WEEK 3 - NIGHTSHADE

[foundationmods]

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

Comments

[anonnomnomnom]

A professional runner in training!

[Granted, he's only ever seen Natsuno pelt around as a jinrou so he's both uninformed and biased. But there's no one except Natsuno here to contradict him, so too bad. Anon takes another moment, seemingly to think this over rather seriously--]

Mmm, you can't explore without running, and you can't walk without dating somebody... Sotoba sure has some weird rules.

[Like, he's still trying to picture this tiny rural village, and hell he comes from the sticks in some very real senses himself but? But????

?????]

The Game actually sounds way less annoying than that.

[To be fair, the Game is just generally less annoying than home, too, they have truly come far from how much they were dragging the thing in the beginning weeks. Is this character development??]

[sotoshini]

Thanks. [ Half sarcastic half not because really he was pure useless noodle before being a jinrou. ]

It is, yeah. At least no one here has tried to ask me out or tell me that I'm dating someone. [ Very casual like, there's not a hint of self awareness here. And luckily(?) for them it'll be weeks before anyone else notices that they've somehow become essentially attached at the hip despite Natsuno's anti social tendencies and Anon's everything. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

Heheh.

[Natsuno's sarcasm is very edgy and all, but the flashiness of the boa totally isn't helping here, nor is the rest of the conversation. Anon's amusement is twofold and most of it rests squarely on the idea of romantic Pieces on Witch island. Because what's self-awareness or any realization that Natsuno's somehow gone from a kind of amusing, fascinating, prickly specimen of an SCP vampire to just Natsuno, himself.

That would be asking a lot at this point.]

I don't think a lot of the people here would be very good at romance or anything, especially since they really aren't very good at the Game, anyway.

[This is the pot calling like 20 kettles black but you know what.]

They're definitely too busy freaking out! So the real solution to your obaasans is just to scare them enough to stop gossiping.

[sotoshini]

You think the two are related? [ For some reason that's amusing, and he bares his fangs in the smile that follows, purely on a whim. ]

Hmn...good thing I've gotten some practice at being the whole creature of the night thing here. [ Cause it worked so well before that it dissolved Anon into a fit of laughter. Maybe that would kill the obaasan, though? It's not out of the realm of possibility tbh. Either way he's just embracing that here, cause #yolo. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

Of course. If you can't handle the Game at all, how are you going to handle anything else on the island? Even the goats!

[There are plenty of people who get discombobulated by the goats, too, as annoying as they are; to Anon they're minor annoyances that are sometimes entertaining and mostly useful for menial tasks -- a little bit like a familiar, maybe, or one of the people and creatures he's swallowed. It's no wonder he can be so cavalier about it.

Too bad for everyone else, though. He snickers in a pleased sort of a way at the fangs and the callback to Natsuno's nightlife adventures.]

I get the feeling you could get in more practice. It would probably be pretty funny, too.

[I mean. Just killing them is the other option, and that goes without saying when it's them. But much like the Game here, the more entertaining and practical option seems to be keeping them alive and kicking and screaming.]

[sotoshini]

Guess that's true. Dating seems like too much work anyway. [ There's just no interest here, at least on the surface. Give him some more time and he might realize that he's fallen into something here, but even the possibility of self awareness is still a ways off. ]

Yeah, I could. I don't think everyone knows I'm a jinrou yet, though.
[ Which is maybe fair? Maybe because he hasn't really been hiding it, but on the other hand see every single time he's together with Anon in public. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

I think I'd rather work at other things!

[Like cosplay, apparently, or just messing around in the Game -- those seem to be his two priorities around here, apart from harassing people.

Because honestly, what even is dating, the most he knows about the concept is like bad romance novels and possibly daytime soaps?? And the unnecessarily complicated political shenanigans of clan intermarrying, let's say. The Underworld, especially in the mountains, is not conducive to having a great breadth of TV programming or life experience in general.]

Mmhm, that's why I said they're bad at this. If they can't even tell you're a jinrou or a vampire or something, then they still have a long way to go in everything else, too.

[Drag, drag, drag. He's known about Natsuno being a jinrou for long enough now -- and seen all the characteristics on display on a regular enough basis -- that he honestly forgets it's not general knowledge. Whoops.]

But that just means it'll be a lot more fun. ☆

[To go bump in the night or something.]

[sotoshini]

[ Nodding along he agrees with all this but— ]

Ah, I wouldn't want to kill any of them though, not like that at least. It would be a big pain...

[ It honestly might not be out of the realm of possibility with characters like Wheatley around. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

Hmm, you mean in the jinrou way? Or just in the pretend jinrou way?

[Because there's jumpy and then there's just being a scaredy-cat, and of course Wheatley happens to be both to a truly impressive extent. Somehow. The thought makes him snicker again and pluck at his ridiculous cosplay outfit. And then there's just being prey, but that's probably not what they're talking about here. Maybe.

Actually, after a moment of thought Anon gives the helmet on his knees a whimsical little tap and affects his screechy Wheatley voice again.]

"At least I'm not as squishy as most humans... but! That doesn't mean you can just do these things! I might get so scared my hard drive would fall out, and then what would you do!! Nirrti will come after yoouuu!!"

[It's not an especially good imitation this time since he's 110% messing around, but you know what. He's playing for an audience of one and that's the important thing.]

[sotoshini]

Both. I don't want to deal with any shiki or jinrou. [ Cutting himself off here, he realizes he almost added ever again there. That's... weird? They were the whole reason he was still stubbornly clinging onto his third life, or they used to be. It shouldn't have changed...

Thankfully he doesn't get lost in this crisis of identity because he's quickly redirected to another Wheatley impression. The end result is a lopsided grin followed by a lazy laugh. ]

Plug the hard drive into a microwave or something. You don't need that body to live, and you'd be more useful that way. I think Nirrti might even thank me.

[ This is not how tech works but he might have honestly tried this if it happened. ]

[anonnomnomnom]

Hmmm.

[There's a minute cock of Anon's head as he absorbs the funny stumble in Natsuno's talk about shiki and jinrou and whatnot, but it's usually been a semi-touchy subject in various ways, so the most he does is file it away for a vague later date in case it ends up being relevant.

Maybe one of these days, but the middle of a fashion show while he's pretending to be a scaredy-bot is probably not the time for this. Anon grins back at him, wiggling the helmet like that actually makes their ridiculous back-and-forth any more useful.]

"I'm a robot, not a microwave! If you wanted somebody to make your food, ask a goat already!!" [this is the part where he breaks down laughing] Hey, maybe he really would be a useful microwave. It's really too bad we can't plug one of the robots into a goat, though.

I wonder what would happen if they died?

[The million-dollar question, really. Can a robot be possessed???]

[sotoshini]

I think that's how you get Frankenstein. Goatenstein? [ Shrugging and shaking his head at his poor attempt at a portmanteau. ]

Maybe Takumi would know if a ghost-robot-goat is even possible. I'd ask, but I still haven't bothered to talk to him yet. [ Tipping his head to the side into some of the feather boa lazily. Everyone here he still doesn't socialize with, which is a bit odd considering how much they hang out together but his relationships usually turn out this way if he bothers to make any. So it's not that weird to Natsuno? And it's not like this will go the way it did with Tohru.

Which holds true in the future, at least for the betraying part. The liking part...well he couldn't be more wrong. ]