pause.

Where is Seri?

[GrayGriffin]

"Alright. What things do we already have?"

[roll0] x2 Luck to see how much stuff is already at hand

[Ezeze]

A quick survey of the pantry reveals that you'll need to go shopping if you're planning on having more than four to five kids over. That's fine - Seri (who for some reason The Mansion trusts more than the Alien or the Compulsive Gambler) has a debit card that allows her to acces some of the Mistress's slush funds for just such an occasion.

You have some streamers, and when Maria goes to see what other things you might have she opens the door to an old supply closet and instead finds herself in a rec room with a state-of-the-art karaoke mmachine, so at least it seems like The Mansion is on board.

[GrayGriffin]

Maria grins at that, waving the other maids over. "Look what I found!" She gestures at the rec room, and looks it over to see if said room is suitable for children, or if they should move the karaoke machine outside.

As far as I can tell, no one contested me, so Maria is Head Maid now, right?

[Ezeze]

The room is full of heavy and sometimes dangerous exercise equipment, but a Maid determined to have a party in here could probably easily find somewhere else to put those things for the duration.

Ultimately it'd probably be easier just to move the karaoke machine outside, though.

[GrayGriffin]

"Eta, dear, could you please help me move this machine outside?" calls Maria.

Using Head Maid ability to get Eta to do the job for me instead

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Oh! Excellent.

Eta hardly needed special instruction; she lifts up the machine and carries it to the entrance without hesitation as she checks it off of her mental list.

Miss Hayashi. We have found our first festival attraction.

Eta sets the flashy contraption under the eaves, where it should be relatively safe from the elements as well as any attempts by the mansion to hide it again. She then turns to head back inside, but pauses.

As spring break doesn't actually start until tomorrow, Miss Ayaka's lessons should begin soon. Still, she doesn't want to spoil the mood. Getting an idea, she smiles and turns again to the young mistress.

Would you like to learn how to program it?

[Ezeze]

Ayaka smiles I'd like that!

(ooc: Now the question is, do you know how to program it? Give me either a Skill or Cunning roll, your choice :smallbiggrin:)

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[roll0] x3(for cunning; she's deliberately twisting this in a way that exploits her non-maidly skills) = 12

Very well. Let us go plug it in.

...come to think of it, Eta's not sure whether the mansion has any outdoor outlets; she's never had to plug in anything out here before. She'll need to find some extension cords later. For now, she brings the all-in-one machine back inside.

A Karaoke track is actually composed of multiple parallel tracks, the most important of them being the music component and the video component...

[Hat-Trick]

Hana noticed the need for an extension cord as well and went off to find a few, but not before plugging the machine in for Eta, so the gynoid could concentrate on her impromptu lesson. She wasn't the one to usually deal with electronics, leaving such things to the robots, so she had to think a moment about where the cords would be held. After a moment of wracking her brain, she decided to leave it and concentrate on something far more her speed, cooking.

She moved for the kitchen, hoping the excitement of a party and friends for their little mistress didn't get the mansion all jumbled up.

[roll0] times 2 to stumble upon extension cords and a few other possible resources for the party/festival.

EDIT: apparently, no stumbling.

[Ezeze]

Eta patiently shows Ayaka how to program the Karayoke machine - no one would have guessed that she'd never handled one before!

Hana goes and makes a sandwich, despite having just had breakfast. It's not even a particularly good sandwich.

It's true that break doesn't start until tomorrow, but the Maids have only just had breakfast - the entire day is in front of them! Plus, their time to plan for this party is limited - they should really get a move on!

[Hemnon]

''who's gonna write the invites and what about the transportation out here? should we hire a limo or a bus or something so everyone is able to meet at a well known place and then transported out here? oh and we really should decorate the outside of the mansion as well. with lights and confetti and stuff. did we remember fireworks for the evening? and who will be the one to go shopping for it all?'' Yuki blabbered out, most likely she was thinking out loudly without really realizing it.

Roll

A Luck roll for sudden remembering a really important thing that should be added to the list of events/activities.
[roll0]

[Ezeze]

Well, Yuki, you can honestly say that you don't know any other children Ayaka's age - and you don't know for sure whether any of the other Maids do either.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Eta is just wrapping up Miss Ayaka's computer science lesson as Yuki starts to panic. She bows to the mistress as she concludes and excuses herself to talk to her colleague.

Yuki. The local school system has a directory of student contact information. It is used to distribute flyers for such functions as plays and festivals. We received a copy when we volunteered to school Miss Hayashi here at the mansion.

As for transportation, it should be sufficient to include directions to the mansion with the invitations.

She proceeds to find the stationery drawer and withdraw a series of papers and pencils.

I propose that we each design an invitation. Then, we ask Miss Hayashi to select the best amongst them. I can then replicate it and address the copies for distribution.

The following roll is just in case the nature of the school directory is contested. Eta would have arranged for them to get a hold of one.
Cunning: [roll0]x3

She's planning on using Athletics to make the copies when all is said and done; she is, after all, a machine.

[Moonbeam Funk]

Seri usually seemed to have an unfortunate amount of trouble navigating the mansion regardless of its current mood. She had just spent quite some time after doing some cleaning and starting a bit of laundry trying to reach the Master and other maids. Now Seri has probably had some success, and planned to give a cheerful greeting to whoever it was.

Leaving this up to either the encounter table or her abysmal luck, whichever the GM finds more appropriate.
[roll0]

[GrayGriffin]

"Couldn't we use all of them? I am sure it would be more interesting for whatever group received the invitations to not have them all be the same." Maria, however, has already begun work on an invitation. It is designed in a rather "adorable" way, with bubbly fonts and bright colors.

[roll0]x2 skill

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The idea is to maximize the appeal of the invitations and to draw in as many visitors as possible. They are not supposed to be trading cards.

Rolling affection just to help me decide where to take this: [roll0]

However. There may be some value in making a series of invitations tailored to different groups of invitees. The mailing list is easily sorted by age and gender.