thefoundation | WEEK 3

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round 3

WEEK 3 - NIGHTSHADE

Finally, the whole truth of this affair had come out.

The Witch they had known as Yuuko was actually Nirrti, the Witch of Misfortune.
And Watanuki was actually the real Witch of Dimensions, as the two of them fought over the power that title brought, as well as the name and identity of a long dead woman...🗈

Though things had finally changed, perhaps it wouldn't be for the better. Nirrti herself seemed much different than how she was before, and Watanuki was the one who had brought all of them here...with that in mind, it was hard to tell how their future would shake out...

However, it wasn't all bad. A few more places were open to them, the second floor becoming a much more inviting place to be, and there was still everything they had gotten used to before. And now, they all knew that Nirrti's promises were nothing but empty air...

...or, perhaps, now they would merely change.

MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

CALENDAR | LOCATIONS | PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS | NIRRTI PC POST | WATANUKI PC POST

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Anon is here, and he's definitely staring down the gym equipment with great curiosity. It's debatable whether he's seen some of the devices before, but judging by the anticipation with which he eyes them, either their use is fairly intuitive or ignorance won't stop him.

That's going to be a good time at some point--

Then he actually gets a proper look at the room and brightens when he sees Natsuno over by the shelves.]

Hey! Did you find something interesting? I heard the library up here can eat you now, but I haven't tried it yet.

[He's peering over the game shelf as though expecting the games to also start eating them. Maybe they'll end up in an MMO isekai.]

[ Hey Anon—Natsuno actually offers a half-hearted wave, looking up from the game he's holding. He probably would have made a remark about their shared bewilderment of the gym equipment but- ]

...the library can what? [ Staring at this copy of Cooking Mama like it might actually try to stab him with the giant fork on its cover. Not putting it back though. ]

[He comes over next to him just so he can rubberneck the game selection. Firstly, though--]

Eat you! Or, well, right now it can knock you out, but I'm pretty sure that the books are doing all kinds of weird things to whoever tries to read them. They're special magic books, or something.

[Annnd then he gets distracted by Cooking Mama.]

Hey, is that a game about cooking? What's the point of that?

Edited 2019-04-10 04:29 (UTC)

[ Mumbling. ] Shadow can have that library.

[ Flipping over the back of the game to screenshots of breaking eggs and grilling meat, and Mama who's eyes are literally on fire. ]

I think so. Maybe it's like a self help cookbook for people who can't read? [ They didn't really have many games like this in the 90's, okay. ]

[He makes an amused noise.]

Are you two claiming territory or something? I'm pretty sure Vinea and that bookworm girl are all trying to stake their claim on the libraries too, so you probably have a competition on your hands.

[A fairly stupid competition, but he ain't judging. The libraries are a useful resource and he'd kind of root for them vs. Vinea. In the meantime, he contemplates Cooking Mama.....]

It looks more like a cooking or death kind of thing. You know, like, you burned the eggs so now you get cracked like an egg. That sort of thing.

[What is he talking about....... to be fair he probably only has a passing acquaintance with these things (and the kitchen) also.]

[ Scowling. He doesn't even know who bookworm girl is but yes he is totally claiming territory. ]

Whatever, we claimed it first. [ He has no idea if this is true, nor does he care. Sometimes he acts exactly his age. Back to Cooking Mama though. ]

That seems pretty violent. [ Not sounding put off in the least. ] So if you burn a piece of meat, you get barbecued like one?

[He just gives a small snicker. The fact is that Natsuno is probably easy to spot for the well-informed, hanging out like some kind of grunge gargoyle all up in the first library. Shadow is a little sneakier, or was before he gained the Gift of Geta.]

Just leave some room for the rest of us. We can't get eaten all the time.

[If a book vores him does it count as misvoretune or just cannibalism.]

This Mama person seems pretty violent in the first place. Don't they always say you'll be hit by five divine dragons if you waste food?

I'll try to keep that in mind. [ Wrly cause if people get eaten by books it's not his fault. ]

My parents always told me the oni would come for me. [ Looking at Mama again completely seriously. ]

She kinda looks like one.

[So that's his master plan....... make sure everyone is passed out in the other library so no one can step foot in his. Absolutely foolproof. Anon taps his chin in a moment of (maybe) thought.]

Oni are a bit like demons themselves, aren't they? I don't think they're really from the Underworld, but I've read a lot about them, too...

Now I kind of want to find out if Cooking Mama is a demon. Should we give it a try?

[They've hyped this up way too much, haven't they.]

Mhmm. There's supposedly a lot of tales about them that aren't written down either. [ That sounds oddly specific, but he's happier to focus on this completely serious video gaming session instead. ]

Yeah, let's do it. [ Putting the game into whatever console this is and getting to the start screen is easy enough. Flipping through the menus, looking at the dishes.... ]

Guess we have to pick. What food? Anything but soup.

You'll have to tell me later. I think the libraries here have a lot more stories than usual, but there's always things that people don't think or know to write down.

[It's thrown out flippantly as they settle down to figure out whether Cooking Mama is going to smoke their asses. He's not entirely unfamiliar with gaming systems or controllers, so he at least knows the basics of where everything goes and more or less how the buttons work.

Natsuno is definitely in the driver's seat here, though.]

Hmm... I'm not a picky eater. [and how] I'm not a real good cook either, so something easy that isn't soup! I don't think you can burn down a fake kitchen, but you never know.

[ Nodding, maybe being forced to listen to the villager's stories about oni and other evil spirits will reap some reward after all. Natsuno being a 90's kid knows his way around video games to be passable, but it's more from watching Tohru play them than actually having experience himself. But hey, cooking can't be that hard right? ]

Hm...my mother always cooked except when we had steak. It's just meat, so it can't be that hard if my father could do it. [ Selecting beef steak then! And the first step is to cut all the tendons? What even. ]

Why do you need to cut it when it's portioned already? [ Just swiping haphazardly here but he does manage to hit all the tendon points flailing around. Mama is pleased, so yeah this'll be a breeze. Probably. ]

[Cooking totally can't be that hard. Listen to Anon, he's an expert on the fundamentals of cooking. (no)

He watches, though, totally intrigued by all the bright colors and stuff because this is way more decorative than a real kitchen. Also he's definitely curious about Cooking Mama still. Hmmmmm.]

Ah, so your father could totally cook other things! I don't remember the last time we actually made a meal. Japanese food was pretty good, though?

[The luxuries of being a tourist, even an exceptionally brief and unfortunate one. He laughs while Natsuno flails with the controller.]

Maybe the game just needs to find ways to get you! I don't know how to make this at all.

I don't think he could cook this anymore. My favorite food used to be kakigouri, it was the only decent part of the summer. [ Offhandedly. Next step is...seasoning? Full of confidence now, he's a bit too enthusiastic here and the salt goes everywhere.

That is definitely a fail and Mama does not look pleased. ]

Yeah, seems like it. [ Siiiiiiiigh. ]

We weren't in Japan during the height of summer, but I've heard it's hotter than hell! I don't think I've tried kakigouri, myself.

[He absolutely says the first bit in a droll way because come on, hell may be something people use to scare their kids but technically it's just. Where he lives. Thanks.

There's a small cheer when Mama goes full FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF HER FACE or whatever because why not.]

Hahaha, you woke up the demon with too much salt.

[ That gets an amused huff because he was focusing on the game until Mama just actually goes up in flames. There's also a mumbling that his favorite flavor was melon, but that's forgotten now given his current failure. ]

That's supposed to exorcise them not wake them up! [ And he knows firsthand because of another obaasan from Sotoba. Augh just, ok next step. Butter on a pan he can do this.

...now he's aggravated so he misses a few spots but it's enough to pass in any case. At least Mama's no longer on fire, just passive aggressively disappointed? ]

[I'm making it thread meta canon, we're stating it for the record, Melon Is The Best Flavor. Maybe one day Anon will know the joys of kakigouri or melon in the midst of a sticky Japanese heat wave, but for now he's basking in the comfortable weather here and the heat inflicted by Mama's disapproval.]

Exorcise them, huh... I don't think I'd want to be that kind of demon if I can't even have salt in my food. Can you imagine?

[It sounds like a whole Shakespearean tragedy, y'all??]

There sure are a lot of steps to mess up on.

[ One day after causing chaos as a byproduct of them being themselves, they'll get to enjoy a nice melon kakigouri and maybe melon pan. Moving onto the next stage (cooking the steak), his replies come in bursts as he concentrates. ]

I think they can eat salt. But you're supposed to throw it at them or something? I don't know no one's ever tried that on me.

[ The pressing of the steak went ok, but constantly having to play with the heat was annoying. Yeah that's a bronze. Not quite flame level failure but close enough. ]

Hn, I cooked the steak isn't that good enough? [ Offering the controller here if Anon wants it because how many more steps are there to cook a steak ffs. ]

Oh, do they try to exorcise you guys like demons or something? I've heard there's all kinds of crazy and interesting rituals that you get to see!

[Anon, this isn't demon tourism. But okay, he's laughing because now both the steak and Mama are on fire?? There's so much fire in this hell's kitchen.]

I'm starting to feel like this might be a ritual on its own, actually. It seems easier than actually cooking it, buuut... [he's going to accept the controller because wow this is taking forever, and then it takes twice forever to do this sauce and jeez] I don't remember any sauce ever taking this long!

[That's probably because most sauce ever is store bought or something?? He does pretty well for a majority of it but he totally starts messing around in the last half because wow.]

Edited 2019-04-17 13:41 (UTC)

Some of the obaasans tried. Crosses and ofuda and things like that work, but they're more deterrents than harmful. They're just really uncomfortable and hard to be around.

[ So are bells which might be why he avoided Wheatley for a bit after that library excursion. Back to the game though, he just sighs at the ridiculousness of it all. ]

Maybe if she catches on fire enough she'll turn into a demon at the end. Whenever the end is.

Oh, so it's more like bug spray and stuff like that?

[Don't compare vampires to mosquitoes?? Even though they both suck blood. It's fine.

He's been yawning his way through the sauce, but once the radish grating starts? He actually jumps to his feet and goes all out because there's so much motion there that the perpetual motion machine can get a work out. Go go go go go-- Wait.]

Wait, so we have to let her really catch on fire? So...

[Man, he wanted to finish up that radish. But he lets that one go, and then the next thing, well. He wouldn't know how to garnish a steak to save his life so he just literally throws everything on top. Open sandwich steak season it is.

Now Mama's just kind of on fire and sounding a little like a robot cheering them on...]

Hn, I guess. I haven't bothered with the chapel for that reason.

[ Whether he could go inside or not, it would probably be really uncomfortable so pass. Watching the game with anticipation, he probably glances Anon's way at the garnishing. That's a lot of things on top, he can barely see the steak! ]

...did we do something wrong that she turned into a busted robot instead?

Right! I think that was only here so a bunch of us could set it on fire, anyway.

[Anon doesn't have especially strong feelings on churches one way or the other, except maybe as yet another vehicle of humans being terrible. His impression of humans sure is a thing at this point.

He just beams back at Natsuno when he glances over, though. There's no sense in leaving out food, even if it's technically virtual food. Speaking of which, though...]

Hahahaha, I think she gave up on us! Maybe we need to fail a whole bunch of things before she really gets to her final form? [he at least mildly knows video game terminology by now] Though, that steak took so long that I'm actually hungry now just from staring at it for so long.

[And indeed his stomach is grumbling quite handily. Snack break?]

Too bad it came back. Maybe that means we should just burn it again. [ #mood and their cr in a nutshell. ]

Mmm, that makes sense. That must be why there's so many save slots. [ Tohru was the gamer, he just watched so rip their cooking mama playthrough. ]

You wanna get food?

Mm, if the buildings here just come back all the time, I wonder why Nirrti kept saying not to break things. Maybe the goats are just lazy?

[They should totally definitely set the chapel on fire again, though. At some point!!

He bounces up to his feet, though, and stretches happily. His stomach is still grumbling but he seems satisfied with just the prospect of food at the moment.]

Since there's enough save slots, we can worry about her later. I'm totally up for eating something!

bold of you to think I won't pick both somehow??

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