WEEKS 5 & 6

[linkupmods]

WEEKS 5 & 6

THE CALM BEFORE...

The city has more or less bounced back after the disastrous Go-Kart race. While there are still some people recovering, no one’s hospitalized and there were thankfully no casualties - although there were more injuries than might have been expected, on accounts of some brawls that broke out among the competitors and the audience.

In spite of that, the Shopping District is feeling distinctly friendlier these days. Shopkeepers will take notice of repeat customers and be openly happy to see the better-behaved ones. They may even cut characters a discount on the sly for their patronship!

Perhaps as a result, the Nekyia Shopping District has become clear of haze much like the Nekyia dormitory started. While Shadows still lurk there, they are much fewer in number. Should characters choose to explore some more, they will find that the haze has become thinner in the Nekyia Entertainment District, allowing them to work on cleaning out the various Shadows that reside in that area.

WHAT THE FLUFF.

Meanwhile, back at the dormitory…

…trouble is amiss, but the fun kind of trouble.

On Sunday, September 1st, it seems like there's an event for pets being hosted at the parks near the dorm! That's fine and dandy, but the trouble comes from owners being careless and letting their animals run loose. That's right, some of them have been given free rein to explore, and a number of them have taken a liking to the dormitory!

You might be able to blame Dawn – that cat from the Nekyia who also appears to give you strange items! – because she's got bowls of cat food around her that she's feasting on. It's attracted some pet cats and strays alike. As for the dogs, well, they like people. Enough said.

Why not treat yourself to some animal therapy while you can? And if not, wrangling any animals that manage to get free works too!

SUMMER DAYS.

As summer break draws to a close, the Arcade is desperate to not only redeem its reputation, but also squeeze the last bit of pocket change out of people while they’re still on vacation. As a result, there is an ongoing discount on point cards allowing people to play competitive arcade games - Classics like Mirmo Kart and Street Slayer, as well as shinier rhythm games like Dancerun Stardom and LaiLai Universe Plus!

Of course, the hope is that characters drawn in by the arcade games will stick around for the other offerings - karaoke, bowling, ufo catchers, and even a bar (for those 21+!) And if none of these attractions are enough to catch a character’s eye, there’s plenty of other activities to be found in Carnation Court. Besides the restaurants and bars, there are many themed pop-up cafés and events, and even a few empty buildings with a very reasonable lease fee, should someone want to run an event of their own...

While the mood isn’t as open and friendly as the shopping district, it’s still worth a visit to relax and unwind a bit, preferably alongside Braphine’s other chosen. After all, there are Shadows looming on the horizon...

MESSAGE FROM YOUR RA!

Huh...? That's weird. It looks like a really big Shadow took up residence in the Nekyia. Hold on, I'll set things up so the app will give you the coordinates! Could you please check it out?

COMMISSIONS

NEKYIA COMMISSIONS

FETCH QUEST

I messed up…Mom's gonna be so mad at me for losing track of her dog at that event…

There's a shadow in the Nekyia that's taken the form of a Level 25 Nue. It seems to be growling in despair, and echoing the thoughts of this commissioner. Apparently this person lost his mother's dog at the event and hasn't made an effort to find it yet. Fight the Nue and try to knock some sense into this guy, either by shaking some sense into him or by defeating him; they've got a dog to find, after all.

YOU KNOW THAT WE'RE TOXIC

Leave, Braphine. Leave this world to the people. We don't need anyone. We've only got ourselves.

Seems like someone who might be involved with the vandalism incident might have a shadow here, too, in the form of a Level 24 Mokoi. She sounds like she's going to do something more extreme to the place if she isn't stopped. However, be careful… characters hit with Dazzler from this particular Shadow cannot be cured with magic, and must instead be healed by another person’s touch. It’s time to get cozy with your companions.

GET HEE OUTTA HERE

A powerful Shadow has appeared in the Nekyia and needs to be eliminated asap! Black Frost is a tenacious (if cute?) little guy, and can only be fought after taking down three Level 28 Jack Frosts beforehand. Make sure you ration out your spiritual energy and healing spells, this little Shadow can pack a real punch, being at Level 30! That said, for those who manage to defeat him, he should drop a mascot trading card. Turn this in to the priest or priestess at the temple to unlock a bonus new skill for your Persona!

(OOC: Please turn in your threads for this commission on the rewards page to unlock the new skill, which is separate from your leveling skillset! You may select one elemental skill for light damage to apply permanently to your character's persona. When turning in the skill will be effective immediately once rewarded.)

REAL WORLD COMMISSIONS

FINE DINING

Various restaurants, from fast food and fast casual grub to the fine dining establishments in Carnation Court are trying to outdo each other in terms of promotion, and as such are on the prowl for any free hands to help entice potential customers with free samples and food challenges galore. Grab a buddy and help hawk some bite-sized treats! Or maybe try to beat the record for the biggest burger ever eaten, if you dare.

ALL HANDS ON STAGE

A number of performers were involved in the Go-Kart incident and have yet to fully recover enough to do their parts for the show! For the next two weeks, the Sunset Grand Theater is looking for understudies for roles, as well as stage hands who are willing to ninja around and maneuver props and sets for the actors. The production is a fanciful tale of starcrossed lovers, evil stepmothers, political feuds, and for some reason, a dragon.

PREPARE THE PETS

The pet store in Vermillion Village is looking for some volunteers to help socialize the pets through playtime, as well as feed some of the more persnickety ones. Those who want to pet some adorable balls of fluff and energy can work with the kittens, puppies, and bunny rabbits, while those who are brave enough can try their hand at feeding the reptiles their meals of live crickets and frozen rats.

OOC

READ ME!!!!

Welcome to your log for Weeks 5 and 6! Feel free to use this log for any developments that happen during the next two weeks. There will be no log next week, but we will still be posting a small mini-event on Saturday.
For plotting, please feel free to head over to this post on the OOC comm to post your plotting top levels.
For Nekyia commissions, you can assume that the Shadows will respawn until they've been beaten enough times to go back to normal.
Palaces start this week! Please refer to the Palace schedule here and sign ups for this week's capped Palace here

ic comm | inboxes | ooc comm | full nav

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Comments

[finalmix]

new challenger appears! (arrival, multiple prompts)

[ on Monday of this week, people in the dorms may realise that there is... a new face, a new person that they haven't seen before. it's hard not to miss him either because he's just kind of... passed out lying down on the floor of the common recreational room. it is entirely possible that joshua just fell off a beanbag. or something.

don't mind him, he'll probably wake up soon.

if/when he wakes up before you can get to him, that's okay, because they will either find:

(1) joshua seated cross legged on a beanbag, frowning at the two (?) phones in his hand, and he'll look up and give your character a cheery wave. ]

So, I think I'm lost~

[ or (2) joshua wandering around the building and poking his head into rooms out of curiosity - and upon meeting the first person he can find, ]

Something tells me I'm not in Shibuya anymore.

what the fluff.

HEY, GET BACK HERE!

[ joshua's not really the type to run, but if you watch closely enough, there will be a puppy that zips past with a fabric looking something in its mouth, joshua hot on its heels.

see the thing is: joshua and animals don't really mix well, so someone with higher animal mana (lol) than him might have to help him out to get his shirt back from the mischievous puppy. ]

arcade.

[ the arcade is now joshua's new favourite hangout - care to play a game or two? ]

It's not Tin Pin, but it'll do.

[ what the hell is a tin pin-- ]

commission - all hands on stage

[ commissions? sure, why not. joshua understands as best as any that money makes the world go round and if he's stuck here for the foreseeable future until he can somehow get back to his UG--

which is why he ends up agreeing to help run wardrobe and helping the cast with makeup and styling, because someone's gotta do that job. and he's never really enjoyed being in the spotlight, anyway. he's always been more of a backstage kind of guy. ] Look sharp, darling. [ a wink. ] Hopefully you're not the kind to get stage fright~

nekyia.

[ joshua just got here, so he's definitely... underlevelled.

(that's an understatement.)

for someone who's used to throwing his abilities around without any particular care, it's a whole new ball game when these enemies pack more of a punch than you expect.

for now, joshua seems to be holding his own against two incubi snd succubi but he's purely getting by thanks to taking advantage of elemental rock paper scissors.

he is, however, absolutely getting his ass kicked by a shiki-ouji when he can't fall back on that, so.

help.

(not that he'll ask for it.) ]

wildcard.

( FINGER GUNS come at me i'm happy to write custom starters or shove joshy into inboxes if needed, dm me on discord or on the server if you wanna plot Things! )

nekyia;

[beautifulknight]

[ Isn't it? Well, that's fine.

Argenti is running straight into all of this, not caring about elemental whathaveyous himself, before slamming all creatures with a rather well-timed Mapsi that is relatively still a good light hitting spell but it manages to slam pretty hard into all three. In fact, at least one of the Incubi gets taken out, since Joshua has been at it for awhile anyway. ]

My friend, are you in need of aid?

[ He simply asks, rushing in anyway... ]

[finalmix]

[ when you have enough firepower behind you unga bunga clearly is the way to go???

the incubus goes down with a screech thanks to the mapsi spell, which is enough of a distraction that joshua actually looks at argenti and goes-- ]

Huh, nice cosplay.

[ i'm sorry ]

[ anyway that's a "yes" to needing help, and joshua's archangel persona helpfully fires off a bless spell at the succubus, and he himself has to roll out of the way to dodge the shiki-ouji's attack. ]

That one's all yours!

[beautifulknight]

[ Help. Joshua, why are you like this?? Anyway, that's definitely a good thing that they're evening out the battlefield here. ]

...Pardon?

[ What in the name of Honkai Star Rail is cosplay.

Anyway, that's fine that the Succubus and Shiki-ouji are still remaining. They're going to be needing to be taken out soon enough. He'll be evading the the Agilao from the Succubus, and then performing a Lunge on this powerful enemy, striking it hard, but, well. It's level 26, it's still got a good amount of health remaining. ]

I shall rely on you to take care of the other, then!

[finalmix]

What character is that supposed to be?

[ if there's one thing that joshua has mastered it's the art of smart quips even during the heat of battle.

especially since they're going to be here for a while. this is a battle of attrition now, huh. ]

Behind you~ [ argenti's lunge attack successfully stunned their shiki-ouji opponent, so joshua's focusing on the succubus instead. something something divide and conquer-- another kouha spell goes off, and in retaliation, the succubus fires off a marin karin, which thanks to my nat20 roll means that it connects and successfully inflicts both brainwash and damage on joshua.

oops.

watch out argenti, there's a lunge coming towards you now. ]

[beautifulknight]

What character? What do you mean?

[ Argenti is super confused, though apparently not enough to figure out what's going on where that's concerned. Anyway, since he is more or less focused on the Shiki-Ouji opponent right about now, who is stunned, this means he pretty much doesn't have a big eye on Joshua, so it's up to the dice roll if he sees him coming...

...well, apparently he does (20), so he dances elegantly around the man, and even uses just uses another heavy physical attack on the Shiki-Ouji, striking it hard, as well as fast at the same time. This battle has gotten even more difficult, but Argenti is very used to facing multiple opponents at once.

But, he doesn't seem very happy about it!! ]

You must be not in your right mind!

[ A correct guess, but ah well. At least the Shiki-Ouji probably is still reeling from being hit hard... ]

[finalmix]

[ unfortunately the thing about brainwash is that it takes a while to be broken out of (8), so unfortunately for yet another turn argenti is going to be fighting a battle on two or possibly three fronts.

(good luck.) ]

What's wrong?

[ and then there's a media spell being cast because that previous hit took out a chunk of his own hp - although the good(?) thing is that there doesn't seem to be very much hp recovery for the other two enemies considering how underlevelled joshua is. ]

[beautifulknight]

[ All things considered, Argenti has been through worse. Still, fighting against monsters is always a different beast than a person alongside hoards of monsters.

How is he doing? Well (14) could be worse. Much worse, considering everything, but apparently Argenti is well prepared to make the adjustment.

...But whatever the case, the heal that Joshua casts does make his expression momentarily darken - how lucky for this young man being such a low level indeed! Fortunately, the drop in mood not enough that he's going to turn on the man just yet(or ever, if he can help it.) Even while he uses another powerful strike against the Shiki-Ouji, which has rejuvenated itself for a strike. But the Psio goes wide when its directed at the red head. ]

I imagine you're asking that to irritate me. For both of our sakes, I shall pray that you snap out of it soon. Otherwise, we will have a problem.

[ Or you will, thinks Argenti uncharitably, but that is not something he is willing to voice. He still somehow believes he has his geniality in there somewhere. Maybe.

Anyway, the Succubus also is free to move, flinging an Agilao at Argenti again. This time, it does hit, even if it is only a glancing blow. ]

arrival, before he wakes up

[emptyself]

[ why the fuck is there someone passed out on the floor.

soujuurou at first runs over to him with the same urgency that most people would, seeing someone passed out. but from what he can see, this person seems to be fine? asleep, even? for someone that has learned so much about the human body as soujuurou, he feels like he could tell if someone were to be in grave danger. and at the very worst, this guy's just exhausted.

... ]

Well, it's not like exhaustion isn't dangerous. [ he fusses to himself and the passed out joshua, looking down at this him with a mildly miffed expression. ] People could trip over you, too. Couldn't you be a little more mindful?

[ the right thing, would be to move him. and move him is what he's going to do. he's done this before, when carrying alice. he slides an arm to rest under joshua's head, and another under his knees, and without much difficulty picks him up bridal-style. blissfully unaware of such a term, he walks the steps necessary before unceremoniously dumping him on the sofa. ]

I guess I should get him water and food.

[ and with a small grumble, he goes to the kitchen to go get some water and some sort of breakfast for this weirdo that just showed up. ]

[finalmix]

[ i am so sad that he was not awake for the being princess carried portion, he would have been mortified ]

[ even if he does deserve to be dumped on the sofa unceremoniously. it's fine, he'll live. that said, when soujuurou comes back from his food and water quick fetch quest detour, he will find joshua sitting up on the sofa and surveying his... new surroundings.

when his eyes land on soujuurou they'll narrow for a split second, almost as if joshua is sizing him up, before it disappears. ]

Hi~ [ jaunty wave. because joshua is joshua. ] What's up with this place?

[emptyself]

Sunset City, the dorms.

[ he'll hand a bottle of water to joshua, and what seems to be a small snack. an extra onigiri that he heated up for him.

unaware of joshua sizing him up, the young man talks to him matter-of-factly. he knows just how confusing it was for him to wake up in this place, weeks ago, so he would be happy to help someone get through their first times. ]

We were brought here to help with something that's wrong with the city and the people in it. We fight monsters and we're supposed to create bonds with each other to get stronger. [ ... ] Basically, we've been employed by a goddess to do some clean up for her.

New Challenger

[kandata]

[When Joshua peeks his head into the room, he'll find a maid cleaning around. Oh, a newcomer!]

You certainly are not. Welcome. If you need anything to make your arrival smoother, please inform me -- within certain limits. I am not one of the organizers, after all.

[Better make the record straight about that, because Kirumi sure looks like one of the collaborators keeping this place running, what with she cleaning right now]