[IC] TotMV:G2: The Ballroom (Travel Phase)

[Twinwolf]

Hikari indeed does not notice Sachi's stare, given that she's pointing the other way. She focuses purely on the exercise, shoving her embarassment aside. Ivory manifests near the other two who had been a bit distracted (this when one of them had made the 'brothel' comment, not interrupting). 

 

"My Master is attempting to train her speed. The one who is doing the exercise at a ridiculous speed has demonstrated significant combat ability, and Hikari is trying to get to such a level." she explains. Hikari gives a thumbs-up to Ivory as a thanks for the explanation. "...I do not know why the training is so lewd, however."

Edited June 5, 2017 by Twinwolf

[Yours Truly]

((Shadowrun subplot has ended, Solomon, Izumi, and Halley is currently in The Ballroom as no one had mentioned anything about it being too full))
Solomon handed the old fashioned glass over to Izumi before slowly walking away, it felt quite awkward when his eyes saw Halley, and the only thing he could really do was stand there while staring at her for a while, doing nothing but maintaining the increasingly awkward silence between the two of them.

It took a while but he finally broke the silence by raising one of the two beers he had been carrying in his right hand before saying "Don't start drinking yet Kid, and use a bigger gun next time, or poison.".

[Chevaleresse]

"I see. Huh. Speed training, that's. . . interesting. . . " At this point, the man's stare had lost all semblances of subtlety. He was clearly enjoying the show. This was supposed to be somehow combat-applicable? Generally, that wasn't the end that you used for fighting, though maybe it had some sort of unseen benefit? Other than the obvious benefit of improving one's, ah, shapeliness.

[ElfCollaborator]

"Ah!"

Sachi squeals in surprise as she feels something groping her buttocks, trying to swat it away.

 

For Acqui Kagari's pleasure, they are rather firm, if small. Then again, everything about this girl was small.

[Twinwolf]

"You would be astonished at how rapidly the woman can attack with her buttocks." Ivory says, before returning to Hikari. The young Mirage Master is now trying to get a look at whatever the heck it is that is happening to Sachi that would make her squeal like that.

[Sutoratosu]

Ghost rolled her eyes at the swordfighter's obvious entrancement. Quite frankly, she didn't really care what the hell they were doing; if those two over yonder wanted to shake their asses about like a couple of harlots, she saw no point in paying it much more mind than she already had. She did sincerely doubt however, that their exercise had any merit as a means of increasing one's speed, and having spent her whole damn childhood being molded into a ruthless killing machine, she felt she'd gained more than her fair share of knowledge on personal conditioning...very first hand, very brutal knowledge.

       "Thats... some respite, I suppose," She said to Friendhold, "Or maybe more of pity, in the long run. I've seen enough in my time to know that ignorance is never bliss, but... I suppose all things considered, she would be far worse off if her world wasn't tinted rose," Looking over to where the girl played, chasing this imaginary 'angels', these...corpses of the fallen men of friendhold's world, she pursed her lips 

       "What do you plan to do with her now though? You said something about a protector. I take it that despite having this "Adam" substance literally pumping through them, the girl has no real means of protecting herself then. And well, from what I've been told thus far, this is hardly a situation fit for young children..."

 

Or rather, she hoped that it was hardly one. Who knows, perhaps whatever force was running this operation from the shadows was desperate that even child soldiers were an actual option. Ghost felt her stomach churn at the mere thought...even the depraved bastards of her homeworld had waited till they were all legally grown before they threw them out onto some battlefield to die in a far off land. Regardless how shit their treatment up to that point may be...but then again, that was probably only because adolescent slave warriors who'd been training since they could walk were far more effective than mere youngsters who'd simply been handed a spear, taught to thrust with the pointy end, and then sent out to conquer territory. And thinking on it a bit more, she didn't doubt that at some point in history, they had actually tried that on some experimental scale...

[UrbanSamurai]

A swirling vortex, about the size of a tunnel entrance, appears in the center of the ballroom. Crackling bolts of energy fly off the perimeter of the vortex, creating a phantasmagorical display of lights. From within the spectacle comes the sound of a loud automobile horn, increasing in volume with every passing second. Then the vortex spews out an entire tour bus, skidding onto the floor of the ballroom and perform several circular 'donuts' in the center of the area, knocking over the occasional table, chair and other furniture miscellany. After about a half-dozen rotations, the bus comes to a stop, rows of tire tracks marking the floor. 

The bus's exterior is nothing special; a white foundation with two sets of horizontal blue stripes going around the body of the vehicle, and the words "BOOMTOWN EXPRESS" written on each side in Impact-front. A robotic female voice with a Bible-Belt twang emanates from the inside of the bus.

"You've arrived at your destination, sugar~ <3"

 

The door at the front of the bus folds open and down the tiled steps hobbles an old man, with a large build for a regular human. His outfit is in the classic Black Tie tradition, as if he were expecting an actually ballroom event to be taking place. As soon as he sees the other occupants of the room, his flabby, worn face turns pink and produces a smile, a twinkling in his eyes like a child on Christmas morning, even if he looked more the part of Saint Nick. He places his hands on his hips.

" The '87 AFC Championship. My Oakland Raiders versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cold as all hell, I was standing on the sidelines, shivering like a bat out of the freezer. The Steelers came out, and let me tell you, they came out fierce. You know why they're called the Steelers? Because they know Steel better than anyone. They were wearing this Power Armor, and so every time my guys ran into their guys, it was like plunk, ploot. No way we were getting through, it was like your dog in a Chinese finger trap. My offensive coordinator, Two-Ton Tony, pulls me to the side. And this guy, Two-Ton Tony, he was a real little guy, how does he get a name like that? My wife thought it was stupid. Two-Tony Tony pulls me aside and says we have to go for the pass. I say to run it, and he gives me this really bug-eyed look. 'Run? We've been running the whole game and it hasn't worked a single time!' I told him to run the ball. And the next play, those boys ran the ball. Jimmy 'Canada' Boltrik took the ball and started running, he started jumping on the Steelers heads, you couldn't make it up! He was hopping helmet to helmet like the video game my grandson plays where the little Mexican plumber jumps on all the turtles. Boing! Boltrik was in the endzone, touchdown! We lost 10-38. But it goes to show you, sometimes when you want to run, you got to pass, but then when you want to pass, you've got to run. That's what the game is all about. If you want to win, you have to score. And if we're going to score, let's go out and win, and save the whoooole Multiverse. Whose with me?"

The old man stands up, pulls out an Ad Hoc football and throws it down the length of the Ballroom. It bounces off a wall.

"Haha, I've still got the cannon! Moe Botano would be proud..."

 

 

[Code: PIRULUK]

"Oi, keep focused on your exercise. You're not skilled enough yet to multitask."

 

Kagari chided Hikari and turned her attention to Sachi. The girl's butt was perfect for being an infighter. She called out in a commanding tone, using her "queen tone", as it were.

 

"You. Girl. Come here."

[IntSys]

"...Sure," after letting the awkwardness last for a good while, Halley answered. "look, what's done is done. I still have four people worth of lessons to receive, and all of them are probably about this ordeal." She put away her helmet, revealing her face again.

 

A football suddenly bounced off the wall, and in response, she caught it with her hands.

 

"Watch it, mister!" she yelled at the old man. She then passed the football back to him. She turned back to Solomon and sighed, "just, leave me alone if that's all you're going to talk about."

 

[ElfCollaborator]

"E-eh? W-why? What are you going to do t-to me?"

[UrbanSamurai]

Magnum catches the returning football. "That's a decent spiral kid, did you ever play in one of those women's leagues?" At the behest of no one, Magnum moves closer into the circle of people and bends over at his hips, ducking his head down as to remain unseen, as if he suspected them of being spied upon. He transitions from booming oration to being barely louder than a whisper. "What's the current plan? How are we going to get these Trespassers? Let's start with names. You know me, so let's go around and all introduce ourselves and our positions."

[Chevaleresse]

"Uh, I don't know your name, but mine is Yamaguchi Masaru. I don't think we need to whisper at the moment; if our enemies are already in this castle, I don't think any amount of whispering and planning is going to save us." The man looked more than passingly strange to the half-dragon, a thought that was likely mutual. "As for positions, I usually lead from the front of the party. If that's what you mean, anyway."

[UrbanSamurai]

"You don't know my name? Well shoot, ain't that a humbler. Name's Rich. Rich BOOOOOOOOMTOWN Magnum. Five time world Champion courtesy of Oakland, California. Any Oaklanders here? No? Okay then." He twists his torso towards the half-dragon. "Yamaguchi Masaru, that's a Japanese name if I ever heard one. Japan, now that's a country. Great people. Great food. Great technology. Some of the best receivers in the league coming out of Japan. And my grandson, let me tell you, he loves Jungoki and all of Jungoki's little pals."

Boomtown uprights himself and looks around. "So we're in a castle, I'll agree with you there, because this looks like a castle. The high ceilings, the big spacious walls. This spot right here, the Ballroom, with the spacing of the tables and the open space. If you stick around long enough you'll see Emma Watson running through here with a dress, haha."

 

"Yamaguchi, you say you're a Lineman, someone at the front of the battle whose not afraid of the Hell and the Highwater. Being a Lineman is a very courageous position, I should know. I have to correct you on one thing, because you said if our opponents were here, that no amount of planning would save us. Planning will always save the day. Let me show you something."

He reaches into his jacket's pocket and pulls out what resembles a thick pen without any tip. Rich points it at the nearest wall, and on the surface of the wall in solid white lines, a Circle appears. "That's you, on a Rygon Cruiser in the third quadrant when you're intercepted by a row of 4 Anaconda Battleships in front of you, and a whole fleet of Tempest Pursuers to your backside."  The Anacondas are represented by four large X's and the Pursuers are more abstract, consisting of a large scribbled space. "Your Cruiser is at 34% Power and the Ion Cannon is dysfunctional. A hopeless situation, right? 'No amount of planning would get us out of this one.' But look!" The circle moves westward on the wall, with the other geometries following close behind, hundreds of small lines emanating from them to represent their artillery fire. Then there's a ripple, a moving wave of motion that breaks the X's and scribbles into tiny pieces while the Circle remains unharmed. "Those military ships couldn't handle the pressure of a nebular implosion, and then they just fwoosh! Pop! But the Cruiser, I'll tell you, the Rygon's were built for that kind of interstellar hammering. That right there is how you escape a 1-1 million disadvantage. At the end of the day, the odds are't God, the odds are just Vegas. And who can trust Vegas? Nobody. Ask my wife."

[Yours Truly]

On 6/6/2017 at 6:01 PM, IntSys said:

"...Sure," after letting the awkwardness last for a good while, Halley answered. "look, what's done is done. I still have four people worth of lessons to receive, and all of them are probably about this ordeal." She put away her helmet, revealing her face again.

 

A football suddenly bounced off the wall, and in response, she caught it with her hands.

 

"Watch it, mister!" she yelled at the old man. She then passed the football back to him. She turned back to Solomon and sighed, "just, leave me alone if that's all you're going to talk about."

 

Halley would notice many things in the next few moments, but chief among them would be Solomon walking away from her with an odd look on his face as he left the room.
She would also notice two things left on the floor, the first would be a rather comfortable looking black trenchcoat that wouldn't seem out of place in a Film Noir movie, and the second would be a discrete tome with a cover made out of some dark grey material lying on the floor, it had the words "Assassinomocron" written on it in oddly enough hard to find dark green writing, somewhere around it you spot the words "Advanced study material" and you can barely make out several impressions that spell out the words "Not meant for irresponsible idiots, so please don't give this to a certain tactless someone Halley, just please don't".

[Code: PIRULUK]

On 07/06/2017 at 3:15 AM, ElfCollaborator said:

"E-eh? W-why? What are you going to do t-to me?"

 

Kagari continued to speak in her voice of command.

 

"Join us. It's good exercise. Besides, you seem to be interested, at any rate."

[ElfCollaborator]

"I-I'm not! I-I was just looking...."

Sachi neglects to add, "looking at the sweet idol booty".

[IntSys]

Halley picked up the trenchcoat. "Well... if you want me to be less showy, sure?" she donned the trenchcoat, increasing her shadiness by a whopping 10 points.

 

She then picked up the mysterious book. The temptation to open the book was strong, but it was quickly defeated by the sudden howl from the entry hall. She did the 'sane' thing and ran to check what was up.

[Code: PIRULUK]

22 hours ago, ElfCollaborator said:

"I-I'm not! I-I was just looking...."

Sachi neglects to add, "looking at the sweet idol booty".

 

"Nonsense. I'm a slime. I know that look when I see it. Join us. Start moving that cute firm butt, and we'll make a pro out of you yet."

[Twinwolf]

Hikari continued the exercise, wondering what Sachi had been staring at that made Kagari fixate on her so much? ...Granted, it was a very weird exercise that she really didn't know how would help her be able to move like Kagari did, so maybe that. 

[ElfCollaborator]

"E-eh?! C-Cute f-firm butt? W-what's that supposed to m-mean?!"

[Code: PIRULUK]

"It means that you have a butt, and it is both firm and cute, and therefore a good candidate for being an infighter. do you not wish to become stronger? To do this?"

 

As she spoke, she twisted her hips abruptly and strongly, using her full body to power the motion, targeting the swing in Sachi's direction; the sheer force with which she did so caused an immense gale of wind to burst in Sachi's direction, threatening to blow the other girl away.

[ElfCollaborator]

"E-eh?!"

Sachi barely manages to whip out her massive shield to protect herself, the gust of wind managing to shove her back a little bit. She's no natural at Keijo, but she's definitely a natural at taking hits like a champion.

"Y-you don't just say someone's butt's cute l-like that!"

 

[Code: PIRULUK]

"I just did. Now, if you're going to join us, hurry up, otherwise go find somewhere less conspicuous to ogle. We're in the middle of a serious practice session."

 

Kagari turned an eye to check on Hikari. The girl was keeping up remarkably well, but the turns were a bit...

 

"Your turns need to be sharper, Hikari. I should be able to clearly see the shape of the figure eight. You should be getting a little tired by now, but keep at it; you're more than halfway there. Then we can move on to basic attacking."

[StormLord]

Spicy HG wandered into the Ballroom without much plan for getting anything in particular done, surely someone else would wonder in eventually.

[rustytengo]

Bridgett having gotten back to the castle made her way to the Kitchen near the ballroom doing her best to avoid running into anyone. Once she was in the Kitchen and made sure she was the only one in it she took off the necklace that was Mornings Arrow and set it on the counter. "Okay, so what would I need to make cookies Mornings Arrow?" She asked as she started to look through things as the AI listed off both what dishes she would need and what ingredient she would need for a very basic cookie recipe. "So if I wanted to make double so I can give some to everyone all I need to do is double the recipe." Bridgett put her finger to her mouth in thought "Hmm...It will take longer to make them so I should increase the temperature that they are cooked at and that should save time hmm....ooh I know I can make it even higher and that should make it quicker and will get me out of here so someone else can use it if need be." Bridgett said in a matter of fact way as she proceeded to increase the baking temperature of the cookies to about three times as much if not higher.

 

"My Lady I don't believe that's how it's done." Mornings Arrow chimed though Bridgett didn't seem to react to it as she was all ready sticking the made cookies into the overly hot ovens having had to activate her Barrier Jacket to give her protection against the heat. After she put the cookies in she looked around the kitchen. It was a mess, to say the least. It seems despite her normal sort of organized appearance Bridgett is a messy cook there where a lot more dirty dishes then there really should be from such a simple recipe(though a lot of them are from failures in the mixing or use of ingredients). So well the cookies were "baking" she started to attempt to clean up the kitchen something else she wasn't used to doing.

 

Not long after she had placed the cookies in the oven a thick smoke started to billow out of the oven. "My Lady I believe something wrong has happened." Mornings Arrow chimed loudly "Wha...OH NO!!!" Bridgett yelled as she ran to the oven and pulled it open causing even more smoke to fill the room making her cough and flames to lash out of the oven forcing her to back away. The room was heavily covered in smoke so Bridgett couldn't make her way to the sink to get water(though it wouldn't help much anyway) so she did the one thing she could think of at the time as she grabbed Mornings Arrow and a magic circle appeared underneath her and energy started gathering at a point.