>>771608
>>Why don't we share one?
Fuck, I want to tell her wait her turn, but I can't say no to Munchkin.

>>771608
>>Why don't we share one?

>writing

You stand up and bend down by the Munchkin. "Why don't we share one?" You ask.
"Would you?" Daniella asks.
"Yeah" You say, as you pick up the little cake monster.

Daniella lets out a relieved sigh. "Say thank you to Yuu, sweetie" She says.
Munchkin looks confused.

"Say thank you to Honk" Daniella says, correcting herself.
"Thankoo Hahnk" She says.
"Can I leave her with you?" Daniella asks.
"Of course" You say. "Come on, Munchkin. Let's eat some cake"
"Yayyyyy!" Munchkin says.

Daniella waves, and walks back to the adults, so you sit back down and put the munchkin in your lap. She bounces excitedly as Fran puts the first piece of cake down in front of you.

She also hands you a fork. Just one fork, so you guess you'll be on cake feeding duty for the munchkin.

...

Or not. The munchkin leans forward and goes to grab a piece of the cake with her bare hands.

>Stop her

>Ditch the fork and join in

>Try to eat around her hands

>Other

>>771836
>>Stop her

>writing

>>771836
>Stop her

You quickly grab her hand and pull it back. Then you slice off a bit of the cake with your fork and offer it to her to keep her from whining.

She quickly chomps it off the fork, and chews it with a big smile on her face.

Stella giggles. "Are you a happy little bunny?" She asks.
Munchkin lets out a series of squeaks.

"I think that means yes" You say.
"It almost certainly does" Stella replies, as she takes her first bite of her cake. "Oh my, this is good. Did you make this one, Ms. Fran?"
"I did" Fran replies. "It's Lance's mom's recipe for cake. Comes out perfect pretty much every time"
"Kieve's recipe?" You ask. "She didn't seem like the cake-making type"
"Well, she is a scientist. As such she treats most things like an experiment..." Fran says, as she serves Derrick his piece. "You don't want to know how many 'dead' cakes she made before she found this one"

"Concoct, test, tweak, test, huh?" Derrick asks.
"Right you are" Fran says. "A good way to perform experiments, but it is a tad wasteful..."
"I like the result" You say.

"That we agree on" Fran says.

Munchkin tries to reach for the cake again, having grown tired of waiting for you to feed her more.

Once again, you stop her.

"All right all right. Hold your horses I'll get you some" You say.

>1/2

You split the last piece of your cake, giving one to the Munchkin and taking the other. Then you put your fork down and lean back in your chair.

"That was delicious" You say.
"Yeah" Ilica says. "I don't think I've ever had something so good before..."
"Me neither" Stella says.

"So what happens now?" You ask.
"Now we wait for everybody else to finish, and then you get to open your presents!" Stella says.
"Where are those anyway?" You ask.

"They're somewhere" Ilica says. "I think Tian should be bringing in the last few soon"
"Why is Tian bringing them in?" You ask.
"Don't worry about it" Ilica says.

Come to think of it, you don't see her, Ariadne, or Gwen anywhere.

Wait, nevermind. Ariadne and Gwen are up on the ceiling, eating cake... There's also a big crate suspended from some webs up there.

>Ask what they're doing up there

>Ponder what you might be getting

>Are the presents in that?

>Other

>>772111
>>Ask what they're doing up there

>>772111
>>Are the presents in that?

>writing

"What are they doing up there?" You ask.

Ilica looks up, and her expression drops. "They're... uhh..."
"-enjoying their cake in their natural environment" Stella says.
"Yeah! That" Ilica says. "Plus, who do you think hung all these decorations?"

You search the ceiling, taking not of just how many of the various decorations are dangling from webs.

"But what's with the big crate?" You ask.
"That was always there" Stella says. "It holds a machine that helps manage all the mana tools in here"
"So why is it suspended by webs?" You ask.
Stella looks up at it. "Oh, it's not" She says. "I guess Ariadne must have gotten bored and webbed it up"

That does sound like something Ariadne would do...

"Okay" You say, as you look back down and start scratching the Munchkin's head.

Ilica lets out a relieved sigh, and gives Stella a thumb's up.

...

That's suspicious...

"Oh" Derrick says. "There she is"

You turn to where Derrick is looking, and see Tian walking into the hall with a small box in her hand, followed by Altea.

"About damn time" Ilica says. "i was worried we'd have to start doing gifts without the main one"
"The main one?" You ask.
Ilica smiles. "You'll see" She says. "Okay Ari! Lower it down"

>1/2

>>772293
I get the feeling Yuus been underestimated a lot at this party.

The crate on the ceiling slowly descends from its place, coming down towards your table.

"Machines, huh?" You ask Stella.
Stella taps her head and sticks out her tongue. "I had to make something up" She says.

"Don't blame her Yuusky" Pip says. "We were all hoping you wouldn't look up"
"You banked that on me not looking up?" You ask.
"Hey, it almost worked" Ilica says.

That's... true.

"Don't look so down, kiddo" Tian says as she approaches the table. "It's your birthday! Here, catch"

Tian tosses the rectangular package to you, and you catch it.

"What's this?" You ask.
"Open it and find out" Tian says.

You examine the package carefully, feeling that there's definitely something inside. It's light, and you can feel something like Soul inside...

>Open it carefully

>Shred it

>Other

>>772350
>Open it carefully

>>772350
>Shred it

>>772350
>>Open it carefully

>>772350
>>Shred it

>>772350
>Open it carefully

>>772350
>carefully shred it

>writing

>>772350
>>Shred it
I'll be honest though, I'm only voting for this because it creates a stalemate.

You find the seam on the side, where the wrapping on the box is held together, and carefully peel it back.

"No Honk. Like this!" Munchkin says, as she reaches up, grabs the wrapping, and tears it off.

...

"That works too" You say. "Thank you Munchkin"
Munchkin squeaks.

With the wrapping off, you pop open the lid of the box, and see a pair of mageblades. Both identical, and simple, with a guard that snaps shut like your old one. But you can tell just by looking that these are much nicer. The metal is better, the handle wrappings are cleaner, there's not a speck of rust on the whole thing...

"Wow" You say, as you pull one out. "Did you make these?"
"With some help" Tian says, as she pulls out the second one. "The castle's blacksmith made the main body of it, while I worked with a few of the hunters to fashion the emitters, and with Jade to make the crystal"

"Wow" You say again, as you examine it more thoroughly.
"The crystal is shaped, unlike your old one. So you should have an even easier time making and maintaining a blade" Tian says. "And the emitter is made of something interesting. Turns out the guild here had some old fangs from the last time a Chaos monster showed up, so we carved them out to create the emitters"

"What does that mean?" You ask.
"I'm not actually sure" Tian says. "I'd've given it a crack myself, but I can't use it"

>Test it out

>Open the other stuff first

>Other

>>772551
>Test it out

>>772551
>>Test it out

>writing

You stand up, shifting Munchkin into a better position to hold, and grip the mageblade.

You put some energy into it, and the blade slowly forms. Well... not slowly. It comes out much more quickly that it used to.

It feels like your old one was actually resisting you, while this one just lets all your energy through.

You tighten the beam, sharpen the edge, and focus the tip in before giving it a quick swing.

"Wow" You say for a third time. "It feels... good"
"I hoped it would" Tian says. "Anything seem off?"
"Nothing at all" You say. "No resistance, no nothing. I'm having no trouble at all keeping the sword like this"
"Well that's good" Tian says. "I look forward to seeing how you progress with a real blade, instead of a makeshift one"

You nod, and let the blade dissipate. Then you bring it to your hip, and click the guard closed.

...

"Oh yeah" You say.
"Got you covered" Ilica says. The crate from the ceiling is now on the table, and it's been pried open to reveal several boxes within. "Uhh... this one"

Ilica tosses you another box, which you just barely catch with both of your hands full.

Rather than sitting down to open it. You hand it to the Munchkin, who tears into it with an almost frightening glee...

>1/2

With your first presents, the mageblades, firmly clipped to your second present, a new belt, you sit back down and look over the small mound of boxes in front of you.

You're not really sure what to start with here.

Looking at some of the names on the tags, you see that they're all from people you know.

There's a little one from Ilica and Emi, a larger one from Stella and Hella, a small flat one from Lily, another small one from Lance, Fran, Daisy and Lily, yet another small one from... Layla?

...

Well, you can't just stare at them. You'll have to pick one eventually.

>Which one first?

>>772795
>Layla?

I'm kind of curious

>>772795
Illaca and Emi's, the Fran's family one, then Stella and Hella, and then Layla

>writing

>>772795
Fran's family, followed by Lily

You take one last look over them, before grabbing Layla's. You can save everybody else's for last.

"From Layla?" Fran asks. "I didn't think you were that close with her"
"Me neither" You say.

With the Munchkin's help you rip the wrapping off of it, and take a look.

It's a book. "How to pick up women" You read the cover aloud.

Oh...

You look over at Layla, who flashes you a smile and thumb's up.

"Do I want to know why she got you that?" Fran asks.
"Probably not..." You say, as you put the book down. That answer's that question, though. Time for the next one.

You grab the package from Emi and Ilica, once again getting a hand from the Munchkin as you open it.

The little one sure comes in handy for this. You should bring her to all of your birthdays.

With the box open, you see a weird looking wristband. "What is this?" You ask, as you pull it out.
"It's a timekeeper" Emi says. "You wear it around your wrist, and use it to keep track of time"
"Ohh" You say. "Neat"

>How do I read it?

>Keep opening

>Other

>>772985
>>How do I read it?

>>772985
>>How do I read it?

>>772985
>How do I read it?
I thought we mentioned a watch earlier in the quest, or was it some other 'modern' object?

>writing

>>773057
Probably a clock, when you first saw a timekeeper in Kieve's house.

"How do I read it?" You ask.

Emi takes the Timekeeper, and points out different things on it.

"The thick gold line counts the hours, and the thin silver line counts the minutes" Emi says. "Each little line on the side is one minute for the silver line, and each big line is 5 minutes, or 1 hour for the gold hand"

"So it's like a clock" You say.
"I don't know what that is..." Emi says.
"Pretty much this" You say. "So right now it's... 7 hours... 24 minutes"
"Right! Very good" She says.
"Cool" You say. "Now how do I get it on"

"It's a little difficult with one hand" Emi says. "Here..."

Emi helps you work the leather strap of the timekeeper so you can fasten it to your wrist.

"There" She says. "Now you can always know what time it is!"

You hold it in front of you to show the munchkin.

"Isn't that cool?" You ask her.
"Shiny" She says.

Now, what next...

>Stella/Hella

>Lily

>The Fran Clan

>>773198
>>Stella/Hella

>>773198
>The Fran Clan

>>773198
>>The Fran Clan

>>773198
>Stella/Hella

>>773198
>The Fran Clan

>writing

"Alright, let's see what's in... this one" You say, as you grab the package from Fran's family.

Once again, you enlist the Munchkin's aid in tearing it open.

Inside the box is a trio of red, circular crystals set into metal frames. Each one is about the size of a coin.

"What are these?" You ask.
"Bonders" Fran says, as she takes 2 of them out of the box. "Since you seem to have a lot of trouble keeping your hat and cloak for more than a few days, this is a good way to keep track of them"
"How do they work?" You ask.

"Well, you put one here..." Fran says, as she clips one into the headband of your hat. "And another here..." She says, as she clips another to your cloak. "And then you put the third where you won't lose it, and any time you want to retrieve these things..."

Fran picks up the third crystal and hands it to you. "You just put some soul into this, and it'll tell you where the other two are"

You do as she says, and two small beams of red light come out of the crystal in your hand, pointing to the other two.

"That should come in handy" You say. "Though last time the hat and the cloak got destroyed..."
"Well, you'll just have to be more careful" Fran says.
"Why does everyone say that?" You ask.
"Because you need the constant reminder" Ilica says.

...

"I guess that's right" You say, as you clip the third crystal to your belt.

Now, only 2 left

>Lily's gift

>Stella/Hella's gift

>>773372
>Lily's gift

>>773372
>>Lily's gift

>>773372
>>Lily's gift
Save best for last.

>>773372
>Stella/Hella's gift

>writing

File: 14215794_298580980518922_(...).jpg (139 KB, 1582x2048)

139 KB JPG

You pick up the smaller package, and try to hand it to Munchkin so she can shred it open.

"Wait!" Lily calls out. She runs around the table to your side. "You have to be gentle with that one!"
"What's in it?" You ask.

"I can't tell you! You have to open it... gently" She says.
"Alright" You say, as you pick the wrapping open. "Sorry Munchkin. The next one looks extra tearable"
"Kay!" Munchkin says.

The wrapping comes away, revealing an envelope. Inside the envelope is...

"Is this me?" You ask.
"Y-yeah" Lily says. "I may have messed up a few things... like the left arm... and the hand... and I couldn't remember the face details, so I just drew dad..."

>You drew your dad as me?

>I love it

>I have considerably less hair now

>Other

>>773532
>"Y-yeah" Lily says. "I may have messed up a few things... like the left arm... and the hand... and I couldn't remember the face details, so I just drew dad..."
Why are kids so adorable in stories, but being around them in real life makes me want to either strangle the little monsters or kill myself?

>I love it

>>773532
>I love it

>>773532
>>I love it

>>773555
For the most part, all the adorable little girls in my quests are based on the adorable little girls in my life. Maybe I just lucked out?

>writing

>>773604
Jealous. I could use more cute in my day to day

You reach down and pull Lily into a hug.

"I love it" You say.

Lily smiles. "The next one will be even better!" She says.
"Better than this?" You ask "I dunno. This'll be hard to beat"
"It will!" She says. "I'm gonna get better, you'll see!"

"I look forward to it" You say.

Lily scampers back to her mom, leaving you to open the last package.

"Ready Munchkin?" You ask.
"Ready!" Munchkin says.

You pull it closer to you, so that the little bunny can get her hands on it. Then the shredding begins. When all the wrapping is gone, you pop open the box and see that it's full of clothes.

"Ooohhh" Ilica says. "Looks like you packed an entire wardrobe in there"
"We did" Stella says. "Yuu was talking about how he only had the one outfit, so Hella and I put together a whole bunch!"
"Well I did have 2 shirts, until Munchkin ate one" You say.
"I was wondering where she got that..." Daniella says.

"mmMMmm!" Munchkin says, getting a chuckle out of everyone.

"And speaking of Hella... where is she anyway?" You ask.
"R-right here" Hella says.

You turn around to see that she's been standing behind you this entire time...

"Oh" You say. "Hello"
"Hello" She replies.

>Anything else?

>>773719
Thank everyone for the wonderful gifts.

>>773719
>>773733
This.
Maybe we can get some clothes for Coral, at some point.

>>773719
>>Anything else?
To Hella, "Why are you back there?"
Then thank everyone for the gifts.

>>773719
Thank everyone for the gifts and the party

>writing

You stand up to address the crowd.

"Well... thank you all for the gifts, and for coming out to celebrate" You say. "I get the feeling I'll be getting a lot of use out of all of these"

"Even the picture?" Lily asks.
"Especially the picture" You say with smile.
Lily smiles.

The crowd gives one last 'cheers', before returning to what they were doing.

Now that that's over... what now?

You kinda want to test out the new mageblade, though you doubt anyone would be up to spar right now...

Altea is here as well, so you could talk to her about earlier

Or you could just keep hanging here.

>See if someone wants to fight you

>Talk to Altea

>Hang here

>Other

>>773880
>>Talk to Altea

>>773880
>Hang here

>>773880
>>Hang here
But up in the web with the spiders. See why they like it up there so much.

>>773880
>>Hang here

>>773880
>>Hang here

>writing

You sit back down, cradling the munchkin with one arm while you stretch the other out.

"Tired?" Ilica asks.
"It's been a long day" You say.
"Well it's not over yet" Stella says. "We've got this hall until 9. After that it sounds like all the adults are going out drinking"

"Where will we go?" You ask.
"Fran asked us to take the brats home" Ilica says. "She also said we could hang there"
"Cool" You say. "What about the little rabbits?"
"They're coming with us too, I guess" Ilica says. "It'll be like a big sleepover"

Stella looks excited. "I love sleepovers!" She says.
"What's a sleepover?" You ask.
"It's where you get together with your friends, stay up late and play games and stuff" Stella says. "It'll be so much fun! Right Hella?"
"H-huh? I'm coming too?" Hella asks.

>She's coming too?

>Of course you are

>Ask why she's standing back there

>Other

>>774056
>>Of course you are
>Ask why she's standing back there

>>774056
>Of course you are

>Ask why she's standing back there

Rabbits are for cuddling

>>774056
>>Of course you are
>>Ask why she's standing back there

>>774056
>>Ask why she's standing back there
Did you guys think that I'd try to escape?

>writing

"Of course you are" You say. "If you want, I mean"
"I do..." She says.
"Then you are" You say. "For that matter, why are you standing back there?"

Stella grins, and hops to her feet. "Yeah! Come on!" She says, as she drags her sister over to the table. "What, did you think you weren't welcome?"
"I-I dunno... you guys are just cooler than me... I guess" Hella says, as her sister practically forces her to take a seat.

Ilica bursts out laughing, waking the kitten in her lap. "Oh, holy crap that's the funniest thing I've heard all day" Ilica says.
"I-it is?" Hella asks.
"Alright Hella, I'm gonna level with you here" Ilica says "Yuu is called Yuu because Emi heard someone call him 'you' and thought that was his name. I once spent an entire cart ride high as a kite because we were apparently shipping catnip. And Yuu got lost the first time he tried to put on a shirt. We are not cool"

"Hold on... that's why his name is Yuu?" Stella asks. "Did... did you all just go with it?"

"It was either that or Felix" You say.
"I still think it would've been a cooler name..." Ilica says.

Stella starts giggling, then Hella starts giggling, then everyone starts laughing, then Vivi starts gnawing on your leg.

"Stop that!" You say, as you pry her off for the second time today.
"Bad Kitty!" Munchkin says. "Honk... not food!"
"You tell her, Munchkin" You say.

That's all for tonight!

Next thread will most likely be tomorrow night.

As always I'll be sticking around for question/suggestion time

>>774211
thanks for running!

>>774211
Great thread, Smiley!

Jesus Christ, though, Felids are more cat then girl in this setting.

>>774211
Thanks for running Smiley
I can't wait to get a chance to try out those new mageblades
Time to play around with different duel Wielding styles and see what works best
Or just keep one spare incase something happens to the first one
Maybe we should get some binders for them for when we inevitably lose them
I guess we have some more training and need to figure out how to work with tye army and then we are off to take the Capitol From the Mad King

>>774316
You'll be getting a chance to see what the mageblade is really capable of in the near future. That will be the goal for Yuu to work towards as he trains.

I'll just say that he has a ways to go yet.

>>774227
Vivi acts like a kitty because all the civilized girl stuff is taught, while the cat stuff you're born with.

>>774357
So we need to get the 4 Knights to come at us and have some of the others try to be distracting as possible to help train our focus to maintain the blades in combat
So I recall you saying there would be some time skips in this quest, I am guessing the first one will be after we take the Capitol or shortly after?
Or will it be a surprise

I'm reading this quest from the begining. I'm right now in thread 13 and I need to say that I love it. I hope to catch up soon. Keep the good work Smiley.