WEEK 4

[linkupmods]

WEEK 4

READY, STEADY, GO-KARTS!

After a harrowing week of forced honesty and a surprise attack from the God of Conflict, it seems the Goddess’ “gift” has finally faded - and just in time! Today marks the date of the highly anticipated Go-Kart Race, featuring a whopping twelve teams from the Goddess’ picks and a number of teams comprised of locals. Fortunately the weather is holding up well for the event, with clear skies and a radiant sun beating down on all contestants as they wait to begin, the heat reflecting off the asphalt. Hopefully everyone thought to use sunscreen!

The local arcade has decked out the go-kart track in flags representing the different teams, and some local businesses have set up both a spectator stand area near the finish line, as well as kiosks selling snacks and drinks for the spectators and anyone who happens to wander by! There are also some midway fair game booths and portable game machines if you're not really here for the go-karts and just here for a fun afternoon out. The best part is that everyone who enters the event zone gets three free tokens courtesy of the arcade, so you've got nothing to lose~ Unless you do happen to lose, which means that you'll probably have to purchase more tokens from the distracted teenagers volunteering manning the admin booth.

ALL'S WELL THAT-- HUH?

Eventually, all the preamble is completed, and it’s time for the race! A light counts down from red to yellow to green, and the racers are off!

While the start of the race is a jumble, a few in particular begin to pull ahead of the pack: Spade of the Sea and Kururu and Schneider in particular! Tragically, Team Bloody Angels just can’t seem to get the speed they want and seem to get stalled by various traps, falling further and further behind…

In the middle of the bunch, Atem and Sunrise manage to maintain their speed, while THE CUTIE PATOOTIES, Fire’n Ice, and Aaron and Morgan all struggle to surpass each other - leaving Beautiful, Bright Knights of Lovely Radiance, and Exquisite Midnight Shimmering unfortunately trapped behind the three and unable to pass at all. Towards the back of the group, Badass Ladies compete directly with TEAM ROADKILL for their place, while Frieren and Arven have a leisurely drive by comparison.

The first and second laps go without incident. But on the third…

Something about the local teams changes. Instead of the regular frustration of losing, some of them seem to fall into, well, road rage.

Schneider and Kururu, nearly caught up to Hiiro and Jordi, find their hopes dashed as a woman in a blue bandana bumps them from behind - the impact enough to cut their engine for a moment too long, allowing Hiiro and Jordi to pass the finish line in first place without any trouble.

The middle of the pack gets the worst of it. Jesse and Mafuyu find themselves hounded by a woman in aviators who manages to ram into their Go-Kart hard enough to dent the guard, putting pressure on the wheel - while they cross at the same time as others, they are unable to steer the Go-Kart due to the damages, and find themselves ramming into guardrail. While Mafuyu is miraculously without injury, Jesse takes the brunt of the force and will be feeling that whiplash the next day.

Aaron and Morgan get a brick - a literal brick - chucked at them, and while they manage to avoid getting hit themselves, they have to do a violent swerve to do so. That’ll also be a bit of whiplash for them, too. Badass Ladies get sideswiped by one of the locals and their kart ends up grinding against one of the guardrails. Eek.

The real destruction, however, hits the back end of the group - a man in yellow sneakers manages to bash hard into Eli and Kirumi, pushing them off course. The impact causes them to bump into Aerith and Maika along the way, who lose control of the steering wheel and knock Fray and Argenti into the wall. Fray sustains injuries as he’s dragged against the wall for a moment until Argenti is able to right their path again, pulling them back into the middle of the course. Eli and Kirumi don’t get off so easily, either - the bump against Aerith and Maika isn’t enough to stop their momentum, and Eli cracks his right shoulder against a barrier as Kirumi hits the brakes to prevent further injury. Fray, Argenti, Eli, and Kirumi will be feeling whiplash the next day.

Braphine’s chosen aren’t the only victims, either - a woman with red combat boots and a man in a green jacket each crash into local competitors, and the result is a six-kart pileup.

Frieren and Arven and Team Bloody Angels witness all of this from the back of the race, though neither team can do much except to continue on to the finish line.

What should have been a celebration at the end instead turns into panic as medics are called onto the scene and emergency personnel are summoned to the track. While many of the people in the stands seem roiling with discontent and beginning to argue and fight over the cause of all these injuries, a few of the locals hurry down to the course to help. Schneider, Aaron, Argenti, Aerith, Eli, and Kirumi will find themselves aided by familiar faces - the boutique staff recognized them and are here to lend them and their partners a hand in getting treated for their injuries.

As the racetrack descends into chaos, it soon becomes difficult to keep track of everyone. However, Hiiro, Schneider, Sally, Morgan, Argenti, Aerith, Frieren, and Celeste all notice a figure in a strangely ancient hood standing among the stands, a fierce grin on their face - before the figure turns and disappears into the crowd.

Mina - having come to spectate and cheer on everyone from the stands - gets a rather panicked look on her face as she watches it all unfold. She quickly takes out her phone and begins typing frantically at it, before hitting “send.”

All at once, all of Braphine’s chosen will hear their phones begin to beep.

CALL FOR HELP.

I've added emergency commissions to the app - please take them on if you are able to/need to!

We can get through this if we all work together. So, please... look out for each other out there, okay?

COMMISSIONS

HELPING HAND

Please help the injured! Even if it's as small as first-aid or comforting a scared child who's gotten lost in the aftermath of the go-kart crash, any little bit of help would be appreciated by the overwhelmed medical staff at the scene! Unless you’re already injured, in which case, please allow yourself to be tended to!

(OOC note: For clarity, this commission reward applies both to characters who are helping the injured and those who are injured in the thread!)

HOLY HEALING

The hospital is going to need more supplies. For those who are strong enough, please seek out Archangel Shadows in the Nekyia. They should drop blessed feathers - these feathers then can be taken to Braphine’s Temple, and the priest or priestess there should be able to turn them into medicine for the injured.

RACETRACK REPAIRS

In the aftermath of the go-kart pileup and everything associated with it, it's time for people who are good with their hands to roll up their sleeves and help the locals with repairs - clear the debris off the track and make sure the way is clear for the emergency vehicles and construction crews who need to access the site!

OOC

READ ME!!!!

• Welcome to your Week 4 event log! While this log covers the go-kart race and its immediate aftermath, please feel free to use this log to thread out anything else happening during the week after and we will see you next week for the Week 5 event!
  
• Note to all go-kart participants that there has been some shuffling in the team compositions due to player drops as well as Everything That Happened on Friday. Regardless, you can claim event participation gacha rewards if you signed up and have one thread of at least 10 comments with a go-kart related prompt on this post.
  
• Archangel stats and information have been added to the bestiary!
  
• AC is due end of the month! Make sure you get that in~
  

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YOUR RA

[linkmakers]

[...Is fretting as she watches the people in the stands grow upset, a small frown on her face. That said, you can still talk to her if you need anything - she's here to help, after all!]

[cirquedesang]

[So we've learned our lesson (for now) about chasing down mysterious strangers, but he still takes a moment from also watching the chaos to snap a few pictures of our resident shady cloaked guy, considering none of the other locals are in the habit of wearing anything that makes them look so sus.

And he'll promptly text those pictures to Mina.]

Does he look familiar to you?

We meet again (how much more will be lost?) ~ A meeting of dire importance

[beautifulknight]

[ Argenti goes right on ahead to track down other people following the go-kart racing. A lot has happened recently and the Knight of Beauty is not about to let things go unspoken.

He steels himself in preparation for his confessions. It would be wrong to keep what happened to only himself and Fray. Though, even if he believes he did the right choice, he does not view an act of killing lightly. Easier is it to perform on the battlefield, but here it is a mixture of both such things.

A Knight of Beauty needs to destroy evil. And that is what Fuyu was. If the others think less of him for that, he will accept it.

So he sends out a generic 10 paragraph IM (pretend it is him asking to meet at x, but in a lot of words, and I am being merciful on all of us for leaving it vague.) Once enough people have arrived, Argenti stands tall, and not because he is 6'2, but he has a few things to say. ]

Many thanks for arriving, everyone.

[ Argenti smiles brightly and places a hand atop his chest. ]

I am most glad that you have all managed to have arrived. I believe it pertinent if we all had the opportunity to discuss what's been going on, as well as if any of us has obtained any new information on our situation. Truly, the fact that you have shown your faces at this crucial time makes me filled with happiness...and in the end I can only witness the Beauty of it all.

We must be earnest, hard-working, and true in looking for answers, in order that we are resolutely focused in rooting them out so diligently, and of course narrowing down solutions as soon as possible! But, I believe we all can make this work, and turn this place around, more than anything. As Idrila is my guiding light, I will believe in this until the end.

Now the situation's subjects are...the Goddess Braphine, the God of Conflict, as well as what happened before the go-karting event. And, of course, the go-karting event too.

Where shall we start?

General Meeting

[beautifulknight]

[ This is for a response to the above. ]

Other Matters

[beautifulknight]

[ Either not related to the above, or capable of derailing things. ]

cw: human experimentation, cannibalism

[beautifulknight]

[ After a certain time when conversations have died down, Argenti sees fit to raise his voice, which is all too easy to do, and to capture everyone's attention. ]

Everyone, I appreciate your chatter thus far. All the same, there is something I must inform you all, so that you are not in the dark regarding this person's situation, and state of being.

I killed Ushirono. Otherwise known as Fuyu.

[ Not that Fuyu ever gave him his other name, but Mina spilled the beans so Argenti assumes the guy has two names or something. Anyway, Argenti is not the type of person to be like "ama" about this, so he's just going to keep talking first. ]

I will get straight to the point on the main reason why I struck him down.

Ushirono was a man who told me he was researching mental illness for a cure, which naturally needed to involve other people, I concluded. I saw...an example of his work, on paper, which he told me were his notes on the subject.

But, I later became aware that the man conducted various experiments, where he stated he was doing so in the pursuit of curing "Zeno". His idea of curing mental illness...of treating those when they no longer suited the purposes for his experimentation, was to kill them. He told me there was a "lot of trial and error". Multiple deaths, only to then inform me that...

cw: cannibalism, we goin' dark, fam

...the only way to cure such a disease is to have the person afflicted was to have that individual consume another person wholly.

[ Argenti takes pause and then just immediately moves on from that point. Please be thankful, or not. ]

He had no intention of caring about anyone here. He told me that he only treated people as to be used an disposed. He could care less in the end how many people he's put away with, doing who knows what, for his own, twisted ends. And upon apparently finding a horrid answer in the midst of it all.

I could not abide someone who clearly had committed such heinous acts. Who clearly would have had no hesitation in doing the same here or elsewhere.

...And so that is it. If you have any other questions, I will take them as they come.

[ Or other responses, really, but Argenti can at least think he can predict that. ]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis couldn't care less that Fuyu has been killed. The two conversations he had with the guy were fine, but people die all the time and it doesn't feel all that noteworthy.

What he's more worried about is the precedent this sets - especially after yesterday he'd been forced to confess to murder himself.

The issue isn't that Argenti killed a man, McGillis couldn't care less. The issue is his reasoning. ]

Is that how you are planning on dealing with dissenters going forward as well?

[unweathered]

[It wasn't like Schneider particularly liked Ushirono. But nor did she feel particularly nauseated by Ushirono's story. Was it any different from feeling the madness that came over her as she desperately fought against the urge to eat gold or money?

Hah.]

And what made you so sure he was willing to do the same things here that you had to act as judge, jury and executioner, Mr. Knight?

[She will allow that there was a measure of appreciation in her for someone who cared as little for gods as she did.]

[beautifulknight]

...What exactly do you mean by dissenters?

That man was pure evil. That is the main reason why I struck him down.

[ Argenti has killed plenty of times himself. Fuyu's reasons for discarding people, and even doing worse is enough for him. ]

[beautifulknight]

[ There is no appreciation on Argenti's end, but he expects the question nonetheless.

For what it's worth, he doesn't seem to be offended at the inquiry. ]

You're right I could not prove that at all.

Though he also told me had no intention of changing how he treated people. In addition, seeing that he was working on those notes of his, despite the fact he already knew a cure to the issue he was supposedly attempting to resolve already, seemed to indicate that he was prepared to repeat what he did.

[vogelfrei]

The issue of definition is precisely why I am asking you.

[ His voice is very level - this is a man who's used to speaking at government meetings and that is exactly the tone of voice he's employing here. ]

I wouldn't be able to judge Ushirono's personality one way or another, but I do know that he is not the only one among our number to have a checkered past. What is your line for 'pure evil'?

[imperiosity]

[Aidios, here it is. At least it saves them the trouble of figuring what happened then, but Aaron looks decidedly less than impressed at the confession.]

Y'know, there's a lot I could say about this, but let's start out with something easy: what the hell made you think it was a good idea to leave that guy's body out to rot on the street?

[unweathered]

1.Go Kart Immediate Aftermath

[She's thankful to the boutique workers for their assistance; despite everything Schneider knew where her debts were due. But as soon as they leave, she shoots a look at the woman in a blue bandana and then at the stands. Schneider of course, is cussing up a storm.]

Vaffanculo, you pieces of shit. [She hisses] If you wanted to be on my bad side, all you had to do was ask.

[She might be feeling itchy with her trigger fingers]

2. Helping Hand

[...yet for some reason, a child has taken one look at Schneider and started bawling while clinging to her jacket. She awkwardly pats his back, and looks around]

No more tears, little one. [She's trying to channel Marian here. She's desperately trying.] Where's your d--mother?

[More bawling and blubbering. Christ, was she ever like this at this age? Help]

3. Archangel Shadows

[and this is exactly what Schneider loves the most. Hunting and killing. She'll greet anyone who comes along with her with a smile and the cock of her gun]

Shall we finally have some fun?

[beautifulknight]

[ It certainly does. At this criticism being leveraged his way, he doesn't have anything to say against that at all. ]

...My apologies.

That was a poorly made judgment of mine. I cannot say it was a good idea at the time, and I have nothing in my defense of it.

[emptyself]

[ that is... a lot to hear. hearing about fuyu's death hurts deeply, even with the explanation of why argenti felt like he needed to. with everything he's heard about death lately, he simply shrinks back in the corner of the room, brows knit together in frustration.

he's mad, but he's not sure if it's towards argenti for what he's done or himself for feeling bad for fuyu. ]

He hadn't even hurt anyone here.

[beautifulknight]

[ Argenti simply patiently waits for McGillis to clarify what he means, exactly, assuming that is what he means by such a statement.

So he focuses on the question next to be presented his way. ]

I'd say that the combination of all of those acts Ushirono has done would be an example of my limit. Or my 'line', as it were.

[unweathered]

[Schneider laughs. It's entirely inappropriate for the situation but she can't help it. Ah, so this was the morality of a knight. Someone who professed to appreciate beauty, good, honor...killing someone because of their past and a confession.

She's a murderer herself. A killer for hire, unflinching in killing her targets, regardless of their pleas. It's not the act that bothers her.

But she's never tried justifying her murders]

Mmmhmm. Claims from an acerbic apathetic man with little in the way of controlling his mouth and little in the way of any facilities here to do the same he used to. But ah, you knew, yes? You were so certain. So you killed him on the spot. I see. I see.

[kandata]

While I understand your reasoning, I find you might have acted rashly.

Would Ushirono's absence cause any problems for our...current task at hand? Or could the action you took make it harder to achieve?

[Murder isn't tremendously good for bonding, she has found. Danganronpa, yo]

[beautifulknight]

[ There's a pause.

Argenti doesn't blame anyone for being mad or distraught with the information he's presented, even if he has his reasons. Murder is serious business. That being said, he does have something to say on this comment. ]

I can't agree with that just yet. I have no idea what else he may have done during his stay, but he struck me as a rather volatile person.

It would take very little for him to kill or hurt anyone.

[fullmoonmutt]

[ What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuckity fuck fuck? Eli's been seated for most of the meeting, unusually quiet but, then again, meetings are for smarter people to come up with plans. He isn't so dumb to think he's one of those smarter people, c'mon.

This, though...

Eli surges to his feet, chair knocked over from the abrupt and fairly violent motion. ]

Holy shit, I get the guy was a psycho freak, but that's exactly what the conflict guy wanted us to do! Turn on each other! So what the fuck is your deep, dark secret, huh?! Do we get to judge whether you get to live or not for it, too, or what?!

[ Eli legit did not like Fuyu and was planning on kicking the guy's ass based on personality alone, but that isn't even remotely like what Argenti did! So! He isn't actually being a hypocrite here! ]

[imperiosity]

[Well, the fact that Argenti's acknowledging it makes his response marginally better, but the bar's still hovering in the middle of Gehenna right now.]

Not even gonna tell me what was running through your head? If that priestess chick hadn't cleaned up your mess for you, then we would've had a helluva lot more to worry about then some stupid punks trying to knock us around on that track.

And that's without going into how you played straight into that damn voice's hands.

[swordthatsmilesback]

...

[Chihiro stares at him for a moment. As much as others are in shock, he only lowers his head for a moment, before his red eyes find Argenti and fix onto his face.]

The wicked must be felled at all costs. If what you say is true...I find no fault in it.

[oinkoink]

[Typically speaking, Sally is team "let's not just take it upon ourselves to murder people". After going through a traumatic event of her own so recently, however, people eating other people to gain that powers type shit is exactly her trigger. At first, she doesn't want to say anything, because people sure are giving Argenti a hell of a time for his confession--and again, not without good reason. But...]

...I think you did the right thing.

[Oh, god, she said it. Now everyone is going to yell at her, too. She clams up immediately in preparation.]

[vogelfrei]

Murder and human experimentation? A perceived lack of remorse for those actions?

[ Well, in that case, McGillis certainly deserves to be run through by Argenti's blade right now. (His number of victims is not nearly as high as Fuyu's at least! Yay!) ]

Well, I have no interest in defending Ushirono. If this were under my jurisdiction, he'd have been punished harshly, too. But it's not my jurisdiction and neither is it yours.

[beautifulknight]

[ There's a moment of pause on his end, because he's well aware of the insults being flung his way. Should he take issue with that? It sounds like she's simply taking her anger out on him, and he doesn't know how to react. ]

Yes, I was so certain that I had good cause to kill him.

[ Argenti says simply, even in the face of that judgment. As a Knight of Beauty, he is trained ardently to stick firmly to his beliefs, to a prosperous extent. In fact, some people do call them freaks for how they act, what they do, so in the end her daggers wrapped in water feel ineffective even if he understands their consequence. There is no chance in getting along with her now.

In the end, to him that man not only killed, but he killed innocent people when it wasn't necessary at all. He used them. He killed them.

And, then there was the comment about how the 'cure' was found. He did much worse than just kill. ]

You can think it was the wrong choice to make and you can think what you will of me.