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>>4782971

Information:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/QM91m
Discord: https://discord.gg/AmjbaTR
Archives: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=do+your+best+quest (Rough Grammar ‘till half of the 9th Thread)
Incomplete Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-nIx_dvaNCPQ7zLg2BK_ucCyGNM741kAANxqXj7hdDs/edit?usp=sharing

Votes:

Votes are counted until 25 minutes have passed. This rule doesn't apply to the last reply of the day.
Votes that require a dice roll are counted until 15 minutes have passed, so we can speed up the process. Rolls are counted until 10 minutes have passed, so be prepared!

(NEW) Dice Mechanic:

We always roll 1d100s!
Since most people weren’t happy with the system of averaging top four rolls, we’re using best of 2/3/4 depending on the attribute a prompt requires. If Johnny is a genius and it’s a Knowledge based roll, he gets more rolls (Max. 7)! If he sucks, he gets less dice (Min. 2)!

When asked for rolls, I will specify how many you’re going to get. Rolling begins after it’s asked.

Rolling 100 is a critical and ignores all other rolls! In the same vein, rolling 1 means a critical failure (only for Very Hard rolls and above).

The difficulty of the roll is tied with the effectiveness of the action. In other words, the harder the option the better the result!

Don’t forget that at the end of the day, this is a story-driven quest! What the prompts are describing is more important than the difficulty of the rolls, for results in a fight.

Again, rolls are only counted when they are posted within ten minutes of being asked, so watch out!

>>4782971
>>Hand them the phone, ask them not to show it to San.
>Call Ms. Wich out. It’s time for an intervention.

>>4782971
>Hand them the phone, ask them not to show it to San.
>Call Ms. Wich out. It’s time for an intervention.

>>4782972
>Hand them the phone, ask them not to show it to San.
>Call Ms. Wich out. It’s time for an intervention.

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“Here, take a look.” You extend the phone towards them so they can see the last message. “Don’t let San see it.”

“Hmm?” Matilda just takes your phone away as Scarlet gets closer to see what’s going on. “I see.”

“Huh?! That’s great news!” Scarlet gets all happy. “But why are we…?”

“Trust me on this one.” You wink at Scarlet so she can shut up.

“See, this is the picture I was talking about earlier.” Matilda shows your phone to Scarlet again! She’s doing things she’s not supposed to…

“H-Huh…?” Scarlet’s confusion goes to a different melody this time. What is Matilda doing? “O-Oh, that, haha… hah… I-I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about it now, you know…?” An incredibly embarrassed and awkward Scarlet tries to take the phone away from your iffy martial arts master but fails miserably.

“W-What are you doing? I didn’t give you permission to do that.” You want your phone back too. “Read the room, Matilda!” She’s a bad girl!

“Pardon me.” Matilda doesn’t really feel bad. She’s a monster. “Curiosity gets the best of me every now and then.” Matilda hands your stuff back. You take it and glare at her intensively.

“You and San are going to be grounded if you continue acting like this. I’m tired of your lies.” You don’t like when people go against their word.

“Unlike her, you look happy when I bring this up...” Matilda grabs her chin.

“I told you to read the room, Mat.” You weren’t joking about it. But you cannot lie, it’s funny watching Scarlet being a dummy.

“Can I see it?” Oliver is curious too.

“No.” You want people to stop sniffing in your private matters.

“What about me?” San wonders as well. Her tears haven’t been wiped, but they have stopped falling.

“Hmm… No.” You put your phone in your pocket, Oliver looks confused as to why you thought about it with San and not with him. Then you use your sleeve to clean San’s salty tears. “There. So, this isn’t as awkward as Matilda wants.”

“I haven’t expressed those feelings and I haven’t done anything of the like.” Matilda already broke whatever tension was left, now she pretends she didn’t do that on purpose.

“Anyway, we should deal with San now. And by dealing with San, I mean I want to talk with Ms. Wich.” You bring everyone back to topic like you’re some kind of party pooper like Richard or Matilda herself.

“Before I leave, I want to confirm if it’s possible for the Body to get that haircut.” San is an idiot.

“Master can do it herself. She can do anything she proposes herself to.” Oliver believes Matilda is some kind of hairdresser.

>>4783299


“Like I said, unlike my grandfather, I don’t believe I’m good at everything I do. With that in mind, perhaps I could give it a shot.” Matilda contradicts herself. Yeah, you think she’s acting more carefree than usual, which is good! The only downside is that you were supposed to do something serious right now, and you’re not getting to it.

“So, you’re totally like your grandpa...” Scarlet rolls her eyes. “But I could help.”

“Why not leave it to professionals instead?” You don’t get why they want to cut Ms. Wich’s hair.

“Have you seen the news? There is a worrying number of hairdresser scammers lately.” Scarlet explains.

“H-How do you get scammed like that? How does that even work? They use scissors that give you hair?” You think you must be quite the idiot to be dupped like that.

“You’d be surprised; there are heinous people.” Oliver, the ex-terrorist, says without a hint of irony.

“We don’t have all night, everyone.” You actually do, but that’s not the point. “Let’s move on for real now.”

“Yes, we will arrange something, San.” Matilda promises the haircut. “Please proceed now.”

“Thanks, friends.” San nods and you can feel the change of personalities happening…

What do you do?

>Reveal the good news! Ms. Wich’s son might be alive.
>“Now we know your real name, Ms. Wilma. Why did you hide it from us?” Start unveiling the truth.
>Show Ms. Wilma her late husband’s photo.
>Write In.

>>4783304
>>“Now we know your real name, Ms. Wilma. Why did you hide it from us?” Start unveiling the truth.

>>4783304
>Reveal the good news! Ms. Wich’s son might be alive.

>>4783304
>“Now we know your real name, Ms. Wilma. Why did you hide it from us?” Start unveiling the truth.

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“Welcome back!” Scarlet receives the supposed “Ms. Wich” with a smile.

“I apologize for leaving so abruptly…” Ms. Wich feels guilty.

“It appears that this little break did wonders.” Matilda notices that the sad woman isn’t at the border of a mental collapse now.

“I’ve never felt like that before, I was free…” Ms. Wich’s smile gives you a bad sensation.

“Hello there, I’m Oli—”

“I know who you are.” Ms. Wich rudely cuts Oliver off before he can continue.

“Did you do something to her?” Matilda asks Oliver. Judging by his reaction, he doesn’t know where this came from either.

“I cannot recall.” Oliver shakes his head as tries to look less suspicious, but accomplishes the opposite.

“I’m aware of everything that has happened here. You tricked him, didn’t you?” Ms. Wich is not happy with Oliver.

“Okay, tell us what you did.” Scarlet is not on Oliver’s side.

“I didn’t trick nobody; I don’t know what she’s talking about.” The suspicious man leaves more doubts into everyone’s minds.

“The pudding, young man.” Ms. Wich acts like this is a real serious matter. It’s possible that Ms. Wilma is a silly woman like the many you know.

“…” Matilda looks disappointed.

“Ah?!” Scarlet gasps in sheer horror. “How could you?!”

“L-Like I said, I know nothing!” Oliver starts whistling like he’s innocent! “Perhaps, it was Master’s fault.”

“I don’t like pudding.” Matilda denies it.

“Lies, such a big fat lie.” Oliver calls her out. Maybe Matilda really likes pudding!

“Yeah, you don’t have to lie like that.” Scarlet doesn’t believe Matilda either. “Everyone here sucks at lying.”

“We’re not getting sidetracked again! Now we know your real name, Ms. Wilma. Why did you hide it from us?” You need to start unveiling the truth, instead of realizing these people have their own lives with their own petty problems.

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>>4783514

“Ngh…” Ms. Wich looks like she’s being hurt by something minor. “You’re faster than I expected.”

“I mean, we’re professionals.” Scarlet would adjust her glasses if she had any.

“You did nothing.” Matilda calls Scarlet out.

“You’re really mean to me for no reason, y’know?” Scarlet doesn’t like this treatment.

“It’s banter.” Matilda smirks.

“I think it’s jealousy…” Scarlet shoots Matilda’s plane down like it was nothing!

“Focus, people.” You don’t know when you turned to the straight man here, but you don’t like the position.

“I apologize for making your lives difficult, but like I mentioned, the more you know about me, the more you dig – the more dangerous it can be for you.” Ms. Wilma admits something she already said. “I’m a bad omen.”

“Hey, she talks like you.” You nudge Oliver and point out that she reminds you of his edgy rants.

“Didn’t you ask us to be serious?” Matilda isn’t impressed by you. You make one great observation and it’s immediately time to call you out… But she’s right.

“My bad.” You gracefully take the blame. “Yeah, we know you said that before, but I feel like it was more than that.”

“You’re a perceptive man.” Wilma looks a little vexed.

“Before we move on, we can call you Ms. Wilma from now on, right?” Scarlet’s interruption is not as bad as yours.

“Between us, yes.” Ms. Wilma accepts she’s not a sandwich anymore.

“So what was the other reason you were hiding?” You’ll dig deeper.

“My last name… and what it means to have it…” Wilma grabs her head, the pain is intensifying.

It must be the Orphanage of the Blue scandal…

What do you do?

>Ask about the events surrounding that scandal.
>Ask about her husband. Dig a little deeper into her family.
>Ask directly what happened to her family.
>Ask her if she knows Valdemar Bruun.
>Tell her about what you found. Her son is alive.
>Write In.

>>4783515
>>Ask directly what happened to her family.

>>4783515

(Sorry, everyone, last reply of the day! We continue tomorrow!)

>>4783515
>>Tell her about what you found. Her son is alive.
>>Ask directly what happened to her family.
>>Ask her if she knows Valdemar Bruun.
In roughly that order of priority. Or just all 5, since all this info is useful.

You know I wonder if Ajna + Wilma would be a good combo, after we get the hostile elements tracking Wilma settled somehow. I could see it either going well or very very poorly.

Aah, also do you think the Prices have anything to do with the alligator drones all over the city wiping out all challengers? It's gotta be someone with resources doing that, probably to keep others from gathering intel (or just being well funded and dedicated to being a dick).

>>4783641
+1

>>4783515
>>Ask her if she knows Valdemar Bruun.
>>Ask directly what happened to her family.
>>Tell her about what you found. Her son is alive.
in THIS order

>>4783515
>>Tell her about what you found. Her son is alive.

>>4782971
Yoo nice tits

>>4784353
Support

>>4784353
Ye

>>4783515
changing vote from >>4783958 to backing >>4784353

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“Since you’re bringing that up, I have a couple of questions to make.” You know what to ask and you’re not afraid to do it!

“Be mindful of her.” Matilda reminds you that you can’t just go and do whatever you want.

“I know. Don’t worry, I can also feel a certain redhead glaring at me too.” You always try to be as accommodating as possible, and you were a witness of San’s behavior – so you have an idea as to how much you can push her.

“What are you talking about?” The previously mentioned redhead glares at you.

“Anyway, Ms. Wilma, I’ll begin.” You clear your throat just to prepare mentally. “Do you know a man named ‘Valdemar Bruun’?”

“Valdemar?” Wilma is confused. She doesn’t seem in pain. “It doesn’t ring any bells.”

“Are you sure about that?” Oliver can’t keep his mouth shut.

“Be quiet and let him handle it. Nobody gave you permission to talk.” Matilda shuts her pupil up.

“Well said.” Wilma really dislikes Oliver.

“N-No need to be so harsh…” Oliver doesn’t know that it only takes one apology to make amends. “I’ll stay silent from now on.”

“Why are you bringing him up…?” Wilma is not suffering as much if she’s willing to ask questions back.

“Well, he is a pretty mysterious guy and you share last names. And we’re kind of aware of some things about your childhood…” You are awful at explaining yourself here.

“Mysterious guy?” Wilma wants to know more.

“He worked for the Cult of Chernobog. I think he was one of the founding members.” You should get your facts right before asking questions around…

“Yup, he was in it before Ammirati. I think he founded it.” Scarlet adds to your story so you don’t sound like a crazy man.

“Just Chernobog…?” Ms. Wilma puts her right hand on her temple.

“What do you mean by that?” You’re getting somewhere with this!

“If this Valdemar has something to do with… ngh…” Ms. Wilma is having another headache. “…With the orphanage… Why would you name it after Chernobog…?”

“I hate repeating myself, but what do you mean by that?” You keep asking the same question so Wilma can elaborate.

“We didn’t worship her. That’s one of her children, the sacred being was… Ugh… agh… An… gra… Mainyu.” Wilma is about to have a meltdown, she looks beyond stressed, sweat is falling down and she’s holding her head with both hands – and her flame is going wild. “No… San… Not now.” She’s fighting! “I can take it…”

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>>4785171

“There, there…” Scarlet starts rubbing Ms. Wilma’s back, slowly calming her down. You start patting her head too for a combo move! It works wonders!

“We can stop for now, if you like.” Matilda is open to making no progress. Yep, you’re all a bad influence on her.

“I just need a moment… so my memories… don’t hit me all at once… If not… I… don’t know what can happen…” Wilma verbalizes her suffering.

“You’re doing great right now!” Scarlet uses her only notable trait aside from her bum to lift up Wilma’s spirits.

“Thank you…” Wilma is cheered up. “D-Do you pat people’s heads often? You’re good at it.”

“Not really, but I think I’m becoming an expert lately.” You stop once Wilma acknowledges it.

“He does decent massages, I suppose.” Matilda praises you.

“Can you tell us what happened to your family?” You think it’s time to address it. You can leave the orphanage talk for later.

“I… I…” Ms. Wilma looks extremely stressed again, just like that! Being gentle or direct probably would’ve had the same effect! And this is not good! “They… are… they are…. THeY ARe…. aAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAaah…”

Ms. Wilma's tears start falling just like moments ago, but now she’s having a panic attack! No back pats, head pats or pat pats will do anything to calm her down….!

“I CAN’T…. I’M SORRY…! I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!” Ms. Wilma starts shouting in obvious distress. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaah….!”

“It’s fine. Everything is fine!” Scarlet is hugging her but it doesn’t do anything!

“What the hell…?” Oliver is in shock for some reason. “H-Her tears…!”

“They are floating…” Matilda is out of words as well.

The teardrops falling from Wilma’s eyes start floating, creating some kind of stream that melt into a shining bubble…! Probably San’s entity ability or some shit, but you don’t have time to care about that. You need to calm Ms. Wilma down!

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>>4785174

“Wilma, please calm down, we think he’s alive…! We think your son is alive…!” You grab Wilma by the shoulders to calm her down! This ended up being needlessly dramatic, but you needed to do something. Wilma looks at you in shock, she doesn’t seem happy or anything – like her brain can’t process it… The tears don’t stop falling though! She’s just frozen…!

“Don’t touch it!” Matilda shouts at Oliver!

You turn around to see the eccentric mind doing the opposite of what his master tells him, even though Matilda tried to stop him, this buffoon touches the bubble with the tip of his fingers! And both of them get sucked into the damn thing like dust into a vacuum!

“M-Matilda!” You shout before those two disappear into it…!

“Ms. Wilma collapsed…! What do we do?! Johnny, did you hear me?!” Scarlet shouts. “W-Where is everyone…?” Scarlet realizes nobody is here anymore…!

What the fuck happened?!

“Be careful, partner.” Philonune brings you back to reality for a second.

What do you do?!

>Touch the Bubble! Follow them like an idiot!
>Tell San to take control of the Body now!
>Try to wake up Wilma!
>Write In.

>>4785177
>>Touch the Bubble! Follow them like an idiot!
I'm way too curious

>>4785177
>>Tell San to take control of the Body now!

>>4785177
>Touch the Bubble! Follow them like an idiot!

>>4785177
You really think he would've learned the link between curiosity and punishment by now, given his backstory.

They're probably not dead, since there are more effective ways of killing people. I wonder if this might be some curse/monitoring placed on her initiating a defense or if it's her own power going out of control. Certainly the way trying to remember things actively hurts her to a far greater degree than Nariko ever had has been bugging me. She also HAS an entity so the loss wasn't caused by the same mechanism Nariko had. The next most likely cause would be some entity's ability, and if that's the case this could easily be a defense mechanism to keep her from recovering her memories.

Anyway, if that theory is true then we need to be wary of someone coming to intervene in the real world after this development. We should stick around just in case, don't want Scarlet getting hurt.

>Try to wake up Wilma!
and >>4785189

>>4785212
Supporting

>>4785177
>Touch the Bubble! Follow them like an idiot!

>>4785212
I mean I'm probably being overly cautious and seeing shadowruns where there are none. If we do go into the Bubble let's take Scarlet with us. And before we actually go in let's text Amelia to ask her to watch over the Dojo and react if anyone suspicious shows up.

Doing all that will minimize the risk of anybody getting hurt (if whoever is watching Wilma comes in they're unlikely to harm someone they've left alone for so long...rather than one of the people trying to unlock Wilma's memories), and gives us the chance to net some intel as well.

>>4785177
I'll change my vote to

>Touch the Bubble! Follow them like an idiot!
If we can also
>Write-in
These precautions
>>4785250

>>4785250
>>4785212
This

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“Scarlet, I think that bubble sucked them somewhere.” You explain briefly.

“W-What…?” Scarlet must be confused by the explanation and by the fact you used the word bubble without referring to her.

“I’m going to follow them. If I’m not back in an hour, call someone for help.” You have made a decision. Matilda and Oliver are in danger! You can’t stay put!

“Wait, don’t go!” Scarlet grabs your arm. “I wanna go too!”

“But who’s going to call someone for help.” You think you need a safety net.

“We can call someone now, y’know?” Scarlet gives you your answer. “But I bet they are going to be really confused, so I better stay here to explain this to them when they arrive. Maybe I’ll get in later. Who do I call?”

“Sure, sounds good. Call anyone from the team or Nina. Except Richard. He would make fun of me and I’m not up for it.” You know how annoying he gets.

“Okay.” Scarlet is letting you do something reckless because you might look cool while doing it. “Be careful!”

Scarlet hugs you before you go. She knows you’re a dumb man of action, or maybe she’s as dumb as you to think this is a good idea. Regardless, it feels good to have a teammate that believes in you, no matter what. You’re not going to disappoint this redhead!

“I will be. We have to cuddle tonight, after all.” You adjust your glasses as you smirk at Scarlet. Then you touch the other bubble and you get sucked by it! “Wheeeeeee~!” It’s like going down a slide! It gives you more or less the same sensation as you went to Dream Hill! It’s kinda fun…!

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>>4785300

…

You continue going down, your surroundings are pure white and everything is empty, you can’t tell how fast you’re moving or how much you have gone down. It’s really disorienting. A light shines so brightly directly at you that it should blind you – but since you have your ability, it doesn’t affect you at all, and you’re able see the horribly done transition between wherever you were and where you are going! Like a loading screen going mayhem without loading all the assets in the game. The good news appears to be that you’re retaining your ability, the bad news is that’s not really a good signal if you think about it.

You land somewhere in the countryside; the whole place is green and the sky is beautiful! You’re on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Behind you is a building, a warehouse of sorts, most likely where farmers put their tools, since you think you’re at a farm. You're a city boy, you barely know about this crap. You can see an actual road and a bus stop from here as well.

“Partner, your clothes are different.” Philonune is here with you! That’s good!

And he’s right, you’re wearing some kind of old school uniform. You remember from your Mom’s stories that everyone used to wear the same uniform, and the school badges were the only difference among them. You look into your pockets and find a card, it's a student card for the bus. Some of the numbers are plain gibberish, like dust balls that constantly vibrate. If you keep looking at it, it’s going to give you a migraine…

“I expected something else…” You look around and you’re sure of one thing.

You’re lost.

What do you do?

>Go to the Bus Stop and wait for the Bus to stop!
>Look into the warehouse and try to find someone!
>Wait here. You have the feeling something is going to happen.
>Write In.

>>4785302
>>Go to the Bus Stop and wait for the Bus to stop!
THE PLOT MUST MOVE FOWARD

>>4785302
>>Go to the Bus Stop and wait for the Bus to stop!

>>4785302
>Go to the Bus Stop and wait for the Bus to stop!

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Since you like civilization, perhaps it would be better if you find some – you walk towards the Bus Stop and decide to get somewhere that isn’t here. You patiently wait for your ride to arrive.

“Any guesses about what’s going on?” Philonune wants to hear your opinion.

“Well… We are in a parallel dimension or something. Like the Distant Frontier or the Bridge between Worlds.” You mention both because you forgot again what the difference between them is.

“Do you think it’s the ability of the woman’s partner?” Philonune wonders with good reason.

“Seems like it, but we can’t be sure. At least, this doesn’t seem dangerous so far.” You wish you could tell this to Scarlet. But oh well, the adventure’s just begun.

“You seem to know your way around despite not knowing where we are.” Philonune is fairly impressed. “And you’re fairly calm about this too, partner. You’ve grown.”

“This place is not that out of the ordinary. Besides, after the Ammirati crap I think I can deal with a curveball or two.” You don’t think it’s worthy of praise.

After your little exchange with Philonune, you see the bus coming over to the stop – mainly thanks to the dark clouds accompanying it. It looks dilapidated, a trail of smoke is coming out of it – like it was a train in an old movie. You raise your hand, and it halts right in front of you. The doors struggle to open and you walk inside, more like, one door opened and you had to slide inside. There is a loud radio functioning, it’s on the news – the sports bit, it has a lot of static, so it’s difficult to make out what it’s saying.

“Hello there.” You don’t know where to put the card. There are many holes they could fit inside, but all on the floor.

“…” The driver doesn’t say anything.

“Where is this going?” You put the card back into the pocket and pretend everything is normal.

“To town.” Driver responds, albeit annoyed.

“What town?” You’ll have to look like a dunce for a bit.

“Xumenlo. Where else? You wanna go to school or not?” Driver closes the door behind you and starts driving away. You don’t know what school you’re going to…

“Wasn’t it a city…?” You mutter to yourself.

Yep, you’re inside. There are like 2 students in here, they look younger than you. You would say there are more seats than people here, but the seats decided to skip school for some reason.

What do you do?

>Talk to the Driver, ask more questions.
>Pay attention to what the radio is saying.
>Go talk to one of the students at the back of the bus.
>Write In.

(Last Reply of the day, we continue tomorrow!)

>>4785404
>>Go talk to one of the students at the back of the bus.

>>4785404
>>Go talk to one of the students at the back of the bus.

>>4785404
>Go talk to one of the students at the back of the bus.

>>4785404
>Go talk to one of the students at the back of the bus.
But also
>Pay attention to what the radio is saying.

>>4786768
Sure

>>4785404
>>Go talk to one of the students at the back of the bus.

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You’ll keep an ear on the radio and you will approach one of the kids to discern what’s going on here. The more information you get, the better. You decide to talk to the one with glasses, because the impaired vision brotherhood transcends all types of boundaries and realities. Besides, he looks like someone you can beat up no problem if you have to. Not like you couldn’t beat the other kid, you could even take both head on, maybe you could beat everyone in this bus and take control of it – become the bus king… No, Bus Emperor! But that wouldn’t be useful, would it?

As your mind goes into strange tangents, you hear a bit of news that isn’t sport related: A criminal known as ‘Houda Lan’ is still on the loose, his latest crime has been stealing the Legendary Blood Knife of the Ironheart clan – it seems this bandit has targeted the most well-known and wealthy families around the country. Anyway, that’s it for now with the news.

“Hey, kid.” You would sit beside the kid if there were still a seat next to him. Everything inside is either broken or about to be. You think if you jump, you’ll go through the floor, so you better be careful.

“H-Hello, sir.” The polite kid with glasses answers back, he’s nervous.

Dream world or not, you need to be mindful of what you do or say. You have no idea of what consequences your actions could bring. This kid looks, acts and (sadly) smells real – so perhaps he’s in the same situation as you are? Extremely unlikely, but hey, you got sucked into a bubble to another realm, so anything is possible.

How do you respond?

>“To what school are we going?” Act clueless.
>“You’re part of my gang now.” Time to fuck shit up in this weird world.
>“Put some deodorant on, kid.” He smells really bad…
>“Have you seen a fit girl with some sort of a bowl cut and a weird guy with dyed hair?” Ask if he’s seen Matilda and Oliver.
>Write In.

>>4787161
>>“Have you seen a fit girl with some sort of a bowl cut and a weird guy with dyed hair?” Ask if he’s seen Matilda and Oliver.
>“To what school are we going?” Act clueless.

>>4787161
>>“To what school are we going?” Act clueless.
>“You’re part of my gang now.” Time to fuck shit up in this weird world.

>>4787161
>>“Have you seen a fit girl with some sort of a bowl cut and a weird guy with dyed hair?” Ask if he’s seen Matilda and Oliver.
>“To what school are we going?” Act clueless.
>Write In
Ask what year it is. Hey if turns out you are actually in the past maybe you can make investments for future you, mwahaha.

>>4787161
>>“Have you seen a fit girl with some sort of a bowl cut and a weird guy with dyed hair?” Ask if he’s seen Matilda and Oliver.
>“To what school are we going?” Act clueless.

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“Can I ask you a couple of questions?” You sound as polite as you’re able to.

He meekly nods in response.

“Have you seen a fit girl with some sort of bowl cut and a weird guy with dyed hair?” You do the motion to indicate how Matilda’s hair would go.

“Uhm… I-I haven’t… usually t-there are 3 people at this point of the ride. Usually there is a girl here too, s-she comes from this stop. She must’ve fallen a-asleep again... She always looks tired.” The Kid nervously gives you more information than you need.

“What girl?” You wonder.

“I-I don’t know her personally; she has short hair and uhm… she’s kind of pretty.” The kid gets embarrassed.

“Thanks for answering.” You commend him for being nice. “To what school are we going?”

“Huh? Y-You don’t know? We’re going to Shiva Public School. Mister, who are you? I-I’ve never seen you before… and I’ve never seen anyone else t-take this bus on that stop that wasn’t the girl.” The Kid knows something is up with you.

“Uhm… I’m a new transfer student? First day and all that.” You’re not sure if you should lie or not. But this answer shouldn’t make you look suspicious.

“So-Sorry! I shouldn’t have made weird questions like that…” The kid looks away.

“Nah, a weird question would be, like, ‘what year it is’ or something.” You chuckle.

“Y-Yeah, you’re right!” The kid smiles.

“…What year is it?” You act abnormally serious.

“Huh?! But you j-just said… Uhm… It’s the 48th year of the Gordon Era.” Despite his confusion, he gives you your answer.

“I was pulling your leg. You didn’t have to answer me.” You smirk like this was all a joke.

Fuck, this stupid era system was overthrown so long ago, you don’t know how to count this crap. Wait, your level 4 Knowledge reminded you of some obscure lesson Nina gave years ago! Gordon Sr.’s dictatorship lasted 54 years. That obsolete calendar system was abolished as soon as Gordon Jr. took power, which means… this is 25 years ago from the present time! You should be shocked to find out that you’re in the past, but you’re finding it exciting instead.


“How long is this ride, anyway?” You keep firing questions like a mad man.

“W-We still need to get to the village first, so we still have two hours to go.” The kid points at the bus’ watch.

“T-Two hours?!” You don’t like this at all!

“M-Mister, if you’re a transfer student, you should be a regular, right? Why are you riding this bus with us?” The kid wonders.

How do you respond to the kid?

>“What are you talking about?” You’re not a regular if you never use the bus, right?
>“Well, I didn’t want to get lost on my first day.” Probably sounds like a decent excuse, right?
>“I take the hint, I’m leaving…” Walk away without tripping on a hole.
>Write In.

>>4787406
>>“Well, I didn’t want to get lost on my first day.” Probably sounds like a decent excuse, right?

>>4787406
>>“What are you talking about?” You’re not a regular if you never use the bus, right?

>>4787406
>>“Well, I didn’t want to get lost on my first day.” Probably sounds like a decent excuse, right?
First impressions and all that.

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“Well, I didn’t want to get lost on my first day.” You think this is a decent excuse.

“B-But the other regulars are going to label you as a l-leech.” The kid is really being insistent about this topic.

“They can call me whatever the hell they want, I don’t care.” Or get it! Anyway, you’re used to the bullying. “I just need to get there on time.” You adjust your glasses.

The radio gives another interesting tidbit, today marks a year since El Macho’s retirement bout. He hasn’t been seen since then. The radio hosts are having fun theorizing what happened to him, but noise gets in the way more often than not, and it’s hard to listen.

“We’ve been talking for a while, what’s your name, kid?” You ask.

“Cohen, sir.” He gives you a polite bow.

“I’m—”

Before you can say your name, you get interrupted by the door struggling and squeaking to open, it seems you’ve arrived at another stop. Seven more students go aboard the bus, with one of them looking vaguely familiar, you cannot say why – but it gives you some bad vibes, and an urge to smack his face. The others look normal-esque, and a couple are your age.

What do you respond to Cohen?

>Your name is Johnny Ando!
>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Write In.

What do you do?

>Go talk to someone your age.
>Keep talking with Cohen for the rest of the ride until something else happens.
>Talk to the person who gives you bad vibes.
>Write In.

>>4787507
>>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Keep talking with Cohen for the rest of the ride until something else happens.
Mr bad vibes will seek us out on his own, no need to go to him.

>>4787507
>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Keep talking with Cohen for the rest of the ride until something else happens.

>>4787507
>>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Go talk to someone your age.

>>4787507
>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Talk to the person who gives you bad vibes.

>>4787507
>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Go talk to someone your age.
We can talk to Cohen more later, we have plenty of time

>>4787507
>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Go talk to someone your age.

>>4787507
>>Your name is Phil Noon!
>Go talk to someone your age.

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Well, it’s not like you want to approach a person who gives you bad vibes.

“I’m Phil Noon by the way.” You’re going to keep using your fake name unless you feel like it’s absolutely necessary to do otherwise. And in this context, you don’t think it matters one bit.

“N-Nice to meet you.” Cohen bows again all politely. He seems happy.

“Same.” You nod back. “I’ll talk to you in a bit. Gotta meet my potential classmates.”

Cohen nods again to signal that it’s fine. You walk towards the new people as fast as you can inside this tumbling mess of machinery, which obviously isn’t easy or fast. Before you get close enough to naturally start a conversation with any of the 3 that looked your age, two girls within the group you were mentioning, start chatting – they appear to be friends.

“Have you seen that tall guy before?” The excited girl seems to be talking about you.

“Neverrr, he’s handsome, ain’t he?” The other girl who likes to roll her “r”s responds. They must be talking about someone else then. But you don’t see anyone taller than you around, maybe they consider anyone taller than to be tall, you’ve never been short, so you have no idea.

“Yeah, Berninie is cute and all, but you want a real man’s man. Don’t you think?” Excited girl gets more excited.

“Attractive is attractive. But this guy hits different.” Rolling Rs girl agrees.

“His clothes are squeaky clean, maybe he’s out of our league…” The excited girl laments.

“A rrregular riding with us? Nah, I don’t think so.” The otherrr girl is optimistic about whatever this is.

“But what if he’s a regular?” Excited girl giggles.

“That would be oh my god.” The other girl starts giggling with her.

They are giggling so much, you’ll feel bad for interrupting. There is another guy here, he seems cool.

What do you do?

>Approach the girls and ruin their fun.
>Approach the solitary man and have a chat with him.
>Write In.

(Last Reply of the Day, we continue tomorrow!)

>>4787689
>Approach the girls and ruin their fun.

>>4787689
>>Approach the girls and ruin their fun.

>>4787689
>Approach the girls and ruin their fun.

>>4787689
>>Approach the girls and ruin their fun.

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Like your dad used to say: Feeling bad about bothering people, never stopped you from being a nuisance and doing it anyway. In fairness to yourself, he said that anytime you interrupted him from watching TV. So yeah, you’re going to interrupt these two. You continue to triumphantly wobble your way to them, hoping the floor doesn’t collapse in the process.

“Hey there.” You weasel your way into the conversation by making your presence known.

“Hello!” Excited girl, who you should call Pigtails girl, politely yet enthusiastically answers.

“H-Hey.” Rolling Rs girl shyly hides by the side of her classmate, she doesn’t seem bothered by you, but looks nervous – almost fidgeting.

“How can we help you?” A well-mannered Pigtails girl wants to know.

“My name’s Phil, and I’m a new transfer student. I think we’re the same age, so I wanted to meet some of my new classmates.” You explain to keep the conversation going.

“Phil? That’s a cool name, hihihi. Mine is Grace, nice to meet you! Oh, and this is Mirjam! She’s a lil’ shy, but she’s happy to make you her acquaintance too.” Grace, the pigtails girl, is happy to continue talking. “Now, it would be, like, a lot better if you didn’t look like a deer in headlights…” Grace gets a little embarrassed by her friend.

“D-Didn’t you hearrr him? H-He’s a transfer student, which means…” Mirjam murmurs to Grace, albeit so loudly that you can hear it.

“Oh my god, I was right!” Grace is pleasantly surprised. “Y-You’re totally a regular, aren’t you? I’ve never heard of us exchanging schools, like, ever. Unless… you’re a delinquent! You need to be a pretty bad one to be kicked out, like a convicted criminal or somethin’. Is there a reformatory around here?”

“D-Don’t think so. A-And I don’t think he is. You forgot his clothes?” Mirjam doesn’t ascribe to this line of thought.

“He could’ve stolen them from an actual regular, couldn’t he?” Grace starts chuckling. “So, tell us, Phil. Are you a convict or a regular?”

How do you respond?

>Regular! You don’t know how, but the word ‘Regular’ seems to have some status.
>Delinquent! You’re a bad boy who doesn’t respect the rules.
>It’s a Secret. You’re a mysterious man. The type a certain teacher likes…
>Write In.

>>4789346
>>It’s a Secret. You’re a mysterious man. The type a certain teacher likes…

>>4789346
>>It’s a Secret. You’re a mysterious man. The type a certain teacher likes…
"Where's the fun in telling?"

>>4789346
>It’s a Secret. You’re a mysterious man. The type a certain teacher likes…
Wait.....that fuck me like a pornstar face, without the twin poofs....oh shit...we know her, and that lisp girl can only be Scarlet's mom.

>>4789346
>It’s a Secret. You’re a mysterious man. The type a certain teacher likes…
Chicks love mystery

>>4789363
You may be right!

>>4789363
Aww shit, nice catch

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“It’s a secret.” You adjust your glasses. “Where’s the fun in telling?”

“Yup, you’re totally a regular.” Grace smiles with that ‘gotcha’ kind of vibe.

“Mhm, no doubt.” Mirjam nods in agreement.

“If you were one of us, you couldn’t keep quiet about your parents!” Grace feels full of pride.

“Y-Yeah, my dad was a medic and saved countless lives during the war. My mom was a cook, a pretty darn good one at that.” Mirjam smiles just reminiscing of the fact. Talking about them took all the shyness away from her. “With all of their traits combined, it means I’ll be a great wife.”

“My dad was a navy captain, and my mom served under him. They were totally a power couple. I bet they went out in flames, kissing one another as the ship sank, all romantic, hehe.” Grace gets all jolly too. “You cannot help but to feel proud, y’know? Unless… you’re a leech. A real one.”

“I don’t think he’s a real leech. He has that aura ‘bout him. He’s a regular and that’s final.” Mirjam shut down the idea.

“But why would a regular ride with us?” Grace looks confused.

“Maybe he’s a foreigner! Foreigners are regulars. I read that they are coming over in droves, since we’re doing so good. I bet someone told him to use these to get to school, without knowing what it will mean for his reputation.” Mirjam is creating a backstory for you. You’re having issues saying anything when these two start going, there is no silence gap for you to say anything!

“If he is, he must be really smart! His Gordonish is perfect.” Grace is having fun too. Did she mean to say ‘English’? The fuck is ‘Gordonish’? “Maybe he can help us improve our scores! If I continue like this, I’ll end up, like, Rank 7 or somethin’.”

“7?! You never told me you were doing this badly!” Mirjam looks really worried all of the sudden.

“You and I both know it only matters if you’re, like, Rank 3. You’re like 6, right? What’s the big deal?” Grace shakes her head.

“I mean, I’m one rank away from an office job…” Mirjam looks down, like her future is bleak. “If we continue talking about this, Phil won’t want to hang out with us…”

“Honestly, I don’t really think Phil is a foreigner. I bet he’s just a lil’ clueless since he comes from the big city. Still, he needs some guidance.” Grace stands in front of you. “Hey Phil, do you wanna hang with us? We’ll clue you in about the stuff you don’t know and show you around. We’ll make it fun!”

“If you don’t wanna, I think it would be best if you don’t talk to anyone with CotF stuff. You really pass as a regular.” Mirjam thinks you’re probably not going to accept.

How do you respond to their offer?

>Accept to hang out with these two.
>Decline. Maybe you’ll find people who don’t talk as much.
>Write In.

>>4789546
>>Accept to hang out with these two.

>>4789546
>>Accept to hang out with these two.

>>4789546
>Accept to hang out with these two.

>>4789546
>Accept to hang out with these two.

>>4789546
>Accept to hang out with these two.

>>4789546
>>Accept to hang out with these two.
cute girls, nice ways infodumps AND a way to progress plot? you spoil me

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“Yeah, sure. Why not?” You think it has been fun so far, despite your lack of input.

“Are you surrre? Once you’re labeled, there is no turning back…” Mirjam is worried about your decision.

“Stigmas stink.” Not even Grace thought you were going to agree.

“I don’t care about that in the slightest, I just want to be with you two.” You think they are being a little dramatic about it. Like Nariko in general.

“…” Mirjam turns as red as a tomato.

“Hihihihi, you’re lookin’ all red!” Grace makes fun of Mirjam.

“Y-You too!” Mirjam shouts back.

“Huh!? Nu-uh, no I don’t!” The bubbly Grace refuses to face the truth. She’s all smiles.

“Oh, am I bothering you?” You thought they wanted you here.

“NO!” Both shout in unison to stop you in your tracks.

“C-Cool…” You don’t know how to respond.

“Sorrrrrrrry.” Mirjam apologizes.

“Y-Yeah, we didn’t mean to shout at ya.” Grace shakes her head. “We don’t meet new people everyday and we kinda get excited.”

“I get it, don’t worry.” You’ve been awkward yourself sometimes. Like when you met Ajna… Not a good time to remember that, if you’re honest.

You spent the rest of the trip with Grace and Mirjam. You asked if they saw Matilda or Oliver, but unsurprisingly, they didn’t have a clue about what you were talking about. After that, the conversation revolved around those two’s lives.

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>>4789723

Like you guessed, they are both orphans that grew up together, and consider each other best of friends – they have a couple of more friends at school, but they are from different orphanages. When they were little, they had even more friends in the orphanage and the group was quite large, but little by little, they started losing members:

First, one of their friends, who still goes to the same school, was actually adopted by a caring family – but once she became a regular, she started to ignore them.

Second, every now and then, a state agent comes to check the orphanages to seek gifted kids to transfer them to better orphanages around the country. They lost 2 of their friends due to this, and haven’t heard from them since.

Third, one of their friends decided to run away with her boyfriend, who was a regular, and never came back. It seems the government never cared about bringing her back, and the people in charge didn’t do much either. Last they know from her, she was living a good, decent life. You can tell they are envious of her…

Fourth and final, their orphanage was in such a poor state it actually collapsed after a downpour hit almost a year ago. The oldest orphans (from High School) were relocated into little dorms outside town with other CotF that are in the final step of the program, but instead of having their own apartment, they have to share with another one of their peers. They ended up together, just the two – their other friends are at the other side of town. Their apartment is cramped since it was obviously designed for just one person to live in. They are still heavily monitored, and they have to work a part-time job to help rebuild the orphanage that was lost. It was supposed to be for a 6-month period, but they’ve been working for close to a year with no news about the place.

As a side note, when you first entered town, a group of people got inside, among them – Cohen’s friends! So he isn’t alone anymore. You don’t want to bother him now.

Anyway, the bus made its last stop, time to go to school…

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>>4789727

“I wish I was smart enough to balance my time better like Mirjam. I was her rank before, but now I’m dropping like a sack of potatoes. It’s not like I put any effort in my job…” Grace laments. This turned into an impromptu counselling session. You feel like you should get a degree just by how often this happens.

“I’m not doing any better, I was Rank 5 before…” Mirjam feels bad too. “Sorrrrrry, we ended up talkin’ about ourselves instead of thinkin’ where your friends are.” Mirjam now feels guilty.

“It’s fine. I feel like I understand what’s going on much better.” You heard about this CotF program before, but you never knew it was this bad.

“Come with us, Phil!” Grace unapologetically grabs your arm, she will drag you if you don’t move.

“Y-Yes, we’ll show you arrround!” Mirjam does the same with your other arm.

As you step out of the bus together, you see a police man with a bicycle at his side waiting outside by the door...

“Hey, Mr. Kobashi!” Mirjam says hi to the weird looking policeman.

“Heyo, Mr. Kobashi! Any luck with that Phantom Thief? Are you looking for clues again?” Grace chuckles as you three step out.

“Not yet, kids. But I swear I’ll find him, hahaha.” The odd-looking policeman starts chuckling.

Sadly, this is all we have for this week’s thread! Thanks for playing and see you next time!

>>4789728
Thanks for running! Amazing thread!

>>4789728
TFR

>>4789728
Thank you for the quest.